Heaven's Gate Bridge twenty three

Heaven’s Gate Bridge twenty-three

Joan Smith was waiting at the door to the shop early that morning. She was very solemn looking and greeted anyone with just a nod of her head. She was trying to remember the places that she had put her purse so that she could do a thorough search for the five dollars that she had. She was never so embarrassed when she arrived at the meat shop and was prepared to pay the butcher for the select piece of soup meat that he had saved for her. When she looked in her purse, the look on her face told the butcher that he would not be able to sell her the piece. She stepped aside to look a second time and the old lady behind her saw the meat and immediately bought it. When Mrs. Smith finally told him that she did not have the money, he commented his sympathy and started to get ready to close up the shop. He would have let her put the meat on a bill but he had been giving credit to too many people. He had been too nice before to too many people and made his late wife very angry with him.

Joan turned around to see if either Mr. Miller or Mr. Munson were coming. Mr. Munson was walking towards the store and stopped for a brief second when he saw Joan. He began walking at a slower pace until he reached the doorway of the tailor shop.

“Oh good morning Mrs. Smith. How are you today?” he asked nonchalantly. He then reached around in his pocket for the key to the door.

“I am not so good today. It seems that the money I had in my purse was lost.” she said as she leaned closer to him to keep other people passing by from hearing her troubles.

“Money? I don’t believe I recall.” he said as he turned to open the shop. He unlocked the door and extended his hand to permit her to enter first.

“Mr. Munson. I told you about my little extra work that earned some money to pay a bill and buy some food.” she said as she raised her voice. “I had it inside my purse. Did you see any money on the floor yesterday?” She pointed to her purse and then the floor.

“Well Mrs. Smith I am sorry if you lost your money. But why are you interrogating me?” He pointed his finger in her face. “ If you are that careless, it is your own fault.” he removed his coat and hung it up. “I suggest that you be more careful in the future. Now it is time to work. Mr. Miller should be along shortly and I think that he wants to see everyone doing their job.” He looked directly at her. Then he turned around went to the back and Mr. Miller’s desk to see if there was any note for him read. He knew that he would not forget the anguished look on her face at that moment.

Mrs. Smith let a few tears fall and pulled a handkerchief out of her purse to dab the tears away. She then walked to her area in the back and spent a few minutes looking around and under things with the hope that she was careless then and lucky now. She had prayed hard that the missing money would be found.

When the door opened the next time, Mr. Miller walked in. He went directly to the back and started business discussions with Mr. Munson. Occasionally Taylor would glance over his shoulder to see what Mrs. Smith was doing. He decided that he would not tell Mr. Miller about his conversation with Mrs. Smith. He hoped that she would believe that the missing money was all her fault. The only other concern now was for him to find money to pay his gambling debt.

At the Miller house
Mrs. Hunt went upstairs to see how Frances was. She knew that being pregnant when a person got sick was risky to either the mother or child or sometimes both. She remembered hearing about many ladies who lost child after child because they were weakened by some illness.

She told Harriet to take Buddy outside for a little fresh air. As she started walking upstairs she heard the old grandfather clock ring nine o’clock. She knew that soon she would have to think about arranging to buy a ticket for herself and her daughter to go to her mother’s house. Penny would have to miss about a week of school, but she could ask Miss Phillips for work for Penny to do. Mrs. Hunt just hoped that they would not have to change trains and wait for the second one to take them the rest of the way to Pennsylvania.

Her father worked in the coal mines. He worked his way up to head boss. When Edith met Mr. Samuel Elijah Hunt, she felt it was her only way out of the place that was famous for miner’s cough and hard work. Mr. Hunt was a worker on the construction part of the train system in that area. He had met Edith at a hotel that she was a dishwasher in. As she cleared the tables, she would find a way to walk near the short but well built man who could sweet talk a cow out of its milk. Mr. Hunt was fun to listen to as he told stories of the many places that his job took him. He later told Edith that he was feeling a little tired of all the traveling work and would one day settle down. At that point, Edith decided to invite him home and show him the best home cooked meal a man could sit down to. As it was, the apple pie did the trick. He took her for a walk after dinner to ask to see her again. At that second time, he asked her father for her hand and they were married in three months. Edith kissed her parents good by and left her younger sister Irene to do the rest. She also knew that with two brothers who were in the area, their parents had plenty of help.

Edith looked at the Miller family pictures that hung on the walls as she climbed the stairs. She noticed that each of the people looked as if they were frozen. She knew that Frances was proud of her family and would not be eager to stay in bed for long. The only thing that made Frances stay now was the thought that if she moved around before the right time, that she might do harm to the baby that she was carrying. Edith had only a few pictures. She had her wedding picture and one of the only child she and Samuel would have, Penny. Penny had often asked why she had no brothers and sisters, but the only thing that Edith could think of was that some families were large and others were small. Since Mr. Hunt had died last year in an accident at work, her hope for another child was over for now. At thirty-five, women did not have too many babies. Single women most certainly did not!