pretty girl- clairo
enola and i are currently looking through a rack of beautiful dresses, in the small shop we found in the city.
the sound of the hangers dragging along the metal rod is the only sound filling the small room, as enola picks up two red dresses.
"and what does a boy like you want with those?"
i spoke too soon.
enola and i jump slightly, as she gave us quite a fright.
an older woman enters the room in a dark red velvet dress, eating some sort of muffin.
she looks at us with a rather intimidating stare.
enola tries to comfortably hold her puffy dresses, as i take two purple ones off the rack, puffy as well.
"we shall both need a whalebone corset." she says to the lady, looking to her right to see one on display.
"you shall need no such thing." the woman begins, "this is a respectable shop."
"then we shall respect it." i tell the lady as i hold the dresses that may as well swallow me whole.
"you don't look like you will. you don't smell like you will." the lady snarls. "and i-"
enola cuts her off by holding the large wad of money in her hands, flipping through each bill.
"do you have anywhere we can dress?" i ask the lady, as she stutters, taking her muffin filled hand and pointing behind her.
"in the back."
enola and i are currently sharing a small room, filled with a floor length mirror.
we unwrap our chests, and put our undergarments on.
i grab my light blue corset, rather confused on how it works.
enola notices my confusion as she finishes putting hers on.
she wraps the stiff thing around my torso and ties it together.
i hit the contraption a couple times with my knuckles feeling how hard it truly is.
*enola*
the corset: a symbol of repression to those who are forced to wear it.
i turn around in circles, like a dog chasing its tail, attempting to see what the back looks like.
but for us, who choose to wear it,
the bust enhancer and the hip regulators,
i shake my behind, wiggling the awfully large contraption currently tied to the back of me.
will hide the fortune our mother has given us.
enola stuffs some of the money in between her chest and the corset, then stuffs some in mine as well.
and as they do so,
they will make us look like that truly unlikely thing;
enola and i look at each other with a smirk.
a lady
we both say, making a ridiculous pose.
we look at the different faux hair pieces hung on a piece of fabric.
i put a long braid on my bun, as enola pats something onto my lips.
she puts one of the twists between her nose and top lip, as if she has a mustache
"you have to go to school, enola and flora!"
"but we don't want to go to a finishing school, mycroft." i say in a high pitched voice.
"well, what else are we going to do with you? you're girls!"
enola and i straighten out our undergarment pants, and make sure our corsets are secure.
we pull the sleeves of our magnificent dresses, and each pick up a matching necklace.
i lace up my boots as i hear enola struggle.
"oh, come on, seriously?"
i laugh to myself. "oh, come here." i tell her.
we walk back into the small room we started in, as the lady folds her money and looks at us with a gasp.
we now have small bags and earrings on as well.
i put the small red book into my beautifully designed purple bag.
"now, where might we find a lodging house? we'll pay handsomely for good value." enola tells the lady, clutching her hands in front of her.
the lady looks at us with a chuckle.
we're now following the woman through the busy streets of london as enola shouts loud enough for her to hear
"is this really good value?"
"oh, best value you'll find. you're lucky you found me." she guarantees us as we walk into the building.
we stand in front of a room as loud screams are heard around us.
"here you have it." the woman says as she opens the door to the room.
she moves out of the way as enola and i stand side by side, with wide eyes.
enola begins to walk inside as i turn around to see a lady give me a small smile.
i walk in and hear some sort of animal squeak as i look down at my feet.
a small mouse!
i begin to bend down to pet it as enola pulls me back up by my arm.
i give her a sad look as she just shakes her head no.
enola chuckles to herself before turning to the lady. "it's lovely." she says smiling.
"indeed it is. oh, and you, in the purple. your room is just next door." she says, walking past us out of the room.
i look at enola quite frightened.
i'll be alone.
i hear a train whistle as enola and i sit on the bed in her room.
now i've finally got some peace and quiet to think,
besides florence of course, who's staying with me until she's tired enough to go to bed,
it's time for phase five of our plan.
enola dumps out the bag of letter pieces onto the bed between us.
or possibly phase four.
or possibly phase six.
i've entirely lost count.
it is time to find our mother.
enola and i begin to lay out the letters into a specific order.
to find mother, the first thing we need to do is leave a cipher in every newspaper she might read.
enola sets the finishing pieces into place as she reads what it says.
"thank you, my
chrysanthemum.
are you blooming?
send iris please."
she finishes, setting the 'p' in please down in it's designated spot.
iris means "message"
i remember to myself the book "the language of flowers" that mother had give us. on one of the pages, shows a painting of a blue flower, with the words "i have a message for you." along the bottom.
now, how to disguise them?
*florence*
mother can untangle anything.
i state as we collect the letter pieces we recently set down.
so we need to make it most devious.
we now have the letters in a rather peculiar order.
the next morning, enola and i are currently at the newspaper shop.
we placed it in the personal advertisements column of the pall mall gazette,
we hand the man our request as he looks at us rather confused.
which mother seldom missed.
-flashback-
mother.
the pall mall gazette.
every.
single.
one.
-end of flashback-
plus the magazine of modern womanhood...
we know stand in front of a lady, who types our request into the typewriter.
...and the journal of dress reform...
the two lady's look at us with a raised eyebrow.
two publications we thought might tickle her.
i pick up a newspaper from my right as the man types our request.
tewkesbury.
his face drawn on the front page with the headline
'police broaden search for marquess'
he's in trouble.
enola looks over my shoulder to see what has drawn my attention.
"this gentleman seems to be getting a lot of attention." she says aloud as i look at her and roll my eyes.
"well, he's a bloomin' marquess." the man says as he walks away.
then we had to find out who she really was.
is.
was.
our mother only corresponded with one address with regularity.
-flashback-
enola and flora walk with a quick pace to their mother's room.
she sits there writing something, not noticing the two girls.
it was wrong of us to look where it was addressed to,
flora quickly switches out the envelope in front of her mother's door with another, and turns to enola as they read the address
'edith grayston
the tearooms, elise street
east london'
and entirely wrong of us to have memorized it.
the two girls quickly walk away from their mother's room, taking the envelope with them.
but when growing up in the countryside, there is little excitement,
enola runs to the mailman upon his horse and hands him an envelope before running back to florence.
so one clings to whatever narratives one can get.
mrs. lane gives enola and flora a look before walking back inside.
-end of flashback-
horses neigh as enola and i walk side by side across the busy road.
we have to dodge a couple people but other then that, we got across in one piece.
we walk up a few stairs to the tea rooms.
we enter with a small bell sounding from above the door.
"more macaroons, please, jason." someone says.
i walk in front as enola closes the door behind her.
"afternoon." i say to one of the waitresses as we continue to walk through the small shop.
i receive quite the scare as the roof shakes with a thud.
another one follows and the chandelier rattles.
i look to enola then to the waitress i talked to previously.
"what's up there?"
"noisy bloody women!" she says with a chuckle.
another thud comes from above as the chandelier shakes once again.
i open the big wooden door before quickly turning around and shutting it. "no, no, no, no, no." i say quickly.
"yes, yes, yes, yes, yes." enola says as she walks past me and opens the door.
i hide behind her as she walks in the room without a doubt.
"no, harder.
don't be afraid of her." a women says.
"step forward this time. good." she continues, walking towards us.
enola and i step fully into the room as she closes the door behind me.
i stand up against the wall, not wanting any of these vicious women to hit me.
"good afternoon." the lady who must be edith says to us.
enola pulls me by the arm next to her as the lady speaks again. "you wanting to be recruited?"
"no." i tell her carrying out the 'o' with emphasis.
i jump as a women hits the ground behind me.
"we're looking for eudoria vernet holmes." i tell her.
"florence?" she asks, i tilt my head to the side with a very confused look.
"enola?" she repeats, now looking at enola.
"florence and enola holmes. it is you, isn't it?"
as she looks us up and down she speaks again.