Mrs Lorimer

A large ruckas went on in Rina’s room as she searched for something to wear, today was the day she was going to meet Mrs. Lorimer, so she had to look proper and tidy, not like a flour sack like she normally did. 

Well! Rina concluded, she absolutely had nothing suitable to wear(she basically only wore slacks, boring grandma skirts, sweaters, and blouses). She actually wished that she had gone shopping with Mya, more, which was a first. 

As she finally gave up, and decided to wear the same yellow skirt that she wore on Monday, with a white blouse, Mya entered the room carrying one of her dresses.

“Rina I see you need a little fashion help, well I decided to lend you one of my dresses.”

“Thank you, Mya! Quick question: is the dress a mini dress?” she asked, Mya mainly wore borderline short dresses and skirts.

“Yes, but I am a lot taller than you so it will look like a gown on you.” Mya retorted.

Rina blushed, it was true that Mya was a giantess compared to her small five foot one frame.

“Alright, I accept gladly!” said Rina, trying to sound eager, though she was skeptical.

“Rina, could I do your makeup and hair, that pony tail of yours isn’t exactly stylish.” begged Mya. 

“Sure. I do need some help with my hair, but could you please ease down on the makeup, I don’t want to look like twiggy, when I meet a respectable older lady.” 

“Alright, your eyelashes could use some help but I will ease off.” replied Mya as she hurried to her room and came out with her hair styling things and makeup.

The next thirty minutes was a whirlwind. Rina’s hair was tugged and brushed, her face was powdered, and she felt the cold wand of mascara on her lashes. When Mya was almost finished she handed her a tube of soft pink colored lipstick.

“That color will suit you, besides you will get compliments from all the ladies at church and hopefully Mrs. Lorimer.” 

Rina accepted the lipstick, and lightly coated her lips. When she tried to hand it back to Mya, Mya retorted that she should keep it, and that she looked better in peach anyways. Rina looked at herself in the mirror, she looked fresh, and well older and more mature. The mascara made her hooded eyes wider, and the lipstick was perfect.

“Woah, Mya! Thank you!” exclaimed Rina, now she was ready to take on anything.

Your welcome, my dear sister; now I must get ready for church.” she said softly as she left Rina’s room.

Church went by in a blur, before she knew it she and her family were leaving the church aisle, and speaking to some of the church ladies. Mya was right. She did receive compliments; who knew that some makeup and a change of style would be impressive, she thought as she thanked one of the main church ladie’s, Mrs. O’Brian.

As the clock ticked, Rina’s butterflies got worse. She was seriously nervous about meeting Mrs Lorimer, which was ridiculous, she would just be sorting files. At last her mother announced that it was time for her and Rina to go, and get on with their appointment.

The drive to Mrs Lorimer’s house was quiet, except for when Mrs Yack turned on the car radio to listen to the news. Usually Rina would be eager to listen to the news, to hear how professional reporters did their job, but today was different, she had to be focused on her own things, giving a good impression.

“We are here!” announced her mother, as she began parking the car.

Mrs Lorimer’s house was well, posh and quite large, with stone walls, a lot of windows, and an overall look of something out of the Victorian era. Her house was in a nice and old neighbourhood after all, one of the nicest one’s in Victoria, so it made sense that it would be classy.

As Rina stepped out of the car, she noticed flower vases in each window, and very thin lacy curtains. Probably Mrs. Lorimer liked flowers and lace, thought Rina; this gave her the feeling that Mrs. Lorimer would be a high class lady, which made sense, she used to own a newspaper company after all, but who knows, she thought.

Mrs. Yack knocked the large wooden door, and the patter of feet was heard. A tall, gray haired woman answered the door.

“Hello, Mrs. Yack. This must be Rina, hello. I am Mrs Lorimer.” said the woman.

Rina and her mother both said hello, and shook hands with Mrs. Lorimer.

“Well come on in. Let us get down to business.” announced Mrs. Lorimer, she had a sorta spunky personality, which Rina decided to like. She seemed to be one of those middle aged women who had a great deal of fun in life.

Mrs Lorimer led them through a beautiful and old fashioned living room, and modern kitchen, to her rather cluttered and file filled office.

“Take a seat ladies and get comfortable.” said Mrs. Lorimer with a sweet smile, as she pointed at two chairs. 

Rina and Mrs. Yack gladly sat down. 

“As you might notice, Rina, my office is in quite a disarray, thanks to my abundance of files.” she said, as she gestured towards the piles of files.

“Yes, I did notice. Mrs. Lorimer.” Rina said, trying to speak confidently.

“Good! So I would like you to come over to my house, once a week, to help me organize these files, alphabetically, or by date. But the files that are useless to me we will organize and throw out.” Mrs. Lorimer spoke energetically, and used a lot of hand gestures, noted Rina.

After a few more back and forths, it was decided Rina would work for Mrs. Lorimer, to help organize her files, both in her office and her attic. The meeting was now finished, so Rina and Mrs. Yack said goodbye, and left.

On the drive back, Mrs. Yack, spoke excitedly on Rina’s new schedule. She tried to keep up with her mother’s chatter, but her mind was full of one thought; her sister had worked for Mrs. Lorimer before she had left for Toronto. That was why she had some memory of Mrs. Lorimer. She wondered if Mrs. Lorimer knew about her sister’s affair and marriage, before it had happened.

“Mom, could I please stop by at Anne’s house real quick, it is around here. I just need to drop off my section of the school paper so she can edit it. Please??” 

“Sure, but please don’t be long, I need to help Obachan with supper.” answered Mrs. Yack.

“Thank you Mom, I will be fast, around five minutes.” she assured her mother.

Mrs. Yack pulled up in front of Anne’s house, Rina quickly hopped out of the car and hurriedly knocked on the door. A familiar face opened the door, Anne.

“What is it, Rina?” asked Anne.

“I just stopped by to hand it my section of the school paper, I won’t be long, only five minutes.” 

“Alright, but I am pretty sure that is not the exact reason why you stopped by? Is it something to do with your sister?” asked Anne.

“You are right, but it has nothing to do with Hanna. So today I just got a job with a lady named Mrs. Lorimer.”

“What’s unusual about that? That’s great!”

“Thank you! Well, it really isn’t but, my Mom told me about it yesterday before breakfast. It just feels weird, because my Mom isn’t exactly the type of person that proposes a job offer. Also, Hanna worked for Mrs. Lorimer for some reason, I think it was because Mrs. Lorimer got injured or something.”

So you are saying that Mrs. Lorimer might know why Hanna moved and got married so soon?” asked Anne.

“Exactly! I just feel that I don’t have enough answers at the moment, my parents told me a lot and so did Mya, but I feel that they haven’t told me all of it or that they don’t even know all the details. It happened so quick after all.” Rina clutched Anne’s hand a little.

“I am not sure exactly how to answer this, Mrs. Lorimer or whatever her name is, probably doesn’t even know about it, why don’t you ask Hanna, if you want the full picture.” explained Anne logically.

“I know, I know. But you know I got into a bad fight with Hanna in the summer. I just don’t feel ready to speak with her yet. But enough about this idiocy.” said Rina, in reality she really did sound like an idiot, trying to get information out of Mrs. Lorimer.

“I don’t think it is idiocy, so I will support you. But to change the subject Lois has to quit, writing the paper, because of her load of school work to get done.” replied Anne, kindly.

“Thank you, Anne, you are best. Oh no! Who is going to replace her?” she exclaimed, Lois was the best writer on the team.

“I am not sure yet, but we are good for a week because she just sent in her section of the paper. On Monday, I am planning to schedule a meeting, if that works for you; I am also creating an advertisement, which I will be putting around the school for the position.” Anne said all of this in her extra rushed and businessy tone.

“That will work great for me, I have a lot of time lately because I am doing the easiest subjects this semester, minusing the math. That’s a smart idea, but I am not sure who will be able to fill her position because most of our grades have no interest in the school paper whatsoever, and the older grades are pretty busy.” 

“Perfect! That’s true, probably we will have to look for someone. Oh and your Mom is gesturing that you have to go.” Anne said as her gaze switched to Mrs. Yack’s intense hand gestures.

“Shoot! I better go than. Bye Anne! Exclaimed Rina as she quickly hugged her friend and rushed toward her car, Anne laughed, and shook her head. Rina, though she was more serious these days, still she was the same forgetful, careless, and wonderful person, that she always was.