Files and More Files

Beep! Beep! Went off Rina’s alarm, she groaned and punched it with her fist. It was Sunday the first day of her job with Mrs. Lorimer, great!

 Her week had gone by in a blur; first she and Anne had met a new friend and partner for the school paper, Rachel, next she and Mya got into a studpid fight on Thursday over something, and finally, she and Brinn had done a school fundraiser to update the school desks, in the grade 12 classes(the desks were falling apart, because they were probably fifty years old).

Now it was time for her most dreaded day, sorting files for Mrs. Lorimer. Oh and today was Church which was not so bad, but she and her Mom volunteered to set up church events after church which usually took forever, because none of the other Church ladies seemed to agree on what dates the events should be on. 

Finally, after her rush of morning thoughts, she sat up and stretched. Quietly got out of bed, and began brushing her tangled black hair; she then changed into a skirt and striped sweater, and touched her lips and cheeks with a little lipstick. She felt a little more prepared, and ready to take on those Church ladies, maybe not a million files though. 

Church went by like a blur, similar to how everything else went in Rina’s week. There was a fair bit of arguing and decision making issues when it came to the Church ladies, but at least something was decided in the end.

 At last it was the most dreaded part of the day, going to Mrs. Lorimer’s to sort out a million files. To make things worse her family had decided to walk to church to save on gas money, so she now had to walk to Mrs. Lormer’s house, which happened to be twenty minutes away from her church, and it was raining.

Rina walked through the sopping wet streets; her shoes were getting filthy, which would make her mother happy. Her umbrella was not really helping to keep her skirt dry in any way. Rina came to terms with the fact that she would look like a complete hobo, when she reached Mrs. Lorimer’s house. Things couldn’t get worse when she got splashed by an oncoming car, which left her already damp coat, soaking wet any muddy.

Drat!!! She screamed in her mind, as she picked up her pace and began nearly running. It really would not matter if she got anymore dirty, because she was already at the limit of dirtiness. At last she reached Mrs. Lorimer’s fine house.

Before knocking on the door, she retrieved her tiny pocket mirror, and fixed up her hair a little, trying to look a little bit more presentable. Taking a deep breath she began to knock; almost immediately the door was answered.

“Hello Rina, please come in!” said Mrs Lorimer in a very cheery tone.

“Hello, Mrs. Lorimer. Thank you.” replied Rina as politely as could. Thankfully Mrs Lorimer had not noticed her messy appearance.

“Your welcome dear. We ought to get down to work, there are loads to do.” announced Mrs. Lorimer, as she led Rina to her office.

“Yes of course, Mrs Lorimer.”

“Good, good! Let’s get to work!” exclaimed Mrs. Lorimer, as she hauled a huge box of files and bunched up papers.

Here it goes, thought Rina as she grabbed a different huge box. Mrs. Lorimer was patient, which was a relief, because some of the files were a little confusing. After thirty minutes she realized that organizing files wasn’t so bad, it actually was interesting to read through files that were thirty years old. Also Mrs. Lorimer was lively and carried a good conversation.

“Rina, I heard that you like writing and reporting?” she asked.

“Yes, I do.” replied Rina.

“That’s wonderful, I was a reporter once, actually a few times. I started reporting around your age, there wasn’t a school paper in those days, but I used to write these short articles for my family and friends. When I was in my early twenties, I got a part time job at a real newspaper company in Toronto, which was really fun. I stopped reporting when I got married, but I never lost touch with the newspaper world especially when my husband and I bought the newspaper company. What I am saying is that it is a good path.” 

Rina was interested, she never thought that Mrs Lorimer had been a reporter, just a wealthy woman who had owned a newspaper company. She wanted to ask more, but that would be nosy, so she thought against it.

“That’s interesting! I am glad to know.” replied Rina, a little awkwardly.

“Well, that was the past. Oh my I never knew that I kept those files.” she exclaimed, as she looked through three files.

Rina, a little surprised, asked quietly. “What files?”

“Oh, just my children’s weight and height till they were eighteen. I can’t believe that I was so obsessed with that.” laughed Mrs Lorimer, with a shake of her head. She gently handed the files to Rina, to organize.

“Mrs. Lorimer, I found some old newspaper files. Just wanted to tell you, if you want to keep them in a special spot.” 

“This is a treat. These were from the forties, when I just bought the paper. I remember overseeing these being written.Thank you Rina, I definitely want to keep these safe.” she said softly.

As Rina was handing the files, she noticed newspaper clips, from the great war, and all the other terrible things that had happened during that time. The great war was not so wonderful; time for her mother’s family, actually no one’s family. She wondered if Mrs. Lorimer had played an active role on the news during that time, or if she had been a small part of the news spectrum.

“Well. Let us take a break.” announced Mrs. Lorimer, as she stood up and left for the kitchen. She came back with a plate of cookies.

“Rina could you please help me, and get the teacups and saucers?” she asked, gently.

“Yes of course, Mrs. Lorimer.” replied Rina, as she stood up and walked into the kitchen. “Do you want me to bring these flower patterned cups and saucers?” she asked.

“Yes, those will do.” 

Alright, she thought as she carried the cups and saucers very cautiously, and rested them on the less “crowded” desk. Mrs. Lorimer poured tea into two cups, and handed one of them to Rina. After the short “tea party” the two returned back to the work of sorting files.

 There wasn’t much conversation. Rina had been tempted to ask about her sister Hanna working for Mrs. Lorimer, but she decided against it; she needed to know Mrs. Lorimer to ask about her sister.

“Well, I think we will finish here, it is getting a little late.” announced Mrs. Lorimer.

“Alright. Thank you Mrs. Lorimer for having me sort your files.”

“Your welcome, and absolutely no problem, I should be the one thanking you. Doing these files alone would take me years.” she laughed. “Do you have anyone to pick you up? It’s not exactly safe to walk alone at this hour.” she asked, a little concerned.

“Yes, my sister Mya is coming; I think she is knocking on the door right now.” answered Rina, as she listened to a very obvious knocking.

“I hear it too. Well you better run along, you don’t want to keep her waiting.” 

Rina hurriedly answered the door, and came face to to face with the soaking wet and moody Mya.

“Finally, I was knocking for five minutes. Brrrrr! I am wet!” she announced, moodily, as she clutched her purple hands.

“Well you ought to come in and warm up. I am Mrs. Lorimer by the way.” said Mrs Lorimer, who had just reached the door. 

Hopefully. She had not heard Mya’s moody speech, thought Rina, as she watched Mya shake hands and say hello to Mrs. Lorimer.

“We better be going Rina, Obachan needs us to help her cook tonight. Mother and Dad are at a friends house for supper.” said Mya, after drying a tad bit.

“Alright. Well bye Mrs. Lorimer. Have a good evening.” said Rina, as she headed towards the door.

“Bye, Rina, and thank you!”

After the two girls had walked at least five meters away from the house, Mya began jabbering on.

“Woah! I never thought Mrs. Lorimer would be so friendly. I always pictured her as this snobby rich lady.” joked Mya.

“Seriously, look who’s talking. The girl that makes fun of her sister, about her fashion style.” snorted Rina.

“Well, maybe I do have a point. You do dress like an old woman/nerd, after all.” shot back, Mya.

“At least I don’t date boys over the weekend, and wear mini skirts.” added Rina, arguing with Mya was rather enjoyable, especially when it came to stupid things such as dating, boys, and fashion.

“Grrrr. You win.” groaned Mya.

Rina smiled and squeezed her sister’s hand. “Let’s hurry home, Obachan is probably losing her mind, and calling the police, because we are late.”

“Yep! For sure. Let’s race.” grinned Mya.

“Sure.” joked Rina, as she began to run.

 “Hey! You are cheating!” groaned Mya, as she caught up to Rina, and began sprinting as fast as she could.

Rina, burst into laughter, and stopped running. Mya, stopped and made a face of annoyance.

“What?!” she asked, confused.

“It’s just that you run strangely.” laughed Rina.

“I am pretty sure that I run like a normal person, normally.” laughed Mya, as she noticed the fact that she was wearing pumps for shoes, or ankle breakers if you ran in them.

“Well, not today. Maybe we should walk, unless you want to wear a cast for a month.” gasped Rina, as she eased her laughing.

“Good idea. Let’s hurry home, not sprinting.” said Mya, with a sassy smile.