Pandora's Trunk: 13

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I discover that I’ve also bought a locked trunk

In ancient times, when the box owned by the beautiful Pandora, the first mortal woman,
was opened all the troubles of the world flew out and could never be put back.

So what will happen when a trunk with the name 'Pandora Wilkins'
is discovered in a house in North London in 2009?

Pandora’s Trunk
Chapter 13

by Louise Anne Smithson

Copyright © 2013 Louise Anne Smithson
All Rights Reserved.

 


Image Credit: Picture from PublicDomainPictures.net. Free for commercial and personal use with restriction. Girl in Red.


 
Chapter 13 An extension to my contract
 

I briefly caught up with Carol the following morning as she was about to leave for work.

‘You’re up early this morning Becky, I thought it was your day off today,’ she said as she was putting on her shoes ready to go out.

‘It is, but I’ll be going out myself later on,’ I replied.

‘Well, goodbye for now,’ she said giving me a quick kiss before picking up her handbag.

‘Carol, are you expecting to be home as usual this evening?’

‘Yes, I should think so?’

‘Good! I’ll be making our dinner as usual, and there’s something that I need to talk to you about,’ I said.

‘Oh dear! That sounds a little ominous,’ she said, but fortunately she was in too much of a hurry to ask me anything else.

~o~O~o~

I decided to put on a pair of Nick’s jeans, a plain t-shirt, white socks and some trainers, as I didn’t want to make any of Becky’s clothes dirty. I had no wish to look androgynous and so I also put on some makeup and a pair of hooped earrings which she’d given me permission to wear. I was originally intending to wear my sister’s winter coat, but the weather was unusually warm for early November, so I borrowed one of her sweaters which she didn’t mind me using, instead. I looked in the mirror just before leaving and was satisfied that my appearance, although not glamorous, was probably acceptable for a young woman on her day off from work.

My first task that morning was to visit the cash dispenser and withdraw  £300 from my savings account so that I could pay Sam Turner the remainder of what I owed to him. Once I’d also repaid Lucy I would have less than  £100 in both my accounts, but I was going to be paid at the weekend, and there were always some tips to share. I made my way to the house in Cricklewood arriving at about 10.30 am, gave Sam his money and he gave me another receipt. The clothes were all now mine. He let me into the flat once again.

‘Let me know when you are ready, young lady, and I’ll help you to carry them down to the garage,’ he said, before leaving me to my own devices.

I began to survey my purchases in the cold light of day. They were certainly a great bargain but I‘d no idea what Carol was going to say when she saw them all! However, I began to formulate a plan to break the news to her gently.

There were in fact three empty suitcases under the bed, as a smaller one was inside a larger. I began by sorting the clothes into different categories on the bed, packing all of the summer clothes and other things that I wouldn’t need immediately, into the suitcases, whilst simultaneously discarding a few that I would never wear into a pile. The cases were soon full and ready to be transferred to the garage. I then began filling two largish cardboard boxes provided by Sam, and finally with three large plastic sacks. I put the leather coat for Carol, and a dark red jersey dress and a pair of matching shoes that I particularly liked to one side, together with an unopened packet of tights. It took me more than two hours to pack everything up, before I asked for Sam’s help.

‘It will be a relief to have the room clear so that I can begin to prepare for the next tenant,’ he said as he took the suitcases downstairs whilst I followed behind with the plastic bags.

‘I’m glad to be of assistance,’ I said, smiling.

‘By the way young lady, after you left yesterday, I remembered that there was also a wooden trunk that my former tenant was storing under the stairs, which is also now yours, if you want it. I’ve already carried it out to the garage. You may take it as well, if you wish, or else I will get rid of it for you.’

‘What’s inside it?’ I asked.

‘I’ve no idea; it feels as if it is full of linen or perhaps some blankets, but I can’t be sure since it is quite sturdily built and securely locked and I don’t have the keys. It took two of us to carry it downstairs, but I don’t think it contains anything particularly heavy or which smells badly.’

It proved to be a nice looking trunk, with the name ‘Pandora Wilkins’ engraved on a small brass plate. It was securely locked with both a hasp lock and a padlock and I wouldn’t be able to get inside without sawing through the padlock and then forcing open the hasp lock thereby spoiling what might otherwise be a useful and attractive item of furniture. No doubt I would be able to store it in Carol’s loft for the time being, and decide what to do about the contents later. I might as well take it along with everything else that I’d bought.

‘Mr Turner, would you now mind if I quickly changed my clothes upstairs before I leave; these have got a bit dusty?’ I asked.

‘Please go ahead.’

I quickly put on a pair of tights and changed into the dress and matching shoes and touched up my makeup, and was quite pleased with the result as I looked at myself in the bedroom mirror. I also put on the leather coat that I intended to give to my sister, and might have been tempted to keep it for myself if it were not for the fact that I now possessed two others of my own. I put the clothes that I’d been wearing in one of the plastic sacks to await collection on Saturday, and those I intended to discard in another bag which I would drop off at a charity shop on my way to the bus stop. I then said goodbye to Sam and made my way back home to tidy the flat and prepare our meal.

~o~O~o~

‘That’s a nice dress you are wearing Becky, are you borrowing it from Lucy?’ commented my sister, as we sat down to our supper that evening.

‘No, I’ve bought myself some second-hand clothes; they’re all in good condition, like this dress, and were an incredible bargain.’

‘Oh yes?’ she responded with a note of suspicion.

‘Carol, you need to understand that they all came as a job lot.’

‘So exactly what have you bought yourself?’

I took a deep breath.

‘There are nine or ten dresses, half a dozen skirts, several pairs of trousers, a dozen or more blouses and tops, and some shoes,’ I said, then added as an afterthought, ‘and various other things.’

‘My goodness, you’ll have more clothes than I do. Where are you intending to keep them all?’

‘Most of them should fit in the wardrobe, the chest of drawers and the dressing table in my room as there is plenty of room in each of them. I was hoping that I might be able to store the remainder in the loft until I have a chance to go through them all and decide what to keep and what to give away.’

‘What are you planning to do with Nick’s clothes?’

‘I’ll leave them where they are for the time being,’ I suggested.

Carol didn’t look as if she was entirely happy with the idea.

Did you really need to buy so many clothes?’ she asked.

I nodded.

‘I would have preferred to buy just a few but the owner wouldn’t sell items individually. It was all or nothing — I’d no choice,’ I said.

‘How did you hear about the sale?’

‘Lucy told me, she was with me at the time and she’ll confirm that this is true.’

‘Lucy always seems to be involved whenever you do something reckless,’ she said with a note of irritation.

‘You mustn’t blame her; it was my decision to buy them using my birthday money from Mum.’

‘Hmm,’ she replied without committing herself.

I decided to change the subject.

‘There were also some nice winter coats as well, and I wondered whether you would like to have one of them?’ I said getting up and going to my room, returning with the dark red leather coat.

‘What do you think?’

‘My goodness, this coat must be worth a couple of hundred pounds even second hand,’ she said.

‘Do you like it?’ I asked.

‘Yes, of course I like it, it’s lovely’.

‘Then why don’t you try it on?’ I said holding it out for her.

‘Alright then.’

She proceeded to put it on and began looking at herself in the hall mirror. It fitted her perfectly, and she looked really good in it.

‘Carol, I’d like you to have it to thank-you for being such an understanding sister to me’.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes of course, I’m pleased to be able to give you something that you like and that suits you so well.’

‘In that case, thank you, Becky’ she said giving me a kiss, ‘I can see that there are some advantages in having a younger sister’.

‘The remainder of the clothes will be arriving on Saturday morning. I hope that will be alright with you.’

She sighed.

‘Alright then as long as you can store them in your room and in the loft, I won’t object. By the way I’ll be staying with Geoff on Friday night and Saturday morning.’

‘Thanks for telling me. I hope you have a good time, but please take care,’ I said.

‘That sounds the sort of thing that Mum might say.’

‘Well I have to look out for my big sister.’

She smiled, and also looked a little guilty, but only for a minute before returning to looking at herself in the mirror.

‘I think I’ll wear this coat this coming weekend.’

I was quite pleased that she was going to be away, as it would mean that I could get everything stowed out of sight before her return.

~o~O~o~

One good thing about my purchase would be that from now onwards I’d be able to travel to and from work wearing my own clothes and then change into my work clothes on arrival at the club, just like all the others. I began to do so on Friday, wearing one of the dresses that Carol had given me, and taking my work clothes with me. I was just about to get changed when Jack asked to see me in his office.

’This is it,’ I thought and kept my fingers crossed that Randi had been right in her predictions.

‘Well Becky, you appear to have kept your side of our bargain, and have taught yourself to look, speak and present yourself as an attractive young woman.’

‘Thank you, kind sir, I’ve done my best’ I replied.

‘Our plans haven’t quite worked out as we wanted, but we still have ambitions to train you up for our new floor show in the spring. In the meanwhile I can offer you a six month contract to continue working behind the bar on the same conditions as you do now. If we’re able to go ahead with our plans before the six months are up I’ll arrange to give you another contract.’

In many ways this was ideal for me. I was happy doing my present job and learning how to be Becky. I had no pressing ambitions to sing and dance, for the time being, at least.

‘Thank you, Jack. I should like to accept your offer.’

‘There’s just one small point though.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Those hair extensions will be beginning to get a little loose by now. You should arrange for them to be refitted. The club will pay.’

‘Two of my colleagues wear wigs to work.’

‘I know, but we have no ambitions for them beyond working behind the bar. I think with a little more time and practice you could be quite special, so I would prefer you to continue just as you are, if you are agreeable.’

So that was it. They were expecting me to remain as Becky for the next six months — at least it saved me from having to make the decision about my hair myself.

‘Alright, if the club is willing to pay,’ I replied; then added as an afterthought, ‘but I just wonder what my mother will say about it when I get to see her for Christmas.’

‘Maybe now is the right time for you to face that issue and tell her, rather than wait until Christmas,’ he replied.

I didn’t answer. Instead Jack phoned and made an appointment for me to have my hair done again the following Thursday morning. I therefore decided that the evening would be the ideal opportunity for me to announce to my sister and to my cousin my news and also my intention to continue living as Becky for some time to come.

~o~O~o~

Lucy succeeded in persuading Andy and his friend Paul (the one whom I’d previously met at the club) to help transport the various items from the garage in Cricklewood to Willesden on Saturday morning. In fact there was so much for them to move that it eventually involved them in two journeys. Although I’d been working the night before, I managed to get up early to direct operations. The guys deposited the cardboard boxes and plastic bags in my room. I also asked them to stow the suitcases and the trunk up in the attic for me, but we soon discovered that the trunk was never going to go in through the access opening so only the suitcases with my summer clothes could be stored there. On the other hand, the trunk did fit very nicely in the bay window of my bedroom, and so I covered it with a white table cloth and it made a nice coffee table for us all to use once the job was done. I thanked the two guys and gave them each a half bottle of whisky for their trouble. Lucy already had the winter coat and the boots from me and said she was really thrilled with them.

‘I’ll have to go now, Becky, but would you like me to pop round to help you sort out your new clothes sometime?’ asked Lucy, as they were about to leave.

‘Yes please. Could you manage next Thursday afternoon?’ I asked.

‘I could be here about three,’ she replied.

‘Perhaps you could also stay on to have dinner with me and Carol afterwards.’

‘Alright then.’

~o~O~o~

I was left on my own and I’d just about had time to cram most of the new clothes, costume jewelry and cosmetics into the available cupboards and drawers in my room before Carol returned home. There was no longer enough room for all of Nick’s clothes in the wardrobe and so I put most of them into one of the cardboard boxes which fitted under the bed, for the time being. Anyone coming into my room in future and looking around would assume that it was occupied by a young woman, and I would be happy to let them think so.

I was just getting myself ready to go in to work when my sister knocked on my bedroom door and asked to come in. She was still wearing the leather coat that I’d given her.

Is everything moved in now?’ she asked, looking around the room.

‘Just about, but I’ll need to do a certain amount of sorting out over the next week or two. Lucy’s coming to help me on Thursday; I thought we might have dinner together again afterwards, if you’re free.’

‘Alright then. What’s that?’ she asked, pointing to the trunk in the bay window, covered in a cloth.

‘It is just a wooden trunk that proved to be too big to go in to the loft, but it makes quite a convenient little table there.’

She then turned to me.

‘I must say you look very smart again today Becky; you’re really learning how to make good use of cosmetics and to do your hair.’

‘Thank you. My eyelash extensions have mostly now fallen out so I’m learning how to use mascara instead.’

Carol smiled recalling her initial reaction to me dressed as Becky.

‘I should never have said those things to you. I actually think you look nice as a girl.’

I blushed and thanked her for the compliment.

‘At least I’ll have some more choice about what to wear from now onwards.’

‘So I see,’ she replied and was about to leave when she seemed to remember something.

‘By the way, I found some keys in the inside pocket of that coat you gave to me.’

She handed over a couple of small keys on a ring.

‘Thank you,’ I said, taking them and dropping them into my handbag as I got up ready to leave for work.

As usual the club was really busy on Saturday and also fairly busy on Sunday night and as a result I rather forgot about my new wardrobe for a while.


 

Next time: I discover what’s inside the trunk

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Comments

Aha!

The name of the story now becomes clear, and we have a good idea of what the keys from the coat open. :)

Lovely story!

There must be something remarkable inside that trunk. After all, the story isn't called Pandora's clothes :-)

Wondering what Becky and

Carol will discover in Pandora Wilkins' Trunk? Whatever it is, they will be surprised, no doubt.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Key scene

I think we have seen a key scene in this chapter. ;-)
I'm looking forward to the next one!

Martina

Keys!

Hypatia Littlewings's picture

The keys, the keys!
Could they be to a certain trunk I wonder?
Does Becky know the story of Pandora?
*giggles*

Gee, I wonder what Mom is gonna think.

Arghh!

I wanted to find out what was inside the trunk right now lol! Your really good!

Hugs

Vivien

The Money Or The Box?

joannebarbarella's picture

No contest! It's the box of course. Once again I have the advantage of having started late so I don't have to wait to find out what's inside.

I love the way you work the title into the story

Rebecca now has more cloths then her sister and cousin together.
A coat pocket ! When I can't find something that's where I look.
At least I find some money. The trunk is filled with phone books. Anything else is better.

Cefin