"Don't you go tipping that water all over yourself. The last thing I want is water being trapped through the house," Mrs Goodwin said, eying up the pail of water Mr Goodwin had just filled.

"Not to worry, Barb. Sybil's going to be doing the lower windows."

"I wasn't talking about Sybil." Mrs Goodwin glared at her husband and then glanced towards the wooden ladder that he intended to scale to clean the upper windows.

"Have some faith, we'll get these windows clean in no time."

Mrs Goodwin didn't appear all that sure about his comment and pursed her lips, looking at her husband. I ducked my head to keep from laughing and tried to distract myself with getting my sponges and dusters ready for the task ahead. Since I had a select number of clothes until Mum's package arrived, Mrs Goodwin had forced me to wear a flowered apron to ensure I didn't get dirty or soaked. At least it had pockets which gave me the perfect place to store my dusters. Other than that, I looked like a housewife.

Under Mrs Goodwin's watchful eye, we started a task that both of us knew would take most of the day to complete. A thick layer of dust and mud-coated the outside of the windows and would take a good deal of scrubbing to remove. Whilst we worked outside, Mrs Goodwin would be going through and cleaning the inside windows to allow for more light to flood the inside of the house. At least with cleaning the windows it wouldn't look like the curtains are closed all the time even though it's obvious they're not.

I started with one of the windows that looked directly on the stairs as Mr Goodwin climbed the ladder to start on a window to his bedroom. After dipping the sponge in the water, I dragged it across the front of the window and cringed at the amount of mud and dirt that came off. My pail of water would need to be emptied every few minutes. It took several sweeps across with the sponge until I could see into the staircase, although there was still dust on the inside of the pane I could see the steps for the first time. Muddy water dripped down my arm and I was thankful for the apron since it protected my blouse.

Once the mud and dirt had been scraped off with the sponge, I moved onto the duster which I kept tucked away in my pocket. With it, I worked on removing any streaks from the water as well as the small muddy droplets that the sponge had left behind. With a good bit of pressure on the duster, I removed most, if not all of the grim and marks left by the water. Although I had only done one window, my shoulder ached and I flexed my wrist to stop any cramp from setting in. By the time we finished, I didn't think I would be able to even lift my arm over my head.

"You alright down there?" Mr Goodwin called from above. He readjusted his cap and looked down at me.

"I think I've done the first one," I said, rotating my shoulder to try and loosen it up a little.

"Plenty more to go! If you need to take a break at any point, go ahead. Don't go hurting yourself, now."

"I think I slept funny, it'll be fine once I get into the swing of it."

"Just be careful, we don't want to be sending half of you home when this war ends." Mr Goodwin laughed and slammed his sponge against the wall, sending a splatter of water across not only him but me as well. "Oops, sorry!"

"I'm moving away from you," I said, laughing. "I want to stay dry."

"Probably for the best or I might drop the entire bucket on your head and then we'll both be in trouble."

Mr Goodwin laughed and I grabbed my pail of slightly muddy water from beside me and moved in the opposite direction to the ladder. We were likely going to cross paths again the more windows we did, but at least I could avoid having a bucket on my head for a little while. Mrs Goodwin wouldn't be all that impressed with me if she saw me covered in water even if it had been her husband's fault rather than my own. If it could be avoided, then I was at least going to try.

I moved towards the large, double window that looked into the living room and dunked the sponge into the pail, squeezing out some of the water before I placed it onto the window and started to scrub as hard as I could to remove the mud and grim. Some of the mud flicked off the window and landed at my feet whilst moving but some of it just became stuck to the sponge which made cleaning the window a little harder to do without making it any worse.

To stop myself from just spreading wet mud all over the window, I switched out the sponge for one of the dusters and began to wipe the dirt off the window as best I could. I knew I couldn't do all that much without swapping out my pail of water for a cleaner one, but I wanted to get as much of it off as I could before I switched out the water. The last thing I wanted to do was end up making a second pail of water muddy in a matter of seconds.

"Here, I thought you could do with a new bucket of water. If you give me that dusting cloth I can run it over the tap to clean it for you. Use the dry one to remove any streaks," Mrs Goodwin said, placing a fresh pail of water next to me.

"Oh, thank you." I handed over the dirty cloth and dipped the sponge in the water to remove the caked-on mud.

"You're probably the first teenager I've ever met who would willingly volunteer themselves into these many chores." Mrs Goodwin took my dirty pail of water and threw the water out onto the grass. "Even those who grow up around here grumble about chores."

"It's a habit, I suppose. Mum always roped me into helping with the chores around the house and since I never got on with school, Dad would take me down to the docks to teach me some more practical skills. Besides, there isn't much to do around here."

"What about your friends?"

"Eva will probably be at the Post Office and I don't know where Mark and Enid went."

"Hm. Well, perhaps you and Alec could do something. Jonathan said you were quite a fast learner on horseback, Alec could you show you some of the neighbouring farms."

"You sound like you're trying to get rid of her," Mr Goodwin said, carrying his bucket and then emptying it out onto the grass.

"I just want her to go out and make some friends with the local children rather than spending all her time hanging around here with us."

"Leave the girl alone, Barb. I thought you wanted the extra help around here, it was your idea to take in an evacuee."

I turned away and focused on cleaning the window, wiping off the remainder of the mud and trying to ignore the conversation that was happening right next to me. If my letter to Mum worked then I wouldn't need to make friends with any of the local children and I would be back in London and able to put my memory of my time in the country behind me. I preferred things the way they were before we were evacuated. Eva, Enid, Mark, and I were a very close group of friends and I didn't need anyone else, especially not the local children.

The only child my age I had met who I hadn't known back home had been Alec and he seemed like far too much of a dope. He seemed nice enough, but I didn't need any friends and I certainly didn't need anyone who I wouldn't remember in a year's time. I was perfectly content with putting my time to good use until I could go home and try to lessen the workload a little for Mr Goodwin. That was it. Friends were the last thing on my mind.

After a little while, Mrs Goodwin disappeared into the house and Mr Goodwin returned to his ladder, leaving me to continue to clean the window in peace. I couldn't help but wonder if Mr Goodwin had been right in his comment about Mrs Goodwin trying to get rid of me. All week she had been fine with me helping out with the chores since they were completed faster. Perhaps she needed some time to discuss my future without me around.

She may not have said anything when I told her about Mum's letter and her desire for me to stay, but I wondered if her sudden push to get me away from the house might have been so they could talk about me without me overhearing. If she wanted me gone, she should have just come out and said it, especially since I didn't want to be there any longer than she wanted me there. Maybe I didn't need my letter to Mum, maybe Mrs Goodwin would do all the work for me.

I finished cleaning the large living room windows, finally able to see through the glass and inside for the first time in a week. Although the inside of the window still had a large amount of dust on it, I could see the sofa and the coffee table through the glass rather than just mud. Two windows down, several more to go.

"Are you done with that window?" Mr Goodwin asked, appearing beside me. I nodded. "Great, let's get something to eat before we tackle the rest. I'm starving."

"I could eat."

"Come on then, let's see what food awaits us inside."

Mr Goodwin rubbed his hands together and waited for me to tuck the dusting cloth into my pocket and move the pail so it sat just under the lip of the roof. I wiped my hands on my apron and followed him into the house where Mrs Goodwin had made a plate of sandwiches, two mugs of tea and a glass of water which was most likely for me.

"Hands. Both of you," she said, glaring at the state of our hands from the muddy water.

"It's already looking brighter in here. Imagine how much light we'll get when all the windows are cleaned," Mr Goodwin said, washing his hands.

"Just in time for the weather to turn and the sun to disappear."

"That just means we can watch the rain." Mr Goodwin dried his hands and sat down at the little table, taking a sip of his tea and recoiling from the taste. "Can you get the sugar for me, please, Sybil? The jar will have it written on it."

"Yes, sure," I said.

I washed my hands and quickly dried them before slipping into the kitchen and scanning across the shelves for the sugar jar. Most of the jars had words written on them, but only two started with the right letter, except neither of them looked like they said the word 'sugar'. One of them I knew couldn't be the right jar because it had the wrong letter at the end and looked too short to be the correct one, the other didn't look like it would be the right spelling either.

Not wanting to seem like an idiot in front of the Goodwins, I checked every single jar again to make sure I hadn't missed it completely, but none of them looked right. I read every label several times over and the only one that could have been the sugar jar didn't look like it had the right word on it. Dad said that there were words written in order to catch people out, words that sounded like they should have been spelt one way but were spent a different way. Sugar appeared to be one of those words.

From the shelf, I took down the jar with the label that didn't look right and unscrewed the lid. After a quick glance around me, I dipped my finger into the jar and licked it, letting the sweet granules dissolve on my tongue. It was the sugar jar. I replaced the lid and returned to the table where Mr and Mrs Goodwin were waiting.

"Did you get lost?" Mr Goodwin asked, laughing slightly.

"Yes, I ended up in the garden," I replied.

"Maybe I can draw you a map."

"That would be very helpful, thank you."

Mr Goodwin laughed and unscrewed the lid of the jar, scooping a spoonful of the sugar into his tea and giving it a stir. When he drank it, he didn't make any indication that I had picked up the wrong thing and I felt myself relax against my seat a little more. Still, even though I hadn't made an obvious mistake, I saw the two of them exchange a lookout of the corner of their eyes as though having a conversation through eye contact alone.

Although I didn't mind telling them all there is to know about me - not that I'm that much of an interesting person - there are still things better left unsaid. This was one of those things.

~~~

A/N - Here we are! Chapter Twelve! I've got a good lead on this story which is great and I'm really excited for you to see what else is to come!

Questions! Do you think the Goodwin's know about Sybil's reading problem? Do you think Barbara will warm to Sybil? Why? Why not?

Let me know!

First Published - June 2nd, 2021