A Flickering Light by Jane Kirkpatrick Read Free Book Online

jaundice, mercury poisoning. I have already had it. In 1901. It took me six months to recover. The second time, in 1904, I entrusted this studio to Mr. Risser and hoped to heal at my farm in North Dakota. But I needed to return.” He pulled at his mustache, ran his hands through his black-as-ink hair. He didn’t elaborate. “It’s said that each time the sickness comes, the recovery takes longer. I’ve been exposed my whole life, though. You ought not to dwell on the possibility of your becoming ill. If we rotate the chemical work, none of us will. But others might worry for you. So I wanted you to be aware.”
    “What’s it like?” Voe asked. “The sickness.”
    “The skin becomes spotted, and the stomach wants to divorce the body,” he said. “One’s mind is good though forgetful, but the body weakens.”
    “I wouldn’t like that,” Voe said. She shivered.
    Jessie turned to Voe. “He’s only had the sickness twice, and he’s been a photographer for…” She looked up at him.
    “Since 1894. Twice, in my forty years of living.”
    “That’s twice in thirteen years of being a photographer. I don’t think we’ll have anything to worry about, Voe.”
    Voe shrugged.
    Jessie calculated further. Mr. Bauer was just two years younger than her father. Working for the photographer could be like working for Papa, who’d be a kind employer.
    Mr. Bauer stood then, erect as a military man, dapper with his starched collar and cuffs. His thick mustache covered his upper lip. His nose was narrow and appeared to have never been broken. She might call him handsome in a prim sort of way. But she thought she saw sadness in this man’s brown eyes too.
    “Miss Gaebele, you will need to pay attention,” he said, “if you’re to acquire the necessary skills to pass the certification test.”
    Jessie lowered her eyes. It wasn’t polite to stare and worse not to know what your employer might have just said.
    “I don’t plan to take a test,” Voe said. “I did enough of that in school. Can I still be in your employ?”
    “You have to listen and learn. It’s not required that you take the exam, but I’ll want a certified person to run the studio should I become ill again, and if Miss Gaebele doesn’t take the test or pass it, then I’ll be looking for new employees. And you, Miss Gaebele? Are you one to avoid an examination?”
    “Oh, never. How else could I discover what I didn’t think I could do?”
    He appeared to like her answer, for she thought she saw light come into his eyes behind his lenses, tiny as a pinprick. He adjusted his dark tie.
    “Very well, then. One last thing. While you are in training, I do not want you to photograph on your own. I will ask that you leave your Kodak behind when you come here. In fact, I suggest that you leave it here in this studio until I feel you have acquired the necessary discipline. You’ve likely learned bad habits that I’ll need to change if you’re to be a useful assistant. I’ll decide the subjects and the settings of photographs that I might allow you to take. At first, you will not be photographing at all. You’ll be learning how to schedule appointments, develop and make prints. If you’re very good, very observant, perhaps you could be taught retouching. If you wish to work a little extra. It could earn you more money, though much of that work my wife, Mrs. Bauer, does. As she has time. Are these conditions acceptable?”
    “I’ll need to ask my ma if I can work for six months without pay,” Voe said. She crossed her arms over her chest.
    Jessie had heard what he said about not taking photographs, but she couldn’t believe it. What a waste not to allow them to do the very thing he was hiring them to do! “What a waste of…pluck!” Jessie blurted.
    “You’ll have to unlearn bad habits.” He looked at Jessie. “And, Miss Kopp, you’ll likely have some habits in need of work as well.”
    Did she want to give up what she loved doing for even a