A Flickering Light by Jane Kirkpatrick Read Free Book Online Page A

short time in order to achieve what she wished for? Maybe she should just walk out the door now. But she didn’t.
    “Tell her it’s like…going to the Winona Normal School,” Jessie advised. She spoke firmly, belying the pounding of her own heart. No photographs for six months? It would be like giving up food. But then maybe such a sacrifice was what she deserved. She’d had it too easy. Now things were about to change.
    “Very good,” FJ said. He pointed his pencil at Jessie. “Because it is. And I’m not charging you any tuition the way Winona Normal would. You’ll come out with skills that might lead you to a profession nearly as valued as teaching. At least you could assist your families until you marry.”
    Voe giggled again. “Jessie’s married to that camera.”
    “Looks like she’ll be getting a divorce then,” Mr. Bauer said. “If she’s in my employ.”
    “I’ll tell my ma,” Voe said. “But I bet she’ll be just as miffed as Jessie’s ma when she sees her bloody blouse sleeves shortened as they are.” She pointed to Jessie’s bare arms.
    “Are you injured?” Mr. Bauer said, confused.
    “Nonsense,” Jessie said.
    But he stepped toward her as though to lift her arm to examine it, then stopped.
    “It’s… camera related,” Jessie told him. “A gamble of the profession, one might say. But nothing to worry over. Thank you for your interest though. That’s very kind.”
    “Very well,” Mr. Bauer said. “You’re willing to accept my terms?” He stepped back, became professional again.
    She’d only had the camera a year, but it had become as much a part of her as her corset. She’d gotten by without it this morning; she supposed she could get by without the camera too, but it wouldn’t be as easy. It would be like gazing into a window, wishing for a fancy dress hanging there right in front of her, but unreachable.
    She’d have to keep her word once she gave it. It wouldn’t be forever. She’d learn new skills, prove herself to Mr. Bauer, and before he ever imagined, she’d be back taking photographs. That would be her goal.
    “Agreed,” she said. She picked up the camera case as though it were a precious child and handed it over to him. He nodded, then set it beside his chair. Jessie stared at it. Had she made a terrible mistake?
    “You begin on Monday at eight in the morning. We’ll start with a tour of the facility. Today, you may leave by the front door, but in the future, please use the back entrance. That’s where employees enter.”
    Both girls offered him gloved hands, then left. Jessie considered what she’d just agreed to. Lilly would say it was one of the requirements of employment, and small sacrifice at that. Selma would tell her she’d just given up a piece of her heart. Neither sister would be totally correct. Jessie was in the middle: a small sacrifice did not quite describe the act. And while she hadn’t given up a piece of her heart, she’d surely made it hesitate by leaving her camera behind.

Expectations
    M RS . B AUER — IT WAS HOW SHE thought of herself—drifted through the house, feeling wispy and unfinished, dragging her palm across newly dusted tabletops, lifting the fern fronds to tease her fingertips. Winnie napped and Mrs. Bauer had tasks to do, as any mother did. It was time to reorganize the closets. It was a task she felt she must accomplish at least monthly. But a great emptiness veiled her today, a fog she couldn’t brush away. She had no energy, not even to argue with Mr. Bauer about weaning Winnie, a subject he’d inappropriately brought up some weeks before. Any residue of strength she might have had he’d robbed from her this morning by his intrusion. It was no concern of his, or ought not to be, this detail of child rearing. Weaning was within the purview of women, of mothers and grandmothers, not husbands and fathers. He still had so much to learn.
    When her father had brought Mr. Bauer home following one of his photographic