Dance With Me

Section I,

Prologue

Posted on Tuesday, 11 January 2005

“And cut!”

The director’s voice echoed through the sound stage. The dancers froze in their positions and then relaxed after a moment as the lights went out. Several of them remained on the stage, while others removed themselves to dressing rooms, or to the table at the edge of the stage where there was cool water and fresh towels. It was very warm working under the lights, especially dancing in that heat, and all of them were fatigued and perspiring.

One of the dancers who was still on the stage stretched her lithe body into a split and yawned as she leaned her torso over her leg to increase the stretch. A moment later she turned, while remaining in the splits, and faced the other direction, reversing her split. Satisfied with her flexibility, she picked herself off the floor and made her way to get a cup of water and a towel.

“Miss Bennet,” the director called after her as she left the stage.

“Yes, Mr. Woodhouse?” Ella Bennet smiled as she turned to face the director of the production. James Woodhouse was a renowned film director. His credits went back to the silent era, and he had earned numerous Academy Awards for his work. He generally favored dramatic, period pieces, or modern thrillers. It had been major Hollywood news when he had signed to produce his latest picture, which fit neither description. No, James Woodhouse had decided to make a film was completely different from all others he had made before. In fact, it was completely different from any film anyone had made before.

“Ella, my daughter is giving a party this Friday at our home. I know she would love it if you could be there. It is a party for young people, and since you are relatively new in Los Angeles, Emma thought you might like to meet her friends. She has invited several of the other girls in this picture, as well as many of her friends from school and others who work here at the studio.” Mr. Woodhouse looked kindly at one of his best dancers, and hoped that she would accept his daughter’s invitation.

Ella had meet Emma Woodhouse only once before, at the party the studio had given to celebrate the first day of shooting. She seemed like a nice girl, about her own age, perhaps a little younger, but she also seemed a little spoiled. Ella couldn’t help but think that the spoiling was due to her father, who was, after all, incredibly famous and wealthy. Still, Emma seemed nice enough, and it was true that Ella was new in town and did not have many friends. However, there was one thing holding her back.

“Mr. Woodhouse, please tell your daughter that I regret I cannot attend her party, but to thank her for the lovely invitation.”

“Ella, come now, surely you have nothing else to do on a Friday evening, unless,” and here, his eyes twinkled mischievously, “you have a date?”

Ella had the composure not to blush. “No, Mr. Woodhouse, I do not have a prior engagement, but, as you know, I have my younger sister, Janet, to take care of, and I cannot just leave her for an evening. She is only ten.”

“Ah yes, I am sorry for teasing you,” the older man replied. “I am sure that Emma will insist that you bring your sister with you. Several of the families in our neighborhood have younger children who will accompany their older siblings to Emma’s little party. It will be nice for Janet, as well as for you, to be in company for the evening. Emma and I won’t take no for an answer, Ella.”

Ella smiled again at Mr. Woodhouse’s mock forcefulness. “Then we will be there, for sure!” She replied.

“Good, the party is to begin at 7, there will be dinner, and I believe that Emma has arranged for a Navy band to provide music for dancing.”

“Thank you sir.”

With that, he gave Ella a formal little bow of his head, and went off, calling out a question to the head cameraman, a middle-aged man by the name of Perry.

Ella smiled again at his mannerisms. He was a dear old man, to be sure. Very kind and doting, yet a little eccentric.

She got herself the cup of water she had needed, and made her way towards the dressing rooms.

Chapter 1:

Ella left the studio late, around five that evening. She would normally walk half of the way home before catching a bus, as she had grown accustomed to walking in Los Angeles, even though the distances in that city were far more suited to driving or bus taking. She liked the solitude afforded by walking, and it gave her a chance to think. However, this evening, she was delayed in leaving, and needed to get home to relieve her neighbor, Mrs. Kwan, of her charge, Janet.

Ella caught the bus that she knew would take her from Hollywood to her Westwood home. As the bus went along Wilshire Boulevard, Ella closed her eyes and was brought back to a moment, several months earlier, when she was riding on the same bus, absolutely elated from receiving her first job at Hartfield Studios. She remembered exactly how she had felt that evening, and how excited she had been to get home to Janet and tell her the news.

The sisters had been living in Los Angeles for about two months when Ella finally got a job. They had moved there from a small town further north in California, when their parents died. Ella knew that she needed to find a job to support herself and her sister, or else her sister would be taken away from her, and she knew that there was very little work for a nineteen-year-old girl who had never worked a day in her life.

Ella and Janet had grown up in a modest, middle-class home in a quiet town, and knew next-to-nothing of the outside world. However, when their parents were killed in a fire at the town filling station, Ella knew that she and Janet would have to move to a place where there were more opportunities for both of them.

Since Ella had been studying ballet since she could walk, she thought that perhaps she could find a job in Los Angeles as a teacher or perhaps even in a small dance company. However, with the War going in full force, most of the dance studios and companies had closed down, or, at best, downsized. None of them had the need or the money for another teacher or dancer, and Ella’s lack of experience made her a poor candidate. She tried even the local public elementary schools, including the one she enrolled Janet in, but, while many of them would have loved to offer dancing classes, the government funding for art classes had all but diminished with the War effort, and Ella could not afford to take a volunteer position.

Finally, one day, as Ella was walking dejectedly down Hollywood Boulevard, she passed a group of Marines, leaning on the window of a Drug Store. They looked her over for a moment, as she waited to cross the street, and then the boldest of the group whistled at her and said “Hiya, cutie! You ought to be in pictures!”

Ella had blushed furiously at the comment, and thought nothing more of the Marines until a few days later when she was reading through the want ads in the newspaper and came across an ad requesting dancers for a film at the Hartfield Studios, one of Hollywood’s most prestigious movie studios.

Ella went to the audition, and was selected. The pay wasn’t much, but it was enough to keep her and Janet, and the best part was that she was put under contract for the next three years. Ella knew that she would always be a chorus girl, and that her pay would never be great and her name would never be in lights, but a steady paycheck and the promise of a job – especially one that would last until the war was over (God willing) was enough to make her ecstatic!

Ella shook herself from her reverie as she realized she was nearing her stop. She got off the bus and made her way up the five blocks to her home. She paused for a moment in front of the home – a modest duplex of which she and Janet had the top floor. A large family, the Kwans, who had four children around Janet’s age, inhabited the bottom floor and Mrs. Kwan was always willing to watch Janet after school and on weekends when Ella had to work. She always laughingly said that there was really no difference between four children and five – the noise factor wasn’t increased by much. Ella, more than willingly, would watch Mrs. Kwan’s large brood whenever the good woman needed to go to the store, or just out for a few minutes peace.

Mr. Kwan owned a rather successful restaurant near the University of California, Los Angeles campus, which was only about five blocks from their home. It was always filled with university students, soldiers, and passers-by. He served both delicious Chinese food and standard American fare. Ella and Janet were regulars on Saturday mornings and Sunday after church. Ella favored the coffee and pancakes, while Janet was addicted to Mr. Kwan’s delicious egg rolls, which she claimed she could eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Ella made her way up the short path to the front door of the duplex. She knew not to knock, but instead to just walk in, and find Mrs. Kwan amid the mass of children. The neighborhood was full of children, all of varying ethnicities – many Europeans, some second-generation immigrants from England or Ireland, others fleeing from Nazi occupation in France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Italy, and many other places. There were also lots of Oriental families, from China, Japan, Taiwan, and other countries.

Ella loved the diversity of the neighborhood, especially that, even though they all came from different backgrounds, they all got along well. Most of the families were young, with children in high school or younger. All the children went to school together, and played together. It was a wonderful community to belong to, especially for two young girls with a tragic background.

“Janet, where are you?” Ella called, after greeting Mrs. Kwan. She looked around the living room for her younger sister, but couldn’t find her.

“I believe Janet is outside, with Tommy.” Said Mrs. Kwan, noticing that Ella couldn’t locate her sister. “They are doing some research for a science class, I believe.”

Tommy was Mrs. Kwan’s ten-year-old son. He and Janet were in the same class, and were good friends.

Ella made her way to the back door, through the kitchen, and saw her sister crouched with Tommy and another neighborhood boy at the base of the one tree that grew in the yard. They were intently studying something, and Ella walked over to join them.

Chapter 2:

“Hey Janet, Tommy, Nick,” Ella called out to the three children as she approached them. “What are you looking at?”

“Ella!” Janet shrieked as she stood up to hug her sister. “We’re making rubbings of the tree bark for a science project. Ms. Lehman wants us to study the natural world around us, and to investigate our environmental habitat.” Janet, typically, tended to use words that were advanced for someone of ten. She was a bright child, and loved everyone and every thing around her. And because of her sweet nature, everyone loved her.

“Hi Miss Bennet!” Tommy said as he stood up. Nick, the neighbor boy, the oldest son of the O’Shays who lived across the street, stood up as well and showed Ella a rather messy “rubbing” of the bark of the old pine tree. Ella smiled at their valiant effort, and then turned to Janet.

“Janet, only ten more minutes of playtime, ok?” She started, but Janet interrupted.

“El, we’re not playing, we’re studying nature!” She giggled at her sister’s “mistake” and rolled her eyes at her friends.

“Well, only ten more minutes of studying nature, then. I have some things I need to talk about with you – no, nothing bad – and then you need to finish your other homework.” Ella could tell from the looks of Janet’s partly undone braids, her scuffed saddle shoes, and the mud of the bottom of her dress that she had been studying nature for quite a while that afternoon.

“Fine,” Janet replied with a slight groan. “Hey, Nick, Tommy, let’s see if we can find some buttercups in the lawn! We can try holding them up to our chins to see if we like butter!”

Ella laughed a little, inwardly, at the children, and made her way up the stairs at the back of the house, and opened the door into her little apartment.

The top floor of the duplex wasn’t much. There was a small kitchen, with a little table in it and two chairs for the sisters. There was a fairly large living room that was almost completely bare of furniture, except for a side table that had the record player and small radio on it, and a wooden barre that Ella used for her dancing practice. She had been very glad that the floor of the living room was hardwood, because it was easy to dance on. The living room was situated directly over the Kwan’s living room, so Ella would not disturb anyone sleeping when she practiced. However, most of her practicing tended to be of the stretching and strengthening kind, not the jumping around the room kind.

Ella made her way to the other end of the living room, where there were two small bedrooms and a bathroom. She put her bag and purse down on a chair in her room, and made her way out into the kitchen, to find something for dinner. Unfortunately, the cupboard was as bare as Old Mother Hubbard’s, and Ella realized with a grimace that she had meant to go to the store on her way home.

“Darn!” Ella said as she slammed her palm down on the kitchen counter. “If only the shooting hadn’t gone on so long today! I’ve become so neglectful lately, I really don’t know what I’m doing.”

Janet had come up the steps and entered the apartment just as Ella was talking out loud to herself. She went over and hugged her sister around the waist.

“Ella, you’re not neglectful. You’re perfect. I’m not very hungry, only a little bit,” she said as she held Ella tighter. Janet always got afraid when she heard her sister talking like this. She was afraid that someone would take her away from her sister, and break up her world completely. Janet had dealt well with the loss of her parents only because she had her older sister to turn to.

Ella turned around and knelt down. “Oh J, I know, I just get very frustrated with myself sometimes. I don’t know how to run a home, and I don’t know how to raise a child. You’re the most angelic girl in the world, but even an angel needs some upbringing.”

“You’re an angel too, and Mommy and Daddy are real angels looking down on us from Heaven and they’re helping bring us both up!”

Ella laughed a little at her sister’s sweet childish thoughts. She paused for a moment and then said, “Janet, if you can finish your homework and get dressed in forty-five minutes, how would you like to go out to dinner?”

Going out to dinner was a treat reserved for the most special occasions – birthdays, the last day of school, and the day Ella got her job.

“Ella, did you get another job today?” Janet asked, surprised.

Ella laughed whole-heartedly at this comment. “No sweetie, but I just think that we’re both in need of a little pampering. Now, hurry up and get your work done!

Janet skipped off to the bathroom to fix her hair.

“Change your dress too,” Ella called after her. “I can’t let the people in the restaurant think that I’m taking a mud-covered hoodlum to dinner!”

“I will,” came Janet’s reply as she laughed.

After Janet emerged from the bathroom Ella took the opportunity to get herself cleaned up. She washed her face and re-did her hair. Although she had already changed out of her proper dancing clothes – her tights, and the leotard she wore under her costume – Ella thought she would take a few minutes to stretch out her muscles before putting on a new dress.

She went out into the living room and put her favorite record on the record player – Strauss’ “Blue Danube” and other waltzes. As the soothing, slow music began to play, Ella eased her right leg up onto the barre and stretched her body over it. Her muscles were a little stiff after the journey home, but a few minutes of stretching through the pain made her relaxed and revived. She decided that she was still warm enough to try a few of the moves she was working on for the next day’s shooting, which was the beginning of a long and complicated dream sequence told entirely through dance.

Though Ella was a simple chorus girl, the dancing in this particular film was quite spectacular, and allowed all the chorus dancers a lot of time to showcase their talents. The studio was very excited and pleased about this new production, and Ella was pleased and excited to be a part of it.

Ella put on her pointe shows, and was soon experimenting with the steps she had memorized during a rehearsal several weeks earlier. One of the things she was learning about film is that it may take many “takes” to make one scene, and while you may learn one part of the film at one point, it may be weeks before it is ever filmed, and it is very important for you to remember everything, because you never know when you’ll need it. The dancers were generally only given a day’s notice about filming, sometimes less, so they needed to be on top of all their numbers.

Ella had no trouble memorizing her parts, and was happy to rehearse them as much as she could. She loved the feeling of dancing, and let herself flow along with the music.

After fifteen minutes of intricate passés, bourées, pirouettes, jetés, and arabesques, Ella realized that she had told Janet to be ready in five minutes, and that she had better be ready herself.

As she was dressing, Ella remembered she had to tell Janet about their party invitation for Friday. Perhaps she could take Janet shopping for a new party hair ribbon, and something new for herself on Friday after school. She didn’t have a lot of money to spare, and their party dresses still looked fairly nice, but for a fancy party at Mr. Woodhouse’s home, she thought they should be a little “dressier.” Ella was usually finished with work early on Fridays, and hoped that she would this week.

Both sisters came out of their rooms at the same time, and were ready to go. It was nearly seven in the evening, and Ella knew that she and Janet shouldn’t be out late, so she suggested they walk into the town of Westwood and have dinner there.

“Are we going to Mr. Kwan’s?” Janet asked.

“We could,” Ella replied, “Or we could try something else.”

“I like Mr. Kwan’s,” Janet said, licking her lips in memory of her favorite egg rolls.

“I know you do, but why don’t we walk around for a bit and see if we want to try something different. We do go to Mr. Kwan’s a lot. We were just there on Sunday, and we usually go at least twice a week.”

“Alright,” Janet said, as she took her older sister’s hand and the two girls walked cheerfully along the sidewalk.

Chapter 3:

Ella and Janet made their way into “downtown” Westwood. Westwood was a fairly newly developed area. The downtown held several restaurants of various ethnicities, indicative of the type of people who lived in the neighborhood, a grocery, a hardware store, a barbershop, and a drugstore. Most of the residents of the area were young families, many of them immigrants, all lower-middle class. It was a very friendly area, and many of the merchants knew all of their customers by name.

Ella and Janet had managed to make several friends among those in the downtown as well as in their immediate neighborhood. The family who owned the drugstore, the Lukas family, was quite close to the two girls. The Lukas family had immigrated to America in the late 1930s, from Germany, when Adolf Hitler’s rise to power began.

The Lukas’ were Jewish, and had managed to escape from the Nazis before the threat to them was too great in Europe. Unlike many Jews in Germany, Poland, Austria, and surrounding countries, the Lukas’ had been lucky enough to escape to America, instead of just to another European country where Hitler’s power would eventually spread. Every day more and more horror stories were written in the newspapers about Hitler’s extermination of the Jews in death camps.

Ella knew just how terrible it was in Europe, and was glad that America had finally joined the war. Living through a war in America was difficult, but she knew it was necessary to fight the evil of the Nazis and the other forces in Europe and Japan, so that peace could be restored to the world. She knew that what everyone was going through in Europe was much worse than anything she could imagine.

The Lukas family had moved to New York City at first, where many immigrants end up when they first come to America. The family struggled to learn English, both Mr. And Mrs. Lukas attended night school after working all day in factories to make ends meat. After an unsuccessful year living in poverty among other German immigrants in the relative slums of New York, Mr. Lukas, a proud, hard-working man who had been a prosperous farmer in Germany, decided to move his family to California. He had heard of it as the land of Promise, which it certainly had been during the Great Depression a few years earlier, and he thought that he could perhaps buy some land and begin farming again.

The family ended up in Los Angeles, though, with very little farmland in the area. Mr. Lukas rented a small apartment and looked for work. He found employment at a drugstore run by an older gentleman who had inherited the store from his father. The man had no family of his own, but he hired Mr. Lukas as a clerk, and continued to promote him when he found out that he was an excellent worker. When the man died, he left the entire drugstore to Mr. Lukas, which was a giant promotion and great salvation for the family.

The Lukas family had four children, three girls, and a boy, who was the youngest. The eldest daughter, Charlotte, was twenty-one, and was good friends with Ella. Charlotte worked as a telephone operator for a large agency downtown.

“Hey Ella,” Janet asked.

“Yes?” Ella replied, looking at her sister.

“Can we go to Mr. Lukas’ and get hamburgers and milkshakes?” Janet pleaded a little with her sister. Hamburgers and milkshakes were a treat, but Ella thought that sounded just perfect that evening.

“That is a wonderful idea! Let’s go.”

The two girls headed towards Mr. Lukas’ drugstore, which was called “Doc’s” after the original owner. They opened the door and a little bell chimed.

Mr. Lukas was behind the counter, pouring a coke for a customer, a young man in an army uniform.

Ella and Janet went up to the counter and sat down on the tall stools in front of it. Ella waved hello to Mrs. Lukas, who was cooking in the back.

“Ahh, the Bennet girls,” Mr. Lukas smiled at them. His accent was fading over time, but he still retained a great deal of “Old World charm.” “What can I get for you this evening?”

“We’d like two hamburgers, please, Mr. Lukas,” Janet said, “and I would like a strawberry milkshake. What do you want, Ella?”

“I’ll have a vanilla shake, please.”

“Now, girls, you know, because of rationing, that the hamburgers will only have a little bit of meat. Mrs. Lukas has come up with a delicious meat substitute made up of grains, and I am sure that you will like it just as well. Milkshakes, eh? Well, I guess I have enough sugar and milk rations left over for those. No strawberries, though, sorry Miss Janet. Mrs. Lukas was canning peaches all day for the hospitals. I think she has a few extra leftover… how do you like a peach milkshake?” Mr. Lukas was a very affable gentleman, who always tried to make allowances for his customers, especially Ella and Janet, for whom he had a soft spot in his heart.

“That sounds yummy! Thanks Mr. Lukas,” Janet said happily.

“It sure does,” Ella added. “Make mine peach too please.”

“Two burgers and two peach milkshakes coming right up!” With that, Mr. Lukas went into the back of the store where his wife was.

Ella and Janet turned to each other and started chatting. Janet told Ella about her day at school, and about the science project her teacher had assigned. The Ella remembered about her big news.

“Mr. Woodhouse asked me today if I could go to a party that his daughter Emma is giving of Friday. Apparently, she’s got a Navy band to play for dancing, and has invited a lot of her friends who are my age.”

“Wow, that sounds fun, Ella.” Janet seemed genuinely happy for her sister, but a little upset not to be able to go to the “grown-up” party.

Ella sensed her disappointment, and grinned as she spoke her next words. “And the best part is, Mr. Woodhouse invited you too!”

Janet smiled and hugged her sister, giving a little shriek of excitement. “Oh goodie! I’m so excited El!!”

“I thought you would be. Mr. Woodhouse said that there will be many other kids your age there. Maybe we can both make some new friends.”

“Yeah, and we get to get dressed up and go to a fancy party! Isn’t Mr. Woodhouse a big Hollywood director? I bet his house is huge!” Janet giggled.

“Yes, he is well-known. Now, I thought that maybe we could go shopping Friday after school. You could get a new hair bow, and maybe some new party shoes. I think that your nice dress is still good, but your shoes may be getting a little bit small. We don’t have a lot of money to spare, but it would be nice to get a little something special.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun! Maybe I can get a red silk ribbon to match the one on my dress. And can I get white party shoes? A girl in my class has shiny new Mary Jane shoes and I’d love a pair like those.” Janet was already very enticed by the prospect of a shopping trip.

“We’ll see,” Ella said, smiling yet again at her sister’s eagerness.

At that moment Mr. Lukas brought out their meals. “Here you are, ladies. Please enjoy.”

“Thanks!” The sisters chorused.

They ate in silence for a few moments. Janet then said, with her mouth very full, “this burger is good, I don’t care what Mrs. Lukas put in it.”

“You’re right. This gives me a new idea of a recipe to try. I saw a recipe for false meatloaf in the newspaper last week, and cut it out. But I wasn’t sure how good it would taste. If its anything like this, though, it will be delicious.”

Janet made a face, but tried to hide it. She was not a fan of meatloaf, no matter how many times Ella told her that it was basically the same thing as a hamburger, just without the bread around it. You could even eat it with ketchup!

Ella read Janet’s mind (and expression) and laughed. “I also read in the same recipe that you can make meatloaf into hamburgers with two pieces of bread and put some vegetables and ketchup on it. I promise that you won’t know the difference. Plus, it will last for several meals.” Ella wasn’t much of a cook, but she did like to make new recipes, and was always trying to improve her skills.

Janet’s face brightened considerably at this, and she took a long drink of her milkshake. “This peach milkshake is very good too! How come you never can peaches, Ella?”

“Because I would make a terrible mess and waste a lot of peaches and sugar, that’s why! I have very limited skills in the kitchen. You should know that by that fiasco with the jam last summer!”

Janet giggled again. Ella had tried to make strawberry jam one day when there was a special on over-ripe strawberries at the market. It had resulted in a sticky mess all over the kitchen. She had successfully filled only two jars.

A few minutes later, as the girls were finishing their meals, the man in the army uniform who had been sitting at the counter the whole time put a dollar on the table, put his hat on, stood up, and walked to stand in between the sisters.

“Hello, ladies,” the stranger said, tipping his hat. “I couldn’t help but notice two pretty girls enjoying a lovely evening together. I’m George Wickham,” he said, with a large grin.

Chapter 4:

Ella stared at the soldier for a minute before smiling at the young man, saying “Hello.” She was totally unaccustomed to strangers speaking to her, especially when she was with Janet, and this man’s forwardness took her completely by surprise.

George Wickham, as all readers know, was really a cad, but he was a dashing and handsome one, with a knack for winning over young ladies. He didn’t think of Ella as anyone special, necessarily, but she could be good for a bit of fun. She seemed especially “promising” to his twisted mind because she appeared to be quite young and yet have a child, which was a sign she was easy. This made him smile even more.

“And hello to you too, young lady,” he said, with yet another toothy grin at Janet. “You’re a pretty little girl, just as pretty as your mommy.”

Ella was completely shocked by this statement. She was barely ten years older than Janet, and certainly she was not so “worn-down” as to look like she was old enough to be the mother of a ten year old! She blushed furiously to the tips of her ears, and was about to give the man a piece of her mind (and possibly her fist), when Janet spoke.

“She’s not my mother,” Janet said, her voice as cold as ice. “My mother is dead and she is my older sister. You’ve a very rude man.” Janet, who was normally a very sensitive, yet calm child, looked as if she were about to rip the man’s hair out at the same time as freezing him with her stony glare.

“Please forgive me, ladies. I didn’t mean to insult you! My most sincere apologies. I merely thought that you, madam,” he nodded at Ella, “seemed so responsible of your sister that you appeared to be very motherly. I apologize for insulting you. It was not my intention.” George Wickham was very flustered. “Dammit, why did I make that mistake!? Now I’ll have no chance with her,” he berated himself. He put on his most innocent and apologetic face.

Ella saw that the man was genuinely (or so she thought) sorry for his error. “Its alright,” she said, after a pause. “I suppose it is an easy mistake to make. Our parents died last year, and I have been raising my sister alone since then.” She was a bit reluctant to forgive him, especially since Janet still looked furious, however, she thought it best to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Oh, the poor girl,” Wickham thought sarcastically to himself. “She’ll need a shoulder to cry on, and I have one free.” To Ella he said, “Thank you for accepting my humble apologies, Miss --?”

“Call me Ella, and this is Janet.” Janet’s glare had softened a little, but she was still reluctant to trust the man.

“Hi,” Janet said softly, her tone returning almost to her normal sweet temper, but with a bit of trepidation. She was always determined to see the best in people, but this man had gotten off to a pretty bad start. Still, he could not be as bad as all that. It was a simple mistake.

“Lovely to meet you both,” Wickham said, removing his hat. “May I join you for a slice of pie?” He slipped himself onto the stool next to Ella.

“Well, I’m not very hungry, after the large dinner we just ate, but thank you just the same. Janet, we should get going, it’s late and you have school tomorrow.”

“May I walk you home?” Wickham was reluctant to let them get away so soon, especially since after his first snafu, he thought he had made a good impression.
“Oh, its not far, and we have an errand to run first, but thank you just the same,” Ella replied, grabbing Janet’s hand and walking toward the door. George Wickham no longer offended her, but she didn’t really want to spend much more time with him. He was just a random soldier, someone she would never see again, or so she thought.

Ella and Janet made their way home, where they listened to the radio for a bit, before going to bed fairly early. They didn’t talk about the strange soldier from Doc’s, but the encounter was on both of their minds.

As Ella was drifting off to sleep, she heard Janet walk towards her door. She sat up in bed. “What’s up?” she asked.

“I was just thinking about that man at the pharmacy,” Janet said, coming to sit on the edge of Ella’s bed. “I feel badly about how I spoke to him. I was very rude.”

“Well, so was he,” Ella said, with a bit of a smirk. “But I know what you mean. You did nothing wrong, remember that. Sometimes you have to be a little rude to express your feelings. Usually you’re such an angel. Now, let’s get him out of our minds, I’m sure we’ll never see him again, and, frankly, I’m not going to worry about it.”

“Okay, then I’ll do the same. Thanks Ella. I feel better. I’m excited to work on my science project tomorrow! Goodnight!”

Truthfully, Ella was glad that Janet had expressed her feelings so forcefully that night. For once, the sisters’ roles had been reversed. She, the outspoken one, had been tongue-tied by the soldier’s comment, while Janet, usually so sweet and a little bit shy, had no qualms about speaking her mind. It was good to know that they each had a bit of the other in them.

Ella felt that she was truly blessed to have a sister who complemented her so well. They were very different, they even looked different, but they got along so well, and she really felt that Janet, even though she was only 10 years old, was her best friend. They were lucky to have each other.

Chapter 5:

The next few days passed smoothly, quickly, and uneventfully for Ella and Janet. Janet finished her study of nature for her science class, and Ella finished shooting one of the large dance numbers in the film. They were both excit...