“What?” Margaret pricked her finger, rubbed it against her thumb, and tried to get the pin through the fabric again. She glanced at the couple. “May I help you?”
The woman raised her eyebrows. “Is that child still in diapers?”
Margaret immediately felt like shoving the couple out of the house. Really, wasn’t she having enough to deal with without putting up with the woman’s shocked tone? She finished fastening the pin and gave the woman a look she was sure expressed her annoyance at the question. “Did you come here to ask what I do with my children?”
“No,” Doug piped up. “They want to sell you pots.”
The man smiled. “We apologize, ma’am. The boy is right. We represent the Anderson Kitchen Supply Company, and we thought you might be interested in new cookware.”
Charles sat up, so she quickly grabbed a shirt and put his arms through the sleeves.
“I have enough pots,” she replied, wishing they would leave.
“We offer more than that,” the man continued. “We also sell baking pans and kettles.”
The woman nodded. “We also offer pot hooks. I notice you don’t have any in this kitchen. If you had some hooks, it would clear up some of that shelf space. I have a couple I use in my own kitchen, and I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
“It does save up a lot of room,” the man agreed.
Margaret buttoned the boy’s shirt, glad that her focus was on the task at hand because, otherwise, she might not be able to hold her temper in check. She hated salespeople. If she wanted to buy kitchenware, she’d go to the mercantile.
Doug and Bob stared at the couple while Ben made raspberry noises.
“I am fine with what I have,” she finally said, realizing she had to say something. She stood Charles on his feet and got the pants ready for him to put on. He held onto her shoulders as she instructed him to place his foot into the pants. “I don’t need the extra room.”
“May I check your cookware?” the woman asked, already stepping to the side of the table and toward the shelves.
“No!” Margaret took Charles into her arms, even as his pants dangled on him, so she could dart in front of the irritating woman. “I’m sorry, but in case you haven’t noticed, I’m busy. I have a houseful of children to take care of, and the last thing I need is for you to go through here and tell me what’s wrong with my pots and pans.”
The woman’s eyes grew wide and she let out a light gasp. “I certainly didn’t imply to overstep my bounds. I thought as a woman who does a lot of cooking, I might offer some advice on a better set of cookware.”
Charles kicked his legs until the pants flew off of him and onto the sugar that was still on a part of the floor.
“Oh my,” the woman said, just noticing the mess. “You certainly do have your hands full. Are you sure you can handle all of this? I do know a nanny who might be a big help.”
That’s it. Margaret couldn’t take it anymore. “I would be able to do this if I didn’t have unwanted company trying to sell me something I don’t need or want.”
The woman blanched. “There’s no need to be rude.”
“Rude? You come in here and insult the way I take care of my children while you try to make a sale, and you call me rude?”
The woman stared at her as if she couldn’t believe her ears.
The man cleared his throat. “We’ll leave you to your work, ma’am.” He took something out of his briefcase. “You might like to check our catalogue. At your convenience of course.” He set it on the kitchen table. “Come along, Mildred. We’ll try the house next door.”
Mildred gave one last look around the room and muttered, “My children were out of diapers when they were two,” before she left the house with the man.
“I’ll get one of Ben’s pants, Ma. Charles can still fit ‘em.” Bob ran off down the hall.
“I can wash up the pants,” Doug said. “I helped Pa with this. I know what to do.”
Overwhelmed, she glanced around the kitchen. Never in her entire life had she ever felt that everything was out of control.
Bob returned with the pants. “I’ll watch him, Ma. Go ahead and clean up the sugar.”
She stared at Bob as he told his younger brother to hold onto him so he could help him into the small pants. Then she turned her gaze to Doug who started scrubbing the pants along the washboard. Ben banged on his highchair but laughed when Charles fell down while Bob tried to get the pants around his waist. Finally, she went to the drawer and pulled out a clean cloth. As she pumped the water to wet it down, her tears started to fall.