The girl dimpled as some of her reticence eased. “I had violets and four roses, but a gentleman picked them up for his ladybird a couple hours back.”
“So it’s the gentlemen who buy most of your flowers? The ones who live in these houses? Not ones who merely work around here?”
The flower girl took a moment to ponder that. “It depends, I suppose. Some men buy them for their mistresses or girlfriends. Every so often I sell blooms to a man who’s in trouble with his wife, though. Then he’s buying everything I got.” Her eyes lit up with mirth. “One evening, a gentleman bought everything I had, on account of his wife being upset with him for forgetting their anniversary.”
“Ouch.”
She chuckled. “I told him if my flowers won’t do the trick, nothing will.”
Rosalind smiled back, liking the idea of someone’s big problem being a forgotten anniversary. “Have you worked on this corner very long?”
“Longer than I’d like. Almost two years.”
Excitement welled inside her. “Then you probably recognize many of the people who live and work in the area.”
“I do.” She nodded slowly, gazing at Rosalind with a new suspicion. “Why are you chatting with me all of the sudden?”
“What do you mean all of the sudden? Have I been rude to you?”
“Rude?” The woman looked at Rosalind askance, as if she’d just sprouted horns and started speaking German. “Listen to you, acting like you’re worried about my feelings. I’m a flower girl, not one of the swells living here and squiring their ladies!”
“What did you mean, then?”
Her cheeky expression turned a bit hesitant. “I meant, why are you asking me so many questions all of the sudden?”
“No reason. I, uh, was just curious about some things . . .” Her voice drifted off, hoping that the girl wouldn’t ask her to explain much more than that. If she pushed her, Rosalind didn’t know what she would say next.
Luckily, however, the girl didn’t seem too put off. “Well, usually I would say that you walk by me all furtive like, like you’re afraid your own shadow is going to catch hold of you.”
Rosalind was embarrassed. She had no idea that was how she appeared. “I’m rather new here. At first, I think I was scared of my own shadow. I guess I didn’t realize I was so noticeable.”
“Maybe not to everyone. But I stand here a lot, you know. And sometimes I don’t have many customers.”
Remembering her vow, Rosalind pushed a bit for information. “I moved here from Wisconsin a few weeks ago. You might think this is silly, but at first, I was afraid of everything here.”
“That’s not surprising at all. Chicago is a big place, and with the World’s Fair being here and all? It’s gotten bigger every day, and that’s a fact. When I first got here, I was scared to death of them trains. I was even certain I was going to get run over by one of them trolley cars.”
“I did the same thing.” With a self-conscious chuckle, Rosalind added, “I mean, I still do.”
“You’ll get the hang of the grips. Everyone does.”
“Where do you hail from?”
“Indiana.” She looked Rosalind over, and for the first time Rosalind realized that the girl wasn’t looking at her with contempt or through superior lenses. Instead, it was with a good dose of envy. “How did you manage to get hired on right away at one of the big houses?”
“I’m not sure,” she fibbed. “I went to the employment agency on the same day one of the families had just requested a new housemaid. They sent me right over.” At least they had after she told her tale about her mother wanting her to work for the Sloanes.
“Lucky, that. It must be something, living in one of those big houses and working for one of those fancy families.” A thick longing was in her voice.
It was on the tip of Rosalind’s tongue to admit that it wasn’t so wonderful. The work was hard, and she spent much of her days trying to move silently around four people who thought little of her. But she also had a room at night, enough food, and some level of friendship with some of the other girls in the house.
“Why did you leave Indiana? Why did you come to Chicago?”
The girl frowned. “I read in the paper that there were going to be a lot of jobs, good-paying jobs, for women who wanted to work at the fair. I’d been working as a maid-of-all-work for a family, but had to quit when I fell in love, because the family didn’t like their help socializing none. Then, well, my boyfriend started having a real hard time finding work in South Bend. A terrible time. He said he weren’t going to marry me unless he could afford it, so I got a wild hare and decided to come to Chicago for a spell and surprise him by bringing back a good amount of money home.”