Authors: Veronica Melan
A pesky fly buzzed past her ear, Jenny angrily frowned and waved her hand – she was so fed up of hanging around in this sun, this heat, from this boredom, earning these miserable points, which might bring her the desired freedom no sooner than a couple of hundred years. She was really missing those days when she was working at the “Polo” earning a lot more, having fun here and there, relaxing with the owner, and returning back in a small, but still her own apartment in the evenings. And Robert was such a nice chap... Yes, almost boy like sometimes, but still lovely. Jenny missed feeding him.
Then Shereen came and ruined everything. Because of HER everything got turned upside down and Jenny ended up at this rotten ranch, living with these women, doing this hellish work with no light at the end of the tunnel! Why was Shereen allocated a separate room, whereas Jenny was placed in the barracks? Why is it that Shereen sees the handsome Hulk every day whereas it was always Jenny’s dream to hook up with one of the rich owners and have a luxury life in Tally? Why wasn’t Shereen slaving over these miserable bushes, and instead pretending to be a heroine-saviour of all the poor and disadvantaged? Why wasn’t she sleeping in the creaky drafty barracks, squeezed like a sheep into a herd and not able to find a moment for a rest?
Jenny clenched her fists, almost shaking with anger. But today Shereen will pay for everything and pay dearly - her room and her possessions will be taken away. It will even be better if Hulk gives her at the mercy of Greg - he wants to have fun with her so much!
But the most important thing is that when the barracks will start burning - all the inmates will have to be moved somewhere else. And Jenny guessed that the new location would be Hulk’s house. Of course, where else? There weren’t any other unoccupied buildings around. They will have to wait until the new barracks is built or the old one is repaired, but that would take at least a week or two – and when once she is settled in at the mansion, she will find a way to stay there – she’s already made a few friends with some maids and dish washers. If one of them would just mention a word to Hulk about Jenny - she could join the ranks of the working staff and eventually she’d find the way to improve her relationship with the owner.
She licked her lips thinking about it. He is a nice looking guy - this Hulk - healthy, strong and proud. No, not proud, but dignified; Jenny really liked that quality. If she showed up with a partner like that, the others would die of envy.
But first thing’s first - Shereen must be moved out of the way. She wrecks everything. She’s always done that.
Keeping her eye on the sun, Jenny’s mind delved again into the details of what would once and forever change the status quo.
The noon has come.
Jenny’s nerves already thinned and were strained to the limit - it was time to act and every minute was precious. She made an appearance in the dining room, spent some time there in order not to arouse any suspicion by her unexplained absence, and as soon as she’d finished with a piece of bread and a couple of spoons of some obscure soup, she slipped out into the hallway and then out in the street.
Jenny crept down the alley to the house and hid behind a bush near the wall. The kitchen was easily visible from here - Shereen was standing on the footpath, waiting for Tabitha to put both barrels on the cart. This couldn’t be a better time! Jenny thought that Lady Luck was very being friendly to her today.
As soon as the barrels were placed on the cart, Shereen began pulling it towards the road leading up to the hill and to the quarry then Tabitha disappeared in the kitchen. Jenny took a deep breath, emerged from behind the bush, sneaked into one of the side entrances of the house and slipped into the cool shadow of the corridor.
Now she had to pray that nobody saw her inside the mansion. Clenching the precious key with her sweaty fingers, Jenny quickly and quietly cruised through the twists and turns of the first floor. And there it was! Her final destination!
She stood in front of Shereen’s door, listening - no voices, no footsteps, nothing. Yes, her hands were shaking and sweat was pouring down her back, yet her heart was pumping loudly and excitedly. Finally! She’s been waiting for this moment for so very long!
Jenny turned the key inside the lock, worrying about how well it would fit, and breathed out with relief as she heard a click followed by the creak of the opening door. It worked! She immediately walked in, locked the door behind her and frantically looked around - a table, bed and a single wardrobe. Well... not a very luxurious interior and not really what’d she expected to see, but still it was better than in the barracks.
Now it was time to act fast again.
Spotting the details just with a corner of her eye, Jenny began rummaging through the wardrobe, trying to find something that Shereen wore most often. This exact thing must become the evidence, tainted by fire, and Jenny would get the most amount of pleasure from spoiling it.
She smiled contentedly, inhaled the air and then frowned as she got a whiff of Shereen’s perfume.
Jenny hated her as much as she hated all these clever books piled on the table, where she couldn’t understand a single word, those pencils and even a table lamp. There was nothing under the bed or in the corners - how primitive and poor - but the porch was quite nice. Jenny was already picturing herself sitting there in the evenings after this room becomes hers. Her fingers were disdainfully feeling the clothes lying on the shelf. There were a few pairs of knickers, spare socks and a couple of shirts, but not the ones Jenny saw Shereen wear on a daily basis. Jenny was getting annoyed - where was the clothing she wanted?
Some bath products, soap, shampoo, towel, toothbrush were on the upper shelf. How cute! But that wasn’t what she had to find. Jenny looked down to see what was on the bottom shelf (it was dark in the room, but turning the light on was far too risky), and rejoiced. Finally! There it is! The dirty blue T-shirt that Shereen wore almost every day! Nothing would do better than this. Ask anyone to describe Shereen and they would certainly mention this very shirt as an essential attribute of her appearance. Great!
Jenny folded the T-shirt as tightly as she could and tucked it behind her skirt’s belt. That was it. Now she can get out of here, although she would’ve liked to explore the room more meticulously, it was too dangerous to stay here any longer.
Ready to go, Jenny glanced at the table and just about managed to fight off the strong desire to wreck the ancient books, which were so highly valued by Hulk, but nobody would believe that Shereen damaged them - everyone knew that she cherished these fossils more than the owner which meant Jenny must leave them alone. But what about her translations? Shereen would never spoil her own work either - it would look ludicrous. Jenny sighed in frustration - it seemed like she had to stop here. The main damage will be caused later on today, so she reluctantly swallowed the poisonous bile, which was eating her up inside.
That’s it. Time to leave.
As Jenny turned to the door, her eyes stumbled upon the pillow - acting by instinct rather than expecting to find something specific, she went to the bed and lifted the edge of the pillow. Something was hidden underneath - Jenny lifted the pillow higher and saw a bag with a neck tied by a piece of rope. She threw the pillow off the bed.
What was it that Shereen kept under her pillow? Was it something valuable? It must be something valuable if it was kept there. And Jenny will take it, even if there was a pile of manure - just out of principle - because no one would keep any rubbish under their pillow, but rather something important to the heart. And who cares what it is?
Jenny eagerly grabbed the bag - it was pretty heavy, and jingling in a strange way. She untied the rope, stuck her fingers inside and took out something round. What is this? Thrusting her hand deeper inside, Jenny pulled out lots of similarly shaped but differently coloured roundels and placed them on her palm. They were sparkling faintly in the dimly lit room. Not believing her own eyes, Jenny approached the window to have a closer look.
Unbelievable! Gems! Roundels were precious stones - a whole bunch of gems!
Jenny almost choked with surprise, anger and joy. How and where did this bitch get these precious things? What if they cost a fortune? How many of them were there in total?... Dozens, hundreds? White, green, red and blue .... Any colour you want!
Her plump lips stretched into a mad grin - it was just incredible to find these gems in Shereen’s room! This was huge luck to find them not just in this room, but at this mansion and this ranch! There couldn’t be that many places in the whole of Tally where you would find stones like these. Jenny happily laughed and then immediately covered her mouth with her hand. She sheepishly looked around and listened out for any voices. She must calm down! Jenny reluctantly put the gems back in the bag, wrapped them into the blue t-shirt and tucked everything back behind her skirt’s belt.
That was really it for now. She is gonna come back here later after she’s sorted out other things. A lot of stuff still needed to be taken care of, but, yes, Jenny was smiling - everything was going smoothly, according to her plans, and since the discovery of the pouch in Shereen’s room – it all became utterly perfect! If she could sell these stones at a good price, then maybe this was her chance to get out of Tally right away? And if not - there is a possibility to improve her life considerably. She is such a genius for plotting all this and subsequently finding this gift!
Jenny mentally praised herself for checking underneath the pillow and slipped out of the room. Everything was going great! Now it was time to find Conchita.
Conchita was the girl who was in charge of cleaning the first two floors of the mansion and the cellar. They became friends during their daily lunches and dinners in the dining room. A shallow, pale and dull Conchita didn’t have many friends amongst the staff, for the most part because she was never particularly clever or bright, however she was doing her work well and Hulk decided to keep her where she would be most suited - with the detergents, cleaning products, rags, brushes and powders.
When Jenny spotted the girl out of the staff dining alone, she immediately decided to take a closer look at her and see if their friendship could play into her hands one way or another. As it turned out - it was a great decision. Jenny never liked missing the chances presented to her by life - it didn’t give out the good ones very often, and this girl was really great to get acquainted with, because she had one weak spot she told Jenny about the few days after they’d met.
Conchita secretly was secretly mooning after one of the guards, but she’d never dare to admit that to him, however with a bit of help from Jenny who kept in touch with Greg, Conchita got the chance to stay in tune with the latest events about her beloved’s life, even though it was not particularly interesting. Yet when she and her friend would meet up in the dining room, Conchita was thrilled to hear something new about him.
Jenny was happy to buzz about everyday life in the men's barracks, managing to get new information from Greg and even though she quite frankly wasn’t that enthusiastic about the friendship with the clingy maid at first, now she was very happy that they got acquainted, because today Conchita will help her to realise her plans.
Jenny turned into a narrow corridor, carefully avoiding the main hall (bumping into someone would now be too risky), snuck in the back room - a small larder where soap-powder and mops were stored, and where, as far as she Jenny knew, Conchita would visit after she’d finish cleaning.
She sincerely hoped that she wouldn’t have to wait for too long, but everything turned out even better. The maid was already in there! She was rummaging through some brushes, cloths and bottles and putting them into a basket. When Conchita heard the steps, she turned around and a stupid smile that Jenny hated appeared on her face.
“Jenny, sweetie, what are you doing here?”
Nothing made Jenny grimace as badly as when someone she knew called her “cutie” names. She looked around, squeezed into the room and closed the door.
“Hi, matey. We need to talk.”
Conchita looked intrigued by the conspiracy.
“Why are closing the door? Its lunch time, you are allowed to come here and talk to me.”
“Sh-h-h-h!” Jenny pressed her index finger against her lips, “Nobody must know that I’m here, OK?”
“OK.” The maid was still smiling.
“I need your help. Do you understand? But it’s a secret.”
Her friend frowned.
“A secret?”
“Yes, if you help me out with something, I’ll help you in return.”
“Really? But how can you help me?”