Bess McCurdy
Eleanor's Dance
Eleanor spent her entire life of fifteen years living in a small one-bedroom farmhouse on the property of her grandma’s old plantation house in Pigeon Creek, Alabama. Eleanor’s father, George, was a sharecropper and her mother, died when Eleanor was eleven. Her grandma, Mae, had moved in with Eleanor and her father two years ago after her husband, Eleanor's grandfather, passed away. She could no longer afford to take care of the house and do all the work, so she sold the plantation house and moved in with her son and granddaughter in the small farmhouse. George rented the farmhouse from a woman named Helga. Now Helga always had to have the best of everything. She had the best and top-of-the-line furniture and clothes available. Helga was married to a sweet man, John, but John could never do anything good enough for Helga. Helga complained about everything he did. She told him that he did not even shovel the cow manure right and that he better get outside and start over! He got so fed up with Helga and her complaints that he just left her. She had already run three husbands off, and now John had made the fourth.
Helga was the mother of two very bratty girls named Estelle and Norvelle. Estelle and Norvelle were just like their mother. They had to have the best clothes and styles of anything available. Since Eleanor’s father rented land and the small, run-down farmhouse from Helga, Eleanor was supposed to help Helga, Estelle, and Norvelle with chores around their plantation house every day. In return for her help, Helga would knock a little off of George’s rent every month. This sounds like an easy task for Eleanor to accomplish, but anyone who had ever been around Helga, Estelle, or Norvelle would say what an awful experience it must have been to be in Eleanor’s shoes.
Eleanor was supposed to help with the chores, but instead ended up working on every chore all by herself. Estelle and Norvelle would be found taking a bath or resting outside under a shade tree, but never milking cows or cleaning the kitchen like Eleanor. Eleanor cooked and, cleaned up after every meal, scrubbed the floor on her hands and knees, and tended to the farm animals. Not only was Eleanor responsible for these daily chores, but Helga, Estelle, and Norvelle each had a bell. Every time they were too lazy to get up and get what they needed, which was all the time, they would simply ring that bell and wait for Eleanor’s service. It never failed, every time Eleanor would just begin a chore, like tending to the garden, one of those brainless girls would ring that bell to make Eleanor bring them something, like a glass of tea or make her fluff their pillow.
Every day, Eleanor had to listen to Estelle and Norvelle tease her about the clothes she was wearing, how messy her hair was, or how they were going to some dinner party while Eleanor had to stay and clean their house. Eleanor would have to watch Estelle and Norvelle prance around in their new, elegant dresses and just wish she could one day own a new dress. Eleanor would go home crying every night to her father. She wanted to know why she had to continue to work for such disrespectful and cruel people. Eleanor’s father would simply tell her that this was once her Grandma Mae’s land and she could not bear the thoughts of leaving this land, but Eleanor would not accept this answer. She wished somehow, someway to be as far away from Estelle and Norvelle as she could.
Eleanor was never allowed to go courting or out anywhere with her friends from school.
She would watch as Estelle and Norvelle would prepare for a Friday night
community dance and only wish she were allowed to go, but when Helga would catch her daydreaming about her chance, Helga would shout to her, “Get back to work! You will never be anything more than a servant to my house. You will never have the chance to go out dancing.”
Eleanor hated Helga and her two stuck-up daughters. She wanted to run away and never work for them again, and she knew she would get her chance one day.
One afternoon while Eleanor was preparing dinner in Helga’s plantation, she heard a knock at the door. It was Lana, Norvelle’s best friend. She was carrying her brand new fancy dress with matching shoes, hat, and jewelry. She was so excited she burst through the door and knocked Eleanor right down to the floor. She raced up the stairs and straight into Norvelle’s room. All Eleanor could hear was squealing, hollering, and carrying on. Lana and Norvelle were excited because the yearly community downtown fair was scheduled to be this coming weekend. This was just Monday and each of the girls could not stop staring at themselves in the mirror. They were bragging about how beautiful their fancy gowns were and how Landon, the cutest and richest boy in all of Pigeon Creek, Alabama, would admire them and ask them out for a Friday night walk. They just could not wait for the weekend.
Eleanor listened to the girls boasting about the fair and Landon, and longed for her chance to attend the fair.
When Lana caught Eleanor listening to their conversation, she just laughed at Eleanor and told her, “I guess you will be scrubbing the kitchen floor this Friday and Saturday night. Too bad you can’t come with us to the fair, I would like to see you in your new rags, and I am sure Landon would love them too!!”
Lana just turned around and giggled to Norvelle. Eleanor had had enough and ran out of the house.
She ran home crying and slammed the screen door. Her grandma ran after her and asked her what was wrong. Eleanor just cried telling her grandma about how much she wished she could go to the fair. Her grandma told her she would have a talk with her father and Helga. She thought she could arrange for her to get time off from work in order to attend the fair.
Eleanor told her grandma, “Good luck, she’s a witch and she will never allow me time off from work to have fun.”
Grandma Mae went the next day to talk with Helga, and Eleanor was right. There was no way Helga was going to let Eleanor off for the fair. She said there would be too many chores and no one to do them if Eleanor was gone.
When Friday rolled around, Eleanor was so busy pressing dresses, washing hair, shining shoes, and preparing food for Helga, Estelle, and Norvelle that she did not even have time to wish she were getting the chance to go. It finally reached 4:30 and the closest neighbor, Randy was to pick them up on his horse and carriage and take them to the fair. Helga made sure to leave a list of chores for Eleanor to work on while they were gone.
Helga, Estelle, and Norvelle had been gone about fifteen minutes when her father came exploding through the door. He told Eleanor to hurry home; there was something he needed her to see. Together Eleanor and her father rushed down the path to their little run-down farmhouse and when Eleanor ran through the doorway, she saw her Grandma
Mae standing beside the most elegant lavender gown with sheer sleeves and lace trim. She could not believe what she saw in front of her. She dashed over to the mantel where the dress was hanging and she could not put the dress on fast enough. She asked her grandma where she had gotten the material for the dress and who had made it for her.
Her grandma smiled and said, “Now honey, your grandma is still good at some things!” “What do you think I have been doing every night after you have gone to bed?”
Grandma Mae had made the most beautiful dress found anywhere in Pigeon Creek, Alabama, more beautiful than any dress Helga, Estelle, or Norvelle had ever laid their eyes on.
Eleanor stopped gleaming for a moment when she realized Helga was at the fair and would recognize her the instant she walked in.
Grandma Mae smiled and said, “Don’t worry child, I am going with you, and Helga will not cause you any hardships.”
By the time Eleanor and Grandma Mae arrived at the fair, the night dance had already begun. Eleanor looked everywhere for Helga, Estelle, and Norvelle but could not see them anywhere. However, the one person she did see was Landon Ostwalt and he was staring right at Eleanor.
He could not believe how beautiful this girl was, “Who is she”, he thought, “I thought I knew everyone in Pigeon Creek.”
He slowly walked towards Eleanor and she began to blush.
He introduced himself and asked, “What is your name?” Just as Eleanor began to answer, Estelle noticed who she was and began yelling, “Norvelle, Norvelle, come quick, she has gotten out of her rags.”
Estelle quickly informed Landon of whom Eleanor was.
She told Landon, “She is just our servant. She scrubs our floors on her hands and knees, milks our cows, and tends to our garden. You should see her, the only clothes she owns is rags, and her hair is always nappy.”
Upon hearing this, Eleanor became embarrassed and took off running all the way home. Landon did not know who Eleanor really was, she he did not know where she lived. He turned around and was heading back to the fair to the dance. On his way back he came across Grandma Mae. She asked him if she had seen a girl in a lavender dress run by him? He said yes and asked Grandma Mae if she knew the girl. Grandma Mae asked Landon to accompany her home while she described Eleanor to him.
When they arrived at the small, run-down farmhouse, they found Eleanor outside sitting on the front porch crying. She looked up and saw that Grandma Mae was not alone.
Landon reached down to comfort Eleanor and she said to him, “You don’t want to hug someone like me. I’m just a poor girl who only wears rags.”
Landon said, “I am not like that, I do not care what kind of clothes you wear, or what you do for a living. I just know that when I saw you tonight, I saw the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. There is just something about the look in your eyes that I fell in love with.”
From that night on, Eleanor and Landon were inseparable. Eleanor quit working for Helga and went to work helping Landon’s family. Every time she passed Estelle and Norvelle outside tending the garden, milking the cows, or picking weeds out of the flowers, on her walk down the path home, they glared at her. Eleanor had a certain step her walk now that no one could take away from her, not even Helga, Estelle, or Norvelle. Eleanor was finally happy!