Mister Lacey begrudgingly let her play with his stock because after all the poor child had lost her mother and her father had a lot of money and Mister Lacey knew Mister Cottingham didn’t mind spending any of that money on his two daughters. But most of all because no one could deny the child simply had the most delightful smile, a smile that made you instantly stop worrying about the debtors and the suppliers and accounts that weren’t paid. So anything the child did that made her smile was well worth it.
Gracie had on three hats and several strings of beads and she went to find Beth to show her how funny she looked, but Beth was engrossed in materials, carefully feeling each roll, gauging its potential for happiness, its silkiness and shine. She had already chosen lots of material that she had placed on the counter. Gracie couldn’t see how she could possibly need any more. She watched for a while as Beth looked at this bolt and then that one. You couldn’t possibly need that much cloth for just two dresses. She walked over and felt the silky material on the bolt that Beth was studying.
‘I’m trying to do this as cheaply as possible,’ said Beth, ‘taking into consideration that your father is footing the bill and that there is a war on now.’
Beth put the bolt down and moved on to look at trimmings. Gracie, bored with the haberdashery shop and spinning and hats and beads, took them off and put them in a pile on top of the bolts and decided to go and wait outside where she could watch the comings and goings in Sturt Street, which had to be more interesting than Beth and material.
Besides, the Reverend’s wife and Missus Blackmarsh had come into the shop and they kept scowling at her as though she had no right to be on the face of the earth.
‘If you’re going outside don’t forget your coat and hat,’ said Beth.
So Gracie, wondering how Beth knew she wasn’t wearing her coat when Beth hadn’t even looked at her, begrudgingly put on her hat and coat.
‘Uh uh, gloves and scarf too,’ said Beth just as Gracie was about to escape.
Gracie had to search for where she had left those, and found them under the ribbon counter. Waving them in the air to show Beth she had them, she went outside and sat on the steps. She rested her chin in her hands, her elbows on her knees, her dress and coat pulled tightly over her knees to keep them warm.
‘And how are you this morning, young Gracie?’ said a man who knew her. She didn’t know him but she smiled anyway as he walked on and she hummed to herself the song that Edie always sang to her.
As anyone who has lived in a country town knows, the place to meet your neighbours is down the street, where you can catch up with anyone you need to if you just wait for long enough. In the country there is no such thing as a short trip to the shops just to pick up a few things. Any trip down the street will take a minimum of two hours as you must stop and chat to everyone you know. The following hour was no different for Gracie. The first people to bump into her were Nurse Drake and Constable George.
‘And what are you doing sitting on the haberdasher’s step in that lovely coat, young Gracie?’ said Constable George and Nurse Drake patted her on the head. Gracie smiled at them and as they walked off, Beatrix leaned over and said to George, ‘All her early ailments aside, Mister Cottingham is blessed with that girl. She’s so pure she could be the mother Mary.’
‘I’m sure you had a hand in it, dear,’ said George.
Beatrix said, ‘Well, I have practically brung her up so far, haven’t I?’
Gracie listened as the Town Hall clock chimed three and hoped Beth wouldn’t be too much longer. It would start getting cold soon. The next people she saw were Theo and his mother.
‘Beth says you can’t go in,’ said Gracie, moving to the middle of the step to block their entrance. ‘She’s says it’s bad luck for you to see what the bride is going to wear. She’s selecting materials and stuff.’
‘Well,’ said Missus Hooley, ‘we don’t need any bad luck, do we.’
Gracie smiled at them both. As they walked off, Lilly put her arm through Theo’s and said, ‘When that child smiles, you know God is smiling down on the world.’
Gracie watched as some boys kicked a bottle up Camp Street and she watched as Mister Laidlaw stopped his horse and cart when the horse did a shit and got out a shovel and a potato sack and shovelled the shit inside. He saw Gracie watching and he tipped his hat.
‘Miss Gracie,’ he said. ‘I can get good money for that shit. How’s that for a laugh, eh?’
She smiled at him and he said, ‘Oh, you make my heart flutter, you do. You’ll have to marry me now.’
‘I can’t,’ she said, ‘I’m only nine — well, I will be in November.’
‘And I had my hopes up,’ he said. ‘Say hello to your papa, he’ll remember me. And say hello to that sister-in-law of mine. Tell her to come round. Tell her Dottie wants to talk to her.’ Then he thought for a moment and said, ‘He built it for you, you know.’
‘I do know,’ she said and he was off.
Gracie looked just like Edie, but no one saw that. They
