Full Speed Ahead: My Journey with Kit

The three of us all go back to Kit’s house. When we get there, Mrs. Kittridge and Mrs. Howard are in the kitchen folding laundry. Buddy flirts with his crush, Mrs. Howard, wagging his tail to get her attention. A small smile fleets across Mrs. Howard’s face so quickly I almost miss it. No question: Buddy is winning her over.

The women say hello to us. Mrs. Kittredge hands a pile a folded clothes to Kit and tells her to put them away. We follow Kit upstairs so she carries the clothes to her room. I tell Kit her room is really cool. Kit says that it feels sort of hot to her. I realize that Kit only thinks of cool as a meaning of chilly, not wonderful. Actually, the attic is roasting hot because there’s no air-conditioning. Even the camera strap is making my neck itchy. But I don’t dare take it off.

I tell Kit that by cool, I mean, it looks great. Kit sits cross-legged on her desk chair and spins around. Kit and I laugh, and then she stops spinning and says this is her favorite alcove. When she sits here, she thinks about being a reporter when she grows up. She knows not many women have jobs like that. I smile. Just about every woman I know has a job. So I tell Kit that if she sticks to her ambition, things might change for women in the future. She should keep on writing.

Kit sits up straight and puts her hands over the keys of her typewriter. She says she used to love to write a family newsletter for her dad to read when he came home from work. Back when he had a job. Stirling would draw illustrations, and Ruthie would help, too. I ask where Ruthie is, and Kit explains she’s visiting her grandmother. She’ll be home in a few days. I suggest that we write a newsletter for Ruthie. What’s new around here? Kit laughs aloud. Me!

I strike a glamorous pose and say it’ll make me feel like a movie star. Kit begins banging away on the typewriter keys. I sit on the bed in the middle of the clean clothes and unfold them one by one so I can see them. I put a shirt and skirt together, and then try the shirt with some silky pajama pants to see how it would look. I love the feel of the fabrics as much as Kit seems to love the feel of her typewriter keys.

After a few minutes, Kit looks up and says that here’s what she has so far:

She's funny, smart, friendly, and fun to be with. Who is she? Lulu! Today, our family welcomes Lulu to our home. We welcome Buddy, too, a lively golden retriever puppy that arrived at the same time as Lulu and follows her everywhere. Buddy has decided that he belongs to Lulu, or maybe that Lulu belongs to him.

I tell Kit that that’s really good. Kit asks if she can ask me some questions like she’s interviewing me. I say okay. Kit asks if I like sports and I answer tennis and baseball. Kit says that she and Stirling like to play baseball, and they’re big fans of Ernie Lombardi, the catcher for the Cincinnati Reds. Do I like to read? I say that I do. She asks if I’ve ever read Robin Hood, and I say that he’s the guy who robbed from the rich to give money to the poor. And his girlfriend was Maid Marian and he and his merry band lived in the forest up in the trees. Kit says that someday, Ruthie and Stirling and her are going to have a treehouse and camp out in it. I tell Kit that that would be a lot of fun. No wonder we get along so well. We like a lot of of the same things.

Then Kit asks what I want to be when I grow up. I tell her I don’t know. I don’t have any special talent. I wish that I loved writing, and I wish that I was good at it and it was as easy for me as it is for Kit. But I’m a bad speller, so I get discouraged. Half the time spellcheck can’t even tell what I’m trying to spell. Kit says that spelling isn’t writing. And she works very hard at writing to get better at it. But anyway, Kit says that she knows what I love. I ask if she means Buddy, and I pick him up and give him a big hug.

Kit laughs and says that we all love Buddy. But Kit thinks that I am right smack in the middle of what I love. I look around. I’m blissfully happy, surrounded by dresses and skirts and blouses that I put together in outfits. I run my hand over the fabrics, smoothing them down. I tell her that messing around with clothes just a hobby. Kit says that I shouldn’t brush it off. It’s what I love to do. And do I remember how good I was back at the soup kitchen finding the perfect thing to fit each girl? I’ve got a talent for clothes. I tell Kit I’ve never thought of it as something to be proud of.

Kit turns back to her typewriter and write something else:

When Lulu grows up, she will be a fashion designer. She will design new dresses, but she will be most famous for the magical way she can turn tired old clothes into new and beautiful outfits.

I blush. Does Kit really think I can be a dress designer when I grow up? The idea pleases me so much I have goosebumps on my arms. Kit replies absolutely.

Isn’t it funny that I had to go all the way back to 1933 to find out what my future could be? I make up my mind right then and there that when I return to the twenty-first century, I’ll take my interest in clothes more seriously. I’ve got a lot to learn about fabric and design, and I’ll work hard at it to get better, the way Kit works at her writing. I’ll unpack my project suitcase and organize my scissors and pins and sewing supplies. I will finish what I started. And I can see if I can find a way to use the clothes I create to help others. Maybe I’ll donate my creations to homeless shelters, the way Kit and I donated her clothes to the girls at the soup kitchen. My heart is beating faster, I’m so excited. I make a promise that I will bring more than memories back with me from 1933. I will bring ambition, too.