The Lilac Tunnel: My Journey with Samantha

I ask Samantha quietly if it’s okay that she helps me. I don’t want her to get into trouble. She says it’s all right. I don’t know how long she’s been waiting for another girl her age to come to the house. She says sometimes it gets lonely without sisters or brothers. She slides a clothes pin over the wet sleeve of a dress and asks if I have any sisters or brothers. I think of my stepsister Gracie only briefly before shaking my head no. Then it’s perfect. Samantha says belong here. It’ll be like we’re sisters. We can work together, play together and—

Just then, Mrs. Edwards’ voice pierces the air from the back door. She asks Samantha to come inside and change her clothes for dinner. Samantha’s face falls, so I try to lift her spirits with a joke. We can also get into trouble together.

When Elsa finally calls me inside for dinner, I can hardly wait. I imagine how nice it will be to sit down at a table and eat a meal, even if Elsa is sitting across from me. Will Samantha eat with us, too?

As it turns out, I have to eat quietly by myself in a corner of the kitchen. Elsa says that Mrs. Edwards is having the Rylands over for dinner. I strain to hear the voices beyond the kitchen. I hear Mrs. Edwards’ voice rising above the others. She says that she saw her brooch just yesterday. So it went missing in the last twenty-four hours. I hear the annoying voice that I know is Eddie’s. He says maybe that new servant girl took it. She’s been stealing things. Anger ignites in my chest, and I suddenly can’t swallow my food. A woman hushes Eddie, and then Elsa bursts through the swinging door carrying dishes. She sets them in the sink and asks me quietly and curtly if I’ve seen Mrs. Edwards’ dragonfly brooch.

I shake my head firmly. Elsa considers my response with a sour look on her face, then she glances at my empty plate and tells me it’s time for my next task: washing the dishes.

I step to the sink and feel another wave of anger. Eddie Ryland insulted me yet again, and now I have to wash the fancy dishes that he just ate from. I take a few deep breaths, trying to calm down so I don’t accidentally break one of the delicate plates. Then I set to work. It takes forever to wash and dry all the dishes that Elsa keeps carrying in from the dining room. When I’m finally finished, I’m so exhausted that I’m relieved to hear Elsa tell me it’s time for bed.

Even though I’m tired, it’s hard to fall asleep in the attic. I keep thinking of how Eddie has been treating—me as if I’m not good enough to be trusted just because I’m a servant. Even Elsa looked at me suspiciously when she asked if I had seen the brooch.

I think of Samantha. She doesn’t seem to care whether I’m a servant or a celebrity. She just wants a friend. When I finally fall asleep, I dream of being on trial in a courtroom. I am accused of stealing. And the prosecutor is Eddie Ryland, pacing the floor in his short little pants and bow tie.

Then, I hear a rap, rap, rap at the door, and my eyes snap open in the sunlight tower room. I’m not in a courtroom, or at my dad’s. Everything that happened yesterday comes rushing back to me. I reach for the locket around my neck and find it still there. Then I hear the rapping on the door again. It’s Samantha. She asks if I’m awake and she sneaks through the door. She says Grandmary’s new brooch is still missing, and Elsa is pointing the finger at me. I feel sick to my stomach. I ask Samantha why else is so mean to me? We’re both servants, but Elsa acts as if she’s better than me. She keeps reminding me to keep my place. And now she thinks I’m a thief.

Samantha squares shoulders and says that my place is right here, with her. And Samantha’s going to help me prove that I’m not a thief. We just need to find the brooch. Samantha says she half suspects that Elsa took it herself. She says she overheard her ask Grandmary for a raise in pay last week, and she said no. Maybe Elsa took the brooch out of revenge, or because she needed the money. I hesitate. Elsa is mean all right, but that doesn’t make her thief.