Chapter 3

A diamond in the rough


“Now everyone to their rooms!” Mrs. Inches declared. “It may be the weekend but we have dinner in forty minutes!”
So everyone vanished behind wooden doors. Claire followed Trudy into the door marked with 22 in gold letters and didn’t bother to glance back at Malvina.
Claire shut the door and then turned around. The room was charming!
There was a wardrobe on the left with a mirror on the front. Then, just past the wardrobe on the back wall was a little square window whose pane could slide up and was slid up at that moment. A breeze blew the baby blue curtains. Under the window was a little bureau with six drawers. Then, beside that was a bed with the back to the back wall. And then there was another little bed whose head met the first bed, foot to head, making a backwards L. On the floor was a yellow rug like a moon smiling up from under your feet.
“The bed at the back wall is mine and the bed on the front wall will be yours. Don’t worry, you won’t be able to hear much action in the hallway, these ancient walls are solid through and through.” Trudy said suddenly.
“Thank you.” Was all Claire could think to say.
“Well,” Trudy said uncomfortably. “How was your trip from Connecticut?”
Claire sat down on her new bed.
“It was nice, thank you. The train ride was enjoyable and the tour with Mrs. Inches was very helpful.”
Trudy raised her eyebrows. “Oh that tour!” She said with a huff.
“What?” Claire asked. “I found it very interesting.”
“Yes,” Trudy said. “That’s just it. This place is interesting but they only think to show you the boring stuff.”
Claire smiled. “Really?”
Trudy nodded confidently. “Oh well,” She then said. “Now I get to show it to you.”
And when she said this, Claire felt as if she had a friend.
“So where are you from?” Claire asked.
“Massachusetts-” Trudy said. “On a farm.”
Claire thought that farms were fascinating. She had never been to a farm, much less lived on one but loved books about farm girls falling in love with farm boys and that sort of thing.
“Wow, it must be lovely.” Claire flattered.
“Not entirely.” Trudy said as she too sat on a bed. “It’s a little farm and still it is a lot of work. We’re always busy milking the cow and gathering eggs and chopping wood and rocking the baby and cooking and sewing or even hunting rabbits.” Trudy said.
Claire was wide-eyed. “How many siblings do you have?” She asked.
“Eight,” Trudy said. “Not including me or the baby due this summer.”
Claire, with just on older brother, felt like she had met some kind of alien.
“How does your mother manage?” Claire blurted out.
Trudy laughed. “It’s never easy and sometimes it is really hard. My father works the land all year long and still, the prices are going down at market. And still, mother is having more babies. That’s why it is such a miracle that I am going to school at all-especially Beekman. And my being here will help my family I hope, seeing as they won’t have to feed me or wash my clothes while I’m gone.”
Claire looked down at her new shoes. She felt a little selfish. She didn’t have any idea how much her parents were paying for her tuition. She had never thought to ask.
“That’s very good,” Claire said. “I am glad you’re here, or else I may be roommates with Malvina!”
And Trudy laughed again, loudly and proudly, for she had already picked out this girl whose name almost rhymed, as a bad apple.
“Well, you’re lucky Claire,” Trudy said after the laughing spell was over. “You get to have Sunday Dinner as your first dinner at Beekman.”
“Is it very good?” Claire asked.
“It is delicious! Roasted duck!” She announced.
Claire’s mouth watered at the words.
“Let’s go get your things and look around before dinner,” Trudy said looking at the clock. “We have only twenty minutes before that bell rings again so we best go right away.”
So it happened that the two youth crept out of their rooms and down the staircase.
“How long have you been at Beekman?” Claire asked.
“Six months.” Trudy said, quite sure of herself. “I came half way through last year. They let you take half the classes if you can’t put down the entire tuition. It was difficult at first because I was the only one who hadn’t already made friends, but now I really like it. I feel very lucky to be here.”
Claire smiled as she picked up her carpet bag. “Let me put these things upstairs and then I’ll come on your tour.” She said.
So they piled Claire’s things onto the moon rug, Claire announced that she would get “all settled in” later and they slipped out again.
“First…” Trudy said, skipping down three steps at a time. “To the laundry room!”
Claire suddenly felt a little less excited. She had already been wondering what could be more exciting than a real dungeon, and now she was being led to the laundry room of all places? “Right this way…” Trudy said grinning. “Through this door.”
They walked into a swinging door near the front door. “Hello girls!” Trudy said casually, for there over a steaming tub of laundry were three girls, one of which was Judith.
“Hi Tru!” They said in unison. But they didn’t look up, for they were each sitting on a stool with their heads back and on their eyes were slices of cucumber.
“You see Claire,” Trudy said, putting a hand out to welcome her inside. “This is the spa. We are quite resourceful aren’t we ladies?”
And there was a general murmur of “You bet!”
Claire couldn’t help but smile again. She thought that she would really like these girls.
“And Jacqueline here supplies our cream.” Judith said, pointing a thumb to the brunette girl on her left.
“Smells nice.” Claire noted.
“And are you wondering where we go from here?” Trudy asked.
Claire nodded anxiously.
“You’ll never guess!” And with these words she pushed aside an ironing table and pushed at a panel of wood. It pushed open easily to what looked like a black hole. “This is the laundry room-kitchen tunnel nicknamed The Missing Maid.”
Then, in a moment of horror, Claire realized that Trudy expected her to crawl inside!
“I can’t go in there!” Claire protested. “It is so small and dark…I will surely get stuck and die!”
But all the girls laughed at this.
“You get used to it sweetie!” Judith said from her stool.
“If Mabel can squeeze through, so can you!” Trudy said with a wink.
So Claire said a silent prayer and crawled into the hole as Judith, Jacqueline and the third girl, whose name was Marie, removed their cucumbers and watched with interest.
“It isn’t so bad now is it?” Trudy asked.
And it wasn’t, for the entrance was quite small but the actual tunnel was more spacious.
“No, no it isn’t.” Claire called back.
And a chorus of hurrahs echoed through the passageway. Claire smiled as she crawled on her hands and knees to the kitchen. She hadn’t expected this to be her first academic activity, but was pleased. She felt that she had won the respect of the seemingly popular Judith and her friends, and, as Trudy followed her inside and Claire was certain that she wasn’t being tricked into a trap, she felt as if she had certainly met a kindred spirit there at Beekman Boarding School.


Dear Marvin,
Guess where I am! Beekman Boarding School in Beekman New York! And Mother and Father are in Connecticut all alone with you at the university in New Haven like a real man! The school is nice. I haven’t had a very good look at the outside yet but the inside is decently decorated in medieval trinkets and tapestries. And after a personal tour with a fine girl named Trudy Richards, I have discovered that there is much more to Beekman than meets the eye. There are secret passageways Marvin! Just like we used to play, only at home it was the wood box from the mudroom to the parlor, and here they are real! And Trudy (in whom I have already put my trust) promises that I haven’t seen half the great nooks and crannies there are to see. A kind woman named Mrs. Inches showed us all of the classrooms and the cafeteria and the other usual places (not to mention a real dungeon, now converted into a sewing room which Mother would adore) and promised to introduce us to the headmistress; Mrs. Victory; but it was nearly time for dinner and she couldn’t be reached. I think she will be a very busy and possibly sour woman. Don’t tell Father that I am jumping to conclusions. And what a dinner it was though! You would’ve loved it Marvin. I honestly felt like royalty when the set the ducks out on the tables and lit the torches (this place is practically a castle you know) and we all held hands like sisters and sang a beautiful grace before indulging in one of the finest Sunday meals ever prepared! I think I shall really like it here. There are only two things: classes and Malvina Dakota-a nasty girl whom I’ve already picked a fight with. Aside from that, I think that this place is perfect. But, being the “snoop” as you say, I have already noted a few mysteries which I plan to solve.
A mysterious teacher named Clifford Rueben who keeps trees and voodoo masks in his classroom.
Ms. Victory…will she be merciful?
Boys. Nobody has spoken of the other half of Beekman-the boy half. I don’t even know if they will be in my classes or eat lunch with us during the week.
Anyway, these are the mysteries. I am half asleep already so I really should go. Write to me! Love, your sister, Claire the snoop Winters