COUNTRY MOUSE
Prompt - County Mouse : Write about someone who grew up in the country visiting the city for the first time.
She found the smells to be the worst thing about the place. And the people weren't much better. There was hardly a single place in the city, at least in the old established part, that didn't stink of excrement, human and horse and dog and who knows what, or slops or beer or just of people. Dirty people who swarmed everywhere, pushed by, looked her up and down without a word of greeting, tried to cheat her, tried to get her to come into their dark damp lodgings for... she knew what for, but didn't want to think about it. And the posh folks, the rich in their finery and sedan chairs and carriages, looked right through and beyond, expected her to vanish from their paths. Even Master Duncan back home hadn't treated her with such disdain.
Her first seventeen years had been so different, and only now could she really appreciate them for what they offered. Peace, as long as she did her jobs, friends, as long as she knew her place, love, being close to her family. Dirleton was a small village, where everyone knew everyone else, where they were poor but helped each other, and from where she was taken into The Big Hoose when she was fourteen trained to be a servant. She was pretty, quick witted and dainty on her movements, but always showed a willingness to learn, so she'd endeared herself to both family and staff. Perhaps too much so to Master Duncan, who was known to have put at least three servants in the family way, despite his mother's chastisements, and who regularly sought to trap her into his room. But she was smart, and one time she was almost caught persuaded him that she had her monthly on with the heaviest of flows. He chose not to pursue the matter. She also had a sweetheart, Davey, who worked in the stables and provided much fun in the straw.
The Mistress, seeing a vacancy for a maid in their Edinburgh house, decided that distancing her from both Duncan and Davey would be wise. Having grown fond of the child, soe didn't want to lose her to motherhood so soon, and thought the experience in the city would do her good. With her parents blessing Effie was packed off to the city.
Her life until then had all been within three miles of her father's home. A few family visits, on foot, into North Berwick had been the extent of her travels. A twenty mile cart journey was a terrifying prospect, with who knew what at the end of it? But the carter was a good friend of her father, and pointed out the sights along the way, made sure she was well fed and watered, and let her chatter her excitement away. He was ready for her immediate reaction when the olfactory impact became fully apparent, within seconds of entering the city gates, and confirmed it was almost always like this, but a bit worse in the summer months.
Her duties in the house were arduous, but no more than they had been before. But the staff were less friendly, some of them looking down on a country girl (but she was fortunate there was another in the same position, and they became firm friends), and only when The Mistress came to stay did she feel valued for herself. She got used to the routines, the people. But the city? Not in the least. It was an alien world, demeaning and frightening, and she kept to her room when she could.
There was one ray of hope in the gloom. The household would decamp next year, north across the Nor Loch to a house then being built in the building site they called the New Town. She could see over there from her window. Fewer people, fresh thought in the planning, a more gentile populace. But there was really only one thought in her mind. It could never smell as bad as it did here - could it?
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