Charmaine bombarded
Florence with a lot of questions. She wanted to know why what was happening to
her was not happening to boys too? Why did she have to wear that
uncomfortable wad of cloth? Would people know that it was that
‘time of the month’ just by looking at her? Did all women have this
'experience' at the same time every month? The questions kept coming and Florence
tried her best to answer them but Charmaine was not satisfied. Suddenly,
there was a loud knocking on the front door and Florence went to see who it
was. It was Stanley Wharbucks, he wanted to finalize the plans they had for
Charmaine’s birthday party. Florence told him what was taking place with Charmaine
and he smiled. When she told him about the questions that Charmaine was
asking he burst out laughing and said he would be back soon, he was going to get something for
Charmaine. When he came back he had a book in his hand. He told Charmaine that the book, titled "Puberty and The Female Reproductive System", had belonged to her mother Charlotte and he hoped that it would help her to understand what was happening in her body. He apologized for not giving it to her sooner. Charmaine took the book and shyly
hugged her Grandfather and returned to the garden to finish her reading. “Mass
Stanley, you are a lifesaver! You always have a solution for everything!”, exclaimed Florence. “I
just hope I did not embarrass her,” said Stanley Wharbucks. “Anyway,
let’s concentrate on the plans for the party.” For Charmaine’s birthday party, Stanley Wharbucks had decided that a few of her friends from
school could come to the estate to celebrate it with her. The children of the workers on the estate, the ones who were nearer in age to Charmaine, were
also invited to the party. Florence would be cooking Charmaine's favorite meal, oxtail with broad beans and gungo peas and rice. The birthday cake was ordered from Mr.
Chin’s Confectionery on Market Street and it, as well as a gallon of ice cream, would be delivered to the estate in the afternoon. Mr. Chin’s Confectionery made the very best cakes
and pastries in St. James and whenever the hotels were having any grand affair
they would hire him to make those scrumptious pastries that you only saw in
magazines. Florence clapped her hands with glee when she heard about the cake but
immediately a wave of sadness washed over her. The last time that she had tasted
a bit of pastry from Mr. Chin’s Confectionery was on her wedding
anniversary, just before Ben died. Ben always brought her ice cream and pastries from Mr.
Chin’s Confectionery on her birthday and on their wedding anniversary. She
wiped the tear from the corner of her eye and smiled. She would not be sad, she
told herself, she would be happy for Charmaine's sake. Stanley Wharbucks asked about
the dress that she was sewing for Charmaine for her birthday and Florence told
him it was almost ready. It just needed to be trimmed and hemmed. He said
he would leave and take Charmaine with him so that she would have the time
to finish the dress. They left for the Main House and Florence took out the
unfinished dress from the trunk, where she had hidden it because she didn't want Charmaine to see it, and began working on it. Florence did not finish the
dress until in the wee hours of the morning as she kept stopping and reflecting
on how Charmaine’s life was going to be so different from now on. Not just
Charmaine’s life, she said, but also her own. Florence, in the last paragraph on the page,
stated that Charmaine's introduction to womanhood had actually saved her (Florence's) life that day. It was as if there was
reawakening in her, her maternal instincts had come alive! She just wanted to
protect Charmaine! For the first time she noticed that Charmaine was a beautiful girl, she had gotten so tall and shapely and her hair was so long it reached in the middle of
her back. Florence shook her head and cried, she could not believe that she had neglected Charmaine and missed out on so much. She prayed and asked God to forgive her and promised to do better. Florence did not write anything about Charmaine’s
birthday or about the party in the ledger because she said she wanted that day to be seen through
the eyes of Charmaine. Hence the reason why she gave Charmaine a diary as a
birthday present. She wanted her to begin writing down anything she
experienced that meant a lot to her. “Okay then!” I said as I
closed the ledger.
I had missed the rerun of the evening news so I decided to
have an early night. I was so excited! I was looking forward to reading
Charmaine’s diaries! I said my prayers and fell asleep singing, “Tomorrow, tomorrow is
only a day away.”
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