READER'S ROCK LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE VOL 2 ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 2014 Vol. 1 Issue 7 January 2014 | Page 28

Undercover Heroes

Excerpt

"The crotchety old woman
behind the counter peered at
Magen through her spectacles.
“I haven’t the slightest idea that I
could use your services, my
dear.”
“But your sign says? She
glanced toward the window to
make sure the sign still
occupied its previous position.
It did. “So, you’ve filled the clerk
position already?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t have a
position open. I said I didn’t
have one that you could fill.”
Beatrice Taylor said smugly.
Still under the woman’s hawklike perusal, she casually
walked over to a display of
assorted colored bonnets in the
corner of the store. She
selected a dark green one then
pretended to examine it with
great fervor.
The proprietor of Taylor’s
Mercantile was not the only one
in Malden Grove that had
responded to her plea for work

with cold indifference, but she
had been her last hope.
Dr. Colson had been right. The
whole town seemed to think she
was a loose woman.
Apparently, they’d already
condemned her for staying one
night, innocent as it was with
Jeremy Loud.
“Henrietta, I didn’t see you come
in.” Beatrice Taylor practically
purred. “My clerk, Emily, left on
such short notice. I declare, it’s
been over a week, and I haven’t
had one suitable applicant for
the job.” She paused,
breathless. “If this goes on
much longer I don’t see how I’ll
function. I’m nearly to the point
of exhaustion even as we
speak.”
Magen watched and listened.
She wondered why the old hag
didn’t just point at her. She may
as well have. She certainly
didn’t seem to have any trouble
ripping her dignity to shreds with
that razor-sharp tongue of hers.

“Excuse me. Did I hear you say
you were looking for work?”
Unaware anyone else had
entered the store, Magen was
startled at first. Then a wave of
embarrassment washed over
her.
The young woman was quite
becoming. She wore a
fashionable cotton day dress in
canary yellow with a matching
bonnet and had apparently
heard the entire humiliating
episode.
Magen cringed then prepared
for another attack no doubt from
one of Malden Grove’s
upstanding citizens.
“Well, Miss, did I understand
you correctly or not?”
Magen straightened her
shoulders. “Yes, you did.”
Beatrice Taylor and Henrietta
Edwards abandoned the corner
where they’d been discussing a
new arrival of fabric from
Chicago. They approached like
cats, cautious and focused on