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Lilly, Violet, and Cook
‘Here, lass! Let me open the door for you!’ Cook hurried up the single step and onto the small back stoop. Pushing open the kitchen’s back door she ushered the other two women in. Lilly, first, who made quickly for the table to deposit her basket and then Violet who walked more slowly, the tip of her blackthorn cane tap-tapping across the floor.
‘Go ahead and sit down,’ Cook said, motioning toward the table’s chairs. ‘I’ll just pop these pans of rolls into the oven so they’ll be fresh and hot for lunch.’ Vinca whisked the clean towels off the rolls and inspected the plump rounds of dough. Satisfied that they had risen to her satisfaction, she brushed their tops with melted butter and placed them on the oven racks.
She turned over the sand filled timer, then, and walked over to where the two women were talking. ‘Let’s see what you and your Gran have accomplished with this year’s plums, Lilly,’ she said, taking one of the wax sealed pots from the basket.
Lilly fetched a knife warmed in hot water for her to loosen the seal, and a spoon for the contents. Cook placed the big basket on the floor and had Lilly fetch a plate of scones left over from the breakfast meal.
Miz Violet, for her part, had her dark eyes fixed on Cook’s hand as she prised up the wax and then dipped the spoon into the thick, purple red concoction. ‘Oh my!’ Cook exclaimed, heaping a bit of preserves on a wedge of scone. ‘You’ve outdone yourselves this year! There are bits of toasted walnut in here, aren’t there? And isn’t that just the faintest hint of lemon I’m tasting against the sweet?’
She passed the scones to Violet and Lilly, sliding the pot of plum preserves across after she’d added just a wee bit more to her own flaky morsel.
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