Cleaning a store room

The girls stepped out into the hallway, casting wry glances at each other. The unbleached cotton shifts were unflattering, falling to their knees or below them depending on the height of the girls. They were basically sacks with neck holes and sleeves.

Right on time Sister Mary appeared, smiling at the girls and nodding approval at their attire. Her eyes ran over their faces, noting the range of emotions from defiance to resignation to dismay.

"Excellent! You look great girls," she said, trying to reassure them. "We're going to clean an old storage room. It's probably pretty dusty, so it's best that you're wearing the shifts. Now, if you'll follow me..."

"Excuse me sister," Wanda interrupted. Sister Mary nodded at her to continue. "How do we wash? I mean I noticed the bedpan, and I'm guessing that means there's no running water."

"We have well water. And a wash house for bathing. I'll show you after we've finished our labours," Sister Mary answered, noting the looks of alarm that crossed the faces of several of the girls at the news that there was no running water in the convent. The girls had a lot of things to get used to she thought to herself as she led them down a set of stairs into the basement. She carried a lantern with her, and gave candles to each girl, the light casting a golden glow on the stone walls.

She led them to another set of stair and descended into the lower basement, noting that some of the girls grew nervous as they descended, holding each other's hands in reassurance.

"There's nothing to worry about down here," she told them. "Perhaps some mice, but nothing worse than that."

"Mice!" Danni squeaked with alarm and looked about anxiously. "Will they bite?"

"They'll just hide. They're more scared of you." Danni didn't look any happier for the information. "Here we are," Sister Mary said, opening a stout wooden door and stepping into a large room, it's walls lined with boxes and sacks and what looked like broken pieces of furniture. There was a tall set of shelves along the back wall.

"What we're going to do is clear out the obvious junk, that broken furniture for example. We'll take it out of the room, and carry it up later. It can be used as firewood. Check the crates and shelves for anything of no further use and tidy the room. I'll hang the lantern and you put your candles around the room to give us as much light as possible. Danni, you take this second lantern and place it on that hook above the shelves, that will help a lot."

The girls rolled their eyes but followed her directions. Danni looked at the shelves and reached up, but realised that she'd have to stand on something or climb the shelves to reach the hook that Sister Mary indicated.

The shelves looked sturdy and well built and to Danni they looked as good as a ladder. Taking a deep breath she grabbed a shelf with one hand and started to climb. She was more than halfway up, six feet off the floor when she felt the shelves start to move, her weight causing it to topple forward. With a shriek of panic Danni dropped the lantern and pushed herself away as the shelves fell. The heavy unit crashed to the stone floor, missing her by less than a foot.

The other girls squealed in alarm then rushed to Danni, who was gasping in shock at her narrow escape. Sister Mary kneeled beside her, murmuring comforting words and quickly checking for injuries. Fortunately the girl was unharmed except for a few bruises and the young nun was breathing a sigh of relief when Belinda spoke.

"Sister, what's that door? Where does it go?"