After Christmas

Wheezing, coughing, sneezing, I'm shaking my bed, first with chills, and then feeling burning hot.  Sleep eludes me, and I am frustrated by remembering that no matter how sick, tomorrow I must open my doors and work.  I simply can't pay my bills if I don't work.

Gratefully, I have managed to turn a tidy profit through my seamstress work.  I love what I do.  It's such fun to take possibilities and turn them into clothing.  The hours seem to fly past as I work with women to help them look as lovely as possible.

Mrs. Judith Chou came to me today.  She is such a gracious, lovely woman.  She can barely speak English.  She and her husband have come quite recently from China.  She managed to explain to me that she had worked hard and saved her money because she desperately needed a new outfit.  She can't sew.  She was born with her hands twisted and turned.  They look as though somehow they were molded wrong.

She still runs a thriving laundry business.  In her limited English she tells me that those twisted hands do fine at scrubbing a shirt on a washboard, wringing them out, hanging them, then ironing and starching those shirts.

I do not normally carry the type of silk fabric that she wears.  Usually I sew with ginghams, calicos, and once in a rare while a crepe du chine.  (I LOVE crepe du chine).  Being able to create a beautiful outfit of Chinese silk is delightful to me.  She brought her own fabric with her.  Purchasing it years ago in China she brought it with her when she came to America.

Her first name is not really Judith, but it is a name that we American's can't seem to pronounce correctly.  She told me that it sounded a little like Judith, and she had met a nice lady named Judith when they made their long, long trip from China to here.  So she decided to adopt the name.

Ohhhh...that chill was miserable.  First I was sooooo cold, and then I burst into a hot sweat.  Now I feel weak as a new born colt.  I worry when I'm this sick that I will make others sick when they come into my shop.  Last week I made a new batch of the nasty medicine my Mother taught me how to make.  It involves boiling vodka with garlic, onions, and some other nasty tasting herbs.  It really does help to clear the infection faster.  On the other hand, I can't take it in the morning because I wouldn't have any customers.  They would all run from the smell!

I make myself vinegar tea with honey in the morning.  I drink it all day long.  That usually helps me keep from coughing on my clients.  Sigh...I am finally beginning to feel sleepy.  I'm so grateful.  I'm just exhaust...

(Author's note...Celeste fell asleep and dropped her journal and pen).