Page 27 of The Harvey Girls

Twenty

On the long journey from Topeka to the Grand Canyon, Billie did a lot of wistful smiling, remembering Leif’s passionate embrace and furtive kiss. She replayed that look of shocked bliss on his face when he first saw her coming toward him. So satisfying.

But how would she ever see him again? Her mind spun from one impractical plan to another.

By the time the train for the Grand Canyon left Williams, she had resigned herself to seeing Leif in six months, when she got time off to see her family.

If she could arrange to take a train that would arrive in Topeka in the morning and catch a connecting train that evening, maybe they could have a whole day together. At least she’d be sixteen by then.

When the train pulled into the station at Grand Canyon Village, she wearily descended to the platform and followed the surge of passengers to the bright yellow cars, rode the few moments up the hill, and got out in front of a building so large, she had to crane her neck to take it all in.

Four floors high, built of stone and logs, it had a sort of woodsy majesty that was almost confusing. Was it fancy? Or just big?

She made her way forward with the rest of the group up onto a wide porch dotted with lovely wooden rockers and wicker furniture.

Inside they were herded through a large room with log walls and leather sofas, on which guests sat in their stylish clothing, a strange counterpoint to the heads of buffalo and elk mounted on the walls above them.

They came to a central area with a dark wooden counter, behind which there were rows and rows of small cubbies for keys.

Two clerks attended to the people in front of her, and when it was her turn, one of them asked, “Name, please?”

“Billie MacTavish.”

The young man flipped through a large registry book. “Hmm. Miss MacTavish, could your room have been booked under a different name? We don’t seem to have you here.”

An older man, clearly in a supervisory position, asked, “Is there a problem here?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Patrillo, but we don’t seem to have this guest listed.”

“I’ll take care of it.” He glanced at Billie, taking her in from top to toe, and his polite smile suddenly seemed to harden slightly. “Please step this way, Miss.” Away from the paying guests, he murmured, “When did you make your reservation, please?”

“Oh, I didn’t make a reservation. Should I have? Mr. Gilstead said nothing about—”

“Mr. Gilstead?”

“The manager at Topeka. He told me that I’m to—”

Mr. Patrillo’s eyes went half-lidded with annoyance. “You’re a Harvey Girl.”

“Yes, sir. And I can start anytime you need me. I’ll just tuck my bag away, and if you could point me to the uniforms, I’ll be ready in two shakes of a—”

“Your name, please?”

“Billie—that is to say, Wilamena. MacTavish. But I’m called Billie.”

He took her rather firmly by the arm and led her down a back hallway to a door and ushered her through.

Once outside, he said quietly but with menace, “Please listen closely, Wilamena. You are never to use the guest entrance again. Once is a mistake, twice is cause for dismissal. Am I being perfectly clear?”

Eyes round with shame, Billie could only nod.

“Excellent. Now go across to the dorm and speak to Mrs. Parnell.” He stepped back inside and closed the door, and Billie was left to stand in a little service area by herself, waiting amid the trash bins for the molten flames of embarrassment to cool.

“Why does she get her own room?”

Billie had just been shown to her new quarters by Mrs. Parnell. (“Call me Mae,” the woman had said, but as she was at least a decade older than Billie’s mother, Billie didn’t know if she could make herself do it.)

“Alva, for goodness’ sake,” Mrs. Parnell scoffed at a girl who’d come down the hallway. “You’re like an angry duck, quacking at every little thing.”

This Alva did look a bit like a mallard, with her lips pooched out in fury, fists flapping onto her hips. “I have sen-i-ority! Why do I always get the new girls?”

Everyone else knows better than to room with you, is my guess , thought Billie.

“That Charlotte is a one-man band with all her noise!”

“Charlotte?” said Billie. “Charlotte Turner?”

“The very one,” grumbled Alva.

“She was my roommate in Topeka,” Billie said to Mrs. Parnell. “I’ll room with her. Alva can have this to herself.”

Mae Parnell smiled and patted Billie’s cheek. “You’re going to do just fine here.”

Billie quickly deposited her bag in Charlotte’s room and was soon suited up in her white dress and apron with the little black bow tie at the neck.

Mae Parnell was just shooing her off to the Bright Angel Hotel to help with afternoon tea when Billie said, “Oh, am I supposed to give this to someone?” She handed over the letter Frances had given her from Mr. Gilstead.

Mae opened it and gave it a quick read. Her eyebrows rose. “Well, my goodness, dearie, you certainly made an impression!”

“Pardon me?”

“It says here that you are one of the best trainees they’ve had in years.”

“It says that? I thought it was just that I completed my training.”

Mae quoted from the letter. “?‘Always volunteers for the hardest chores… excellent with difficult customers… and particularly good at thinking on her feet and helping other girls under trying circumstances.’?”

Frances , thought Billie. Mr. Gilstead would never have thought to write such things.

But Frances knew the value of an ally in a fight.

She’d probably been thinking of her poor dead sister, written this herself, and signed Mr. Gilstead’s name.

Now Billie was certain that Frances had somehow intervened to have her sent to the Grand Canyon.

Keep an eye on her , she’d said, knowing that Charlotte might need her help again.

Mae Parnell was still holding the letter, but her quizzical gaze rested on Billie. “What trying circumstances is he referring to?”

“Oh, I suppose just general… difficulties.”

“Hmm,” said Mae, “just general ones.”

“Yes.”

“Because the world can be hard on a girl.”

“It certainly can.”

“So,” Mae said with a sly smile, “what did you do, punch some fella in the snoot?”

“No, ma’am.” Billie grinned. “I got a nice young man to do it for me.”

Billie didn’t end up at the Bright Angel Hotel after all. Mae Parnell suggested she take a walk while Mae went off to “sort some things out.”

“Do you speak any other languages?” Mae asked before she left.

“Och no, but ah kin blether in Scots, an ah kin e’en scrieve it doon fer ye.”

Mae laughed. “I missed most of that, but I think I got your meaning, even so.”

While she waited for Mae to return, Billie took her stroll. She buttoned her coat over the uniform, headed up a little path between the buildings, and soon found herself at a low stone wall. The afternoon sun lit up the canyon walls like a warm-hued quilt as far as she could see.

She let out a little gasp. Sweet Jesus! It’s the most wondrous thing! In her head she began to compose the letter home to her family. It was just so… vast. And gorgeous. And vast!

A couple nearby smiled. “First time?” said the gentleman.

“Yes,” said Billie, feeling a bit like a hayseed.

“You’ll never get enough of it,” he said, and his wife nodded. “We return every year.”

As Billie headed back toward the dorm, she wondered at a life that included a grand vacation on a regular basis. She’d surely never know such riches, but at least she didn’t have to travel to and fro every year. She lived here now!

When Billie went up to her room to drop off her coat, Charlotte was changing out of her uniform. She startled at first, having just pulled her dress over her head, but Billie understood why now, and simply waited a moment in the doorway.

“Billie! What are you—?” Suddenly Charlotte stepped forward and hugged her tightly. Just as quickly, she stepped away and crossed her arms, collecting herself. “Well, my goodness.”

Billie smiled. “I’m happy to see you, too. Can you believe they sent me here?”

“It’s quite a coincidence!”

“I’m not so sure about that. I reckon Frances had something to do with it.”

“Oh dear.” Charlotte’s smile vanished. “And you’d wanted to be closer to your family.”

Billie shrugged, affecting indifference. “At least it’s a beautiful view.”

Charlotte’s face went flat. “The pit, you mean. Such a fuss over a big hole in the ground. I’ll never understand it.”

“Oh, but it’s amazing! It’s… it’s…”

“Big? So is Pennsylvania,” said Charlotte. “Ah, well, à chacun son gout.”

“Pardon?”

“To each his own taste. Maybe I should teach you a bit of French so you can understand some of the foreign customers. We’re not in Kansas anymore.”

Mae Parnell appeared in the doorway. “It’s all settled then. You’ll both be at El Tovar.”

Charlotte seemed hesitant. “Has Nora been informed?”

“I’m sure Mr. Patrillo will let her know.”

Charlotte frowned.

“What is it?” said Billie.

“She was distinctly displeased about the fact that I’d only just come from training. At least I speak a second language.” She turned to Mae. “How will she take it when Billie doesn’t even have that to offer?”

Mae’s good humor cooled. “I expect she’ll take it as she’s told to take it.

She isn’t in charge of placement. Now that it’s May, visitors will begin to come in droves, and they’ll need the dining room fully staffed.

” She eyed them before she turned to go.

“You two, however, will have to prove yourselves, just like everyone else.”