To Be a Virtuous Wife, According to the Manual novel · Chapter 15 of 24
Chapter 15: Foreman's Wife
The company gave Hal a gray twill jacket with FOREMAN stitched in red over the pocket.
He wore it home the first Friday and stood in the kitchen door.
"Well?" he said.
"It's very official."
"It has a clipboard loop."
"I can see that."
"I don't know what to do with my hands," Hal said, and I laughed until I had to hold the sink.
The plant had also sent home his work.
A foreman carries the week's shop sheets in a leather case and goes over them on his own time.
That Friday he bought a secondhand oak desk from a man at the plant and set it up in the spare room, under the window.
He sat at it after supper with his sleeves rolled and a pencil behind his ear.
The lamp made a circle on the green blotter.
I stood in the doorway with my household ledger under my arm.
I keep the books every Friday. I always have.
I had never once reported to anyone, and I had been thinking about it for days.
"Mr. Rausch," I said.
He looked up.
"Foreman Rausch," I said. "May I make my weekly report?"
He laid down his pencil very carefully.
He looked at me for a long moment, and the corner of his mouth went up, and he leaned back in the chair.
"Come in, Mrs. Rausch. Close the door."
I closed it and turned the key. The key is brass and it clicked.
I walked up to the desk with the ledger held in front of me in both hands, the way Gertrude holds her pocketbook.
"Groceries, eleven dollars and forty cents," I said, in the voice I use for totals.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of To Be a Virtuous Wife, According to the Manual are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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