Bessie
I have been thinking about the invisible among us. Bessie was the maid at the boarding house, owned by Mrs. Harris, where I spent vacations from boarding school in England. At that time, I never considered her or thought much about what her life might be like, but a few months ago I was reading Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, a novel about a char woman who saves her money to go to the House of Dior to buy a beautiful gown. I thought of Bessie. Bessie would have never dreamt of such an adventure. She was old and walked in a stiff-ankled stomp. She was skinny with grizzled hair that escaped her cap, part of the uniform she wore, a black dress under a white apron—an unkempt imitation of the maids in the estates of England at the turn of the 20 th century. She lived in the underbelly of the house and served as cook and housekeeper. I never bothered to find out exactly where Bessie “lived”, where she slept or passed her off time, if she had any, but she may have had...