Chapter 7: Box of Secrets
Zephyr had promised to come by with their share of the earnings from the jewelry loot that Sunday evening.
Ingrid and Marya sat on the floor of their room, waiting for him. They had hung one of Marya's sheep blankets over their door to prevent the draft from coming in and every now and then it fluttered because of the wind as if it was possessed by a ghost.
The floor was littered with scraps of brown paper from Marya's creations and pieces of fabric. The trail of paper led to Marya's side of the room, where there was a tiny table with a sewing machine. Marya said she had brought the machine with her when she came to the city.
Half-finished garments were strewn on Marya's bed. Balls of yarn peeked from under her bed. Newspaper cutouts, old magazine cutouts, and different pattern pieces were pinned on the wall by her bed and on the ceiling. Ingrid always teased Marya that it looked like a wild wind blew through a seamstress's shop and brought its mess over to their apartment.
Marya always insisted that she wanted it to look that way.
Ingrid's side of the room was a lot more calm. Her work uniform was thrown over her chair, and her shoes were scattered around her bed. A few pieces of clothing hung in the wardrobe, including the coat and scarf she had worn to rob the jewelry store. Then there was the huge portmanteau stuffed under her bed that she never opened. But her wall was clear, except for her shift schedule written out in chalk and a large chalk monster drawn there by Marya.
"To keep you safe," she had told Ingrid even after Ingrid told her she always prayed before she slept.
To pass the time before Zephyr came, Marya was braiding Ingrid's hair. They were seated in front of their huge mirror that occupied an entire half of the room and even blocked part of the window. Marya had bought it from a street market after they first moved in together and according to her, she had paid a boy on a bicycle to ride it to the apartment so it didn't get more chipped on the way.
"What will you spend your money on?" Marya asked her, twisting her hair under her fingers.
Ingrid shrugged, careful not to move her head and disrupt Marya's work. She followed Marya's fingers moving expertly in their mirror reflection and sighed.
"Well, there's the rent, you know."
"I know."
"And we can get that window fixed. Then, I don't know, I'll buy that dress I said I wanted."
Marya snorted.
"What?"
"You're not going to buy the dress. You never buy anything nice."
"Yes, I do."
"No. You buy useful practical things. I don't even think you 'want' things. You only 'need' things."
Marya turned her head gently so she could round a plait around Ingrid's ear. "You'll probably just store the rest of your money in your 'box of secrets' like you always do."
So Marya knew about that. The saving. To be honest, Ingrid wasn't even quite sure what she was saving toward, but about a year ago, she had started to put aside some of her money. The extra money she had been making from her jobs with Zephyr allowed her to set aside small amounts occasionally and she would put them in portmanteau under the bed. She told herself that if it was ever stolen, her whole life would be gone.
"I mean, what do you even want for your future?" Marya asked her.
Ingrid only shrugged, but Marya wouldn't let it go. "I wish you would tell me. You know what I want for my future. But you never tell me your own dreams, and it makes me feel like one of these days, you'll just disappear on me. I mean, you're already all packed for it." She sniffed.
Ingrid strained to look at Marya's face in the mirror. "Are you crying?"
"Oh darling, please. You're not that important. I mean, it's not like we even fuck or anything."
Ingrid swatted Marya's leg and they both laughed.
"But still, you're nice to have around," Marya said, squeezing her shoulder with one hand.
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