I’d finally been offered to work after wandering the miserable and cruel days. A man met me by the street starring the waves rolling on the surface of the Thame River doing nothing. Looking at the size of my body had lighted his bulb to ask me favors.

I took the wooden handle sweeper and started to enter the small gate of the fireplace and started to sweep the wall of the chimney. It was dusty and dark inside and made me cough many times. I climbed the chimney which the harsh texture of the wall scratched my elbows, my body and my knees easily.

I’d climbed about half a meter of the chimney already and I could still hear the man’s deep voice laughing hollowly and I believed he was in the sitting room. There was another silvery note of a woman talking making the echoes double and harsh. The voice of their children arguing to each other could be heard even from such distant places.

The chimney got darker and darker as I climbed further above. It was more than half an hour already but I still in the chimney. I felt very hungry that my little tummy grumbled many times, even if I stopped for break, nobody would had the heart to offer me some foods. I continued to work with my stomach ached. My elbows and my knees were ached like they’d been cut by thousand knives.

Starving and hurt, then suddenly the woods from the fireplace were lighted by one of the servants as the day grew colder. I realized that the temperature of the surrounding was colder than before but now I felt warm as the heat from the fire below reached me.

Not so long from before, I started to feel that my feet were burning from the heat and had encouraged me to work quicker.

“Little girl, hurry up your work before you turn into ashes,” I heard the deep voice of the man remind me.

I heard a sound from below that the man had poured something to the fire and had made it extremely hot and ready to burn my body. I felt hot and my body sweats. My sweat had made my wounded skin ached and I couldn’t bear it. I fell in the fire but I was lucky that the master of the house had prepared a bucket of cold water to extinguish the fire from spreading to all over my body. His two servants pulled me out of the fireplace then he threw the cold water onto me.

I shivered and hugged my little body. Then one of his servants put a huge white and clean towel on me and brought me to the nursery room. I was put to sit on the wooden chair by the fireplace and warmed myself there.

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The servant dried out my hair with the towel and asked, “are you alright, little girl? What’s your name?”

“Emily Lavender,” was the answer. I was so dirty that the servant begged her master to wash me and offered me a clean dress and some food.

Even though it was warm, I still shivered of hunger. I was so weak that it ledl my body to lie on the chair. The servant entered the room and was shocked to see my condition. She hurried and called for the doctor.

I could only hear the tune of her voice moving in the silent air but couldn’t hear what she’d said.

About 10 minutes later, a tall and young doctor came into the room. I was half conscious at that time. He examined me and felt my pulses in my wrist with his two fingers. The servant was standing behind the doctor looking sickly and worried about me.

I watched the doctor examined me and hold my head. “This child needs more nutrients and a proper rest,” persuaded the doctor.

“I'll take water for her,” told the servant without an order then left us alone.

The doctor fixed his eyes on mine and asked, “what’s your name?”

“Emily Lavender,” I spoke slowly.

“Do you have parents or guardians to look after you?”

“I’m homeless and my mother died two weeks ago,”

“Well that makes sense now about your weakness. I shall tell the master to keep you here for a while until you’re fully recovered,” he helped me to sit.

“Doctor, is there anybody out there who need a poor child like me?” I asked.

His eyes shone of confusion, then he said, “There are. Do you ever wish to go to school?”

I shook my head to tell him that I refused. He told me that I could make more friends at school and learnt together with teachers then the servant of the house came in with a glass of water in her hand.

She lent the glass to me then I drank it eagerly as I was thirsty. The doctor was ready to leave but before he did he told the servant to nurse me.

Later, after the doctor had left, I heard the servant tell her master about keeping me but he said, “you shall not pity a filthy and poor child like her, she doesn’t deserve such passion or it will spoil her life.”

She then entered the nursery room and told me to sleep. The bell rang as it was time for supper for the servants of the house. She left me alone to sleep then went downstairs. At first, I couldn’t sleep because I was very used to sleeping at a riverbank or dirty places, then later I closed my eyes then slept because I was so tired.

The next day, I was fully recovered and it was time for me to set farewell to the house. The servant told me that I could come anytime to clean the chimney and she told me how she’d wished to keep me but the master disliked a miserable child from the street.

I was ready for my journey and found my way back to the Thames riverbank.