Passing as Elias - By Kate Bloomfield Page 0,30

the Triopiate’s, and handed them to the man while he pulled out his coin.

‘How much will that be?’ He asked.

‘Three pounds, Sir.’

He handed over the coin without hesitation, and then pocketed the medicine for his wife.

‘Tell me.’ He said before turning around to leave, ‘who bought the apothecary? I saw that it is under new management.’

‘Oh. No one bought it sir. Professor de Bard passed away, so it was handed down in his will.’

‘So his son is the new apothecary?’

‘No Sir.’ Elizabeth smiled, ‘The Professor left this shop to me.’ She stopped when she saw the look upon the man’s face.

He looked displeased that he had just done business with a female apothecary, however he decided not to say anything and left the shop silently.

The following days were themed very alike. Few clients would enter the shop, and when they realized that Elizabeth was the new full-time apothecary, they left hurriedly. Soon, Elizabeth was not making enough money to buy supplies.

A week later Elizabeth had a rather frightening encounter with a very angry man who insisted that she had given him the wrong herbs. He called her many names and demanded a refund. Elizabeth tried to explain that the herbs were meant to be drunk with tea, and not smoked for they would cause him to hallucinate. He ignored this and continued to rant and rave, before leaving and yelling ‘I shall tell anyone who will listen that this apothecary is untrustworthy, and is run by a silly little girl!’

It was after this that Elizabeth decided to lie about being the apothecary. Whenever someone asked, she simply said that ‘the boss is not here at the moment. He is running errands.’ And no one seemed to mind.

However Elizabeth could not deny the fact that sales were at an all time low. She flicked through the sales book to the time before the Professor had died, and saw that the pages were filled with customers. Turning back to this week’s sales she found that they did not reach halfway down the page for seven days worth of business.

This continued for another month, and Elizabeth found herself becoming miserable. The shop was not making any money, and word had spread that Elizabeth was the one brewing, and concocting their remedies. Of course Elizabeth had funds to purchase what she needed, for Captain Greenwood had ensured that she would be well provided for while he was away. The townspeople did not seem to care that Elizabeth had a perfectly capable mind when it came to the science of medicine. All they saw was a little girl with a tiny brain, and ambitions above her station.

Elizabeth was lonely without her Professor, and now that she was living out of home, she realized she had not had a conversation in weeks. The only interaction she had had was with the surly customers, who refused to pay full price for the work of a female.

Soon Elizabeth found herself thoroughly depressed. Some days she did not wish to get out of bed because she knew that it would be another day of complaints from customers, who were adamant that she had made a mistake with their order. Elizabeth knew that she had not made a mistake with a single one of those customers.

Finally, another Sunday came, and Elizabeth lay in bed until mid morning. She had not felt like going to church today – something which she had never done before. She knew her mother would have something to say about it, but Elizabeth did not care. She was beyond caring. Today she was going to clean out all of Professor de Bard’s old clothes and give them to charity. She had no use for them, and they only made her sad when she saw them.

She had a huge suitcase open on her bed, and was piling clothes into it. Some of them were rather old, and worn, but some looked brand new as though the Professor had never worn them. Elizabeth amused herself, wearing his hats and ties. Even some of his shoes fit, for he had been quite a small, thin man.

Elizabeth caught sight of herself in her full-length mirror whilst she was wearing one of Professor de Bard’s older top hats. She paused, and stared. Suddenly, she was stuffing her long hair out of sight and into the depths of the hat. She grabbed a bowtie that she had already packed into the suitcase and hurriedly put it around her neck. Elizabeth approached the