CERCI, the maid–2 

Hi, I’m one of the maids.” 

He looked me up and down. “Next time use the service entrance below.” 

“Yes sir.” I nodded as he moved aside to let me in. The very first thing I noticed was that everything was colored in beige, green, and off–yellow, but that was before I saw an expensive of marble flooring. 

“Oh good there is another one!” A woman with short blonde hair in a red robe came out holding a glass of wine. “Please tell me this one speaks English. That Earlena, or Erelenea or Earlina–I have no idea how she pronounces it, but she swears she doesn’t understand a thing I’m saying. She just keeps nodding like a bobble head repeating okay okay, okay.” 

“Yo no hablo ingles.” I shrugged at her. 

At that, she sighed and her shoulders dropped while she rubbed her temples. “You’re in America now. Learn to speak English.” 

“Okay.” I nodded to her, fighting the urge to give her a few other words. She was probably in her early to mid–thirties; there was no reason for her to be this ignorant. 

She stared at me then started to shoo me away with her hand like I was dirt going into 

the dustbin. “Well! Go clean!” 

“Yes.” I ran around her and saw the second maid in the kitchen, then heard the woman. 

sigh once again. 

“Jesus. I swear, Foster, finding a good person like you is impossible nowadays,” the drama queen cried out before downing her wine. 

“Eres español?” an older woman with dark brown–gray hair asked me skeptically. The white skin, though I wouldn’t call it ivory white–more like sun–kissed white–was 

probably the giveaway, 

“No,” I whispered. “But she won’t know.” 

She laughed, shaking her head. “Earlene.” 

1/3 

CERCI, the maid–2 

“Cerci,” I said, shaking her hand. “What do you want me to do?” 

Carlotta upstairs. Kitchen, dining, 

You living room, bathroom, and outside.” 

“Got it,” I said, reaching for the gloves and cleaning products. I wanted to put on my earphones and listen to music, but I wanted to make sure I heard her if she called out for 

1. me. 

The place was a mess. 

She had rim stains. The old water stains on her coffee table made me feel like I was going insane. Use coasters people! They were only an inch away. Her floors had cracker crumbs 

all over them, and to make it worse, her couch cushions reeked of wine. I sprayed them down before taking them outside to air out, hopefully before her party. I wasn’t sure who the hell her maid was, but she needed to be hogtied given the amount of crap she missed. All of these things didn’t happen in a week: stains, dust behind the mirrors and on picture frames–she was slacking off. The owner might be a bitch, but we still had to do 

our job. 

Moving over to the bathroom, I rolled up my sleeves to use the toilet bowl cleaner when 

the rude owner came up behind me. 

“Don’t forget to use bleach,” she said, nearly scaring the shit out of me. 

“Okay.” I nodded to her. 

She just eyed me up and down before moving back to the butler. “I still can’t believe she doesn’t understand English,” she said rather loudly. 

“Watch them, Foster. If anything goes missing, I will hold you responsible. I’m going to get dressed.” 

Rolling my eyes, I just scrubbed since there was no point getting upset with people like her. They never changed. 

“So you don’t understand English?” the butler asked me as I wiped a strand of my hair 

back with my wrist. 

Smiling at him, I shook my head. “No.” 

2/3 

CERCE the mid–2 

He grinned. “Keep up the good work.” 

“Thanks,” I replied. 

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