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her. A smear of egg on her face, egg and flour streaked her apron and congealed on her shoes. Flour turned her strawberry braids to pink and her dark skirt to gray in places.
    ‘‘I’m sorry.’’
    ‘‘Opal, this is not your fault. Blame Cat. Uff da, what a mess.’’ Ruby patted her sister’s shoulder and then dusted off her hands. ‘‘You know, the best thing might be to take your clothes off right here and wash up in the pantry. I’m afraid we are going to have to wash your hair too.’’
    ‘‘Can’t we just brush it out? I hate to wash my hair.’’
    ‘‘But egg yolk is good for making beautiful hair.’’
    ‘‘With flour?’’
    Ruby rolled her lips together and shook her head. Talk about pathetic.
    ‘‘My land, Opal, what happened to you?’’ Milly, the youngest of the hotel maids, stopped in the doorway from the second floor where she’d been cleaning rooms. Her mouth and eyes were matching O’s, her head continuing to wag as she came closer.
    Ruby took the wrung-out rag and dusted off the worst of the mess. ‘‘Milly, please get the broom to sweep this up while Opal washes off in the pantry. We’ll pour the water in the hip bath, so we can wash her hair too.’’
    Opal groaned but walked gingerly so as not to dislodge any more flour goop.
    An insistent meow came from the door to the storeroom.
    ‘‘You can just stay there. This is all your fault.’’ Opal stopped at the pantry door and glanced back at Ruby, who was filling a bucket with water from the boiler simmering on the back of the stove.
    As Opal moved into the pantry, Ruby turned to Milly. ‘‘Before you finish sweeping, would you please drag in the hip bath? I should have done that first.’’
    ‘‘Sure.’’ Milly propped the broom against the table. ‘‘What a mess. I bet there’s a good story here.’’ She glanced at Opal for confirmation. Opal was known to take something that happened and turn it into knee-slapping laughter when she told it later to her friends. Ruby knew her little sister would do the same with this episode after she recovered from embarrassment and from the misery of having her hair washed.
    As soon as the hip bath was in place, Ruby poured the buckets of water into the tin tub. ‘‘As I mentioned, egg is really good for washing hair.’’
    Opal kept her eyes down as she checked the temperature of the water. ‘‘Could use some cold.’’
    ‘‘Think I’ll scrape some of that yolk off the floor and—’’ ‘‘Ruby, you’re not funny.’’
    ‘‘Come on, this isn’t the end of the world, you know.’’
    Opal grumbled something as she pulled her waist over her head, sneezing from the flour.
    Ruby brought in more water, keeping one bucket back to rinse with. ‘‘I brought some of the rose soap that Cimarron made last summer.’’ She handed the bar to Opal, along with a cloth for washing. ‘‘You want me to do your hair?’’
    ‘‘Please.’’ Opal untied the bows and grimaced at the egg dripping from the ribbon. ‘‘Ugh.’’
    ‘‘Drop it in the tub.’’ After running her fingers through the strands to loosen the braids, Ruby filled a dipper with warm water and sluiced it over Opal’s head. ‘‘Come on, work it through.’’ After soaping and rinsing again, Ruby searched the strands for any remaining batter and worked a chunk of flour loose from one side. She rinsed the section again. ‘‘There, I think we got it all.’’
    They could hear Cat yowling in the storeroom now. While she had started out wild as the bobcat they’d caught trying to get into the chicken house, Cat now figured that a lap was the best place to nap and tidbits should be forthcoming whenever anyone cooked.
    ‘‘She probably thinks someone is mixing cake or something.’’ Opal soaped her washcloth. ‘‘Silly cat. Why does she have to play with a mouse like that?’’
    ‘‘You used to play with your food.’’
    ‘‘Ru-by.’’
    Ruby leaned against the counter and tucked a