Let’s Write a Novel Chapter 5, Paragraphs 1 & 2

"Princess Alice", 1902

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Note: The novel from the start can be found by clicking on Lets Write a Novel , my associated blog. I have recently done a bit of rewriting there so it will be a bit different than the original posts on this blog.

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101 North Washington Street.
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Chapter 5, Paragraphs 1 & 2
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I could easily use to a rather weak metaphor, but I would just as soon not implicate the innocent flatware. Let’s just say Ophelia was raised atypically. Take a look at her nursery at age 5. It wouldn’t be common for a child to have this abundance of space and goods until 100 years later. There were many confluent factors; an only child, 12 room house, wealthy parents, and a mother terribly happy to have a little girl to mold to her ideal of girlhood. She had 3 full rooms. Abraham’s “den” was removed to the downstairs library to give her three adjoining rooms, facing East, overlooking Washington Street. Sara was most excited about the corner room, Ophelia’s studio. Side by side easels, one for the master, Sara, and a tiny replica for the apprentice, Ophelia, took full advantage of the Northern exposure. The middle room was the playroom fully stocked with hobbyhorse and fancy dollhouse and most certainly Teddy Bears. The suite was completed by a quite frilly bedroom done in the shade of blue made so popular by “Princess Alice”, the very popular the lovely daughter of the President.

Sara admired Alice Roosevelt tremendously. What a marvelous modern woman! Alice damn well did what she pleased: smoking cigarettes, zooming about in automobiles alone with men, and partying all night long, all this while living in the White House. Alice was not just a party animal. She was a skilled diplomat as well, helping end the Russo-Japanese War that won her father the Nobel peace Prize. The repressed wives of America loved Alice. Their husbands were less enthusiastic. Sara Weiss wanted Ophelia to be just like Alice but with an added artistic bent. It would be wonderful to have such a daughter. Abraham “guessed” he agreed.