In the Fin-Whip household, all chaos ran loose.
They had just received a letter telling them that they could no longer have the shop open.
"For tax reasons? We can't keep our shop open, that has never had a bad saying going around about it, and is completely clean, for tax reasons?!?!?!" Oscar screamed to the top of his lounges, while his father sat in the corner of the room crying.
Valerie tried to comfort him but it hardly worked. He threw a chair across the room to have it smash to pieces.
That shop was Oscar's home, his father was always at work and his mother and himself would always go to visit the man because they missed him. The staff was family, everyone was so nice to each other and always worked together perfectly. The only problems they had was when they'd run out of fabric and dresses and they'd have to wait for a new shipment to come in.
With the shop closing, a lot of people were out of jobs. Including the maids that worked at the Fin-Whip mansion, the owners, and the people who worked at the shop. In total, more than 200 people had lost a job to the King's own personal wants.
Valerie didn't mind when they moved into a smaller home, it was easier for her to feel comfortable. Not that she didn't feel comfortable with the maids helping with housework and such, but this way she'd have something to do other than to sit around and look nice.
They moved into a nice family home that had 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, Valerie couldn't find out why they still needed that much space but she was alright with it.
Oscar's parents moved in with them to save the money they had for food and to pay taxes and bills. Oscar started looking for a job, he didn't have a skill better than dressmaking, but he was fairly good at writing, so he took up writing things for people in order to make quick money while still looking for a job.
He insisted on Valerie not working, although she wanted to help. She thought about possibly being a teacher or maybe an assistant. Oscar refused to let her work and kept on saying that it is his job to keep the family afloat, and so he will. Valerie still believed she could help and there wouldn't be anything wrong with it.
Oscar's mother, Margret, didn't know how to cook or clean. She was raised in a rich family with handmaidens. She didn't want to keep the family business so it died when it came time for her to step up, but she loved Robert, Oscar's dad, and he was wealthy so she never had to learn to cook or clean.
So while Oscar was away looking for a job, Valerie taught Margret how to cook and clean. It was challenging at the start because Margret kept on burning herself on the stove, and she kept confusing the salt and the sugar and so what was supposed to be sweet was salty and what was supposed to be salty was sweet.
She didn't know how to wash the dishes right either, so sometimes you'd be able to taste soap in the food or on the silver wear.
No one said anything about it and just ate the food she cooked, they didn't want to make her mad or insult her. The men of the house knew they couldn't do any better.
Though they never said it out loud they liked it better when Valerie made the food. You could tell by the way they'd eat, they'd pick over the food and hardly eat anything when Margret cooked, but they'd scarf down anything Valerie made.
You can tell it bothered the woman when she saw them gulf down something which she didn't make. It bothered her less to know that she was getting cooking lessons to learn to cook like the person who had her son and husband eating like there was no tomorrow.
She would swear she tried her best when cooking, she usually burnt the food or didn't cook it all the way. She would use the wrong seasonings on the food and sometimes forget to wash the food off. She'd even sneeze into the food leaving snot mixed in with it.
One day after breakfast when Valerie had just clean the dishes, some mail arrived at the house and Valerie got it. It didn't have a specified name on it, there was just the name Fin-Whip. Valerie opened it and read aloud "Dear Fin-Whip family,
It has come to my attention that your shop has been closed due to tax reasons, it would be a shame to have you out on the streets hungry and poor, so I am offering a spot as a maid in the castle. The maid will get paid on how hard they work, starting from $100 to $500. We hope to see a Fin-Whip maid in our castle. This offer is open only until next Sunday so please make your decision. We will be waiting for you.
-Your King".