Another beautiful spring day was beginning in Concord. The grass was still wet with morning dew, and there was a bit of a chill in the air.

Brushing her dark brown tresses, Isabel dreamily headed over to the window of her family’s house in Concord. The calico curtains waved lightly in the breeze, and the sunlight shone on Isabel’s face as she soaked in the radiant warmth. "Someday," Isabel muttered to herself as she looked out the window at couples walking by, "someday I'll meet a man who will treat me like a lady. Someone who will make me feel special... someone who -"

"Come downstairs, dear," Isabel’s mother called after her, snapping the girl out of her daydream, "breakfast is ready!"

"Don’t rush me... I’ll be right down!" Isabel replied as she set her brush on the table by the bed and pulled her hair back into a tight bun, the hairstyle she wore to work every day. Then, pulling on her apron, she tied the strings into a bow and started out the door.

Every morning at the McGregor house started this way, with Isabel late to breakfast because of her daydreaming, and her younger brother looking longingly at his sister’s plate full of food.

"French toast! My favorite!" said Isabel, smiling as she gave her mother a hug before sitting down.

"Good thing you got down here when you did, because I was just about to eat your breakfast!" Isabel’s little brother said with a smirk.

"How come you didn't, then?" Isabel teased. This playful exchange between the siblings was another part of the morning routine, and Isabel simply smiled back and ruffled the boy’s hair before starting to eat her breakfast.

In a few minutes, after Isabel had finished eating breakfast, the young woman of eighteen rushed out the door, hoping that she wouldn’t be late for work. Isabel had been late for work twice this week already, and the hotel manager’s patience was wearing thin. It was now 7:50 a.m. She only had ten minutes to get to the hotel, and if she ran fast enough, she could make it there in nine, with one minute to spare.

Jumping over the gate, Isabel gathered her skirts and started to run down the street towards the hotel which was only a few blocks away.

Keeping her balance, or at least trying to, she rounded the corners and finally made it to the hotel. Out of breath, but she had made it! The tall, stately grandfather clock in the lobby, which she could see through the dirt-streaked window, read 7:59.

Lunging forwards, Isabel burst through the door, almost running the manager over in the process in the clumsy manner that was so much like her.

"Mister Smith... I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to run into you like that," Isabel apologized as she tried to straighten the lapels on his jacket, "but I am on time!"

"No, Miss McGregor," Mr. Smith informed the young woman before him, "you are two minutes late. That clock is two minutes fast. A repairman is coming today to fix it."

"Oh dear," Isabel fretted, twisting her apron strings, "well, I am very sorry, Mr. Smith. I guess my mind is just somewhere else. I keep getting the strange feeling that something important is going to happen today."

"Perhaps tomorrow you will be able to pull your head out of the clouds and make it to work on time," said Mr. Smith, impatiently eyeing the clock, "and something important is happening today. There is a group of businessmen coming to Concord, and I want the hotel to be spotless, right on down to the windows out front."

Quizzically furrowing her brows, Isabel tried to remember her boss saying something about a group of businessmen coming to Concord, but she couldn’t. Perhaps it had been during another one of her daydreaming breaks. And Isabel McGregor took a lot of daydreaming breaks!

"Rosie is sick today, Miss McGregor," Mr. Smith continued, "so someone is going to need to do her work. And since you were late today, I will bestow that honor on you."

Stunned, Isabel listened as Mr. Smith rattled off Rosie’s workload for the day. It didn't sound too bad. Helping out in the kitchen for a while was something she always enjoyed, and she certainly didn't mind making the beds in the empty rooms. But then he gave her one last duty... one that Isabel absolutely hated. Cleaning the windows outside. Out of all the things that Isabel had to do at the hotel, she hated washing the windows.

Two months ago, when she had first started working at the Minutemen Hotel - or as she referred to it, the "Grand Palace" - Isabel hadn't minded washing the windows. She could always get them cleaner than anyone else. But a few weeks ago, that had changed, with the arrival of a certain pest named Brett Wilson. Whenever Isabel was working outside, Brett felt the need to come over and pester her, getting in her way, causing mischief. And at first she didn't mind, but lately he was becoming more and more... well... rude! Today would be different, though. If that man bothered her today, she would just throw her bucket of water in his face. That would teach him to pester her! Just thinking about it brought a grin to Isabel's face, and she smiled as she nodded to Mr. Smith before starting her day of work.

Uneventful as the morning was, it went by quickly. After helping out in the kitchen and making the beds, Isabel dusted and swept the floor and then washed it until it shone like a bright new penny. And then came the dreaded task of cleaning the windows.

Vibrantly grinning to herself to lift her spirits, Isabel began to wash the windows in front of the lobby, just as Brett Wilson walked up to the hotel and leaned against the side of the building, making a comment about how she was always working...

"What I wouldn’t give to throw this bucket of water at him right now!" Isabel thought to herself as the man went on, being the rude brogue he always was. Well, she’d get him this time!

X’ing a spot on the Brett's head in her mind, Isabel reached down to pick up the bucket of water at her feet.

"You’d be good for me... at least that’s what I hear," the man said, chuckling in that self-absorbed manner of his. Okay... now he was going to get it! A smirk playing on her lips, Isabel picked up the bucket and threw the contents towards the rude man.

Zig-zagging out of the way, the man successfully avoided being hit by the water. However, that water had to go somewhere.. and it did. It splashed right in the face of a young man who had been standing in front of the hotel. A man that looked like a teacher, what with all of the children gathered around him. A man that would change Isabel McGregor’s life forever. A man named Franz Bhaer.