Passing as Elias by Kate Bloomfield

before the Professor had died, and saw that the pages were filled with customers. Turning back to this week’s sales she found that they did not reach halfway down the page for seven days worth of business.
    This continued for another month, and Elizabeth found herself becoming miserable. The shop was not making any money, and word had spread that Elizabeth was the one brewing, and concocting their remedies. Of course, Elizabeth had funds to purchase what she needed, for Captain Greenwood had ensured that she would be well provided for while he was away.  The townspeople did not seem to care that Elizabeth had a perfectly capable mind when it came to the science of medicine. All they saw was a little girl with a tiny brain, and ambitions above her station.
    Elizabeth was lonely without her Professor, and now that she was living out of home, she realized she had not had a conversation in weeks. The only interaction she had  was with the surly customers, who refused to pay full price for the work of a female.
    Soon, Elizabeth found herself thoroughly depressed. Some days she did not wish to get out of bed because she knew that it would be another day of complaints from customers, who were adamant that she had made a mistake with their order. She knew that she had not made a mistake with a single one of those customers.
    Finally, another Sunday came, and Elizabeth lay in bed until mid morning. She had not felt like going to church today – something which she had never done before. She knew her mother would have something to say about it, but Elizabeth did not care. She was beyond caring. Today she was going to clean out all of Professor de Bard’s old clothes and give them to charity. She had no use for them, and they only made her sad when she saw them.
    She had a huge suitcase open on her bed, and was piling clothes into it. Some of them were rather old, and worn, but some looked brand new as though the Professor had never worn them. Elizabeth amused herself, trying on  his hats and ties. Even some of his shoes fit, for he had been quite a small, thin man.
    Elizabeth caught sight of herself in her full-length mirror whilst she was wearing one of Professor de Bard’s older top hats. She paused, and stared. Suddenly, she was stuffing her long hair out of sight and into the depths of the hat. She grabbed a bow tie that she had already packed into the suitcase and hurriedly put it around her neck. Elizabeth approached the mirror with a look of awe upon her face. A brilliant, crazy, ridiculous idea had occurred to her. But … no … she could never pass it off. Yet, she could not take her eyes off the vision before her. Without thinking, Elizabeth began to undress. She stripped right down until she was completely naked and began rummaging through the suitcase, pulling out various garments. Shirts, vests, breeches, socks, shoes.
    A few minutes later Elizabeth was dressed completely in mens attire, posing in front of the mirror. She pulled various expressions before deciding that men did not pull many facial expressions, and she kept her face set.  Her hands moved to her chest, where her bosom was still obvious. She thought, looking around and fixing her eye upon an old, ragged shirt that she had planned on throwing out, as it was in too poor condition to donate. Without thinking she began to rip it into strips.
    Grabbing the strips of shirt, she began to wrap them tightly around her chest. She did it so tight she almost had trouble breathing, yet she smiled when she saw her flat chest in the mirror. This was it. This was the answer. Elizabeth could dress as a boy, run the apothecary, and gain the trust of her clients again. They would think a young lad ran the shop.
    Elizabeth put on a deep voice, “Good day, Ma’am,” she said with a tip of her hat, “no … ahem … Good day ma’am. Good day .’ She repeated the words over and over again until they did not sound like words at all.
    Her body looked like a boy. With a