Elise Esker

Archivist's Excerpt from: A Chiming Town Indeed: A Painstaking History of Pendulum & its People, Vol. I, CVI 42.5

Endlessly patient, witty, urbane, and in Hugo Esker's words, "Hotter than the Limeiron forges," Elise Esker is a stable of London Row and Harchester in general. Born Elise Heinrich, she married her beloved Hugo Esker at only 19, and never looked back. They share a home at the modest Esker Brownstone in Harchester.

Mother to the late Agnes Esker, Alphonse Esker, and Alvin Esker, she is accustomed to the demands of motherhood, and is well trained as a nurse, in her younger years. Adept as a seamstress, cook, and general peacekeeper in a house of three males (especially since the death of Agnes Esker), Elise is nothing if not a contented survivor. Having lost both parents by age 27, and a daughter by 43, Elise carries herself with a quiet dignity and strength. Little rattles her, especially being married to Hugo.

There are longstanding rumours among her family that Elise is the descendant of Sally Forth herself, but there is little to back this up beyond the word of the Heinrichs themselves. Nevertheless, they persist in this line of historical association, particularly when holiday drink is consumed.

Among her least-appreciated talents is her love of dancing. She insisted that all her children learn how, though the boys largely abandoned the skill by their adolescent years.

Elise is known for her warmth, hospitality, optimism, pies, and dancing prowess. Always swift with a wry comment and welcome smile, it was little wonder she caught old Hugo's eye as a young Tramrunner, and they are almost always seen together of a Friday evening down at the Lager than Life Pub, where he entertains her with his unfiltered thoughts about the events of the day, and Elise chimes in when she feels he 's gotten a little too big for his britches.