The mill gate

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

At the mill gate, Martha held her first wage packet so tightly that its corners folded into her palm. The money would buy coal and a new pair of boots for her brother. She had already counted it twice beneath the foreman’s window. Nevertheless, she stopped under the arch and counted it again. Until yesterday, this money had existed only in promises. Now its weight in her hand made tomorrow feel less uncertain.

Give two things Martha plans to buy with her wages.