5
“Greetings,” Alison began, “we’re
your neighbors from down the street a ways. We came by to welcome you to this
town.”
“You seem like three very young
ladies. Do you live alone?” Mr. Benting asked very politely.
“Only with our older sister, Louise,
she couldn’t come because she’s in town. I hope you don’t mind us barging in
like this.”
“Oh, no such thing!” He gave a
little joyful laugh. “Would you like to join us, Mr. Darkshire and I, for
luncheon? Mr. Darkshire is my cousin who is temporarily living with me.”
“We would be very honored but we
should probably be getting home.” Karen said kindly.
“Well then some day we should have
you. With your other sister…Louise–?”
“Yes, Louise.”
“–Of course,“ He stopped to pick up
a small box, “mind if I smoke?”
“Um, no, Of course not. This is your
house.” Said Karen who had taken the job of speaking for all of them.
“Ah, thank you, dear girl. Now you
said you lived down the road. How far would you say?” he began to light a pipe
with a match.
“A two mile walk I’d say…” Karen
began to say.
“ I think it would be more of a 3
mile walk.” Alison piped in. she was good with judging distance.
Young Mr. Benting looked up
surprise. “Are you telling me that you ladies walked three miles just to welcome us to this country? –”
“Oh
that’s nothing at all!” Alison said, “We norm–“
“Alison?” Karen whispered and gave her
a glare.
Mr. Benting resumed talking, “When
you leave I shall have our wagon driver take you home. He is a trustworthy
fellow, soft as a kitten, and more loyal than your best dog. Not that I would
ever put him at the level of an animal, but sometime animals are more reliable
than people if you take my meaning.”
“We are very grateful but really, but
walking home is fine with us.” Karen assured
“No, I insist.” The man took his
pipe out of his mouth and looked into Karen eyes.
“Alright then,” Karen said suddenly
after a short silence, “we’ll go in your wagon. Thank you”
“And thank you! This was a pleasant
visit.” Standing up he held out his hand.
As Karen was reaching to shake it,
her eyes widened when he took her hand gingerly and kissed it. He did the same
to the other girls. Karen was surprised but tried to hide it. She moved toward
door her sisters following.
“Thank you again.” Karen said.
Mr.
Benting nodded “The maid will escort you back to the door.”
The maid, whose name was Kelly, led
them to the wagon outside. And introduced them to the driver. “Ladies, this is
Sam, our wagon driver. Sam,” she turned to a kind looking man his wrinkled dark
skin crinkled when he gave the girls a broad white grin, “these are the three
young ladies that live down the road. Karen, Alison, and Susan. They need a
ride home. You will be taking them.” As she finished she turned around and trotted
quickly back to the house. The girls filed into the back of the wagon. The
wagon was open so the girls could talk to the driver.
“Um, sir? What is your full name?”
Alison asked courteously.
“Me name is Sam Morgan, Ma’am, but
you kin jus’ call me Sam.” He replied “What tis yours?”
“Hanson, Alison Hanson.”
“Dat is a right purdy name, ma’am.”
He said and flashed her another blindingly white smile.
“Mr. Morgan, do you have any
family?”
“Yees, ma’am I do, a wife and two
grown boys. They all work for our kind mast’r, Mr. Benting and his friend, Mr.
Darkshire.”
“Oh that’s our house up there!”
stated Susan. Secretly she was thinking about how no man should be any man’s
Master, but this dear Negro did not seem to be bitter.
Sam slowed the horses to a stop.
“Here ye are missus!” Sam called.
“Thank you Mr. Morgan. We really
appreciate this.” Karen said, who had kept quiet the whole ride.
“T’was nothin’.”
“We’ll come again. Thank you!” They
said in unison.
As they watched him drive away, they
saw another wagon coming down the opposite side of the road. All the girls
watched until they could decipher who was driving.
“Who could it be?” asked Susan.
“I have no idea, unless…”Karen began
Alison
cried out, “It’s Louise!”
“And someone is with her!” Susan
said, “It’s that young man at the general store, Mr.–Mr.–“
“Mr. Turner.” Karen helped.
Finally,
the wagon stopped front of the small house. Louise’s face was pink from the
fresh air and her hair was wind blown from the fast ride.
Louise looked to her companion,
“Thank you Mr. Turner. It was a…delightful ride.”
“Yeah, well sorry about all those
bumps. I’m kind of in a hurry.” Josh Turner said. Before Louise could jump off,
he told her to wait and came around to the side and helped her down. Louise
looked a little embarrassed as she faced her sisters. “Good bye miss Hanson.
See you in a few days. Good luck!” with that he hopped back one the rickety
wagon, whipped the horses and drove away. (But not without looking back.)
“Good bye.” Louise said in the
direction where the he had sped off. Turning to the house, she ran to her
sisters, who were snickering to each other. “Come on you three! Stop it!”
Alison giggled.
“He was just being polite” Louise
said defensively, But even then she was turning a bright shade of red.
“Enough teasing! Some time I think
we do it to often.” Karen helped her out. Louise looked gratefully at Karen. As
they had done repeatedly all their lives, the four girls went in traded stories
of the day’s advents, ate dinner (Louise had bought some flour and made bread
and more soup to eat), and went to bed, All except Susan. She was restless and
snuck out, once again, that night.
Slipping her worn brown shoes on she
trotted to the worn door of the cabin. I
think I’ll go by the lake tonight, She thought. The grass was so high she
had to lift her gown up to her knees so it wouldn’t catch seeds. Passing the
barn she heard Eva’s soft moo, she
almost tripped on a stone, caught herself but not without leaving a cut on her
foot. Yet, she eventually arrived at her destination. The stars cast their
dazzling reflection over the lake’s rippled surface, which caused a radiant
display of sparkling lights. Trees always seemed more alive at night. In the
day, there were always so many sounds to muffle the gently swish of the trees;
at night, there was hardly a sound except for the occasional owl and the soft
whisper of grass in the breeze. But tonight they, the trees, gave the feeling
of unrest, tossing and turning; reflecting how Susan felt. Taking of her shoes, Susan dipped her feet in
the cool, soothing, star-filled water edge and stood thinking for a while. So
much had happened to her and her 3 sisters. Louise got a job in the town! And
if that was not big enough, they now had rich neighbors! But something made
Susan uneasy, every good comes with a bad just as much as every good come with
a bad, what would be the bad? Susan shivered. From could or weariness she
didn’t know. Time to head back, she
thought. Just as she turned to leave, there was a snap in the trees. It was a
heavy crack unlike a little rabbit or other rodents. The figure of a man
holding a long stick emerged from the dark. Susan almost screamed but held it
in because the man in front of her seemed equally surprised. He didn’t give the
impression of being threatening though; She could not make out his face. There
was a short moment of silence before a gentle low voice broke it.
“Isn’t it a little late, miss, for a
lady to be out” he said.
Susan replied with a slightly shaky
voice, “I can be out as late as I wish. But I would say the same for you.”
“I was going night fishing. You
know, fish don’t always get sleep, they have sleepless nights too.” He said a
little louder but not enough for it to become louder than a whisper.
“All you’ll catch is stars tonight.
There is so many.” She said looking toward the lake.
“Your very poetic I can tell, I’m a
bit of a poet myself; a writer really.”
Susan stood silent. She was actually
having an almost normal conversation with a total stranger whose face she could
not even see and she hoped he could not see hers.
“The trees are restless just like
the waves maybe I’ll catch something.” He said then slowly made off toward
another bank to the right.
Susan took this moment to make a
disappearance. Running holding her skirts high, she dashed to the cabin, not
with out falling several times. Away from the lake, through the grass, pass the
barn, and to the front step the house, Susan didn’t stop her pace till she
reached he home. When she stumbled inside, Louise was looking though the window
and jerked suddenly and with surprise toward her. Susan stopped dead in her
tracks. With her wind blown hair, her skirt, despite all efforts, was covered
in seed from the dash back, her legs were not without scratches and her face
from running in wind was streaked with tears, Susan was quite a sight. At
first, Louise hardly recognized her, but came to her senses.
“Susan what is going on?” Louise
said in a harsh whisper.
Susan shut the door quietly. “I went
on a walk to the lake because I couldn’t sleep.”
Louise look critically at her, “ You
look as if you had been chased by a heard of bulls!”
Susan sighed; she had a feeling she
shouldn’t tell Louise about the stranger. Not tonight. “I wanted to get home
before it was to late. So I ran.”
“How many times have I told you to
go out at night? It is dangerous out there. Come here.” Louise smiled with
compassion. “But I used do the same before mother left us.” Louise walked over to Susan and gave her a
hug. “You were only 7 and usually asleep. Let’s get you cleaned up for bed and
we will both go to bed.”
Susan smiled and nodded in consent;
and with that, the two girls readied them selves for bed and slept until dawn. Something
very unexpected was about to happen.
…
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