Angel Sister (23 page)

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The pink fingers of dawn nudged Kate awake. For a few seconds she didn’t know why she was in the swing on the porch. The swing chains bounced against their hooks as she sat up and leaned her head to one side and then the other to get the crick out of her neck. She was stiff all over and her left arm was asleep from where it had been mashed up against the back of the swing. She shook it to start it tingling awake.

Her brain came awake too as everything that had happened the day before slammed back into her head. Grandfather Merritt taking Lorena and giving her to the Baxters as if she were no more than a stray kitten. Kate touched the scrape on her forehead. She didn’t really care about that. She’d had lots of bumps and bruises. It was the empty ache inside her that made her want to walk down the porch steps and off into the woods to get lost in the trees.

Not that that would solve anything.

And she couldn’t really go off walking in the woods in her nightdress. People would be talking about her the way they did Fern. It was bad enough Kate was standing on the porch in broad daylight in her old gown worn so thin a person could see right through it. Who knew when a car might go by out on the road or a neighbor might take a shortcut through the yard on his way to the store?

She picked up the pillow off the swing and held it in front of her as she backed toward the door. Lorena would be laughing her head off at Kate if she were there. Lorena liked to laugh. Kate wished she could believe Lorena would have a reason to laugh this morning at Ella Baxter’s house, but she couldn’t.

Kate paused before she went in the front door to look up the road in the direction of the Baxters’ house. She couldn’t see even a bit of its roof, but she knew it was there. She knew Lorena was there. “Your name is Lorena Birdsong,” Kate said very softly.

The sun was pushing more rosy light into the sky in the east, but it wasn’t up. The tree frogs and katydids hadn’t hushed their night songs. Behind her in the house, there was absolutely no noise of anyone stirring. She could go see Lorena before breakfast.

Her father wasn’t on the couch, so maybe she was wrong about nobody being up. She peeked toward her mother’s bedroom. The door wasn’t quite closed, and through the crack Kate could see her mother curled against her father. They were both sound asleep.

They looked right lying there together, so right that a thankful prayer almost took wing in Kate’s heart before she remembered that she didn’t believe praying did any good anymore. If it did, Lorena would be in the other bedroom waking up beside Tori.

Kate tried to dress as quietly as possible, but Tori opened her eyes before Kate finished buttoning up the back of her dress.

“Go back to sleep,” Kate whispered. “It’s too early to get up. Mama and Daddy aren’t up yet.”

“You’re up.” Tori raised up on her elbow to look at Kate. She was still in Evie and Kate’s bed instead of her own.

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean you have to be.”

“We could go fishing. They might bite this early.”

“Not today.” Kate ran her fingers through her hair.

“I guess it would be too sad. Without Lorena.” Tori’s mouth turned down. “Do you think Mrs. Baxter will let her go fishing with us sometime?”

“I doubt it. She probably doesn’t think little girls should go fishing.”

Evie groaned beside Tori. “Good gosh. Will you two hush up?” She squinted open one of her eyes and peeked toward the window. “The sun’s not even up yet.”

“Sorry,” Kate said. “I was trying to be quiet.”

Evie groaned again and pulled her pillow up around her head to cover her ears. “Then go be quiet somewhere else, for Pete’s sake.”

“Right,” Kate whispered. She picked up her shoes and then put them back down. She was used to going barefoot. She didn’t need shoes.

“Where are you going, Kate?” Tori asked.

“For a walk.”

“Can I go too? I can get dressed fast.” She swung her feet over the side of the bed.

“Not this morning.” Kate kissed the top of Tori’s head and pushed her back down on the pillow. “Tell Mama not to save any breakfast for me, but that I’ll be back in time to wash the dishes.”

Kate was almost to the bedroom door when Evie dropped her pillow away from her ears and whispered, “Give her a hug for us too.”

The sun was just beginning to pop up over the horizon when Kate got to the Baxter house. She didn’t go up to the front door. It was way too early for visiting, and she didn’t want to visit the Baxters. She just wanted to see Lorena.

Kate settled down cross-legged behind the big forsythia bush in Ella Baxter’s backyard. From where she sat, she had a good view of the outhouse but nobody could see her. She was beginning to feel more and more like Fern, out sneaking around in the early morning before anybody else was awake. Kate touched her hair. She hadn’t even taken time to properly comb her hair. Fern didn’t worry much with combs either. All Kate needed was a little axe.

Shivers tickled Kate’s back. She looked over her shoulder, almost expecting to see Fern behind her, but no one was there. Kate was alone. With each minute that ticked by, she felt even more alone until she thought she might not mind Fern showing up to sit beside her.

Mr. Baxter came out the back door and made his way to the outhouse. Kate held her breath and sat perfectly still. He didn’t look right or left, but kept his eyes on the ground as he walked the worn path. The hinges on the door creaked as he opened it and disappeared inside. Kate let out her breath and scooted around to the other side of the bush where she was sure he wouldn’t spot her when he came out of the outhouse. While Joseph Baxter never seemed to have much to say, Kate was afraid he might say plenty if he caught her hiding in his yard spying on his outhouse.

Kate breathed easier when she heard the outhouse door creak open and shut again and then a few minutes later the house door slam. On the air she caught the smell of bacon frying. That was good. Lorena liked bacon.

Ella Baxter was the next one out the back door, but she didn’t come up the path toward the outhouse. She was carrying a chamber pot that she emptied at the back fence. Again Kate eased around the bush to stay out of sight. Spying on someone from behind a bush wasn’t as easy as Kate had thought it would be. She should have paid more attention to how Fern did it. Except that Fern was so good at it that most of the time Kate never knew she was there. Or maybe she wasn’t. Who could be sure?

Kate didn’t feel sure of anything right now. Where was Lorena? She always had to go to the outhouse first thing when she got up at Kate’s house, but perhaps she’d used the chamber pot. Or she was sleeping late. Or Mr. and Mrs. Baxter had decided they didn’t want the little girl and had given her away to someone else.

That thought, as far-fetched as it was, made Kate’s heart bound up into her throat. She was getting up to go to the door when the back door opened again and Lorena came out. She kept her head down as she walked slowly to the outhouse. She would never go to the outhouse alone at Kate’s house. She was terrified that rats would come out of the corners to chew on her toes while she did her business. Even though Kate kept telling Lorena she’d never once seen a rat in the outhouse, she or Mama always went with Lorena to stand in the door to be sure no stray rats sneaked in to scare her.

Lorena hesitated halfway up the path and looked back over her shoulder toward the house. The back door stayed closed, and Kate couldn’t see anybody peeking out the windows watching Lorena. In fact, in front of the house Mr. Baxter was starting his car to head off to work at his shoe store in Edgeville. Aunt Gertie said he was a different person when he was trying to sell a person a pair of shoes. All smiles and full of talk about this or that leather. Kate didn’t know. She’d never been in his store there. They bought all their shoes at Grandfather Merritt’s store.

But she was pretty sure that Mrs. Baxter would be at the front door waving goodbye to him, so she edged around the bush and peeked out. “Lorena,” she said softly. “Over here.”

Lorena jumped and then her eyes flew open, and the next second she was throwing herself at Kate behind the bush. “Oh, Kate. I knew you’d come. I knew it.”

“I told you I would.” Kate kissed Lorena’s forehead and then smoothed her curly hair back from her face. “How are things going? They’re being good to you, aren’t they? I mean, it must be nice having your own room with pink walls and everything.”

“I like your house better.” Lorena looked down at her hands and then back up at Kate. “Can I come home with you now? Please. I’ll be very good. I promise.”

Kate pulled her close and hugged her for a long moment before she pushed her back to say, “I want you to. You know I want you to, but you’ll have to stay here for a little while. Till I figure out what to do.”

“Did you ask Jesus to help you?”

“Not today,” Kate said.

“Why not? Mommy told me Jesus would always help me. That’s how come you’re here, because I was afraid to go to the toilet by myself. Miss Ella said I couldn’t use the pot inside during the daytime and that I’d better not mess my new underwear. It’s real white.” Lorena lifted the edge of her skirt to show Kate her bloomers with lace around the legs.

“They’re pretty,” Kate said.

“I don’t like them. They’re scratchy. I wanted to take them off last night, but Miss Ella said only bomians did things like that.”

“Bohemians?”

“I don’t know. Some kind of bad people. I told her I wanted to be a bo- whatever you said.” Lorena’s lips trembled as she looked down at the ground. “She got all mad and hit me with her flyswatter.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Kate pulled her close in a hug again.

“It’s okay. It didn’t hurt much. But Miss Ella gets mad real easy. She got mad awhile ago when I told her rats might live in outhouses. She said if she had to go with me, she’d take the flyswatter too. So I shut my eyes and told Jesus I was scared, and then you were here.” Lorena pulled away from Kate. She grabbed between her legs and hopped up and down as she said, “Now come on. I really got to go.”

Kate peeked around the bush at the house. She didn’t see any sign of Ella Baxter, so she ran to the outhouse and slipped inside with Lorena. Light sifted in through the cracks between the boards of the outhouse. There were spiderwebs up in the corners and it was stinky, but then all outhouses had spiders and were a little stinky. The seat with the two holes in it was too high for Lorena to get up on by herself.

“You need a stool,” Kate said as she lifted Lorena up to sit on the hole.

Lorena kept a tight hold on Kate’s arms. “Don’t let go of me. I might fall in.”

“No, sweetie. The hole’s not that big.”

Lorena clung even tighter to Kate. “It feels big to me.”

“Just do what you have to do so we can get out of here.”

“You’re scared there are rats too.” Lorena stared up at her with big eyes.

“No. No rats. I promise.”

The little girl didn’t look convinced. “Cross your heart?”

“Cross my heart.” Kate didn’t blame Lorena for looking doubtful. Too many promises to her had been broken already. But Kate was pretty sure no rats would pop out of the corners of the Baxters’ outhouse, so a no-rats promise was probably safe to make.

“I don’t like rats.”

“I know. Tell you what. Before I leave, I’ll sprinkle some rat-proof powder all around the door so if you have to go to the toilet when I’m not here, you’ll be fine.” Kate looked around as she helped Lorena down. “And look, there’s an old bucket you can turn upside down and stand on to get up on the toilet. You’ll be able to do it by yourself, Lorena.”

“I’ll still be scared.” She reached down to pull up her underwear.

“I know, sweetie. I know, but even scared, you can do it.”

“And you’re sure about the rats?”

“I’m sure. No rats.” Kate touched Lorena’s cheek. “Remember rat-proof powder.”

“And Jesus,” Lorena added. “He can help me be brave.”

A door slammed. Kate peeked out the cracks. Ella Baxter was on the back step looking toward the outhouse. “Polly! Where are you, Polly?” she called.

“Polly? Does Miss Ella have a cat named Polly?”

“No.” Lorena sniffed a little and leaned against Kate. “She says I have to be Polly. I told her my name, but she said that wasn’t a good name, that Polly was better and from now on I’d be Polly, but I won’t. I don’t care how much she hits me with her flyswatter. My name is Lorena Birdsong.”

“Yes. Yes, it is. But maybe right now, you should yell back at her that you’re coming.”

Ella Baxter had started up the path to the outhouse. Kate had no idea what she might do if she caught Kate there with Lorena, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t be anything Kate or Lorena wanted to happen.

“Coming!” Lorena yelled as loud as she could.

“What in the world are you doing in there?” Ella stopped on the path and stared at the outhouse.

Kate whispered, “Go on out. I’ll come back after breakfast. I’ll knock on the front door.” She gave Lorena a quick kiss and then scooted back as far as she could into the corner when Lorena opened the door and hurried out. She slammed the door closed behind her.

“Well, it’s about time. And make sure you fasten that door good and tight. We don’t want any possums taking up residence in there, do we?”

“No, ma’am.” Lorena turned the wooden button to hold the door shut. She peeked through the cracks toward Kate.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for possums. Are they like rats?”

“Bigger and meaner. Now quit poking along. I’ve got work to do.” Mrs. Baxter grabbed hold of Lorena’s arm and yanked her along the path toward the house.

“Can’t I stay outside and play?”

“Not now. I told you. Chores first, then playtime. You’ve got to straighten your room.”

“I haven’t messed it up yet,” Lorena said.

“Don’t back talk me, young lady. You’ve been around that Kate Merritt too long. You need to learn how to behave, and I’m the one that can teach you.” She kept fussing as she pulled Lorena through the back door and shut it behind them.

Kate waited a few minutes longer before she pushed against the outhouse door. The wooden button held tight. She softly bounced the door back and forth against the wood fastener in hopes that it might make the button slide around on its nail. No such luck. She was stuck inside there until somebody came up the path, and then what?