Catherine's Cross (8 page)

“You're a tiny little thing,” he said as he held her.

She placed her head against his chest and breathed in his fresh clean scent—something like mint and citrus. She felt safe as he held her against his body. When he released her from his embrace, she lifted her head up and looked into his eyes. “Thank you for the wonderful evening.”

“I've had a great time myself. I'll look forward to hearing from you after you meet with Miss Meta Jane.”

Before he left the house, he kissed her on the forehead and then paused in the open doorway. “Lock your doors and use the deadbolt.”

“I will,” she said with a smile and then leaned her back against the door to catch her breath. She was glad to have his company and his friendship.

The next afternoon Jenks arrived at Meta Jane's home on Coffin Point. She entered the front door and rang the bell on the marble-top table.

A voice that sounded like Ida Mae's called out from the rear of the house. “Miss Jenkins, come on in de parlor. I be dere in jus' a minute.”

Jenks sat down on the couch, and within a few minutes Ida Mae entered the room and said, “I's glad to see you today. We got de books you want to look at. Dey's in de kitchen on de table. Come with me.” She smiled and motioned for Jenks to come with her.

Jenks followed her down the hallway into the kitchen. It was a spacious room with high ceilings and a round oak table in one corner. A black pot-bellied stove was situated diagonally to the table.

The books sat on the table beside a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. “We tink maybe you want some refreshments while you read.”

Jenks smiled at her, “Thank you, Miss Ida Mae.”

“Take your time. Meta has a client in a few minutes, and we'll be in dat room off de kitchen if you need us.” She pointed to an entranceway, and then exited into the room, closing the door behind her.

Jenks carefully opened the book on top of the stack. The leather jacket was cracked and worn, and the paper within the journal was yellowed. The writing was hard to read. She turned the pages and found a legible entry from 1860 that dealt with an event at the plantation, Andrews Hall.

I come up from the fields with the ringing of the lunch bell. Scipio was with me and when we got to the big house there was wild hogs in the yard. They must have come up from the swamp. They black and when they snarl at me, they look like the devil. I had a sickle that I brought from the field. When they came at me, I killed them one by one. Then I see what they done. Miss Adelaide is going to be real upset. They killed her cat, Molly, and her kittens. Their tiny bodies lay all over the yard. I buried them this afternoon before Miss Adelaide return from Charleston. Me and Scipio take the hogs to Maum Gray and Sister Lebo.

“That's horrible,” Jenks said as she turned the page. She continued to read through several sections of the journal until she came to this entry:

We in the fields planting. I with Scipio and Thomas who about nine years old. We working near the woods when I see a coon come out. I know right away that this mean trouble cause ain't no animal of the night going to be out in the day unless they sick or frightened. That coon run right at Thomas and bite him on the leg before I can get there with a shovel to kill it. We take him to Sister Lebo. I can tell by the look in her eyes that this is bad. She tell folks not to go near that dead coon and she ask me to go down there with her. She burn that animal and then she tell me nothing can be done for Thomas. He will have the madness.

Miss Ida Mae opened the door and stuck her head inside. “You all right?”

“Yes ma'am.”

“What you tink of de writings?”

“I think plantation life was very difficult.”

“Especially if you one of de ones doing de work,” she said with a smile.

“I've learned a little bit about the Coffin family. Where did the name Coffin Point come from?”

“Old Ebenezer Coffin. His house at de end of dis road.”

“Yes, I saw it the first time I came to see you and Miss Meta.”

“He own over eleven hundred acres of land on St. Helena. His plantation was one of de mos' prosperous ones in de south. When he die, he left de property to his children, but one son, Thomas, he ran tings 'til de Federals take over de Beaufort area. De Coffin family flee Beaufort at de time of de invasion.”

“My goodness—they just left it all behind?”

“I suppose dey like de rest of de white folks. Didn't tink dey had no choice.”

She took a deep breath. “At one time, de property was part of de Port Royal Experiment. Dere was an attempt to train and educate de freedmen, but dat not last too long. Over de years, de property sold several times and eventually de land was subdivided for houses. Ebenezer's house still lookin' over St. Helena Sound.”

Ida Mae started to close the door and step back into the next room. “Let me know if you needs anyting.”

“Yes ma'am.”

Jenks went back to her reading.

I keep hearing about secession. The white folks talk of it all the time. South Carolina going to leave the United States so they can keep their slaves. Greed is a terrible thing.

An entry from the late fall stunned her by the brutality of the details:

There was a fire on the grounds of Andrews Hall last night. One of the buildings used to store cotton caught fire and burn to the ground. Nathan, Maum Gray's son, was suppose to be tending the fire, but he fell asleep and wind whip up debris that catch fire and then blow into the cotton. All of it was lost. When Jacobs the foreman find out—he take a cane to Nathan and bout beat him to death. Master Preston Andrews, who my age, come out and stop him afore he finish his task. He tell Jacobs not to ever beat anyone like that again. Jacobs remove his hat and say he sorry, but he say Nathan done cost the family a fortune in cotton.

Maum Gray and several women take Nathan away. He hurt bad.

Late that night, Master Preston come down on slave row and bring some medicine to Maum Gray for Nathan. He tell her he sorry about the beating and if it up to him he fire the foreman and send him packing.

When he finish with Nathan, Master Preston come by my quarters and ask me to go for a walk. Preston a fine young man and because of him I can read and write. We walk down to the river and he has tobacco. It real fine quality and while we smoke we watch the moonlight on the water and the current flowin out to sea. Then he tell me. “Joseph I'm going to be leaving Andrews Hall. I've signed up for the army. I hope if there is fightin its short lived and I can come home real soon.” Then he say something that I won't ever forget. “Wars have only meant misery to those who have engaged in them. This will be no different.” We smoke tobacco until almost first light and he tell me I been a good friend to him and he going miss me. Before dawn a dredfull cry come from the other side of the river and I have the chills. “It's just a screech owl,” Master Preston say, but I feel real scared. It sound like death calling out. Then we go back to where we belong—me to slave row and him to Andrews Hall. He say he don't want to get in no fight with his father so he gonna sneak in the back.

Jenks continued to read through the journals until Miss Ida Mae came back into the room to speak to her. “Miss Jenkins, you come back tomorrow if you want to continue to read. Meta would like to speak with you. Come dis way please.”

She followed Ida Mae to the darkened room off the kitchen. In the middle of the room was a round table where Meta was seated. “Come in, Jenkins. I'd like to talk with you—please have a seat.”

Jenks sat down at the table across from Meta. The old woman looked deeply into her eyes. “Did you find anything in de books dat would help you today?”

“No ma'am. I read through the book that preceded the war. I did find the journal to be quite compelling.”

“Dat's good. I's glad you found de writings interesting.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

Meta looked at Jenks for a moment before she said, “Dere's someting I want to tell you.”

“Yes, ma'am?”

“The first time I saw you de aura roun' you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I sense your energy, but also dat of another presence.”

“You mean supernatural?”

“Yes, Miss Jenkins. When I's around you I keep hearing the word twins over and over. I tink at first it might be your twin, Gigi, reaching out to you, but I's not sure. Also, I hear de words over and over tellin' you to look closer.”

“Look closer for what?”

“Of dat, I's not sure.”

“That's frightening.”

“I do not mean to scare you, but I tink you should know.”

Jenks thanked them for their help, and they invited her back at two the next afternoon. When she got outside, she felt flushed and she dialed Seth's cell phone number. He answered firmly, “Mason.”

“Seth, this is Jenks.”

“How did it go?”

“Can you come by Gigi's? I mean my place after work, and I'll tell you.”

“I can get there by seven.”

“I'll have a sandwich for you. See you then.”

When she returned home, Jenks went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. Glancing out the rear window, she saw her neighbor, Crawford Forrest, in her backyard tending her flower beds. She was wearing a large straw hat to shade her face from the sun and capri pants. Jenks went out to the screened porch and said hello.

“Jenkins, how are you today?” she replied.

“I'm fine, Mrs. Forrest, and I hope you are.”

“Yes, ma'am. My flower beds needed weeding, but I swear I'm getting too old to bend over like this.”

She smiled, and Jenks couldn't help but notice what an attractive woman she was. Crawford was bound to be in her sixties, but she had very few wrinkles. When she stood up from the flower beds, her posture was straight and strong.

As Jenks walked to the picket fence that divided the properties, an angry voice called from inside the Forrests' home. “Crawford, where's my stuff?”

Crawford looked toward the home and then placed her trowel on a bench seat near her flower bed. “Jenkins, I apologize but I need to go inside. Please excuse me.”

She turned and walked to her home, opening the screen door. As she entered, the door slammed with a bang.

That evening while Seth ate a turkey sandwich, Jenks told him about Joseph Andrews's pre-Civil War writings. She recounted the encounters with the wild hogs and the rabid raccoon, but she had a difficult time explaining what Miss Meta had told her.

“Seth, she said that when she saw me for the first time there was an aura of another presence around me.”

“What does she mean by that?”

“She means there is some type of supernatural energy around me. She said she sensed my energy, but also another source. What's really odd is that she said she kept hearing the words twins, and she thought at first it was my sister Gigi reaching out to me.”

“What else did she say?”