Hoggee (18 page)

Jack shot a triumphant smile across the breakfast table at Howard. “Thank you, sir,” said Howard. “I won't be here long. I'm going to find a job as soon…”

Jack interrupted. “We'll both be back on
The Blue Bird
in two weeks or less.”

Howard changed the subject. “Well,” he said, “I want to spend as much time as I can with the girls. Sarah and Laura are making real progress learning the signs.” He turned to look at Laura. “And I've borrowed the second primer for your reading lesson.”

“Maybe I'll help you,” said Jack.

Howard looked at his brother for a second before he spoke. “Jack,” he said, “we have a pattern, you know, a regular way of doing the lessons. I don't know as there would be a way for you to help.”

“You can help me, Jack,” said Gracie. “I'm working on learning to track animals. I'm thinking maybe I'll be a bear tracker when I am all grown up.”

Jack smiled weakly. “Maybe I'll do that, Gracie,” he said. “Maybe I'll learn to track bears, too.”

When the breakfast things were cleared away, Howard and Laura got out the new book. “Mr. Parrish said we could keep it as long as we need it,” said Howard.

Jack hung about the kitchen for a while. “I could take Laura outside and help her,” he said once, “and you could work with Sarah in here.”

Howard bit at his lip. Maybe he should listen to Jack's suggestion, but Laura shook her head. “Thank you, Jack,” she said. “It's good and kind of you to want to help, but I'm used to Howard.”

She smiled. “If he's not weary of me, I believe we'll just go on the way we are. I like to be in on Sarah's lessons, anyway, so I can learn to talk to her.”

Jack shrugged his shoulders. “All right,” he said. “I just thought I'd help. Maybe later we can all go to the canal and watch the boats.”

“That would be nice,” said Laura, and Jack left the room.

“I wanted to tell you about going to the school,” said Howard when they were alone. “Mr. Parrish says I can take classes come fall.” His voice rose with emotion.
“Mathematics and science in the morning or literature and history in the afternoon.”

“Oh, Howard,” she said. “My heart is glad for you. It is!”

“Thank you, Laura. Mr. Parrish says there's no reason I can't be a teacher, like him. It would make me happy to be like Mr. Parrish.” He stopped, suddenly embarrassed by the joy of it all and by Laura's desire to go to school, too. “And Laura,” he said, “I believe we can find a way for you. If we think and are watchful, I believe we can find a way for you to go to school, too.”

She smiled at him. “What will you do for money, Howard?” she asked.

“Well,” he sighed. “There's the rub. I've got to find a job, and a place to stay.” He shook his head. “If I can't find a job, it's back to the canal for me.”

“I don't suppose Grandfather's likely to let you stay in the barn.”

“No, not likely. I'm not Jack.”

“He'd let Jack stay with us,” she said, and they laughed.

“There's one job that's open,” he said, “but I've no chance of securing it.”

“Why? What job is it?”

“At O'Grady's Inn. I saw the sign when I went past his place yesterday. He hired me once, but yelled at me when another hoggee told him I had English blood. O'Grady's Irish, and he hates all the English.” Howard frowned. “There's no hope he would hire me.”

“That's not right,” said Laura. “He lives in America now. Grandpa was born in Ireland, but he doesn't dislike you because you have English blood.”

“No,” said Howard, and he smiled. “He dislikes me because I'm not Jack.”

“You should talk to O'Grady. Just stand up to him, and tell him he is not being fair.”

Jack shook his head. “Oh, no, there's no reasoning with O'Grady.”

“You stood up to Grandfather, I mean about Sarah. You stood right up and told him he didn't own her. You were very brave, Howard.”

Pleasure washed over him like cool water against his skin on a hot day. Still, there was no denying the truth. “I couldn't stand up to O'Grady. He'd likely knock me down and step on me.” He shuddered. “No, there must be another way. Oh, but do you want to see how he misspelled the words on his sign? I think you could do better, no more schooling than you've had.”

Howard took up his pencil and wrote the words of O'Grady's sign.
“Kithon Boe Neded.”
Laura pulled the paper to be directly in front of her, and she studied the words.

“They're all misspelled,” he said. “Can you spell them correctly?”

“Kitchen
should have a
c
in it,” she said, and she spelled aloud. “K-i-t-c-h-o-n. Is that right?”

“Almost,” he said, taking his pencil to cross out the
o
and make an
e.
“What about
boy?”

“That one's easy, b-o-y, and
needed
should have a double
d,
I think.”

“You got
boy,
but
needed
has double
ee's
after the
n
.”

“Well,” said Laura. “If O'Grady won't have you as kitchen help, mayhap you can teach him to spell. You're right smart of a teacher, Howard Gardner. You're just that good!”

Howard thought he might burst. Laura thought him brave and smart. Laura had turned down Jack's offer to
help her. She preferred him to his brother, at least when it came to teaching. It was enough for now. “Let's have a go at this new book,” he told her. You'd look a fool with a foolish smile the whole time, he told himself, and he fought to keep the corners of his mouth from turning up.

They were not quite finished with Sarah's lesson when Jack came back in and sat down at the table across from them. “Let's go down to the canal now,” he said. “I want to tell the girls about my job as a bowman.”

From habit, Howard almost closed the brown book, but he stopped himself. “In a minute,” he said to Jack. “I want to tell Sarah first what we're going to do. She knows the sign for
see
already.” Howard put the fingertips of the first two fingers on his right hand just under his eyes. Then he swung his hand straight out.

Sarah made the same sign, and she nodded her head. “We'll see the boats,” he told her. He turned the pages of the brown book. “Here,” he said, and he pointed to the sign for boat. He cupped both hands together like the hull of a boat and moved them forward in a bobbing motion.

Sarah looked confused, and shook her head. Howard picked up his pencil and drew a boat like the packet boats Sarah had seen on the canal. Then he made the boat sign again. This time she nodded her head. She turned to Laura and made the sign for
see,
followed by the sign for
boat.

“See boats.” Laura said. “Yes, we'll see the boats.”

Jack took Laura's hand and pulled her toward the door. Howard followed with Sarah and Gracie. They walked through the town, stopping sometimes to watch
one boat or another. Sarah pulled at Howard's shirtsleeve and made the sign for
fall.

“Wait,” he called to Jack and Laura. “Sarah wants to go down to see the bridge.”

Jack turned back to his brother. “It's not a sight I fancy seeing. Besides,” he said, “we don't have too long. I want to get on down to the docks. Tell her you'll take her later.”

Howard looked at Sarah, who made the sign again. There had been so few times in her life that she had been able to ask directly for something. “You go on down to the docks with Laura and Gracie. You can tell them all about your job. I'll take Sarah to see the bridge, and then we'll join you.”

“All right, then,” said Jack, “we'll meet you on dock three.” He turned with the girls toward the docks while Howard and Sarah headed toward the Main Street Bridge.

At the bridge, they stood watching the workers. Sarah put her open hands, palms facing her eyes and fingers slightly curved, beneath her eyes and moved them down toward her mouth, her head dropped slightly. “Yes, sad,” said Howard, nodding his head. He too made the sign. They watched for a few minutes more while Howard thought about that day. It was sad, of course. People had died, and he remembered the terrible fear he had felt for his brother. Yet, standing there beside Sarah, he knew that without the falling of the bridge, without his being right about something so important and Jack's being wrong, without that triumph he would never have had the courage to stand up to Cyrus about Sarah and the signs. Without that day he would not be planning now
to break away from the canal, where Jack's future lay, to find his own spot.

A great lightness came to him. He would go now to join Jack beside the canal, but he would find a way to avoid going back to work there. He made a beckoning sign to Sarah, and they headed for the docks.

They were on the first dock when suddenly the monkey with his little red hat ran between the legs of two ladies in front of them. The women screamed. The monkey grabbed Howard by the legs, jumped up into his arms, and hid his face against Howard's neck. “It's all right,” Howard said to people who had crowded around him. “He won't hurt anyone. He belongs to a man on that lineboat.” He pointed to the same boat he had seen yesterday, still fastened to the dock. “I'll return him.”

Most of the people moved on. The monkey lifted his face to look at Sarah. Then he tipped his hat to her. She laughed and clapped her hands. “Let's take him back to his owner,” Howard said, and he pointed again to the boat, but he noticed then that it had drifted slightly away from the bank. He wasn't sure Sarah could jump that far, and he could not help her and hold the monkey. “You stay here,” he said to her, and he made the sign for
stay.

He was gone only the few minutes it took for him to find the monkey's owner, who was asleep on the opposite side of the cabin. He woke the man, gave him the monkey, and went back to make the jump to the dock. He heard the sound of laughter even before he came around the cabin of the lineboat. Sarah stood on the dock. Four boys pressed around her. One of them held Sarah's wrist. Another of them reached out to touch her hair. “Hey,” said one of the boys, “you reckon she can't
talk?” He leaned close to Sarah's face. “What's wrong, girlie, cat got your tongue?” His face was turned away from Howard, but the voice was familiar. Mac! Mac O'Hern reached out his hand to touch Sarah's cheek.

A great rage came up from inside Howard, and he shouted, “Let her be! Let her go, and get away from her, all of you!” In an instant he made the jump, landing only a few feet from the boys. “Let her be!” he yelled again, and he ran at the boy who held Sarah's wrist.

“Says who?” the boy demanded, but he turned Sarah loose, spinning to meet Howard with fists up. The first blow made him stagger back, but he did not fall. From the corner of his eye, he saw another boy with his fist tight and aiming for his stomach. Then he saw something that surprised him.

Mac reached out to grab at the boy's arm. “Ah, let him go,” he said. “It wouldn't be no fun licking him, four against one. Besides, we ain't got time for a fight right now.” He turned and started away. “Come on,” he said.

His friends followed, one of them bumping hard into Howard, making him stagger back and almost lose his balance. When he regained his footing, he turned to Sarah. She was gone! Howard's mind raced. Had he seen her since making his run at the boys? He knew she had stepped back when her wrist had been released. Had she been there still when Mac made his speech about leaving? Howard could not remember. Fear began to grow inside him. He whirled in one direction, then the other. The docks were crowded, and he caught no sight of her fair hair.

“Sarah,” he called, knowing she could not hear him. “Sarah, Sarah.” Which way had she gone? He had no idea. If she ran into the boys who had bothered her
earlier, or others like them, he would not be there to fight for her. He stood frozen for a moment, Cyrus's words running through his mind. “She's like a cup, like a fine china cup, Sarie is. She'll break too, terrible easy.”

If Sarah got hurt, Cyrus would never let him teach her again. What if things turned out even worse? What if someone took Sarah? Someone might take her onto one of the boats. Sarah might never be seen again. A cold sweat broke across his forehead.

If she went toward dock three, there was a good chance Jack or one of the girls would see her. Howard ran then in the opposite direction from the docks, pushing his way through groups of people who moved about on the streets.

He moved fast, but still he searched the streets, looking quickly over the crowd and into each corner. Somewhere Sarah was terrified. Somewhere Sarah was crying. He had to find her.

A stout woman with a large basket on her arm stood watching the passersby from the doorway of a tavern. Howard was almost past her before he could bring his body to a stop, but he reached out and grabbed at the signpost to slow himself. “Excuse me, madam,” he said, breathing hard. “Have you seen a girl go by? She's taller than I am. She's wearing a calico dress, her hair is fair and in braids?” The woman looked at him, a questioning expression on her face. “Please,” he said. “I've got to find her.”

“I did,” said the woman, “and I wondered, her crying the way she was.”

“Oh.” Howard felt his heart leap. “How long ago was it you saw her?”

“Well,” said the woman, “it was just after we opened this morning. I'm sure of that.”

“Not the one I'm looking for,” he called over his shoulder as he ran on.

He passed a tannery, where a man stood in front of the shop scraping a skin. At the door of two taverns, he paused long enough to look into each of them, imagining what bad things could happen to a helpless girl like Sarah if she came into a room of intoxicated men.