Mandie Collection, The: 8 (18 page)

“Well, maybe it would work out better the way you’ve planned it,” Elizabeth slowly agreed. “So just go ahead tomorrow.” Turning to Mandie, she said, “Just don’t plan on staying at the Woodards’ the whole two weeks you will be out of school. You will come home when your uncle concludes his business and comes back for you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie quickly agreed. “Thank you, Mother, for letting me go.”

“Don’t forget about asking Joe if he would be interested in going with you and your other friends someplace this summer,” Mrs. Taft reminded Mandie. “I’ll foot the bill, and y’all just let me know where you want to go.”

“Yes, ma’am, I’ll ask Joe,” Mandie promised, but she wished her grandmother would stop insisting they go on a trip with her in the summer. She was sure her friends wouldn’t agree to it. At least they’d better not.

It turned out to be a long day. Mandie kept watching the clock and wishing the time away so Sunday would come and she would be on her way to Joe’s. She was so eager to find out what Joe had been trying to tell her from the train. She also wanted to know how Joe liked college, because she would be going away to a college somewhere in a couple of years and had no idea what to expect.

But the time did finally arrive when John Shaw was urging her to hurry up and get in the buggy. He wanted to get to the Woodards’ before dark, and it was a mountainous road. Mandie threw a small valise with a change of clothes in it into the back of the buggy and kissed her mother good-bye.

“I won’t be gone long, just until Uncle John can bring me back, Mother,” Mandie promised.

“Give my regards to Mrs. Woodard, dear,” Elizabeth said, embracing her daughter.

Then Mrs. Taft stepped forward to give Mandie a big hug as she said, “Yes, do hurry back and let me know what Joe has to say about traveling somewhere this summer, dear.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie said, then she quickly turned to jump up on the step and into the buggy, where Uncle John was waiting impatiently.

As they traveled along the bumpy dirt road, Mandie decided to take Uncle John into her confidence. She thought he would understand.

“Uncle John, I have a problem,” Mandie began, looking up at Uncle John’s brown eyes as he turned to her.

“You do?” he said with a smile. “Why, that’s terrible.”

“Oh, Uncle John, this is serious,” Mandie said without smiling.

“All right, little blue eyes, what is it?” he asked as he drove the buggy on.

“First of all, I really love Grandmother,” Mandie began slowly. “But you know how she is, always wanting to be in charge of everything and all that.” She paused for his answer.

“I sure do,” John Shaw said with a little laugh. “She is one independent lady.” Bending toward Mandie, he added in a loud whisper, “And I’m so thankful her daughter is not like that at all.”

“I know. Mother lets people just run over her sometimes, and I wish she wouldn’t,” Mandie said.

“Now, hold on there, little blue eyes. You know I’d never run things over your mother. I love her too much. After all, I did wait all those years to marry her, while your father was living,” John Shaw tried to explain.

But that statement caused tears to well up in Mandie’s eyes. “I don’t think you ought to say such things,” she said with a shaky voice. “I loved my father so much.”

John Shaw reached to squeeze Mandie’s hand. “I’m sorry, dear,” he said. “I didn’t say things exactly the right way. I just wanted you to know how much I do love your mother.”

Mandie quickly wiped a tear from her cheek and said, “That’s all right, Uncle John.” She took a deep breath and continued. “But Grandmother always wants to run everything, and now she’s trying to plan my summer for me.”

John Shaw looked at her again, smiled, and said, “Well, now, exactly what is it she’s planning?”

“Nothing in particular yet,” Mandie told him. “She wants me to tell her where I’d like to go this summer, and she’ll take me, and my friends, too, if they want to go. But that’s not what my friends and I are planning at all.”

“I understand what you mean,” he replied. “Would you mind telling me what you and your friends are planning for the summer?”

“Well, you see, when everyone was at our house at Christmastime, we decided we would visit everyone’s house. Everyone will come to our house first—that is, Jonathan, Joe, Sallie, and Celia. And then we’ll all go together and visit Joe’s house, Sallie’s house, Celia’s house, and Jonathan’s in New York,” Mandie explained, hoping he would understand and help her out on these plans.

“And your grandmother is wanting to take all of you with her somewhere? Is that it?” John Shaw asked.

“Yes, sir,” Mandie agreed. “We just want to get away from the adults and do some things on our own for a change.”

“Oh, but you all can’t travel around the country like that without an adult along, dear,” John Shaw told her.

“Why couldn’t we?” Mandie asked in surprise.

“In the first place, it wouldn’t be safe, running all over everywhere, especially to New York, and it wouldn’t be proper, either, you know,” he explained.

“But, Uncle John, we don’t want Grandmother to go with us,” Mandie protested. She had brought Snowball with her, and he woke up in her lap and tried to get down. Holding on to his leash, she said, “Be still, Snowball.”

“Perhaps someone else could go with y’all,” John Shaw suggested.

“But who? All the grown-ups are always so busy with their own business,” Mandie replied. She patted Snowball’s head as he curled back up in her lap.

John Shaw smiled at her and asked, “Would you like me to ask your mother if we could join y’all on this adventure? That is, if you want us along.”

Mandie became excited and quickly said, “That would be wonderful! Do you think Mother would agree? Do you, Uncle John? Without Grandmother, that is?”

“We won’t know until we ask her,” he said. “Therefore, we’ll find out just as soon as we get back home.”

“But how are we going to get around Grandmother?” Mandie asked.

“You leave that to me. I’ll figure out something,” John Shaw assured her as he drove on down the rutty road.

Mandie was overjoyed by Uncle John’s suggestion. She could hardly wait to share it with Joe.

By the time they reached the Woodards’ house, the sun had slipped behind the Nantahala Mountain and the spring air had become chilly. Mandie looked forward to the warmth of the fire she knew would be in the Woodards’ parlor fireplace. But when they arrived, Joe was not home.

“Come in, come in,” Mrs. Woodard greeted them at the door. Mr. Miller had taken John Shaw’s buggy and horse to the barn when they pulled up at the back door, and he would bring their bags to the house.

“I’ve brought Amanda here,” John Shaw said with a teasing grin as he looked at Mandie. “Seems she must have secrets to share with Joe.”

“Yes, those two are always having secrets,” Mrs. Woodard agreed, smiling at Mandie as she closed the door. “Take off your coats.”

Mandie was holding Snowball in her arms, and she said to Mrs. Woodard, “I hope you don’t mind if I brought Snowball.”

“Of course not. I know that cat goes wherever you go,” Mrs. Woodard replied. “Just put him down. He’ll be all right. I’m sure he’ll find the fire in the parlor fireplace.”

Mandie stooped to set Snowball down, and as she removed her coat she saw him run directly toward the parlor.

John Shaw and Mandie hung their coats and hats on the hall tree and followed Mrs. Woodard into the parlor. Mandie looked around. There was no one else there. She went over to sit on a low stool by the fireplace, where Snowball was already curling up on the rug.

“Is Dr. Woodard home?” John Shaw asked as he and Mrs. Woodard sat down.

“No, he and Joe took some hot soup over to old Mrs. Donohue, who is ailing with a cold,” Mrs. Woodard replied. “But they’ll be back any minute now. We knew y’all would be here sometime during the school holidays, and we figured it would be today since Joe said he had sent Amanda a note saying he would be home.”

“I’ve only come to leave Amanda here. I’ll be going on to Asheville early tomorrow morning to take care of some business, and I’ll be back for her in a day or two or so,” John Shaw explained.

“A day or two?” Mrs. Woodard questioned him. “I believe Joe was hoping Amanda could stay longer than that. He is so excited about college, and it will probably take him days to tell her all about it.”

“And I’m anxious to hear all about it,” Mandie spoke up.

“But you know, Mrs. Woodard, Amanda has only two weeks out from school, and her mother wants to spend some time with her,” John Shaw explained.

“Yes, I understand,” Mrs. Woodard agreed.

Mandie was thinking all this time,
Just a day or two?
She thought she would have at least a few days with Joe, but she realized she would have to return home with Uncle John when he came back from Asheville. At least summer vacation was not far off.

At that moment Snowball suddenly stood up and growled, his fur standing up. And Mandie heard a horse outside.

As Mrs. Woodard and Uncle John both looked at the strange behavior of the cat, Mandie explained with a smile, “Joe is back. He must have Samantha with him, and Snowball knows it. He doesn’t like Joe’s dog.”

Mrs. Woodard smiled at her and agreed. “Joe did take Samantha with him and his father, but he won’t be bringing her in the house. So don’t worry about Snowball.”

Mandie heard the back door open and close, then the sound of Joe and his father talking as they came down the hallway. They stopped in the doorway to the parlor as they removed their coats and hats.

Mandie stood up with a big smile and said, “Joe! You did make it home from college way down yonder in New Orleans, after all.”

“I sure did!” Joe replied with a grin, rushing back to hang up his coat and hat.

“Good to see you, John, and you, too, Miss Amanda,” Dr. Woodard said as he left his coat and hat on the hall tree and came into the parlor. He sat down in a chair near John Shaw.

“Nice to visit you again,” John Shaw agreed.

Joe rushed into the parlor and went to sit on the rug by the stool where Mandie had sat back down. He held out his hands toward the fire. “Cold outside for March, almost April at that,” he said. “The fire sure feels good after living with those radiators at college.” Snowball lay back down and curled up at his feet as Joe rubbed his head.

Mandie grinned and said, “So you have radiators, too! They finally got them in our school, and the only good thing about them is that our room is so much warmer. They make noises when Celia and I are not expecting it, and it causes us to jump. We also got electricity with a light bulb hanging from the ceiling, but Miss Prudence let us keep our oil lamps because we couldn’t see to read very well by that silly light bulb. Do you have electricity at the college?” She could feel herself getting all wound up and excited now that Joe was here. Somehow she had become shy around her old friend and she didn’t understand why.

Joe smiled and replied, “Yes, those radiators are always jumping up and down, and we do have electricity. But we have lights lower down on the walls in brackets, sort of like those candles in the brackets in your uncle’s office room.”

“Maybe Miss Prudence will get that kind since she knows we can’t see very well with those light bulbs overhead,” Mandie said, shifting her eyes instead of looking directly at Joe. She fidgeted with her skirt, smoothing it out.

“I hope so. Electricity is no good if you can’t see by it,” Joe declared. Then he lowered his voice as he said, “I’m glad you came. I have lots of things to tell you.”

“I’m glad I could come, too, because I want to know all about your college,” Mandie replied. “Also, we need to talk about this summer. Remember you, Sallie, Jonathan, and I talked about getting together and visiting all our houses and Celia’s?”

Joe sighed and said, “I remember, but you know what? I may have to stay in school all summer to get caught up to be registered as a full-time student in the fall. The subjects aren’t that hard. It’s just that there is so much that Mr. Tallant didn’t teach and that I need as a basic foundation.”

“Oh, Joe, no!” Mandie exclaimed. “You’ve got to come home this summer. You see, Grandmother is trying to arrange everything.” She explained to Joe what she meant. “But I’m hoping my mother and Uncle John will travel around with us this summer.”

“That would be nice,” Joe said. “But your uncle is right. We would need an adult with us.”

Mandie was anxious to ask Joe what he had been trying to tell her from the train that day, but she thought it might be something she didn’t want to discuss right now within hearing of the adults.

“How long have you been home?” Mandie asked.

“I got home Friday,” Joe said. “And Uncle Ned came by Friday. He said Sallie is helping Mr. O’Neal with the Cherokee school. So I thought maybe we could go see them while you’re here.”

Mandie explained that Uncle John would be returning in a day or two or maybe three to take her home. “So I won’t have a lot of time here,” Mandie said regretfully.

“I was hoping you could stay longer than that,” Joe said in a disappointed
voice. Then he added, “But we could still go visit Sallie. We’d have time for that.”

“All right,” Mandie agreed. “Now tell me about your college.”

“Well, it has several huge brick buildings on the grounds,” Joe explained. “The boys live in one of them. There are a few girl students, but they have to live out in town in rooms, or whatever. I’ve met several nice fellows, but I haven’t had time to really get acquainted because I’ve been studying day and night to catch up to meet the school’s requirements for entrance.”

“Have you met any of the girls?” Mandie asked teasingly.

Joe hesitated a moment and then, shrugging his shoulders, replied, “Well, I’ve seen some girls around, but they haven’t been in any of the classes I’m taking.”

“Are there any pretty ones?” Mandie wanted to know. She smiled at Joe.

“Pretty ones?” Joe questioned.

“Yes, pretty girls, Joe, pretty girls,” Mandie told him with a big grin.

“Pretty girls?” Joe repeated. Then looking directly at Mandie, he said, “Oh yes, there is this beautiful blue-eyed blond, short, sorta thin, who loves to solve mysteries. I believe her name is Mandie.”