Read The Color of Your Skin Ain’t the Color of Your Heart Online
Authors: Michael Phillips
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The Color of Your Skin Ain’t the Color of Your Heart (20 page)
“I can’t tell yet …” she began, “—oh … it looks like it might be Reverend Hall.”
“What could
he
want?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said as she walked toward the kitchen door.
I don’t know why, but I’d been nervous about the minister all along and didn’t want to hang around too close. I was dying to hear what he wanted, but I’d just have to wait and find out from Katie.
It was the minister all right. “Hello, Kathleen,” he said as he got down from his buckboard and he and Katie greeted each other in front of the house. “Is your mother home?”
“No, sir,” answered Katie.
“It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen her, or any of you, at church. I thought it was about time I paid a visit to see if everything’s all right.”
“Yes … yes, we’re fine.”
“Still no word from your father?”
“No, sir.”
“You remembered to tell your mother what I said when I saw you that day in town?”
“Yes, sir.”
From where I was I saw Reverend Hall glance toward the blacksmith’s shed where Aleta’s arm was probably already starting to get tired. When all this pretending of ours was over, Aleta was going to have almighty strong arms, that was for sure! The thought crossed my mind that they might be talking about her, and I wasn’t so far wrong.
“Kathleen,” said the minister, “do you remember my telling you about the man who had a drinking problem, whose wife and daughter were afraid of him?”
“Yes, sir,” answered Katie a little slowly, unconsciously glancing down at the ground.
“Well, the situation finally became so bad,” the minister went on, “that the lady and little girl left home. Nobody has seen them for a long, long time.”
He looked at Katie, and Katie said his eyes were full of question.
“And … what happened?” she said.
“The man has sobered up because of it,” said Reverend Hall. “He knows what happened was his fault and he feels terrible about it. But he hasn’t heard from them and can’t find them anywhere.”
By now Katie was getting nervous as she listened!
“You haven’t seen a lady with a little girl anywhere, have you, Kathleen?”
“A lady with a girl? Uh … no, sir.”
“And if you did hear about anyone like that, or if you saw someone you didn’t know or if someone came asking for help, you and your mama would come and tell me?”
“Uh … what’s the lady’s name, Reverend Hall—in case I see her?”
“Mrs. Butler,” he answered. “Her husband is Hank Butler, who lives over outside of Oakwood. Well, Kathleen,” said the minister as he climbed back into his buggy, “we’ll be praying for your father and brothers. And I would certainly like to visit with your mother sometime. Will you tell her I stopped by?”
“Yes, sir.”
As soon as he was gone, Katie came over and told me what he’d said.
“Do you think he suspects she’s here?” I asked.
“I don’t think so,” she answered. “Even though he was asking lots of questions, he didn’t have that suspicious look people sometimes have.”
“Like the lady in the store,” I said.
“Mrs. Hammond
always
has it!” laughed Katie. “But now that we know, Mayme,” she added seriously, “it seems like we’ve got to tell him … don’t you think? Aleta can’t stay here forever.”
I didn’t have an answer to that.
Katie went to fetch Aleta from the blacksmith’s shed.
“Who was it?” asked Aleta.
“Aleta,” said Katie seriously as they walked back toward me, “that was the minister from town. He was looking for you and your mama. He told us where your father lives. He said that your father has stopped drinking and is worried about you.”
“You didn’t tell him I was here,” said Aleta, half in question but with a hint of anger showing through in her voice. I could see the old fire in her eyes like how she used to look at me.
“No,” replied Katie. “But don’t you think we should?
You could trust Reverend Hall. He said your daddy—”
‘ ‘I won’t go back to him!” Aleta interrupted. “You can’t make me. If you try, I’ll just run away. You can’t make me go back home!”
“But you have to sometime.”
“Why? You and Mayme and Emma don’t have to go back to anyone.”
“Aleta, we don’t have anyone to go back to. If we did, we would.”
“Mayme’s got a father too, and she’s staying here with you.”
“But she doesn’t know where her daddy is. It’s different, Aleta. Besides, her daddy doesn’t have a home at all.”
“Well, Mr. Daniels is nice. He’s not at all like my daddy. You can’t make me go back. If you do, I’ll run away. I promise I will.”
Katie and I looked at each other and shrugged. Aleta could be mighty determined when she wanted to be, and now was one of those times.
We didn’t know what was best to do.
P
AYING OFF HER MAMA’S LOAN WITH THE GOLD
we’d found had put Katie on cloud nine. Even the uncertainty about Reverend Hall’s visit couldn’t dampen her spirits. It was all the better knowing it was the last loan and that there were no more surprises waiting around the corner, no more letters from the banker about having to foreclose on Rosewood.
Though Aleta was a little quiet for a day or two, Katie was happy and singing and smiling, and her cheerful mood made all the rest of us happy too, even if it hadn’t been for my own happiness inside about Katie and me being cousins. Even little William seemed to catch the spirit of it. He was getting on to the age where he was trying out his legs to see if they could support his tubby little tummy and the rest of him. Emma was so delighted with everything he did and wanted to show us something new every two minutes it seemed.
“Look, he’s gwine git ter walkin’ any minute,” she exclaimed at least thirteen times a day. “Look, Miz Katie … look, Mayme … did you see dat … did you see him! He’s doin’ it … he’s doin’ it!”
But every time it seemed like William was about to take off and walk across the room, he’d fall back down on his fat little rump. But it was funny watching him. He was so cute, babbling his baby talk and crawling around and getting into things. He was so curious. Everything he touched he wanted to put in his mouth!
One day about a week after we’d been to the bank, we were all in the kitchen laughing at William as he kept trying to stand up, then tottered a few steps before falling down again. Jeremiah had come out early in the day and was outside ploughing one of the fields because it was starting to get real warm and Henry said the ground was just right for turning. I’d just come back a while earlier from taking him some water and something to eat and now we were watching William when suddenly there was a knock on the door. At first I thought it might be Jeremiah since we hadn’t heard anyone ride up.
It got quiet for a minute, then Katie walked to the door and opened it. I got up and followed her and stood a few steps behind her.
There stood a man neither of us knew. He was wearing a tie and a suitcoat even in the heat, and had a business kind of hat on his head. His eyes were narrow and squinty-like and reminded us of Mrs. Hammond when she was peppering you with questions. He was a man who looked suspicious. The stranger looked straight at Katie without smiling.
“I am sorry for coming to the kitchen door like this,” he said. “I went around front but saw no one, and then I heard the voices in here.”
“That’s all right,” said Katie. “This is the door we use most of the time anyway.”
“Is the man of the house at home … uh, Mr. Clairborne?” ‘
‘No, sir.”
“How about Mrs. Clairborne?”
“Uh … no, sir. She’s away. But I am Kathleen Clairborne.” ‘
‘Mrs. Clairborne would be your mother?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ah yes … I see. Well, I need to ask her about this,” said the man.
He pulled something out of his pocket and held out his right hand. In the middle of his palm sat one of the nuggets of gold that Katie had given to the man at the bank. Katie recognized it immediately. She knew from the shape that it was one of the same ones. She swallowed hard, though her mouth was suddenly dry.
“Uh, why?” said Katie. “What about it … I’ll, uh, tell my mother when she gets home.”
“I understand she took this to the bank,” he said. “Mr. Taylor brought it to me. I am an attorney and also the acting government deputy clerk for Shenandoah County. Among my duties is that of assayer. We have been investigating a theft of government gold that occurred during the last year of the war. Before I could process Mr. Taylor’s request, I had to investigate further.”
By now Katie’s mouth was really dry!
“But that couldn’t—” she started to say. She was going to tell him that her mother had had the gold for years and that it had come from California with her uncle. But she stopped herself. She knew it was probably best to say nothing, since we hadn’t wanted anybody to know about the gold at all.
“Uh …” she fumbled after a second or two, “uh … I’ll tell my mama you were here,” she said.
“All right, then, tell her that Leroy Sneed from Oakwood needs to talk to her … and soon,” answered the man. “Please tell her everything I said, and that I will call on her again tomorrow. Good day, miss.”
The man turned and walked back to his carriage.
“He was asking about the gold,” Katie said as she closed the door and walked back into the kitchen.
“I know!” I exclaimed. “I heard him.”
“He said he was from the government.”
“How’d he find out about it?”
“Mr. Taylor showed him.”
“I thought he wasn’t supposed to tell.”
“I think this man made him,” said Katie. “He said the gold was stolen!—What if we’re in trouble, Mayme? Maybe we shouldn’t have taken the gold to the bank.”
“It’s too late to worry about that now,” I said. “Besides, what else were you going to do—there’s still the loan that’s gotta be paid.”
“What if the gold was stolen? What will we do then?”
“Do you believe the man?” I asked. “Do you think he’s who he said he was?”
“I don’t know,” said Katie. “But I don’t know if
he
believed
me
. And he said he was coming back tomorrow to see my mama!”
“Uh-oh,” I said. “That’s no good. You’re not going to have anything more to tell him than you did today.”
I thought for a minute.
“We gotta find out if he’s really who he says he is,” I said, “and if what he says about the gold is true.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t like so many people being so almighty interested in your uncle’s gold, that’s all. It seems a little funny to me.”
All of a sudden Katie grabbed my arm. I looked over. Her eyes were big again, but this time with excitement along with a little bit of fear.
“Let’s follow him, Mayme!” she said.
“How could we?” I said. “On horses,” Katie said. “He was going slow. We could catch him before he’s halfway back to town!”
“What if he sees us?”
“We’ll disguise ourselves. We’ll wear some of my brother’s clothes.”
“Wait!” I said. “Jeremiah’s still here. Let’s get him to go with us!”
“All right. You go tell him and I’ll go upstairs and start getting the clothes ready!”
I ran out of the house and toward the field where Jeremiah was working. By now Aleta and Emma were hurrying after Katie and drilling her with questions.
“We have to leave for a little while,” said Katie as she started hurriedly changing her clothes.
“But what you doin’ wiff dose feller’s clothes?” asked Emma.
“I’ll tell you later,” said Katie. “It’s just a little game.
We’re trying to fool some people. We don’t want them to know we’re girls.”
“Can I come too!” asked Aleta excitedly.
“I’m sorry, Aleta,” said Katie. “We have to do it alone.”
By the time I ran back to the house with Jeremiah, Katie had some clothes all laid out for me.
Three minutes later we were hurrying back downstairs to meet Jeremiah, who had been saddling three horses for us. Aleta was scampering along after us, still trying to change Katie’s mind.
“Please, let me go! I promise I’ll stay out of the way.”
Katie knelt down and looked seriously into Aleta’s face.
“Aleta,” she said. “I need you to be very brave for me, and stay here and help Emma take care of William. Sometimes Emma needs somebody else to help her think straight and not get confused about things. Can you do that? Can you help Emma?”
“I’ll try, Katie.”
“Good girl! We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
