The Mandie Collection (38 page)

Elizabeth frowned at having Mandie interrupt her, and before she could reply, Mandie noticed it and said quickly, “I'm sorry, Mother.”

Her mother looked at her thoughtfully and said, “Let's not let that happen again. Now, I'll be glad to help you select a gift for Sallie when we go shopping tomorrow.”

At that moment Liza appeared in the doorway to the hall and said, “Miz Lizbeth, de next-do' neighbors, dey be heah.” She stepped aside, and Mrs. Cornwallis and Polly came into the room.

As soon as everyone exchanged greetings, Aunt Lou came to announce that supper was on the table, and they moved on into the dining room. Liza waited on the table under the watchful eye of Aunt Lou, who tended the sideboard.

“You got to leave school a day early,” Mandie remarked to her neighbor, Polly, who was seated across the table from her.

“Yes,” Polly replied, pushing back her long, dark hair as she gazed at Mandie with eyes as black as chinquapins.

“Well, did you go visit relatives?” Mandie asked as she ate her food. She wasn't really interested but was merely trying to make conversation.

“No,” Polly said, picking up her cup of coffee.

“Did you come straight on home?” Mandie asked with a slight impatience at not being able to draw Polly into a conversation.

“No,” Polly said, directing her gaze at the adults, who were carrying on their own conversation.

Then Mandie realized Polly was listening to Uncle John because he was saying the Woodards would be in the next afternoon.

“I will be taking Amanda and Joe out to get a tree when they get here, so if you don't have one yet I'd be glad to bring in a tree for you,” John Shaw was telling Mrs. Cornwallis.

Polly quickly intercepted with, “Mother, may I go with them? Please?”

Mrs. Cornwallis smiled her beautiful smile at her daughter and said, “But, Polly, you don't invite yourself.”

“Of course she will be welcome to go with us,” John Shaw immediately told the woman. “I just didn't think to ask if she wanted to.”

“Oh, thank you, Mr. Shaw,” Polly said excitedly.

“Yes, thank you, John,” Mrs. Cornwallis said, smiling at him. “And we would like to invite y'all to come over and help us decorate it.”

“Well, I don't know about that,” John Shaw said, glancing at Elizabeth. “You see, we were making plans to decorate our tree tomorrow night, but both of you would be welcome to join in with us.”

“That's no problem, John,” Elizabeth spoke up. “We could put ours up tomorrow night, and since the next day is Sunday, we could do theirs after church in the afternoon.” Looking at Mrs. Cornwallis, she added, “That is, if you would like to do that.”

“That's fine,” Mrs. Cornwallis said. “We'll just plan on that.”

“What time tomorrow night are y'all going to put your tree up? In other words, what time do you want us to come over?” Polly asked excitedly.

Mrs. Taft joined in the conversation as she glanced at Mandie. “Don't forget, Elizabeth, that we have several other things we need to do tomorrow.”

Mandie instantly understood what her grandmother was aiming at. She was trying to prevent their evening from being taken up with Polly. Although Mrs. Taft was old, she was aware of the fact that Polly could be a nuisance when Joe came to visit. Mandie beamed a smile at her grandmother, who returned it.

“We will probably be all settled down to start decorating around eight o'clock, don't you suppose, John?” Elizabeth asked.

“That sounds about right,” John agreed.

“Then Polly and I will come over about eight o'clock tomorrow night,” Mrs. Cornwallis said.

Polly looked at John Shaw and asked, “But you will let me know when the Woodards get here and what time you're going after the trees, won't you, Mr. Shaw?”

John Shaw smiled at her and said, “I certainly will, Miss Polly, just as soon as they arrive.”

Mandie drew a deep breath and looked up just in time to see Liza, who was standing behind Polly, make some kind of signs with her eyes and her hands. Mandie quickly figured out that Liza was telling her to meet her in the kitchen later. She smiled and nodded at the girl, causing Polly to turn and look behind her as the young maid quickly moved across the room. Then Polly looked at Mandie but didn't say anything.

And evidently Aunt Lou had seen the exchange as she spoke loudly to Liza, “Git a move on, girl. Go git dem hot biscuits outa de oven.”

Liza quickly left the room, and Aunt Lou started refilling everyone's coffee cups. Mandie couldn't imagine what was so secretive, or why Liza wanted her to come to the kitchen later. But she planned to do so at the very first moment she could slip away from everyone after they went back to the parlor.

After a while they were all settled down back in the parlor. Then Mandie suddenly remembered she had left Snowball in her room but couldn't recall if she had left the door open so he could come out. He needed to go to the kitchen to get his supper.

During a lull in the conversation, Mandie quickly stood up and said, “Mother, please excuse me, but I have to see if I left my door open so Snowball can come down and eat. I'll be right back.”

“Yes, dear,” Elizabeth replied, and the adults went on with their conversation.

“Polly, I'll only be a minute,” Mandie promised as she hurriedly left Polly sitting on the settee in the parlor.

Racing up the steps, Mandie ran down the upstairs hallway and found her door closed. Opening it and going inside, she saw that Snowball was still on her bed but was now sitting up and washing himself.

“Oh, Snowball, I'm sorry. I left you shut up in here,” Mandie told the cat as she gave him a little push off the bed. “Come on. It's time for you to eat.”

The white cat shot out the door ahead of her, and Mandie quickly followed him to the kitchen. There were two places he always went—to her room to sleep and to the kitchen to eat. Mandie pushed open the door and let him in.

The servants had finished their supper and were sitting at the long
table drinking coffee. Snowball rushed to the bowl of food that had been placed under the cookstove for him.

“De comp'ny dun gone home?” Liza asked as she got up and went over to the sink.

“No, not yet,” Mandie replied as she followed the girl across the room.

“Here,” Liza said, holding up a piece of fried chicken. “I saved dis jes' fo' dat white cat, and I dun took de bones out of it.” She offered it to Mandie.

Mandie didn't want to get her hands greasy because she had to return to the parlor. “You saved it, so you give it to him,” she said.

Liza smiled at her and took the piece of chicken over to where Snowball was eating. She stooped down beside him and dangled the piece of meat. The cat immediately began meowing loudly and tried to snatch it from her fingers.

Mandie stooped down beside Liza and asked in a whisper, “What did you want me to come to the kitchen for?”

Liza dropped the piece of chicken in the cat's bowl and stood up. Mandie rose beside her.

“I heerd dat Miss Sweet Thing invitin' herself to come over when de doctuh son come tomorrow,” Liza whispered back. “And I knows how to git rid of huh.”

Mandie looked at the girl and asked, “Get rid of her? What do you mean?”

“I knows how to git rid of huh so's she don't come over heah ev'ytime de doctuh son come,” Liza whispered. “I knows how.”

“Liza, what are you talking about?” Mandie asked. “Hurry and tell me. I have to go back to the parlor before someone comes looking for me.” She glanced at the other servants, who were carrying on their own conversation at the table.

The young girl moved closer to Mandie and whispered in her ear, “I knows how to put de spell on huh.”

“Spell?” Mandie asked in a squeaky voice. She couldn't believe Liza had said that word.

“Voodoo,” Liza whispered so low Mandie could barely hear her.

“Voodoo? Liza! That's witchcraft!” Mandie gasped in disbelief.

Liza vigorously shook her head. “Ain't neither!” she said. “ 'Coordin'
to dat Miss Sweet Thing's cook, voodoo be religion of all dem dead people whut lived befo' I got born, dem Africa people.”

“Oh, Liza, forget about that,” Mandie said. “We'd get in trouble all kinds of ways messing in that.” She turned to leave the room.

Liza laid her hand on Mandie's arm to stop her. “Won't hurt nuthin' if we try it and see if it work,” she said.

“No, Liza, we can't do that,” Mandie said, pulling free and going toward the door.

Liza followed her and asked, “Why?”

Mandie stopped and stomped her foot, losing patience with the girl. “Because the devil might get us,” she said. As she rushed on through the door, she heard Aunt Lou ask, “Liza, whut you done?”

When Mandie entered the parlor, she looked around the room but didn't see Polly. Her mother and Mrs. Cornwallis were talking, and Mandie went toward her grandmother and asked, “Where's Polly?”

“Why, dear, as soon as you left the room Polly jumped up and said she was going with you. Did you not see her?” Mrs. Taft asked.

Mandie puckered her lips and shook her head. “I'll go look for her,” she said with a big sigh as she turned to leave the room. Then stopping to look back, she said to Mrs. Taft, “If she comes back, tell her to wait here for me please.”

“I'll do that,” her grandmother agreed.

Once out of the hearing of the people in the parlor, Mandie shook her head and began muttering to herself, “Now, where in the world did she go?”

Mandie quickly searched the downstairs of the big house, but Polly was not in any of the rooms. She hurried up to the second floor and went straight to her room to be sure Polly wasn't in there, and she wasn't. Firmly closing her door, Mandie started looking through the rest of that floor. Everything was quiet and the rooms were empty.

“She has to be somewhere,” Mandie said to herself as she stood at the end of the hallway. “Where did she go?” She thought about it for a moment and then went down the back stairs to the kitchen.

“Has anybody seen Polly?” Mandie asked as she held the door half open and looked into the kitchen where the servants were cleaning up.

They all shook their heads no. Then Liza, stopping on her way to
the sink, looked at Mandie and asked, “Dat Miss Sweet Thing's done disappeared? It sho' worked fast, didn't it?” She grinned.

“Liza, Grandmother said Polly followed me when I went up to get Snowball and brought him down here a while ago,” Mandie explained. “Polly hasn't disappeared. I just can't find her.”

“Same thang,” Liza replied and continued to the sink with the load of dirty dishes she was carrying. She looked at Mandie and grinned again.

Mandie closed the door and walked down the hallway. She stopped to look in each room as she went, but everything was empty and quiet. Finally she came to the doorway of the parlor. She looked inside and was amazed to see Polly sitting on the settee where she had left her when she went to get Snowball.

“Well, where did you go?” Mandie asked as she quickly entered the room and sat down beside the dark-haired girl.

“Go?” Polly repeated and then said, “Why, I went looking for you. Where did you go?”

Mandie took a deep, exasperated breath and said, “I went to my room, got Snowball, and took him down to the kitchen to eat his supper. That's where I went. And I have looked everywhere for you because Grandmother said you said that you were going after me. So where did you go?”

Polly shrugged and said, “Nowhere really. I came back because I couldn't find you.”

“Did you go to the kitchen?” Mandie asked, remembering the conversation she had with Liza and wondering if Polly could have somehow overheard it.

“Goodness, no,” Polly said. “Why would I go to the kitchen?”

“Because I went to the kitchen,” Mandie replied with a deep breath. She looked at Polly, but evidently the girl had said all she was going to say.

Suddenly Mandie was aware that her mother was discussing plans for the holidays. “So you see, we are going to have a houseful with all these people coming to visit. In fact, we've asked Mr. and Mrs. Burns to come and help out,” Elizabeth said.

“Burns? Oh, you mean the people who live in John's tenant house,” Mrs. Cornwallis replied.

“Yes, they are a great help in more ways than one,” Elizabeth said.

Mandie quickly looked at her grandmother. She didn't seem to be upset, so maybe her mother had not named the Guyers in the list of expected guests.

“We are only expecting my sister and her daughter,” Mrs. Cornwallis replied. “They probably won't get here until Monday, and Christmas is on Wednesday, so it won't be a long visit.” She stood up and the others also rose. “But right now we must be getting home and let Mrs. Taft and Amanda rest after the journey from the school today. Thank you for inviting us.”

Mandie breathed a sigh of relief. At last Polly was going home. Now maybe she would get a chance to talk to her grandmother about the Guyers. And maybe she could find out from her mother or Uncle John when they were expected to arrive.

As soon as Mrs. Cornwallis and Polly left, Mrs. Taft yawned and said, “I really am glad it's finally time to go to bed. It has been a long day.”

They were all standing in the hallway after John Shaw had closed the door behind the Cornwallises.

“Grandmother, remember I wanted to speak to you for a minute,” Mandie reminded the woman.

“Oh, I'm so sorry, Amanda, but I'm sure it can keep till the morrow. I'm just plain tuckered out,” Mrs. Taft said as she started for the stairs.

Mandie turned back to her mother and Uncle John as they started to follow. “Mother, could I just ask you something, please?” she asked. She looked to be sure her grandmother had disappeared down the hallway.