The Mandie Collection (20 page)

Everything seemed to jam up on the girls with no solution in sight. Mandie sent word to her grandmother that they would like to come spend the weekend with her, and Uncle Cal, the school handyman, brought back the message that Mrs. Taft was away for the weekend.

“Sorry, young ladies, but Miz Taft she ain’t home till Monday,” the old man told them in the hallway that afternoon.

“Thank you, Uncle Cal,” Mandie said. Turning to Celia she said, “Guess we will have to wait till Monday, but you could write a letter to your mother and get it in the mail this weekend.”

“Yes, I will, Mandie,” Celia agreed.

While they sat in their room that Saturday and Celia wrote her letter, they discussed college.

“I cannot go to the College of Charleston without you, Celia,” Mandie said emphatically as she stood up to walk the floor. “They just have to make room for you. They have to.”

“But Mandie, if they don’t have room, then they don’t have room. You can’t just make up a space out of thin air,” Celia told her. “However, registration is still open at the University of Virginia and most likely you could get in there.” She quickly folded the letter she had been writing to her mother and placed it in an envelope.

“So many things have been going on I can’t get a chance to breathe lately,” Mandie complained, stopping by the bureau to brush her long blond hair.

Celia licked the flap on the envelope and sealed it. “Mandie, I need to take this downstairs so the mailman can take it for me when he comes with the mail.”

“All right, let’s go,” Mandie said, going to open the door.

When they got downstairs Celia said, “I’ll just give this to Miss Prudence to mail for me because the postman always gives her the mail for the school.” She led the way back to Miss Prudence’s office.

After giving Miss Prudence the letter to pass on to the mailman, Celia said, “I have had bad news, Miss Prudence. You know Mandie and I both applied to the College of Charleston. She was accepted a while ago but now I’ve received a letter saying mine was rejected due to no more spaces available.”

“Oh, dear, then I would advise you to get Mrs. Taft right on the problem. She has good luck at persuading other people. I’m so sorry,” Miss Prudence replied.

“Do you know of any other girls here who have applied to the College of Charleston, Miss Prudence?” Mandie asked.

“Let me see now, I believe Mary Lou Dunnigan did apply, but I don’t know whether she was accepted or not, or in fact whether she decided that she really did want to go there,” Miss Prudence replied.

“Mary Lou,” Mandie repeated, looking at her friend.

“Mary Lou who is going with us to Europe,” Celia added.

“Maybe we could persuade her to attend another college and give up her space,” Mandie suggested.

Miss Prudence, listening to the conversation, said, “I don’t know about that. You see, her parents can’t afford to send her off somewhere to college. And she lives in Charleston, so she will be a day student there.”

“Thank you, Miss Prudence,” Mandie said as she and Celia left the office.

As they walked down the hall Mandie said, “Remember all that money my grandmother has. She could afford to pay Mary Lou’s tuition somewhere else if Mary Lou would agree to give up her space,” Mandie said with a big smile.

“That is a delicate situation, Mandie,” Celia reminded her. “You can’t just go around shaking money in people’s faces to get them to do whatever you want.”

“Oh, Celia, I certainly didn’t mean it that way. I thought perhaps there is another college somewhere that Mary Lou wishes she could attend but can’t because of the money,” Mandie replied.

“We can certainly come up with some problems lately, can’t we?” Celia said with a loud sigh.

“Yes, but I intend talking to Grandmother as soon as she returns on Monday,” Mandie replied. “So let’s not give up hope yet.”

“I haven’t, because if I go to the University of Virginia, I know you will probably be able to get accepted, too.”

So much confusion and so many problems to solve. Everything will come out all right but it will just take time,
Mandie thought as they walked along the hall.

Mandie couldn’t think about a single other thing all weekend. Finally Monday morning came and Mandie once again asked Uncle Cal to go to her grandmother’s house, not far from the school in Asheville, North Carolina, and take a message that she urgently needed to see her.

“We’ll stay right here in the parlor until you come back, Uncle Cal,” Mandie told the old man. She and Celia didn’t have a class scheduled for another hour.

“I’ll hurry right back, Missy,” Uncle Cal told her, heading for the front door.

And this time he returned with a note for Miss Prudence, asking that Ben, Mrs. Taft’s driver, pick up the two girls at the school at four o’clock and bring them to her house for supper. She sent Mandie a separate note explaining that she was arranging for their visit.

Mandie had a hard time keeping her mind on the classes she had to attend that day. She was wishing for the time to come to go to her grandmother’s house. Celia didn’t have much hope that Mrs. Taft could really do anything about her not being accepted at the College of Charleston.

Late that afternoon the girls joined Mrs. Taft in her parlor.

“Now, what is this all about, Amanda? What is so urgent?” Mrs. Taft asked, looking from one girl to the other.

“Oh, Grandmother, Celia was not accepted at the College of Charleston because they said her application was too late and they were filled up,” Mandie began, hurriedly speaking without even taking a breath.

Mrs. Taft turned to look at Celia. “Why, my dear, was your application really too late to be considered?” Mrs. Taft asked.

“Yes, ma’am, that’s what this letter says,” Celia replied, taking the letter from her pocket and handing it to Mrs. Taft.

Mrs. Taft read the letter and then asked, “Well, what is your mother going to do about it?”

“I wrote her a letter but of course it’ll take the mail a while to get to her,” Celia replied.

“Mail? Does your mother not have a telephone?” Mrs. Taft asked.

“No, ma’am, not yet. The electricity has not been run all the way out in the country to our house yet,” Celia explained.

“Grandmother, since you are right here for us to talk to I thought perhaps you could do something about this,” Mandie suggested.

“No, Amanda, that would not be proper without having consulted Celia’s mother,” Mrs. Taft said. “But I have another idea. We’ll just ask our sheriff here to call the sheriff near your home, Celia, and give Jane the news. Our sheriff has a phone and I’m sure yours must have, too. I must get around to having a telephone installed here in my house. I’ve just been so busy since they ran the wires out this way I haven’t had time to do it.” She suddenly stood up. “Therefore we must hurry down to the sheriff’s office and talk with him before he goes home to supper.”

“Yes, ma’am,” both girls said as they followed her into the hall.

Mrs. Taft had timed it just right. When they arrived at the sheriff’s office, Sheriff Jones was getting ready to go home for supper. He was on his way out when they went into his office.

“Mrs. Taft, how nice to see you,” the sheriff greeted her as he removed his wide-brimmed hat, hung it back on the hook on the wall, and motioned to a seat. “Please sit down.”

“Thank you, Sheriff Jones,” Mrs. Taft replied as she quickly sat down near the desk. The girls sat in the chairs near the door. “This will only take a few minutes of your time so we won’t delay your supper.”

“I’m at your service, madam,” he replied, going behind the desk and sitting in his chair.

“I need to get a message to Mrs. Jane Hamilton in Virginia for her daughter here,” she replied, motioning toward Celia. “It seems we have a mix-up in her college registration.” She went on to explain and then said, “Since I don’t have a telephone yet I thought perhaps you would call the sheriff up there and ask him to take a message to Mrs. Hamilton for me.”

“Certainly, Mrs. Taft, I’d be glad to,” Sheriff Jones replied. “And I can understand how urgent this message is.” He smiled at Celia.

“Here is the letter Celia received from the College of Charleston, and if you could just get the sheriff up there to inform Mrs. Hamilton about this and ask Mrs. Hamilton what she plans to do about this, I would be most grateful,” Mrs. Taft explained, handing him the letter to read.

“Yes, ma’am, this is urgent business,” Sheriff Jones said as he read the letter. “And I will ask the sheriff in Virginia if he will call me back with Mrs. Hamilton’s response for this. And I’ll do this right now.”

Mrs. Taft and the girls listened while Sheriff Jones made the call to Virginia and identified himself to whoever answered the call.

“You say the sheriff has gone to supper,” Sheriff Jones repeated over the phone. “Please have him call me as soon as he returns. I have an urgent message for him. Yes, I’ll be here. Thank you very much.” He hung up the receiver.

“So he is not in then?” Mrs. Taft quickly said.

“No, ma’am, he’s gone to supper, and while he’s gone I’ll just go ahead to supper, and by the time I return he should be back at his office. And I will let you know as soon as he has contacted Mrs. Hamilton and has a reply for me,” he explained.

Mrs. Taft rose and the girls quickly joined her as she started toward the door. “I thank you very much, Sheriff Jones, and I will wait to hear from you,” Mrs. Taft told him as she and the girls left the office.

Ben, Mrs. Taft’s driver, was waiting and took them back to Mrs. Taft’s house.

On the way Mrs. Taft said, “I think you girls should just spend the night at my house tonight. I’ll send Ben to tell Miss Prudence what we are doing, and of course you all will have to get up early and return to school in time for your classes. However, we may not get a message from the sheriff tonight.”

“Thank you, Grandmother,” Mandie said, smiling at Celia.

“And I thank you, Mrs. Taft,” Celia said.

Mrs. Taft allowed the girls to stay up till midnight, but no message had been received when everyone finally went to bed.

And the next morning, immediately after breakfast, the girls returned to school. They stayed around the parlor between classes all day, but when time came for supper there had not been a message.

When the huge clock in the front hall struck nine, Mandie and Celia were sitting on a settee just inside the parlor door.

“Nine o’clock!” Mandie exclaimed. “I wonder why we haven’t received any news. Do you think your mother could possibly be gone away somewhere and the sheriff could not reach her, or something?”

“I don’t know of any plans my mother had,” Celia replied. “Maybe the sheriff up there is having trouble getting the sheriff here. You know they say the telephone lines are not always working properly.”

“Grandmother promised to send Ben over here as soon as she received a message,” Mandie reminded her.

When the clock struck nine-thirty, Mandie stood up and said, “You know we have to go to our room now and get ready for bed before the ten-o’clock bell rings.”

Celia stood up with a sigh and said, “Yes, I know.”

When the girls stepped out into the hallway, they met up with Miss Prudence. She stopped to ask, “Have you received any word from your mother yet, Celia?”

“No, ma’am,” Celia replied. “We’re going up to our room now. Maybe in the morning we’ll hear something.”

“If Mrs. Taft sends Ben over with a message, I’ll let you know immediately,” Miss Prudence replied.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Celia said.

They went up to their room and got ready for bed. Instead of actually getting in bed they got comfortable in the two big chairs and covered up with blankets.

“No use going to bed. I just won’t sleep,” Mandie remarked as she pulled the blanket over her in the chair.

“Neither will I,” Celia said, curling up in the other chair. “Mandie, I’m sorry this is causing so much trouble. It would probably be easier if you would just agree to go to the University of Virginia with me.”

“No, I don’t want to go to the University of Virginia. I want to go to the College of Charleston, and I want you to go with me,” Mandie said emphatically.

“I hope your grandmother and my mother can work things out,” Celia said, yawning. “I’m plumb worn out.”

“I am, too,” Mandie said, also yawning. She began to doze.

Suddenly the bell was ringing and Mandie instantly sat up and looked around. The light was still on and she glanced at the clock, six o’clock. It was morning. She had slept the whole night in the chair, and so had Celia, who was also stretching and sitting up.

Mandie stood up. “Oh, Celia, we didn’t even go to bed last night,” she said, as she headed toward the chifforobe to find clothes to put on.

Celia followed as she said, “And we didn’t get a message.”

“No, but we probably will today,” Mandie said. “Let’s get dressed and go downstairs. Maybe we’ll see Miss Prudence. She might have received a message too late to tell us.”

When they got downstairs, there was no sign of Miss Prudence or Miss Hope. And only two other girls were in the parlor. It was too early.

Finally the bell rang for breakfast and all the girls began lining up. Miss Hope was always in charge of breakfast. She came down the hallway and into the dining room as she smiled at the girls.

“Miss Hope probably wouldn’t know anything,” Mandie told Celia.

“And Miss Prudence is hardly ever seen before breakfast,” Celia added.

“So we just have to wait,” Mandie said, blowing out her breath as they joined the line.

After breakfast was finished, they had to go to a class.

“I wish we could see Miss Prudence,” Celia said, as they got their books from their room and came back downstairs to their classroom.

“I’m sure she’ll let us know when she does hear something,” Mandie replied. “I don’t dare go looking for her because it would cause us to be late for our class. So we’ll just have to wait.” She sighed loudly as they entered the classroom.

The girls had three classes that morning, one right after the other, so they did not have a chance to go looking for Miss Prudence. Then when they left the last one immediately before the noontime meal, they ran into Miss Prudence in the hallway.

“I’m sorry, young ladies, but I have not received a word from Mrs. Taft. Therefore I assume she has not been contacted by Sheriff Jones,” Miss Prudence told them as they stopped in the hall.

“We don’t have any classes this afternoon, Miss Prudence,” Mandie said. “Do you think it would be possible for us to go over to my grandmother’s house for the afternoon?”

“Of course, if you would like to do that I’ll have Uncle Cal drive you over,” Miss Prudence replied.

“Thank you, Miss Prudence,” both girls replied.

When they arrived at Mrs. Taft’s a little while later they found Ben getting ready to come to the school to get them. He had just pulled the rig up by Mrs. Taft’s front door.

Uncle Cal stopped the rig by Mrs. Taft’s in the driveway.

“Y’all done saved me a trip, dat you have,” Ben declared. “Miz Taft she want to see y’all right away.”

Mandie and Celia hurriedly jumped down from the school rig.

“Thank you, Uncle Cal,” Mandie told him as she hurried over to ask Ben some questions.

Celia thanked the old man, also, and as he went on down the circular driveway back to the road, she joined Mandie.

“Where is Grandmother?” Mandie asked Ben.

“She be awaitin’ in de parlor for me to bring y’all from de school,” Ben replied.

“Thank you, Ben,” Mandie said, leading the way in the front door and on down the hall to the parlor.

“Well, you certainly got here fast,” Mrs. Taft said as the girls came in and sat down.

“Ben didn’t come and get us. We had Uncle Cal bring us over here just as Ben was leaving. We wanted to see if you had heard anything, Grandmother,” Mandie replied.

“Yes, ma’am, have you?” Celia anxiously asked.

“Yes, I have,” Mrs. Taft replied. “Sheriff Jones came over a little while ago with a message from your mother, Celia. She says she is very sorry about the situation and would like to know our ideas as to what to do about this. She will be staying over at a friend’s house in Richmond, Mrs. Willis, who has a telephone and whom we can go down to Sheriff Jones’ office and call.”

“I’m so glad you got in touch with my mother,” Celia said.

“Have you decided what we can do?” Mandie asked.

“I need to find out from Celia’s mother exactly when she mailed the registration form to the College of Charleston, first of all, to figure out whether yours was actually late, Celia,” Mrs. Taft explained. “And if it was mailed in time to meet the deadline then we need to do something about it.”

“Like telling them they have to honor it?” Celia asked.

“Yes, they will have to honor it if it was mailed in plenty of time to get there before the cutoff date.”

“And what if it was not mailed in time, Grandmother?” Mandie asked.

“Then we need to find out if they were filled up on the deadline date,” Mrs. Taft said. “And if they weren’t, how did they go about selecting which application would be accepted.”

“It sounds complicated, but I know you will know how to handle this, Mrs. Taft,” Celia said.

“I won’t be dealing with the college myself. It will have to be done by your mother, unless she asks me to take over and untangle this mess,” Mrs. Taft said. She stood up and added, “Now let me get my hat and we will go to see Sheriff Jones.”

When they arrived at the sheriff’s office, Sheriff Jones immediately got the call through to Jane’s mother. “Here is Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Taft,” he said, handing the receiver to Mrs. Taft.

The girls listened as Mrs. Taft asked questions and discussed the matter with Mrs. Hamilton. Then she turned and held out the receiver to Celia and said, “Celia, your mother would like to say hello to you.”

“But I don’t know anything about talking on telephones,” Celia stammered, reluctantly taking the receiver.

Mandie watched and listened as Celia said a few words to her mother and then nervously handed the receiver back to Mrs. Taft.

“That’s the first time I ever talked to my mother on a telephone,” Celia said, nervously clearing her throat. “It was unreal. She’s all the way up in Virginia and we’re down here in North Carolina, and it sounded as though she were right here in the room with us.”