The Soldier's Lady (25 page)

“Den ef . . . ef He ain't wantin' ter sen' me ter hell, an' ef He ain't fearsome an' mean like I thought, den . . . what does . . . what does He . . . what is I supposed ter do? Ef He's different den all dat, Mister Duff . . . den who is I? Dat must mean I's different too.”

Micah smiled again.

“You are His child, Emma—His very own daughter, that's who you are, and that's who He wants you to be.”

L
EARNING TO
R
EAD

23

O
ne morning Katie and I slept in longer than usual. When we got up and dressed we realized that Emma was just getting up too. William had been up earlier, but Emma had gone back to sleep. I didn't know where William was until we went downstairs and heard him in the kitchen chattering away to Josepha.

As we descended the stairs together, we were surprised to see Micah Duff sitting there on the couch in the parlor, reading the Bible from Katie's bookshelf.

“Good morning, ladies,” he said, glancing up.

“What you be doin' here, Mister Duff?” said Emma.

“I came up for a cup of Josepha's coffee,” he said. “The men were out on the porch enjoying theirs. So I decided to sit down here and read awhile.”

“You really reading dat big book, Mister Duff?” said Emma, walking over and looking with amaze
ment at the thick book in his hands.

“I am, Emma.”

“What's it about?”

“It's about Jesus and the things He taught and did.”

“Oh, da Bible. I knows 'bout da Bible. I wish I cud read.”

“You could.”

“But I can't,” said Emma, looking at him as if he was speaking nonsense.

“But you could,” repeated Micah.

“How?”

“Reading is like anything else. It's something you have to learn.”

“Just like I did, Emma,” I said.

“But how does you learn ter read an' talk better?” she asked, looking back and forth between Micah and me.

“If you want to learn anything bad enough, you can,” said Micah. “There's no secret to learning anything. Anyone who wants to read bad enough can learn to read. It might be hard work. Learning anything new is usually hard work.”

“But I could neber learn ter read somefin' like dat,” said Emma, pointing to the big Bible in Micah's lap.

“Sure you could. Sit down here, Emma.”

Interested ourselves, Katie and I sat down opposite while Emma took a seat on the couch at Micah's side. I was curious what he was going to say because I was still practicing to learn to read better myself.

“Here,” Micah said when Emma was seated. Micah pointed with his finger. “This is what I was reading when you came in. Look at this word.”

“What it mean?” asked Emma.

“That word says ‘house.' ”

“How does you know?”

“I learned it. See—that letter is an
h,
that's an
o,
that's a
u,
that's an
s,
and that's an
e.
Put them all together and those letters spell the word ‘house.' ”

“Dat's mighty complicated!”

“But it isn't really, Emma. Stare at that word ‘house' a minute. Memorize what it looks like.”

Micah waited, keeping his finger in place as Emma looked at the word for several seconds.

“Now I'll show you another word,” said Micah. He moved his finger a little way up the page. “See this word?”

Emma nodded.

“It's pretty small but is a very important word. That's the word ‘the.' See, it's got an
h
and an
e
in it, just like ‘house,' with a
t
in front. Put them together and it spells ‘the.' So now look at that ‘the' and memorize what it looks like.”

Emma did.

“What do you think, Emma?” said Micah after a few seconds. “Do you think you could read something I wrote down on a piece of paper?”

“I cudn't do dat, Mister Duff. I done told you—I can't read.”

“I think you're wrong, Emma. I think that if I wrote
something down and gave it to you—I think you could read it.”

“Dat'd be a rip-staver, all right, but I cudn't!”

“Katie,” said Micah, looking over at her. “Would you mind fetching me a pencil and piece of paper?”

Katie jumped up and ran upstairs. By now everyone was eager to see what was going to happen. When Katie bounded back downstairs and gave the pencil and paper to Micah, he turned again to Emma.

“All right, Emma,” he said, “now close your eyes.”

He took the paper and wrote on it. “I am writing something down, Emma,” he said. “Now . . . open your eyes . . . and I want you to read back to me what I wrote.”

He handed her the sheet. Emma looked at it, and a big smile spread over her face.

“It says ‘da house'!” she said excitedly.

“You see, I thought you could do it. You just read something.”

“Dat's da first thing I eber read in my life! So how does you read a big book like dat Bible dere?”

“You have to learn many, many words. Hundreds of words . . . thousands of words. But it isn't so hard as you might think. And after a while, when you know all the letters of the alphabet and what they look like and sound like, you can even read words that you haven't memorized.”

“Kin you show me how you wud read in dis?” she said, pointing to the Bible, which still lay open on Micah's lap.

“All right. I'll point with my finger to the words as I read them. You can look at the words as I say them. I'll show you what I was reading.”

“I's do dat!” said Emma eagerly.

“All right, I'll start right here,” said Micah.
“ ‘And he called them unto him,' ”
he read, saying each word slowly,
“ ‘and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a . . .' ”

He paused.

“Do you see that word, Emma?—you read it for me”

“It says ‘house.' ”

“That's right. Now you've read something in the Bible.
‘And if a house be divided against itself, that . . .' ”

Again he waited, his finger pointed to the next word.

“House,” said Emma.

“Good—
‘that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man can enter into a strong man's . . .' ”

“House,” Emma said again.

“ ‘. . . and spoil his goods, except he will first bind . . .' ”

This time Emma hesitated.

“Do you remember this word?” asked Micah, pointing to the page.

“Oh, I forgot a minute. It says ‘da.' ”

“That's right—
‘he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his . . .' ”

“House,” said Emma once more.

Micah set the Bible down. Emma had a great look of pride on her face.

“You just read five words out of the Bible,” said Micah. “So you see, it isn't so hard.”

“Show me another word, Mister Duff!” said Emma excitedly.

“Don't you think those are enough for one day? I don't want you to forget those two.”

“I won't forgit. I'll learn dem. I promise. Please, Mister Duff, show me two more words. I kin do it!”

Micah laughed. “All right, Emma,” he said.

He glanced over the passage.

“Okay, look at this word,” he said, pointing down at the page. “This is a name. It's the word ‘Satan.'”

“Oh, I knows about him!” said Emma. “Dat da debil—dat ol' rattlesnake!”

Micah laughed again. “That's him, all right! Do you see that first letter, the squiggly one? That's an
s
. That letter is in ‘house' too. All the letters get used over and over in different words. They combine differently to make different sounds. It's like putting foods together in different combinations to make different things. Josepha uses the same flour to make bread one day, flapjacks the next, biscuits the next, and a cake the next. Reading is a lot like cooking. You have to know how to mix the ingredients. There are twenty-six letters—that's all. There are a lot more foods than that. So you see, Emma, reading is even easier than cooking!”

“Dat can't hardly be, Mister Duff!” laughed Emma.

“But do you understand what I am saying?”

“I reckon I does.”

“You have to learn how the combination of letters makes different words. That squiggly
s
at the front of the word ‘Satan,' for instance, is the same s that is in the word ‘house.'—Look, do you see?”

He pointed to the two words.

“They even sound the same—Satan . . . and house. Do you hear that
ssss
sound? That's the s in both words.”

“It looks an' soun's like a snake!” said Emma.

“You're right, it does,” said Micah. “It's squiggly and it hisses, just like a snake! I never thought of that before.”

“An' da word ‘snake' soun's dat same way. Does it got dat same letter, dat
s
?”

“Indeed it does. Very good, Emma. You see, you are catching on to this very quickly. You are a good learner. They all have that same hisssss sound, because they all have an s in them—sssssatan . . . sssssnake . . . housssse,” he said, drawing out the sound of each.

“Show me another word,” said Emma.

“All right . . . uh, let me see—how about this one here,” said Micah, pointing again. “This is the word ‘man.'”

Emma stared down at the page.

“So there are four words for you, Emma—‘house,' ‘the,' ‘Satan,' and ‘man.' Do you think you know them?”

“I think so, Mister Duff, but dey's startin' ter run together in my brain. But kin we read it agin? Kin I try ter read dem words?”

“I'll read along slowly,” nodded Micah, “and when I come to a word you know, you read it.”

“I kin do dat!”

“All right,” said Micah, then returned his gaze to Katie's Bible. “
‘And he called them unto him,'
” he read, saying each word slowly,
“ ‘and said unto them in parables, How can . . .' ”

He paused.

“Satan,” said Emma proudly, then added, almost muttering softly to herself, “—dat ol' rattlesnake!”

Micah smiled to himself, then continued to read,
“ ‘. . . cast out
. . .' ”

“Satan,” said Emma again.

“ ‘And if a . . .' ”

“House!”

“ ‘. . . be divided against itself, that . . .' ”

“House!”

“ ‘. . . cannot stand. And if . . .' ”

“Satan!”

“ ‘. . . rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No . . .' ”

“Uh . . . man!” said Emma after a moment's hesitation.

“ ‘. . . can enter into a strong . . .' ”

“Uh . . . dat looks kind er like dat man,” said Emma, “but den der's da squiggles on it. Dat's a mite confusin'.”

“That's right—it is the word ‘ man' with an s. What is an
s
supposed to sound like?”

“Da hiss ob a snake,” said Emma.

“So say it like that,” said Micah. “Say ‘ man' and add that sound.”

“Uh . . . manssss,” said Emma, exaggerating the sound.

“That's right—it's the word ‘ man's.' And when you say it quickly, it is,
‘can enter into a strong man's . . .' ”