A Quilt for Christmas (13 page)

“Can't get in, Pa,” Ben said.

Dad Stark scowled at his son and told him he had a way of saying stupid things. He demanded to know who was inside, but Eliza refused to answer.

Then Taft spoke up and said that Eliza had a chunk of a girl and that she must be inside the house.

“We ain't letting no girl stop us.” Dad Stark turned to Eliza. “You tell her to open the door or we'll burn the place down.”

“Can't burn it down, Pa,” Ben told him. “It'd take two days for that hard wood to catch fire.”

Dad Stark ran a dirty finger over his teeth. Then suddenly, he reached over and grabbed Eliza by the hair. “Girl in there, you open that door or your ma'll get hurt,” he yelled.

“He won't do anything, Luzena,” Eliza called.

“You just watch out that window and see if I won't.” Dad Stark tightened his grasp on Eliza's hair with one hand, pulling her up until she was standing on her toes. With his other hand, he twisted Eliza's arm behind her back. She struggled and kicked, but her tormentor only laughed. Davy lunged forward and raised his hand to Dad Stark, but Amos grabbed him, while Taft held on to Missouri Ann. Davy bit Amos's arm, and the man punched the boy in the stomach, making him double over. “You're a coward, Amos, hitting a boy,” Missouri Ann cried, but Amos only grinned and saluted her with his free hand like a soldier.

Eliza saw the shutter open a crack and knew that Luzena was watching, had seen the attacks on her mother and brother. “Stay inside. They're bluffing,” she called.

“Oh, we are, are we?” Dad Stark slapped Eliza hard, back and forth, then dropped her to the ground. “You want worse for her, girl? We'll do your brother next,” he called. “All you got to do is open the door, and we'll leave be.” When the door remained closed, Dad Stark dismounted, kicked at Eliza, who was lying on the ground, and started for Davy. “I reckon he don't need his left arm,” he yelled. “You ever see anybody get his arm tore off?”

Davy's face went pale, and his legs were so limp that he would have fallen if Amos had not held on to him. Still, he called in a frightened voice, “Don't you believe them, Luzena.” Eliza felt useless. How could she and Missouri Ann and Davy stand off four men? If only Will were there, but he would never be there. The unfairness of it all! Eliza thought.

The threats were enough to crumble the girl's resolve, and Eliza heard the bolt being drawn, then saw the door open. The Starks forgot about Eliza and Davy and rushed forward. Missouri Ann helped Eliza and Davy to their feet, and the three followed the Starks into the house.

“I couldn't let them hurt you or Davy that way, Mama,” Luzena cried, tears running down her face. “I know you said to protect Nance with my life, but I couldn't do it if they were going to hurt Davy. Don't let them take her.”

“We don't care a rotten apple for the baby. We come for the black girl. Where's she hid?” Dad Stark demanded.

Luzena looked at him blankly. “What's he talking about?” she asked her mother. Dad Stark pinched Luzena's arm and the girl winced. “I don't know anything,” she said.

“You got a colored girl hid around here somewheres.”

“I've never seen a colored girl in my life. It's just me and Nance. We're playing covered wagon. We're going to the gold fields.” Luzena sat down on one of the quilt-covered chairs and picked up her doll, muttering, “Aren't we, Miss Cat? We're going to get rich, aren't we?”

“You'd be going to hell if you hadn't opened that door,” Dad Stark said. “And maybe you will yet, if we don't find that girl.” He tore the bed apart while two of his boys climbed the ladder to the loft. Eliza held her twisted arm as she stared upstairs, listening to the Starks turn over the beds and throw the dresser drawers onto the floor. Then they clumped down the ladder, shaking their heads. One of the boys looked into the fireplace, while another went around the room, searching for loose logs that might have allowed someone to escape. Eliza refused to glance at the floorboards, afraid she might give away the hiding place.

At last, Ben said, “I think maybe she ain't here, Pa.”

“You hush your mouth. I'll do the thinking.” Dad Stark looked around at the walls, then up at the roof, and finally at the floor. He stared at the floor for a long time, and then he kicked at a board that was loose. It was a full inch higher than the others. “What we got here?” he asked.

As Eliza closed her eyes and prayed, Dad Stark's sons gathered around him. Eliza opened her eyes and exchanged a glance with Missouri Ann. Then she reached for the poker, which was resting near the fireplace. There was no way she could stop the men from taking Clara, but at least one of the Starks would go away wounded. Missouri Ann, taking her cue from Eliza, picked up a skillet. Davy raised his eyes to the shotgun over the fireplace, but Eliza shook her head. He wouldn't have time to load it, and even if he did, one of the Starks would grab it from Davy, and the boy might get shot.

Only Luzena seemed to ignore what was going on, as she slapped the string-reins over the backs of the stuffed animals that acted as oxen and urged them on to Colorado. Eliza thought to quiet her, but Luzena had suffered a terrible shock what with the men threatening her mother and brother, and she seemed to have slipped into another world. Eliza wondered if her daughter's mind had been affected.

Dad Stark kicked at the board again, but it held, so he squatted beside it and grasped it with his hands, pulling it up. “Why, lookit here. What we got is a hidey-hole beneath.” He grinned at Missouri Ann. “What do you think of that?” When Missouri Ann refused to answer, he made a fist and said, “You can't get too big not to speak to me.” He started to rise, but Amos told him that another board was loose, and Dad Stark grasped it and yanked it out, too. “This whole floor's just one big hole,” he said.

The men grabbed at the floorboards, and in a moment, they revealed a hole the size of a shallow grave. Ben, the smallest of the Starks, climbed into it, then lifted his head and laughed as he held up his arm. In his hand was a gallon jug of whiskey. Eliza almost smiled. Will had found a hiding place for his liquor. He'd had a fondness for drink sometimes.

“What else you got in there?” Amos asked, grabbing the bottle. “Maybe there's more of this.”

Ben rummaged around in the hole then emerged empty-handed. “No more whiskey, and no more nothing else, neither.”

“What about the girl? Ain't she in there?” Dad Stark demanded.

Ben shook his head.

“Aw, let me see.” Dad Stark pushed his son aside and climbed into the hole himself. A moment later, he pushed himself up onto the floor, his hands covered with dirt, as if he'd been scratching around in the earth. “She ain't here.” He turned to Eliza. “Where's she at?” He had lost some of his bluster.

“I told you, she isn't here,” Eliza said, trying not to show her surprise. She'd been sure that Luzena had hidden Clara under the floorboards. Perhaps the slave had left on her own, before the Starks arrived, when Eliza was in the field with Missouri Ann. That was the only explanation she could think of. But now that Clara was gone, Eliza felt more confident. “You've called me a liar and other foul epithets, and you have all but destroyed my home, Mr. Stark. You profane my farm. And you've frightened my children. It is a mean practice, this hunting of a free colored woman.”

“Then how come your girl there wouldn't let us in the house if she wasn't hiding the slave?” Dad Stark asked. “Tell me that.”

“You scared her almost to death, four bullies riding into the barnyard and threatening her mother and brother. Surely you understand why she secured herself and the baby. She was afraid you would harm Nance. You scared her out of her wits. You can see it for yourself.”

As if to prove the point, Luzena began to hum “O, Susannah!” under her breath as she urged the play oxen to hurry west. Her singing grew louder until it was almost a screech. Then she stopped and said, “We're going to find a gold mine, Mama.” She began singing off key again.

“I hope her mind is not permanently damaged,” Eliza added.

“Women's ain't got much of a mind to speak of,” Dad Stark replied, glaring at Luzena as if the look would make the girl be quiet. But Luzena kept on, louder now.

Eliza straightened up and put her hands on her hips. “I will not put up with such nonsense. Get out of here, Mr. Stark. Get out, all of you, right now, or I shall notify the sheriff of your mischief. You are cowards and kidnappers.”

The Stark boys turned to their father, who slowly got to his feet. “You got no right to call us that.”

“What else would you call four men who break into a house in an attempt to steal away a slave girl?”

“She really going to go to the sheriff?” Taft asked.

Eliza was sorry for the threat and realized she needed to give the Starks a way out, some reassurance that it was better for them to leave than to stay. Not only could they overpower her, but their very presence threatened Clara. If Clara was hidden nearby, Eliza wanted the men off the farm. So she said, “I would not embarrass Missouri Ann by reporting her in-laws as law breakers. But if you set foot on this farm again, I shall tell everyone in Wabaunsee County of your outrageous conduct.” She went to the doorway and pointed outside.

Dad Stark looked around the house once more, then nodded at his sons. “Might be she's at the Espy place. That old woman would hide a yellow dog if she knew we was after it.”

Dad Stark clomped out of the house, followed by Taft and Amos. Ben was last, and he touched the brim of his hat at Missouri Ann.

“Tell Mother Stark I said howdy,” Missouri Ann told him. “Tell her come for a visit.”

Ben didn't reply, and Eliza wasn't sure he had heard Missouri Ann.

While Luzena continued to drive her team, Eliza, Davy, and Missouri Ann went outside to watch the Starks mount up and ride off. Davy followed them to the end of the lane to make sure the men were gone for good. He asked Eliza if he should warn Ettie Espy.

“Not yet. Let's find out if Clara is headed that way first.” Eliza turned to her daughter, who had stopped singing as soon as the Starks were gone, and asked, “Where is she, Luzena? What have you done with Clara?”

Luzena stood, then went to the door and closed and bolted it. Then for good measure, she latched the window. “It's safe, Clara,” she whispered. She went back to the covered wagon. “Come on out. They're gone.”

Slowly, the quilt that was spread over the two chairs to form the covered wagon moved, and Clara crawled out. She looked exhausted, and she shook as she tried to stand. “They gone away?” she asked.

Missouri Ann's mouth dropped open in surprise, while Eliza began to laugh. “Why, you hid her in plain sight,” Eliza said, grasping the slave and helping her to the bed. “I know every inch of this house, and even I wouldn't have suspected you were there.”

Luzena blushed at the praise. “When I heard those men, I tried to put her in the hole, but I couldn't get the board out. It was too heavy. This was the only place I could think of. I thought if I acted crazy, they might not come too close.” She looked inquiringly at her mother and Missouri Ann.

“You did good, real good,” Missouri Ann said.

Eliza nodded her agreement. “To think a twelve-year-old girl fooled four grown men.”

“But not very smart ones,” Missouri Ann muttered.

“Shrewd, though,” Eliza said. She asked Missouri Ann if the Starks would come back.

“I don't know,” Missouri Ann told her. “They're tricky, but they wouldn't want to be shamed again. I couldn't say. I never could figure out how a Stark thought.” She paused and added, “That is, if a Stark thinks at all. Best we find another place to hide Clara.”

*   *   *

At nightfall, they heard hoofbeats in the lane, and Missouri Ann smoothed her hair and said it must be Print Ritter.

But something made Eliza wary. She peered out the window at the drizzle that was falling from the sky and saw a mule and knew it wasn't Print. He rode a horse. Then Eliza realized that the rider wore a bonnet. But she didn't know any woman who rode astride.

“Let me see,” Missouri Ann said, peering into the darkness. “Why, it's Mother Stark.”

Eliza was startled and started to shut the window. “What does she want? Did she come to spy for her husband?”

“She wouldn't do that,” Missouri Ann assured her, putting up her hand to keep the window open. She went to the door and opened it a crack, while Davy took down the shotgun. This time, Eliza didn't stop him. “Is that you, Mother Stark?” Missouri Ann called.

“It is, and I'm alone. But I got to hurry. Dad thinks I went for the borrow of a needle. If I don't get back soon, he might send the boys looking for me.”

Dad Stark would be too drunk to go himself, Missouri Ann whispered to Eliza.

“Would you let me in the house?” the old woman asked. “This weather gets to my bones.”

Missouri Ann turned to Eliza, telling her, “Mother Stark is as good as pie.” Eliza wasn't so sure, and she sent Clara up to the loft to hide, before Missouri Ann opened the door wide and gestured for Mother Stark to get off her mule and come inside.

Mother Stark was a tall, big-boned woman, but she was gaunt, her face dark from the sun. She wore a ragged shawl, and her skirt was worn and patched. She was barefoot. Eliza, who had met her only once or twice, was drawn to the old woman, sure that she had been mistreated by her husband and maybe her sons. “Come in. We have a fire, and the remains of dinner. Would you have a bite?” She gestured to the table, realizing it held six plates. She grabbed them up, hoping Mother Stark had not had time to count them. The Stark men wouldn't have noticed the number of plates, but a woman would.

If she had, Mother Stark didn't comment. “I could use a pone, if you got any.”