Leppard, Lois Gladys - [Mandie 04] (6 page)

“We knows how to be quiet. My chillun heah too skeerd not to be quiet. Mistuh Injun Man done gone. Dey got no hep ’cept us.”

“You saw Uncle Ned?” Mandie gasped.

“We sees, but we not tell. We knows who Mistuh Injun Man be. C’mon,” she beckoned. “We’se gotta go to de front do’ wid dis key.” Aunt Phoebe led the way around the house.

She quietly slipped the key into the front door lock, turned the tumbler, and slowly pushed the door open. Putting her finger over her lips, she motioned for them to be quiet. Aunt Phoebe pushed them inside, closed the door, and locked it behind them.

The girls stealthily made their way up the main stairway in the darkness. They didn’t see or hear anyone along the way. And when they finally closed their bedroom door, they both sighed with relief.

“Whew! That was a close call!” Mandie exclaimed.

“Too close, Mandie.”

Just then, the clanging, squeaking noise began again in the attic. They looked at each other in silence. Hadn’t they had enough adventure for one night?

With sudden decision, Mandie whirled and opened their door. “Quick! Let’s see what it is!”

She started up the attic steps in the darkness. Celia followed, too afraid to speak. The noise grew louder. Slowly and carefully, they tiptoed up the steps until they reached
the door at the top of the stairs. A small window by the door gave a dim light. They held their breath.

Mandie rested her hand on the doorknob, trying to decide whether or not to open the door. After a few moments, she gently turned the knob and swung the creaking door open. The room was pitch black. Suddenly there was a sound like a hundred rats scampering across the floor.

The girls panicked and flew back down the stairs, not stopping until they were safe in their room.

“Mandie, I’m afraid!” Celia whispered. “Let’s put something in front of our door, so if somebody tries to come in, we’ll hear them.”

“Yes!” Mandie agreed. She looked around.

The room was small. There was a fireplace on one wall. The bed stood against another. A bureau, chifferobe, and two overstuffed chairs occupied most of the remaining space. A floor-length mirror on a gilt stand stood in a corner.

Mandie made her decision quickly. With Celia’s help she succeeded in moving both of the heavy chairs in front of the door.

She stood back and surveyed their work. “That ought to discourage anyone from pushing their way in here.”

Feeling a little safer, the girls quickly undressed and hopped into bed.

They soon fell asleep, secure in the knowledge that the chairs were guarding their door. But would the chairs keep out someone who really wanted to get in?

Chapter 6 - April’s Trouble

Next morning, Mandie swung her feet out of bed, plopped them on the floor and quickly withdrew them. What had she stepped on? Leaning over the edge of the bed for a look, she let out a sharp cry. The precious beads Sallie had given her were all over the floor.

Awakened by the cry, Celia crawled over to see what Mandie was looking at. “Oh, Mandie! What happened?”

Mandie climbed out of bed and stooped to recover the beads that were scattered everywhere. “Somebody broke my beads, the beads that Sallie gave me.” Her voice quivered.

Celia bent to help. “Don’t cry, Mandie. I’ll help you re-string the beads. Let’s just be sure we find all of them.”

“How could anyone get in here?” Mandie asked, looking toward the door. “The chairs are moved!” she exclaimed. “I see how they did it. We put the chairs on that throw rug. It would slide easily on the hardwood floor. We went to all that trouble for nothing.”

When Miss Prudence arrived at the dining room door for breakfast, the two girls were waiting for her.

Mandie spoke quickly. “Miss Prudence, may I see you a minute as soon as we’re finished eating?”

The woman looked at her in surprise. “Why, yes, of course,
Amanda. In fact, I was going to ask you and Celia to come to my office anyway.”

The girls glanced at each other, sure that the schoolmistress knew they had been out of the house the night before. They ate very little. After breakfast, they followed Miss Prudence to her office.

Miss Prudence stood behind her desk and scowled at the two girls sitting before her. She cleared her throat. “I would like to know what you two were doing out of the house after ten o’clock last night,” she said, pausing to indicate the seriousness of the matter. “You know you are not supposed to be out of your room, much less prowling around the yard. Now, I want an explanation.”

Mandie decided she had to tell the truth and face the consequences. “Miss Prudence,” she began shakily. “We went outside, and then someone locked the back door so we couldn’t get back in.”

“And what time was that?” Miss Prudence wouldn’t give up easily. “Were you outside before or after ten o’clock?” she probed.

Celia tried to help. “Miss Prudence, we—”

Suddenly Aunt Phoebe appeared in the doorway, smiling at the girls. “Miz Prudence,” she interrupted, “dese heah chillun come to see me last night, and somebody lock dat back do’.” Aunt Phoebe fiddled with her apron. “It was aftuh ten o’clock ’fo’ we got Cal roused up and got de key to open de front do’. Dese two was skeerd to death.”

The girls couldn’t believe their ears.

“Aunt Phoebe, are you telling the truth?” Miss Prudence asked.

“Whut I say is de truth, Miz Prudence. Dey come see me, and somebody lock dat do’, and it be aftuh ten o’clock ’fo’ we gits dat front do’ open.”

Mandie realized Aunt Phoebe was telling the truth in a somewhat twisted fashion. For some reason she was trying to keep them out of trouble, but Mandie felt guilty about it.

The old woman stood in the doorway, smiling. She didn’t move to go or try to explain why she was there in the first place. She just stood there.

The schoolmistress didn’t know what to say.

Then April appeared behind Aunt Phoebe.

Miss Prudence stood up straight and cleared her throat again. “All right, young ladies, I do not believe it’s proper to visit Aunt Phoebe so late at night, but go on now to your classes. I do not want to hear of any more doings of this nature.” She turned to the Negro woman. “Aunt Phoebe, what did you want?”

The girls got up to leave. Mandie decided not to mention the disappearance of her clothes. She would tell Miss Prudence later when things calmed down. The schoolmistress didn’t seem to remember that the girls had asked to talk to her. Mandie and Celia took their time leaving the office, hoping to hear Aunt Phoebe’s reply.

“I jes’ wanted to know whut you wants from de mahket today,” the old woman replied.

“Aunt Phoebe, I’ll have to see you later about the market,” said Miss Prudence. She nodded to the tall girl in the hall. “Come on in, April.”

Aunt Phoebe moved quickly down the hallway in the opposite direction from the girls. Then Miss Hope scurried into the office.

Mandie frowned at Celia. “Things are really popping this morning,” she said.

“Yes, and Aunt Phoebe sure popped us out of that one,” Celia added.

“I wonder why,” Mandie said as the girls walked to their classroom.

April sat in Miss Prudence’s office, drumming her fingers on the arm of the chair.

Miss Prudence sat behind her desk and Miss Hope dropped into a chair at the side. “April, we asked you to come in here this morning because I wanted Miss Hope to hear what you told me about Amanda and Celia being out late last night.” She nodded to her sister. “It seems, however, that it was not their fault. Aunt Phoebe said that they were visiting her before ten o’clock and were locked out. They couldn’t get back in until she unlocked the front door. Evidently that was
after
ten o’clock.”

Miss Hope leaned forward. “Is that what happened, Sister?”

“Yes,” Miss Prudence replied. “Aunt Phoebe stood right there and told me all about it, just now.”

“But that isn’t so, Miss Prudence,” April argued. “I saw them with my own eyes. Mandie went outside first, and then Celia followed in a few minutes. It was after the ten o’clock bell.”

“Come now, April, we don’t doubt Aunt Phoebe’s word,” Miss Prudence told her. “You must be mistaken about the time.”

“No, ma’am. I was standing by the window in my bedroom, looking out. When I saw Mandie go outside I looked at the clock. It was ten-thirty. In a few minutes Celia followed.”

“Then your clock was wrong,” Miss Prudence said with finality. “You may go now so you won’t be late for your class.”

April stood and shrugged her shoulders. “All right. If you don’t believe me—” She left the room.

April got as far as the stairway and then turned back, tiptoeing next to the wall. She wanted to eavesdrop on the two schoolmistresses. There was definitely something going on here. She was positive she had seen the two girls go out
after ten o’clock, and she intended to hear what the two women had to say about it.

“Sister, do you really believe Aunt Phoebe?” Miss Hope asked.

“Well, I hope she’s telling the truth,” Miss Prudence replied. “I’d hate to think she was lying for the two girls.”

“According to April, Amanda seems to be a born troublemaker.”

“I know her mother is a lady,” Miss Prudence mused. “But her father had savage blood. I do hope that wild streak is not going to assert itself in Amanda.”

April’s ears perked up. She grinned to herself. So Mandie was a half-breed. None of the girls in the school would have anything to do with her if they knew she was part Indian. April would spread the word. This was her chance to get even.

She hurried to her classroom. Since class had already begun, April slipped quietly into a seat near Mandie and watched her.

Mandie always felt uncomfortable when April stared at her. When Miss Cameron asked Mandie a question, she didn’t answer.

April leaned over and whispered just loud enough for Mandie to hear. “Hey, half-breed, teacher is asking you a question!”

Mandie’s face burned when she realized the girl was talking to her. She crossed her fingers to control her anger.

Looking up at the teacher, she apologized. “I’m sorry, Miss Cameron, I didn’t understand the question.”

“Please, Amanda, keep your attention on the lesson or you’ll never learn anything,” the teacher rebuked. “Now I asked you, who became president when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated?”

“Why, the vice-president, Miss Cameron,” Mandie said.

All the girls laughed.

“Class, please remember your manners,” the teacher scolded, tapping the desk with her pencil. “Now, Amanda, of course the vice-president became president, but what was his name?”

“Oh, Andrew Johnson, ma’am. That was the only way he could ever get to be president.” Mandie saw her chance to get back at April for calling her a half-breed. “He was from Tennessee but he was a traitor. I guess the North would take anybody—even a traitor.” Mandie hoped April got the slur at her Yankee mother.

She did. In a louder whisper, April repeated her accusation. “I know your father had savage blood.”

The girls within hearing distance gasped.

Miss Cameron dismissed the class, and the girls filled the hallway. Mandie waited in the hall for April to come out of the room. She was the last one out.

Forgetting all her resolutions to not argue with April, she walked up to the tall girl, put her hands on her hips, and announced, “My grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee, and I’m proud of it. I’m part Cherokee because that’s the way God made me.”

A hushed whisper ran through the crowd.

April turned to the other girls and spoke. “Did you hear what she said? She admits to having Indian blood. What do you think of that?”

Just then Miss Prudence came down the hallway. She couldn’t hear the conversation, but April and Mandie seemed to be arguing about something. She walked up and stood between them.

“Into my office, both of you. Immediately!” she commanded.

Everyone gasped and moved away.

But Celia, who had heard everything, came to Mandie’s side. “I’ll go with you, Mandie,” she offered.

“Thank you, Celia, but this is between April and me,” she told her friend. Mandie silently followed Miss Prudence and the tall girl to the office.

Taking her place behind her desk, Miss Prudence sighed in exasperation. “Now sit down like two ladies and explain what you were yelling about in the hallway,” the schoolmistress demanded.

The girls sat down but neither said a word. April stared at Mandie, hoping to scare her into silence. Mandie didn’t want to be a tattletale.

After several minutes Miss Prudence spoke again.

“I asked both of you a question and I expect an answer. What were you yelling about?”

Mandie fidgeted in her chair but did not answer. April kept staring at her, ignoring the question.

“Speak! Now! If I have to call in the girls who overheard this argument, you will both be expelled from school,” Miss Prudence warned them.

Mandie was worried. She either had to tattle on April, thereby getting her into trouble, or else not tell and get expelled from school.

Mother would be too hurt
, she thought.
I have to explain the situation. I’m sure April won’t
.

Mandie sat up straight. “Miss Prudence,” she began, “it all started when April called me a half-breed. She said, ‘I know your father had savage blood,’ and then—” Mandie stopped abruptly.

Miss Prudence’s face had turned beet red, and she was gasping for breath. She realized that April had overheard her conversation! Miss Prudence sputtered, trying to think of something to say. She certainly couldn’t admit her part in
this. Mandie’s mother would come to take her daughter home, and the school’s reputation would be ruined.

Mandie anxiously leaned forward. “Miss Prudence, are you all right?”

April sat back in her chair, enjoying the scene.

“What? Oh, yes, yes. I’m fine,” Miss Prudence replied. She didn’t dare look at April.

“Didn’t you know that I’m part Cherokee?” Mandie asked.

“Of course I did, Amanda. I knew your father.” The schoolmistress regained her composure and then spoke to the other girl. “April, you will apologize to Amanda, and you are immediately suspended from school for ten days. I will send for your mother.”