On Agate Hill (9 page)

Washington headed down to the barn. But first we took the berries to Liddy who gave us some clabber to eat and then we ran straight up the stairs to this cubbyhole where we keep all our collections.

Now
, I said.

And Mary White said
Yes
and took it out of her bloomer pocket where we had wrapped it round and round in honeysuckle vines so no one could tell what it was. Careful, be careful, she said as I started slowly pulling the vines away. She jiggled up and down on one foot and held her breath the way she does when excited. Her pale blue eyes were huge. I took my time unwrapping it. But finally it lay revealed on the floor, the bones of a HUMAN HAND minus two fingers and the thumb.

I had almost stepped on it as we were walking home. Just in time I looked down to see two finger bones sticking up out of the ground like flower bulbs growing. It was like they were pointing at the sky. Oh my God, I cried, then, Stop!

They ran back.

Look!
I pointed down.

Lord Jesus. Washingtons eyes got real big when he saw it. Less go on now please Molly. Less us go on home.

What! Mary White looked all excited. Then she stuck out her bottom lip. Why we will do no such thing. We are going to dig him up for our phenomena collection, arent we Molly? For this is a poor brave dead soldier.

Oh yes, I said.
You all just stay right here
, while I ran back to the creek and got two flat rocks for digging. I handed one to Washington. He wouldnt take it.

All right then.
I gave it to Mary White. She got down on her knees immediately and started scraping the dirt away. Be careful, she said. We want to keep him all hooked together if we can. Remember that song? How does it go? Then she sang,
Headbone connected to the neckbone, neckbone connected to the backbone
—

Now hear you the word of the Lord!
I sang at the top of my lungs.

But the hand was not connected to anything else, and we didnt find any more bones there either, though we dug for a pretty long time.

Washington refused to help us. Yall is crazy girls, he said from the shade of a tree.

We wrapped the bones in honeysuckle and washed off our hands good in the creek before we left. Now the bones are here in a fancy little box I have had forever, just waiting.

And sure enough, when we asked Uncle Junius about the creek, he said, YES there was indeed a skirmish there toward the end of the war, some of the county home guard surprised by Shermans bummers, and three men dead.

Mary White knows how to do very fancy handwriting with many curls and flourishes. On the shoe box she has written,
YANKEE BONES
,
Property of Mary White Worthington and Molly Petree.
This is the jewel of our phenomena collection so far.

August 11, 1872

Dear Diary,

Though Blanche still plays with us sometimes, we had not seen Victoria for days and days. Washington told us she had got in some trouble, but he would not say what kind. So it was a big surprise when she ran in the barn
yesterday and threw herself down in the straw and smiled her wide crooked smile which works on Mary White every time.

Well where have you been? Mary White said. And where is Sarah? Dont you want to play dolls?

I am not playing dolls no more, Victoria said. She is all arms and legs now, she has grown up a lot this summer. Her eyes are that dark snapping black like her mothers.

What do you want then? I wanted to get on with our game, in which Margaret and Fleur were getting ready to take a trip to New York City.

I dont know. I just thought I would come over here and find you all. Victoria sighed, which was strange. Usually she is all sass, all get-up-and-go.

Victoria, what happened to your leg? Mary White shrieked, and then I saw it too, the blue imprint of a hand on her pale white thigh.

That was your mama, wasnt it? I said. She hit you.

That is nothing, Victoria said. Looky here. She leaned forward and hiked up her bottom turning slightly so we could see the welts and bruises on the backs of her legs.

Ooh. Thats awful. Mary White shivered.

What did you do? I asked.

I reckon I have got me a boyfriend, Victoria said, and Mama doesnt like it.

Mary White peered at her. A real boyfriend?

Oh yes. Victoria sat back down in the straw and smiled.
A real live man doll
.

But where did you get him? I asked, for there is nobody like that around here.

He is working with his uncle over at the Bledsoes, Victoria said. They got hired on when Mister Bledsoe got so sick. He’s got red hair, she said.

How old is he? I asked.

Seventeen. She grinned at us.

What is his name? Mary White asked.

His name is Declan Moylan. Victoria said it slow like it was something important. He is Irish. I like the way they talk, it is kind of like music.

Mary White and I stared at her as though she had come from another world. Her black curls fell down all around her long face.

His uncle plays the fiddle for dances, she said. I snuck out and went to one.

You DID? Mary White said.

How do you know how to dance? I asked.

Victoria laughed like her mother. Anybody can dance, she said.

Is that why Selena hit you? I asked.

She doesnt even know about the dance, Victoria said. She never knows where I am anyway, she is over here all the time now. She hit me for something else. Her eyes got big and she leaned forward.

What? Mary White and I said together.

I reckon she caught us, Victoria said.

Caught you what?

Nothing.
Victorias face was full of scorn.
Just about nothing at all.
He come over for a visit and I was showing him my boobies, that is all. That is the only thing that has happened so far. And after all Mama done, I dont know why she even cares. But she started crying and hit him on the shoulder and drove him from the house and said, Oh Victoria I am raising you for better things honey. And then she started in hitting on me.
But I am going to get her back
. Victoria said this in a way you would not doubt.

We sat very still looking at her.

What are you going to do? Though I hate Victoria, I humbled myself to ask. Never you mind, she said darkly.

It was hot and still in the barn. I was covered in sweat all over. We sat in silence in the straw.

Suddenly Mary White said, Can WE see your boobies? For our collection of phenomena, she added.

Sure
. Victoria sat up straight. She pulled up her blouse and chemise and
there they were, with pink pointy tips on them. Do you want to touch them? she asked.

No, Mary White said, but thank you very much anyway.

Victoria pulled her clothes down and tucked herself back in again. Ive got to go, she said.

Good bye,
we said together as she got up and shook the straw off her skirt and ran out through the wide sunny door, in a big hurry like always.

Mary White and I looked at each other. I felt light headed, like I was excited about something and getting sick all at once.

You know, I believe there is something to all that, Mary White said after a while.

Both our chests are flat as pancakes, flat as boys, at this time.

August 16, 1872

Dear Diary,

Please excuse me for I have no time to write as we are going in to Hills-borough today. Aunt Cecelia is dragging us with her to have a fancy lunch with the widow Muriel Brown who keeps a great house overlooking the river and knows how to live in style. You girls are perfect bumpkins in spite of my efforts! Aunt Cecelia said. So Mary White and I have had many lessons about the lunch. I am sick to death of it all ready.

Aunt Cecelia is the
bane of our existence,
I have recently read this phrase which surely applies to her. She makes us sew and do sums and raps our knuckles with a ruler if we get them wrong. Personally, I prefer literature. I take after my father, a poet and a gentleman, I told her. She turned up her big nose and sniffed.

Well Molly I sincerely hope that will not be the case, she said. Nor should you wish to follow your mothers example, though luckily there is no one here to spoil you the way they all spoiled Alice. Its a good thing Alice is dead, in fact, she could not exist in this new world. And as for you, you had best get your feet on the ground and fast.

Mary White likes poetry too, I said. We are memorizing Wyncken, Blynken, and Nod right now. So does Uncle Junius, I said, not entirely for spite remembering all of a sudden how he used to stride up and down the parlor reading Robert Burns My love is like a red red rose thats newly sprung in June, and Tam O Shanter and My hearts in the highlands wherever I go. I cannot imagine him doing this now.

Aunt Cecelia looked at me and pushed her face together. Go change your shoes, she said. Virgil is down there with the wagon, we are leaving now!

August 17, 1872

Dear Diary,

Now we have seen a magic lantern! Which showed a running horse. And eaten snow pudding from cut glass bowls while a little negro boy waved a fan over the table to keep off the flies. Then walked through the streets with two sissy daughters while the big town clock struck three. Aunt Cecelia fell asleep in the wagon and snored all the way home while Mary White and I played Twenty Questions. I was Pandora and Annabelle Lee.

Once here we ran to the Willow House, we were so glad to be back. We would HATE to be town girls!

Oh yes. We have found another Fairy Ring in the Big Woods on the way to Mama Marie and Aunt Mittys house.

Do I want to be
taken off
by a demon lover, like Madeline gliding past the sleeping dragons with Porphyro to his home oer the southern moors across the fairy sea? Or do I want to BE one, like the snaky Lamia or La Belle Dame Sans Merci who walks by the withered sage where
no birds sing?

This is a hard decision.

October 19, 1872

Dear Diary,

Fall is here with a chill in the air and Mary White lies very sick. I know why but can not tell it. Four nights ago was another full moon and so we went to see the fairies hunting as we had tried to do twice before.
You only get three tries
, Mary White said. She knows all the fairy rules.