The Mandie Collection (35 page)
Read The Mandie Collection Online
Authors: Lois Gladys Leppard
“Mandie, please don't get caught,” Celia warned. “The curfew bell hasn't rung yet, and there may be other people around.”
“I'll be right back,” Mandie promised.
Racing down the servants' stairs and through the deserted kitchen, she ran out into the yard. “Uncle Ned!” she exclaimed, giving him a hug.
The old Indian pointed to a bench in the shadow of the tree, and she sat down next to him. “How is school?” he asked.
“Not wonderful,” Mandie replied. “It's been weeks since I got back from Washington, and the other girls still won't speak to me.” Her blue eyes quickly filled with tears. “I hear them making remarks behind my back. They say I'm stuck up since I met the President, and they say, âWho does she think she is?' and things like that.”
Uncle Ned cupped his hand under her chin and looked at her closely. “Is Papoose stuck up?” he asked.
“Why, no,” she responded quickly. Then pausing for a moment, she added, “I don't think I am. At least I don't mean to be. Oh, I don't know what's going on.”
“Maybe Papoose cause all this bad feeling,” the old Indian suggested. “Maybe other girls jealous because Papoose get special treatment.”
Mandie sat there quietly for a minute, looking deep into his dark eyes. “I think they are jealous, but what can I do about it?” she asked.
“Could be Papoose brag too much. Think self too important,” Uncle Ned suggested. “Remember how grandmother of Papoose act with school head lady about Papoose not going to Washington? Papoose not like. Grandmother of Papoose act too important.”
“Oh, Uncle Ned, maybe I have been thinking I was pretty great after all the things that I was able to see and do in Washington,” Mandie admitted reluctantly. “But if I have been bragging, I haven't meant to.”
“Other girls not know this,” Uncle Ned replied. “Remember, Papoose also got special leave from school. Other girls not get these things.”
“What should I do, Uncle Ned?” Mandie asked, hanging her head.
“Papoose must be friendly with other girls, stop talk about trip to Washington, tell girls sorry you brag,” the old Indian replied.
Mandie looked up quickly. “But, Uncle Ned, I couldn't apologize to them,” she protested. “They caused it all!”
“Not matter who caused,” Uncle Ned explained. “Remember Big Book say pride go before fall. Must make girls understand you their friend.”
“All right, Uncle Ned,” Mandie agreed. “I'll try. I've really been miserable. Celia is the only friend I have left.”
“Not true,” Uncle Ned objected. “I friend of Papoose.” He smiled.
Mandie reached up and gave him a big hug. “Thanks, Uncle Ned. But now I'd better get back upstairs,” she said, looking around.
“Wait, Papoose. I not finished,” said the old Indian. “I bring message from mother of Papoose. She say tell Papoose that
new
papoose arrive.”
“Mother's baby has been born?” Mandie could hardly believe her ears. “It's not time yet.”
“New Papoose come early, but it fine,” Uncle Ned explained.
Mandie was surprised to find herself getting excited. “Is it a boy or girl?” she asked.
“I not know, Papoose,” the Indian replied.
“You mean my mother didn't tell you?”
“No, not tell. Mother of Papoose say she want to tell Papoose when Papoose come home from school,” he explained.
“When was it born, Uncle Ned?” Mandie asked, frustrated at not knowing whether she had a brother or a sister.
“On full moon, Sunday the twenty-first day of April this month,” the old Indian replied. He stood up, towering over Mandie. “Must go now. Remember, be nice to other girls, like we talk, Papoose.”
“I'll try, Uncle Ned,” Mandie promised. “I'll try real hard.” She stood and squeezed his hand. “And tell my mother that as far as I know right now, I'll be out of school the last week of May.”
“I tell mother of Papoose,” he promised. “Big God bless Papoose.” He stooped briefly and kissed Mandie on the forehead before disappearing into the shadows.
Mandie slowly made her way back into the house and up the stairs to her room. Why didn't her mother let her know whether the baby was a boy or girl? Now she would have to wait a whole month before she could find out.
Although she felt a touch of anger and jealousy over the thought of sharing her mother, she also realized that she was actually excited about finally seeing the baby.
For My Dear Friend and Editor,
Carol A. Johnson,
With love and gratitude,
Without whom this book never would have been.
CONTENTS
MANDIE AND THE MIDNIGHT JOURNEY
Chapter  3  Plans for Midnight
Chapter  7  Cherokee Kinspeople
Chapter  8  “I Can't Go Home!”
Chapter 10 Â Surprise for the Hospital Opening
Chapter 12 Â The Baby's Name Is . . .
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light,
and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
1 John 2:10
CHAPTER ONE
CHANGES AT HOME
As the noisy train chugged to a stop in Franklin, North Carolina on a warm June day in 1901, Mandie picked up her small valise and eagerly scrambled out of her seat. The train let off a big puff of steam by the depot platform, and the passengers started to get off. Mandie hurried down the aisle ahead of Dr. Woodard.
“No need to rush,” Dr. Woodard told the blond twelve-year-old girl. “I see Abraham out there. We'll have to wait until he gets your trunk and bags off the train.”
Mandie stopped behind another passenger in the doorway. “I just wanted to get outside in the nice clean air after this sooty train ride,” she replied. “Besides, I'm so happy that school's over for the summer, I can hardly wait to get home.”
Dr. Woodard came up beside her. “I'm sure your mother and your Uncle John are looking forward to your coming home, too,” he said.
The other passengers stepped down from the train, and Mandie quickly followed. She saw Abraham waiting at the end of the platform in her Uncle John's rig. She waved and ran to meet him, with Dr. Woodard following.
“Abraham!” she called out as she approached him. “I thought maybe Uncle John would meet us here at the depot.”
“Mistuh John he be in Richmond on bidness,” Abraham replied. He took her bag and put it in the rig. “I'se got to git yo' luggage, Missy. Be right back.”
Dr. Woodard stopped by the rig. “Mandie, I have to get my buggy from the livery stable,” he said. “Would you please tell your mother that I'll be along later? I have to see a patient or two, and then I'll see y'all.”
“Of course, Dr. Woodard.” Mandie smiled down at him. “Thank you for riding home from Asheville with me on the train.”
“It was my pleasure, dear,” he said, turning to leave. “And I look forward to visiting at your house tonight as well.”
Mandie told him goodbye and watched as Abraham and the railroad baggage man hefted her heavy trunk onto the back of the rig. Then after piling several other valises on, Abraham climbed up beside Mandie, and they headed for her Uncle John's house, where she lived. Her mother, Elizabeth, had married Mandie's uncle after Mandie's father died.
As they rode down the main street of Franklin, Mandie looked over at the Negro man who worked for her uncle. “Is Snowball all right, Abraham?” she asked.
“Dat kitten he be fine and into ev'rything,” Abraham replied. “When dat Injun man brung him from yo' grandma's he seemed like he proud to be home. Now dat noo baby, dat's 'nuther story. I don't believes dat noo baby like dis world. It cry and cry andâ”
“Abraham . . .” Mandie quickly changed the subject. “Have you seen Polly Cornwallis next door? Is she home from school yet?”
“I believe she git home yistiddy,” Abraham told her. “Anyhow she come over to see de noo baby yistiddy, andâ”
“Abraham,” Mandie interrupted impatiently, “I don't want to talk about that new baby.”
“But Missy, dat baby be yo' mother's and yo' Uncle John's baby,” the old man said.
“That's exactly why I don't want to discuss it,” Mandie replied quickly. “Now let's talk about something else.”
Abraham glanced back at her in alarm. Mandie was not usually so sharp-tongued.
Unable to think of anything to say in her misery, Mandie remained silent the rest of the way home. This new baby had already caused so
much trouble and inconvenience for her, and now she was finally going to have to see it for the first time.
The baby would probably still be small and bothersome since it was only born a few weeks before. Mandie had already made up her mind to ignore the baby. She didn't want anything to do with it.
After all, it was only a half sister or half brother to her, or maybe it was a cousin since her Uncle John was its father. This was all so confusing!
What irritated her more was that her mother hadn't even let her know whether the baby was a boy or girl. And since Mandie refused to discuss it on the train with Dr. Woodard, he hadn't told her eitherâeven though he had delivered the baby. So now she simply referred to the baby as “it.”
Abraham pulled the rig to a halt in front of the white picket fence surrounding John Shaw's huge white house. Jumping down, he unlatched and opened the gate, then returned to the rig and drove it through.
As he stopped the vehicle again, Mandie quickly stepped down into the green grass. “Go ahead, Abraham,” she said. “I'll latch it.”
Abraham nodded and drove on into the backyard. Mandie fastened the gate and hurried up the walkway to the long front porch.
As soon as she opened the screen door, she found Snowball at her feet, meowing at her. Mandie scooped him up in her arms and rubbed her face against his. The white kitten closed his eyes and purred loudly.
Suddenly, Mandie heard the piercing wail of a baby screaming. It sounded as if it was coming from somewhere upstairs. Mandie froze.
What on earth is wrong with that baby, howling like that
? she thought.
Just then Aunt Lou, the old Negro housekeeper, hurried into the hallway. When she saw Mandie standing there, she ran over and gave her a big hug. “I sho' be glad to see you home, my chile,” the huge old woman told her. Aunt Lou patted Mandie's blond head.
“Oh, Aunt Lou, I'm glad to see you, too,” Mandie said as the baby's cries grew louder. “But what is going on with all that screaming?”
“Dat baby jes' don't like bein' bawn in dis world,” the old woman replied. “It cry and it cry all de time. Yo' po' ma she cain't sleep or eat or nuthin', it cry so.”
“Humph!” Mandie grunted, clutching Snowball tighter as she turned away. “I'm going to my room, Aunt Lou.”
“No, no, no, my chile,” the old housekeeper scolded. “You gwine right upstairs and see yo' ma. Let huh know you's home.”
“I'm tired, Aunt Lou,” Mandie protested.
“Dat don't make no never mind,” Aunt Lou said. “Yo' ma she be tired, too, but she waitin' fo' you to come home. Now git up dem steps.” The old woman gave her a little shove.
Mandie sighed. Not knowing what else to do, she started upstairs, petting Snowball as she went. Then she stopped. “Aunt Lou, you come with me,” she pleaded. “Please?”
“Well, all right,” the old woman agreed, trudging up the stairs behind the girl.
The screaming grew louder as they walked along the hallway upstairs, and Snowball climbed up on Mandie's shoulder. Mandie halted at the open door of her mother's sitting room.
Elizabeth sat in a rocking chair, trying to quiet the baby's screams. Back and forth she rocked, talking quietly into the baby's ear.
Aunt Lou nudged Mandie forward, but the girl wouldn't budge. The noise was deafening.
I didn't realize that such a little thing could make such a big noise
, she thought. Putting her hands over her ears, she frowned. Snowball clutched the shoulder of her dress.
Elizabeth turned and saw Mandie standing in the doorway. She looked pale and worn out, but she smiled. “Welcome home, dear,” she said above the howling. “Put that cat down out there and come see the baby.”
Mandie couldn't move. “I will later when all that screaming stops,” she hollered over the noise.
Elizabeth laughed weakly. “It may never stop,” she said.
“Then I may never come to see it,” Mandie replied curtly.
Aunt Lou gasped and poked Mandie from behind.
Elizabeth looked directly at Mandie. “Oh, but you will, Amanda,” she said loudly. “You're excused for now, but you
will
see the baby later.”