The Mandie Collection (39 page)

Polly walked down a step. “I've got to go now. My mother is taking me to visit some friends this afternoon, and I have to get ready.”

“But it's not even noon yet,” Mandie reminded her.

“Oh, but these friends have a good-looking son two years older than I am, and I have to decide what to wear,” Polly replied. She started down the pathway, then turned back. “I'll see you tomorrow.”

Mandie said goodbye and started back to the house. She had just realized that she couldn't hear the baby hollering. But halfway down the walkway, the screams started up again. Mandie stomped her foot, then turned back to the summerhouse and plopped down on a bench.

“I can't stand it anymore,” she said out loud, covering her ears with her hands. “I can't stand all that noise.” But where could she go to get away from it?

Suddenly a plan began to form in her head.
I'll just go live with my father's people
, she thought. Her father's mother had been full-blooded Cherokee, and Mandie had lots of Cherokee kinspeople back at Bird-town and Deep Creek. She was sure they would let her stay with them.

Her mother could just keep that howling baby. She didn't want anything to do with him. All she wanted was peace and quiet. She was used to everything being quiet and orderly at school. She just couldn't stand all this racket.

Besides, her mother wouldn't even miss her. Elizabeth was so wrapped up with that baby that she didn't have any time to spend with Mandie anyway. It would be easy to slip out of the house tonight after everyone was in bed.

Mandie bit her lip, remembering her promise to Uncle Ned. Big tears rolled down her cheeks. She just couldn't keep her promise. She had tried, but it was impossible to be happy with that screaming baby. She decided not to even let Uncle Ned know where she was going until she got to her great-uncle's house in Bird-town. Uncle Ned lived at Deep Creek, not far from Bird-town.

When she had first come to her Uncle John's house after her father died, Uncle Ned, Morning Star, and several Indian braves escorted her on the long journey through the mountains and woods by foot.

That was a year ago
, she thought.
But I'm sure I could find the way back to Uncle Wirt's house
. It wasn't far from the house where she had lived at Charley Gap with her father and stepmother. After all, Mandie herself was one-fourth Cherokee and she had inherited some of the Indians' skill with direction.

At noon Mandie was still sitting in the summerhouse, thinking and making plans when Liza came to find her. “What you be doin' out heah all by yo'self, Missy?” Liza asked, stepping inside.

“You know why I'm out here,” Mandie replied. “Sit down.”

Liza shook her head. “Cain't. I come to git you fo' dinnuh,” Liza told her. “Yeh, I knows why you be heah instead of in de house. But dat racket gwine stop fo' dinnuh 'cause Miz 'Lizbeth want me to watch dat baby whilst she eats huh dinnuh. I knows how to git dat baby to
hush,” she said proudly. “All's I has to do is sing real sweet to him and rock him, and he shets up right now.”

“Well, thank goodness somebody knows how to hush him.” Mandie got up and followed Liza across the lawn to the house. “But, Liza, doesn't that just spoil him that much more?”

“Who care, long as he stop dat howlin' for a little while?” Liza said as she danced on down the lane to the house.

“I wish Mother would let you take care of him all the time then,” Mandie suggested.

Liza stopped and turned to face her friend. “Lawsy mercy, Missy. I don't be awantin' to put up wid dat baby all de time. Not me. I likes my job de way it be.”

“And I like my house the way it was before that baby came,” Mandie said, walking on.

Liza caught Mandie's hand, stopping her in the middle of the path. “But dat baby be yo' bruthuh, and you has to put up wid it.”

Mandie looked up at the taller girl and shook her head. “No, I don't have to put up with it,” she said. “And I'm not going to.”

Liza looked puzzled. “And how're you gwine git out of it?”

Mandie smiled. “I think I've worked out a solution,” she said.

Liza eyed her suspiciously. “Like whut? I s'pose you's gwine move up to de third floor o' dis big ol' house.”

“I don't think that'd do any good,” Mandie argued. “I'd still probably be able to hear him hollering.”

Liza shook her head. “I don't think so, Missy. But den all dem spooks live up in de attic, and since you'd have a room all by yo'self, dey'd prob'ly come down and git you.”

“Liza!” Mandie scolded. “You know there's no such thing as spooks.”

“Jes' you waits till you sees one, den you knows dey's sech a thing as spooks. Jes' you waits.” Liza walked on toward the house.

Mandie followed. “Well, I'm not moving to the third floor anyway,” she said.

Liza whirled around. “Missy, whut you be plannin'? You sho' bettuh not be plannin' trouble. Yo' ma ain't in no mood fo' dat.”

“I'm not planning trouble, Liza. It's a secret. I can't tell you right now.”

Liza put her hands on her hips. “Why cain't you tell me right now?” she demanded. “Heah I always looks aftuh you, and now you gits a secret and won't tell me.”

“Maybe later, Liza,” Mandie said. “I don't have it all worked out yet.”

“Later, humph!” Liza grumbled, continuing on to the house with Mandie following.

After the meal, Elizabeth said she was going to the sunroom to write a few letters as long as the baby was still quiet. Mandie was so tired from her lack of sleep the night before that she decided to go to her room for a nap.

As Mandie approached the sitting room adjoining her mother's bedroom, she walked on tiptoe so she wouldn't wake the baby, unleashing those unbearable screams again. Peeking into the room, she didn't see anyone, so she quietly stepped inside and just stared at the cradle by the window.
Why did this have to happen to me
? she thought.
Everything was just fine until he came along
.

Something drew her toward the cradle, and she walked ever so quietly, hoping not to step on any squeaky floor boards. Soon Mandie towered over the cradle, glaring down at the baby. Her heart beat faster. She clenched her fists.
Why did he have to ruin everything
? she wondered. Then her thoughts became whispered threats. “You stupid, stupid baby! I wish you'd never been born!”

“Amanda!” came a hoarse whisper from the doorway. “What are you saying?”

CHAPTER FOUR

RUNAWAY!

Mandie whirled to see her mother marching toward her. Anger reddened Elizabeth's face as she grabbed Mandie's arm and silently led her out into the hall.

Mandie trembled. She had never seen her mother really angry before. What was Elizabeth going to do?

Her mother closed the door, and the click of the latch woke the baby, setting off another round of ear-splitting screams. For the moment, Elizabeth ignored the baby's cries and concentrated on her daughter.

“Amanda Elizabeth Shaw, what on earth has gotten into you?” she demanded, raising her voice to be heard over the baby's hollering.

Without waiting for an answer Elizabeth raged on. “What a hateful thing to say! I thought we had this jealousy problem all straightened out at Christmastime when I told you I was going to have the baby. But this has gotten way out of hand! What's the matter with you? Why can't you accept that baby and love him as your Uncle John and I do?”

Mandie swallowed hard, and her head felt warm. By now she barely heard anything Elizabeth was saying. All she wanted to do was to get away from her mother. She thought that she couldn't help how she felt about the baby. But if she talked back, things would only get worse. She didn't know what to do.

“Amanda, I'm speaking to you,” her mother persisted.

As the baby continued screaming, Liza raced up the stairs, shot a knowing glance at Mandie, and slipped into the sitting room.

Finally Mandie spoke, fighting back tears. “I'm sorry, Mother, but I can't stand that crying anymore. . . . That baby cries all day, and he screams all night. Nobody can get any sleep. I'm so tired I can hardly keep my head up.”

As Mandie talked, behind the sitting room door the baby quieted. Soon Mandie could hear Liza singing softly while the cradle squeaked back and forth.

“I know it's not easy, Amanda. It's not easy on any of us. But you'll get used to it,” Elizabeth said, her tone softening.

Mandie shook her head. “I'm not so sure, Mother,” she protested. “Why can't you get some help? You and Uncle John have lots of money. Why don't you hire somebody to come and stay here and look after the baby so you can get some rest? Then we could have some time together. And if the baby would stop all that crying, he could rest, too.”

“But don't you understand?” Elizabeth sighed. “I want to take care of him myself. I was never able to hold you and rock you and love you when you were born. So I want to enjoy every minute of having him.”

Mandie's anger surged through her again. No, her mother had never cared for her when she was a baby. She never even tried to find out for sure if Mandie had died at birth.

Drawing a deep breath, Mandie attempted to keep her voice steady. “I . . . just . . . thought . . . that would be a good solution to the problem,” she said weakly.

“I wish you wouldn't refer to the baby as a
problem
,” her mother reprimanded. “He's no problem. He's a joy to have. He'll get over these crying spells soon. And then you and I will have a lot of time together.”

Mandie looked down. “It'll never be the same,” she mumbled.

“Amanda, that's enough now,” Elizabeth scolded. “Why can't you accept that this new baby is a part of our family just as much as you are, and we will all love him?”

Tears filled Mandie's eyes. “I can't!” she cried. “I just can't!” She ran off down the hall to her room, closed the door and locked it, leaning against it from the inside.

As her mother's footsteps approached, big teardrops rolled off Mandie's cheeks onto her dress.

“Open your door, Amanda,” her mother said.

Mandie just stood there crying. Again her mother asked her to open the door, but the girl couldn't move.

“Very well, then, you might as well stay in your room for the rest of the day,” her mother said firmly. “And I'll tell you something else. Unless your behavior improves, you are
not
going to Europe with your grandmother!”

Mandie threw herself on her bed and sobbed for what seemed like hours.
Mother really doesn't care about me
, she thought.
All she cares about is that screaming baby
.

Now Mandie knew she had to go to Bird-town. And it had to be tonight!

She decided she would wait until midnight to leave. That way all the servants would be asleep. And if her mother was still awake, she would be busy with the baby.

Besides, the full moon would have risen high over the trees by then, and it would be easier to find her way through the dense forests she had to travel through.

Her stomach quivered at the thought of the long, dark paths on the way to Uncle Wirt's house at Bird-town. But then it would be worth the lonely journey to get away from her angry mother and the crying baby. Elizabeth probably wouldn't even miss her.

Mandie walked over and looked out the open window. Snowball, who had been sleeping by the hearth, jumped up and perched on the windowsill beside her.

Mandie reached out and patted his head. “Snowball, you'd better sleep while you can because we have a long walk tonight,” she said.

Snowball answered with a meow.

Mandie made a mental list of what she would need to take with her, then flopped down on her bed again for a nap of her own.

When the little ceramic clock on the mantelpiece chimed nine o'clock, Mandie woke and lay on her bed for a few minutes, thinking through her plan to run away. Snowball, who was asleep at her feet, stretched and washed his paws.

Mandie sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Guess I'd better be getting our things together, Snowball,” she said with a yawn.

Rummaging through her dresser drawers, she found the flour sack that she had carried her clothes in when she arrived at Uncle John's house the year before. She shook it out. “Now I hope I can find all my old clothes,” she said to herself.

She searched through the wardrobe and then the huge drawer at the bottom of it. There she found what she had been looking for—the old navy blue dress she had worn, her old shoes, the only other dress she had owned, and other odds and ends. Beneath the clothes, she found her old school books from Charley Gap.

Sitting down on the floor, she flipped through her books and memories flooded over her. When her father died, she had to live with the Brysons and look after their baby. That child was older than her little brother and was easy to handle. But the Brysons were mean to her and wouldn't let her go to church or to school.

Mandie had learned that she had an uncle, whom she had never known anything about, and she ran away to find him. That was when she brought her meager belongings in the flour sack to Uncle John's house. Her uncle showered her with beautiful clothes and pretty things. But now she would leave all that here. She was going to live with her Cherokee kinspeople, and they didn't possess such finery.

Mandie's conscience tugged at her as she thought of turning her back on Uncle John when he had been so kind to her. But she brushed the thought away.

She pulled out the navy blue dress and held it up to herself. “I wonder if I can get this on,” she said as Snowball watched.

Quickly unbuttoning the dress she was wearing, she slipped it off and tried on the old navy blue dress. It was a tight fit, and it was a little short, but she could still wear it. She remembered that the dress had been a little too big the year before when she came there.