by Rosa Jordan
Their first chance to make real money came when Miss Tutweiler ordered twenty boxes. Kate and Ruby worked hard all that week—well, mostly Ruby, with Kate helping out after school—first making the centers, then hand-dipping each piece. The dipped pieces were left to cool on wax paper all over the kitchen.
By Saturday the candy was ready and all they had to do was finish decorating the boxes and fill them. Kate had expected Ruby to be more enthusiastic now that they had finally gotten a big order, but she was moodier than ever. Kate tried to cheer her up by figuring out how much money they’d make. Ruby only grumbled something about how they’d be lucky if they made ten cents an hour. Kate didn’t point out that one reason it took so long was because Ruby was very fussy about every little detail—from how an individual piece of chocolate could be touched to the exact place where the bow on the box went and precisely where the fake ruby had to be stuck.
It was late Saturday afternoon when they finally had all twenty boxes filled and looking the way Ruby wanted them to look. Mrs. Wilson said they should wait till morning to go to town, but Ruby said she was sick to death of the smell of chocolate and wanted to get it out of the house. She got Mrs. Wilson’s big laundry basket and started arranging the boxes. Then she took them out and tried arranging them in a different way. Kate could see the problem. The laundry basket was deep, so the candy boxes had to be stacked one on top of another, which mashed the bows.
Finally Ruby got it loaded and tried to pick it up. She could barely lift it. Kate quickly took the other handle. It wasn’t too heavy to carry around the house together, but it was going to be too heavy to lug all the way to town.
Ruby dropped her side of the basket. “Won’t work,” she said.
“Maybe if we separated them into two smaller baskets—” Kate started to say, but Ruby interrupted.
“It won’t work!”
Ruby stomped out onto the back porch. Kate sighed. She knew Ruby wasn’t yelling at her. She was just upset because it had been such hard work to make the candy. Now getting it to town was going to be even harder.
“I can ask Mom to drive us in,” Kate ventured. “She’s already gone to work this afternoon, but tomorrow—”
“No,” Ruby snapped. She plopped down on the steps, muttering, “Such a stupid idea.”
Kate thought she meant the idea of Mom giving them a ride was stupid, and for a minute she just stood there, not able to speak for feeling so hurt. She didn’t want to ask Mom either, but what choice did they have?
“The thing is, Kate, you don’t just make a product. You got to get it to market. The more we sell, the more we have to carry. It’s three weeks since we started and the only person we’re getting orders from is Tutweiler. With just one decent order for her we’ve got more than we can carry. What if we had others? What if we were actually successful? No way could we lug that much candy to town. And we can’t depend on other people, Kate. We just can’t.”
Kate sat down on the back step next to Ruby. She could see Chip and Luther out in the pasture. They had Billy hitched to the cart and were having trouble getting him to go in the direction they wanted.
“How about using the goat cart?” Kate suggested.
“You out of your mind, girl? Think I’d go peddling the finest chocolates in Florida out of the back of a rattletrap goat cart?”
Kate hadn’t looked at it like that. The goat cart was kind of funky, but it wasn’t that bad. Anyway, it made her mad that Ruby kept putting down her ideas. At least she was trying.
“Then I’ll do it,” Kate said.
Kate intended to save what she earned, and if Mom couldn’t get together the money to make the mortgage payments, Kate was hoping to help out. But she’d never told Ruby about how they were on the verge of losing the farm, and this was definitely not the time to bring it up.
“Oh, Kate, can’t anybody but Daddy make that stubborn old goat go where he doesn’t want to go.”
“Billy’s no more stubborn than our Brahman calves. We got them in out of the hurricane when they were scared and jumping every which way. I can handle Billy.”
Ruby didn’t answer. Kate got up and walked out to the shed where Mr. Wilson was repairing one of the porch rocking chairs.
“Mr. Wilson, can we use the goat cart to haul our candy to town?”
Mr. Wilson picked up a piece of sandpaper and started smoothing out the new armrest he had just put on the chair. “Well, you’re welcome to try, but Billy’s not behaving too well for the boys today.” He grinned at Kate. “Course, it might be them more than him. Could be he’ll cooperate with you girls. Especially if you coax him with treats.”
“I’m pretty sure he’ll go for me,” Kate said. “Sugar minds me real well most of the time.”
Kate went into the kitchen. Mrs. Wilson was fixing potatoes for supper. “Can I have the peelings for Billy?” Kate asked.
“Oh, yes, he loves ‘em.” Mrs. Wilson smiled. She scooped the peelings into a plastic bowl and handed it to Kate.
The only person who objected to Kate taking Billy was Chip. When she asked to borrow the cart, he said, “No! We’re using it.”
But Luther handed her the reins. “Take it,” he said. “He’s being really bad today and won’t do anything I tell him. Come on, Chip. Let’s go look for turtles.”
“Well, okay,” Chip agreed. “But just for today,” he said to Kate, as if the cart belonged to him instead of Luther.
“Sure,” Kate said. “Thanks.”
Using potato peels to entice Billy, she led him to the back door.
“That’s the idea,” Mr. Wilson called out. “Just remember, you can’t make a goat with Billy’s personality do anything. You gotta make him want to do it.”
Ruby must have seen Kate coming, because by the time Kate got to the back door she was there with the laundry basket full of chocolates, plus some bags of ice to keep them cool. She set the basket in the cart and stomped back into the house.
Kate tugged on the lead rope. Billy followed her a few steps and stopped. She held a potato peeling in front of his nose. He came forward just enough to eat it from her hand, but he wouldn’t go any farther until she offered him another, and another, and another. They had only gone a little way down Lost Goat Lane and were still in clear sight of the house, and already he had eaten all of them.
“Come on, Billy. No more treats until we get back.”
Billy just stood there. Kate tugged on the lead rope and managed to drag him forward a few steps. The minute she let up on the rope, he backed up. She pulled him forward again. He backed up again. They went forward and back, forward and back. At this rate they’d be here all afternoon.
“You can brace your legs and walk backwards all you want,” Kate told Billy. “But either you come with me or you’re going to be here the rest of your life, because I am not giving up.”
The struggle went on for fifteen minutes. Kate’s hand was getting raw from tugging on the rope. She could see Ruby watching from the living room window. Kate was sorry she’d thought of taking Billy, but she wasn’t going back to listen to Ruby say “I told you so.”
“I’m beginning to hate you,” she said to Billy. “You are a really bad goat.”
When Kate looked toward the house again, Ruby was walking toward her, looking exasperated.
“Give me that rope,” Ruby said in a bossy voice.
Kate hung onto the rope. “We’re not going back.”
“I swear, Kate, you’re as stubborn as the goat. Can’t you see it’s going to take both of us?” Ruby grabbed the rope and gave a powerful tug.
Billy let out a surprised ba-a-a, and then, as if he knew he had met his match, he unstiffened his legs and trotted along as if there was nothing in the world he’d rather do than go to town.
“Stupid goat,” Ruby muttered.
“He is bad today,” Kate agreed, “but I don’t think he’ll be any trouble once he gets used to it.”
Ruby said nothing. Kate could see that she was still upset, proba
bly at the thought of people seeing her beautiful chocolates brought to town in a funky old goat cart.
“We could paint the cart,” Kate suggested.
Ruby didn’t respond. With a sinking heart Kate realized that once they got rid of this batch of candy she’d never be able to talk Ruby into making more, not if they had to take it to town in the goat cart.
“Please, let’s not quit,” Kate pleaded.
“Face it, Kate. This is not going to work.”
“Ruby,” she said, scuffing her ragged sneakers on the road as they walked. “We can’t quit. I need the money.”
“You need the money?” Ruby laughed in a harsh, unfunny way. Then she looked down at Kate’s shabby sneakers and stopped laughing.
Kate waited a minute, then said again, “We could paint the cart.”
“With what? Leftover house paint? That’s the dumbest—” Ruby stopped so suddenly that Billy was caught off guard and almost stumbled.
“Ba-a-a!” he bleated indignantly, giving Ruby a look like he wished she’d make up her mind whether she wanted to stop or go.
“Oh no!” Ruby exclaimed. “I was so worried about the candy I didn’t even think! We can’t go like this! Just look at us!”
Kate looked down at her ragged cutoffs and up at Ruby’s chocolate-smeared T-shirt.
“I guess we ought to get cleaned up first,” Kate admitted, although she hated the thought of going back to the house when it had been so hard to get this far. It was late in the day. She wasn’t sure they’d get back before supper time. Mrs. Wilson was right when she said they should wait and go in the morning.
“You know,” Kate said, “if we waited till tomorrow, we could paint the cart. You said there was some leftover house paint, and the cart’s not that big. It wouldn’t take long. Then maybe an hour to dry.”
Ruby didn’t answer. She stood there for a minute staring hard at something, even though as far as Kate could see, there was nothing in the road. Then Ruby’s face lit up like whatever she was seeing in her mind, it was beautiful.
“A white cart,” Ruby said slowly. “Trimmed in gold.”
“Gold! Where—?” Kate started to ask, but Ruby interrupted in an excited voice.
“Mama’s got some gold she uses for making Christmas ornaments. I don’t know if it would work. I don’t even know how much there is or whether it’s the right kind. But can’t you see it?” She waved her hand at the goat cart as if presenting Cinderella’s coach.
Kate could see it. In her mind she pictured the cart, shining white, with “Ruby’s Exquisite Handmade Chocolates” painted in the side in gold letters.
“Of course!” Kate shouted. “It’s perfect!” Ruby bent down and put her nose close to Billy’s nose. “Except for you. You are one bad goat!”
“Not with you, he won’t be,” Kate promised. “He likes you.”
“Ha! This old goat likes food, that’s all. He knows I’m the one who brings the table scraps out to him every night.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want people seeing him looking ordinary either,” Kate pointed out. “After all, the only time Mr. Wilson takes him to town is at fair time. He gets Billy all spiffed up for that.”
Ruby laughed. “Is that what you want, you old goat? You want to be spiffed up before you show your horns in public? Okay, Mr. Blue Ribbon Winner, you got it!”
Ruby wheeled Billy around and they headed toward the house. They almost had to run to keep up with him. He was a lot more interested in going toward the house than he had been in going away from it.
“Slow down!” Ruby yelled, laughing.
“Billy-the-Bad,” Kate said, trying to catch her breath. “You don’t know it yet, but you are about to become Billy-the-Beautiful.”
18
Red Velvet
My word!” Mrs. Wilson stood with her hands on her hips, surveying the backyard. “Looks like a circus camped back here.”
It felt like that, too. There was excitement in the air, the kind you feel when a circus comes to town, especially if you get to slip around back and watch people at work. The cart they’d painted the day before was dry. Kate was now painting the rim of the wheels gold. Ruby sat across from her with a thin brush, lettering the words “Ruby’s Exquisite Handmade Chocolates” on the side of the cart.
Mr. Wilson was out in the pasture helping Chip and Luther give Billy a bath. Justin was in the workshop taking the reflector off the old bicycle to use on the back of the cart. When the work was done, they all stood around admiring it. The reflector added the perfect ruby red touch.
“Tomorrow morning,” Ruby told Kate, “we’ll get all dressed up and blow this town away!” She put her arm around Kate as they walked toward the house. “It’s not that dressing up will make our candy taste any better, but it will get people’s attention.”
Kate could hardly wait till Mom got home so she could tell her. Mom had barely slid into her chair at the supper table when Kate said, “Oh, Mom, wait till you see the goat cart! It’s so beautiful!”
“We washed Billy,” Chip added. “With shampoo that smells like flowers. He is the cleanest, whitest goat in the whole world. In the morning Mr. Wilson is going to let us polish his horns and hooves.”
“Ruby wanted to line the cart with satin like a candy box,” said Kate, “but Mrs. Wilson didn’t have any scraps big enough. The red reflector that Justin put on the back adds some color, though. Now the cart’s white with gold trim and a ruby—well, a pretend ruby—just like on the boxes of chocolates.”
Mom smiled while they talked, but Kate got the feeling that she wasn’t really listening, that she had other things on her mind.
“When we go to town Ruby and me are going to wear—”
Mom looked up. “I thought we had this all settled, Kate.”
“What?”
“I said you could help Ruby make the candy, but not go to town with her.”
Kate’s fork stopped in mid-air. “It’s for our business, Mom. You said—”
“What I said is, you’re not going to town with her,” Mom said in a sharp voice. “And that’s that.”
Mom almost never spoke to any of them in that tone of voice, and then only if they’d done something really bad. Kate felt as if she had been slapped.
She jumped to her feet and ran out the door, slamming it as hard as she could. For a minute she just stood there on the back porch, feeling like her head or her heart or something inside her was going to burst.
She could still hear the voices from the kitchen. “Why, Mom?” Chip asked.
And then Justin asked, “Is it because of the motorcycle?”
“No,” Mom said. Her voice was tired. “It’s not just because of the motorcycle ride.”
“It wouldn’t be, I mean—” Justin sounded worried. “It’s not because Ruby’s black, is it?”
Outside the door, Kate listened for Mom’s reply, but heard nothing.
Chip spoke in a shocked voice, “Are you prejudiced, Mom?”
“No, I am not prejudiced!” Mom was almost yelling. “But people will talk. Kate may not care what they say, but I do.”
“Say what?” Chip asked.
“What people?” Justin asked.
Kate turned away, not waiting to hear Mom’s answer. She went out to the goat shed, where she found Sugar lying on a pile of clean hay. Kate curled up in the hay next to her and thought about running away from home. If Justin could, why couldn’t she?
She had been out there quite a while when Mom found her.
“Katie?” Mom’s voice was shaky.
Kate didn’t answer. Mom knelt down and tried to put her arm around her. Kate jerked away.
“Please listen, Katie. I haven’t got anything against Ruby. It’s just that there are some people—”
“Who don’t like to see black and white people be friends?” Kate interrupted angrily. “I guess you’re one of them!”
“That’s not fair, Katie,” Mom said sadly. “It’s just that I’ve lived in this t
own all my life. There is still racism. It’s not just unpleasant. It can even be dangerous.”
“There’s laws, Mom! It’s not like it used to be!”
Mom shook her head. “Laws don’t change the way people feel.”
Kate remembered how the guy at the root beer stand had splashed dishwater on her and Ruby when they rode by on the motorcycle. She knew it wasn’t an accident. He was probably jealous of Bubba for having so much money and a fancy motorcycle with a pretty girl like Ruby on the back, but Kate knew that wasn’t why he’d done it. She remembered the way the guy had sneered, letting her know that he didn’t like seeing a white girl having fun with black friends. But so what? She didn’t have to be prejudiced just because some lowlife was!
Mom said, “I’ve never been prejudiced, Katie. And you’re right. It’s definitely not like it used to be. So maybe I’m wrong to worry about a few—well, to worry about what certain people think or do. But the fact remains that Ruby is not the kind of person—”
Kate jumped up from the hay. “You don’t even know her!” she shouted. “You’re prejudging Ruby. That’s just what prejudice is. Kids at school do it and you do it and everybody does it and you don’t even care how it makes people feel!”
“Listen, young lady! I am not prejudiced and I am not a racist! This has nothing to do with Ruby being black. It’s just that you are a young girl and she is a grown woman. In case you don’t know it, she dropped out of school and ran away—”
“And you’re prejudging her for that!” Kate shrieked. “You won’t even give her a chance!”
“—and came back and right away started running around with that Bubba Lee—”
“She did not!” Kate shouted. “She wouldn’t even talk to him. It was me who wanted to ride home on the motorcycle, and we were on our way in the house to make more candy when you showed up. And the things you said and Mrs. Wilson said … Ruby just went off with Bubba that one time because she was so embarrassed.”
Sugar got to her feet and stood between Mom and Kate, as if protecting them from each other. “Ba-a-a,” she bleated nervously.
