Sylvie looked at Jason, "Son, would you offer grace tonight?"
Without any of his normal complaining, Jason offered a simple prayer of thanksgiving for God's provisions and the opportunity to meet new friends. When he finished, Daniel responded with, "Amen."
"You are very generous," Daniel said.
"Oh, nonsense," Sylvie brushed him off. "We have plenty of food and when there is plenty, it is good to share."
She placed a thick slice of bread in the first bowl and covered it with stew, then passed that to Jason who was seated at her right. He handed it on to Ellis and it went around the table until Andrew stopped the bowl at Nelly's place with his hand.
His mother smiled at him and repeated the process, finally offering him a bowl and creating one for herself.
"There is plenty, so please fill yourselves tonight. Andrew, would you take some strawberries and pass the dish around the table? There is sugar in the bowl if you'd like some."
Andrew placed a couple of strawberries on his plate and decided that he would wait until he could stand it no longer before biting into the first one. He took the offered bowl of sugar and put a little on each strawberry. He knew that the sugar would make them even juicier and his mouth watered when he thought about them.
"Where are you folks from?" Sylvie asked their guests.
Nelly looked at her husband and Andrew thought he saw a hint of fear.
"I'm sorry," Sylvie said, "I don't mean to pry. If you don't want to tell us where you are from, I understand."
"Yes, ma'am. It's just that we have slave catchers on our tail. The less you know about us, the better for you. We'd hate for you to be in trouble because you were kind to us."
She nodded. Andrew wondered if those were the men who were at the house earlier. He opened his mouth to ask the question and Sylvie put her hand over his knee, effectively silencing him. He took another spoonful of stew.
"I've met them," she said. "Do they know who you are? Have you ever met them personally?"
"No ma'am."
"In Iowa, slave catchers don't have much luck taking people back with them if they've never met them before. They have to prove that they know you. If they can't, they're generally sent on their way."
"Yes, ma'am."
"You have to be courageous," she said. "You have a little boy who should grow up to be free."
"Yes ma'am. That's why we ran. We don't want him to grow up the same way we did."
"Were you born here or did you come over on a ship?" Andrew blurted out.
His mother smiled at him and looked at the young couple, waiting expectantly for an answer.
Nelly replied, "We were both born here. I was born in Georgia and Daniel was born in Mississippi. When I was fourteen, I was sold to a man who took us to Missouri. That's where I met Daniel. He'd been purchased by the same man a couple of years earlier."
Andrew had to listen closely, but her accent was easier to understand than her husband's.
"How old are you now? How long have you been a slave?" he asked, again blurting out the question before his mother could stop him.
"I've been working since I was a very little girl. As soon as I could walk and pick cotton, I was in the fields with my mother."
Andrew felt a shiver go down his back. He didn't think he would ever complain about doing chores again.
"Did you go to school?" he asked.
"No I didn't. We weren't allowed to learn how to read or write. Daniel learned some from one of the boys in the family who owned him and he has taught me what he knows, but it isn't very much."
She had been putting bits of her stew onto the small plate Sylvie provided her, allowing it to cool before feeding it to her son. She took a bite for herself and then gave the child a bit of bread to chew on. Sylvie quickly buttered another slice of bread and handed it across the table to her. Nelly tore off a piece and her little boy took it from her and licked the butter from the top of the bread.
Andrew couldn't comprehend not knowing how to read or write. That was the one thing that transported him away from Bellingwood into a bigger world. This was awful!
"I'd teach you how to read," he announced.
Nelly's face lit up with her smile. "We won't be here long enough for you to do that," she said, "but you are a very nice boy."
Sylvie beckoned for Daniel's bowl to be passed back to her and she filled it once again, then did the same for Ellis and Jason. When she gave Andrew a questioning look, he shook his head. His mind was filled with so many questions, food didn't seem important. Then he caught sight of the strawberries.
Those were important and he popped the first one in his mouth.
Ellis, who rarely said much in the evening, spoke up. "There isn't room for them to sleep in the house, Mrs. Donovan. If those men return, you have no place here to hide them."
Sylvie looked as surprised as everyone else to hear that many words come out of the man’s mouth. Andrew knew he could go for days without saying anything at all. But he was right. It wasn't safe for the young family to stay in the house.
"What should we do?" she asked. "Do you think it is safe in the barn?"
"It's too cold in the barn for the little boy," Ellis responded, "but they would have some protection in the root cellar. Jason and I should get a few bales of hay. That will make it smell good and protect them from the ground. If we put blankets over the hay, we can make it a comfortable place to sleep tonight."
"That's a very good idea, Ellis. Thank you," Sylvie said. "Why don't you and Jason take care of that after supper?"
She stood up when everyone had finished and said, "If you will give me your bowls, I will cut the pie and pour milk. That should keep everyone satisfied until morning. She served up the sweet treat, pouring thick warm milk over each piece of apple pie. Andrew couldn't believe his luck. Strawberries and apple pie at the same meal! He was going to sleep very well tonight.
When supper was finished, Jason and Ellis went out to the barn to gather things to prepare the root cellar for their guests. Daniel offered to help, but everyone thought it would be better if he stayed inside until everything was prepared.
"Andrew, I want you to go upstairs and bring down your extra blankets and the pillows you and Jason use."
Andrew thought about protesting, but when he looked at the young woman and her little boy, he decided that he could do without his feather pillow for one night. He scurried up the ladder and put the two pillows under one arm and then pulled all but one heavy blanket off the bed. He and Jason could bring their coats up and sleep under those if necessary. At least they would have the heat from the stove for warmth.
It took some doing to get back down the ladder with everything, but Sylvie was there to meet him and took things out of his arms.
"This is wonderful, Andrew. Thank you," she said. "Would you take these out to your brother and see how they're doing?"
He took the items back and went behind the house to the room that had been dug out of the ground. They kept all of the vegetables and fruits his mother canned each year there so they would stay cool and dry. Shelves were getting emptier as they approached the upcoming season. After Sylvie used the last of the flour they had milled last fall, Andrew and Jason spent a Sunday afternoon cleaning and sweeping the floor, so it was clean
Jason and Ellis had broken up two bales of hay and spread it across the small floor.
"Do you think this is enough?" Jason asked.
"It will be fine." Ellis spread a blanket across the hay and took another from Andrew's arms. He spread the third across the top and tucked the two pillows in so that it looked like a real bed.
"That should hold them," he said.
Andrew ran back into the house and said, "It's ready."
"Well, that's good news," Sylvie commented. Turning to her guests, she said, "There is no hurry for you to leave the house this early, though. We won't be going to bed for a couple of hours and would enjoy getting to know you better.
She l
it the lantern on the table and set another one over the kitchen sink. Water was warming on the stove so that she could wash dishes and she said to Andrew. "Don't you have schoolwork to do this evening?"
He'd completely forgotten about everything from the instant Jason had heard the couple in the woods, but at that moment he remembered the package.
"What about Uncle Robbie's package?" he asked hopefully.
"I think we can wait for another time to open that. You get out your books and do your studying. You still have to go to school tomorrow."
He huffed his way across the room to the door where he had dropped his school bag. He picked it up and took it to the table, pulling out the books and papers for his schoolwork. As Sylvie and Nelly washed up the dishes, Jason and Daniel kept the little boy occupied. Ellis repacked the china as it was dried and the little house bustled with activity well into the evening.
CHAPTER FIVE
Covering his mouth so no one could hear him cough, Andrew hovered over the hole in the floor where the ladder went down into the main room. Sylvie had finally sent him to bed, but he knew they were going to talk about interesting things downstairs and wanted to hear it all.
Daniel and Nelly had taken their little boy out to the root cellar in order to get some much needed sleep. Andrew watched Nelly yawn throughout the evening. Daniel told Ellis that they had been traveling for several days, but never slept because they were afraid of being caught. Andrew couldn't imagine staying awake for days. He tried to stay awake one night to watch the shooting stars, but his mother found him asleep in the yard curled around their dog and sent him to bed.
Sylvie gave them an oil lamp and some matches, reminding Nelly to set it on a shelf rather than the floor with all of the dry hay in there. Ellis had closed the door to the cellar only partway, with assurances that if anyone came looking for them, he would close it up tightly until it was safe again.
It was surprising that the little boy was so quiet. Most four year olds were busy and noisy. He hoped little Jonah was healthy. Maybe he was just tired. Nelly kept touching him and even when he was playing with the men while she had washed dishes, she continually turned to make sure that he was still there. He had played and laughed, but he wasn't a bad little boy at all. Andrew remembered getting into a great deal of trouble when he was little. One day his mother had put him outside of the front door and shut it because she was so angry with him. She had swatted his behind, but he hadn't cared. When she shut the door on him and her eyes had been full of tears, he remembered feeling awful and begged her to forgive him.
Later that evening, she had told him how disappointed she was in his behavior and she cried again. He knew he would never again make her that angry if he could help it.
Jason, Ellis and Sylvie sat around the table after everyone else had left. Andrew stayed quiet above the ladder so he could listen to them.
"I know some people down by Des Moines who are involved in the Underground Railroad," Ellis said to Sylvie. "If Daniel continues to travel on his own, he is going to be caught. Those slave catchers are everywhere and a Negro isn't safe in this state without papers showing that he is free."
"He and his family can stay here as long as they need to," Sylvie declared. "I will not allow them to be taken back to that life. It is no way for a child to be raised."
"It is no way for a man to live," Ellis agreed.
Andrew had an itch on his nose and when he reached up to scratch it, dislodged a bit of dust. It fluttered to the floor of the room below and he knew that his mother had seen it. He held his breath, waiting for her to order him to bed.
"Andrew, come on down here," she called. "You aren't going to get any sleep while we are still up discussing this, are you?"
He scrambled down the ladder and sat beside his mother at the table. She put her arm around him and tucked him in close as he tried to stifle a yawn. There was a glass of milk sitting in front of her and she pushed it toward him.
"Go ahead, have a drink. It will help you sleep when you go back to bed."
"We were discussing how we might help Daniel and Nelly get to Canada," Jason said.
"Is it really a railroad?" he asked. "Is it really under the ground?"
"No, runt. It's just called that," Jason laughed.
Andrew pouted a bit and asked, "Then why do they call it that?"
"Because," Sylvie responded, "there are people who take them from place to place until they are safe. They are like conductors on a train, making sure the passengers get from one place to the next. Some of the places they hide are underground like our root cellar, but sometimes they stay in barns or hidden rooms in houses."
"I'd like to have a hidden room."
"We would need a bigger house. That's one reason I wasn’t worried when those slave catchers arrived. They took one look at our house and realized we wouldn't have room to hide anyone. I didn't think it was necessary to point out to them that we have plenty of places to hide people, and I'm sure there are other people in Bellingwood who would be willing to do the same thing."
"How are we going to get them to these friends of Ellis', Mother?" Jason asked.
"We need to think of some ideas. Ellis could you get a message to your friends that they should be expecting our guests?"
"I will do that in the morning. I believe that old Doug Leon is leaving tomorrow to visit his son. They are expecting a new baby any day now. He will carry the message for me."
"Do you think he's trustworthy?"
"It will be safe enough. I will tell them they should expect three packages from me in a few days and ask them to transfer them on to the next stop so they can reach the boat in Clinton."
Andrew listened and then asked, "Have you ever done this before Ellis?"
The man who had been helping them out on the farm slowly nodded his head. "I was involved with the Underground Railroad in Grinnell for several years when I was younger."
"How long has this been going on?" Andrew gasped.
"There have been slaves trying to escape cruel masters since before Iowa was a state," Ellis said. "Probably about twenty-five years now. Something is going to have to change in this world. We can't keep allowing this awful thing to happen in our country if we're ever going to be proud of who we are as a nation. I pray someday we will have a leader who stands up to this and demands that it be stopped."
Sylvie nodded, "But those in the southern states won't know how to run their businesses without them. Their entire economy is based on slave labor. They say that if they had to pay people to do the work of the slaves, we couldn't afford to buy their goods."
"I don't agree with that. We will come up with a way. If we can push our way west and build towns and cities and keep a strong government, we can learn to live without enslaving people."
"After you send your message, we will need to find someone who can safely take these people to your friends," Sylvie said.
Jason pursed his lips and looked at her. "What about the Sheriff? Would he help us?"
Ellis chuckled. Andrew didn't think he'd ever seen the man do that. Sylvie looked at her son in astonishment and then at Ellis, smiling along with his laughter.
"I would have to give that some thought. Maybe we'll ask Miss Giller tomorrow evening when she comes to dinner. She and his wife are very good friends and I know that he thinks the world of her. They were instrumental in helping her settle here and getting the teaching position at the school. She'll know whether or not he would help us out."
“Jason and I could take them,” Ellis said.
Sylvie slowly nodded her head, “Let’s talk about this tomorrow. That’s a hard trip.”
“You’re right, we won’t do anything tonight. Maybe it will sort itself out,” he agreed.
She looked up at the clock sitting on a shelf and said, "It's late. We all need to get some sleep. Now, other than Ellis meeting with Doug Leon tomorrow, everything has to be absolutely normal. Andrew, you can't say a word about this to anyone, not even Miss Gil
ler. It would be awful if someone overheard you talking about it. Jason, you must work in the field just like you normally do. We will try to make Daniel and Nelly as comfortable as possible. They can stay in the barn during the day so that if someone shows up, they can get away before they are caught.”
Sylvie looked pointedly at Andrew. "Andrew, I know this is a great deal of excitement, but you cannot tell anyone about it. Their lives are at stake. Do you understand me?"
"I understand," he said, yawning. "I won't tell anyone. I might faint dead away if I’m tortured, but I won't tell anyone."
She tousled his head and laughed at him, "Go on. Get yourself up to bed. We won't talk any more tonight. I promise."
Jason jumped up and said, "I'll race you to the ladder."
Andrew scowled. "You're on that side of the table and it is right over there. You're hardly fair."
Sylvie blew out all but one of the candles and walked over to the ladder to give them light to climb by. Her room was downstairs behind a curtain. Andrew knew that all she had was another mattress and a curtain that she pulled around a small space. He lay in bed and thought about the family sleeping outside, and before he knew it, Jason was moving out of the bed and pulling his clothes on.
"Is it morning already?" Andrew asked. He didn't think he'd been sleeping nearly long enough.
"Almost, runt. But you have a little more time to sleep. I want to go down and make sure Mother doesn't need help getting Daniel and his family settled in the barn for the day. Go back to sleep. She'll call you when it is time to get up."
Andrew rolled back over, his back to the hole in the floor and fell asleep.
When his mother called him to get up for the day, for the first time in a long time, he shot out of bed immediately. Jumping into his clothes, he hurried down the steps.
"What a surprise!" Sylvie exclaimed. "I didn't expect to see you until I had called for you at least three more times."
Secrets and Revelations (Bellingwood #4) Page 34
