The Mandie Collection
Page 38
MANDIE: Her name was spelled with a ‘y’ on the papers the law officers gave my grandmother in Ireland to bring Mollie home with us. So I suppose you are going to take Mollie home with you?
MOLLIE: I want to go back home with Celia.
THE WOMAN: (Standing up.) No, that’s impossible for me to take her with me right now.
MANDIE: Why is it impossible?
THE WOMAN: Because my husband died three months ago, and I don’t have a definite home right now. I am staying with his sister for the time being, but as soon as I can get on my feet again, I will come after Mollie.
MANDIE: Where do you live? What town?
THE WOMAN: Your uncle John Shaw knows all that. Now I think it’s best I leave since I cannot take Mollie with me. (Stooping to quickly kiss Mollie.) You be a sweetie, and I will be back for you, soon I hope. (Her voice quivers with emotion.)
(As the young people watch, the woman runs back over the hill, retrieves her hat from the bushes where it had landed, and disappears in the distance.)
LIZA: (Grinning.) ’Tweren’t no ghost aftuh all!
MOLLIE: (Looking into the distance.) I guess me aunt Lou must’ve been right. There be no real angel people that we kin see.
MANDIE: Aunt Lou is right. There are angels all around but we can’t see them.
MOLLIE: (Looking up at Mandie and then at Celia and then at Liza.) And there be no leprechauns either, no real leprechauns. (She shakes her head and frowns.)
CELIA: That’s right.
MOLLIE: (Suddenly starts to run down the hill.) Let’s go and tell me grandmither.
LIZA: (Running after Mollie.) I knowed dat all de time.
MANDIE: (Following.) But it sure took you both a long time to say it.
(Celia follows.)
CURTAIN
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LOIS GLADYS LEPPARD worked in Federal Intelligence for thirteen years in various countries around the world before she settled in South Carolina.
The stories of her own mother’s childhood as an orphan in western North Carolina are the basis for many of the incidents incorporated in this series.
Visit her Web site: www.Mandie.com
Mandie Mysteries
* * *
Mandie and . . .
. . . the Secret Tunnel
. . . the Cherokee Legend
. . . the Ghost Bandits
. . . the Trunk’s Secret
. . . the Abandoned Mine
. . . the Mysterious Bells
. . . the Shipboard Mystery
. . . the Foreign Spies
. . . the Silent Catacombs
. . . the Mysterious Fisherman
. . . the Windmill’s Message
. . . the Invisible Troublemaker
. . . the Courtroom Battle
. . . Jonathan’s Predicament
————
The Mandie Collection: Volume One (Books 1–5)
The Mandie Collection: Volume Two (Books 6–10)
The Mandie Collection: Volume Three (Books 11–15)
The Mandie Collection: Volume Four (Books 16–20)
The Mandie Collection: Volume Five (Books 21–23)
The Mandie Collection: Volume Six (Books 24–26)
The Mandie Collection: Volume Seven (Books 27–29)
The Mandie Collection: Volume Eight (Books 30–32)
The Mandie Collection: Volume Nine (Books 33–35)
The Mandie Collection: Volume Ten (Books 36–38)
The Mandie Collection: Volume Eleven (Books 39–40)
Mandie: Her College Days
New Horizons