The Clash Between the Minds

by Nann Dunne

  Noah looked up at her. "Miss Sarah, can Velia sit with you? Daniel and I can hop in the back." Daniel put his hat back on.

  "That's fine with me." They took their places, and Sarah steered Drummer down the road.

  She sneaked a peek at Velia. I can't wait to see Faith's face when she meets Velia. Just looking at this woman is a pleasure. And she cooks, too. Maybe they can stay with us for a while. This could be a lucky day for all of us.

  Sarah guided the wagon into the barn, and everyone climbed out. Noah handed Daniel one of the smaller bags of seed from the wagonload, and Sarah noticed that he grimaced as he hauled out a larger one. She pulled one out, too, and set it on a shelf. As Noah set his bag next to hers, he said, "We can do the unloadin', ma'am. That's man's work."

  Sarah was already lifting another one. She shifted it to her right shoulder. "Noah, I appreciate your offers of help, but I'm so used to doing the man's work around here that I just go ahead and do it." Noah and Daniel unloaded the last two bags and toted them toward the shelf.

  "No," Sarah said. "Bring those two into the house." She dusted her hands on her pant legs and was amused when Daniel did the same. Sarah noted that despite Noah's consideration in unloading the wagon, he didn't offer to carry the burlap bag that hung over Velia's shoulder.

  They followed Sarah into the empty kitchen, and she called, "Faith, Benjamin, we have company." She pointed to the counter between the stove and the icebox. "Put the bags there for now. And you can hang your hats on this rack." She took hers off and hung it on one of the pegs that poked out of a plank fastened to the wall by the door.

  A clatter of footsteps descended the stairs, and Faith entered through the hall doorway. Two seconds later, Benjamin came in behind her. Sarah delayed the introductions a moment. Faith's gaze took in their visitors, and Sarah grinned inwardly at the faint softening in her expression when her eyes lit on Velia.

  "Faith, Benjamin, this is Noah, Velia, and their boy, Daniel." Addressing the three newcomers, she purposely responded in Noah's previous words. "This is my woman, Faith, and our boy, Benjamin." If they're going to stay here at our home as I hope, she thought, they might as well understand our situation.

  "Pleased to meet you, ma'am," Noah said.

  Faith's gaze returned to Noah. "I'm pleased to meet you, too. Won't you all sit down? I just made fresh coffee." She gathered cups, saucers, and spoons and added them to those already on the table.

  "They'll be joining us for dinner, too," Sarah said.

  "I can help with the fixins," Velia said.

  "No need," Sarah said. "We just set out the food and help ourselves. Put your bag in the corner and take a seat." She pulled out a chair and gestured toward it. With a pleased look, Velia put down the bag and sat in the offered chair.

  Sarah took a handful of beef jerky from ajar and gave the Pieces to Benjamin and Daniel. "You boys can unhitch the wagon and take care of Drummer. By then, it will be dinnertime." After they left, Sarah joined the others at the table and wrapped her hands around the cup of coffee Faith had just poured.

  "Noah and Velia have offered to trade their services for some food," Sarah said. "I had hoped Noah could help with the alfalfa planting, but he's suffered an injury, and he's not up to that just yet. Do you have any ideas?"

  "How long can you stay?" Faith asked. Noah looked toward Velia, who answered.

  "As long as you can use us, ma'am." She lifted her chin. "Noah and me has done a lot around a farm, and I cook pretty good."

  Faith became more animated. "Wonderful! Something always needs fixing, so I'm sure we can find work for you, Noah. And we could certainly use some help with the cooking. We all share the chores, after a fashion. But Benjamin goes to school, and Sarah and I are both employed, so any help would be welcome."

  "Yes, it would," Sarah said. "And we'll pay for what you do. I figure fixing the broken porch rail will settle up for the rolls and cheese." She saw Faith's questioning look. "That's how Noah and I met," she said. "He needed some rolls and cheese for his family, and I loaned him the money."

  Noah spoke hurriedly. "You both work for hire, ma'am?"

  "Noah, Velia," Sarah said, "let's get something straight. You're free people now, and you're just as good as the rest of us. So no more, 'ma'am,' with every other breath. And as long as you're going to be around for a while, I'm just Sarah, and Faith is just Faith. You understand that?"

  They gazed at each other. "Ma'am," Noah said, "we ain't goin' to feel good about that. We been sayin' 'Miss' to women, white and colored, since we was born. Hard to stop now."

  "All right," Sarah said. "Say whatever makes you comfortable. And yes, we work for hire. I write and illustrate books here at home, and Faith teaches at the school."

  "Can you teach us to read?" Velia asked Faith in an eager tone. Then she looked contrite. "I's sorry, ma'am, for being so forward."

  "I'd love to teach you to read. But first things first. Let's get you settled." She looked to Sarah. "Noah and Velia could have Leah's old room in the main house, and Daniel could have Amy's until we get time to open the north wing for them."

  "Perfect," Sarah said. "I'll show you the way, and you can clean up for dinner. The boys should be coming in any minute now. I know I'm about to starve, and I'm sure everyone else is, too." She stood and Noah jumped up also. Velia rose and picked up some of the cups and saucers.

  Faith joined in clearing the rest of the table, and the two women put the dishes and spoons in the sink. "I'll wash them up," Faith said to Velia. "You go along with Sarah."

  "Miss Sarah," Noah said, "you needn't put us up in your home. We been livin' in barns for months. We got used to rough quarters."

  "Well," Sarah said, "it's time to get used to some soft quarters. Although Leah's room might seem a little too frilly for you, it's plenty comfortable." She reached down and picked up Velia's bag. "Come along now."

  Sarah led them into the main wing and up the stairs. Velia said something, and Sarah called back to her as they continued climbing. "You'll need to speak up, Velia. When I got wounded, my hearing was damaged, too. What did you say?"

  "You said the room belonged to Miss Leah. Is she away visitin' somewhere? We don't want to be puttin' her out."

  They reached the top of the stairs and continued down the hallway. "Leah's a very close friend of ours who lived with us for a while. Two years ago, she married another very close friend, Phillip Showell. They live in town. If you stay here long enough, I'm sure you'll meet them. We keep their rooms ready in case they stay overnight." Sarah gestured to the door on the right. "That was her daughter Amy's room. Daniel can use it for now. This is a big house, and if you bide awhile, we'll get some other rooms ready for you later." She opened the opposite door and walked in. "Here's where you and Noah can stay."

  "It's beautiful." Velia walked to the center of the room, spread her arms, and turned in a circle, taking it all in. "Pink and white roses on the bedspread, on the curtains, and even on the vanity. I never had anythin' so—" She stopped moving and put a hand to her throat. Noah stepped forward and slipped an arm around her waist. Neither of them could speak.

  Sarah dumped Velia's bag onto the bed and walked to a stand in the corner of the room. "Here's a pitcher and basin where you can wash up. The water's been sitting here awhile, but it's clean. You'll find soap and towels and washcloths in these drawers." Velia tried to say something, but Sarah waved her off. "Look things over if you want. But don't forget it's dinnertime. Come to the kitchen as soon as you're ready."

  She went out the door and on down the steps, mulling over the morning's events.

  Treating people like inferior beings would never happen in her home, Sarah vowed. A man's heart, or a woman's heart, meant more to her than a difference in skin color ever would. The worst deeds against her—the violation of her body and the wounds on her face—had been carried out by white scum.

  Sarah's heart lurched at the memory. Her daughter Jessie had been born of that unholy union. Sarah had a
ccepted the offer from her sister-in-law, Lindsay, and Sarah's twin brother, Scott, to raise Jessie as their own. Sarah's soul would be forever scarred, even worse than her face. Those scars would never disappear, but perhaps, over time, their ugliness would dim.

  She thought now of Leah, who had come to her rescue during that terrible time, even though her own circumstances were far from ideal. Sarah, in turn, had rescued Leah from a brothel. Who could have guessed that Leah would wind up happily married to Phillip Showell, Sarah's childhood friend and admirer?

  And Sarah had Faith. Once in a while, life handed you good fortune. Sarah vowed to pass some on to Noah's family.

  After they had eaten, Sarah and Noah headed to the barn behind the house. "We just have the two horses," Sarah said as they entered. She walked through and opened the back door of the barn, unhooked the stall gates, and shooed Redfire and Drummer into the corral. "We muck the stalls twice a week, Wednesday and Saturday. Benjamin usually helps, but with you here, I thought I'd give him some free time." She handed Noah a shovel and grabbed a rake. She pulled a small amount of the mixture of straw and manure into a pile and indicated Noah should shovel it up.

  He got the shovel under the mixture, but when he tried to lift it, he cried out. Startled, Sarah stopped raking. "Hold on a minute, Noah." She pushed him toward a bale of hay and sat him on it. "Wait right here." Sarah hurried toward the house and entered the back door. Faith had finished washing the dinner dishes, and Velia was drying them.

  "Faith," Sarah said, "grab some morphine packets and the salve and come with me." Faith took one look at Sarah's face, went to a cupboard, and opened its door. She collected several packets from one jar and lifted another, while Sarah got a pint of whiskey from under the counter. Velia hadn't said a word. She just kept drying dishes.

  As they walked toward the barn, Faith said, "Is it one of the horses?"

  "It's Noah. He's having a hard time shoveling. I think he's been beaten, maybe whipped."

  "How awful." Faith stopped for a moment with an anguished look on her face.

  Sarah handed the whiskey to her and said, "I'm not going in with you. I think he's embarrassed about whatever it is. But you have a way with people, and I'm pretty sure you can talk him into letting you treat his wounds."

  "I'll give it a try. Let me have your pocketknife. I might need it."

  Faith continued to the barn and found Noah sitting on a bale of hay, his lips pressed together in a grimace. "Noah, Sarah said you're in pain. She asked me to help you."

  "I's all right, Miss Faith. Just need to catch my breath."

  Faith set the whiskey and the jar of salve on the bale. She removed the morphine packets and knife from the pocket in her skirt and laid them down, too. "I suspect it's more than that, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Please let me help you. I know how to do it. I tended to Sarah once when she was wounded."

  A flicker of interest showed through the pain on Noah's face.

  "You did?"

  "I did. And if you'll show me where you're hurt, I'll tell you all about it."

  Apparently, curiosity won him over. "It's my back, ma'am."

  Faith sat behind him on the bale and pulled out the tail of his shirt before he had a chance to object. "Let me look." She sucked in a breath. Noah's back was crisscrossed with whiplashes. "You've had a bad beating. Some of these stripes are infected. Please take off your shirt, so I can treat them properly."

  "Ma'am, I—"

  Faith put on her sternest schoolmarm face. "I mean to help, whether you want me to or not. Now take off your shirt." Was that the hint of a grin she saw on his face?

  "You sound like my mama." He undid the buttons, and Faith helped him slip his arms out. He kept hold of the shirt and twisted it in his hands.

  "Sit still a minute. I'm going to need water." Faith grabbed a basin and several clean cloths from the counter in the tack area and went outside to get water from the yard pump. She returned, sat behind Noah, and carefully washed his back.

  She lifted the pocketknife. "I'm going to have to open the infected spots, clean them out, and put morphine in them. It's going to hurt, but it's the best way to give them a chance to heal." Now's the time to tell him Sarah's story and keep his mind off the pain.

  "When Benjamin was eight years old, he saw Sarah in our yard, slumped over on Redfire. She'd been shot in the lower part of her leg and was almost unconscious." Faith sliced open the pockets of infection and gently washed them out with the water. "She was wearing a false beard, and we thought she was a man. Benjamin ran for the doctor, who cleaned out and bandaged Sarah's wound and set the bone that the bullet had broken. We brought her into the house and laid her on my bed."

  Faith lifted the bottle of whiskey. "Sorry, Noah. This is going to burn." Noah's body jerked and then stiffened as she poured whiskey onto the stripes. She made sure that the infected ones received a liberal dowsing. "The doctor wanted to amputate Sarah's leg, but she refused to let him, even though he warned her she would die."

  Noah's voice had a rasp in it, and his hands were torturing his shirt. "Miss Sarah's a brave woman."

  "Yes, she is." Faith smiled inwardly. And stubborn. She remembered how adamant Sarah was that her leg was not to be cut off. "You're being very brave, too. You and Sarah have a trait in common. You're both prideful people."

  Noah's only answer was a loud puff of breath.

  "There's nothing wrong with that," Faith said. "In fact, when Sarah isn't on the other side of an argument with me, I admire it."

  Noah gave a slight nod.

  "Back to Sarah's wound. My father was a doctor, and I recalled him telling me about a doctor friend of his who had used live maggots to clean dead tissue from wounds."

  Noah jerked again. "You puttin' worms on my back?" He sounded horrified.

  Faith chuckled. "No, your wounds are different. Bren, I mean Sarah, didn't like the idea one bit. I don't think Benjamin did either, but as young as he was, he did what was needed." With a clean cloth, she wiped the excess whiskey that ran down Noah's back. She opened the morphine packets and sprinkled them on the open cuts to lessen the pain. "But Sarah agreed to take the chance, and Benjamin and I collected maggots from the garbage outside."

  Faith began to apply salve to the uninfected lashes that still looked red and sore. "And it worked. We were all thrilled and, of course, relieved that Sarah didn't lose her leg."

  "That why Miss Sarah favors her left leg?"

  "You noticed that?" Faith hadn't seen Sarah limping today.

  "When we lifted the bags out of the wagon, Miss Sarah switched a bag from her left shoulder to her right." Noah's voice sounded stronger. "I thought she staggered, but I wasn't sure."

  "The bones didn't heal well, and sometimes it bothers her." The splinted leg had been broken again when the Union soldiers dragged her away, but Noah didn't need to know about that. Faith's heart wrenched. She got a sick feeling in her stomach whenever she thought of the ordeal Sarah had suffered.

  Faith patted Noah's shoulder. "That should help. Right now, your back probably feels worse, but it should be a lot better in a day or two. I'll check it again then to make sure the infection's gone. I'm not putting a bandage on. I think air might help the infection dry up more quickly." She assisted Noah in putting his shirt back on.

  "Thank you, ma'am. Some feels better already."

  "I'm glad to hear that, and you're very welcome." Faith dumped the water from the basin and tossed everything she'd used into it. "Let's go back to the house. You should rest awhile. Benjamin and Daniel can clean up here later."

  She helped Noah stand, took his arm to steady his shaky legs, and walked out of the barn with him.

  When Sarah got back to the house, Velia had closed the cupboard that Faith left open and was putting the last of the dishes away.

  "Velia, what's wrong with Noah? Did someone beat him?"

  Velia turned from the cupboard, her face solemn. "That be his to tell, Miss Sarah. Not mine." She stepped into the ce
nter of the kitchen and raised her chin. "You have more chores for me?"

  Sarah paused, admiring Velia's stance. "How about checking the boys' rooms and making sure they didn't leave anything laying around. Maybe make the beds. I'll be in my workroom."

  Sarah sat on the bench at the tilted desk in her workroom and squinted through her spectacles at the drawing she was working on. Several men in blood-covered aprons held a Union soldier down as a doctor prepared to amputate his mangled arm. Time passed as she worked on the drawing.

  Faith came in and sat beside her without saying anything. Sarah appreciated that Faith tried to be considerate about not interrupting her train of thought when she was drawing or writing. Sarah smiled inwardly. At least most of the time.

  She blew some charcoal dust from the picture. "What's wrong with Noah?"

  "You were right. He's been beaten. Badly." Faith's voice sounded harsh, as it did when she held back on her emotions. "I'd like to strangle the men who did that to him. He has at least ten deep stripes on his back. I'm surprised he can even walk."

  "Did the salve help?"

  "I certainly hope so. I'd hate to wear this odor for nothing." She sniffed at one hand and lifted it to Sarah's nose.

  Sarah yanked her head back and made a face. "Ugh."

  "Washing didn't even weaken the smell." Faith pulled her hand away. "Some stripes are infected. I opened those up, cleaned them out with whiskey, and sprinkled morphine on them. I spread salve on the rest, and he seemed to move with less pain. But it's going to take awhile for him to heal completely."

  "Bastards."

  Faith leaned her head on Sarah's shoulder. "He's safe now with us. I'm so glad you brought his family here. You're a good person, my love."

  Sarah touched her head to Faith's. "At least in your eyes," she said, "and that's what counts to me."

  Sunday morning, Faith and Velia prepared a substantial breakfast of oatmeal, eggs, bacon, and warm bread. While everyone ate, Faith brought up the possibility of enrolling Daniel in her school. "We have room for several more children."