The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap

by Paulette Mahurin

  Edra smiled deep and long, then hugged her. “Mil, he reminds me of papa.”

  Just then, Mildred saw the light in the room grow brighter and turn a gentle blue. It embraced her body and sent a warm feeling from the base of her spine out through the top of her head. Papa?

  They heard Charley, still out of earshot, singing in the kitchen.

  “We teach people how to remember, we never teach them how to grow.” OSCAR WILDE

  25

  Frank’s plans to head out to Walker Junction early were thwarted when he went to check up on a cow with an infection on its nipple. The swelling had spread to its udder and if left untreated, it would cost them precious milk from one of his best producers. Helene rose early to peel apples and ready the dough for the pie she was to make when Frank returned from the barn. She was surprised to see him still home. “I thought you went to get the …”

  “I’ll have to do it tomorrow. We’ve got a sick one. Where’d you put that udder salve?”

  Her heart just about stopped. What am I going to do? The women will be here in an hour to go to Mildred’s. Frank will kill me if he knows what we’re planning. Salve? Where did I put it?

  She found it in a drawer and quickly hid it in her apron. “There’s none here,” she lied.

  “How could that be? We just got a new tin.”

  She fumbled about pretending to look all over for it. “I can’t find it.”

  He pushed her aside. “Let me have a look.” He flung things around trying to find it. “Damn it, woman!” He threw a bag of bandages to the floor, followed by several other items till he had a clear view of all the contents in the drawer. “I’m gonna have to go to town.” He gave Helene a disgusted look. “You need to keep better track of where you put things!”

  She tried to steady her hands from shaking as she watched him take his time getting ready to leave. When he finally headed out the door she rushed to get Mabel out of bed. “Time to get up. Come on. Mamma’s got a busy day.” She had to hurry. If she gauged herself just right she’d have just enough time to get everything accomplished before everyone arrived, with the exception of taking the kids to the neighbor down the road to watch them. There was no time for that; they’d have to go with her to Mildred’s.

  Mabel moaned.

  Helene shook her shoulder. “Wake up!” She pulled the covers down to Mabel’s feet.

  Mabel jumped up and laughed.

  Helene was annoyed that Mabel was wasting time with games. “Come on, let’s go eat. We’ve gotta get going.”

  “Where we going, mamma?”

  Without responding, Helene took clothes out of the dresser and handed them to Mabel. “Here, now get yourself dressed, and be quick about it.”

  Mabel repeated, “Where we going?”

  “To Mildred’s.”

  “Can I bring Cranky?”

  “Not today!” She saw Mabel lurch back at the harshness in her tone. “Let’s go. Breakfast is waiting.” Helene glanced at little Frankie asleep in his portable wood crib and returned to the kitchen with Mabel not far behind, still pulling on her clothes.

  Mabel ate her breakfast while Helene readied the pie ingredients. Oh man, I hope I’m ready in time. She heard little Frankie’s wake-up cry. She hurried to the bedroom, picked up his crib, and brought it to the kitchen. “Shhhhh, quiet down there,” Helene said gently as he continued to fuss. She dipped a wooden baby spoon in sugar and put it in his mouth.

  “When are we going?” Mabel whined.

  “I have to get this pie ready without any further interruptions. Go get your doll to play with.”

  Mabel jumped up and down. “Then we go? Then we go?”

  “Mabel! Go get your doll! No more questions!”

  Helene had finished preparing the apple mixture and started on the dough when little Frankie began fussing again. “Shhhh, quiet over there,” she said absentmindedly, her attention preoccupied with the pie.

  Mabel danced her doll around the floor making a loud clunking noise, which obscured a high-pitched soft whistling sound coming from the crib. Within seconds the sound turned into a barely audible wheeze.

  Intent on the task at hand, Helene rolled out the pie dough and formed it in a pan.

  Little Frankie began to flail in an effort to get air into his blocked windpipe, as Mabel kept banging away with her doll.

  Helene poured the apple mixture onto the dough. She heard a gentle thump of the baby’s body against the crib’s mattress. It was a familiar sound that he made when tossing about in dreams.

  “That’s my good boy,” she said, still with her back to the crib. She placed the pie in the oven, cleaned up and put away the leftover ingredients. Nearly eight minutes had passed between the last audible sound from Frankie and when Helene finally turned around to check on him. “You’re being awfully good there, my little sweetie,” she said as she watched Mabel playing. She reached down to pull the blanket back up over little Frankie, when her hand met his motionless body and she saw with alarm his lips were blue. Through her confusion, she saw that the edge of the spoon she had used to pacify him splintered off in his mouth. She grabbed her baby and screamed.

  Cranky was barking incessantly while running in circles in the front yard as Josie and the others arrived.

  “Who left that dog out? Those people are so irresponsible,” complained Josie.

  She and Madeline approached the front door first. “Something smells like it’s burning,” commented Madeline with a sniff.

  Josie sarcastically replied, “Oh, that’s just great.”

  The women filed through the door and stopped in confusion and shock to find Helene lying motionless on the floor with her dead baby clutched in her arms. Mabel stood next to her, sobbing in fear.

  “Oh Lord!” screamed Annalee.

  Sarah cried out, “Oh my God!”

  Hanah stood with wide eyes, mouth agape in disbelief.

  Josie froze, trying to comprehend what she saw when she felt a warm wind move through the room bringing with it a rustle that sounded like the whisper of a magnolia. The flames grew higher, hotter, and the world turned dark and solemn. Everyone was screaming, no one making any sense. Her mamma found her and rushed her out of their home, never to return. She heard a new scream, “Josie! Don’t just stand there! Do something!” In a daze, she went to Helene who lay on the floor not moving, just staring into space.

  Madeline yelled, “Lord help us!”

  “What’re we gonna do! What’re we gonna do!” Annalee screeched.

  Sarah, adjusting to the shock, went to Mabel. “Honey, why don’t you come with me…”

  “No! My mamma’s sick. No!” She huddled against Helene.

  Sarah remembered Mildred bringing Mabel to Charley’s. “Hanah, go get Mildred. Tell her to come get Mabel.”

  Hanah rushed from the flurry, tripping over herself to get out the door, and rode as fast as she could to Mildred’s. When Charley opened the door, she was unable to speak, trying to catch her breath, hyperventilating.

  “It’s just you?” he said, surprised.

  “Charley!” she panted. “Thank the lord you’re here. You need to get over to Helene’s fast.”

  Suspicious, he asked, “What are you up to?”

  Still short of breath, without thinking, she grabbed his arm. “You need to come with me. Helene! The baby! Oh my God…”

  He pulled his arm back. “What the hell are you up to?”

  She went white. “I think the baby’s dead…little Frankie…”

  Charley panicked. “What!”

  “Please just come.”

  “I swear to you, Hanah…if this isn’t on the up and up…”

  “It’s no joke. On my life. You need to come! We found Helene on the floor.” She relayed what happened.

  Mildred and Edra were in the bedroom when they heard Charley slam the front door and run to them. He urged, “Mildred, you need to come with me!” When she resisted, he continued with urgency, “There’s somethin
g wrong with Helene and little Frankie! Hitch up Lil and follow me!”

  “What if this is a trick?” she asked.

  “Not the way Hanah’s acting. Something terrible has happened. Let’s go!”

  Mildred knew not to question Charley further.

  The three of them arrived at Helene’s separately. Charley jumped from his buggy and ran into the house.

  “Oh no!” he exclaimed as he saw the women surrounding Helene and the rigid body of his little nephew. He knew there was nothing he could do for little Frankie now and that Helene was in a nonresponsive state of shock. “Mabel, come here honey.” He guided Mabel outside to Mildred. “Take her home with you.”

  Mildred saw the shock on Charley’s face, and didn’t question his demand.

  “Come on, Mabel. Let’s go do some baking at my place.”

  “My mamma’s sick, Mildred. Maybe she should come too?”

  “Uncle Charley will take care of your mamma, honey.”

  Charley watched them leave, then grabbed hold of Hanah who was still outside. “Stop standing there doing nothing and get your friends the hell out of here.” He felt the retching rise in his gut. “For God’s sake do something useful for once in your life and go tell Doc to get out here!”

  Hanah ran into the house while Charley went behind a bush and vomited.

  Josie didn’t want to leave. Dazed and incoherent, she insisted, “Don’t make me leave.”

  Charley took a couple of deep breaths. What the hell is keeping them? Entering the house, he was furious to hear Josie refusing to leave.

  “You get that woman out of here and you do it now!” Charley yelled at Hanah.

  Josie, still not making sense and not addressing her communication to anyone in particular, said, “I can’t…leave my home. Don’t make me leave.”

  Charley directed his attention to the group. “Get her out of here before I get my shotgun!”

  Sarah and Madeline grabbed a hysterical Josie by her arms and dragged her out while she continued to mumble about not wanting to leave her home. The others quickly followed.

  Charley went to Helene and the baby and knelt beside them. He touched little Frankie’s lifeless cheek, still not believing what he saw, hoping he was wrong. Helene did not stir, her eyes still staring into space.

  How’d this happen? Why?

  He covered his face with his hands and broke down.

  “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” OSCAR WILDE

  26

  A hush fell over Red River Pass as shock waves of the baby’s death spread through town. Gasps of disbelief and tears from mothers filled the empty space created by the loss. No one was left unscathed by the news. Frank arrived home to find Charley waiting on the front porch, eyes bloodshot, looking dark and drawn. Doc, inside with a yet unresponsive Helene, heard Charley’s attempt to say something that was interrupted by screams. Frank tore into the house and stopped dead in his tracks before his lifeless son. “No! No! This can’t be…”

  Doc stayed inside while Charley guarded the door from intruders. No one arrived with the exception of Amos who asked where Mabel was.

  “At Mildred’s.”

  “Is she going to stay there?”

  “I’ll get her and bring her and the dog over to my place,” said Charley.

  The men stayed at the door while Frank wailed till exhaustion took hold and he quieted down. Doc came out and the three men worked out the logistics.

  Charley arrived at Mildred’s close to midnight to find the women awake in the living room. Mabel was asleep on the new bed in the den, Cranky by her side. Charley took one look at the peaceful innocent expression on her face and could not contain another burst of tears. No comfort was to be had, the pain too unbearable.

  Mildred waited several minutes before going to Charley. She put a hand on his back and when he turned to face her she saw in him a look that put to rest any doubts she had about him, that he was a decent man, a sensitive man, and she had nothing to fear from him. She knew she had a friend in him and it pained her deeply that it took this horrible tragedy to show her what her heart had been unable to see in him earlier.

  They went back out to Edra, who asked, “Would you like some tea, Charley?”

  “No. Nothing. Don’t think I could put anything in me just now. Wanted to…” He used his sleeve to wipe tears running down his cheeks, unable to continue.

  Edra felt his sorrow. It was the first time in her life she felt anything for someone else outside of the Dunlap family, other than fear, and it moved her to speak. “Charley, let us know what we can do for you.”

  He nodded.

  “For now, how about you sleep on the couch?” She looked to Mildred.

  “Anything you need, we’ll take care of whatever we can. Feel free to stay here as long as you like. We’ve plenty of food…”

  “I don’t want to put you two out anymore than…you’ve been way too kind bringing my niece here.”

  Mildred interrupted. “You’re not going to wake up Mabel. We won’t hear of you leaving now. You look exhausted.”

  “I agree with her, Charley. I wouldn’t feel right with you leaving now.”

  He drew in a long slow breath, looked to Mildred, then Edra. “If you’re sure it wouldn’t be…”

  “We’re sure,” said Mildred.

  “Don’t know how to thank you two. Not really sure how I’d of managed without your…”

  Mildred saw how he was struggling, how sad he looked. “It’s okay, Charley. We’re here for you.”

  “Poor Frank. I don’t know how he’s going to get through this.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Amos is staying there with him. Doc took…” The smothering heartache squeezed in on his chest.

  “I’m so sorry.” Edra moved over to him and put her hand on his. “I think what you need now is to try to get some rest.”

  Mildred spoke from her heart, in a softness only shared with Edra, when she said, “If it’ll ease things a little, I want you to know I want to take care of helping Frank. I’ll handle any expenses, anything he needs will be taken care of. We’ll get Ben out to help over there till things settle down.”

  “You’d do that?” He was deeply moved by the offer. “But Ben’s busy with your barn. You need him.”

  “All that can wait. Frank needs the help now.”

  Among the devastation and darkness, what she offered, a lull in the painful violence, a glimmer of hope, told him that with time things might return to normal. It was how he felt after Mildred brought Mabel around to his place for the first time. It was then he fully understood the beauty and value of their friendship.

  The service for little Frankie was held by the gravesite behind the church. The crowd gathered in shock, filling the small yard and overflowing onto the street. Amos was up front next to Frank and the coffin, facing the crowd. Notably absent was Helene. Rebecca over at the Jenkins’s place was watching her. Charley, Mildred, and Edra also stayed behind to tend to Mabel at the Dunlap’s. Gus was there, standing at the back, in earshot of Satchel with Josie and their two boys.

  Amos fought back tears as he looked around and saw Sam and Hanah with their children, Ben and Rose with theirs, Barney and Pat with their boys, and thought how the Whitmore’s lives would forever be a family interrupted by tragedy. He came unprepared, knowing that words would never suffice. Although he was raised a Protestant, he believed in the Sacred Heart, and relied on it to guide him through times like this. When all else failed, his faith was a gift that did not let him down. He put an arm around Frank and silently called upon God to help him find the words of support for the devastated father standing beside him. He listened to muffled cries from breaking hearts, the shuffling of uncomfortable bodies struggling with their own emotions in the sweltering heat, and spoke. “How do we endure such a tragedy? Live with the unthinkable? The Lord God showed us the suffering we bestow upon each other as adults when he sent his Son to the cross, but…this…this was a
baby. How do we begin to make sense of what happened? How do we call upon faith to…”

  Frank stood solemn while at the back of the congregation Josie mumbled, “If Helene had been a better…”

  Satchel squeezed her arm so tightly it stopped circulation. “Not here,” he whispered back.

  Gus, disgusted, took notice but said nothing. He felt a heaviness press in on him, making it near impossible to breathe, and an anger that was hard to contain. That heartless bitch! Any sympathy I ever felt for you…you’re not worth spit! He was too preoccupied to hear anything more Amos said. You’ll get yours! Whatever promise he made to his mother on her deathbed, about not harboring hatred, was of no use now. He knew Helene was incapable of harming her baby and that the rumors he heard circulating around town smelled of Josie’s involvement. This time you’ve gone too far.

  Up front, Amos continued to say a few words about the baby’s short life.

  Doc Nichols fumbled with the smelling salts capsule in his pocket.

  Hanah felt wobbly and grabbed hold of Sam for support.

  Annalee broke down in tears, joining the other sobbing women.

  A few of the children rustled about impatiently. Aside from an occasional cough and crying, the place was still. The neighbor’s dog stood quietly across the street watching. Trees were motionless and the sky was bare of birds when Amos finished his short talk and turned to Frank. “Do you want to say anything?”

  Frank shook his head and remained silent.

  Amos then looked over the group, down at the tiny closed coffin, up to the sky and said with tears streaming down his face, “He’s in heaven now. He’s at peace. Let us all pray that we find our own peace in these difficult times. Let’s have a moment of silent prayer for Frank, Helene, and Mabel.”

  Heads bowed. Amos stood pensively for several minutes, then said, “Amen.”

  “Amen,” the congregation followed.

  Frank remained behind with the coffin as people filed out.