Madame Galland grabbed Meg’s arm and swung her around.
“You’ll do nothing of the kind. Stay here with the others. Keep the door latched until I return.” Her eyes were wild. Meg nodded, catching her breath. With that, Madame Galland ran out of the house.
Meg did as she was told and snapped the latch closed behind her.
To stop the English, you know.
Tante Perle’s voice echoed in Meg’s mind. Had she gone through the same motions to try to save this family, only to fail? The reality of the moment flattened Meg’s resolve. Why would this time be any different? She leaned her brow against the door.
“Marguerite, where are you? Are you still here?” Geneviève called out from the side of the bed. She had picked up baby Daniel and held him in her arms. Her eyes stared out into the house and her head waved back and forth in confusion.
“I’m here, Geneviève. I haven’t gone anywhere.” Meg gathered up her courage and rushed to her friend’s side.
“I’m so glad you’re here.” Geneviève rocked her body back and forth in an effort to soothe baby Daniel as he wailed in her arms.
“Let’s get him settled.” Meg took the baby from Geneviève’s arms. Until yesterday, Meg had never even held a baby, let alone taken care of one. She did as she’d seen Madame Galland do the day before and prepared the milk.
“What if the soldiers come before your mother returns?” Geneviève’s face was fraught with worry.
“Madame Ga…I mean Maman…will be back soon. As soon as she finds Joseph we’ll all be together. You’ll see.” Meg hoped she was right. She unswaddled the baby and replaced the soiled linens with fresh ones. She made a face as she picked up the smelly cloth and placed it in the bin. Fed and changed, baby Daniel gurgled in her arms, oblivious to the danger that awaited them.
“Thank you, Marguerite.” Geneviève placed Daniel in his cradle and rocked it gently.
A hard knock came at the door. The latch jiggled as someone shook the handle from outside.
“By order of the English Crown, I command you to open this door!”
“What do we do?” Geneviève gripped Meg’s arm. Her voice was barely a whisper. Where were Madame Galland and Joseph? They couldn’t leave without them.
“Just try to be quiet,” Meg whispered back.
Thud! Thud! Thud! The knock came louder.
Baby Daniel stirred in his cradle.
“I advise you to open this residence or we will knock this door down.”
Baby Daniel cried out.
“We need to do something, but what?” Geneviève whispered.
“I have an idea.” Meg retrieved the bin of soiled diaper linens and pressed it to Geneviève’s chest.
“How blind can you act?” Meg asked.
Geneviève’s nose wrinkled. Then she grinned, catching on to Meg’s plan.
Meg went to the door and unhooked the latch. The soldier from the day before loomed in the doorway.
“Please, monsieur, our maman has gone to find our brother and we’re alone with the baby.” Meg snapped her fingers for Geneviève. Geneviève picked up the screaming baby and brought the bin of dirty diaper linens to the door.
“I just do not know what on earth to do with these soiled linens.” Geneviève waved a bundle of the smelly cloth in the soldier’s face.
“What is wrong with you?” The soldier boomed, dodging the stinky linens.
“Oh! Je m’excuse, monsieur. I am just a poor blind girl trying to change my brother’s diaper. If only Maman was here.” She continued to wave the putrid linens at the soldier.
The soldier backed away from the door and waved his hand in front of his face.
“Fine, fine! I’ve got a few other residences to vacate and I will return in short order. Just clean up this horrible mess and be ready when I return!” With that he turned and slammed the door behind him. A snap sounded from outside.
“I think he’s gone,” Geneviève said after a moment. “But it sounded like he locked the door from outside.”
Meg pulled at the door. It didn’t budge.
“We need to go get Maman and Joseph before he gets back. But how do we get out of here? We’re trapped,” Meg said.
“Not necessarily.” Geneviève felt around the floor with her foot and stopped when her toe met the braided rug. She pulled it back and revealed an iron ring in the recessed part of the floor.
“Of course! The cellar!” Meg grasped the iron ring to open the cellar door as though she had known it was there all along. Before she climbed down she hesitated for a moment. The last time she went down into a cellar, things hadn’t turned out so well.
“Wait! Are you sure I should do this? What if someone sees me?” Meg asked.
“You’re our only hope, Marguerite. Besides, it’s not like I can go. I’m just a poor blind girl, remember?” Geneviève mimicked the helpless tone she’d used on the soldier.
“Okay, okay. But I don’t buy the poor blind girl act, by the way.” Meg gave her a friendly punch in the arm.
“We make a good team, don’t we?” Geneviève smiled.
“The best,” Meg agreed. “But are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
“Go.” Geneviève bounced Daniel in her arms. His eyes drooped and finally closed. “We’ll be just fine.”
Chapter 16
AN EARTHY SCENT ENVELOPED MEG as she slipped down into the darkness below. The crawl space’s low ceiling loomed overhead, reminding her of when she was trapped below deck on the English ship. She shifted her apron to the side so the shell wouldn’t get crushed and started crawling on her belly, digging her fingers into the cold, damp earth to inch herself forward. A sheen of perspiration rose from her skin as the feeling of claustrophobia threatened to overwhelm her.
The sound of crying in the distance propelled her forward. Joseph, maybe? Had Madame Galland found him?
Meg forged ahead; a whole family was depending on her. Finally, she made it to the stone foundation’s entrance. The square wooden door was framed with slits of sunlight. The image brought her back to Tante Perle’s shack, where this whole journey had begun. She gave the door a shove. It didn’t budge. She twisted her body around and thumped at it with her feet. The door loosened a fraction with each blow. Finally it gave way.
Meg blinked away the glare of the early morning light and glanced around to make sure no one was looking. No soldiers. Good. But where could Joseph and Madame Galland be?
The first thing to consider was where a cat would go. Wherever Mache-couine was, Joseph couldn’t be far behind. And if Meg knew anything about cats, she knew just where to look. She took one last look around her before scrambling to her feet and bolting up the hill to the barn.
The sprint from the house left her breathless. Meg panted and leaned against the barn door’s frame as she looked back toward the harbour. The image filled her eyes with tears. One of the ships was in full sail and was already leaving the harbour. Long boats rowed towards the remaining ships moored in the distance.
Soon the Haché-Galland family would be making the same voyage, following their destiny. There was no escaping their fate, but at least they should meet it together, Meg thought. But first, she needed to find the others. She couldn’t fail them now.
“Maman? Joseph?” Meg called out into the barn.
Miaou.
A familiar sound came from the loft. Meg gripped the rungs of the ladder and climbed up.
“Mache-couine, come here, boy.” The cat hissed and shrank back to the farthest part of the loft. A corner of blue wool poked out from under the straw.
“Joseph’s blanket!” Meg pulled it to her chest. Thank goodness. Madame Galland must have found Joseph and returned to the house, Meg thought to herself. The cat bounded from its hiding place and rubbed up against the dangling blanket.
“Come on, fleabag, you’re coming with me.” Meg scooped up the cat, climbed down the ladder, and headed for the door. She couldn’t bear to leave the poor cat behind, no mat
ter how much trouble it had caused.
“Marguerite…” A voice called to Meg, stopping her dead in her tracks. The voice was close but seemed hollow and formless.
“Marguerite, ma belle…”
“Tante Perle?” Meg tore around the barn searching for her. She rushed into a stall, bumping into a trough of water.
“Attention!” The voice called from within the trough. Meg peered into the water. Tante Perle’s face rippled back amidst Meg’s own reflection.
“Ma tante! How are you able to—where are you?” The cat jumped from Meg’s arms to the ground, then hopped up and balanced itself along the trough’s wooden edge.
“I’m here to wish you bonne chance. You’ve come so far, much farther than I did.” Tante Perle’s voice gurgled like waves splashing onshore.
“Come with me, ma tante,” Meg implored. “Once the others are together, we’ll find a way to get back to Picasse Bay. That way we can all be safe.” After having Tante Perle slip through her fingers and into the sea once, she couldn’t bear losing her again.
“No, ma belle. I must find Ginette. After a lifetime of regret, I cannot bear to return to Picasse Bay without her.”
“Please, Tante Perle!”
“This is where I leave you. Think on your feet and you will find the answer…”
“No!” Meg begged.
“Au revoir, Marguerite…”
Mache-couine purred and patted the water with his paw. With that, Tante Perle’s image rippled to the edge of the trough and disappeared.
“Tante Perle!” Meg yelled. But it was too late. Her great-aunt was gone.
Meg’s eyes blurred with tears. She looked down at the cat and shook her head.
“Troublemaker!” She scooped Mache-couine up into Joseph’s blanket, then wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her chemise and rushed out the barn door. There was no time to think; she had to get to the others before the soldiers came back.
Nothing could have prepared Meg for the scene she found when she arrived back at the house. The door hung loosely from its hinges. The house lay empty. The narrow bench lay toppled to the ground. A light rectangle marked the spot on the planked floor where the wooden trunk had been.
Meg clutched Joseph’s blanket and the cat to her chest. Mache-couine purred and licked her face.
Was she too late?
She ran outside and darted back up the hill for a better view. Off in the distance a procession of carts snaked down towards the shore.
Something else caught her eye.
Dolphins!
They bobbed around the rowboats as they travelled back and forth boarding passengers on the ships.
With the dolphins come the ships.
The simple beauty in their movements gave Meg strength. The dolphins were there to protect them, Meg was sure of that.
Meg’s spirit was renewed.
She hadn’t been locked in a cellar, thrown in a ship’s hold, lost her great-aunt in the ocean—only to find her in a barn trough—and been transported back in time over two and a half centuries to give up now! She picked up her skirt and looked down at her bundle.
“Don’t you move a whisker!”
Mache-couine huddled deep inside Joseph’s blanket as Meg raced to the shore.
Chapter 17
MEG SEARCHED THE SHORELINE FOR GENEVIÈVE, Madame Galland, and the boys. The beach teemed with crying children, worried mothers, and soldiers barking orders. A long rowboat shoved off from the water’s edge. Its passengers rowed toward the ships moored in the middle of the harbour.
“Marguerite!” Madame Galland rushed to her side. Joseph clung to his mother, burying his face in her chest. Relief swept over Meg. There was still hope that the family could stay together.
“Where were you?” Madame Galland cried. She wrapped Meg in a desperate hug. “I thought I had lost you!” Madame Galland drew back. “Where are Geneviève and baby Daniel?” The relief Meg had felt just moments before was snatched back.
“You mean they’re not with you? I went to look for you and Joseph in the barn and when I went back to the house everyone was gone.”
“The soldiers forced us onto the wagon from the barn; Joseph has been beside himself without Mache-couine.”
On cue, Mache-couine poked his head out from the blanket Meg held and mewed. Joseph’s face brightened. Meg placed the precious bundle into his arms.
“Prepare for the last load!” The call came from down the beach.
Meg turned towards the voice. Through the crowd, she saw Geneviève’s golden hair peeking out from beneath her bonnet. She was sitting on a low outcropping of rocks farther down the shore with baby Daniel swaddled in her arms, red-faced and crying. The wooden trunk lay at her feet. The soldier from the house grasped Geneviève’s arm to help her stand and led her to the boat at the water’s edge. Geneviève’s head waved back and forth in confusion.
“Geneviève!” Meg grabbed Madame Galland’s hand and they stumbled over the rugged shore littered with the Acadians’ possessions. The crowd parted to let them through.
“You again!” The soldier stepped in front of Meg, blocking her way with his arm. Her face bumped up against his crimson uniform.
“Please! You need to let us on that boat, too.”
“Marguerite! Where are you? Don’t leave me!” Geneviève reached for her. Baby Daniel continued to wail.
“This load is complete. All other deportees will board the remaining ship.”
“But we all need to stay together. We’re a family!” Meg pleaded.
“You haven’t given me one shred of evidence that this girl is a member of your family. Until you do so, she and her brother will be boarded with the sick and infirmed.”
Meg struggled under the soldier’s arm and grabbed onto Geneviève. He swung around.
“I’ve had just about enough of your foolishness! This girl doesn’t even look like you! Where she is fair, you are dark. Where she is tall you are nothing but a runt.”
Meg fumed. Runt? If only she had more dirty diaper linens, she’d show him.
“Move!” He levelled his rifle, waving Meg away with its barrel. Meg didn’t budge.
A whistle and a hiss filled the morning air. Without looking, Meg realized the dolphins were swimming at the water’s edge. Giving her comfort, giving her strength. The soldier lowered his rifle slowly and gazed over Meg’s shoulder, mesmerized by the spectacle.
Think on your feet and you will find the answer.
Tante Perle’s words ran through Meg’s mind.
Think on your feet.
Meg looked down. She was still wearing her leather dance shoes for the step-dancing portion of the Acadian Star finale.
Could it be? Could that be the answer? If not, they were doomed. But maybe, just maybe…
“I can show that we are related,” Meg stated. “In fact, what you are about to see will prove it!”
Meg linked arms with Geneviève and whispered in her ear. “Do you need to be able to see to still be able to dance?” she asked hopefully.
“As long as you keep that clunky right foot away from me, we should be fine,” Geneviève whispered back. A smile tugged at the corner of Meg’s mouth. That alone convinced her that her plan might work.
Madame Galland took baby Daniel from Geneviève and held a boy in each arm. Concern furrowed her brow.
“Be careful, Marguerite,” she whispered.
Meg jumped up on the wooden trunk and pulled Geneviève up along with her.
“What’s the meaning of this?” The soldier shook his head, emerging from his trance.
“I’ll make you a deal,” Meg said. “If this convinces you that we are related, we get to stay together. If it doesn’t, make me a promise that you will put me on the other ship and not her.”
“Non!” Madame Galland yelled.
Meg put her hand up and shook her head slightly. “C’est bien,” she whispered.
“What could a common pipsqueak and a blind, bumbling twit possibly h
ave in common?” the soldier sneered.
“Is it a deal?” Meg asked.
“Fine. If nothing, this will serve to entertain.” He lowered his rifle and slung it over his shoulder by its leather strap.
Meg held Geneviève’s hand and whispered.
“Ready?”
Geneviève nodded, her mouth opened slightly in preparation. Her eyes stared blankly into the distance.
Tap, tap, tap.
Meg started the timing with her right foot. Geneviève joined along. The soldier propped his boot up on a nearby rock and folded his arms in bemusement.
“This should be good,” he mocked.
“Toe-heel-toe. Toe-heel-toe,” Meg muttered under her breath.
“Got it,” Geneviève replied.
A few of the Acadian deportees gathered to watch. Despite the sombreness of the morning, they tapped their feet or clapped their hands with the beat.
Toe-heel-toe. Toe-heel-toe.
Meg and Geneviève tapped their heels and clickety-clicked as if joined at the hip. Their movements merged in perfect unison. Meg glanced over to her friend, smiling wildly. She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the rhythm of the dance.
Tap and roll.
The energy of the crowded beach pulsed as they clapped and stomped their feet, propelling them onward. Meg opened her eyes to the smiles on the faces of her Acadian brothers and sisters standing on the shore. The soldier dropped his arms to his sides and watched on.
Toe-heel-toe. Toe-heel-toe.
The rhythm of their feet grew and grew until they came to the big finale.
“Snap!” Both right feet slapped down on the wooden trunk in perfect unison.
The beach erupted in applause. Meg clutched Geneviève’s hand. Geneviève squeezed it back in earnest and turned her head towards her, eyes smiling.
The soldier swept his arm across the mass of deportees for the crowd to hush.
“That proves nothing!”
Chapter 18
A DISGRUNTLED MURMUR RIPPLED THROUGH THE CROWD. Meg’s grip on Geneviève’s hand tightened. “It didn’t work.” Meg leaned her head on her friend’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
Acadian Star Page 7
