“Oh really.”
“Yes. Many slaves ran away. They didn’t all make it, but some of them did; and some of them lived around here. And they weren’t all servants. They taught school and made furniture. They farmed, and they were fishermen.” Felicia started to feel short of breath, but she persisted. “They ran companies, and they were soldiers. There were even two newspapers.”
Miss Peabody said, “Thank you, Felicia. That thoughtful response is a good prelude to my announcement.” The class was silently expectant. “Mr. Allenby and I find this part of our history very interesting. We’ve organized a field trip for next week to a museum that documents the settlement of escaped slaves in the surrounding area; it’s just outside of Collingwood.” She turned to a pile of papers on her desk and started to hand them out. “These are the permission forms. Please take them home to be signed.”
As if suddenly remembering her other student, the teacher turned and said, “Oh, Ashley. Are you finished your presentation?” Ashley nodded. “Class, does anyone have questions for Ashley?”
Ashley looked out at her classmates, but there were no questions and no one said anything; so scrunching her flowered skirt with both fists, she turned and walked through the doorway and out of the classroom.
And for one brief micro millisecond, Felicia felt pity for Ashley.
CHAPTER 45
Flower
THE FAMILY TRAVELED throughout the night. Flower sat nodding with exhaustion beside the driver. As the sun began to warm the sky, they stopped in front of a farmhouse. A quilt lay displayed over the verandah railing. It was blue and green with a white star in the center.
“This here’s the first stop. Down you get.”
“Can I take this hat off now?”
“Yes.”
“It’s tied so I can’t do it.”
“Just pull on the ribbon, you foolish girl.”
Flower pulled, and the tie came loose. She placed the bonnet on the bench and then slid down from her perch, clipping her chin on the side of the wagon. She didn’t cry out, though it hurt; she stood rubbing it as she watched the driver remove the blanket and box tops so that her parents could leave their hiding place.
“Can you stand?” the driver asked.
“I think so.” Eldon winced with pain as he stretched his legs onto the ground. Cleo struggled out and leaned against him, her eyes clamped shut. Gabriel was wrapped against her body.
“We’ve got a ways to go yet. Hold on, here comes Jake.”
They turned to see a tall man coming down the porch steps. Flower was surprised to see his skin was brown, just like hers.
He moved rapidly, with long, healthy strides. “You’ve got a wagonful!”
“A whole family: ma and pa, a girl child, and a babe.”
“Able to travel on foot?”
“We’ve been doing it,” said Eldon. “Do we have far yet?”
“Enough.” He looked at Cleo. “How about the woman?”
“She’s able. She’s been walking, haven’t you?” Eldon looked at his wife. When she didn’t respond, he nudged her. “You’re able, aren’t you?” Cleo slowly opened her eyes and stared vacantly ahead. “See, she’s able.”
Jake and the driver exchanged glances. “I don’t know. She doesn’t look good.”
“I’ll help her,” said Flower. She stood beside her mother. “I’ll take the baby.” The cocooned infant was transferred to her.
“Options are few,” said Jake. “We’d best keep moving.”
The driver stepped up to his seat on the wagon and snapped the reins. The wheels started to turn. Jake waved good-bye to him and to a woman standing on the porch. She folded the quilt and returned his wave. The family followed Jake as he walked into the trees.
They walked for four hours, stopping every hour to rest. When the sun was high, they sat by a brook and drank from its icy water. Jake pulled bread and cheese from a sack. Flower’s stomach reacted with punishing spasms as she pushed the food into her mouth. She was so hungry, she hardly took the time to chew it.
She tore the bread into tiny bits for Gabriel, slid cupped water into his mouth.
Eldon fed Cleo and spoke encouragingly to her, as Flower did to Gabriel. “Come on now, take a little bit.”
“Don’t you forget to eat, Pa.”
“I know.”
“We have to keep strong.”
“I know, daughter.”
Walking became agony for the last hour. Cleo could barely lift her feet; she was supported, one on each side, by her daughter and limping husband. Flower was ready to cry out “enough!” when Jake halted ahead of her, his hand raised. They waited in a grove of shrubs while he continued ahead. Flower lost sight of him, but she could see a small cabin amid many trees as she peered through the thicket of low-lying branches.
“All clear.” He led them to a log building with a dirt floor and no windows, just a door. There was a heap of hay in one corner. Eldon eased Cleo onto it, then released Gabriel from his sling and laid him alongside his mother. Flower wanted to lie down, too, but stood and waited.
“It’s not much, but it’s safe, for the time being anyhow,” said Jake.
Eldon said, “We’re thankful for your help. You saved our lives. If only there was some way to repay you…”
Jake waved the words away with his hand. “We have to help each other. I’m leaving you bread, cheese, and some salt pork. Should last for about three days. There’s a stream near here for your drinking needs.”
“Thank you.”
“When you’re ready, follow the stream north to the Buxton place, about a day’s walk from here. If it’s safe, they’ll have the quilt out.”
Jake disappeared into the trees. They were alone. Flower watched her father sink to the ground beside Cleo and the baby. Her parents fell asleep immediately, but Gabriel started to cry weakly. She picked him up and carried him outside into the fading sunlight.
“Let’s get us a drink.”
The sound of the flowing water made the stream easy to find. Flower set her little brother on the ground, cupped water for herself, and drank greedily, then offered it to Gabriel.
“That’s good. You’re learning to drink like a big boy,” she said, as he sucked the water out of her palm. “Let’s go back and have some more bread.”
Flower tried to wake her mother and father. She knew it was important for them to eat and drink, but Eldon didn’t respond to her urgings, and Cleo only whimpered and curled up on her side. Flower lay down with Gabriel between herself and her mother, and she fell into an exhausted sleep.
“Help me! Help me! God help me!”
Flower jumped awake at the sound of her mother’s cries. Moonlight flooded through the open door into the interior of the cabin. She could see Cleo pulling at her chest. “Ma! What’s wrong?”
“Get it off me! Help me!”
“Get what off you?” Eldon was barely awake.
“The snake! There’s a snake! Get it off me! Oh, please get it off me!”
“Ma, you’re dreaming, there’s no snake.”
“The snake! The snake! Get it off of me! Oh, please…”
Flower put her hand on her mother’s chest. “There. I’ve got it. I took it off you. It’s all gone now.”
“It’s gone?”
“Yes. It’s gone. It’s never coming back.”
“Thank you.”
Flower transferred her hand to her mother’s face. The skin was burning hot and her breath was rapid. Flower could see
the pulse beating in her neck. “Pa, she’s got a fever, she’s sick.” Eldon didn’t answer. He was asleep again, snoring. Flower felt his forehead. It was also hot.
For the next three days, Flower cared for her family. She fed them by hand. She carried water from the stream and forced them to drink. She dipped Cleo’s shawl in the water and used the wet cloth to bathe and cool their feverish faces. She sang to her brother, fed him and played with him, and worried about when her family would be well enough to continue their journey.
CHAPTER 46
Felicia
THE REHEARSAL came to a disorganized halt with Mr. Butler waving his script in the air. “Quiet, please. Quiet, please.” His face reddened with the effort of raising his voice, and he tugged at his hair with frustration. It stood up from his head in gray wiry spokes surrounding the gleam of a bald center. “We’ve still got some fine-tuning to do with this production. I want everyone to be prepared to work harder at tomorrow’s rehearsal.”
There were a few yes sirs and okays as the students made their way out of the auditorium.
Dodie asked, “What do you think we should wear for this thing?”
“I think we should all wear black.”
Mr. Butler overheard them. “You may be wondering about costumes. For the boys, dark clothes if possible; for the girls, dresses or skirts, perhaps flowered. A parents’ group has volunteered to sew white aprons for all of the girls to wear as well.”
“Except for me,” said Ashley.
“I have this beautiful dress—” began Renate.
“I have this beautiful dress that’s been in my family for ages. I’m going to wear it,” said Ashley.
“That will be fine,” said Mr. Butler. “Oh, by the way, I should tell you we have a sold out show! What do you think of that?”
The group applauded. “Okay, everyone. We’ll break early today—there seems to be a problem with focus—but I want to see everyone again tomorrow after school for a full run-through of the show.”
Matt and Josh joined the girls as they walked to the cafeteria. “Maybe we’ll get a TV series out of this,” said Matt.
“Little Nerds on the Prairie?” asked Josh. “I can’t believe how humiliating this is! You guys don’t understand. If only I could weasel my way out of it. I’m tempted to say I’ve sprained my ankle or something.”
“It’s only for one night,” said Sophie.
“One night of horror.”
“I think Ashley’s getting a big crush on you.”
“Please!”
“It’s tough being the star of the show,” said Dodie.
“You think it’s funny, but it isn’t. The whole school and their families will be there, all laughing at me.”
“Nobody will be laughing at you.” Felicia said.
“And not everyone’s family will be there,” said Sophie. “My dad’s going to be away, and my mom can’t get a babysitter for my little brother.”
“My aunt and two of my friends will be visiting from the city. They’re coming with my mom and grandma,” said Felicia.
“Will they all be in the front row?”
“I hope not!”
“I bet they’ll be in the front row,” Josh said. “With a camera.”
Felicia felt a quiver of embarrassment at the thought. She wondered if Lenore and Rosalee would find the production a silly waste of time. Lost in thought, she didn’t immediately notice Ashley, who was waiting at her locker.
Felicia moaned inwardly, but said nothing.
Ashley’s voice was hot with rage. “Here she is. Little Miss Know-It-All. You think you’re so smart, don’t you?”
Felicia didn’t say anything, so Ashley continued. “Ruining my project with your little sermon, being such a sucky toad to Miss Peabody.”
“Sticks and stones, Ashley. Bad names can’t hurt me. You’re just embarrassed because your presentation was so lame. And you’d love it to be somebody else’s fault.”
“You just wait. You’re in for a rude surprise. You think you’re so smart. You may have a little trouble in the future.”
Felicia shook her head. “I’d like to open my locker.”
Ashley stepped aside. “You just wait.” Felicia watched her disappear in the throng of students.
When Felicia got to the cafeteria, she found Dodie, Sophie, Renate, Josh, and Matt engaged in the daily routine of displaying their lunches and trading for something they liked better.
“Guys, Ashley just told me that something bad is going to happen to me. ‘Just wait,’ she said.”
“What’s she going to do?” asked Matt. “Trip you off the stage?”
“I don’t know.”
Melissa walked over to the table with a whole tin of marshmallow squares. “These are for everybody. They’re left over from my mom’s coffee party. She says she wants them out of the house so she won’t eat them.”
The squares were passed around. When they arrived in Felicia’s hand, she hesitated, remembering Melissa’s participation in the washroom bullying.
“Please take one, Felicia.” Melissa smiled in a warm and special way, and Felicia understood that she wanted to move on from that nasty incident.
Felicia took a square and bit into it, hoping it wouldn’t blow up in her face as a nasty joke. It was gooey and delicious. “Thank you.”
A scrunched-up lunch bag bounced off Melissa’s head and landed on the table.
“Ashley’s mad at me,” said Melissa. “She’s mad at Lucy too.”
They all looked at the table behind them where Ashley sat with her diminished posse of two people.
“Why is she mad at you and Lucy?” Sophie asked.
“We stopped listening to her. Her constant mean attitude just got boring, such a drag. Everything was always bad, bad, bad. Especially all the stuff about Felicia. She was telling everyone she could that Felicia’s family had been in trouble in the city. She said that’s why you had to move. She said Felicia’s dad was in jail.”
“That is so not true,” said Felicia.
“We figured that out when the story got wilder and wilder. She said you had an uncle who was a terrorist.”
They all burst into spontaneous laughter. “Oh Felicia,” said Matt, “you are so scary.”
Only Felicia was solemn. “That is just crazy.”
“We know. We told her, and now she’s not speaking to us.”
“Ashley’s always mad at somebody,” said Renate, trying to comfort Felicia.
“But especially me,” said Felicia. “She hates me. She can’t stand the sight of me, and I know why, but I can’t do anything about it.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s because I’m not white.” The group was silent as Felicia gathered the courage to continue. “But I like the color of my skin.”
“Why wouldn’t you?” asked Josh.
Felicia smiled at Josh. “Some people don’t like it.” She glanced at Melissa, then looked down at her lap. “They keep telling me that I don’t fit in here because I look different.”
“We’re all of us different,” said Dodie, “in one way or another.”
“The color of my skin is separated into millions of freckles,” said Sophie. “I get teased about it all the time.”
Felicia smiled at Sophie’s dappled face. “I think you look neat, especially your eyes—sometimes they look gray, and sometimes they look green.”
“Thank you.”
“Well, it’s true what people say,” said Renate, “it’s the spirit inside us that really counts—and how we treat each other.”
CHAPTER 47
Flower
ON THE FOURTH morning, Flower could see her breath in the air and was amazed at the sight of white powder on the ground. She wrapped her mother’s cloak t
ightly around herself, enclosing Gabriel in its warmth as she made her way to the stream. Crusts of patterned crystal rimmed the rocky edges, but the water flowed freely.
By midmorning, the snow was gone. Eldon came out of the cabin, stood absorbing the sunlight. He said to Flower, “The weather is changing. The more we travel north, the colder it’s going to get. Time to get a move on.”
“What about Ma? Can she do it?”
They both looked in at Cleo curled up on the hay. Eldon said, “Come, Cleo, try to get yourself moving. We can’t stay here forever.” Cleo didn’t answer. Eldon raised his voice. “You’ve got to try!” His words disappeared in the midst of a barking cough. He pressed his hand against his chest.
“I’m trying.” Cleo struggled to sit. She looked up at her daughter. “How’s my darlin’ doing? Working so hard for us.”
“Can you get up? Can you walk a little bit to the water?”
“I think so.” Cleo took hold of Eldon’s hand. He pulled. “Ow! Easy, easy.” Another gentler tug, and she was on her feet. She swayed and closed her eyes. “Oh, my head’s spinning.”
“Come on out into the sun. It feels good and warm.”
Cleo took wobbly steps outside and stood leaning against the cabin. “That does feel good.”
Flower said, “You both have to start walking. We’ll run out of food soon.”
“And the northern weather is on our doorstep,” added Eldon.
Cleo’s legs buckled, and she sank to the ground in a heap. “I don’t think I can do it. You two carry on without me.”
“Don’t talk foolish.” Eldon knelt weakly beside his wife and frowned. “I’m a burden now too.” He looked up at Flower. “You feeling all right?”
“Yes.”
“Truthfully?”
“Yes, Pa.”
“Think you can follow that stream if I send you in the right direction?”
“By myself?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to be by myself.”
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