The Mandie Collection (36 page)

Full of resentment, Mandie turned and raced back down the hallway and around the corner to her room. She pushed the door open and found her trunk and bags sitting in the middle of the floor. Closing the door, she flopped down on the blue silk bedspread with the kitten in her arms and began talking to him. She could still hear the baby screaming in the distance.

“What are we going to do, Snowball?” she asked the kitten. “We can't stand all that screaming and carrying on. That baby is a brat. That's what it is—a brat!” She wiped her teary eyes.

Snowball meowed and purred.

Just then the door opened and Liza, the Negro maid, danced into the room.

Mandie sat up quickly.

Liza grinned. “I sho' is glad to see you, Missy 'Manda,” she said. “Dat howlin' baby's 'bout to drive us all batty, sho' 'nuff.”

Mandie jumped up to embrace her friend. “I'm glad to be home, Liza. But I didn't expect all that noise.”

“You ain't heerd de half of it, Missy,” Liza told her. “It go on all day and all night it do. And we'se rubbed our hands raw washin' dem baby diapers. De clothesline it stay full of wavin' white diapers.”

Mandie sat in a nearby chair and looked up at the maid. “Does that baby really cry all the time?”

Liza nodded. “Jes' about.”

“Is it sick or what?”

“Dat doctuh man say he cain't find nuthin' wrong,” Liza replied, walking over to Mandie's trunk. She tried to open it.

“It's locked,” Mandie said.

“You got de key, Missy?” Liza asked. “Aunt Lou say I got to git dis heah trunk unpacked befo' suppertime.”

Mandie reached inside the small valise she had carried on the train and pulled out the key. “I'll help so we can talk.” She opened the trunk and threw back the lid.

Liza was not much older than Mandie and the two were good friends. The Negro girl always seemed to know everything that was going on around the Shaw house. As they shook out dresses from the trunk and hung them in the huge wardrobe, Liza brought Mandie up to date.

“Yo' Uncle John he done gone to Richmond on bidness, he
say
,” Liza told her. “I say he go to git 'way from de screamin'.”

Mandie looked at her and laughed. “But Liza, I don't think Uncle John would go all the way to Richmond to get away from the noise. He could just go downtown for awhile.”

Liza put Mandie's bonnets on the top shelf of the wardrobe. “But he cain't stay long downtown,” she said. “Anyhow, I thinks yo' ma, she oughtta go some place, too. Miz 'Lizbeth look plumb wore out.”

“That's
their
problem!” Mandie snapped. She leaned into the trunk to retrieve another dress. “They wanted the baby, so now they have to put up with it.”

Liza stopped putting the clothes away, propped her hands on her hips, and frowned at Mandie. “Dat baby be yo' kin, too,” she scolded.

Mandie straightened up. “But I didn't ask for a baby,” she argued. “It wasn't my idea. They can . . . they can . . . give it away, for all I care!”

Liza's eyes grew wide. “Missy!”

Mandie blew out her breath. “Well, at least I won't have to put up with that baby for the whole month of July.”

“And where is you gwine to be gone to?” Liza questioned.

“Didn't you know, Liza?” Mandie's blue eyes sparkled with excitement. “I'm going to Europe with my grandmother and my friend back at school, Celia Hamilton.”

“Dat's de first I'se heerd of it,” Liza said. “Europe? Where dat be, Missy?”

“Europe is all the way across the ocean,” Mandie explained. “We're going to sail on one of those huge passenger ships like I saw when we were in Charleston, South Carolina, last year.”

Liza shook her head slowly. “What fo' you wants to be traipsin' all over de place?” she persisted. “You goes to dat Washington town to see dat President man clear out o' dis part o' de country, and now you says you gwine ride out on all dat water.” Liza threw her hands up in the air. “Lawsy mercy, Missy, s'pose dat ship git a hole in it. You cain't swim. Whatcha gwine do den?”

“Liza, my grandmother and I have already discussed all this,” Mandie told her. “The ship will have a lot of small boats on it, and if the big ship starts to leak or sink, then they put all the little boats in the water. And all the passengers get into the boats and wait for another big ship to pick them up. That's all there is to it,” Mandie explained. She started hanging up her dresses again.

“Dat ain't all dere is to it,” Liza contradicted her, watching Mandie do the work. “S'pose no big ships find out you ridin' 'round in dem li'l boats? You cain't stay dere forever. You gotta eat sometime.”

“Liza, all the big ships can send messages to other boats. Our ship would let another one know that we needed help,” Mandie replied.

Liza grunted. “Humph! Wouldn't ketch me on dem big ships or dem li'l boats, neither. I cain't swim.”

“I can't either, but I wouldn't be afraid—I don't think,” Mandie said.

Liza shook out the last dress from the trunk, and the girls quickly unpacked the rest of Mandie's bags. Then when Liza had to go downstairs to set the table for supper, Mandie decided to take a bath.

Flipping through the dresses hanging in her wardrobe, she picked a white voile dress with tiny blue embroidered flowers and laid it out on her bed. In this unusually warm June weather, the voile dress would be cool.

The whole time Mandie was bathing, she heard the baby screaming down the hall. Mandie dreaded having to face her mother at the supper table.

The more she thought about it, the more she wished she didn't have a vacation from school. She would rather be back there with Celia than have to listen to this howling all day long.

As Mandie got dressed, she surveyed herself in the long mirror in her room. She was sure that even Miss Prudence back at school would be proud of her. Mandie had the ladylike look that the headmistress and Miss Hope had tried so hard to teach their students.

As she stared into the mirror, Mandie realized that she was getting taller. After all, she would be thirteen years old in a few days.

Above the sound of the baby's crying, a quick knock on the door made Mandie jump. Liza entered the room abruptly. “Miz 'Lizbeth, she say tell you she cain't eat supper at de table tonight 'cause de baby keep cryin',” Liza explained.

“You mean I have to eat supper alone?” Mandie whined.

“Mistuh Bond, he be back. He be heah fo' supper tonight,” Liza told her. “I got to go take a tray to yo' ma now.” She danced out of the room.

Mandie sighed. That baby kept on interfering with everything. Mandie plopped down in a chair and put her hands over her ears as the little one's yelling continued. She waited until the little ceramic clock on her mantelpiece struck six. Then she went downstairs.

Jason Bond stood waiting in the hallway for her. “Welcome home,” the old caretaker said, going ahead to push open the door to the dining room.

Mandie smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Jason,” she returned.

Inside the dining room, the table before them was loaded with food. Mandie noticed that a place had been set for her mother. As she and Mr. Bond sat down, Mandie looked up at Liza nearby. “Is Mother coming down, after all?” she asked.

“No, Missy, I jes' left dem dishes there 'cause I ain't had time to move 'em,” the maid replied, picking up the china. “Here, I'll jes' put 'em on de side heah. Maybe dat doctuh man come in time to eat.”

Mandie shook out the linen napkin by her place and laid it in her lap. “When I left Dr. Woodard at the depot, he said he'd be here later,” she told Liza, “so maybe he will arrive in time for the meal.”

After giving thanks for their food, Mr. Bond asked about her upcoming journey overseas. Mandie noticed he carefully avoided mentioning the new baby.

“You're a brave little lady to get on one of those big ships and sail all the way across the ocean,” the caretaker said, helping himself to the fried chicken.

Mandie spooned green beans onto her plate. “Have you ever been to Europe, Mr. Jason?” she asked.

“Goodness, no,” Mr. Bond replied. “I'm satisfied staying right here where I belong. Ain't got no hankering to cross all that water.”

“I'm anxious to go,” Mandie said excitedly. “I think I'll really enjoy it. You know my grandmother has been to Europe several times, and she has told me so much about everything over there that I just can't wait to see it!” Mandie took a bite of her chicken.

The caretaker grinned. “Well, you're young and should enjoy it,” he said. “Me, I'm too old for that kind of a lark.”

Mandie noticed that she could still hear the baby crying, even with the doors closed. “Mr. Jason, do you think there's something wrong with that baby?” she ventured.

Jason Bond swallowed a bite of food and smiled at her. “Dr. Woodard says the baby's normal—no health problems he can see,” the man replied. “Maybe that poor child just needs to get used to us all.”

At that moment, Liza came in from the hall, and Mandie heard another piercing wail from the baby. “Well, I sure wish it'd hurry up,” she said, drumming her fingers on the table. “That crying is one big reason why I'll be glad to get away from here for a whole month.” She took a drink of her iced tea.

Mr. Bond buttered a biscuit and took a bite. “Your mother is not very experienced at these things, you know,” he said. “So if I were you, I'd kinda be patient.”

“I know she doesn't have much experience,” Mandie said, laying down her fork. “My Grandmother told my mother I was dead and gave me to my father. Then she told him never to come back.”

“Now, now, Missy,” the caretaker protested. “I know all about that. But it was all your grandmother's doing. She was the one who told your father that your mother didn't want you and never wanted to see him again.” Mr. Bond sipped his coffee. “Don't blame your mother for that.”

Mandie sat silently for a minute. “Well, if I had been in my mother's place,” she said, “I would have demanded proof that my baby had died.”

“You know your grandmother, Missy. She can be stern and bossy,” Jason Bond replied.

Mandie sighed deeply. “Well, anyhow, I don't think Mother loves me as much as I love her,” she said.

Liza opened the door and entered with fresh, hot biscuits. “De doctuh man be heah,” she announced. “He be comin' right in to eat, he say.”

As Liza danced out of the room, Dr. Woodard came in, sat down at the table. “Sorry I'm late for supper,” he said, looking around the table. “Where's your mother, Amanda?”

Mandie took a deep breath. “Can't you hear that screaming going on? She's upstairs with that crying baby.”

“I told her there's no reason for her to hold the baby every minute,” Dr. Woodard said, helping himself to the beans. “Someone else ought to stay with it so she can at least come down and eat.”

“I agree, Dr. Woodard,” Mandie said. “But my mother is so wrapped up in the baby that she can't leave it long enough to join us for supper.”

A look of concern flitted across the doctor's face. “Have you seen the baby, Amanda?”

“I've seen it, and all it was doing was screaming its head off while my mother held it,” Mandie answered.

“Well, things should improve soon because there is nothing physically wrong with the baby that I can see,” the doctor said. “In fact,
your mother may have spoiled that child with all that holding and

rocking all the time.”

“You're probably right,” Mandie agreed.

Liza danced into the dining room again. “Thought you might want to know, Missy. Miz 'Lizbeth done et her supper whut I took her, and she say fo' me to come right back and stay wid dat baby so she kin come down to de parlor for a while.” Without waiting for a reply Liza slipped back into the kitchen.

Dr. Woodard and Mandie looked at each other.

“That's a good sign,” the doctor said. “I'll hurry so we can join her in the parlor.”

Mandie dreaded facing her mother, but she knew she had to. She felt guilty about the way she had reacted to her mother's request to come see the baby. At least her mother wouldn't have that crying infant with her in the parlor.

CHAPTER TWO

CRY, CRY, CRY!

Mandie and Dr. Woodard were already seated in the parlor when Elizabeth came downstairs. Dr. Woodard stood as she entered the room. The pretty blond woman was neatly dressed, as usual, but she looked tired and weak.

Mandie looked at her in alarm, then ran to embrace her. “I love you, Mother,” she said.

“And I love you, darling. Let's sit down over here.” Elizabeth indicated a settee by the window opposite where Dr. Woodard had been sitting. “And I thank you, Dr. Woodard, for escorting Amanda home from school.”

Dr. Woodard nodded. “I was glad to do so, Elizabeth. It was no inconvenience at all,” he said. “Now if you'll excuse me for a few minutes, I think I'll speak to Mr. Bond about something.”

Elizabeth smiled. “Of course, Dr. Woodard, but do come on back,” she urged. “I'm anxious to hear about your family.”

As the doctor left the room, Elizabeth gently pulled Mandie down beside her on the settee. “I'm glad you're home, dear,” she said. “We've been waiting for you to come home and name the baby.”

Mandie frowned, nervously twisting her hands together in her lap. “I . . . I wouldn't know what to name a baby,” she said haltingly. “You name it.”

“The baby is not an
it
, Amanda. He's a boy. You have a little brother.”

Well, at least that little mystery is solved
, she thought.
And I'm still the only daughter, anyway
.

“Your Uncle John and I thought you might like to name him,” Elizabeth went on. “And John suggested naming him James after your father, dear.”