The Princess Club / Family Secrets / Mountain Madness (3 page)

But when she looked into Ruby Mae's shining brown eyes, she couldn't say a thing. Christy had grown up in a lovely home, with pretty dresses and fine food and loving parents and all the shoes she'd ever needed.

Not long ago, Ruby Mae had actually visited Christy's old home. Bessie had needed an operation at a hospital in Asheville, and Ruby Mae, Christy, David, and Doctor MacNeill had traveled there together. Christy could still remember the look on Ruby Mae's face when she'd first stepped into Christy's old bedroom. Seeing it through Ruby Mae's eyes, Christy had felt ashamed at the way she'd always taken her own good fortune for granted.

“Magic rocks,” Ruby Mae repeated in a whisper. “That's what they is.”

Christy touched the red ribbon in Ruby Mae's hair. “You know, that ribbon looks pretty in your hair,” she said softly.

“Finest present I ever got,” Ruby Mae declared, still staring at the gold. “Practically the onliest one,” she added with a smile.

Gently Christy put the gold nugget back in the box with the others.

“Miz Christy?” Ruby Mae asked thoughtfully. “You figure a gal from these here parts could ever make somethin' of herself? Maybe be a doctor or a teacher or have a passel of kids in a big city mansion?”

“I think a girl from these parts can do just about anything she sets her mind to, if she works hard at her schooling,” Christy said, “and gets enough sleep.” She placed the box back inside the trunk. “You head on to bed now.”

“One more thing,” Ruby Mae said when she got to the door.

“Yes, Ruby Mae?”

“I was wonderin' if you'd mind hidin' that key o' yours someplace more secret-like. I know I can trust everyone, but just in case . . .”

Christy stared at the brass key. She'd never bothered to lock her trunk before today. She eased the key into the lock and turned it until it clicked. Then she slipped the key under her mattress.

“How's that?” Christy asked.

“Much better. Now I can get me some sleep.”

Christy sighed. “I hope I can say the same for myself.”

Four

N
ow, there are several differences between frogs and toads,” Christy said the next afternoon in the schoolhouse.

Prince Egbert sat on her battered desk in a small wooden box Clara had borrowed from her father. It was nice, Christy realized, to have any kind of educational aid—even if it
was
just a disgruntled frog.

When Christy had first come to the mission school, she'd been shocked at the lack of supplies. There'd been no paper, no books, no pencils, no chalk. In the winter, there wasn't even enough heat.

It still amazed her that she had sixty-seven students of all ages and abilities. Some could read and do math. Some couldn't even hold a pencil. And no matter what their grade level, they were all crowded into one tiny schoolhouse—a school that doubled as the church on Sundays.

On a hot, sunny day like today, it was especially hard to control so many children. It didn't help one bit that Ruby May, Bessie, and Clara had been disrupting class all morning with giggles and whispers.

Creed Allen, a mischievous nine-year-old, waved his hand frantically. “Teacher!” he called. “I got me a question about that there frog!”

“Yes, Creed?”

“How come Clara Spencer gets to bring her pet to school, but I can't bring Scalawag?”

Christy sighed tolerantly. Scalawag was Creed's pet raccoon. She'd made his acquaintance on the first day of school, when Creed had hidden the animal in his desk.

“This frog—” Christy began.

“Prince Egbert,” Clara interjected.

“Excuse me. Prince Egbert,” Christy continued, “is here as part of our science class, Creed. We're learning about amphibians, and—”

“But Scalawag's got manners to spare compared to that slimy ol' frog,” Creed persisted.

“I'm sure he does, Creed. But he's such an entertaining fellow that we'd never get any learning done with Scalawag around, don't you think?”

“I s'pose,” Creed said crankily. “But he's a heap more good for learnin' than some warty fibian.”

“Amphibian,” Christy corrected. “And that brings me to an interesting point. Who can tell me the difference between a frog's skin and a toad's?”

“Tell you this,” came a loud voice from the back of the room. “Ruby Mae's got more warts than either of 'em!”

“That will be enough, Lundy,” Christy said firmly. At seventeen, Lundy Taylor was the oldest boy in school. He was also the source of most trouble. He was a vicious bully, and although he'd been better behaved lately, Christy never let her guard down around Lundy.

“Shut up, Lundy Taylor!” Ruby Mae shot back. She jutted her chin. “I'm better 'n you every which way there is. 'Specially 'cause now I'm a-goin' to be stinkin' r—”

“Hush, Ruby Mae!” Clara elbowed her hard.

“Stinkin' is right,” Lundy crowed. “You stink like them hogs under the schoolhouse. Only they smell better!”

Christy clapped her hands. “That will be quite enough,” she said. She was beginning to wonder if she should have let the children have a longer lunch break. The way things were turning out, it was going to be a long afternoon.

“Lizette?” Christy said. “Can you answer my question about the difference between frogs and toads?”

Lizette Holcombe shrugged. “Nope,” she grumbled.

Christy was surprised at her tone of voice. Lizette was one of her best students. “Is something wrong, Lizette?”

Lizette glared at Ruby Mae and her friends. “Nothin's wrong.”

“Are you sure?” Christy asked gently.

“Why don't you just ask the
princesses
to answer? They think they're so smart. But you could take all the brains they've got, put them in a goose quill and blow 'em in a bedbug's eye!”

Christy knelt by Lizette's side. She was a tall, pretty girl, with long brown hair. But her face was splotched and red, as if she'd been crying.

“What's wrong, Lizette? What do you mean, ‘princesses'?”

Christy feared she knew all too well what the answer was going to be.

“Ruby Mae and Clara and Bessie,” Lizette said. “They started them up a club for princesses and such.”

“Ruby Mae?” Christy asked sternly. “What's this about a club?”

Ruby Mae grinned. “We started us a club during the break. We're callin' it ‘The Princess Club.' Nobody but me and Bessie and Clara can get in. It's glue-sive.”

“I believe you mean
exclusive
,” Christy said. “Did it ever occur to you girls that you might be hurting other people's feelings?”

“It's for their own good, Miz Christy,” Clara explained
in a reasonable voice. “We have our secret, after all.” She gave Christy a knowing smile.

“You can have your dumb old secret,” Lizette muttered. “You three have been carrying on all day like you've gone plumb crazy.”

“Ain't crazy,” Clara said. “We do have a secret. A gigantic secret.”

“Big deal.”

“A real big deal,” Bessie said.

“Just ignore her,” Clara advised. “She's just jealous.”

“'Course, she'd be lots more jealous if'n she knew we found us some gold!” Ruby Mae cried.

Suddenly the room went still. Ruby Mae slapped her hand to her mouth. Bessie's jaw dropped open. Clara groaned.

“It's just as I said, Ruby Mae. You've got the biggest mouth this side of Coldsprings Mountain,” Bessie hissed.

Ruby Mae's cheeks flared. The rest of the class stared at her in stunned disbelief.

“Well, it don't rightly matter if'n I told, anyhow,” she said. “As long as I don't say where we found it or where it's hid, what harm is there in tellin'?”

“What do you mean, you found gold?” Lizette demanded. “There ain't no gold in these mountains.”

Lundy jumped to his feet. “You oughta whop her good for tellin' lies, Teacher!”

“If'n you found real live gold,” Creed cried, “show it to us, Ruby Mae! That's a heap more educational than that ol' frog!”

Instantly, the class erupted into shouts and jeers. Christy clapped her hands to get their attention, but it was no use.

In desperation, she climbed onto her chair. She tried yelling. She tried waving. When nothing else worked, she decided to try a trick David, who taught math and Bible study, had shown her. She put two fingers in her mouth and let out an ear-splitting whistle.

At last, the room quieted. “Wow, Teacher,” Creed said in an awed voice, “you whistle better than a feller!”

“Sit down, everybody,” Christy instructed as she climbed off her chair. “Now, I want one thing made clear. This is a place where we are all equal, and we are all here to learn.”

“But Teacher,” asked Mountie O'Teale, a shy ten-year-old, “is it really true they're rich?”

Christy put her hands on her hips. Now that Ruby Mae had let the cat out of the bag, she couldn't lie.

“It's true that Ruby Mae and her friends found some interesting stones that are prob- ably gold.” Her words caused a fresh gasp from the class. “But that is their business, and I do not want it to be part of the discussion in this classroom. As a matter of fact, I do not want to hear anyone uttering the words ‘gold' or ‘rich' or ‘club' in this class.”

“I thought only cows had udders, Teacher,” Creed said.

“I meant ‘don't talk about these things,' Creed,” Christy said. “And while we're at it, the only princesses I want to hear about are in fairy tales. Understood?”

She looked directly at Ruby Mae and her two friends. They nodded obediently.

“Now I believe, when we were interrupted, we were about to discuss the difference between frogs and toads,” Christy said. She held up Prince Egbert. “To begin with, a frog has smooth skin and long limbs. Can anyone tell me any other differences? Creed? How about you?”

Creed didn't answer. He was staring at Ruby Mae and her friends, eyes wide.

Christy scanned the room. Not a single student was looking at her. All eyes were glued to the three smug “princesses,” as if they really were royalty.

In a way, Christy realized suddenly, here in Cutter Gap, that's just what they were. From now on, nothing in her classroom would be the same.

Five

I
now declare the first official meeting of The Princess Club is a-startin',” Ruby Mae announced after school.

The three girls were outside the small shed that David had built to house Prince; Goldie, Miss Alice's palomino mare; and Old Theo, the mule. Ruby Mae was carefully brushing Prince's glossy flanks. Clara was scratching his ears. And Bessie was feeding him a carrot from Miss Ida's vegetable garden.

“Before we start,” Clara said in a whisper, “check all around to make sure we wasn't followed.”

“Don't be a fool, Clara.” Ruby Mae rolled her eyes. “Ain't nobody followin' us. You're actin' jittery as a squirrel with a hungry hound on his tail.”

“Wouldn't need to,” Clara shot back, “if'n you coulda kept your mouth shut. I heard Lundy talkin' after school, sayin' how he was going to figure out where we found the gold and get some of his own.”

Bessie gulped. “And you know Lundy. He'd as soon steal it as find it his own self.”

“Listen here, you two lily-livers.” Ruby Mae could tell she was going to have to be stern with her friends if she wanted any peace. “People was goin' to find out about the gold, one way or the other. You told your parents, right?”

Both girls nodded.

“Well, how long do you think a secret like that's goin' to keep here in the Cove?” She moved to Prince's other side and began brushing his silky mane. “Remember that time Violet McKnapp run off with Elroy Smith to get hitched? Remember how she only told Mary Allen and made her promise not to tell a soul?”

“Yep,” Bessie said.

“Well, how long do you figure
that
secret lasted? A day, maybe two?
Our
secret is a whole lot bigger than Violet's.”

“I s'pose you're right,” Bessie admitted. “It's plumb unnatural for a secret like ours to stay a secret. People bein' how they is.”

“And people's mouths bein' as big as they is,” Clara added, glaring at Ruby Mae.

“There ain't no use snifflin' about spilled milk.” Ruby Mae set down her brush and gave Prince a hug. “Besides, we got things to talk about. Princess Club things.”

Ruby Mae hopped onto the slat fence and motioned for the others to join her. “Let's do our meetin' here. Nice and proper-like.”

“I ain't never been a member in an actual club before,” Bessie said excitedly.

“You ain't never had a reason to be special before,” Ruby Mae pointed out.

Clara cleared her throat. “I think the first thing we should do is figure out what we're a-goin' to do with the gold. Pa says we got to take it to the bank and split it up three ways, nice and fair, Morrisons and Spencers and Coburns. But part of the road to El Pano's blocked by a rockslide. That's why Mr. Pentland hasn't brought mail in so long. So it'll likely be awhile before we can go to the bank.”

“It'll be fine with Miz Christy,” Ruby Mae said. “'Course, I'd feel better if'n it was in a nice, safe bank.”

“I think Pa wants to build us a better house with the cash-money,” Clara said. “Maybe one with real floors instead of dirt.”

Ruby Mae
nodded. “It's true the grown-ups will have their own ideas about what to do with all the cash-money. But I figure we found it, so we oughta get to spend some of it. Besides, there'll be plenty to go around.”

“I want to buy me a dress all frilly and puffy, with silk ribbons,” Bessie said in a faraway voice.