Chapter 30

Nathan woke early, his alarm clock going off because he’d inadvertently left it set. He went out to the kitchen to find his mother puttering around in the kitchen, and his father already gone. His father left for work early these days. He had no way of knowing that, during the day before, his mother had had ample time to reflect on the things she had seen and heard recently.

“You got in late,” said his mother, casually, her back still facing him.

“I checked in on Miss Flossie,” he said, stretching. “She’s doing much better.”

She finally turned and glanced at him. “You slept in your clothes?” she observed.

He looked down at his rumpled clothing.

“I guess I did,” he said helplessly.

“Your sisters are at a slumber party,” she said.

He almost said “I know” but cut it off, changing it to “I... ‘m hungry. Anything to eat?”

“Of course,” she said. “It’s a good thing your sister’s weren’t here to hear you come in at one in the morning,” she said calmly.

“Oh,” he said, trying not to flush. “Sorry if I woke you up. I fell asleep over there. Her ... um ... chair is real comfortable.”

“Are you going to take that job in Kansas City?” she asked, standing at the stove, her back to him.

“I don’t know,” he said, concerned that she’d go off on another tantrum.

“It might be best if you did,” said his mother. She turned around, and her eyes were shining.

Nathan got up and went to her. She hugged him tightly and sniffed.

“I don’t have to go,” he said, not comprehending that radar that mothers have, and the keen hearing that goes with it.

“I smell her on you,” she said into his chest. She looked up at him. “I love you, Nathan. I love you more than life itself, but you’re turning into a man. I don’t understand all this,” she cried.

“Don’t cry, Mamma ... it’s all right,” said Nathan haltingly.

“No, it’s not,” she said, pushing him away, but holding on to his elbows. “I know what a woman can feel for a man. Your father has his problems, but I love him, so I know how she can love you. I don’t understand how you can love her, but I know you do, and you’re my baby, and I will find a way to understand, but your father will never accept it.”

“Mamma,” Nathan pleaded, off balance. He had too many secrets to keep, and he didn’t know which one she knew about, or how she knew. “you’re talking crazy!”

Her sniffling subsided, and she looked at him with something like pride in her eyes. “I’ve always been able to read you like a book, young man. I’ve heard how you talk about her. I had a crush on one of my teachers when I was a girl, and, when I heard that in your voice, I thought it was just that. But she called your name the other night. I heard the need in her voice. And I saw how you acted when Harvey hurt her. I don’t understand, but at the same time I do! Does that make any sense?”

She pushed him away, and into a chair, returning to the stove.

“It’s all wrong, you know. Nothing good can possibly come of it.” Now she was talking like a mother lecturing her child when she knows that lecture will do no good whatsoever, but feels some impulse to deliver it anyway. “She’s much too old for you, little slip of a girl that she looks. And no one will ever let you be happy together. Certainly not around here.”

She served him and then sat down and began eating with her fingers, off his plate.

“But if you went off to Kansas City, you might have a chance. A slim chance, but maybe a chance. Lord knows the world is changing. I can’t keep up with it all myself. Further North would be better.”

“Mamma,” Nathan pleaded. First her knowing ... somehow just knowing ... was bad enough, but to hear her actually encouraging him was just incomprehensible.

“I doubt I’ll ever get to see my grandbabies. Harvey must never know, of course. He’d have a stroke if he looked at a little cream colored baby and found out it was yours.”

“Mamma, I haven’t asked her to marry me!” he yelped.

“Well, you’d better. I’ll not have my son living in sin. Carrying on with a colored woman is bad enough. At least make an honest woman out of her.”

“How do you know all this?” he asked helplessly.

“I’m your mother!” she said shortly. “Did you really think you could keep such a secret from me?”

She hadn’t said anything about his sisters, so maybe he could keep a secret from her. He stopped thinking about them, just in case, and thought about Flossie.

“She’d never accept anyway,” said Nathan. “I don’t have a job yet, even if they said I will. And she’s the teacher here.”

Marian looked at him sadly. “What your father did ... it can’t die there. He won’t let it. He’s acting so strangely ... almost like he’s afraid. One of them is going to have to go, and he’ll fight hard not to be the one. This is his last chance, Nathan. If he can’t make it here, he’ll be out of a job. We didn’t tell you, when we came, but that’s the long and short of it. And don’t think that the town won’t find out what he did. They will. And with the both of them here ... it just wouldn’t work.”

She took a piece of bacon from his plate, munched on it, and then got up to get him more before sitting down.

“Take her away from here, Nathan. She loves you, and if I don’t miss my mark you have strong feelings for her too. Get her out of here, up North somewhere. She’s a good woman. I never in all my life thought I’d say that about a colored woman who was in love with my only son, but there it is. Take her somewhere where the two of you can be happy.”

“I can’t believe this,” Nathan said, gaping.

“You’re almost a man, Nathan. You’d better start learning now to believe. Belief ... and faith ... those are the things that will get you through the hard times in life.”

“I don’t know what to say,” he said.

“Just tell me you’ll try to be happy. If you do this, it won’t be easy for you. Your father ... he’s not the only one like that.”

“I know that. She does too. She tried to stop...”

“Do your sisters know?” she asked, cutting him off.

He had to be careful now. This was getting too close to the secret he knew his mother would never accept. “I think they at least suspect.”

“You’ll have to explain it to them,” she said. “Unless you get her out of here secretly. That would be best anyway. The longer no one knows, the better.” She looked at him narrowly. “You want me to talk to them?”

“No!” he said quickly. “They’d never believe you. I’ll do it.”

“My little boy, all grown up,” she sighed. Her eyes got wet again. “Now off with you to whatever you all are doing when you’re pretending to be at school.”

He got up, leaving the rest of his food on the plate. His head was spinning, and he thought it best to leave before things came undone. It was at that moment that the girls stampeded through the front door.

“Hurry up, Nathan!“ squealed Bernadette, like nothing at all had happened the night before. “We have to get to school!“

“What about breakfast?” Marian objected.

“Mrs. Thorpe fed us,” chimed in Hilda Mae, looking at Nathan’s plate.

“Change your clothes then,” said Marian, her hands on her hips. “At least give me time to pack you a lunch! Don’t you want me to drive you? It’s too soon for that woman to be working again. I should have a word with her!”

“Mamma!” said Bernadette. “Of course she’s not working. We’re taking care of things while she’s gone ... teaching the little ones.” She looked confident, despite her bald-faced lie. “Besides, it’s a beautiful day!” she called out. “We’ll ride our bikes.”

The girls didn’t give their mother time to do anything other than pack a lunch. They hopped on their bikes, urging Nathan to hurry and follow them. He waited until they were outside of town, and then asked.

“What’s going on?”

Bernadette whirled, stopping. “Why big brother, whatever are you talking about. We’re going to school ... aren’t we?” She smiled gaily at him. Hilda Mae rolled her eyes.

“What happened last night?” he asked suspiciously. “Aren’t you still mad at me?”

“Oh! That?” She dimpled at him. “I forgive you,” she added brightly. She got off her bike, came to him and crushed him in an embrace, kissing him soundly. She also rubbed her breasts and loins against his side and hip as he straddled his bike. She broke the kiss, looking at him through her long lashes. “But you’re going to do that with me. That hasn’t changed.”

“Bernie!” he moaned.

“But that’s for later!” she said, pushing him away. “We have to hurry!“

The girls - all three of them, once they were assembled - continued in the same vein, urging the boys to hurry up and get to the mansion, but not saying why they were so excited. They couldn’t go together, of course, and again broke up into small groups to make the trip, meeting up in the woods before approaching the house. This, again, was at the insistence of the girls. Jesse was the first one to enter the house, and he stopped short. He leaned over and held up Johnnie Sue’s bag, along with the hammer and chisel they’d completely forgotten about in their excitement the night before.

“Somebody’s been here!” he gasped.

“That was us,” Johnnie Sue announced, unable to keep it in.

“Who?” asked Luthor.

“Us!“ she shouted, pointing to the other two girls. “We came here last night, and Nancy Drew would have been proud of us!” she crowed.

“Why’d you do that?” asked Moses.

“We...” Johnnie Sue paused for dramatic effect, “opened the box!”

There was a babble of male voices, as the girls preened and strutted.

“Well?” asked Jesse, almost hopping up and down.

Bernadette reached into her pocket, making a big display of it. She brought her hand out, clenched around something.

“This belongs to all of us,” she announced gravely. “Agreed?”

The boys leaned forward, nodding mindlessly.

Bernadette opened her hand, and the Double Eagle in it gleamed in the morning sun.

There was silence so complete that they could hear birds chirping. Jesse reached out, his hand tentatively hovering over the coin, and he looked at Bernadette for permission. She smiled and nodded, and he snatched the coin to look at it.

“Whoooopeeee!” he yelled, dancing around holding the coin up. “We’re rich!“

Curtis Lee slumped, as did Nathan. Moses looked confused.

“That’s it?” Nathan’s voice was dull.

Curtis Lee wrestled the coin away from Jesse, who was still grinning and hopping about.

“It’s a twenty dollar gold piece,” he said, examining it. “It’s old, maybe old enough that it’s worth more than that.”

“Wow,” said Nathan, his voice disgusted. “That’s almost three dollars apiece.” He looked daggers at his sister. “This ... is the big surprise?”

“Not exactly,” said Bernadette. The cat that ate the canary had nothing on her this day. “There are a few more.”

Jesse stopped dancing, his eyes wide. “Is there enough so that everybody can have their own?” The hope in his eyes and voice was enough to make Johnnie Sue laugh out loud.

“How many more?” asked Curtis Lee cautiously.

Bernadette looked at Hilda Mae and Johnnie Sue. When they got up, they had planned the whole unveiling, and had practiced, knowing that this question would be asked sooner or later. They came together and, on Bernadette’s mark, said in unison: “Four hundred and thirty-six.”

There was disbelief at first. That’s a natural reaction to unexpected and very welcome news. Perhaps because Nathan had so recently run through all the different reactions at breakfast that morning, he moved out of disbelief and into cautious acceptance. That morphed into wild glee, in some cases, and almost catatonic sit-on-the-ground helplessness in a couple of cases. Then, of course, the boys stampeded down the stairs to see for themselves. Nathan had, in all the furor of what happened the night before, forgotten his flashlight, but the girls had left the lantern there too, and there were still some matches in the bag. Once that was taken care of, furniture flew until, full of his own adrenaline, Nathan hefted the box by the handles and brought it out into the light of day.

Paranoia set in instantly, just as it had the night before, and the boys looked around intently, to make sure no one was coming. That wasn’t enough, and Nathan insisted that Curtis Lee help him carry the chest out into the woods before they actually opened it. The girls followed, grinning.

Even in the woods, the pile of coins in the chest sparkled in the dappled sunlight, and the boys stared, unmoving, for a full sixty seconds. Almost as one, they fell to their knees, and reached into the box to make sure that what they were seeing was real.

Bernadette brought them back to earth.

“Of course, we can’t spend any of it. Not like this.”

Four open mouths stared up at her.

“If even one of these is shown in town, the grown-ups will go crazy. They’ll make us tell where we got it, and at least one of us would end up telling. Then they’d take it all way from us.”

The logic of her words sank into them like cold steel.

“Well what good is it then?” asked Luthor, anguish in his voice.

“That’s what we have to decide,” said Bernadette. “I didn’t say it was impossible. We just have to go about turning this into spending money carefully.”

“If I ever showed my Mamma more than ten dollars of any kind of money at one time she’d know something was up,” said Moses. There were murmured “Me too’s” from them all.

“I have an idea,” said Nathan, suddenly. “But you’ll have to trust me.”

They didn’t like his idea. That gold was already burning a hole in their pockets. Most of them had been poor as dirt all their lives, and visions of amazing things filled their imaginations. But they also knew that, if they didn’t do things perfectly, they’d still be poor, and someone else would have the gold.

The plan involved two major requirements that nobody liked, but which everyone agreed to. The first was delayed gratification. They couldn’t spend any of it right away. The second was that only Nathan and one other he didn’t name, would know where the gold was, after it was moved to a new, more secure hiding place.

“Who?” asked Luthor. “Who else will know?”

“Curtis Lee,” said Nathan.

Curtis Lee looked at him. “Why me?” he asked.

“Because you and I will be keeping an eye on each other while we find a place to turn that gold into money that won’t raise so many questions.”

“Keeping an eye on each other.” said Curtis Lee. “Where?”