“No, ma’am. I really want to be with Mayhew and Lucilla.”
By now, most of the kids were looking in our direction and chatting. The teacher in the front had to tell them to quiet down, and the younger kids in the back were staring at me with curious gazes.
“Well, that would be just fine, Jory,” she said. “Why don’t you three just go get your boards and paper and take a seat?”
“Miss Lucy, as before, will you send home with Mayhew a schedule of what you’ll be covering, and let me know how much the books are?”
“I will, Moses.”
“Thank you, Miss Lucy.” He looked at us. “I’ll be at the landing at three-thirty, like usual.”
“Bye, Grandpa,” the three of us said simultaneously.
He smiled. “Goodbye, children. Now you listen to Miss Lucy and learn a lot.” And off he went.
I followed Mayhew and Lucilla to the back corner wall. They each picked up a board about a foot square with a pillow attached to the bottom, two pencils from an old coffee can, and a few sheets of lined paper. I followed their example and we sat down in chairs in the back.
The teacher had to keep reminding the students that I was just another student and to keep their eyes forward. She said everyone could welcome me later at recess. She also reminded the kids that there were a number of students who would not be attending class regularly because of the distance and difficulty of travel to the school. She said she would keep homework to a minimum and would schedule test days the best she could so her outlying students could plan to be in class.
Miss Lucy proceeded to divide the kids into age groups with a couple of grades in each group. She had us pair up to share a book during the class, for there were not enough books to go around. The books for the different grade levels were distributed. The lower grades had the least number, for they had the least subjects. Each team was provided four books: English, math, science, and history.
Lucilla and I ended up as a team. Miss Lucy gave Lucilla the lesson schedule for the different subjects for the next month, and a folded note. She asked if we would likely be there on Mondays and Thursdays like last year. Lucilla said she thought so. I opened the note and saw that the books cost fourteen dollars. During the afternoon recess, I went into the church, gave the money to Miss Lucy for the books, and tossed away the note.
Moses was waiting for us when we got to the riverbank at the end of the day. “Well, how was your first day at school?”
“It was fun, and Jory and me are on the same team.” Lucilla said, smiling. “Wait until you see our new English book. You’ll really like it.”
Mayhew said, “The stupid math book looks awful hard.”
“You did rightly well in math last year. Why are you worried?”
Mayhew just scrunched his mouth, shrugged his shoulders, and changed the subject. “I hate history,” he said, “’cuz I hate memorizing.”
“You know full well ‘’cuz’ is not a word.” Moses said. Mayhew just got in the boat.
At dinner, Bess asked us about our first day, how many kids, how we were teamed, what we learned, and what the new books were like. She couldn’t wait to see them. She asked for the schedule and Lucilla gave it to her. After we cleaned the kitchen and the dishes were done, we went to the living room. Bess pinned the lesson schedule to the bookshelf after studying it closely.
“Okay,” she said. “Tomorrow, we start the lessons.”
22
Misspelling
WE WENT TO SCHOOL ON MONDAYS AND THURSDAYS because those were the days Moses would usually pick up and drop off handsaws, saw blades, and knives for sharpening. It was just too far for us to take the boat to school every day. Some weeks, we would go to school an extra day, which made Lucilla happy and Mayhew quite unhappy. Mayhew simply did not like anything about school, and didn’t want to do homework or assignments, which Lucilla was quick at completing; I think Mayhew felt there was no competing with his sister, so why try at all? I found the lessons easy like Lucilla, but I tried not to make a big deal of it, and usually didn’t even let on I was done. I helped Mayhew all I could without making him feel bad.
We were practicing our spelling and Moses was giving us the words. Lucilla and I didn’t miss many, and I noticed Moses was giving us hard words and Mayhew easy ones, except when they were from our school list of words. When we’d spell from the list, Lucilla hardly ever messed up, but Mayhew had difficulty—he just didn’t try. Moses gave me an easy word, ‘everywhere’. I purposely misspelled it, which meant it would go to Mayhew. He smiled and spelled it correctly. I did it a couple of times and swung my arm, saying, “Dang.” Lucilla looked at me in her disbelieving demeanor. I didn’t dare look at Moses.
After the lesson, Lucilla and Mayhew were in the kitchen and Moses called me over. I stood beside his rocking chair.
“That’s a mighty nice thing you’re doing for Mayhew, Jory.” I just looked at him. “I know you can spell those words.”
“But it makes Mayhew feel better when he can spell one I missed. I just don’t like him feeling bad, and I sure don’t want him thinking I’m smarter than he is. That’s not right.”
Moses reached up, stroked the back of my head, and smiled. “You’re already a teacher, aren’t you? Trying to teach your friend everyone’s equal.”
“Mayhew’s my brother,” I said. I don’t know where it came from, but it just popped out.
“Yes, he is,” Moses said, “and you are a wonderful big brother. Thank you for looking out for him.” He squeezed my arm. “Now you go and get those cookies and milk with your brother and sister.”
* * *
The next day, Lucilla and I were at the table working on a lesson. Mayhew was at the kitchen table with Bess working on something different. Lucilla said, “Why are you misspelling those words? I know you know how to spell them.”
“When he spells one I missed, it makes him feel better.”
“But it makes us look stupid if we miss something easy.”
“Moses told me he knows I’m missing them on purpose, and he’s proud of me for doing that. You know, if you and I miss more together, it will give Mayhew more reason to try to keep up. If we’re so far ahead of him, he doesn’t see any reason to try. How about it?”
She regarded me for a moment, then said, “I know. We can have a signal so we know we’re missing on purpose. Okay?”
“Sure.”
Lucilla put her hand to her chin and sounded a long, “Hummm?” She smiled. “That’s it. When we miss on purpose, we’ll put our hand up to our face like we’re thinking hard, okay?”
“Perfect.”
* * *
We were having a history lesson. Moses was asking questions. “Lucilla, when did Columbus discover America?”
She put her hand to her chin. “Humm, oh, fourteen-ninety.”
“Nope. Jory?”
I put my hand to my chin. “Ahh, fourteen-ninety-one.”
“Nope. Mayhew?”
“Fourteen-ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” He smiled.
“Correct, Mayhew,” Moses said, smiling, glancing at Lucilla and me with sparkle in his eyes.
Lucilla whispered to me, “I told Papa what our secret code was so he’d know we really knew the answer.”
“What?” I whispered back.
“Papa knows our code.”
We answered more questions. Mayhew often gave the right answer. Lucilla would sometimes say, “Shoot, I should get credit for that one.”
I was enamored with Moses’ library and all the choices on the shelves. I had paged through numerous books and had placed bookmarks in many. I would pull a chair over to the shelves and just start opening books to see what they contained. The previous day at school, we had learned about Sigmund Freud, and when I saw three of his books side by side, one titled Moses and Monotheism, I just had to know.
I opened Moses and Monotheism and began to read, but it sure didn’t seem to interest me.
“Grandpa,
what does mono…theism mean?”
Moses put down his book. “The book by Freud?”
“That guy was really weird,” Mayhew said. “He’s the guy who tried to figure out how everybody thinks.”
“Well, sort of,” Moses replied, “but that was after he was a medical student at the University of Vienna, way back, I think, in the 1870s. Psychology fascinated him, so that was the field he took on. Jory, ‘monotheism’ means one deity, the belief that there is but one God. In that book, he talks about the influence Moses had back then, and the ways in which people believed. But I don’t think it’s a book you’d want to get into. It’s not that easy to understand.”
I closed the book, put it on the shelf, and took down Civilization and Its Discontents, reading the title to Moses. “What this one about?”
“That’s a very good book, but it’s one you might want to read when you’re older. It discusses the tensions on our society caused by the beliefs of certain people, and how they can be the enemy of our country and a burden to our society.”
“You mean like those KKK?”
“Yes. When Freud was in Vienna, Hitler and the Nazis invaded, and Freud left. He told his friends he wanted to die a free man, not under tyranny. The book discusses Hitler’s philosophy, the poor Jewish people, and how such a malaise can afflict so many in modern civilizations.”
“Malaise?” Lucilla asked. I was glad she did, for I didn’t know the word either.
“It means dissatisfaction, discontent, when a society is troubled by hateful beliefs. Like the Germans hating the Jewish people.”
“And the KKK hating colored people?” I said.
“Yes, Jory, that is exactly right. Freud said, ‘The first requisite of civilization is that of justice.’ With so much injustice that prevails today, Freud would surely question whether we truly have a civilization worth calling civil. He explains in the book that any civilization that leaves so many people wronged and mistreated does not deserve a lasting existence and will not survive.”
“What would happen to them?” I asked.
“What Freud is saying is that any nation or country, large or small, must be built on fairness and equality for all; otherwise, its people will rise up, rebel, and give their very lives for freedom. He is saying that governments or dictators will all eventually fall unless their people respect them. It may not be tomorrow, but finally the masses will stand up for their respect and freedom.”
Lucilla, sitting next to me on the floor, asked, “What’s going to happen, Grandpa? Are we going to collapse? What will we do then?”
“Sweetheart, I’m confident there are enough strong and wise people in our government to understand that fairness and goodness must win over anger and evil. We see the attempts by the people and the government, and each is a giant step forward. Don’t fret, you hear? We will make it as a nation. We must give it more time. Freud was just letting us know we better work it out, or else.”
“But how much more time?” Lucilla asked.
“Don’t rightly know. I do know it will take many years, and there will never be a time free of prejudice, but all it takes is most people putting prejudice aside, and we’ll get closer. One day, we will see Negroes as mayors and governors.”
“How about president?” I asked.
“Jory, you know, I really think you may have something there, but it’s a long way off.”
“Grandpa, how do you know so much?” Lucilla asked, “I could never be that smart.”
What a great question that was. It was on my mind. I wished my dad were sitting here and part of our discussion. It was like hearing him at the restaurant go on and on about the KKK. I didn’t have Dad to listen to and learn from anymore, but there I sat, staring at a wise old man bursting with knowledge.
Moses smiled. “Oh, but you are already on your way, young lady. You and the boys have a thirst for knowledge.” He pointed to the library. “With your thirst and those books, you need no more. Every moment you spend questioning, reading, listening, and learning, you become wiser. Look what you’ve learned this evening.”
Lucilla pointed to the library. “But Grandpa, we can’t read all those books like you did.”
His brow furrowed as he smiled and looked at us. “And pray tell why not?”
Lucilla and I looked at each other, but neither of us had an answer.
23
Confrontation
SATURDAY MORNING,MAYHEW AND I were trying to decide what to do. It had been weeks since I saw Jacob and Max, but I was too far downstream to row to them. I told Mayhew about the tug ride and my two friends. He asked if it was too far to ride the bike. We went to the back deck where Moses was working on a saw and asked him if we could ride to the dock. I had already told him about Jacob and Max, and the tugs they fixed.
“Does Jacob have anything do to with the name of your boat?”
I explained how I had named the boat. He smiled. “That was a mighty kind gesture, Jory. Jacob sounds like a very nice person.”
“He is, and so is Max.”
“How about I take you down there in the boat, and you ride back on the bike?”
* * *
Moses dropped us off just below the main dock at a boat ramp, which made it easy to unload the bike. He told us to make sure we started back by midafternoon, for it would take us a while to get home. Mayhew climbed on the back of my bike, and we started toward the dock. We hoped they were there. Sure enough, I heard Max shouting something to Jacob down in the engine room. Mayhew followed me as I walked out on the plank to the tug.
“Hey, Max!”
Max turned around. “Well, if I’m not a bum injector pump. Look who’s here.” He patted my arm. “We’d done been worried ’bout you.” He shouted down to Jacob, “Hey, boss, our helper has come by to rescue you.”
Jacob came up the ladder from the hold with a rag in his hand. “Where you been, boy? We got to missing you really bad, and needed your help a few times.”
I smiled. “I nearly sunk on the river during the really bad storm a while back. Moses saved me. You wouldn’t believe what happened. He had this little skiff and came after me out in the middle of the river. The waves were huge, hail, lightning…”
“Whoa, slow down. I want to hear all about it. But who is this?” he asked, looking at Mayhew.
“Oh! I nearly forgot. This is Mayhew. He’s my best friend. Moses is his grandpa.”
Jacob stuck out his hand. “Glad to meet you, Mayhew. I’m Jacob, and this here is Max.” He shook Mayhew’s hand, and Max did the same. “You must be one nice fella if Jory here says you be his best friend and all.”
Mayhew smiled.
“I told Mayhew about all the neat tugs you and Max fix, and how big the engines are. Told him about the one with the two huge engines, and he couldn’t believe how big they were. I told him about when you made me a captain.”
“Well, come on down and I’ll show Mayhew this little beauty, and you can help me again.”
It was great to see Jacob and Max. I had missed them. It was lunchtime, and they opened their lunchboxes. I told Jacob I was going to go get Mayhew and me a hamburger at Barry’s, the little restaurant where the dockworkers ate. I had been in there a few times for lunch, and I liked the woman behind the counter. Jacob looked at me. “You best have Mayhew wait outside, or maybe he should stay here.”
Mayhew wanted to go with me. We walked together toward the restaurant. We turned down a street, and I could see Barry’s ahead of us. We had crossed the street and were walking past an alley when we heard, “Hey, nigger lover.”
I looked down the alley and saw two older boys. “Come on,” I said to Mayhew, and I quickly tugged him past the alley. I told Mayhew to go on past Barry’s and wait for me in front of the iron works store until he saw me come out, and we’d go back to the tug. He continued down the street, and I went in and hopped on a stool. The same waitress came over with a soft smile and asked where I had been. I ordered two hamburgers, two fries, and two
bottles of Coke to go. It was busy and we didn’t talk much. I paid, took the two bags, and went outside. Mayhew saw me and came over.
We crossed the street immediately so as not to walk past the alley again, and continued down the street. We turned between two buildings and down a backstreet to the dock. Suddenly, in front of us, the two boys appeared.
“Hey, nigger lover,” the bigger one said. “What’s you got in them bags?”
“It’s our lunch,” I said.
“Our lunch? You mean you done got lunch from Barry’s to feed a damn darky? You know it’s against the law now, don’t you?”
“It isn’t against the law.”
He reached out and grabbed the bag from my hand and the bag with the Cokes from Mayhew. I straightened up, really mad, as the other boy raised his fist. He reached in the bag, grabbed some fries, and shoved them in his mouth. “Looks like this nigger lover gots us lunch,” he said to the other boy.
I tried to remember what Moses said about being in control of the moment. “You can have the stupid lunch,” I said, and we started by him.
“Not before that colored boy gets on his knees and begs for passage,” the big kid said. Mayhew looked at me and started to squat down.
“He’s not going to do that,” I said. Mayhew straightened up.
He swung his hand around and slapped Mayhew in the face. Mayhew yelped and backed away. He looked scared to death, and I could tell he was about to cry.
“To hell he’s not,” the other kid said. He grabbed Mayhew’s shoulders. “Kneel down.”
“Take your hands off of him,” I demanded.
“And which one of you two shrimps is going to make me?”
I tried and tried to remember what Jacob had taught me. “Never let your guard down,” he had said repeatedly. “Always be prepared and watch. Watch for what’s coming. Plan your move, never just react. Always plan. That’s how you win: when you see what’s coming and plan.”
My Water Path Page 11