Sins of a Shaker Summer

by Deborah Woodworth

  Excited now, Rose pushed aside the herb press. Yea, that was the sound she had heard. The top two drawers of the chest were missing, and the bottom drawer hung halfway open. Ignoring the dust and ancient bits of dried herbs on the floor, Rose lowered to her knees and felt inside the drawer. Empty. She peered into the cavities that used to hold the other drawers. She saw nothing. Benjamin must have hidden something in the chest and stayed behind to retrieve it.

  She had half a mind to roust him out of his retiring room, if that’s where he’d gone, and insist on seeing what he’d taken with him. She pushed to her feet and twirled around to find herself two inches from a broom handle, aimed at her stomach. Gennie Malone, prepared for attack, clutched the other end of the handle.

  “Rose! I thought it must be you, but I couldn’t be sure, and I decided I’d better protect myself, just in case. I mean, anyone could dress like a Shaker sister and wander around the village at night doing who knows what.”

  “Gennie, you can put the broom down now.”

  “Oh. Of course. Sorry, guess I’m a little on edge. It’s been an exciting evening—and afternoon. I have so much to tell you, Rose!”

  “The first thing I want to know, Gennie Malone, is what on earth you are doing here at this time of night.”

  Gennie laughed. “I could ask you the same thing, you know.”

  “But instead you are going to answer my question, aren’t you?”

  “Well, okay, I was taking a short walk after bedtime, just to get some air, and I saw Irene leave the Center Family Dwelling House, so I decided to follow her. When she came here, I thought she probably just wanted to get some work done and I was wasting my time. I stayed outside for a while, wondering what to do, and I was about to leave when Brother Thomas walked right up to the door, and sneaking behind him was Brother Benjamin.”

  “And I suppose you followed them in, just like that,” Rose said.

  “I was fine, Rose, don’t worry. I’m not foolish. I waited awhile to see if the rest of the Medicinal Herb Shop would show up. Wish I hadn’t, though, because I missed a lot of what they said.” Gennie leaned her broom handle against the wall and scooted onto a worktable. She swung her legs like an excited child.

  “I couldn’t hear them well,” Rose said. “How did you figure out what they were saying?”

  “Oh, I just sneaked up the stairs and into the drying room.”

  “You what? How on earth . . . ?”

  “It was easy. I spent so much time here, I could find my way around in my sleep. I know every creak in every stair. I did hear you take a step, though. Scared me half to death. It’s a wonder they didn’t hear, but they were so busy arguing.

  “Anyway,” Gennie continued, “I’m pretty small, so I could crawl under that desk we used to keep the Herb House records in, the one we pushed way over in the corner. You can’t see it from the doorway or the worktable, so I figured they’d leave without catching me. And I was right.”

  “Oh my.” Rose melted onto a nearby stool. “Gennie, you took an awful chance.”

  “But it was worth it. I don’t know how all of this fits together, but I’ve got some information for you. Benjamin wants Irene to run away with him.”

  “I suspected as much,” Rose said. “Does Thomas want the same thing?”

  “Well, I think so. At least, he didn’t actually mention leaving with Irene himself, but he seemed determined to stop Benjamin from taking his family away from him. He said that if Benjamin tried to take them away, he’d send the police after them because Benjamin had broken the law, though he didn’t say what law. Thomas said he’d claim that Irene knew about it and have her declared an unfit mother, so she’d lose her children. That’s when I heard you step on a squeaky stair.”

  “Irene said something then, didn’t she?”

  Gennie hesitated. “Irene was hard to understand because her voice is softer, but she was really angry, so I caught some of it. She said something like, ‘You’ll never get your hands on those children.’ I assume she was talking to Thomas.”

  “After that I heard them coming and ducked under the stairs,” Rose said.

  “Talk about taking chances,” Gennie said. “Anyway, after that, Thomas and Benjamin mostly hurled insults at each other, but they did mention Patience. Benjamin said something about Patience having a nasty story to tell about Thomas, too. That was all I heard. Does it help?”

  “Indeed. I can’t put it all together yet, either, but I’m getting closer. A few hours sleep may help. Come on, to bed with you. I’ll walk you home.”

  Gennie slid off her perch without argument.

  As they parted at the door to the Center Family Dwelling House, Gennie asked, “Rose, what were you doing when I came up behind you back there?”

  “I heard Benjamin move something heavy and then retrieve something. At least, that’s what it sounded like.”

  “Any idea what?”

  “That’s one question I’m hoping sleep will help me answer.”

  Gennie yawned and trudged up the steps without another word, not even a “good night.”

  It was just as Rose reached the Ministry House door that she realized what Benjamin might have been retrieving. The only items she knew to be missing—Patience’s journal and the last two pages from Benjamin’s own journal.

  TWENTY-THREE

  As A VISITOR FROM THE WORLD, GENNIE HAD NO REQUIRED chores in the early morning, so she was up, dressed, and on her way to the Medicinal Herb Shop while the sisters cleaned the brethren’s rooms and mended their clothes. She hoped Rose would eat breakfast at the Ministry House and not notice if Gennie was late to the dining room. Rose and Grady both had a way of being overprotective. They just didn’t realize that she was eighteen now and well able to take care of herself.

  As he’d promised, Willy waited in the garden next to the Medicinal Herb Shop. He took off his grimy cap and grinned broadly at her, revealing a broken tooth. He really wasn’t a bad-looking young man, Gennie decided, just badly cared for. He was smarter than he appeared at first, and he had a job, which was more than a lot of fellows could say these days. Maybe she could introduce him to some of the girls she was meeting in Languor.

  “Ready?” she asked. “Which direction?”

  With his cap, Willy pointed northwest, through the Medicinal Herb Shop. He led the way around the back of the shop and past the Center Family Dwelling House.

  “Are we going back to the holy hill?” By now, everyone in the village knew about the Empyrean Mount, even the non-Shakers.

  “Nope, up a ways, beyond that old cemetery. There’s some woods up there nobody seems to go to much. That’s where I seen the herbs.”

  “How did you think to look up there?” Gennie asked.

  Willy pulled his cap over his head. “Well, it was really Patience told me to look up there. She said it just seemed like a good place for those plants to grow.”

  “Really? I wonder how she knew that.”

  “Dunno,” Willy said, with a worried sideways look. “Didn’t think to ask.”

  “Don’t worry, I was just curious.”

  Willy stepped in front of Gennie as they entered the woods, stamping down a path for her through the brambles and brush until they reached a small clearing. He led her to the far edge of the clearing, where he stopped and pointed to a cluster of plants with dusky green leaves and purple, bell-like flowers. Gennie thought it looked familiar, but she didn’t remember seeing it in the Society’s medic garden.

  “I don’t recognize it,” she said.

  “That there’s belladonna. I wouldn’t touch it, if I was you,” he warned as she reached out her hand toward the flower. “It’s real poisonous. My granny said it was called deadly nightshade for good reason.”

  “Deadly nightshade? I know for a fact that we never let that grow anywhere in the village, not since I arrived as a girl. Josie was always afraid a hungry neighbor child would eat the berries and die, and we’d be to blame. What’s it doing here?”r />
  Willy frowned with worry. “Dunno. Granny and I always just picked it wild, though we never let it touch our skin.”

  “Well, I suppose it could have gotten going wild again, if no one has taken care to pull it out regularly,” Gennie said. “This looks like a healthy little colony. This was in your grandmother’s asthma recipe?”

  “Yup. You had to be real careful about the amount or it’ll kill a person, but it works real well.”

  “I’ll take your word for it. Did you find anything else?”

  “She had pretty much everything else, but while I was here, I had a look around, to see if anything else might’ve taken root. And look here what I found.” He pointed to another grouping of plants, about five feet tall, with reddish stems and greenish-white flowers. “That’s pokeweed. Granny wouldn’t use it, said it was too dangerous and there was lots of safer plants that did a better job.”

  “What was it used for?”

  “To empty the stomach.”

  “Oh.” In the distance she heard the breakfast bell, and though her appetite had just dimmed, she knew they had to hurry. It wouldn’t do for them to walk into the dining room at the same time, both late.

  “Is that all you found?”

  “There’s more, but it’s along in the woods a ways. We could skip breakfast, and I could show you,” he suggested. “We could look around for more, too.” His hopeful tone convinced her it was time to leave.

  “Maybe later. If we don’t show up at breakfast, everyone will worry. Besides, I don’t know about you, but I don’t work well on an empty stomach.”

  Rose waited impatiently through breakfast with Wilhelm. Though the purging ceremony to be conducted that evening must be on his mind, he said nothing. Under other circumstances, she might feel anxious, but she had too much to think about. She escaped as quickly as possible and went straight to the Medicinal Herb Shop.

  Thomas wasn’t in sight, but Andrew and Benjamin looked up from their work as she entered the shop. She directed a formal nod at Andrew and approached Benjamin’s worktable.

  “Could we speak privately for a moment?” she asked. The purging was scheduled to begin in less than twelve hours. She had no time for niceties.

  Benjamin shot an irritated glance at Andrew, who turned back to his notes. Rose walked out the front door, and Benjamin followed. Since Willy was weeding in the herb garden, Rose beckoned Benjamin to accompany her to the edge of the herb fields north of the shop. He dragged behind, scowling.

  “I won’t mince words,” she said, once they’d reached a field edged with succulent rosemary plants. “I want to know what you hid in the Herb House and retrieved last night.”

  Benjamin’s frown transformed into frightened astonishment. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he stammered. “You’ve got some nerve accusing me of—”

  “I’m not accusing. I’m stating a fact. You secreted something in an old chest on the ground floor of the Herb House, and last night you retrieved it. I want to see it.”

  Benjamin’s handsome features took on a mulish quality. He tightened his lips and kept silent.

  “Patience’s journal is missing,” Rose said. “It contains all her records of her experiments, as well as something else, as I believe you know.”

  Benjamin said nothing, but a slow flush spread up his face.

  “It is extremely important that I see that journal,” Rose said. “There is more at stake here than you seem to realize.” She did not wish to give him details, since she did not trust him, but she hoped sternness would sway him. It did not.

  “I have nothing,” Benjamin said. “And now, if you will excuse me, I am behind on my work.” He turned on his heel.

  “Do you wish me to talk to Andrew about this?”

  Benjamin did a slow pivot back to her. “You and Andrew do seem to have a special relationship,” he said. “Perhaps we should ask Wilhelm to be part of the discussion, as well.”

  Rose knew the tide had turned against her. Benjamin’s threat was effective. Wilhelm would like nothing better than to demonstrate, just before the purging ceremony, another link between Rose and Andrew.

  “You do not understand the seriousness of the situation,” Rose said.

  “Perhaps not,” Benjamin said, “but then you will understand if I do not take it seriously.” This time he swiveled around and returned to the shop in long strides.

  Rose wasted no more time pursuing him. She would find another way. She cut through the kitchen garden in back of the Center Family Dwelling House and was heading for the Trustees’ Office when she saw Gennie hurry toward her from the direction of the old cemetery. She stopped and waited. Gennie arrived, panting, auburn curls plastered to her forehead, but glowing with excitement.

  “Rose, you must come with me instantly. I’ve got the most fascinating news, and I think it might help. Come on, this way.” She began to sprint back toward the cemetery. Rose shrugged one shoulder and set off after her. Gennie veered off to the right and entered a little-used wooded area just north of the cemetery, and Rose followed her, regretting that she couldn’t put her own plan into operation immediately. But when Gennie had shown her the plants Willy had found, Rose plunked down on the grass and began to piece together bits of information that had meant nothing individually. A pattern formed, and she knew Benjamin had not outsmarted her. Not this time, anyway. On the other hand, it would simplify her task if she could take a look at those missing pages.

  “Gennie, I want you to do something for me.”

  “Anything.”

  “Go back to the Medicinal Herb Shop, help Willy in the garden, anything, just keep an eye on the shop. If Benjamin leaves, especially if he starts toward the Trustees’ Office, run into the shop and borrow Andrew’s telephone to let me know. You don’t have to say anything specific; just your calling me will tell me Benjamin has left the shop and might be heading for the office.”

  “Where will you be? Where should I call?” Gennie asked as she hopped to her feet.

  “On the second floor of the Trustees’ Office, in Benjamin’s retiring room.”

  Rose closed the door of Benjamin’s room behind her and leaned against it, slowing her breathing back down to normal. Everyone was at work, and she thought she hadn’t been seen as she’d approached the Trustees’ Office from the west end of the village. It struck her how easy it would be to move unseen between the building and the Empyrean Mount.

  She began her search. If Benjamin had not destroyed Patience’s journal and the missing back pages from his own journal, he would probably keep them in his room. The Medicinal Herb Shop would be unsafe. If, as she suspected, he was using the information in the pages, he would want them handy but someplace where he would be likely to be left alone.

  Rose knew the Trustees’ Office rooms well from her ten years of living there. Secret hiding places were almost nonexistent. She checked the obvious spots—the drawers and storage area built into the wall, the thin mattress, desk drawers. She found nothing unusual.

  Despite her urge to move quickly, Rose forced herself to explore the room with her eyes. The white curtains were too short and thin to hide anything. A Sabbathday suit hung from one of the wall pegs circling the room. She ran her hands over it and checked the pockets, but again found nothing. She didn’t bother examining the broom, hanging from another peg.

  The only other hanging object was a small bookshelf that hooked over two pegs, where Benjamin kept his old journals from Mount Lebanon. Of course. North Homage still did its own bookbinding, and she wasn’t sure what Mount Lebanon did, but their journals would undoubtedly be different in some way. These volumes were all similar from a distance—bound in worn black coverings—but when she went closer, she could see that the middle volume was darker and less battered, as if it were newer. She pulled it off, along with the one next to it, and opened them. The handwriting was neat and precise in the newer one and barely legible in the other. She leafed through them both, and out of the neat one fe
ll two sheets of paper, folded in half.

  Tossing both journals on Benjamin’s desk, she spread open the loose pages and laid them side by side. They formed a design similar to the one Gennie drew. Her hands shaking with excitement, Rose turned the sheets slowly until the design looked familiar to her. It was exactly what she had expected to see—a map of North Homage, minus the buildings. A line through the center represented the central path, and the only other areas drawn were placed right where all the wooded or uncultivated areas were located, including the woods she and Gennie had just visited. Rose pulled up Benjamin’s chair and pored over the small circles and symbols drawn on the map. They were beginning to make sense to her. If she could break the code, it might just give her much of the information she needed.

  After Willy’s friendliness earlier that morning, Gennie hesitated to volunteer her gardening services as a way of keeping her eye on the Medicinal Herb Shop door. It might be safer, she decided, to invent an errand. The glint in Willy’s eye as she approached told her to make her fib a good one. She was glad she was now of the world, where a little lie for a good reason need not torture her conscience.

  “Hello, Willy. I hope you don’t mind, but Rose asked me to pick a few samples of medicinal herbs. I think Josie wanted to do some studying or something.”

  “Want me to help? I could tell you what everything is,” Willy said, taking a step toward her.

  “Uh, I think Josie wants to see if she can identify them herself. Thanks anyway.” Gennie positioned herself at the edge of the garden, in view of the front door of the Medicinal Herb Shop. She knelt beside a small plant that looked unfamiliar to her and pretended to examine it carefully. The sun beat down on her exposed neck. It looked as if that promised rain would never arrive. If Benjamin stayed at work, she’d have an unladylike burn by the time the bell rang for the noon meal in about an hour.