“Did he tell you how to read it?”
“No. Just said be sure to keep it and let him know when we find the next one.”
“Did you ask him about the pickup?”
“Sorry to disappoint you but the vehicles won’t be released until the whole business is finished, so the sooner we find the other clues, the sooner this will be over and we can get on with our lives.”
“What about the family pictures?”
“Forgot to ask him after we talked about the scroll. Right now I’m going to go through the third bedroom with a fine-tooth comb in case we missed something.”
The rain continued through Wednesday, and on TV there were pictures of some creeks overflowing, but the weatherman thought that the system was moving to the west and Thursday would be drier.
The rain stopped Thursday afternoon. By Friday afternoon Gabe had searched the entire upstairs exhaustively.
The anticipation that had filled him after talking with Moultrie had dwindled as the empty hours went by. He didn’t think he could stand one more hour of searching.
When the phone rang midafternoon he answered it eagerly.
“Gabe? This is Alana. Are you feeling like a fish with all this water?”
“Just about. How are you, Alana? It’s good to hear your voice.”
“Same to you. A bunch of us are going to Swinton to the movies tonight. Want to go with us?”
“Absolutely. I’m tired of being cooped up by the weather.”
Her silvery laughter made him smile. “Aren’t we all. We’ll pick you up at six-thirty.”
“Glad someone gets to go out,” Drew mumbled when Gabe told him of the call. “What’s showing?”
“No idea and don’t care but I’ll tell you when I get back.”
“Hop in,” Alana said when she drove up. She introduced the couple in the backseat as Carolyn Brown and Mark Watson.
“We all went to school together,” she said.
Mark was fit and muscled, an athletic type, Gabe thought, which was borne out when Mark asked what sports he played.
“Shoot a few baskets now and then, do a little swimming and used to ride a bicycle. Like to watch Tiger Woods, he makes that game look so easy. Is there a golf course near here?”
“There’re a couple. Did you bring some clubs with you?”
“No, but I can rent some, I guess.”
“Great. We’ll go out sometime.”
“Carolyn and I play, too,” Alana said.
“The more the merrier,” Gabe said, smiling at her.
Carolyn was friendly and low-key. She asked Gabe about New York shows. “I visited a cousin there last summer and had a great time.”
There was no lack of conversation on the way to Swinton. The movie was a riotous comedy and by the time they stopped at a restaurant afterward, Gabe felt comfortable and carefree.
The movie had been based on a hilarious mishap in the leading man’s childhood. This led to shared stories, beginning with Carolyn, who recalled when she was in the third grade and Luther Adams kept pulling her hair.
“I remember,” Alana said. “He wouldn’t stop even when you told the teacher.”
Her face lit up with mischief. “There was a friendly frog that lived near our backyard, so we put it in a bag with Luther’s name on it. Right after recess we sneaked it onto the teacher’s chair. It jumped out of the bag onto her desk. She screamed. The frog kept jumping around and the boys in the class had fun trying to catch it. When the teacher saw the bag with Luther’s name on it, he had to stay after school all week.”
“I can’t beat that,” Gabe said when they were through laughing. “The best I can do happened when I was in Virginia visiting my cousins. There were lots of them and I always wanted to tag along with the ones older than me. I was six, they were eight and nine. They wore boots because they went into the woods a lot. I filled the boots with water. I didn’t know it would ruin them so I got it not only from them but from their parents. It was okay though because after a while I got to go with them.”
“Poor little city boy,” Alana teased.
“I sure was that,” Gabe agreed.
“Not a bad thing to be. I’d love to live in a city.” Alana sounded wistful. “So much to see and do all the time.”
On the way home they talked about the cooking contest, the people to invite and Carolyn said to hold it at her place because she had a house, not an apartment. “We can squeeze more people in,” she said, “and still have room to dance.”
“What will you cook, Gabe?” Alana asked.
“It’s a secret,” he said.
“You can tell me,” she cooed, and batted her eyelashes.
“Then it wouldn’t be a secret.” Gabe smiled back at her.
Alana was loads of fun, he thought as he said good-night. He’d enjoyed himself.
Too bad Makima had to work. The evening would have had a different flavor had she been there.
It was just as well. He couldn’t afford to become interested in her.
With Alana, he was safe.
Chapter 12
“Morning, boys,” Sam Williams called as he pushed the back door all the way open. “Beautiful day after all that rain.”
“Hi, Mr. Sam. We going to the nursery today?” Drew asked, setting another place at the breakfast table.
“How about some bacon and home fries with your toast and coffee?” Gabe asked, setting the platter down.
“I shouldn’t but it’s mighty tempting. Maybe just a little.”
As the meal progressed, Sam told them about his trip to Aiken. “I got tired of the rain so on Wednesday I called my friend Bert to tell him I’d be up. Bert and Jenny have a few horses and I like to spend some time with them every year. Aiken’s just west of here, a pleasant drive.”
“Do you ride, Sam?” Gabe asked.
“Used to when I was young. Now I watch others ride.”
“We saw horses in fields around here. Are they just for work or do people ride them?” The thought of riding a horse was exciting to Drew and it shone in his eyes.
“Mostly they’re for riding. Farmers use tractors and other equipment to work their fields.”
When breakfast was over, Sam asked Gabe and Drew what vegetables they ate. “Collard greens are popular around here, but I don’t know if you ate them in New York.” The gleam in his eyes told Gabe he was being teased.
“No soul-food place at home could stay in business if it didn’t have collard greens on its menu,” Gabe said as he and Drew cleared up the kitchen.
“I like tomatoes, green beans and cabbage,” Drew volunteered.
“We also eat carrots, green onions, lettuce, radishes and zucchini,” Gabe added.
“You’d better come with us, Gabe, and we’ll see what the nursery has.” Sam added, “You know, some folks don’t start planting until after Easter, but I always say put it in the ground and see what happens. You can always plant again.”
“I go along with that,” Gabe said.
“Me, too,” Drew agreed.
The nursery in Grayson was colorful and fragrant. Apparently Sam wasn’t the only person who intended to plant early. The aisles were filled with people and Gabe even recognized a couple he’d met at church. They passed the time of day and he thought how he’d only been in Grayson two weeks and already he knew folks to speak to. It made him feel good.
They came home with a little bit of everything. “Try it all,” Sam insisted. “That’s how you learn, young Drew.”
Later that day Drew came to the office where Gabe was busy at the desk. “Can I talk to you about something?” He looked anxious.
Gabe stopped what he was doing. When Drew addressed him like that, it was serious. “Sure. Have a seat.”
“Jeff wants to take me around tomorrow to meet some of his friends and stuff. They all ride bikes and I need one. Could we go get me one? Today? Please?”
Drew had outgrown the one he’d had and hadn’t replaced it, but Gabe could
see that in a place like Grayson it was almost a necessity.
“Okay. Might not be a new one though.”
“Just so it rides and doesn’t look too funky,” Drew said with a wide smile.
The phone book showed a bike shop only in Swinton, not Grayson. However, they saw when they got there that it had a good collection of new and used bikes. Drew looked at each one and finally chose a used one that looked almost new.
“Can I go over to Jeff’s and show it to him?” he asked as soon as they got home.
“Call first.”
Jeff was home and Drew went sailing off on the bike, pumping as fast as he could go. Gabe watched a moment, recalling how he’d first taught a Drew with short chubby legs to ride. Back in the office he worked on a packet of forwarded mail. Among the bills and junk mail was a note from his buddy, Calvin Peters.
Gabe, Thought you were going to call me with your phone number. Did you go south and forget us already? Cal.
Trust Cal to make it short and sweet, Gabe mused, and leaned the note against the clock so he wouldn’t forget it.
There were bills to be dealt with first: the car note, the credit cards, the gas cards and Macy’s. He could have put any Macy’s purchases on Visa but Ma had worked there for thirty years. It was the first credit card he’d applied for when he was twenty-one and he’d kept it as a souvenir of his mother.
There were a few odds and ends and by the time he’d written all the checks he’d also come to the conclusion that he needed to go to work. He and Drew could scrape by on the money Moultrie gave him plus savings, but he didn’t want to do that.
He knew he couldn’t go through the weeks doing what had occupied him these first two weeks. It’d drive him crazy. They needed the money and he needed to take his mind off the search.
The bookkeeping position Makima had mentioned that was open at the community center sounded like a possibility. It was only part-time but it would help with the daily expenses. The other advantage was that it would get him out of the house. He would keep searching for clues, of course, but maybe coming at it fresh would give him better ideas for understanding Great-Grandfather’s wily mind.
In church the next day Gabe thought how pleased Ma must be to know her sons had come three Sundays in a row. He’d never done that at home.
It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in God. When he thought about his religious views (which wasn’t very often), he realized that at some early point in his life the idea of a God had been implanted in him, probably by his mother.
The problem was that as he grew up and matured he couldn’t integrate the practice of a spiritual life with what he saw all around him, including in the church.
He didn’t go as far as his father did. Undoubtedly there were good ministers who tried to lead a church in a truly spiritual way and who lived an honest life of goodness and humility themselves. He just hadn’t met or heard of many.
What he’d come to believe in were those individuals who were good people, helping others, caring for others, serving the community. He didn’t expect them to be perfect. He was far from that himself. But they were basically people trying to live a life according to what they understood of the fundamental principles of serving others even to the point of self-sacrifice.
Therefore Gabe saw no need to go to church except to escort his mother. She liked church; it comforted her. So he went.
Here in Grayson he attended church because it was two blocks from the house, it was a window into the community where he and Drew would be living for a while, the people had known Great-Grandfather, and Drew seemed to like going. Also it gave him something to do on Sunday.
Drew was sitting with Jeff and afterward, while Gabe was talking with Mr. and Mrs. Gray, he saw that several girls had been added to Jeff’s group. Nothing like a new boy in town to get the girls fluttering.
“Makima’s out of town and I don’t know why Alana and Bobby didn’t come to church,” Mrs. Gray said. She looked at her husband as if he had the answer.
“Probably stayed in bed,” he said with an amused glance at Gabe.
Reverend Givhans had made the rounds and now came to stand beside them. “Glad to see you, Mr. Bell.”
“Call me Gabe, please.” The two men shook hands.
“Arthur, Odessa, you won’t mind if I take Gabe away for a minute, will you? I haven’t had a chance to visit with him.”
The Grays said goodbye and Gabe found himself following the pastor back into the church and entering a side door that led to his office.
Givhans reminded Gabe of his uncle Jake. He was a man of medium height, brown-skinned, a tidy mustache, round glasses, a large mouth and penetrating eyes. His voice was made for the platform, it was deep and resonant. When Gabe first heard him he’d been surprised at the volume this medium-size man produced.
His office was comfortable, with several chairs as well as a desk and plants. The walls were covered with pictures and it was to these that Givhans directed Gabe’s attention.
“Here is the original church.” The black-and-white photo of a small frame church was dated 1920 and stood on a bare lot. Subsequent photographs showed the growth and expansion of the building.
“The auditorium can hold five hundred people and below it on the basement level are all the classrooms, the dining hall and the choir room.”
Gabe hoped that his intuition about what was coming next was wrong.
The pastor continued to speak about the numerous photos. Maybe he was mistaken, Gabe thought as he congratulated Givhans on the church activities and how pleased he and Drew had felt to be welcomed the first time they attended.
“There’re a number of people in the congregation who love to give service,” Givhans said. “You’d be amazed at how many youngsters of all ages come to our Sunday school. That’s where our problem is, Gabe. We’re in great need of more space and I’d been talking with Mr. Zeke about it for a few years.” He leaned toward Gabe and fixed his eyes on him.
Gabe snatched at the first obstacle he could think of. “But you’re too far away for a Sunday school class. The children can’t walk two blocks there and back in all kinds of weather.”
“We worked that out when the board first thought of it. The church buses, which we own would shuttle them there and back.” He looked like a magician who had successfully pulled a live rabbit out of a hatbox.
“I understand that you haven’t been here long, Gabe, and you haven’t had time to deal with your inheritance yet.”
“You’re right, Reverend Givhans. I haven’t.”
“All I want to do is tell you about our situation and that we had conversations with Mr. Zeke about it, so that when you’re ready you will keep the church in mind. Regardless of that, however, we hope that you and Drew will feel at home here and will participate in our activities.” With another handshake, Reverend Givhans escorted Gabe to the door.
Gabe walked home feeling he’d escaped the worst of it. At least Givhans hadn’t asked him outright to sell him some property and Gabe hadn’t had to go through what he had with Makima.
Still, the pastor and his board had expectations and hopes, simply because Great-Grandfather had never told them an outright no.
He couldn’t understand that. Why let these good people think there was a possibility of buying some of his land?
Naturally they came to him as soon as he showed up. It wasn’t up to him to answer their prayers. All he could say was no and not even explain why. It made him seem like a Simon Legree.
As he turned into his yard he couldn’t help but wonder how many other land-needy people were going to show up because Great-Grandfather had seemed to promise them something.
However many, the answer would still have to be no.
Chapter 13
Gabe found himself in an unexpected place Monday morning. Drew had returned yesterday from his long visit with Jeff, full of enthusiasm about enrolling in the school Jeff attended in Swinton.
“Jeff and I met some o
ther kids today and they all go there. They say it’s a pretty good high school. I’d like it a lot better than working here by myself. They have a swim team, too. Maybe I could get on it.” He interrupted himself. “Probably too late in the year for that but at least I could go to the meets. I wouldn’t have any trouble transferring to the school, would I?” He suddenly looked anxious and uncertain as he shifted in his chair opposite Gabe.
“Hold on a minute, Drew. I can see you’re excited because you’ve made new friends. That’s good. But Swinton High might not be as good academically as the one you’ve been attending at home.”
“Maybe not. But I’ll still be a sophomore here like I was at home and I promise to make good grades, which was more than I was doing. I just don’t want to be stuck here studying by myself when I could be at school now that I know some people.” He made his points with an earnestness that impressed Gabe.
It was true that if Drew would work hard he could accomplish more here than he had at home where his grades had gone down and he’d fallen in with the wrong crowd. Gabe could also understand his brother’s desire to be involved in the social aspect of high school. Even he, Gabe, was getting bored staying at the house most of the time.
“Do you think I could be transferred, Gabe?”
“I don’t see why not. We’ll go first thing in the morning and see.”
Drew broke out in a big smile, then he sobered. He stuck out his hand. “You won’t be sorry, Gabe.”
Now as Gabe stood to thank Mrs. Capers, the counselor with whom he and Drew had spent the past hour, he thought of what Drew’s handshake had implied. If nothing else good came of this South Carolina adventure, his brother’s reconciliation with school made it worthwhile.
He had his class assignments based on the material Gabe had shown the counselor from Drew’s previous school. The books he’d need now filled his backpack and Gabe had promised to request his brother’s transcripts.
“I’ll be back to pick you up,” he told Drew as they stood in the hallway.
“They have buses for everyone and I’ll come home on that. Okay?”
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