The Clash Between the Minds

by Nann Dunne

  Faith looked up at Sarah as Velia tucked the blanket back around Noah. "Exactly what happened? Was it the Klan?"

  "Yes, it was." Sarah rubbed the back of her neck. Noah had told her his story on the ride home. "Four of them ambushed him in the barn. He tried to put up a fight and got in a few licks, but one bashed him in the side of his head with a rifle barrel and that took all the fight out of him. When he went down, they kicked the breath out of him, tied him over a horse, and took him to a clearing in the woods. They roped him to a tree and said they meant to whip him until he was dead. That's when we found them."

  "We?" Faith looked grim. "You took the boys with you? I was worried where they were."

  "No, Mama," Benjamin said. "We followed the tracks and caught up with Aunt Sarah."

  "The boys hid behind some trees," Sarah said, "and when I hollered, we all shot our rifles into the air. Some of the cowards ran away right then, but a few fired back and the one with the whip struck Noah with it."

  Daniel piped up. "But he didn't get to hit Pa again." His mouth worked a moment before he said his next words. "He got shot."

  Faith's eyes glittered with something akin to fear as she turned toward Sarah. "You shot one of the Klan? Did they see you?"

  Sarah nodded. "He would have put another slice on Noah's back like that one you just doctored."

  "Oh, Sarah, they'll be wanting to pay you back for that." For the first time, Faith got a good look at Benjamin. She gasped and jumped up. "What happened to you?"

  "It's nothing, Mama. A piece of bark came off the tree and grazed me."

  With anger flying from her like sparks from a fire, Faith snatched up the salve and marched over to him. "You came that close to being shot?" Benjamin stood still as Faith spread some salve on the cut then put the jar back down. She turned her glare on Sarah. "How could you? You took these boys into danger."

  "Mama, Aunt Sarah didn't know we would follow her. It's not her fault."

  Undeterred, Faith strode to Sarah, grasped the front of her tunic in both hands, and shook her. "You should have sent them back. Endangering yourself is bad enough, Sarah, but you had no right to endanger Benjamin. Or Daniel."

  Sarah gritted her teeth, and her words were low. "Boys in the war were younger than they are."

  Faith's chest heaved with her anger. "Don't give me that flimsy excuse," she shouted. "Benjamin and Daniel aren't trained soldiers." Faith let go of the tunic, balled her fingers into fists, and pounded on Sarah's chest.

  Sarah grabbed Faith's wrists. "Stop hitting me," she said in a hoarse voice.

  "Please, Miss Faith," Daniel said, "we was on Drummer, and we found Miss Sarah walking. She couldn't see the tracks from horseback, but we could. She got on Redfire, and we took her to them. Pa might likely be killed by the time she got there herself."

  "Excuse me, ma'am," Noah said, "but Daniel did right coming after me. He's family. We'd risk anything to save each other."

  Velia put her hand on Faith's arm. "The boys saved Noah's life. No one else been hurt. That's a good thing."

  The touch seemed to calm Faith. Sarah loosened her grasp, and Faith tugged her hands away and stepped back. Her voice sounded raspy. "No one got hurt? What about the man Sarah shot? He could be dead. He might even be someone we know." Sarah reached for her, but Faith shrugged her off and turned away. "I'm so sick and tired of violence. I thought we were through with that when the war ended."

  No one said a word.

  Velia broke the silence. "I'll get a shirt for Noah," she said and left the room.

  Faith turned her attention to Noah. "Can you eat some soup?”

  "Yes, ma'am. I'm truly hungry."

  "Stay here and rest. I'll ask Velia to bring you some." She started toward the kitchen without looking back. "The rest of you, come along and eat. Velia has a pot of noodle soup keeping hot on the stove."

  "Noah," Faith said, "you can sleep here in the living room if going up the stairs would be too much for you."

  "Thank you, ma'am. I'll stay here then."

  "Boys," Faith said, "I think you've had enough excitement. Time to get to bed."

  Benjamin kissed her and Sarah on the cheek. "Good night, Mama. Good night, Aunt Sarah." He gave Sarah's arm a squeeze as he kissed her. Daniel gave his parents a hug and kiss, said good night to Faith and Sarah, and the boys went out of the room.

  Sarah looked toward Faith, who studiously avoided her gaze. Faith hadn't said a word to her at suppertime. A heavy rock settled to the bottom of Sarah's stomach.

  "Good night, Noah," she said. "I hope you feel better in the morning."

  "Thank you, ma'am. And thank you for savin' me. I'm forever beholden to you."

  Sarah gave his arm a pat and left the room. Faith's earlier words, that had seemed directed at her, filled her with foreboding. I'm so sick and tired of violence.

  Sarah had dimmed the oil lamp. Now she lay in bed waiting for Faith to finish changing into her gingham nightshirt. Her attempts at conversation had elicited only one-word answers. When Faith crawled into bed, she turned her back to Sarah.

  "Please talk to me," Sarah said as she touched Faith's shoulder. "I don't want to go to sleep with you still angry with me." She smoothed her hand along Faith's arm, and Faith pulled away. "What could I do? Noah needed help. I hate to think what might have happened if the boys hadn't showed up. I would never have gotten there in time. I'm glad you didn't yell at them."

  Hope stirred in her as Faith turned toward her, the dim light reflecting a green glow from her eyes.

  "I'm upset that the boys followed you, but I'm not angry with them. I'm just terribly disturbed. I was worried about you and Noah. That goes without saying. But I'm angry that you didn't seem to have a care about including the boys in the rescue."

  "I cared," Sarah said. "I even tried to send them back, but they were right, I needed their help. I didn't have a good alternative."

  "They could have been killed. Those men could have attacked you instead of running away."

  Sarah shook her head no. "Men who hide behind pillowcase hoods and sheets aren't likely to attack anyone who's armed. Besides, with a repeater rifle, I would have shot all of them before they got near enough to hurt anyone."

  "I'm sure you would have," Faith said in a flat voice that went right through Sarah. "I'm disturbed that there was any shooting at all. I understand it, but it still disturbs me. Wasn't there any other way?"

  "What would you have done?"

  "I don't know. I don't have any experience with situations like this."

  "And you think I have?"

  "You were in the war."

  "I was a courier, not a soldier who shot at the other side."

  Faith's eyebrows raised. "You hunted down and killed the men who attacked you, and you got shot once more before that."

  "You know I only killed one of them, and he was trying to shoot me. The others were already dead or dying. Those men were vermin." Sarah was getting impatient with the way this conversation was going. "The Ku Klux Klan are vermin, too. The one who was whipping Noah deserved to be shot."

  "All right, Noah needed to be saved, and I concede that the shooting was a necessary part of that. But the very idea of someone shooting at Benjamin and Daniel makes me shudder. Noah might believe that Daniel should act like a man, but I'd guess that Velia feels the same way I do. You don't really know fear until your child is in danger. Only a mother can understand that."

  "I'm a mother."

  "You gave Jessica away to Scott and Lindsay. I doubt that your feelings for her come anywhere close to mine for Benjamin."

  The last remark hurt Sarah, and she pondered its truth. What feelings did she have for Jessica? She hardly knew her and had no desire to. "Maybe that's true, but don't ever doubt that I love Benjamin. I wouldn't deliberately put him in the way of harm if I thought I couldn't shield him. I'm sorry I upset you."

  "I know you love him. I guess we should leave it at that. But don't you dare put him in jeopardy again. I d
on't know how I would..." Faith hesitated a moment. "I'm sorry I hit you. After all my protest about violence, I surprised myself by acting that way."

  She cupped Sarah's cheek in her palm. "I was angry and confused, but I shouldn't have pounded on you. Please forgive me."

  Sarah turned her head and kissed Faith's palm. "You know I do, redhead."

  Sarah rode Redfire into the heart of town the next morning to report the kidnapping episode to Sheriff Schmidt. She was curious to see whether anyone had mentioned anything about it. She dismounted and tied Redfire to the hitching rail in front of the sheriff's office, which was connected to the jail.

  As she approached the door, she noticed a few furtive glances from passersby, but no one addressed her. "Sheriff," she said after she entered, "we had some trouble last night over at my place."

  "That so?" Schmidt looked up from where he sat behind a cluttered desk. A strong smell of coffee hovered in the room.

  Sarah took a seat in the chair in front of the desk, even though the sheriff made no move to offer it to her. She had long become accustomed to being treated like a man.

  "Yes." She tipped her hat back with her thumb. "Some Ku Klux Klansmen showed up and kidnapped Noah, the man I hired to work around my place."

  Schmidt pulled a tablet toward him, picked up a pencil, and wrote on the paper. "The nigra?"

  "Yes. They dragged him into the woods and tied him to a tree. I went after him, and just as I caught up to them, they started to whip him. I hollered, but the one with the whip didn't stop. He lashed Noah, and I shot at him."

  "You got any witnesses to this?"

  "Yes. Benjamin Pruitt and Noah's son, Daniel, were with me.

  He added their names to the tablet and said, "They're just boys."

  "Fourteen years old. Big enough to know what they saw."

  The sheriff was a tall, heavy, bearded man, and his chair squeaked as he shifted his bulk in it. He stopped writing and looked at Sarah. "Any grown-ups see this?"

  Sarah's voice got edgy. "I'm grown up. I saw Noah tied to the tree. I saw him getting whipped. He has a fresh lash stroke on his back."

  "Anyone see the nigra get kidnapped?"

  "There were signs in the barn that he'd been grabbed and dragged away. The boys and I found him by following the trail into the woods."

  "Miss Sarah." Schmidt flipped the pencil back and forth as he spoke. "I had a report last night that your nigra had stolen some food from Ed Putnam's store. Some men here set out after him, caught up to him in the woods near your house, and meant to teach him a lesson by leaving him tied to a tree. They said you showed up all yelling and screaming and shot Ed for no reason. They ran him back here to Doc Litchfield and came to tell me about it." He laid the pencil down and nudged a coffee mug aside. He reached to the mess of papers to his right and pulled one out. "They wanted me to get Judge Abbott to make out a warrant for your arrest."

  He turned the paper toward her. "I filled out a request, but you can see I haven't signed it. Told them I wanted to hear your side, first-Sarah yanked off her hat and twisted it in her hands. She wanted to strangle someone, but couldn't, so her hat took the brunt of her anger. "Are you going to sign it?"

  For the first time since she entered the office, a twinkle showed in Schmidt's eyes. "Nope. I'm going to tell them there's insufficient evidence of any wrongdoing on your part. And if they want to push for a warrant, I'll mention that taking the law into their own hands is frowned on by the courts and they could be the ones in trouble." He lifted the paper, balled it up, and tossed it into the trashcan sitting in the corner.

  "Can I make trouble for them?" Sarah asked.

  Schmidt lowered his head and looked at her from below bushy eyebrows. "You could, Miss Sarah, but I'd advise against it. Your witnesses won't hold up, and it'll come down to your word against theirs." The chair squeaked again as he shifted. "You'd be facing up to some of our most respected citizens, and..." He let his voice trail away.

  "And I don't really fit into that category," Sarah said in a bitter tone.

  Schmidt turned up his palms and shrugged. He jumped as Sarah slapped her hat against the desk and stood up. "I guess they get away with it," she said. "But thanks for not just going along with their lies and putting me in jail." She shook Schmidt's hand and turned to leave.

  "Miss Sarah." She looked back at Schmidt. "You've made some enemies. I can't be everywhere protecting everybody. Be careful."

  "Thanks." Sarah nodded, shoved her hat back on her head, and stomped out the door into the bright sunshine.

  "Sarah!"

  She eagerly turned around. Leah and Phillip Showell approached along the boardwalk. The couple had blonde hair and blue-eyes, but their likeness ended there. A little on the plump side, Leah barely came above Sarah's shoulder while Phillip, at six-foot-four-inches tall, towered over the two women. He walked with a discernible limp, the result of the artificial leg he wore. As a Civil War amputee, he had been given the prosthetic leg by the War Department.

  "Leah, Phillip." Sarah gave them each a hug. "Where are the children?"

  "We left them home," Phillip said. "You remember Greta Fulton, our next-door neighbor? She's watching over them."

  "Amy's birthday's coming soon," Leah said, "and we're hunting for presents for her."

  She slipped her arm through Sarah's, and they began moving along the boardwalk, three abreast. "We just heard some news about you shooting Ed Putnam. What happened? Are you all right?"

  "I'm fine." Sarah patted Leah's hand that lay in the crook of her elbow. She explained the kidnapping and her run-in with the Ku Klux Klan. "I talked to Sheriff Schmidt. Putnam's friends wanted to bring charges against me, but he refused. He warned me to be careful."

  "Oh, Sarah," Leah said and frowned at her, "the names of Klan members are secret. They might want to retaliate, and you don't know who they are."

  "Leah's right," Phillip said. "You and your family want to stay with us until this dies down?"

  "I can't put you in jeopardy. But thank you for asking." Sarah stopped, bringing them all to a halt, and removed her arm from Leah's. "Go ahead and finish your shopping. I need to get back home and tell everyone what's going on."

  Phillip took Leah's hand. "All right, but you keep a watch out, you hear? If we can do anything, let us know."

  "I'll do that. Thank you. Give the children hugs for me."

  Chapter Three

  Things stayed quiet for the next week. Sarah suspected the local Klan members were embarrassed that the run-in with her had left one of them shot and her unscathed. Nevertheless, she strapped on her holster and kept watch for anything out of the ordinary. Just when her worries eased a bit, the local newspaper announced a forthcoming parade of the Ku Klux Klan, intended to recruit new followers and give support to the current ones. The Klan encouraged anyone who sought to join them to present a good reason to be accepted.

  "This could mean more trouble," Faith said. She had just come home from school, and she laid the paper on the kitchen table in front of Sarah. She hung up her coat, dropped into a seat opposite her, and pointed to the article.

  Sarah picked up the paper and turned in her chair so the golden rays of afternoon sunlight could cast a glow on the report. She already had her spectacles on, and her eyes raced through the words. When she finished, she frowned and looked up at Faith. "You mean the encouragement part?"

  "Yes. Ever since Noah's kidnapping, some of the older boys at school have been making insulting remarks about people who don't fit their ideas of society—or probably their parents' ideas. A couple even hinted at the evil of certain relationships, including not-so-veiled references to us." She rested an elbow on the table and spread her fingers over her forehead and into her hair. "I'm worried they might do something stupid and harmful."

  The newspaper rustled as Sarah folded it and laid it aside. "Where are Benjamin and Daniel?"

  Faith's head snapped up. "Daniel's in the barn with Noah and Velia. I picked him up as usual, bu
t Benjamin stayed at school to play ball with some of the boys. Do you think...?"

  Sarah grabbed her jacket from the hook by the door. When Faith rose and began to don her coat, Sarah said, "You stay here. I'm sure Drummer's been unhitched by now, and I can go faster on Redfire." Faith nodded and Sarah hurried out the door.

  About two-thirds of the way to school, Sarah spied Benjamin sitting against a tree at the side of the road. She guided Redfire over, dismounted, and knelt next to him. He seemed to be sleeping, and he barely roused when Sarah touched him. One eye and one cheek were swollen and bruised, and his mouth and nose seeped blood. "Benjamin, wake up." Sarah spoke forcefully and watched his eyes slowly focus. "Can you stand?" She stood and reached toward him. He grasped her hand, and she put her other hand beneath his elbow, and he managed to rise. Sarah waited while he gathered himself.

  When he looked more aware, she said, "Can you get on Redfire?" He mumbled something and nodded. She helped him mount, settled herself behind him, and held him in place with her arm. "Let's get you to your mama." She kept Redfire to a walk, and they headed home.

  As soon as they were within sight of the house, Faith came running out to meet them. "Oh my God, Benjamin, are you all right?"

  "He's had a good beating," Sarah said. "But I don't think it's anything you can't fix."

  Faith walked alongside Redfire, her hand on Benjamin's leg, until they got to the house, where Noah, Velia, and Daniel waited for news. The adults helped Benjamin off of Redfire and into the house to his bed.

  By now familiar with all the household cabinets, Velia collected towels and a basin of water while Sarah rounded up the proper medications. Faith removed Benjamin's outer clothes and pulled a sheet and blanket over him to keep him warm. Velia stopped in the kitchen to add some warm water to the basin from the kettle that always sat on the back of the stove. Noah chipped some ice from the block in the icebox and wrapped it in a towel that Daniel brought to him.