by Ann Towell
Mercy was getting kind of angry with me because she said I was in the way and I was talking too much, so I left the kitchen. I heard her slip the pies into the oven. Suddenly, it felt like home here, and just as suddenly I wished Mrs. Ryan was my mother and Uncle Amos was my father. The slam of the oven door scattered my thoughts and my childish dream vanished. I leaned my head against the window and hoped Lem would come home from work soon.
Mrs. Ryan ended up staying for a supper of bean soup with homemade biscuits. Uncle Amos thought it would be fine to have some of the wine we had saved up for Christmas. It glowed in the glasses I had shined just before filling them. I was given only a sip or two from my uncle’s glass because I was too young, as Aunt Sadie would say, to imbibe.
I wasn’t sleepy as I got ready for bed that night. I was afraid and excited at the same time. I was afraid Aunt Sadie would take me back with her, and I was excited about getting presents. Not only that, Uncle Amos had started calling Mrs. Ryan by her first name – Isabelle – some time during the evening. To my way of thinking that was a good sign. So it took a mite longer to get to sleep that night.
CHAPTER
13
Aunt Sadie and Uncle Robert came in on the morning train. We were out bright and early to get them. I had decided to go in the sleigh after all, the one that Lem was in charge of. Uncle Amos had the sledge so we could pick up the furniture at the same time. I sang every Christmas carol I knew, even though Lem told me to shut up once or twice.
“Leave the boy be,” Uncle Amos said as he slapped the reins on the horses’ rumps. “It’s a beautiful sound on a morning such as this.”
Once or twice Uncle Amos joined in, but the closer we got to Wyoming, the quieter I got. I was worried about Aunt Sadie, and I don’t mind saying so. She had the power to ruin my life. Oil Springs was my home now. I never wanted to return to London and I had said as much to Uncle Amos that morning. He just nodded his head and kept making breakfast.
We didn’t have long to wait at the station before the train came down the track. Uncle Amos must have known what I was feeling because he came to stand beside me and put his big hand on my shoulder.
“You’ve grown, boy,” he said, as if he was amazed. He took me by the shoulders and made me face him. “By Jove, you have grown. Why didn’t I see it before? Did you get some inches on you just last night?”
I could tell he was joking about growing overnight, but I was taller than when I came because I didn’t have to crook my neck so high to look him in the eye.
It felt real good knowing I was getting taller, and I wondered if Aunt Sadie would notice. I suppose that was a stupid thing to wonder because nothing ever escaped her notice. In fact, it was the first thing she said when she got off the train. She came directly at me and pulled me hard against her.
“Why, Titus! You’ve grown a full six inches I bet.” Then she took me by the shoulders and pushed me away from her so she could get a good look. “I swear you’re going to be another handsome Sullivan.”
Her laughter was a happy sound and I was surprised that she thought we Sullivans were handsome. The men all shook hands. Aunt Sadie turned to Lem and gave him a big hug too.
“It’s wonderful to see you all,” she said and then sniffed.
I just hoped she wouldn’t cry. That was the worse thing she could do, but she got a hold of herself and smiled while she took a small white hankie to dab at her eyes.
A porter brought their bags and we loaded them up. Then we worked to tie down the furniture on the sledge, and we were off back to home. Aunt Sadie’s cheerfulness faded the closer we got to Oil Springs. I could see the town through her eyes, and it didn’t look like much. There were shanties everywhere, and people were dressed roughly. There was no use dressing up in this place because of the muck and oil.
But, when Aunt Sadie saw the house, she looked less discouraged. She remarked that it was quite suitable for a doctor, and Uncle Amos should go back to being one, instead of running away from responsibility and living like a pauper. She figured God didn’t give out talents to be wasted and that Uncle Amos would want to be called a good and faithful servant by God when his time came to die.
Uncle Amos told her that he figured God wasn’t all that concerned – there were enough doctors in the world already.
“Show me all these doctors,” Aunt Sadie said. “I suppose they’re coming out of the woodwork. Why look, there’s a few walking down the street right now.”
She pointed at the two town drunks, Henry Wren and Simon Finch. They were stumbling down the road because they were full of moonshine. The townsfolk called them those rare birds on account of their last names and all.
We couldn’t help but laugh at that. Aunt Sadie sniffed and said it weren’t funny that a grown man should make such a meager thing of his life when God had given him so much. Uncle Amos wasn’t smiling anymore. I suppose he realized he should tell her the truth.
“Oh hush up, Sadie. As you can see the shingle is hanging by the front door.”
Sadie clapped her hands with happiness. “It’s about time you came to your senses.” Her smile took the sting out of her words.
“You two help with the furniture,” Uncle Amos told Lem and me.
With four men it didn’t take long to haul it all into the house with Aunt Sadie clucking behind us that we were tracking in snow and dirt. Mercy stood in the doorway, stunned at the sight of Aunt Sadie. She is a whirlwind for sure, and I don’t think Mercy knew what to make of her.
After supper we all went to attend the Christmas Eve service at the Methodist church. It was a clapboard structure with a belfry, but no bell as yet. We bundled up for the cold weather and walked the few blocks. Lem took up the rear with Mercy. It seemed sad that Mercy didn’t want to spend Christmas with her family, but I didn’t blame her since Mrs. Mabee is not a good, truthful kind of person. I wouldn’t trust anything she said. Well sir, at least Mercy had us.
There were lots of lonely people at Christmas because many of the men had left their families behind so they could work here. People came and went. Some lost money. Some struck oil. Some hauled oil. Some stayed and settled down. Some came from the south where the civil war was being fought. Some colored, some white. Some brought their ideas about slavery with them and others brought their ideas about freedom. Some were farmers, some were merchants, but all were dreamers who wanted to strike oil. Everyone came together at that little crossroads in Enniskillen Township.
CHAPTER
14
That Christmas was the best ever. Mrs. Ryan had a way of bringing joy into the house; she even charmed Aunt Sadie. All around our large clapboard house there were shanties. The shacks of the Negroes on Crooked Line were even worse. I wondered how they all would keep warm during the winter months. If it was up to me I would have invited them to our place for Christmas, but most of them had gone back to Kent County anyway.
Aunt Sadie would have been very upset to find out that Moses and me were friends. She would have found our friendship inappropriate. It’s a good thing Uncle Amos didn’t set much store on what people called appropriate and inappropriate. He figured a man should be judged on his deeds, not the color of his skin.
My best gift was a toboggan that Uncle Amos had made. It was pretty heavy, but it worked fine on the freshly fallen snow. Mercy thought she would go with me for a few runs down the hill. Lem decided he would stay at the house. I could tell she was disappointed but she also wanted a turn on the toboggan.
There were a lot of people out, seeing as it was a nice winter day and the wind was not blowing at all. We got to the hill soon enough and watched those who came afore us. My scarf (thanks to Aunt Sadie) was wrapped tightly around my throat. Mercy looked really nice in the new red coat we gave her for Christmas. It was our way of thanking her for all the work she was doing.
Mercy and I did a few runs down the hill, but it was always me lugging the toboggan back up the hill. I guess she figured she was a lady. After three or
four runs I looked up and there was Lem, watching as we struggled to haul the toboggan.
“Lem, take Mercy for a ride,” I coaxed him, when we got to the top.
“She can go with you.” Lem said. I didn’t want to kick up a fuss in case Mercy would be even more embarrassed. It seemed pretty obvious to me that I wasn’t the brother she wanted to be sliding hills with.
“Come on then,” Mercy said in her bossy way. She grabbed the rope from my hand and told me to sit on the front.
“No.” I was firm on that. She could sit in front of me. I didn’t want to feel like a little boy with her. She was smaller than me.
She plopped onto the toboggan so hard it started to slide down the hill before I could get on. I made a dive and got on in time. We were flying again and it felt real good.
“Do you want to go down one more time?” I asked her at the bottom of the hill.
Mercy was watching Lem’s retreating back. Her eyes narrowed. “No Titus, I don’t.”
So the two of us trudged through the snow each holding a part of the rope, attached to the toboggan. Lem’s long legs had quickly taken him home. We followed more slowly as if Mercy dreaded entering the house. I wasn’t sure why Lem had acted so rude and I didn’t know how to ask Mercy.
“He didn’t mean to hurt you,” I said without thinking.
Mercy blushed. She pulled her collar up around her neck and hitched her scarf higher to hide her face.
“He didn’t,” was all she said.
Lem was on the fiddle when we entered the back door. Uncle Amos had his squeeze box, and Uncle Robert was playing the spoons. Aunt Sadie and Mrs. Ryan sat quietly drinking store-bought tea and eating the cake that Isabelle had made. Mrs. Ryan’s toe was tapping to the lively music, but Aunt Sadie sat straight in her chair. There was a bit of melted snow on the floor from our boots, so I got a rag and cleaned it up before Aunt Sadie noticed. Mrs. Ryan smiled, but Aunt Sadie only nodded. The men seemed to be enjoying themselves and paid us no mind.
Mercy went into the kitchen to prepare the meal. There was some whiskey in the glasses that were passed around, but Aunt Sadie only took a little of her own currant cordial because she claimed she abstained from the evils of alcohol. I had become pretty good at step dancing when Lem played the fiddle. I could also play the penny whistle to the old tunes.
I ran up the stairs to get it while the music came to a stop downstairs. The men must have needed a break because when I came back down they were taking sips of their drink. Mrs. Ryan had gone to the other parlor to help set the table. For some strange reason Aunt Sadie followed.
The door to the room was closed. I stood very quiet outside it because I heard my name mentioned and then Mercy’s. Aunt Sadie was talking. “Does Titus often go about with this girl, Mercy?”
“I’m not sure, though I have seen them together on occasion,” was the reply.
I moved closer to the door. Luckily it was slightly ajar, or I may not have heard all of the conversation.
“I’m not sure an impressionable young boy like him should be associating with the hired help,” Aunt Sadie’s voice carried her disdain.
There was a pause. I wondered if Mrs. Ryan was as angry as me, or just trying to answer Aunt Sadie’s question as best she could. I could feel the blood rush to my head.
“She’s a hard-working girl, and I’ve heard no ill of her.”
“I don’t suppose you’re the type to listen to gossip anyway,” Aunt Sadie mused out loud. She was trying to win Mrs. Ryan over by flattering her.
“Well no, but I have never heard anything to discredit Mercy.”
I wondered where Mercy was. Maybe she had gone to the privy.
Aunt Sadie said one last thing before I returned to the parlor, forgetting why I had come here in the first place.
“Amos is the most unlikely guardian of any child, but he seems to have taken a shine to his nephew, though I can’t begin to wonder why. Amos used to be such a recluse, and now I find him having Christmas with friends and family. I shouldn’t wonder that his influence would be inappropriate. He never much cared for the proprieties of life. He always balked at the niceties and formalities. What my sister ever saw in him –”
The back door slammed, and both women stopped speaking. Mercy must have come back into the house.
I turned and glided down the hallway back to the music. My heart was beating fast. I knew Aunt Sadie was going to try to get me to come home with her, even though she didn’t even like me. I think she felt she should do her duty. In Aunt Sadie’s world, duty was everything.
I hoped that Uncle Amos would stand up for me and keep me with him. He was a good guardian, the best ever, despite what Aunt Sadie said. Mrs. Ryan might have defended Uncle Amos too, if Mercy hadn’t come into the kitchen at that moment.
CHAPTER
15
“Pass the potatoes please,” Lem asked as we were all seated at the large table. I passed them to him as talk swirled around me. I wasn’t really listening because I was worried about Aunt Sadie taking me back to London. I tried to think of a way to talk everyone into letting me stay. I just knew Aunt Sadie was going to bring up the subject while we were eating together. Aunt Sadie never seemed afraid of anyone or anything. In that way I admired her. Her courage was something to respect.
“Where is your school young man? I hope within walking distance?” Aunt Sadie asked, her eyebrows raised.
“Yes,” I mumbled, hoping she would drop the subject.
“Is he a good student?” she asked Mrs. Ryan.
“Oh yes, quite the brightest lad in the whole school,” Mrs. Ryan replied.
“That is, when he’s there,” Lem opened his big mouth.
“What do you mean?”
“He works, ma’am.” Mercy was trying to help, but I wished she had kept quiet. I kicked at her shin under the table. I couldn’t reach Lem or he would have gotten a good kick too.
“At what, pray tell?” Aunt Sadie’s voice became louder.
“He helps haul away the clay as new wells are dug. He also drives tourists around to see the sights in Oil Springs.”
“The sights!” Aunt Sadie harrumphed. “It’s nothing but a muddy, smelly town with too many rough characters in it. Just walking along the main street I came across so many men spitting. They all seem to have acquired the filthy habit of chewing tobacco. Is that what you want for Titus?”
“I’m making money, Aunt Sadie,” I piped up. “I’m saving for college like you wanted.”
“I never asked you to save for anything. You need an education to attend college, young man. Working as a teamster isn’t what I had in mind for your education. Your Uncle Robert and I were going to pay for your college. It’s the least I could do for my sister.”
Aunt Sadie took out a small handkerchief and wiped her eyes. I was afraid her tears would do more damage to my cause than anything.
I looked at Uncle Amos with pleading eyes. Mrs. Ryan smiled at me encouragingly when I caught her eye. Mercy stared at her plate. She figured she’d done enough talking for now. Or at least that’s what I thought until she ruined everything by saying something else.
“He’s helping me learn to read, ma’am. He’s a mighty fine teacher. Moses helps to teach too, since he got learning at that school down there in Buxton. He’s a right smart reader too, just like Titus, and he puts so much into his reading, it’s like hearing the voices of the people he’s reading about.”
“Who is this Moses?”
There was a deathly silence. We all knew that Aunt Sadie would definitely not approve of Moses. I looked at Uncle Amos in mute appeal. He smiled grimly and answered his sister-in-law.
“He’s a boyo that Titus has been chumming with.”
“Where does he come from?” Aunt Sadie was not going to be easy to deter.
“Moses comes from Chatham,” I replied.
“What’s he doing here, then?”
“He travels with his family for work.”
“Wha
t’s that supposed to mean, young man? Is his father a tinker?”
“Just a man wanting to make a living for his family,” Uncle Amos put in. “If you insist on knowing, I will tell you that this young man’s father was a slave.”
Aunt Sophie was aghast. “It’s fine and dandy to be an abolitionist, but mingling with these people is going beyond the call of true Christian duty.”
I was very angry then as you can imagine. I see myself as a Christian, and the abolitionists are definitely doing God’s work, so what my Aunt said didn’t make any sense. She looked at Uncle Amos plaintively. “How could you so disgrace my sister’s memory?”
Once again the handkerchief came out, and she dabbed at her eyes. Uncle Robert came to stand behind her and lay a hand on her shoulder. “Do you think it’s wise?” he asked my uncle.
“You never cared what any of us ever thought of you. You always went your own way, defying the rules of society.” Aunt Sadie was gasping now, and the tears were flowing fast. “It’s fine for you to defy authority, you’re a grown man, but the boy … the boy …”
Aunt Sadie couldn’t finish her sentence she was so distraught. Uncle Robert kept squeezing her shoulder while the rest of us sat, staring dumbly at our plates. Mercy was the first to get up and excuse herself.
“The dishes won’t get done on their own, I daresay,” she said, picking up the empty plates. Her chair scraped against the new wood floor and she moved quickly to leave the room. Mrs. Ryan followed.
When the two were in the kitchen Aunt Sadie recovered from crying. “Now then, I see that I should take Titus back with me.”
She got up from the table all businesslike as if she was leaving right then and there. I cringed in my chair. Uncle Amos seemed composed at first, but the longer I looked at him the grimmer his face became. Then, he got up too.