Rorey's Secret

by Leisha Kelly

  “Yes,” I said simply.

  “If Mr. Hammond has any questions about those boys of his, you just send him over to talk to me.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you again.”

  “Three times a day change your husband’s bandages and put on more of the cream. At least twice for that bigger boy. More if he gets the bandages wet or dirty.” I nodded, and he smiled. “You did fine, Mrs. Wortham. You’d make a fine nurse. And a midwife. Could use more of those in these parts.”

  I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I didn’t say anything at all. I didn’t want anything more to do with midwifery. Or nursing injuries either.

  He walked away and got in his old car. A 1910 Model A like we used to have back in Pennsylvania. Dr. Hall kept it shiny. I stood on the porch, watching him pull away down our long lane. Thank you, God, that he came. Bless him.

  “Mom?” Sarah called out to me. “I think Daddy’s gone to sleep again.”

  For a moment, the words shook me, but I took a deep breath and decided not to fret. “It’s all right, honey. The doctor said he’d need a lot of rest.”

  I thanked Barrett Post for doing the milking and asked him if there was any way he could bring me more ice. He looked so tired that I felt bad for asking. But he didn’t seem to mind. He carried the milk in for me and then he was gone. Lord, bless him too.

  Inside the house, Thelma was singing to the baby. I looked across the timber and wondered what was still going on over at the Hammonds’ that was keeping young Sam from coming back to his wife and newborn. I wondered if the fire had flared back up or if George had somehow gone to pieces over all they’d lost. He’d been doing better than before. Though times were still hard, at least the Hammonds had gotten so they were no worse off than the rest of the struggling folks in our area.

  And now this.

  I was about to go back in the house, but I saw Franky over at the well. He must not have known I was watching. He took a drink, and then slow and deliberate, he started pulling the bandage off his right hand.

  “Franky!” I hollered immediately. “Leave that bandage be! You heard what the doctor said.”

  He stopped what he was doing and looked up. I came closer. He was looking so awful with yesterday’s bruises on his tired face.

  “I don’t wanna go ’round wrapped up like it’s real bad or somethin’, ’cause it ain’t,” he told me with determination.

  “That’s good, Franky. I’m glad it’s not worse. But if we want it to heal up, we’d better do what we’re told, don’t you think?”

  His silvery eyes were deep and solemn. “I don’t want nobody lookin’ at me an’ thinkin’ I’m wantin’ ’em to look.”

  Such a notion would never have occurred to me. “Why would anybody do that? Franky, you can’t help it that you were hurt.”

  He lowered his head. “Not everybody thinks like you.”

  I hardly knew how to respond. “If anyone looks at you funny, they’ve got problems of their own that are not your concern. And it’s just for a couple of days. The doctor said you could give it open air then, and I think you should heed him. Please? To keep the medicine in and the dirt and sawdust out.”

  He just stood looking down at his hands.

  “For your right hand especially. It could get infected if you try to work without protecting it. And you need it getting well quickly, not getting worse.”

  “All right.” He sighed, suddenly looking like he was carrying a new weight. “I’ll do what you say.”

  I didn’t really understand what was bothering him about it. He headed back to the woodshop, and I turned to the house. Franky did a lot of thinking, I knew that. He was always turning things over in his mind. But I couldn’t remember him being sullen like this before or concerned about the way somebody looked at him or thought of him. Maybe it was because his father was blaming him for the fire.

  Sarah was waiting for me when I got to the porch. “You think Franky could have done it?” she asked me.

  “No,” I said immediately, not at all pleased to be hearing such nonsense again. “I don’t know what happened. But it wasn’t Franky. He would tell me if it was. You know that, don’t you, Sarah?”

  Something in her eyes changed. Suddenly she looked scared. She glanced around quickly and then back at me but didn’t quite meet my eyes. “Mom—”

  She was about to say something, but Georgie came running out of the house, waving a pancake in his little fist. I reached and grabbed him before he could go flying down the porch steps.

  Delores was right behind him. “Come back here, you little hooligan!” she called to her grandson. “You’re supposed to be sittin’ an’ eatin’ that, not runnin’ out to play with the dog!”

  “Whiskers like pannycake?” Georgie asked me. His grandmother whisked him out of my arms.

  “You’re not gonna feed those fine pancakes to no dog! Now come back inside an’ finish your breakfast!”

  I smiled, glad to see some of the shenanigans that were more common fare around here. But Sarah was looking pale.

  “Somebody’s coming,” she said.

  I hadn’t heard anyone, but she was right. Down the road, we could see a truck coming our way. It wasn’t long before I knew it was Richard Pratt’s, and I wished we could have gotten some word to him and Robert that they needn’t trouble Dr. Howell any further. I hated for the elderly gentleman to come all the way out here when Dr. Hall had already come and gone. But maybe they hadn’t found him. Maybe he was busy again this morning. I went out to meet them, to tell them right away that everything was all right. Sarah, Delores, and Georgie all followed me.

  There was no other vehicle behind the boys. And I could soon tell that there was no one else with them in the truck. For a moment I considered the possibility that the two doctors might have talked by telephone before Dr. Hall ever left Mcleansboro. That way Dr. Howell would know he didn’t have to come out. But that wasn’t very likely.

  Dr. Howell was just busy. Too busy for a man his age. He didn’t get around so well anymore. But he sure got called on a lot.

  “Mom!” Robert yelled as they pulled in. “Was it Dr. Hall we saw?”

  “Yes. He was just here.”

  He looked so relieved. “What’d he say? Is Dad all right? We were thinking we’d have to go get him, but Richard thought that was him up at the turn—”

  “Dr. Howell’s with someone else again then?” I asked, glad they hadn’t dragged him out here.

  “No, Mom,” Robert said. And I knew by his eyes that something was wrong.

  “He’s gone,” Richard said quietly.

  “Gone where?” Delores asked. “If he ain’t with a patient . . .”

  Both boys looked grim. Richard cleared his throat and tried to explain. “His neighbor told us he was over to the elder Mrs. Porter’s house last night to listen to her lungs, an’ he just collapsed on their porch. He was gone before they could do anythin’ at all. They think it was his heart jus’ givin’ up.”

  Beside me, Sarah reached for my hand. “You mean . . . you mean Dr. Howell is dead?”

  “I guess the Lord called him home,” Delores said with a sigh. “He certainly is deservin’ of his eternal rest.”

  I was glad Delores was receiving the news so calmly. I was feeling a little unsteady. Why did bad things just keep piling on top of each other? Dr. Howell had been our friend ever since we came here, when he used to come and check on dear old Emma Graham. He’d been a blessing. I didn’t know what to say.

  “Mom, how is Dad?” Robert persisted.

  “Resting again,” I managed to tell him. “And Dr. Hall said we can expect him to be just fine.”

  “We sent Charlie Hunter to tell the pastor what happened,” Richard told me. “He said Ben an’ Lizbeth was over to Mrs. Porter’s an’ he’ll go an’ tell them too.”

  I nodded. Pastor would surely come. Ben and Lizbeth too, once they could get away. The elder Mrs. Porter was Ben’s grandmother, and I hoped she was all right. A
dreadful shock that must have been, to lose the doctor in such a way. And she’d been growing weaker and weaker of late.

  “You gonna stay here tonight or go on over to Sam and Thelma’s?” Richard asked his mother.

  “I’ll be talkin’ that over with Sam when he gets back. Thelma’s plenty strong enough to travel, and we’re needin’ to get outta Mrs. Wortham’s hair—”

  “You’re fine here if you want to stay another night or two,” I said quickly. “The doctor did tell Thelma not to do too much too soon.”

  We all went inside. The girls fed Richard all he’d eat, and he held the baby a while before he left. Robert was quiet. He didn’t really want to eat. He just wanted to sit with his father, and I sat with him, watching Samuel sleep again. He looked so different with the doctor’s big bandage around his head. I was glad most of the bruises were not visible for my son to see.

  “How bad is he busted up, Mom?” Robert asked me. “I know you don’t want to say, but it’s not like I’m a little kid. What else did the doctor say? Don’t you think I oughta know?”

  “He has a concussion, Robert,” I said with a sigh. “Maybe broken ribs. But he’ll mend. He’s doing all right. He’s just to stay in bed a while, at least till the doctor’s back to see him in a couple of days.”

  So many times I’d seen Robert’s clear green eyes looking into mine, but this time was different. He was still my little boy. In a way, he always would be. But now the look on his face was more like a man than I’d ever seen in him, moved deep to his heart but still so strong.

  “I thought he was gone, Mom, for a while. An’ I didn’t know what we’d do.”

  I hugged my son, feeling his near-grown muscles tense with worry. “He’ll be all right,” I whispered to him. “He’ll be just fine.”

  I looked up to see Sarah standing in the doorway, and I wasn’t sure how long she’d been there. She didn’t have a word to say. Both of my children seemed numb, not really wanting to do anything.

  But Katie stayed in motion. Maybe keeping her hands busy helped her. She gave out as many pancakes as she could, washed up all the dishes, and then started making a batch of muffins, because they were quick, she said, and we were low on bread.

  I wanted all of them to go and take a nap, but they weren’t minded that way. Berty had slept, and Harry was still sleeping, but they were the only ones. Delores suggested I lie down for a while, but I wouldn’t have felt right about that unless Samuel woke and wanted me at his side again.

  About 10:00 in the morning, George came. Young Sam brought him in the truck with Rorey and William. I was glad to see animals in the back. At least some of the stock had survived. Mostly goats. A couple of pigs. I wondered about the cows, the two horses that pulled George’s wagon, and for the first time, the wagon itself. Had they lost that too?

  “Can we put the stock over here, Mrs. Wortham?” Sam Hammond called to me.

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Ever’body doin’ all right?” George yelled.

  I nodded. “They’re all right.”

  Robert came out to help Willy and Sam unload the animals and get them all situated in our barn lot. Rorey started for the house. She looked exhausted but not near as dirty as her brothers. She stopped on the porch anyway, to wash at our basin. Sarah came out just as Rorey was about to go in. For a moment they were face-to-face. I expected a hug or something, it had been such a traumatic night. But strangely enough, the girls who had been the best of friends since we came here only sidestepped one another and went on without a word.

  12

  Sarah

  Rorey wasn’t sooty like her brothers. Rorey wasn’t half the mess Franky was when he first got here. I wondered if she’d helped at all or just stood there like a dunce the whole time, the way she had when I’d seen her.

  And Lester Turrey wasn’t around. I walked out across the yard, thinking of Lester pulling my braids in the school yard. And pushing Katie into a mud puddle. He was just plain mean. He’d always been mean.

  He was probably the one who started that fire. It made my heart beat faster just thinking about it. He’s the one who should’ve been hurt.

  I knew Bert was feeling bad over my daddy. And Franky was dealing with plenty enough too. I wondered if Rorey was feeling guilty. And how much did she have to feel guilty about?

  “Everything all right?” Mom asked me.

  I nodded, not wanting to say out loud what I really felt. Everything’s not all right at all.

  I wished I could’ve told Mom about Lester and Rorey when I’d had the chance. I couldn’t now with everybody around. So I’d just have to wait till Mom was alone again to tell her what Rorey’d been planning. And I didn’t think I’d feel bad to do it. Even though Rorey’d probably never trust me with a secret again.

  “Kirk’ll be over in a little while with Tulip,” Willy was saying. “We had to put Teddy down. He was bad hurt.”

  Tulip and Teddy were Mr. Hammond’s horses. I wondered if he could do the farmwork with only one, or if they could afford to get another. Probably not, from what I could see. “What about the cows?” I asked him.

  “We found Dolly an’ her calf. Guess we lost the rest.”

  “Where’d you leave Dolly?” Robert asked him.

  “Tied up over t’ home. Pa said they’d be all right for a while. I’ll go back over an’ get ’em.”

  “Eat something first,” Mom told him.

  I wondered why she was so quick to think of that. Seemed like it was always that way. Whenever anything bad happened, somebody was always checking to make sure everybody ate. We’d brought food when Phyllis Meyer’s mother was so sick. And people had brought food out here when Emma Graham and Rorey’s mama died. But I didn’t like remembering that. Most things had been good since then.

  “I’ll go with you after Dolly,” Robert told Willy.

  “We still got a house,” Mr. Hammond was telling my mother. “Gotta fix the roof now and a wall on the west side. It’s purty bad where the fire caught it.”

  “Is there loss on the inside?” Mom asked him.

  “Perty smoky. Most things is all right, though. The boys worked awful hard to save it. I’d a’ give it up. I didn’t have the strength.”

  I saw Sam Hammond look over at his father with something pained in his eyes. I wondered what had happened over there after we left. I think all the Hammond kids, except maybe Emmie or Bert, understood that their pa had problems sometimes. He wasn’t like my dad. He kind of fell apart when times got tough.

  Sam told my mom in a quiet voice that most of his pa’s crop and some of ours was gone. The fire had spread into two fields and a stand of timber. Plus all the hay, the smokehouse, and the machine shed. I already knew about the goat pen and the pigsty that had been closest to the barn, so that meant there wasn’t nothing left standing at the Hammond place but the house and the woodshed. And maybe the chicken coop.

  “Who knows how bad it’d been if the rain hadn’t come when it did,” Sam added. “That was God’s gift.”

  Mom only nodded. And I thought the same thing I’d thought before. Why couldn’t the rain have come sooner?

  Kirk brought the horse before long. I’d hardly ever seen Tulip without Teddy, and I kind of felt sorry for her. Maybe she’d be lonely. But Kirk was awful good to her. He loved horses, and I knew he was sad about the loss of Teddy.

  We had some more to feed now. Katie was right. It was easy to keep adding to the batter to keep the pancakes coming. I was amazed at how much Willy and Kirk could eat. And their pa. I was surprised he could eat at all. Rorey couldn’t. Not more than a few bites.

  Daddy slept a long time. That bothered me, even though we were all pretty tired. Mom kept telling me he’d be okay, that the doctor believed it too. I guessed he must have, or he wouldn’t have left without taking Dad to the hospital with him. But I still hated the thought of Dad lying there in bed with a head concussion and busted-up ribs. I couldn’t be mad at Berty, though. It wasn’t really h
is fault. He was only thinking to save Imey. I should’ve been able to stop him.

  Rorey wasn’t saying much to me. She only shook her head when I asked if she wanted milk. She wasn’t really saying much to anybody. I wondered what she was thinking. Maybe that it was all her fault.

  Mom and Delores Pratt prayed about Dad. He woke up again for a while, and I thought he sounded tired but some better. I wished he’d get up, but Mom said he wasn’t supposed to try. He didn’t seem to like that any better than I did.

  “It doesn’t seem right to stay in bed,” he told us.

  “Dr. Hall came all the way out here,” Mom argued. “The least we can do is mind his advice.”

  “It’ll do you good to rest until you’re mended, Samuel,” Mrs. Pratt maintained.

  He didn’t answer.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” Mom asked.

  “Yeah. Thanks.”

  Mom gave him some more of her medicine tea. It was probably a nasty flavor, but Dad drank it down without saying anything. Mom was glad he’d finished it all.

  Mr. Hammond came in. I knew he wanted to see Dad and make sure he was okay, but I didn’t want to be there when they talked. I don’t know why.

  I went and helped Katie clean up the new bunch of breakfast dishes. Then I went walking outside. What I needed was some way to look busy and get clear away from everybody. So I decided to work in the garden. I could pick what few tomatoes were left and see what else I could find. Most of the garden had been done in by the summer’s heat. We had a few things left over, and we’d planted some fall crops to come on late. But it’d been too dry for any of that to do very well. Until last night. Maybe the rain had been a gift of God, if it wasn’t too late.

  Only two squash were left on vines too shriveled to do them any good. I was leaned over picking them when Rorey came out of the house. I knew she was looking for me. I didn’t want to talk to her. I wasn’t sure what I’d say. I wasn’t even sure why she’d want to talk now, after saying so little to me just a few minutes before. But I could see that she did want to talk, now that nobody else was around. She was charging my way.