Choosing One Moment

by Marja McGraw

  I didn’t know she’d had a son in the Civil War. Of course, how would I have known that? I hadn’t asked her many questions about herself. I’d have to remedy that.

  Mama wasn’t the only one I’d remember when I traveled back to my own time.

  My eyes seemed to have a mind of their own and I turned my head to look at Nathaniel. I’d thought about trying to keep my distance from him, but that wouldn’t be possible if we were working together. I didn’t want to fall for him, but one can’t always control what the heart feels.

  Mama stood and walked to the edge of the porch. “I see she’s still up, so I’ll go talk to her now. Daniel, why don’t you go home and get a change of clothes to keep at her house.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  Nathaniel looked first at me and then at his brother. “I’ll go home with you. I need some sleep before Carrie and me get to detectin’ tomorrow.”

  Papa smiled. “My daughter, the detector. If that ain’t somethin’!”

  “I think that’s detective,” Mama said, softly. “I read a book… “

  I had trouble getting to sleep that night, and when I did nod off I dreamed of tall, lanky men and a woman who resembled both Ruth and the town gossip, Marie. They were all looking at me and Elsbeth and rubbing their hands together.

  ~ * ~

  I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes when the phone rang; two rings, a pause, and one more ring. I waited until it stopped ringing, knowing it wasn’t for us, before picking it up. Pure curiosity led me to want to hear what a party line sounded like. Of course, it didn’t sound any different. Just two women gabbing and talking about others around town.

  I was about to quietly hang up the receiver when I heard a woman say, “Arlene told me she saw a man going into Mother Possum’s house last night. Mother Possum! Can you believe it? And it weren’t Doc Hanson. Now whadaya make of that?”

  “Well, I’ll wager it has to do with the situation at the McFerrin house.” The voice sounded vaguely familiar. “You know those girls are in trouble.” She almost sounded conspiratorial.

  “No! They’re with child? Both of them? It must be those McGee brothers.” The first voice sounded in awe of the information.

  The familiar voice spoke quickly. “No, no, no! Someone’s been hounding them. I heard someone attacked Elsbeth. Somebody’s been following her and watching their house. I say they were trying to kill her, but not even that little wretch deserves to die.”

  The first woman gasped. “No!”

  “Yes! There’s murder in the air.”

  Oh, good grief! What a drama queen.

  The first woman sounded scornful. “No, you’re making that up.”

  Okay, that was enough to make me keep listening. I snapped my fingers, remembering where I’d heard the second voice. The gossip was Marie Schutz, Schotz, Schmidt? Something like that.

  “What was that noise?” the first woman asked.

  “I don’t know,” Marie said, “but I’m hanging up and I’m going to visit the McFerrin women and see if I can find out more. I’ll let you know. I know how to weasel talk out of them.” She sounded quite proud of herself.

  They hung up and so did I.

  I turned around and Elsbeth was watching me. “Were you eavesdropping?” There was a certain lilt in her voice and she sounded like she thought it was funny.

  “You won’t laugh when I tell you what I heard. We’re both pregnant.”

  Her mouth dropped open.

  I laughed. “Only joking. But that was Marie on the phone with whoever lives next door to someone named Arlene. And they were talking about us.”

  “That would be Doris Flushing. She and Marie are always sharing secrets.”

  “Okay. Doris. At first she misunderstood and thought Marie was telling her that we were with child, that we each had a bun in the oven. She was ready to blame Daniel and Nathaniel. I’ll give Marie this, she corrected that mistake real fast. Oh, and Doris told Marie that she saw a man going into Mother Possum’s house last night. Apparently Mother isn’t the only one who keeps an eye on the neighborhood.”

  Elsbeth made a clucking sound. “Word sure gets out fast around here.”

  “Well, prepare yourself. Marie is on her way over here because she said she knows how to get us to open up to her. She wants the latest scoop.”

  Elsbeth’s face slowly broke into a sly smile. “Well, let’s accommodate her. Before she gets here, let’s think up something really juicy to tell her.”

  “I love the way you think, Aunt G… Uh, Elsbeth.”

  “If we give her something juicy enough, and she spreads unfounded rumors, maybe she’ll learn a lesson.”

  “I guarantee you, if I hear that same ring again, I’ll pick up the phone and listen in.” I hadn’t thought about what a great source of information a party line might be.

  “Trust me, Carrie. People listen in on the party line all the time. There are the curious, and there are the gossip mongers. You can learn a lot on the phone. Don’t let Mama catch you, though. She’d have a hissy fit.”

  “I’d have a hissy fit about what?” Mama stood in the doorway.

  Elsbeth looked flustered. “Oh, Mama. Carrie was listening in on the party line. I was telling her she shouldn’t do that.”

  My mouth dropped open like Elsbeth’s had only a moment ago. My aunt was ratting me out.

  “Now, Mama – “ I started.

  Mama winked at me. She was winking, too? It must be a 1909 thing. “Under the circumstances, I’d probably listen in, too. We need all the information we can get right now.”

  She turned and left the room.

  I thought about sticking my tongue out at my aunt, but it was simply too juvenile. Instead I curled my lip at her.

  She laughed. “I never had anyone to tattle on before. It was kind of fun.”

  About ten minutes later we heard a knock at the front door.

  “If that’s Marie, follow my lead,” Elsbeth said.

  I nodded and stood next to her while she opened the door.

  “Marie. It’s good to see you. Come on in.” My aunt opened the door wider.

  “Oh, why don’t we sit on the porch,” I said. “You and Marie get comfortable and I’ll bring out some lemonade. You like lemonade, don’t you?” I asked.

  Her face turned sour. “No, thank you. It’s too tart for me.”

  “Then I’ll bring out tea.”

  When I returned with the tea, my aunt was patting her stomach and saying, “I don’t know what it is, but I keep getting sick to my stomach. It happens every morning.”

  Marie’s face turned crimson. She actually licked her lips before she spoke. “You don’t think… No. Nevermind.”

  I put my hand on my own stomach. “It’s funny you should say that, Elsbeth. I’ve been having the same problem. Maybe there’s some stomach sickness going around.”

  Marie smiled knowingly. “If there is, you’re the only two that have it.”

  I glanced toward the road and saw Nathaniel coming our way.

  Marie followed my look and stood up quickly. “I have to go.”

  Uh oh. The rumors were about to fly.

  “Nathaniel,” she greeted him, sticking her nose in the air and stepping to the side so she wouldn’t have to be near him.

  He watched her walk away before turning to me.

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  “She thinks we’re both with child,” Elsbeth said, crossing her eyes at him.

  The expression on Nathaniel’s face was priceless. He was shocked. “But – “

  I interrupted him quickly. “No, no. Elsbeth is joking. Marie is out to get some good gossip so we, uh, kind of let her make an assumption that…” My voice trailed off because I knew he wouldn’t see the humor in what we’d done.

  He surprised me and started to laugh. “That kind of jest might not be fittin’ for 1909, but it sure makes me want to visit your time. Things must be so different if yo
u could joke about something like that.”

  “That they are.”

  His smile and laugh were so contagious that I started laughing again. At least he had a sense of humor.

  After the laughter he sat down and pointed first at me and then at one of the other chairs. “We need to start detectin’.”

  “You’re right.” I sat on the chair he’d pointed toward.

  My aunt started down the porch steps. “Here comes Daniel. I’ll leave you two to it.” She met her fiancé in the middle of the road where they linked arms and walked in the direction of town.

  “Before we start,” I said, “let me tell you about the conversation I heard on the party line.”

  I repeated what I’d heard and Nathaniel nodded and licked the end of his pencil before he wrote some notes on a piece of paper he’d brought with him.

  “Uh huh. I have a feeling that Marie knows more than she’s saying. For her to even mention murder makes me think she’s been hearing stories from someone. Most likely Ruth. I think we should visit both of them first thing today.”

  “It pays to be nosey once in a while.”

  He grinned again. “I never woulda thought about listening in to people talking on the phone.”

  “I wouldn’t have stayed on the line, but I heard Elsbeth’s name. That was enough to get my attention.”

  “We need to speak to Elsbeth’s friend, Mavis, today, too.”

  Nathaniel shook his head. “She’s out of town visiting a relative. She won’t be back for at least a week. We’re holding a chest we made for her until she comes home.”

  Papa walked around from the side of the house. “I milked the cow for you.”

  “Thank you, Papa.”

  He glanced around. “Where’s your sister?”

  “She took a walk with Daniel, and I’m leaving with Nathaniel to question a few people. We’re in good hands, Daddy.”

  “Daddy?”

  Oops. That’s what I called my father in my own time. “Uh, I heard someone else call their father Daddy and I just thought I’d try it out. I think I like Papa better though.”

  “Good.” He turned and walked back toward the barn.

  “I almost blew it that time.”

  “What does that mean?” my boyfriend, uh, friend, asked.

  “It means I made a mistake that could have had consequences. Nathaniel, it’s actually very difficult to keep my two lives separate. It’s even harder being old Carrie. From everything I’ve heard, she’s normally a very cranky young woman. I’m not. Every so often I try to be argumentative, but it just isn’t me.”

  “You’re doing okay. Don’t worry about it. When the other Carrie comes back,” he looked like he was cringing, “they’ll just have to get used to her all over again. Now let’s go talk to some people.”

  I turned toward the house with the intent of getting my purse but stopped when I remembered I didn’t carry one in this time period, except the day we went to the movies. What would I put in a purse? My hanky? I couldn’t think of anything else. Well, maybe a hairbrush.

  Nathaniel put his hands on my shoulder and turned me around. “Let’s go. Marie stops to gossip with everyone she sees outside. If we hurry, we can probably catch up to her.”

  We found her a block away, standing at the front fence talking to a harried looking woman who was watching her five children play in the yard.

  Nathaniel approached Marie from the left and I walked up to her right side. We each linked our arms through hers and kept walking.

  “Sorry, Ma’am,” I said to the young mother, “but we need to talk to Marie.”

  The woman looked grateful before she hollered at one of her children. “Charles James Hunter, if you kick your brother again you’ll get what for.”

  Uh oh. The use of the middle name said she meant business. I didn’t want to know what “what for” was.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Marie sounded angry until she looked to see who was making her walk away. She tried to pull away from Nathaniel, but he held tight.

  “By the way,” I said, “I don’t have a bun in the oven.”

  “Well! I never – “

  “I’m sure you never meant to tell anyone about that, right?”

  She clamped her lips together in defiance of me.

  Nathaniel had to stifle a laugh before he could speak. “We need to ask you some questions. You seem to know things about the McFerrin sisters and we need some information.” The laugh was gone and he sounded stern.

  “Oh.” Marie, on the other hand, sounded a little afraid, not too sure of what to expect from us. “What do you want to know?”

  I came right to the point. “You said someone was trying to kill Elsbeth and me. What makes you think that and how did you know she was attacked.”

  She stopped walking and shook our hands off of her arms. “Everybody knows your sister was attacked. For gosh sakes, it happened right there on the main street. People talk, you know.”

  “What people?” I asked. “Where did you hear about the attack?”

  “How should I know? I don’t remember.” She was beginning to sound sullen. We were asking questions she didn’t want to answer.

  “Well, at least try to remember.” I was becoming impatient.

  She sighed loudly and dramatically. “Okay, let me think. Uh, I heard it from Ruth.”

  “Ruth? My best friend? I wonder why she hasn’t talked to me about it.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Because you’re always with him.”

  “Oh. I guess I’ve been ignoring her and I’m ashamed of myself.”

  “Well, you should be.” Marie sounded proud of herself for bringing my lack of attention up.

  “I’ll go talk to her later this morning.” I tried to sound contrite, but I wasn’t sure if I succeeded. Since I didn’t know Ruth, I was truly afraid of talking to her. I had a feeling I’d make a mess of things.

  It was Nathaniel’s turn to be pointed with his question. “How did you know someone’s been following Carrie and Elsbeth?”

  “Ruth said… Hey! Hold your horses.” Her expression turned suspicious. “How did you know I said that?”

  She looked at me.

  “Have you been listening in on the party line?”

  “Who? Me?”

  “Yes, you, you little snoop. I’m going to tell people how nosey you are. That’ll put a stop to you and your eavesdropping. Why, I never – “

  “Oh, you never gossip, do you? From what I hear, you’re the biggest gossip in town.” I tried to keep my temper, but this woman was sooo annoying.

  She turned away from us. “I have to go now.” She stomped off as quickly as her stubby legs could carry her.

  “That didn’t get us very far.” Nathaniel didn’t sound at all happy with me.

  “Well, I couldn’t help myself. Let’s go find Ruth before Marie warns her that we’re looking for her.”

  I had no idea where Ruth lived, but Nathaniel knew. He led me a few blocks over, where we found Clarence chopping wood in the side yard.

  I waved. “Is Ruth here?”

  He inclined his head toward the house. “She’s doin’ chores.”

  Nathaniel pulled me aside. “You go talk to Ruth and I’ll try to finagle some information out of Clarence.”

  I nodded and walked away while the man of my dreams… Uh oh. Had I really just thought of him that way? Really? The man of my dreams? I needed to finish things up here and get back to my own time. It was either that or a broken heart when I had to leave him behind.

  It felt like a long walk to the porch steps. I was upset with myself for letting my feelings interfere with my mission.

  I knocked on the door and waited. I saw the curtain move at the window on my right, but no one answered the door, so I knocked again.

  Ruth finally opened the door, but she simply stood in the doorway without inviting me in. “What do you want?” Sullen attitudes seemed to be the attitude of the day in Little Creek.

/>   I took control and walked past her, into the house. “We came to visit. I haven’t seen enough of you lately.”

  She sighed and hurriedly passed me. “Let’s talk in the kitchen.”

  We each took a seat and I leaned on the table.

  “I’ve missed you,” I said. “We haven’t seen enough of each other lately.”

  “You don’t need my friendship,” she said. “You’ve got Nathaniel. What do you need me for?”

  “I’m sorry, Ruth. I guess I haven’t been very nice lately. It’s time for that to change.” I smiled at her.

  She sat up straighter and leaned back in her chair, staring at me like I had spinach in my teeth. “You don’t sound like yourself.”

  For the second time that morning, someone was looking at me with suspicion in their gaze.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” I said.

  “You’ve never walked into my house and been nice before. That’s what I mean. What’s wrong with you? You always want something when you come to see me.” She crossed her arms and waited for me to defend or explain myself.

  “I’m trying to change my ways,” I lied. “Elsbeth called it to my attention that – “

  “You listened to something Elsbeth said? Well, that’ll be the day. Now be honest and tell me what you want.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  It took me a moment to pull myself together. “I don’t want anything from you, Ruth. I do have a few questions though. Marie said that you told her – “

  “Now you’re listening to Marie? That hag of a gossip? I think you need to leave now.”

  “But – “

  “I said now, and I meant it. I don’t want to be your friend anymore, and I’m certainly not doing you any more favors.”

  “Favors?”

  “Are you daft or deaf? I told you to leave.” She stood up and pointed toward the front door. “You’re always asking me to help you with this or that because you’re just too lazy to do things yourself, and if that man is more important to you than me, your friend, then mind your own beeswax and get outta my house.” She lifted her hand and clasped a gold locket she wore. It had something etched on it, but I couldn’t see what it was.