The Mandie Collection (9 page)

Mandie suddenly stopped and put her hand on Joe's arm. “You see, Etta has not divorced Zack, just like I said,” she told him. “I knew she was lying.”

“Well, there is a possibility they could have been divorced and just happened to be together for some reason,” Joe told her.

“But they didn't act like they were divorced. Etta was bossing him around,” Mandie said as they continued walking.

“I'd like to know what she was talking about,” Joe said.

“And what was she doing picking him up out here on this road?” Mandie asked. Then she had an idea. “You don't suppose they were visiting the Burnses, do you?”

“We could ask the Burnses,” Joe told her.

But when they arrived at the Burnses' house, they only found Ludie home.

“Mother sent you this food,” Mandie said as she held up the basket she was carrying.

“Come in, come in,” Mrs. Burns invited them as she stepped aside for them to enter the house.

“Would you like for us to put these baskets in the kitchen for you?” Joe asked.

“Yes, that would be nice,” Mrs. Burns replied as she led the way into the big kitchen. “Jes' put 'em on the table there, and I'll see what you brought. Do you need to take the baskets back right now?”

Mandie and Joe placed the baskets on the long table, and Mrs. Burns pulled off the cloth covering one of them and began taking out the food.

“Mother didn't say we had to bring back the baskets, so just take your time about emptying them,” Mandie replied. Then she asked, “Mrs. Burns, did you just now have company? We met a man and a woman in a buggy down the road.”

“A man and a woman in a buggy? No, ain't seen nobody,” Ludie Burns said as she took a plate of fried chicken from the basket, set it on the table, and covered it with the cloth. “Ain't many people going up and down this road. We don't know nobody much around here anyhow.”

“Do you know Etta and Zack Hughes?” Joe asked.

“Hughes?” Ludie repeated as she frowned. “Don't believe I do. Do they live around here?”

“No, they live over in Swain County,” Joe told her.

“We have to go now, Mrs. Burns. Mother told us not to stay too long,” Mandie said. She and Joe started back through the house.

Mrs. Burns followed them to the front door. “Y'all come back agin, anytime, and tell your ma I 'preciate the food. Thank you now.”

“You're welcome, Mrs. Burns, and I'll tell her,” Mandie called back to her as she and Joe walked toward the road.

As they cut back through the woods, Mandie said, “Well, evidently Etta and Zack Hughes were not visiting the Burnses.” Suddenly she stopped and said, “Joe, let's go back and walk all the way around by the road. We might see them somewhere.”

“I doubt that we will see them. They'll be long gone by now,” Joe said. “But if you want to go back on the road, it's fine with me.”

“I feel like a long walk anyway. Come on. Let's go back to the road,” Mandie said as she turned back the way they had come.

It was the long way home. The road went through the business district of town, past the depot, and finally connected with the road going by John Shaw's house. Mandie and Joe kept watching as they walked, but there was no sign of the buggy or Etta and Zack Hughes.

Just as Mandie and Joe got to the gate in the white fence around John Shaw's yard, Mrs. Taft pulled up in the Shaws' buggy. She threw the reins down to Joe, who looped them on the hitching post and then assisted the lady down.

“Have you been to visit someone?” Mandie asked as her grandmother stepped through the gateway. She and Joe followed.

“No, dear, I went down to the telegraph office to send my lawyer
a report on what transpired at the courthouse yesterday,” Mrs. Taft explained. “Where have y'all been?”

The three walked up the walkway to the long front porch and paused there.

“Mother had us take some food to the Burnses. She said we had too much on hand,” Mandie explained. “And, Grandmother, we saw Etta in a buggy, and she was picking up Zack Hughes on the road down near the Burnses' house. We had to take the food to the Burnses so we couldn't follow them. So you see, they must not be divorced. And I've been trying to figure out what they were doing down there and in Franklin anyway.”

“That is strange, isn't it?” Mrs. Taft replied. “You said before that they have never lived in Franklin, didn't you?”

“Not that I know of,” Mandie said. “And I've been knowing that woman all my life, and I know that Zack Hughes lived near Bryson City all that time.”

“Are you going back out, Mrs. Taft?” Joe asked, and when she looked at him he said, “If you're not, I'll put up the horse and buggy.”

“Thank you, Joe. I'm not going back out any time soon, but Elizabeth said she would be using the buggy after I returned, so we might as well leave it where it is,” Mrs. Taft said as she walked to the front door. “Now let's go inside so I can let her know I'm back.”

Mandie and Joe followed her inside the hallway and on to the parlor where they found Elizabeth reading a book.

“Since all of you have finished your errands, I'll get my hat and coat and go do mine,” Elizabeth said as she stood up.

Mandie was curious as to why her mother would be going out alone in the buggy. Since she had been seriously ill earlier that year, she very seldom left the house. And when she did, Uncle John went with her.

“May I go with you, Mother?” Mandie asked. “Where is everybody?”

Elizabeth paused on her way out of the room and said, “Not this time, dear. I won't be gone long. Your uncle John is with Uncle Ned out in the backyard. They're making some repairs to the barn.” She went to the hall tree, and Mandie and Joe followed.

“And I am going upstairs to get into more comfortable clothes,” Mrs. Taft told them as she went up the staircase. “I'll be back down before time to eat.”

As Elizabeth put on her hat and coat, Mandie told her about seeing Etta and Zack Hughes.

“I don't know where you are going, but please watch out for them, Mother,” Mandie said. “I'd like to know what they are doing in town.”

“So would I,” Elizabeth said, standing in front of the mirror on the hall tree to adjust her hat. “Now, Amanda, don't you and Joe go off anywhere unless you let your uncle John know. I'll be back soon.”

Elizabeth went out the front door. Mandie and Joe stood there looking at each other.

“I believe there is something strange going on around here,” Mandie told Joe. “I'd like to know where my mother is going, and I'd also like to know whether Grandmother really went to the telegraph office to send a message to her lawyer.”

“Oh, Mandie, your mind is working too hard,” Joe said as they stood there in the front hallway. “Your grandmother said she went to the telegraph office. Why should you doubt her?”

“Because I know my grandmother, Joe,” Mandie replied. “She didn't look me straight in the eye when she said where she'd been, and she went right on talking about something else.”

Joe shook his head and said, “Sometimes you imagine things, Mandie.”

“And I'm sure that you also noticed my mother did not tell me where she was going.” Mandie added.

“Mandie, your mother is not obligated to explain all her business to you, and neither is your grandmother. Let's just forget about them and continue our search, if that's what you intend on doing,” Joe said.

“I think we've done enough in the attic, so that means the cellar is next. And since the cellar is so dirty, I think we'd better wait until after the noon meal to begin down there,” Mandie replied. “Let's go out in the backyard and see what Uncle John and Uncle Ned are doing. Come on.”

They went back out the front door and walked around the house to the backyard. Mandie couldn't see anyone anywhere as they went toward the big barn at the far end of the property.

“Uncle John,” Mandie called as they came up to the barn. “Are y'all out here?”

She and Joe opened the door and went inside. No one was there.
Mandie quickly looked around the place. “Nobody's here,” she said in a puzzled voice. Looking out into the land behind the barn where the horses grazed, she spotted the horse that was used to pull the rig, but the one that Uncle John rode was not there. Neither was Uncle Ned's horse.

“Looks like they've gone somewhere,” Joe said as he looked over her shoulder.

Mandie frowned and stomped her foot. “What is going on? Where are Uncle John and Uncle Ned when Mother said they were supposed to be out here working on the barn?” Mandie asked as she went back through the barn and out into the yard.

Joe followed and replied, “It does seem a little odd that your mother said they were out here and they're not.”

Mandie walked around the yard and looked at the small house where Abraham and Jenny lived. “I don't even see Abraham,” she said. “He's usually out here doing some kind of work. Come on. Let's see if anyone is in the kitchen.”

They went in the back door of the house and on to the kitchen. As she pushed the door to the room open, she heard Aunt Lou talking.

“Dey oughta know they ain't gwine keep no secret from my chile,” the old woman was saying.

Mandie quickly entered the room and saw Aunt Lou was talking to Jenny as they stood by the big iron cookstove. Joe followed her.

“Aunt Lou!” Mandie said in a loud voice. “What did you just say?”

“Well, where did you come from, my chile?” the old woman asked as she stirred the contents of a pot on the stove. “You sho' snuck up real quietlike dis time.”

“Aunt Lou, please tell me what you were talking about when we came in,” Mandie begged. “I heard what you were saying, that they can't keep secrets from me. Now please explain who and what you're talking about.” She stood in the middle of the floor with her arms crossed as she watched every move the two women made.

Aunt Lou didn't even look at her as she mumbled a reply, “Lawsy mercy, my chile, you knows I cain't be givin' 'way somebody else's secrets.”

“Aunt Lou, I won't let anybody know you told me,” Mandie said. “Please tell me what you were talking about.”

The old woman placed a lid halfway over the top of the pot and turned to look at Mandie as she wiped her hands on her big white apron. “You jes' awastin' yo' time, my chile,” she said. “Ain't nuthin' I kin tell you. Now y'all jes' go on back to dat searchin' you been doin' and leave us be so we kin git dinner ready. Everybody be back at twelve noon sharp and be expectin' food on de table. Shoo now!” She flapped the skirt of her apron in Mandie's direction.

Mandie was disappointed and she said, “Aunt Lou, I'm plumb spang put out with you,” she said with a big sigh. “The Lord willing, and the creek don't rise, I'm going to find out what you don't want to tell me. And I don't give a hoot whether it's good or bad. I'm going to know. I assert! You're just not my friend anymore!”

“My chile, it don't matter one iota to me but I cain't go round tellin' other people's secrets. I don't see whut you gittin' so riled up 'bout anyway,” the old woman said, calmly looking at Mandie.

“I'm not riled up,” Mandie told her. “There are so many secrets going on around this house today that I am going to do my dead level best to find out why I am not included.”

Aunt Lou looked at her and smiled as she said, “Mebbe it ain't none of yo' bidness, my chile. You jes' agittin' all up in de air over nuthin'. Jes' you wait and see. It ain't no secrets dat you needs to know.”

Joe laid his hand on Mandie's arm and said, “Come on, Mandie, let's go. Aunt Lou is busy and we're interfering with her work. Let's go sit somewhere and discuss this. Come on.”

Mandie realized she had been mean to Aunt Lou, so she quickly ran to the old woman's side, embraced her, and said, “I'm sorry if I sounded mad at you, Aunt Lou. I'm not. I'm upset with all these other people doing things and not letting me know about them.”

“Git outta heah, my chile. I knows you not mad at me, and I sho' ain't mad at you, so git goin' now befo' I burns up de dinner. Den I will be mad,” Aunt Lou told her as she gently pushed her away.

“All right, I'm going,” Mandie replied with a slight smile as she and Joe left the kitchen.

Joe led the way to the bottom of the huge staircase in the front hallway. They sat down there to discuss the secrets that seemed to be floating around everywhere that day.

CHAPTER SEVEN

WHERE DID EVERYBODY GO?

Mandie and Joe sat on the steps for a long time discussing recent events and various reasons why Etta and Zack Hughes could have been in town, and also where Etta could have left Zack that he might have been caught.

“We already had all these questions to contend with and now people around here are having secrets,” Mandie said, blowing out her breath.

“But, Mandie, nobody actually said there was a secret about anything,” Joe told her. “Just because people are doing things that you don't know about is no sign there's a secret about it.”

“Joe Woodard, you just don't recognize a secret when there is one,” Mandie replied with a loud sigh. “I can smell a secret a mile away, only I'm not sure whether this is one big secret connecting what everyone is doing, or individual secrets about different things. And where did Uncle John and Uncle Ned go when Mother plainly told me they were repairing the barn and they weren't?”

“Maybe they went to get some supplies or something they needed to work on the barn,” Joe suggested.

“No, they would have gone in the wagon. They rode their horses. Both horses are gone, remember?” Mandie reminded him. She suddenly had an idea. Jumping up, she said, “Come! I want to see about something!”