A Northern Light(76)

"Strawberry pie, Matt! It's so good!" And then she ran off, screeching and giggling with two other little girls. I was glad to see her recovered and lively again.

I saw somebody waving to me. It was Abby. She was standing with Minnie's two younger sisters, each of whom had one of Minnie's babies in her arms.

"Ask Mattie," I heard her say as I joined them, "she'll know."

"Know what?" I asked, half distracted, looking around for Royal. And Martha.

"Know why Miss Wilcox suddenly disappeared," Clara Simms said in hushed, dramatic tones. She was a girl who liked to stir the pot.

"She wanted to go to Paris," I said. I didn't want to talk about Miss Wilcox. I missed her too much.

Clara's eyes narrowed. "That's not what I heard. I heard she wrote dirty poems under another name and when the school trustees found out it was her writing them, they sent her packing."

"She wrote beautiful poems, Clara," I said, bristling. "Have you ever read one?"

"I wouldn't. Not ever. My mother says her books aren't decent. She says they're dangerous."

Miss Wilcox once said that books are dangerous things, too. Maybe in the right hands. A book could only be dangerous in Clara Simms's hands if she hit someone over the head with it.

"Mattie, my chicken, ja?" Henry shouted.

"I'll be back," I said, running inside. I got the chicken and made another trip for corn and biscuits and bean salad—dodging table six on the front stairs as I did. He was pulling one of his tricks—bending over to brush some nonexistent dirt from his shoes. When a girl lifted her skirts, so as to not trip over them on the steps, he was perfectly positioned to ogle her ankles.

As soon as I'd made sure Henry had everything he needed, I rejoined Abby and the Simms girls. "Where's Lou?" I asked them, looking around for her.

"You haven't seen her yet?" Abby said.

"No, why?"

Abby pointed toward a large brown keg. There was a wiry boy with a bad haircut standing next to it, sneaking a glass of beer.

"What's he got to do with Lou?" I said.

"Mattie, that is Lou."

"Lord, Abby! What's she done to her hair?"

"Cut it off. All of it. Keeps threatening to run away. I wish she would."

I came up behind her. "What are you doing?" I hissed, snatching the glass away.

"Drinking beer." She snatched it back, guzzled its contents in one go, then let out a burp so long and so loud it made her lips flap.

I grabbed her by the wrist. "Louisa Anne Gokey, I'm ashamed of you!"

"I don't care."

"Look at your hair! You're half bald! What did Pa do when he saw you?"

"Nothing. He didn't even notice. He never does. Let go, Matt, let go!" And then she yanked her skinny arm free and flew off, sparrowlike, to join the younger Loomis boys in some fresh mischief.

"What's wrong with her? She got the mange?" It was Royal. He offered me a biscuit from his plate. I took it.

"She cut her hair. Again."

"Why?"

"Because she's angry." So angry that she made me afraid. She was growing wild. Why didn't Pa see that? Why didn't he do something?

"She don't like the color or something?"

"No, Royal, it's nothing to do with the color," I said impatiently. "It's to do with losing our mother and then Lawton..." I saw that he was looking at his bean salad, not me, and gave up. "Where were you?" I asked.

"Getting something to eat. Talking to Tom."

"Is he here?"

"Tom? He's right over there," he said, pointing to the porch. And he was. He was leaning against a column, having a parley with Charlie Eckler.

Ada must've been wrong, I thought. Her brother hadn't seen the fight, after all; he'd only heard it. Maybe he'd made a mistake. Maybe Martha had fought with someone else, not Royal.

"Your pa oughtn't to clear those northern acres of his," Royal said, swallowing a bite of pie. "He told me he was thinking of it."

"No? Why not?" I asked absently, still looking for Martha despite myself.

"I was up there berrying the other day. Where our land touches yours and the Hubbards'. He's got good blueberry bushes up there. Should keep 'em. Camps want 'em for pies and pancakes and such."

Minnie, who'd managed to sneak away from Jim, joined us. So did Ada and Fran. They started talking about who was here with whom, and Royal, uncomfortable around so much female chatter, went to talk to his brother.

"Oh, he's so handsome, Mattie!"Ada sighed as soon as he was out of earshot. "How did you get him?"

Ada didn't mean anything by the question, but hearing it made me uneasy nonetheless. I often wondered the same thing myself.

"She let him kiss her in a boat out on Big Moose Lake, that's how," Fran teased.

"How do you know? You certainly weren't there," I said.

Fran grinned. "Never make love in the country, Matt. 'Cuz the potatoes have eyes..."

"...and the corn has ears," Ada finished, giggling.

"She'll be Mattie Loomis before long," Minnie said. "Did you set a date yet? I bet it'll be before the new year. I bet you're married before the hay's in. I'm sure of it."