Gingham Mountain by Mary Connealy

Author:Mary Connealy [Connealy, Mary]
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2011-03-03T15:09:18+00:00

SEVENTEEN

Hannah got to school early the next morning. She had a complex arithmetic problem she needed to explain to her older students and she wanted to review.

Hannah was distracted from her studying when four ladies and two men, looking grim, stormed into the schoolhouse.

“Can I help you?” Hannah smiled, rising from behind her desk, but her stomach sank as she studied the somber crowd. She recognized Quincy Harrison from the interview for her job. The others were familiar faces from around town, but she didn’t know them by name.

The six people approached her desk and stood without speaking for a moment, until one particularly sour-faced woman poked the man beside her. “Get on with it, Quincy.”

Hannah braced herself.

Quincy looked uncomfortable, but he stepped forward. “We need to discuss the trouble here at school yesterday. We’re concerned that the children won’t be able to learn in these conditions.”

Mystified, Hannah asked, “What trouble? The children all worked hard, and they seemed—each one of them—bright and eager to learn.”

“Of course they’re bright,” the woman who’d poked Quincy said. “Did you expect our children to be stupid?”

Another woman interrupted, “Let Quincy speak for us, Gladys. We agreed.”

Hannah opened her mouth to apologize. Of course she hadn’t expected her students to be stupid, but caution kept her silent. Instead of talking she began to pray. She waited to hear what the problem really was, terribly afraid she knew already.

“It’s not that our children didn’t learn.” Quincy looked from his toes to Hannah and back. “It’s just. . .we don’t like the idea of them uh. . .uh. . .”

Gladys lifted her nose even higher in the air. “Mixing with the wrong sorts.”

Hannah remained silent. Her empty stomach twisted with dread. This was what Grant had been talking about. These people had made it impossible for the children at the Rocking C to attend school. Her prayers flowed to God as she wondered how she was going to feed herself. Because if these people insisted she send the black children home, or for that matter the orphan children home, she was quitting.

Gladys elbowed Quincy in a way that made Hannah guess he was her husband. “Get on with it.”

“It’s just that. . .that. . .” Quincy fell silent.

The other man was thin and nervous looking. “I’m Theodore Mackey, Miss Cartwright. We got together last night and decided we needed to meet with you. We all just want what’s best for our children.”

Hannah finally had control of herself enough to speak calmly. “School went very well yesterday. I don’t see the need to change a thing.”

“We saw that older girl. . . ,” Theodore said.

“Which older girl?” Although Hannah knew which quite well. Sadie.

“The Negro.” Gladys said it as if she were spitting.

“Well,” Quincy said, “she was playing with the other children and sitting right with the other girls.”

Another woman spoke up. “They’re all part of the orphanage that man runs on his ranch.”

“His name is Grant, Agnes. And well you know it. I’m Ella Johnson,” the third woman said.

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