Pearl (40 page)

‘‘Belle is a strange one, that’s for sure. I’ve not gotten to know her at all, other than to say hello and how are you. Was she always this secretive?’’

‘‘Interesting word choice. I’d not thought of her as secretive, just as keeping to her own schedule. Work at night, sleep during the day, eat when she got hungry.’’

‘‘Pretty privileged if you ask me.’’ Pearl stroked the cat in her lap with one hand and held her cup with the other. The light from the window slanted across her face, highlighting her cheekbones and shadowing her eyes.

An owl hooted, and they heard the whoosh of its mighty wings. Cat’s ears flicked, and she glanced up.

‘‘I figured since she paid her rent, she was entitled.’’

‘‘And yet you caught her skimming off the take?’’

‘‘Belle always looks out for Belle, as Charlie has reminded me more than once.’’

‘‘And she does no other work.’’

‘‘No.’’

‘‘Don’t the others get jealous at times?’’

‘‘I think they have, and since I can’t pay them much, I feel bad. It’s just been the last few months that we’ve been in the black consistently. I never dreamed I’d be running a hotel, not only running but owning a hotel on the edge of, well, the frontier.’’

‘‘I never dreamed I’d be teaching out here either. But these children are so eager to learn, and their parents too. Look at that group we had after church. People are hungry for knowledge.’’

‘‘And the chance to be with others. Life can be really lonely out here where folks live so far apart.’’

‘‘So here we are, two misfit city girls, sitting on the back porch, freezing our noses so we can be friends. I suggest we move to the kitchen or the dining room.’’

‘‘Let’s.’’ The warmth from the stove met them at the door.

Along with the chords Opal was practicing on the piano, the
kerthunk
of the sewing machine, Charlie’s tuneless whistle as he sanded something made of wood, and the meow of a cat insisting that Milly share some of whatever she had cooking.

‘‘What are you making?’’ Ruby asked.

‘‘Syrup for popcorn balls. Charlie popped the corn, and we’re going to make popcorn balls pretty soon. Thought we’d practice up to make them for the Christmas tree.’’ Milly held up her spoon to see if the syrup had reached the thread stage yet. When it still globbed, she continued stirring.

‘‘I think we should make taffy again. That was so good. Candy is something I miss from Chicago. Merman’s makes fudge and truffles, caramels and divinity. We used to go buy a bag of hard candies that would last for a week.’’

Milly laughed. ‘‘Not here it wouldn’t. You saw how fast that taffy disappeared. People better be buttering their hands. This syrup is threading.’’ She turned from the stove, pan in hand, and poured it over the pan of popped corn. ‘‘Quick now.’’

While she stirred the syrup in, the others buttered their hands and dug in for a handful, pressing it together to form balls.

‘‘Lay them on the cookie sheet.’’

‘‘Ouch, it’s hot.’’

‘‘You need more butter. Protects your hands.’’

‘‘What’s going on? Sounds like a party in here.’’ Opal joined the group, buttering her hands and digging into the popped corn to make a ball.

The pan quickly emptied and the mound of white balls grew.

‘‘Will you look at that.’’ Opal set the final ball on top. ‘‘Looks almost like a Christmas tree.’’

‘‘So, now we can eat them.’’ Milly nodded to Ruby. ‘‘You get the first one.’’

‘‘Off the bottom?’’ Ruby reached for the one she mentioned, but Opal pushed her hand away.

‘‘Ruby. You know better.’’

‘‘But that’s a little dinky one on top. I want a big one.’’ She wiggled her eyebrows at her little sister. How often they’d heard that from Opal, about wanting a big one of whatever was being offered.

‘‘Um, yum.’’ The hard corn and syrup crackled as Ruby bit into it. ‘‘Milly, this is perfect. I didn’t know you knew how to do this.’’

‘‘We didn’t have popcorn before.’’

‘‘And to think I almost didn’t plant any this year.’’ Charlie’s popcorn ball half disappeared in one bite. ‘‘But I’m glad I did. Feels like home when I was a kid.’’

The next day Opal served the popcorn balls as a treat for school.

‘‘I never had such a good thing.’’ Robert savored his down to the last finger lick.

‘‘When it snows we can make snow candy,’’ Edith Robertson said. ‘‘I’ll get Ma’s receipt.’’

Pearl thought to all the things she’d taken for granted as she grew up.
Perhaps I can bring in some of those things for these children.
I need to start making a list
.

‘‘All right, let’s get back to our lessons. Upper level, I want you to describe that popcorn ball you ate. Make sure your sentences have proper grammar and spelling. Front row, sound out the word and tell me how to spell it. Middle group, write the word popcorn on your slate and see how many other words you can make from it.’’

When they finished that drill, Pearl set them all to reading from their McGuffey’s Readers, book number one for her beginners. She gathered them around her chair over in the corner and started with Robert.

‘‘Teacher, I brung you this.’’ He handed her a heart carved out of wood, polished and oiled, hung on a rawhide cord.

‘‘Robert, how beautiful. Did you make this?’’

‘‘Atticus, he helped me.’’

Pearl put the rawhide string over her head, and the heart nestled against her waist, glowing against the cream cotton. ‘‘I can’t believe you did this for me.’’

‘‘ ’Cause you been so kind to us.’’

Pearl put her arm around him and gave him a hug. ‘‘You tell Atticus thank you for me too. And remind him that he is welcome back at school anytime.’’

Half an hour before time to dismiss, she announced, ‘‘From now on we are going to have story time at the end of the day.’’

‘‘Ooh, goodie. I love stories,’’ came from different parts of the room.

‘‘If . . .’’ She paused and glanced around, catching each child’s eyes. ‘‘If you’ve all done your best for the day. Fair?’’

They all nodded, so she took a book off the table. ‘‘This book used to be the favorite of all for my brothers and sister.
Swiss
Family Robinson
by Johann David Wyss. Wyss.’’ She pulled her chair out from behind the table, sat down, and opened the book.

‘‘Thank you, Miss Hossfuss, that was a right good story,’’ Franny Benson said on her way out the door. ‘‘I do love to come here.’’

Later, after the children were all gone and Pearl was putting the room back in order for the card players, she picked up two of the spittoons and set them in place. When she couldn’t find the third one for the second table, she got down on her hands and knees to look under a bench. Reaching back in the corner, she pulled out the final spittoon only to hear the clink of metal on metal.

She pulled out a flask with
Belle
engraved in a circle on the front. Liquid swished when she shook it, so she unscrewed the top to get a whiff of strong whiskey, and not very good quality either.

‘‘Some of Williams’s rotgut, I imagine. Ruby is going to have a conniption fit.’’

‘‘That does it.’’ Ruby took the flask and started to pour the whiskey out but thought the better of it. ‘‘Thank you, Pearl. I wonder who all she’s been sharing this with.’’ Ruby stared at the flask. ‘‘And now I don’t feel bad about laying down the law.’’ She started for the stairs. ‘‘Oh, you have a letter. On the counter in the dining room.’’

‘‘I’ll be praying for you while you go. . . .’’ Pearl motioned toward the flask.

‘‘Thank you.’’

With every step Ruby’s teeth clenched harder. Belle had promised, no more booze in the cardroom, and here she had brought her own in. Her word meant nothing more than . . . than . . . She shoved open the door to the second floor and crossed to rap on Belle’s door. She should be up by now, and if she isn’t, or if she has a hangover, so be it. Her knuckles rapped sharply, echoing down the hall.

‘‘Belle, I need to talk to you—now!’’

‘‘Coming. For crying out loud, can’t you let a woman sleep?’’

No, I can’t or I won’t
.

Belle cracked open the door. ‘‘I—’’

Ruby pushed the door open and flashed the flask in Belle’s face.

Belle narrowed her eyes. ‘‘Where’d you find that? I been missing it for a week or more.’’ She reached for the flask, but Ruby backed away.

‘‘In the cardroom, Belle, where you left it. In a spittoon, in fact. You know the rules, Belle. No booze in Dove House. So your week is up. You have two days to be gone from this room, and you will no longer be dealing in our cardroom. No one will be dealing in our cardroom unless some men get together on their own. Is that clear?’’

‘‘You . . .’’ Belle raised her hands, claws out. ‘‘You think you know everything. Why, you’ll be sorry until the day you die that you did this.’’

‘‘Two days, Belle, and the sooner the better.’’

‘‘Your far—’’ ‘‘My far is dead, and he deeded this place to Opal and me.

Dove House
will
be the kind of place where we can live and hold our heads up.’’

‘‘You can’t make me leave.’’

‘‘Oh yes, I can. Try me.’’

Back rigid, Ruby left the room, closing the door behind her. She heard something smash against a wall but paid no mind.

When she got to the kitchen, she collapsed in a chair at the table.
Oh, Lord, what have I done? I surely do hope this is your will and
your way of making it possible for me to throw her out. Why did it have
to come to this?
She rested her forehead in her hands.
I prayed that
she would know your love and hear your word. She played the piano for
our services as if she enjoyed it. She’s been giving Opal piano lessons
.

‘‘How’d it go?’’ Pearl laid a hand on her shoulder.

‘‘She has two days to move.’’

‘‘Or.’’

‘‘Or I will move her out with one suitcase. The girls can divide her things.’’

‘‘Her fancy dresses?’’

‘‘Whatever they want. We’ll turn the rest into quilt tops or something.’’

‘‘You going to inform the others?’’

‘‘Thanks. Good idea.’’ Ruby sighed, a deep sigh of sorrow and defeat.
Sorry Far, I failed to care for all the girls. The others are
no longer what they were and are a testament to their heavenly Father’s
grace. For that I must be grateful
.

‘‘You can’t win them all.’’

‘‘I can try.’’

Ruby poured two cups of coffee and took them into the storeroom. ‘‘I need to tell you what’s happened. . . .’’ She told Milly and Cimarron her decision.

‘‘Ruby, did you really do it?’’ Opal asked while helping to fix supper.

‘‘I did. Now we’ll see what happens.’’

‘‘I’ll be sad to see Belle leave. I like her.’’

‘‘You tell her that, Opal. Right now I’m sure she thinks everyone hates her.’’ Ruby looked up from the sign she was lettering. It read, Cardroom is Closed.

‘‘You want me to go down the street?’’ the marquis asked at supper that night.

‘‘You want to play cards, you may, but Belle will no longer be dealing, nor will Charlie. You must arrange the group if you want to play.’’

‘‘Ah, you hope to change the way of life by cleaning up your hotel.’’

‘‘We have school meeting in that room all day, and we have church in this dining room on Sundays. Liquor and gambling do not agree with the rest.’’

‘‘
Oui,
mademoiselle, but you—what you say?—cut off your nose to spite your face?’’

‘‘We shall see. But there is still no liquor allowed even if you do play—in my schoolroom.’’ She smiled, a proprietor’s smile. ‘‘
Merci
and
bonsoir
.’’