The Mandie Collection (19 page)

“No, the sun is hot,” Mandie replied. “It feels good.”

Tommy walked out the long pier. When he came to the loose plank, he stooped to examine the flooring.

Mandie tried to squeeze the water out of her heavy clothes. Then with Uncle Ned close by her side, she walked beneath the pier to the edge of the water. She looked up. Where the plank hung down over the water, something white caught her eye.

“Look, Tommy!” Mandie exclaimed, pointing. “There's something white hanging beneath the floor where you are. I don't know why we didn't see it before.”

“Where?” Tommy asked, stooping to look around.

“It looks like it's attached to the loose plank,” Mandie called, still pointing.

“I see it but I can't reach it from up here,” Tommy called back.

Uncle Ned strode over to the water's edge. “I get,” he said. Swimming out into the water, he stopped at the piling near the loose plank,
then climbed up the tall post. Reaching out his long arm, he jerked the white material from the board.

As he came back to shore, Tommy hurried down to investigate. Uncle Ned held up a long strip of soft white silk material. “Just piece of cloth,” he mumbled.

Mandie reached for it and examined it thoroughly. “It must belong to the ghost. What is it?”

“Like Uncle Ned said, it's just an old piece of cloth,” Tommy replied.

“But that thing we've been seeing looked like it had some long trailing white material around it,” Mandie insisted. “And isn't this about where we've seen that thing floating through the air?”

“It could be,” Tommy said, taking the material from Mandie. “I'd like to know how that plank got loose. It's a perfectly good board. It just looks like the nail was pulled out of it. There's something fishy about the whole thing.”

“Hand of human make board loose, not ghost,” Uncle Ned agreed.

“But who?” Mandie asked.

“I don't know who, but I'd like to find out,” Tommy said.

CHAPTER TEN

HOW MUCH DOES JOSEPHINE KNOW?

As the three wet figures approached the house, Elizabeth ran to the top of the porch steps in alarm. “What happened?” she gasped.

“I fell into the water, Mother,” Mandie told her. “Uncle Ned and Tommy helped me out.”

“Fell in the water? How could you do that?” Elizabeth scowled.

“I'm sorry, Mrs. Shaw, but a board on the floor of the pier was loose and Mandie fell through,” Tommy explained.

Elizabeth put her arms around her daughter. “Are you all right, Amanda?” Her scowl melted into concern.

“I think so.”

“You must try to be more careful, dear,” her mother warned. “I'm not trying to make you feel bad, but I love you and I simply don't want anything to happen to you.”

“I know, and I love you, too, Mother,” Mandie replied.

“Well, if you're sure you're all right, why don't you go inside and change your clothes, dear,” Elizabeth told her. “We don't want you to catch cold. But be quiet, Amanda. Everyone else is still asleep except the servants.”

As Mandie went inside, she heard her mother say, “Thank goodness you were there, Uncle Ned.”

A little while later, Tommy and Uncle Ned arrived in the sunroom just as Mandie did. Mandie felt much better with dry clothes and shoes on. She had brushed out her long blonde hair into a cascade of tiny, wet ringlets down her back. Tommy smiled at her approvingly.

In the sunroom, sparkling white breakfast dishes were already laid out on the table.

“Sit down, Uncle Ned. Make yourself at home,” Tommy said.

Politely pulling out a chair for Mandie, he nodded for her to sit in it.

As they all sat down at the table, Tizzy hurried into the room with a huge tray and set the hot food on the table before them.

“Tizzy, you timed it just right. How did you know we were in here?” Tommy teased the maid.

“I heerd that loud mouth of yours, Mistuh Tommy,” Tizzy replied, “and I knows I gotta shut it up wid some good hot food.” She stopped and stared at Uncle Ned. “Mistuh Injun Man, does you eats what we eats?”

Uncle Ned smiled at her. “I eat same.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” she replied. “I'se 'fraid I'se gonna have to cook some snakes or somethin' fo' you.”

“Tizzy!” Tommy scolded. “Where did you get such an idea? Nobody eats snakes. Gruesome thought!”

Mandie sat forward. “Sometimes Morning Star cooks up a pot of owl stew.”

“Mornin' Star?” Tizzy questioned.

“She's Uncle Ned's wife,” Mandie explained. “She cooked owl stew one time when Joe and I were visiting. Joe almost gagged on it when he found out what he was eating, but I thought it was pretty good.”

Tizzy stood there in astonishment.

Uncle Ned smiled at Mandie. “Morning Star see Joe not like. Not cook owl stew now when Joe visit.”

“You ate owl stew, Missy?” Tizzy couldn't believe it.

“I ate a whole bowlful of it. After all, I'm part Cherokee, too,” Mandie boasted.

“You is? Which part?”

“Which part?” Mandie repeated. She grinned. “My grandmother's part of me. She was full-blooded Cherokee.”

“Lawsy mercy!” Tizzy exclaimed, leaving the room.

“Now she's going to be afraid of me, I reckon,” Mandie said.

“No, she's being silly,” Tommy assured her. “You and Uncle Ned are just a little different. She has never met an Indian before. She was born and raised on our rice plantation and has never been outside of Charleston. Most of the Negroes around here are suspicious of outsiders, regardless of who they are or where they come from. They are worse than the old-timers who come from a long line of Charlestonians.”

“Someday,” Uncle Ned spoke up, “white man, black man, and Indian man all be friends.”

Mandie reached over and patted the old man's hand. “I hope so, Uncle Ned,” she said. “God made us all, and in that way we are all His children.”

Uncle Ned smiled and squeezed her hand.

Tommy nodded. “Some people want to forget that, or they overlook it on purpose,” he observed.

Mandie pushed back her damp hair. “Whew! What a deep subject,” she said, signaling an end to that topic of conversation.

After they gave thanks for their food, Mandie turned to Tommy. “What did you do with that piece of material?” she asked, helping herself to the delicious-looking food in front of her. The others did the same.

“It's safe,” Tommy answered. “I stuck it under my mattress.”

“What are we going to do about it?” Mandie took a bite of her scrambled eggs.

“What
can
we do about it? It's just a piece of old cloth,” Tommy said.

“We should find out how it got there and who it belongs to,” Mandie insisted.

“And who make board loose, make Papoose fall in water,” Uncle Ned added.

“I'd sure like to know that,” Tommy said, passing the biscuits. “I'd fix them all right. You could have been seriously injured, falling like that.”

“I probably wouldn't have fallen through if I hadn't been running,” Mandie said. “I would have seen it in time.”

“Must find who make plank loose,” Uncle Ned repeated, taking a sip of hot coffee.

“But how are we going to find the ghost?” Mandie asked.

“We watch, we wait,” the old Indian told her.

“Uncle Ned, you don't really believe it's a ghost we've been seeing, do you?” Tommy asked.

Uncle Ned thought for a minute. “Maybe not,” he replied.

“What would a ghost be doing up there on the pier, anyway?” Tommy asked.

“Whatever a ghost would be doing anywhere,” Mandie answered.

“A ghost couldn't pull that board loose,” Tommy protested. “Besides, what would a ghost want with that piece of cloth?”

“Ghost may be human,” Uncle Ned suggested.

Mandie laughed. “Then it wouldn't be a ghost.”

At that moment Josephine entered the room and everyone immediately hushed.

“What wouldn't be a ghost?” Josephine asked, sitting down at the table.

“Why don't you get your mind off ghosts?” Tommy chided.

“I distinctly heard the word when I opened the door. Is it all right for y'all to talk about ghosts but not for me?” Josephine asked.

No one answered.

Josephine looked around the table. “Mandie, your hair is all wet. Did you wash it this early in the morning?” she asked, reaching for a biscuit.

Tizzy came into the room again and placed more food on the table.

Mandie evaded Josephine's question. “Is there something wrong with washing your hair early in the morning?”

“A person usually waits till up in the day so the sunshine can dry it,” Josephine replied. She squinted at Uncle Ned. “I haven't met your Indian friend yet.”

“I'm sorry, Josephine. This is Uncle Ned,” Mandie told her.

Uncle Ned smiled at the girl.

Josephine frowned. “He isn't my uncle. It wouldn't be proper for me to call him Uncle Ned,” she objected.

“In that case, he is Mr. Sweetwater to you,” Mandie corrected.

“Uncle Ned, this is Miss Josephine Patton, Tommy's sister.”

“What an unusual name. How do you do, Mr. Sweetwater.” Josephine nodded.

“I do fine, Miss Josephine,” Uncle Ned replied.

“Are you staying with us long, Mr. Sweetwater?” Josephine asked.

“Josephine!” Tommy scolded. “Uncle Ned is our guest for as long as he wishes to stay.”

“I only asked because we are all moving out to the plantation house this afternoon, and I was wondering if he was going with us to Mossy Manor,” Josephine defended herself.

“Yes, he is going with us,” Tommy told her. “And you'd better hope Mother lets you go after I tell her how you've been misbehaving.”

Mandie put her hand on Tommy's arm. “Please, Tommy, don't cause Josephine any trouble.”

“I won't tell Mother if you don't want me to, but I can sure give her trouble if she doesn't straighten up,” Tommy said.

Josephine got up to leave the room. “Trouble? Don't forget I have the ghosts on my side,” Josephine called over her shoulder. “They can cause you trouble for me.”

Mandie, Tommy, and Uncle Ned all looked at each other.

Uncle Ned spoke first. “Missy Josephine know Papoose fall in water?”

“She sure acted like she did,” Tommy replied.

“We'll just have to keep one step ahead of her and find that phantom,” Mandie said with determination. “Then everything will be explained.”

“I hope so,” Tommy admitted.

Suddenly Mandie's face clouded with concern. “I just realized what Josephine said. She said we're all moving out to the plantation house this afternoon. How are we going to solve the mystery on the pier if we aren't here?” she asked.

“We'll be back before you go home,” Tommy replied. “In the meantime we'll have fun at the plantation.”

“Uncle Ned, you
are
going with us, aren't you?” Mandie asked.

“Yes, Papoose. Mother of Missy Josephine ask me go,” the old Indian answered. “I watch over Papoose. No harm come.”

“Thank you, Uncle Ned,” Mandie said.

“First, I need powwow with Papoose. Old problem to clean up.”

Mandie looked at Tommy and then back at Uncle Ned. She knew very well what the problem was. She also knew that Uncle Ned had come to talk to her privately about Joe. And she had better have some answers.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

MOSSY MANOR

A little while later, Mandie and Uncle Ned silently spread a blanket on the beach and sat on it.

Mandie opened her parasol and twirled it over her shoulder. “I love the ocean, Uncle Ned.” She was nervous, anticipating what was coming.

Uncle Ned only nodded.

“All right, Uncle Ned, I know you are going to give me a lecture, so let's get on with it,” she said, staring out over the ocean.

Uncle Ned came straight to the point as usual. “Papoose,” he said, “doctor son hurt in heart. Papoose do bad thing.”

Mandie tried to keep her voice from trembling as she remembered the terrible, angry words that she and Joe had said to each other. “I'm sorry if Joe was hurt by our argument, Uncle Ned, but he hurt me, too.”

“Doctor son say he sorry. He ask Big God to forgive,” the old Indian explained. “Papoose must ask Big God forgive.”

“I have, Uncle Ned,” Mandie told him. “I already asked God's forgiveness for anything I might have done wrong.”

Uncle Ned leaned forward. “Papoose has done wrong!” he said vehemently. “Big Book say not let it get dark time while angry. Papoose see many darktimes since fuss with doctor son. Big God not like angry people. I not like angry people. Jim Shaw watch from happy hunting ground and not like Papoose angry.”

Mandie looked into the old man's wrinkled face, and her blue eyes began to fill with tears. Silently, she closed her parasol and set it down beside her in the sand. Her lips trembled, and she leaned her head on Uncle Ned's shoulder.

He put an arm around her and smoothed her damp blonde hair.

“I'm sorry, Uncle Ned,” Mandie confessed, haltingly. “I know I've been bad. I'm sorry.”

“Papoose must tell doctor son sorry,” Uncle Ned told her.

Mandie tilted her head back to look up into his face. “I will, Uncle Ned, as soon as we go home. I promise. I thought I could just go away, and have a good time, and forget about it. But I've been miserable about this ever since I left home. I know I've done wrong, and I am truly sorry.”

“Must not hurt others with mean words,” the old man told her. “Papoose must remember. Anger stab heart like arrow. Hurt bad. Real bad. Hard to heal.”

“But Joe got angry and hurt me, too, so I kept saying mean things to hurt him back,” Mandie said. “Just a few little angry words can sure cause a big hurt.”