The Librarian's Journey, page 12
“What did you do now?”
Ruthie glanced up to see her father walking toward her, two buckets of feed in his hands. “You look hard at work.”
“I am.” He dumped a bucket of oats into the trough for Melly, then set the other one down. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I’m not sure I know the answer.” That wasn’t true. For some reason, she’d insulted Will when all she wanted to do was help. Besides, wasn’t he the one who wanted the children in class? The one who said his primary reason for working with her in the first place was to encourage families to send their children to school? What Will was doing was noble, helping these children dream bigger dreams than just working at the mill or farming. Why not start Johnny in school now rather than later?
“Will’s angry that I asked him to let Johnny Mims in school. For some odd reason, he feels I don’t respect what he’s doing with the school.” She stroked Melly’s neck. “But I do, Daddy. I just don’t understand why Will won’t talk to me about it.”
“How old is the Mims boy?”
“Almost five.”
“Hmm. I can see why that would bother him.”
Ruthie uncinched the saddle and tugged it off Melly’s back. “Why would you say that?”
“Honey, Will’s had a problem with folks dumping their little ones off at the school, thinking he’d watch them while they worked.” Grabbing the horse blanket from Melly, he tossed it on the railing. “Will handled it all right at first. I guess he was thinking this might be a way to get people to send all their kids to school. He finally put his foot down when Ida Mae Thorndike showed up one day with her newborn.”
No wonder Will had reacted so strongly to her suggestion. “Daddy, I had no idea. But Johnny isn’t a baby. He’ll be school age in less than a year. Couldn’t Will bend the rules just this time?”
“And if he gives in, it’s just a matter of time before someone else wants him to bend the rules for them.” Daddy shook his head as he grabbed a towel and wiped down her horse. “Will needs to stick to his guns on this.”
“But Johnny’s almost old enough, and he needs to be in school with his sisters.”
He stopped what he was doing and looked at her. “You didn’t go to school until you were six.”
Ruthie remembered. She’d been so scared then. Everyone in the school was older and bigger than she was. She thought she’d never find a friend, but then Will had walked up to her, confident as could be, and announced she was his new best friend. It hadn’t mattered that he was a year older. They stuck together like glue, even managing to stay close friends during their teenage years when they both discovered the opposite sex. It was during her junior year when they both realized their friendship had become something more.
And then it wasn’t.
A faint ache settled near her heart. What’s done was done. They needed to work together despite their past.
“You don’t agree with Will?”
She shook her head as she removed the bit. “There are exceptions to every rule.”
“I see.” He threw the towel over Melly’s back and reached for a brush. “Let me ask you something. Did you like it when the hospital administration asked you to paint a patient’s room?”
Ruthie hung the tack on the wall and turned back to face her father. “You know I don’t.”
“Why is that?”
What point was Daddy trying to prove? “I’ve told you why. It has nothing to do with nursing.” She rested her arms across Melly’s back. “Why go to school and get my nursing diploma if all they wanted is a glorified house painter? I went to Crawford Long so I could nurse people back to health.”
“Don’t you see? Will is in the same boat you are. He went to teacher’s college so he could help the kids in our community, but that’s mighty hard to do when people think of him as nothing but a glorified babysitter.”
“Oh.” Daddy’s words sunk in. How could she not have seen it? That she’d treated Will the same way she was treated at the hospital? “I owe him an apology.”
He patted her arm. “Maybe a little one.”
“I was just trying to help a woman we met this morning who needs surgery.” She explained to her father as much as she could, leaving out details about Lily’s medical condition. “After the surgery, she’ll need to rest for a while, and she won’t be able to if she’s worried about the kids. I’ve already told her I’d come and help with the children for a couple of weeks after the procedure. I’m going to talk to Clara and see if she would watch the youngest two, but Johnny needs a man’s guidance, which is why I thought school would be the ideal place for him.”
“Most people never mean to hurt someone else. It’s when we’re not thinking, when we’re so wrapped up in our own situation, that we usually hurt those we care about.”
Ready to change the subject, Ruthie took the towel and began wiping Melly down. “We need a doctor here in Pine Mountain. So many people need medical attention.” She told him about some of the problems she’d discovered. Poor hygiene and hair lice. Children in the first stages of rickets. The pale, bone-thin mother-of-two who could barely breathe at times from coughing fits.
“There are a couple of doctors over in Warm Springs. Maybe they could help.”
“I don’t know, Daddy.” She thought about it for a moment then rejected the idea. “The people those doctors see are usually rich folks from all over the South.”
“Not anymore. A few years ago, President Roosevelt bought the place and gave it to a group of people who made it into a hospital for children with infantile paralysis.” He glanced at her. “They take in anyone. You ought to go over there and talk to them.”
Ruthie was skeptical. A hospital that took paying and unpaying patients? Who ever heard of such a thing? Why would the president of the United States buy such a place to begin with?
Yet her father seemed confident in his assertions. Maybe she should ride over there and ask if someone would help her with Lily. All they could do was say no.
“I might just ride over there in a couple of days and check it out.” Ruthie smiled up at her dad. “Thank you.”
“You may have to pay your sister something, but you know how she likes babies. Rough little boys, not so much.” He gave her an encouraging smile. “You’ll think of something. You always do.”
“What I need is a job.” Then Will could have the borrowing library and do whatever he wished with it.
“Mr. and Mrs. Callaway were very kind to offer you this position. It pays good, and you only have to work two days a week.” Ruth could hear the smile in his voice. “And you’re home where you should be.”
“I don’t know, Daddy.” She pushed away from the animal and went back to rubbing her down. “Hopefully, I’ll hear something back from Dr. West soon.”
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Daddy reached into his jeans pocket and retrieved a folded envelope. He handed it to her. “This came in the mail for you today.”
Dread flooded through her. Her last application. If Dr. West wanted to interview her or offer her a position, he would have called. She took the envelope from him, tore it open, and unfolded the letter. It was what she’d expected. Qualifications and experience commendable, but there were no jobs available at the time. They would keep her résumé on file in case a position opened up. Ruthie folded it, then stuffed it into her pants pocket.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
Ruthie was too. With this rejection, she had no other places she could apply. Why would God allow this to happen? Nursing was a ministry that she’d been called to, so why couldn’t she find a position to fulfill that need?
“I’ll tell you what.” Her daddy’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “If you’ll take this bucket of orange rinds to the pigs, I’ll finish up taking care of Melly.”
Orange rinds? Rinds usually meant there was fruit. Her thoughts shifted to the children she’d visited today. “What’s Momma doing with all of these oranges?”
“Your mother bought a crate of them last week at Varner’s, thinking we would eat them all.” His mouth curled up into a playful smile. “Only she forgot I don’t like oranges. So I’m sharing my part with the pigs this evening.”
An idea struck her, one that would help the children and show Will how much she respected his goals for his students. “May I have them?”
Daddy folded his arms over his chest. “What are you going to do with a bucket full of oranges?”
She returned his smile with one of her own. “A science project with Will.”
Chapter Six
Good morning, Mr. Munroe.”
Will lifted his head from the lesson plan he’d been preparing to find the Mims girls standing in the doorway. They wore the same cotton overalls and bare feet as they had yesterday when he and Ruthie had left them, but their faces and hands had been washed and their hair combed.
He glanced around. “I thought Johnny was coming with you.”
“No, sir.” Sarah took an anxious step forward. “Miss Ruthie came by early this morning and told Momma that she’d care for Johnny if need be.”
“She did now.” He’d hated the way he’d left things with Ruthie yesterday. It hadn’t taken long to realize she was trying to do the best thing for Lily, even if it treaded on his toes. Maybe having Johnny in his class would be educational. Will knew he’d be stretched coming up with lesson plans to keep a five-year-old boy occupied.
But at the moment, he had a class lesson plan to prepare. “Girls, you can take these two desks close to the front. Once I get to know you better, I’ll place you with your classmates.”
“What if they don’t like us?” Tilly answered, clinging to her sister’s hand.
Will smiled. First-day jitters were common in his youngest students. He walked over to the girls and squatted down so they were all at the same level. “Tilly, everyone is going to like you. You’re just a little nervous, but that’s okay. I was a bit nervous my first day too.”
Her gray eyes widened. “You were?”
“Um-hum, but everyone was so nice and did their work for me, so I wasn’t scared anymore.”
Sarah giggled. “I can’t imagine you’d be scared of anything, Mr. Munroe.”
“I am.” Like the feelings he still had for Ruthie. Late last night, he’d lain awake, wondering why her actions had bothered him so much. The truth was he cared what she thought of him. He still valued her opinion.
But it was stupid to feel this way after she’d made it perfectly clear where they stood that morning she’d left for Atlanta. He should have told her the truth, how he needed to take his mother to the hospital that afternoon. How his father’s death had changed everything. Momma had begged him not to tell a soul about those dark days, fearing the scared looks and name-calling. So he’d kept Momma’s secret safe and lost the only person in the world who could help him bear it.
Two more children, Milo and Sadie Varner hurried into the classroom as Sarah and Tilly took their seats. The boy hurried past the girls to Will’s desk as Sadie hung up her lunch bucket.
“Look what I found, Mr. Munroe.” The boy dug into his jeans pocket and fished out a gray ceramic ball with two indented stripes. “What is it?”
Will took it from him. “Why, that’s a minié ball. It’s a bullet that was used during the Civil War. It has two stripes, so it was used by the Union Army.” He handed it back to the boy. “There wasn’t much fighting around here, so that’s a real treasure.”
“Wow.” Milo rolled it around in his palm. “A real treasure.”
“If you want to learn more about the war, there’s some books over there in the bookcase that you might find interesting.”
“Really?” The boy’s face lit up. “Maybe there’s something about my minié ball in one of them.”
The boy turned and hurried over to the bookcase Will had built to hold his personal library of the books he’d enjoyed as a boy. Sharing them with his students was more important now. When a child discovered a new interest or learned something new, Will felt as if he was opening the door to a new world for them. His students needed to know that there was another way to live. That they could break the cycle of generational poverty.
The door flew open. Surprise and some irritation rippled through him as Ruthie entered, balancing a large crate in her hands. Will stood and hurried around his desk, anxious to grab whatever she was carrying before she dropped it. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d bring you a science project.” She shifted the box higher on her chest.
“Here, before you drop it.” Will’s hand brushed hers as he gently lifted it out of her grasp. Will glanced down. The tangy scent of fresh oranges made his mouth water. “How is this a science project?”
“Hold on.” Ruthie hurried outside. He was still holding the crate when she returned holding a pillowcase loaded down with who knew what. She reached into the makeshift bag and pulled out a handheld shovel. “I thought we could cut the oranges open, then take out the seeds and plant them. Afterward, the children could have a treat of orange slices.” She glanced around at his students. “What do you say to that, kids?”
“Yea!” cried out four rather loud voices.
“What do you say, Mr. Munroe?”
The innocent expression Ruthie gave him was his undoing, but he wanted her to know that he was on to her. “I know what you’re doing. All you talked about on the ride home was the need for children to drink orange juice so their bones would grow strong.”
Ruthie met his gaze. “I didn’t think you were listening.”
Will let the comment go. Now wasn’t the time to talk about yesterday, not when there were students to teach.“This will make a great science lesson for the kids.” He turned to his class. “Everyone ready to plant orange trees?”
Milo cried out a loud yes, while the girls nodded enthusiastically.
Over the next few minutes, several more students joined them as Will explained how seeds worked and why they needed soil, water, and sunlight to grow. Ruthie took a seat behind his desk and began to cut the oranges into slices. Will assigned Milo and Sarah the job of passing out the orange slices.
As the children worked, Will joined Ruthie at his desk. “Leave it to you to come up with a practical way to get these kids fruit without stepping on their parents’ pride.” He leaned toward her so only she could hear him. “You do know that it’s too cold to grow orange trees in this part of the state.”
“Yes, but that’s not the point. What’s important is getting them to eat the fruit.” She stood and walked around his desk to join the children.
Despite their argument yesterday, Will had to admire her. Ruthie had never given up on something without a fight. He stole a glance at her. Her light hair had been pulled into a tangle of curls at her neck, revealing the slender line of her jaw. Her pert nose still turned up slightly, a trait he knew plagued her. She had traded her flannel shirt and jeans for a flowing dress that swished around trim legs and cinched at the waist, revealing a more womanly figure than the lanky girl who’d left town six years ago.
But it was the way she was with the children that caused his chest to tighten. She was a natural, patiently listening to one then the other talk as they planted their seeds.
If only she’d married me and stayed in Pine Mountain. They would have had a child by now, maybe even two. He’d once dreamed of a daughter with vivid blue eyes and a sassy attitude just like her mother.
The truth was Ruthie’s time in Atlanta had been good to her. It was her home now, and he’d do well to accept that. Will straightened. “We’re going to need some soil in order to plant our orange trees.”
Two of the older boys raised their hands. Grabbing the handheld shovels Ruthie had brought, Will walked with the boys to the back of the room to the small broom closet to gather a bucket. “Fill it up as best you can. And hurry back. No lollygagging.”
“Yes, sir.”
When Will turned around, Ruthie had her pillowcase out, reaching in for used tin cans to use as makeshift pots. She’d put a lot of thought and time into this project, and not for the first time, he wondered why. Yes, she wanted the kids to have fruit to eat, but she could have just given each child an orange and been done with it.
Was this her way of apologizing for yesterday?
He glanced across the room to where she sat, laughing with Sarah and Tilly as she bit into a slice, then smiled, revealing an orange grin. A simple “I’m sorry” would have been enough. Yet she’d done all this, not just for him but for the children. They needed to find a way to work together, playing to each other’s strengths rather than beating each other down. He needed to think about that.
Will crossed the room and joined Ruthie and his pupils at their worktable. “How’s it going?”
“Oranges are really juicy,” Sarah replied as she dug her fingers into the meat of the fruit and fished around.
“That’s why we need to suck out all of the juice first.” Ruthie took another slice and bit into it.
“You mean like this?”Tilly stuffed a piece in her mouth, then bit down, her eyes widening as she tasted the juice for the first time. She spit out the orange seed and discarded it on a piece of newspaper. “That was so good. I like oranges.”
“Let me try.” Both girls took a slice and shoved it in their mouths. Juice dripped down to their chins then onto the floor.
Will took a bite, the sweet tang of fresh orange taking him back to another time, when he and Ruthie skipped school to have a picnic down by Mr. Thompson’s lake. They had shared a slice of orange, which had ended in a kiss and a realization that what they shared was more than friendship.
Will glanced down at her, only to find her staring at him. Was she remembering that kiss too? The faraway look in her made him think so. Then she blinked and the moment was gone.
Ruthie pulled the rind from her mouth, then softly spit three seeds into her palm. “See how I did that? You try it, but don’t swallow the seeds.”
Will was next, releasing two seeds into his hand. The girls followed suit, laughing as they wiped the excess juice from their mouths.
