'Leave
the child with us', said Florence. We will tell Mass Wharbucks that we found her
sleeping under the cotton tree. We will make no mention of you, we will just
give him the letters and tell him we found them in the bag she was carrying. He
is a smart man, he will put two and two together and figure it out. Ben was in
agreement with Florence’s plan. He reminded Charles that Stanley Wharbucks
wanted him dead and if he was found on the property that would be the minute he,
Charles, would take his last breath. Charles put his face in his hands, he did not want to leave Charmaine behind but deep down in his heart he knew it was best for her. From the
letter that Charlotte wrote Charles knew that he could trust Ben. He also knew
that he could not run from parish
to parish with Charmaine trying to hide from
her Grandfather. Sooner or later the two gentlemen he had overheard at the
hotel would track him down and take him to face the notorious wrath of Stanley
Wharbucks. Charles lifted Charmaine in his arms and held her tightly as he
tried to explain to her that he had to leave her with Ben and Florence for a
little while. ‘Don’t leave me Papa!’ cried Charmaine. ‘I promise I’ll come back
for you’ said Charles. He took his pocket watch from his jacket pocket and gave
it to Charmaine, telling her that she was to keep it for him until he returned. He
handed her to Florence and told her she was to promise him that she would see
to it that Charmaine was protected. ‘Don’t worry’ said Ben, I will guard her
with my life. I will love her just like I loved her mother. You have to hurry
up and leave, said Florence, If Ben is not on time Mass Wharbucks will be very
angry with him. Charles kissed Charmaine one last time and ran from the
clearing. He could hear the cries of Charmaine and Ben telling her to hush and
that everything would be okay. When Charles reached the cotton tree he could
not hold back the tears. He cried until he felt like he was about to pass out.
He knew in his heart that this was the right thing to do where Charmaine was
concerned but he felt so bad leaving her. She had been his constant companion
from the day her mother died. Apart from Miss Verna, Charmaine was not used to
staying with anyone else so it was going to take a lot of adjustment on her
part. He dried his face with his sleeves and took out his penknife. Where
Charlotte had placed the letter ‘C’ on the cotton tree Charles added two more
‘Cs’. He noticed that there was a hole in the tree and when he peered inside
the hole he saw a tin that was rusted over. He took the tin from the hole and
to his delight it was a tin of red paint! He laughed as he painted over the
letters with the paint, he was feeling better, God certainly had ordained this!
It was daybreak when Charles walked away from the cotton tree and from
Charmaine. He walked backed to Montego Bay and caught the train to Kingston
just minutes before it left the station. The train was jam-packed but Charles
managed to get a seat near the front of the train. He was dozing off when he
heard a voice that he recognized. It was one of the gentlemen who were on the
balcony at the hotel! He was seated behind Charles along with the other
gentleman who seemed to think it funny that they were being sent to bring back
the man who had stolen Stanley Wharbucks’ precious Charlotte. They had gotten
more information overnight, they now had the name of the man that Charlotte was
seen with in St. Thomas. Charles said nothing, he no longer felt sleepy and he
listened to everything they were saying. Charles had already made up his mind that he was not
returning to St. Thomas but he could not take the chance of getting off the
train in Kingston and someone calling out his name and alerting the gentlemen
to him. When the train rolled into the Spanish Town station Charles disembarked
and hurriedly walked away. From a vantage point he watched the train continue
on its way to Kingston. He breathed a sigh of relief. Just then a shower of
rain came down which had him crying again. He could not wait to see his mother.
Reverend Julian was nodding off. I asked him if he wanted to stay another night
or would he prefer to go home? He decided to go home and return in the morning.
I walked out with him to the gate and bid him goodbye. As I was getting ready for bed I wondered how the rest of the story would unfold, hoping to God it would be all right.
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