The crowing of the
roosters woke me at 4:45 am the next morning and I could not go back to sleep. I had
slept well despite all that had happened this past week. I said my morning
prayers and got out of bed and headed to the bathroom for a shower. While
showering the negro spiritual ‘Kumbayah mi Lord’ rested on my heart and I began
to sing it, crying out to the Lord telling him how much I needed Him to take
charge of my situation. After my shower I went into the kitchen and made myself
a ham sandwich and a cup of Milo, which I took back to the den. I was ready to
begin my reading of the diaries. I started with the ledger that had the number
1 on it, laughing to myself as if there could be any other beginning. I could
see that the ledgers were pretty expensive and must have cost Florence a pretty
penny. Maybe they were from Stanley Wharbucks supplies, after all, he was a very
wealthy man. The covers of the ledgers
showed signs of wear and tear but the pages inside were in good condition.
Florence’s handwriting, surprisingly, was neat and tidy, every ‘i’ was dotted
and every ‘t’ was crossed and even after all these years the handwriting was
legible. I sat down in the recliner and
began to read. The first words were gut wrenching. Charmaine could not stop
crying when her father Charles left her with Ben and Florence. She was
inconsolable, and even though they begged her to shush she cried even more. As
they hurried to reach the main house before 6 o’clock Ben seemed worried,
wondering how he was going to explain the presence of Charmaine on the estate. As
they reached the verandah of the house they heard Stanley Wharbucks hollering “Where
the hell
is Ben! He is late! God dammit to hell! I am going to fire him one of
these days!” Ben looked at Florence and
rolled his eyes. How many times had Stanley Wharbucks threatened to fire him
and he was still here! Florence smiled,
suddenly the double doors of the house were flung opened and Stanley
Wharbucks strode out unto the verandah. Florence put Charmaine behind her and
said, “Good morning Mass Wharbucks.” Ben took off his hat and echoed Florence, “Good
morning Mass Wharbucks!” Stanley Wharbucks was not having anything to do with
the pleasantries. “I don’t want any good morning!” He yelled. “Didn’t I tell
you that I wanted to leave here early this morning to deliver the meat to the
new hotel?” At the sound of his voice Charmaine began to scream, “I want my
daddy, I want my daddy!” Florence lifted her in her arms and tried to console
her. Stanley Wharbuck snapped, “Who is that? Haven’t I said time and time again
that I do not want any children on this estate! I don’t care if she is your
grandchild I don’t want her here!” “No
Mass Wharbucks, she is not any of our grandchildren” said Ben. “Then who is
she?” he demanded. “Please, Mass Wharbucks” said Ben, “May we go inside, I would not want
too many persons to hear what I have to say to you.” At this time the other workers on the estate
were coming to see what was the cause of all the commotion. Stanley Wharbucks
was about to say no but something about the way Charmaine was looking at him
caused him to change his mind. He turned and went back through the double doors
with Ben and Florence (still holding Charmaine in her arms) following behind him. Florence closed the
doors and they went into the study. Stanley Wharbucks flung his hat on his desk
and said to them, “Okay talk! Who is this child and why is she here? Ben handed
him the letters that Charles had given to him. He told Stanley Wharbucks that
they had found the little girl wandering on the estate and after searching her
bag for clues as to who she was they found the letters. ‘I would suggest that
you read the letters Mass Wharbucks” said Florence. Stanley Wharbucks looked at
Florence, looked at Charmaine, who was still crying and took the letters from
Ben. He asked them to leave the study as he sat down in his leather sofa. He had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.
No comments:
Post a Comment