Ben, Florence and
Charmaine waited outside in the living room. Suddenly there was a loud crashing
sound coming from the study. This was followed by a loud yell, then another
crashing sound. Florence and Ben ran towards the study, with little Charmaine
trying to keep up with them. When Florence opened the door of the study Stanley
Wharbucks had his rifle
in his hands, waving it in the air. “I am going to find
that son of a bitch and I am going to kill him!” he yelled. “Please Mass
Stanley, not in front of the baby!” pleaded Florence. The study was in a mess,
the crashing sound they heard when they were outside was when Stanley Wharbucks
overturned his desk. The glass cabinet, which held his reference books, was
also overturned and there were glass shards everywhere. Ben stopped Charmaine from
entering the room. “I am going to kill him!” repeated Stanley Wharbucks.
Charmaine started to cry. Stanley Wharbucks turned to Florence and told her to
remove the child from his presence. “But Mass Stanley she’s your
granddaughter” said Florence. “Hell no! he shouted. She’s HIS daughter!
Get her away from me!” “Didn’t you read the letters?” asked Ben. “Damn you! I
said get her away from me!” hollered Stanley Wharbucks. Florence told Ben not to say another word.
Ben was a proud man who did not take kindly to insults and she was afraid that
he would say something that would make Stanley Wharbucks angrier. She took
Charmaine from him and told him she was going to their quarters to get her
something to eat. Ben said okay, he would join her shortly. He started to clean
up the room but Stanley Wharbucks told him to leave and not to come back until
he sent for him so he left and caught up with Florence. Florence had tears in
her eyes as they walked and discussed what they were going to do with Charmaine. They were surprised that even after reading the letters Stanley Wharbucks was refusing to have anything to do with Charmaine. She was such a beautiful child and the splitting image of her mother. Without a doubt this was their beloved Charlotte’s daughter. Florence started to say that they were too old to raise a child when she began to laugh hysterically, she was laughing and drying her
eyes at the same time. Ben got concerned wondering if Florence was ‘losing it’,
even Charmaine was looking at her quizzically. Florence laughed at the look on
their faces. She said to Ben, “Remember the message that Pastor Edwards
preached six months ago about Abraham and Sarah having a child in their old
age? And how that there will be a couple just like them in the church? You remember when I laughed and said thank God it will not be us because our
child bearing and child rearing days were behind us and we had enough children
and grandchildren?” “Jesus Christ!” exclaimed Ben. He started to laugh. “Lord
forgive me for calling out Your name in vain.” He looked at Charmaine as she
held on to Florence’s skirt and said, “The Lord works in mysterious ways, His
wonders to perform, the Lord has faith in us that we can raise this child so
let us have faith in ourselves that we can do it!” “Yes" said Florence, "We will
raise her until Mass Stanley accepts her into his bosom or until her father
returns for her. We will love her just as much, maybe even more than we loved
her mother Charlotte.” I closed the
ledger and got up from the chair and stretched. I looked at the clock, it was well after six o’ clock and it was
getting dark. I did not hear the gate opening earlier so Maud was probably spending
another night with her new found friends. I did not like having my gate opening after certain hours, Maud knew this so the fact that she wasn't home meant that she would not be coming home tonight. Oh my! The dogs had not being fed from morning! I hurriedly went outside to check on them. They were
happy to see me and kept jumping up on me. I fed them, refilled their water bowls
and went back inside. I took the ledgers with me into my bedroom and sat down in the
chair beside my bed and continued reading.
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