"Why do you have to leave so soon?" I whined to Aunt Myrna a few nights later.
"Kate, I've been here two days longer than I planned already. I've got to get home. The third wheat's ready for harvest, and I have beef to get to market. Miller's been very patient coming over and helping out, and I don't want to take advantage of him. I've got to leave in the morning."
"But you're going to miss the block party on Friday," I protested.
"We'll write, and I'll be back next summer. Maybe you'd even like to come out to Nebraska for a visit sometime?"
"Really?" I shouted.
"Of course," Aunt Myrna laughed. "If your parents don't mind."
I raced up the basement steps yelling for Mama and Papa, and I could hear Aunt Myrna still laughing on the patio through the open slider.
Mama and Papa let me stay up an hour later than bedtime that night. I told them I could stay awake all night if they'd let me, but they said no, I needed my beauty rest. I told them I was beautiful enough, but they just laughed. Aunt Myrna promised to wake me up in the morning before she left, so I gave up the fight and slumped off to bed.
It took me a long time to fall asleep, but finally I did. It was still dark outside when I woke up to strange, loud voices outside. I opened my bedroom door. One dim lamp was on in the living room but the house was very still. I eased as quietly down the hall as I could. Both the other bedroom doors were open, and there was no one in the beds. I walked to the end of the hall and peered tentatively around the corner. The front door was open.
The voices grew louder. I looked through the screen door, then opened it slowly, stepped onto the porch, then hid in the shadow of the junipers.
A large group of people were gathered in the street between the Watson's house and Harry's house. Mama, Aunt Myrna, and Mrs Watson were standing at the corner of our driveway. I couldn't see Papa, but I recognized Mr Watson's voice.
"Let's just be calm about this," he pleaded. "We don't even know for sure."
A heavy voice, swaying with alcohol, boomed over the crowd. "Five houses broken into the same night, that's all we need to know! Fred, you're got to get your head out of your?!"
"Now, Mr Maynard," Papa said, "there's no need for that kind of language. Besides, Fred's right. We don't know for sure."
"Well, I know everything I need to know, and I'm tired of them thinking they can just come up here and take whatever they please! It's time we taught them a lesson!" Several voices in the crowd cheered in agreement, and their approval egged Mr Maynard on.
"They think they're so high and mighty! Well, I say let's just go down there and clean the color right out of this neighborhood!" The crowd cheered even louder.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Mr Watson's voice was angrier than I had ever heard. "You didn't even see their faces!"
"I saw one of them bucks run past the barn and into the trees!" Mr Maynard shouted. A shotgun blast suddenly erupted the night air and every person in earshot jumped.
"Mr Maynard!" Papa yelled, "You put that infernal thing away before someone gets hurt!
"Oh, someone's getting hurt tonight, and I'm going to be the one doing the hurting!" He fired the shotgun a second time.
The crowd yelled louder and some of the people applauded, and I saw Mama, Aunt Myrna, and Ms Watson take a couple steps backwards toward our porch.
Suddenly a black and white car with blue strobe lights and a blaring siren drove up the little road at the bottom of Thistlewood and turned right at the barn. The crowd went silent, the siren turned off, and the car stopped in front of the Dodson's new house. Two policemen got out and the crowd slowly encircled the car. One of the policemen raised his arms and the crowd hushed.
"We believe we've caught your robbers, folks!" he yelled. "We just need to get a few statements!"
The two policemen mingled through the crowd, pens and pads in hand, and spoke with several people. Mr Maynard tossed his gun in the hedges next to the Watson's driveway, and ran to the police car. He glanced through the window on the passenger side, then turned to the crowd and yelled, "I told you so! I told you they were black!"
A few other people approached the window and looked at the angry, scowling face peering back at them. I saw Papa edge his way through and he looked into the window, and then he turned around slowing toward the people standing nearby.
"Yes, this fellow does seem to be a Negro," he said. "But I wonder who the guy sitting next to him is?"
Papa backed away from the car window so others could see in. Aunt Myrna had moved closer to the crowd and was standing fairly near the car. I looked around and didn't see Mama or Mrs Watson, and when I thought the coast was clear, I bee-lined toward Aunt Myrna. I stood as near to her rear as I could without actually touching her.
Aunt Myrna leaned down toward the window, looked in for a long time, then stood back up. I heard her growl, and I had no idea what that meant. I had never heard a woman growl before. I peeked around her and looked into the car window.
Beside the black man in the back seat was another young man. He was sitting behind the driver's seat of the squad car. His face was turned away and I couldn't see him very well. His hands were behind him, like the young black man sitting next to him. After a minute, the two men looked at one another, both sneering. They began talking, but the windows were rolled up and I couldn't hear what they were saying.
From the dim street light in front of our house, I could barely make out the second man's face. His hair was dark blond, or maybe light brown, it was hard to see. He had a thin mustache, and an even thinner stubbly beard. His face was very, very pale.
Aunt Myrna growled again, and then she turned her head to her left. I followed her gaze. At the end of the street, in front of the old barn, another crowd had gathered. They were not loud. They stood silently, mostly women, a few men, a handful of children.
Aunt Myrna began walking toward them, slowly but deliberately. I stepped as quietly behind her as I could until she stopped in front of one of the women.
The woman was old and she was crying. A younger woman had her arm around the old woman's shoulders and I heard her say, "It's gonna be a'right, Mama. He'll be a'right. This is just a bad patch, is all. Ain't the end of the world, Mama. Just a bad patch." The old woman sobbed a little more loudly, and blew her nose into a dark handkerchief.
Aunt Myrna looked into the old woman's eyes, and the old woman looked up at her, still crying. A couple of people standing near her moved a little closer, unsure of this large white woman. Aunt Myrna ignored the people, and she ignored the young woman's arm around her mother's shoulders. She embraced the old woman with both her arms. The old woman looked confused at first, then put her arms around Aunt Myrna's wide girth, squeezed, and she sobbed even more. Her daughter stepped back, and the other people stepped back, and Aunt Myrna and the old woman held one another for a long, long time.
When they were finished with their hug, Aunt Myrna step away from the old woman just a little, and a few of the other people came a little closer. Aunt Myrna introduced herself, and the old woman introduced herself and her daughter, and several of the other people introduced themselves. I reached up and took her hand, and she looked down at me and smiled.
"And this," she told the old woman, "is my niece Katie Morgenstern. Say hello to Mrs Washington, Kate."
I mumbled very low, and Aunt Myrna asked me if a cat had my tongue, and several people standing about us laughed a little. I cleared my throat and said, much more loudly, "Hello, Mrs Washington!"
Everyone laughed again.
"Well," Aunt Myrna said after the adults had made a bit of small talk. "I expect it's about time for little girls to get back into bed." She embraced Mrs Washington again, and we started back up Thistlewood. The squad car turned on its sirens and pulled away just as we got to the edge of the Dodson property.
CHAPTER 21