The Mandie Collection (33 page)

Mandie suddenly stomped her foot and said, “Uncle Ned, please tell me what this quilt says.”

The old man continued out of the room. Mandie followed him, with Joe and Celia right behind her.

When they got down to the first floor, Uncle Ned stopped and looked at Mandie. “No can tell, Papoose, sorry,” he said.

“Well, if you won't tell me, I'll find someone who will tell me what that quilt says,” Mandie told him. As he went on down the hallway, she sat down on the bottom step. Joe and Celia joined her.

“Mandie, I wonder why he wouldn't tell you,” Celia said.

“It's just a silly old quilt with some silly message written on it,” Joe added.

“But there's some reason he won't tell me what the message is,
and I intend finding out. That quilt is so old it couldn't harm anyone to know what the message is,” Mandie told her friends.

“What are you going to do, Mandie?” Celia asked.

“Why, I'll just ask some of my Cherokee kinpeople what it says,” Mandie quickly decided. “They would be able to decipher all those symbols on it. That's what I'll do.”

CHAPTER TWO

AN UNEXPECTED ALLY

Joe sat on a low stool near the opened door of Mandie's bedroom and watched as the girls filled their trunks.

“You just unpacked your trunk a little while ago, and now you are having to repack everything,” he told Celia.

Celia paused as she reached for a dress hanging in the wardrobe and replied. “But I'm not repacking everything, only the clothes I will need in New York. Remember, we are going to visit Mandie's Cherokee kinpeople when we come back, so I'll save some things for that journey.”

Mandie looked up at her friend as she bent over her trunk to straighten the contents. “You won't need much for that visit,” she reminded her. “We won't be socializing and all that like we will be in New York.”

“Yes, and I'm so glad we won't be having to get dressed up and worrying about our hair and everything. It will be a pleasant time that we can really enjoy,” Celia said.

“Enjoy?” Joe said with a grin, glancing at Mandie. “You mean if Mandie doesn't discover one of those complicated mysteries she's always running into.”

“I don't have to run into a mystery this time. I already have one,” Mandie told him. “I'm going to find out what the message on
that quilt is.” She suddenly straightened up and looked at her two friends as she excitedly added, “I have an idea. Why don't we go to visit my Cherokee kinpeople first and then go to New York later?”

“Oh, Mandie, your mother has already planned everything,” Celia quickly reminded her.

“Besides, the Guyers are expecting us to arrive in the next few days,” Joe added.

Mandie clasped her hands together and marched around the room as she frowned and mumbled to herself. “We could rearrange everything.”

“No, Mandie, we have to go to New York tomorrow. I'm sure your mother will insist that we do,” Joe said. “You know that.”

“I'm not sure she will, and I won't know until I ask her,” Mandie replied. “We could go with Uncle Ned tomorrow when he goes home. And it shouldn't take long to get someone to look at the quilt and tell me what those symbols on it mean. Then we could come on back and go to New York.”

“It sounds simple, Mandie,” Celia said. “But you know how your Cherokee kinpeople stick together on everything. If your Uncle Wirt refuses to tell you what the message is on the quilt, you may not find anyone who will dare tell you. After all, he is the oldest, and the others all respect him.”

Mandie stopped pacing around the room, stomped her foot, and said, “Oh, that quilt was made many, many years ago, so what difference would it make if someone told me what it says? This is 1903, and Uncle Ned thinks that quilt was made around sixty or seventy years ago.”

“And was packed away in your attic until we found it last Christmas,” Celia said in amazement. “I wonder what else is up there that's old like that.”

“We've been through so much of the stuff in the attic off and on that I don't imagine we've missed much of it,” Mandie said. Looking at her friends, she asked, “Anyhow, Celia, Joe, would y'all agree to go visit my kinpeople first and then go to New York if I ask my mother about changing our plans? And please don't feel obligated to say yes if you don't really mean it.”

“Whatever you want to do is fine with me, Mandie,” Celia told her.

Joe ran his long fingers through his unruly brown hair and slowly answered, “Well, now, I don't really mind. However, we should think of the inconvenience for the other people involved.”

“If I explain to everyone else about the quilt, I don't think they will get upset,” Mandie said, and then with a big smile, she added, “Thank you both. I'll talk to my mother. I'll go find her right now.” She started toward the door.

“Mandie,” Celia called after her. “What about our trunks? Should I keep on packing my trunk?”

Mandie stopped at the doorway, turned, and replied, “Yes, Celia, keep putting whatever you want for New York in it, because if we go to see my kinpeople first, we'll only take a valise. We won't need the trunks.”

Joe stood up and teased, “Oh, the trouble girls have with their clothes. I'm going to my room and putting mine in two piles, one for New York and one for the Cherokee visit. That way I'll be ready whatever the decision is.”

“I'll be back as soon as I discuss things with my mother,” Mandie promised as she went out of the room.

Mandie went to the parlor, where she found her mother, Uncle John, and Uncle Ned. She looked around as she entered the room and asked, “Where is Grandmother? And Celia's mother?” She went to sit on a stool near her uncle.

“They've both gone to their rooms to sort out things for our journey tomorrow,” Elizabeth Shaw told her daughter. “Are you finished with your packing?”

“Mother, that's what I came to talk about,” Mandie began. She then turned to Uncle Ned and asked, “Are you going home tomorrow, Uncle Ned?”

“Yes, home, sun come up tomorrow,” the old man replied.

Relieved to hear that he would be going home and not by the way of various other places he sometimes visited, Mandie glanced at her uncle John Shaw and then turned back to her mother. “Yes, ma'am, I think I have everything I need in my trunk. But, Mother, I
wanted to ask you about changing our plans.” She paused, not sure how to say things.

“Changing our plans?” Elizabeth quickly asked.

Uncle John looked at Mandie and asked, “Are you sick or something?”

“Or have you decided you just don't want to go to New York?” her mother asked. “Remember, Amanda, there are other people involved in these plans.”

Mandie faintly smiled at her uncle and said, “No, sir, I'm not sick.” Turning to her mother she said, “I've decided I'd like to go home with Uncle Ned and visit my kinpeople awhile and then go to New York.”

“Amanda, you know what our plans are, New York first and then to visit your kinpeople,” her mother reminded her in a sharp voice. “You can't just change your mind at a minute's notice when it affects other people.”

“What brought this on?” John Shaw asked.

Mandie felt Uncle Ned's gaze on her and believed that he had immediately figured out why she wanted to change her plans. And she was wondering if her mother and her uncle also realized this. Replying to John Shaw's question, she said, “Uncle Ned is here right now and is going straight home from here, so we could go with him now. But we don't know whether he will be here after we come back from New York for us to go with him then.” She paused to take a breath.

“No, Amanda, we will be going to New York tomorrow as we have planned,” her mother stated firmly. “So be sure you have your things ready. Mr. Bond will be taking our trunks to the depot tomorrow morning.”

“But, Mother—” Mandie began.

“That is my final decision, Amanda,” Elizabeth interrupted her. “Do you understand me?”

Mandie took a deep breath, stood up, and barely looked at her mother as she replied, “Yes, ma'am.” She hurried out into the long hallway and went to sit on the bottom step of the staircase.

She had to get her breath and think things over for a few minutes before she went back upstairs to tell her friends they would
be going to New York tomorrow as planned. She didn't have to go find them, however, because in a few minutes Joe and Celia came down the stairs.

Mandie didn't speak, and the two friends seemed to understand as they sat down next to her on the steps without a word.

Finally Mandie spoke. “We go to New York tomorrow,” she said.

“All right,” Celia said.

“I'll be ready,” Joe told her.

“Guess I'd better finish packing my trunk,” Mandie said as she stood up and started up the stairs.

Celia also rose, looked at Joe, and said, “We'll wait for you in the back parlor.”

“Don't take too long,” Joe teased.

Mandie didn't reply but went up the stairs and down the hallway to her room. All she could think of now was hurrying to get to New York and hurrying to get back home again and then hurrying to her kinpeople with the quilt.

Hastily snatching clothes down from the wardrobe, she piled them into the trunk until it wouldn't hold any more. Then she suddenly burst into tears and sat on the floor by the opened trunk. Snowball, who had been asleep in a chair, came to her side, purring loudly and rubbing against her shoes. Snowball had different kinds of purrs, depending on the situation, and this one was his purr where he sounded like he was trying to talk.

Mandie, suddenly giggling, reached to pick him up. She rubbed her face against his white fur. “All right, Snowball, I stopped crying,” she whispered in his ear. She took a deep breath and stood up, holding the cat. “In fact, I think I have been really foolish, not considering anyone's feelings other than mine.” Squeezing Snowball tightly, she added, “All right, we are going to New York tomorrow to see Jonathan Guyer, and we are going to have a wonderful time while we're there. Then when we return home, we'll go to see my Cherokee kinpeople. And we'll also have a good time with them. Now I've got to wash my face and go downstairs and find Joe and Celia.” She set the cat down, and he immediately jumped back into the chair where he had been sleeping and began washing his face.

Mandie found her friends in the back parlor as they had promised.
She was smiling when she entered the room and said, “This time tomorrow we'll be on our way to New York. I wonder what plans Jonathan Guyer has made for us.” She sat down on a chair opposite them. Celia and Joe looked at each other.

“I hope he's not planning too many things. I'd like to see places that I didn't have time to visit when I was there before,” Joe remarked.

“And my mother wants me to go shopping with her,” Celia said.

“And I'm sure my mother will want us to go along with y'all,” Mandie added.

“And I suppose Polly will want to tag along with y'all in the stores,” Joe said with a big grin.

“Oh, I had almost forgotten about her,” Mandie said, also grinning. “And her mother will probably give her lots of money to spend.” Looking at Joe, she asked, “Are you not interested in shopping in New York?”

“Not really, but my father has said I should look for a nice overcoat,” Joe replied. “And don't forget, my parents will both be going with us to visit your kinpeople when we return, Mandie. So I am supposed to buy something for a gift to your Uncle Wirt and Aunt Saphronia, and also Uncle Ned. So maybe you will be able to help me find something for them.”

“Uncle John would probably be able to help you better than I could. Those are his kinpeople, too, and he knows them better than I do,” Mandie said. She stood up and said, “Why don't we go for a walk before it's time to eat?”

“That's a good idea, Mandie,” Celia agreed as she, too, rose.

“Looks like I'm outvoted, so I'll have to come along, too,” Joe said, following the girls out of the room.

Outside they decided to go down to the rose arbor.

“Uncle John had all the debris removed from that old house that blew away in the tornado,” Mandie remarked as they descended the hill.

“That was scary,” Celia said, following Mandie. “I hope I never see a tornado again.”

“That was the first tornado I've ever seen, and I hope I never see another one,” Joe added, walking closely behind the girls.

“Look! There's someone down at the arbor,” Mandie said, pointing
ahead and quickening her step. Someone was sitting on the bench in the arbor.

“Yes, looks like a woman, doesn't it?” Celia agreed.

“You girls must have bad eyesight. That's your grandmother down there, Mandie,” Joe said with a laugh.

Mandie stopped to stare ahead. “Oh, Joe, you're right,” she agreed, walking faster. “I wonder what she's doing down there all by herself.”

“She's sitting there enjoying this nice weather,” Joe said teasingly.

As they approached, Mrs. Taft saw them coming.

“Well, Grandmother, we would have walked with you down here if we had known you were coming,” Mandie said with a big smile, standing before the lady.

“Oh dear, Amanda, I can still find my way around this place,” Mrs. Taft told her. “I just had to get away to think awhile.”

The three young people sat down close by.

“Think, Grandmother? That sounds serious,” Mandie said. “It must be something important.”

Mrs. Taft looked at Mandie, smiled, and said, “Yes, indeed. You would think it is important.”

“Mrs. Taft, can we help you with whatever it is?” Celia asked with concern in her voice.

“No, and before I am literally covered with questions, let me ask you one, Amanda. Why was it so important to you to go visit your kinpeople, which would have caused everyone else to change their plans?” Mrs. Taft asked.