Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Gray by Dorothy Love Page B

some water?”
    I handed him the gourd. “How come you’re not down at the stables with Daniel?”
    “Too hot in there right now.”
    “You better not let Missus see you standing here doing nothing. She says we must practice great industry at all times.”
    He filled the gourd and drank it empty again. “Industry. What a word.”
    “It means we are supposed to stay busy all the time. Because idleness is the devil’s workshop.”
    He laughed, showing perfect teeth. “Missus ain’t never seen a workshop in all her born days. And anyway, why don’t she just say busy ?”
    “White people like big words, I reckon. I wouldn’t mind knowing more of them.”
    “More white folks?”
    “Don’t act dumb. You know what I mean.”
    “Yeah, I do.” He filled the gourd again. “Everybody says you the best reader on the place.”
    It surprised me, how much his words pleased me. My stomach dipped and rose like a rowboat in big waves. “I guess so.”
    “You a pretty girl too,” he said. “Be even prettier if you wasn’t frowning all the time.”
    “I don’t frown.”
    “Yes, you do.”
    “How would you know what I do? You don’t even stay to preaching on Sundays.”
    “I might, if you would sit with me.”
    There went that dip in my stomach again.
    Just then Kitty come running from the house. “Selina, Missus looking all over for you. Miss Mary’s baby has come, and we got to wash up her bedsheets.”
    “Boy or girl?”
    “Girl. Now she and Mister Robert got them one of each. A matched set, Missus says.”
    Thornton headed back to the stables. “Next Sunday night, Selina.”
    Kitty glanced at him over her shoulder. “What’s he want?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Huh. Boys always want something.”
    When we got to the back door I stole a look toward the stables, but Thornton was already gone. We went inside and finished everything Missus told us to do. I wanted to see the baby, but Missus said not to disturb Miss Mary, so I went on about my business.
    As it turned out, I didn’t see much of Miss Mary for a long time because she come down sick in August and Missus packed up and took her and her babies away. They didn’t come back until the leaves were gone from the trees and the frost had turned the garden to a brown mess. Then there was quite the commotion: doctors coming and going and Mister Robert pacing and frowning and the little boy, Boo, crying for his mama and she was too sick to pay attention.
    One Tuesday when the ironing was done, I folded Miss Mary’s things and carried them upstairs to her room. Missus told me to leave them on the chair in the hallway so I wouldn’t wake up Miss Mary if she was resting. But the door to her room was partly open and the curtains was pulled back, and Miss Mary called out, “Who is that in the hallway?”
    “Selina. Brought your clean washing.”
    “Well, come in then.”
    I went in. The room smelled like medicine and the leavings from a breakfast tray still sitting beside her bed. Miss Mary looked white as a ghost, but she smiled at me. “I haven’t seen you lately.”
    “Missus told me not to bother you. She said you need to get your strength back.”
    “I do, but I am happy to see you.” She motioned for me to set down her laundry on the chest beside the window. “I hear you are doing well, learning to look after the house.”
    “It’s a lot to it.”
    “Yes, that’s true. But it is important to learn something useful.”
    “I got to go. Missus says it’s a sin to waste time.”
    “She won’t mind if you sit with me a minute. I am so tired of being bedfast. I am bored silly, Selina. Tell me, what is going on these days? I am starved for news.”
    “That’s why you so skinny?”
    She laughed. “I must look awful.”
    “I got to be honest. You’ve seen better days, Miss Mary.”
    “Undoubtedly.” She folded her hands on top of her quilts and waited for me to give her the news.
    Downstairs there was seven kinds of noise going on. Mister Robert