Amy Leaves Pithole
My
mother tells me that I awoke screaming but I have no memory of waking up. The air is warm from the hearth. The Reverend 's wife is busy getting herself
and her children dressed. My mother and
father have asked me to come with them to church as well. The idea of walking amongst the people of
this town even in a church fills me with fear.
My mother assures me that the Steadman’s are good folk, that if it
weren't for him I'd never been saved. But
it is so hard to trust anything here. My
parents are outside, minding the children.
My father doesn't even look like himself. He is beaten so badly. I know it was the man, the dark, tall man who
treated me like an animal who beat my father.
But, I have no words yet to share.
Neither for comfort or fear.
Instead, I curl around myself and sit here at the hearth watching the
flames curl and eat one another. They spell destruction, then escape. Each flame, an eager hot tongue.
The
air in the church seems stifled and pale.
I sit upright in the front pew next to my mother and my poor, hunched
father. I pleaded with the Reverend not to mention we were there. Fear licks my veins. Reverend Steadman agreed not to mention our presence,
but he said, word has already traveled fast and many who will be in attendance
will have already heard about my imprisonment and subsequent escape.
The
church is small, much smaller than our church at home in New York. When
his words begin they are loud and firm.
He fills the wooden space with sharp spokes of thoughts that weave
between those seated in the pews. My
mind is drifting out of the window with the light layers of white clouds that
seem spread across the sky.
After
the sermon, we walk together slowly back to the depot. We will catch the 2:00 PM coach out of
town. Then, we’ll take a train back to
Pittsburgh, New York City and finally return to Millerton. What will it be like to be there again in
this, my new self? I haven't had a
chance to see myself in the mirror but I know without looking that I am
changed. I am like another girl. A part of me has been buried somewhere
underneath. I don't know if I'll ever
know myself again.
As
we walk to the train station, my mother is thanking Reverend Steadman profusely. But I am still mute. Words seem wrong. Like they don't fit my thoughts. My father looks deep into Steadman's eyes
when we depart and offers his words, "I'll never be able to thank you
enough for what you have done."
As
we board the coach I can't help but watch who gets off before us -- the new
residents of Pithole and sure enough out step several young girls doe-eyed and
unknowing what sort of snake den they are about to walk into. Just as we are
about to board the coach, just as my father is lifting me up, I turn around
quickly and follow one of the girls. I
have to know where she is going. I can't
let another girl go through what I have just gone through.
When
I catch her and grab her arm she looks at me strangely. I'm sure I look like a ghost of a girl. I washed up last night, but my hair is still
wild and my eyes are still tangled in the fear I just left yesterday.
“I
just need to know where you are going.
Are you coming here for a job?
Where were you hired?” I ask
desperately.
“Excuse
me? Who are you?” The girl says.
I
say, grabbing her arm with more pressure. “ I said, where are you going?”
The girl looks at me hard and strange as if
she can't quite understand what I am doing. “ I just got a job at the Dew Drop
Inn. I'm to be the new girl to work in the hotel. It's all been arranged.”
When I heard these words I went pale. “It's not what you think.” I say.
“I know you won't believe me, but I beg of you not to go there. I can understand you not believing me. So if you don’t then don’t take my word for
it, take the Reverend s’. You see that church up on the hill? It’s the Methodist church. Please go there first. There is a Reverend there named Steadman. Tell him Amy sent you. Tell him you came to town to start a job just
like me. Just promise me you’ll do this.” I say, looking her straight in the eye.
She
looks at me real scared because I know I seem crazy. “Okay,” she says. “I will.
I'll go see him first. Now, can
you let my arm go?”
It
will be weeks before I will hear from the girl.
Hear how she did go to see Steadman first, hear how he stopped her from
going to see Kate and Ben. Hear she took
the next coach out of town and was saved.
I just hope none of the other girls who got off that coach were going to
the same place. I just hope someone
stopped the same thing from happening again and again.
No comments:
Post a Comment