Zeely Read online

  “You’re not supposed to read them,” he told her. “That’s not fair at all.”

  “I’m just looking at the pictures before I stack them,” she said.

  “You’d better not let Uncle Ross catch you.”

  “You worry so much about nothing!” Geeder said.

  “I believe I’ll just go tell Uncle Ross,” Toeboy said. He got up, heading for the door. Geeder smiled after him and continued turning the glossy pages of a magazine.

  Toeboy stood at the corner of the shed. He waited for Geeder to come after him but she didn’t. He stood, fidgeting and trying hard to be quiet. Finally, he came back inside. He knew instantly that something was wrong.

  Geeder bent low over a magazine. On her lap were two more magazines that slowly slid to the floor. She pressed her hand against the page, as if to hold on to what she saw there. Then, she sat very still and her breath came in a long, low sigh.

  “Geeder?” Toeboy whispered. “I’m not going to tell. I was only teasing you.”

  She didn’t hear him. He crept up beside her and tried taking the magazine from her, but she wouldn’t let it go. He looked over her shoulder. What he saw caused him to leap away, as though he had seen a ghost.

  “I knew it all the time! I knew it!” Geeder said to him.

  Geeder had found something extraordinary, a photograph of an African woman of royal birth. She was a Mututsi. She belonged to the Batutsi tribe. The magazine Geeder held said that the Batutsis were so tall they were almost giants. They were known all over the world as Watutsis, the word for them in the Swahili language. Except for the tribal gown the girl wore and the royal headband wound tightly around her head, she could have been Zeely Tayber standing tall and serene in Uncle Ross’ west field.

  Toeboy carefully read what was written under the photograph of the African girl. “Maybe Zeely Tayber is a queen,” he said at last.

  Geeder stared at Toeboy. It took her a few seconds to compose herself enough to say, “Well, of course, Toeboy—what do you think? I never doubted for a minute that Miss Zeely Tayber was anything else!”

  She was quiet a long while then, staring at the photograph. It was as if her mind had left her. She simply sat with her mouth open, holding the picture; not one whisper passed her lips.

  Uncle Ross happened by the shed. He didn’t see Geeder and Toeboy at first, they sat so still in the shadows. But soon, his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness of the shed as he peeked in and he smiled and entered. Geeder aroused herself, getting up to meet Uncle Ross. She handed him the magazine without a word. Uncle Ross carried it to the doorway; there, in the light, he stood gazing at the photograph. His face grew puzzled. Geeder was to remember all day and all night what he said at that moment.

  “The same nose,” he muttered, “those slanted eyes . . . black, too, black as night.” He looked from the photograph to Geeder, then to Toeboy and back to Geeder again. “So you believe Zeely Tayber to be some kind of royalty,” he said, finally.

  “There isn’t any doubt that Zeely’s a queen,” Geeder said. Her voice was calm. “The picture is proof.”

  “You may have discovered the people Zeely is descended from,” Uncle Ross said, “but I can’t see that that’s going to make her a queen.” He was about to say more when he noticed Geeder’s stubborn expression. He knew then that anything he might say would make no difference. He left the shed without saying anything else. And when he had gone, Geeder danced around with the photograph clutched in her arms. Toeboy hopped on one foot the length of the shed.

  “Oh, it’s just grand,” Geeder said. “Everything was left to me and I took care of it all by myself!”

  8

  THAT AFTERNOON, GEEDER STAYED in her room gazing at the photograph of the Watutsi woman. Toeboy disappeared right after lunch and Uncle Ross had business in the village. Geeder studied the picture from a distance, from up close and from every angle. She sat stiffly in one of the cherry-wood chairs in her room, running her hands slowly over its arms. Her heart beat so fast she felt she would faint.

  Soon, she tried standing as straight and tall as the woman in the photograph stood. But she didn’t feel right standing that way.

  “My neck isn’t long enough,” she said. “My arms are too short.”

  Geeder stretched out on her bed and looked out through the luster and glitter of her beads. She saw herself, tall and very thin, walking with Zeely Tayber. They were sisters. They looked so much alike that people sometimes called her Zeely. Zeely Tayber was queen but she liked having Geeder always at her side. Anytime people wanted to talk with Zeely, they first had to speak with Geeder. She would listen and then she would give Zeely a sign and Zeely would understand. Zeely could not talk to anyone but Geeder, that was the law of the land. One night Zeely was very sick. Everyone thought she surely would die. It was Geeder who got her well again in just one week. And then, Zeely was so happy, she made Geeder queen.

  “Queen,” Geeder said, out loud. She turned on her side so she could see the photograph of the Watutsi woman.

  “It’s a pretty picture,” she said. “It’s about the nicest picture I’ve ever seen.”

  By suppertime, Toeboy had returned to the farm. Uncle Ross had come home, too, and he prepared a wonderful dinner for them. There was baked chicken allowed to cool, sweet potatoes, beans from the pantry and a salad of fresh vegetables from the garden. By suppertime, also, Geeder had made up her mind about something. She had never gone to any of the bonfires the children were fond of having. They loved nothing better than dried weeds and corncobs smoking high and burning bright. They danced and sang around the flames until they were too tired even to sleep.

  There was to be a bonfire tonight. This time, she would go. She ate quickly and spoke little, saying just enough to let Uncle Ross know that the sweet potatoes were fine. She just couldn’t get enough sweet potatoes, she told him.

  “Can Geeder and I go to Bennie Green’s house this evening?” Toeboy asked right after they had finished eating. Beyond Bennie’s back yard was an empty lot where the bonfire would be. Nearly all the children of the farms and the town were going to be there.

  “I’ll let you go,” Uncle Ross said, “but you must be home by eleven o’clock.”

  “Oh, Uncle Ross!” Toeboy pleaded. “The sky doesn’t even turn dark until after nine—that’s no time at all!”

  “No good bonfire can blaze good if the sky isn’t black,” Geeder said.

  Uncle Ross thought a minute. “Twelve o’clock, then,” he said, “but no later. And be careful of the flames. Don’t get smoke in your eyes!”

  He knew they would come home with their clothing singed; their skin and hair would smell of smoke for days to come. But Archibald Green, Bennie’s father, would keep a sharp eye out so that none of the children would harm themselves.

  9

  NINE FIFTEEN, AND THE sky was deepest black with a moon full and red above the fields.

  “Look what’s walking along with us,” Toeboy said. The moon was so clear that Geeder and Toeboy cast shadows as they hurried along Leadback Road.

  “I can hear the kids at the bonfire,” Geeder said, “and we still have a long way to go.”

  They could see the bonfire. It lit up all the houses and trees in that part of town where Bennie Green lived. Soon, they left Leadback Road to shortcut through back yards, following fence lines directly to the bonfire.

  The children ranged around the fire. They were bright Indians; some had feathers in their hair. Here, a face was weirdly lighted, and there, a whole figure emerged only to become lost in shadow as though it had never been. As Geeder and Toeboy climbed the last fence, a green and gold stream of sparks rose high above the flames.

  “Isn’t that pretty!” Geeder whispered. “Why, everything is just beautiful for Zeely and me!”

  Bennie Green came over to greet Geeder and Toeboy and so did some of the other children.

  Geeder wore ten strands of glass beads of every color, shape and size. The flames r
eflected in the glass, causing her neck to seem encircled by stars. The girls greatly admired the necklaces, as they did Geeder. They had seen her before, but she hadn’t often played with them; that was why they were somewhat shy with her. She was different, that was all. She lived away in a city and they believed she must know a great many things. This night, Geeder was nice to them.

  “You can take turns wearing my necklaces,” she said.

  This pleased the girls, and Geeder, too.

  When the bonfire died down to a few feet above the coals, Bennie Green passed out two hotdogs, two buns and a stick to each person. There was lemonade to drink and soon all of them were busy eating. The girls bunched together right next to the boys. Geeder got talking about Zeely Tayber. Before she knew it, she was telling a story. Even the boys listened to her.

  She was aware of the silence around her and saw the darkness within the trees, where the bonfire could not penetrate.

  “Zeely Tayber is a queen,” she said, “and this picture I found is her grandmother as a girl.”

  Toeboy acted as though he wanted to say something. Geeder gave him a hard look so he wouldn’t utter a word. From her pocket, she brought out the photograph of the Watutsi woman. It was passed from hand to hand, with the girls and boys leaning close to the fire to see it.

  “I bet Miss Zeely looks exactly like her mother,” Geeder said. “And her mother looked just like her mother, and on and on, clear to Africa, where it all began.”

  Geeder was interrupted by a boy called Warner. He was tall and thin, taller than the other boys. He stood up, hopping back and forth on one foot. “I know about Watutsis,” he said. “They come from a place once called Ruanda-Urundi. It has a new name now because it’s a new nation. I know all about them and they are bad people. They keep people as slaves!”

  The boys and girls sat silently, looking from Warner to Geeder. Geeder said that she didn’t believe him, that he must have made the whole thing up. But Warner wasn’t to be taken lightly. He told a sad tale of the troubles of the Watutsis. He said that their former slaves had risen to fight them, that soon there might not be any Watutsis.

  “Well,” said Geeder, “you shouldn’t speak mean of them if they’re being hurt. Anyway, I don’t see what that has to do with Zeely. She’s still the same. She’s still a queen!”

  “You’re a silly girl,” Warner said, seriously, “and I’m going home.” He whistled for his dog and the two of them ran down Leadback Road. The boy whistled and the dog yapped all the way across town.

  When Warner had gone, Geeder forgot him and all he said. She didn’t have to say that Zeely was a queen again because by now everyone knew how important Zeely really was.

  “Tomorrow,” she said, “Zeely’s going to move all the prize razorbacks down to Red Barn and I wouldn’t miss seeing her do that for the world!”

  A short while after Geeder ended her story, leaves and corncobs were once more heaped on the bonfire. The flames shot high into the air. The boys and girls started leaping and dancing, making enough noise to be heard for miles.

  Toeboy joined in the fun. Right away, he started the game of daring the flames with his clothing.

  Geeder was left alone. “How can they play like that when so much is to happen in the morning?” she said to herself. “Toeboy’s the worst one of all. He could have sat with me to keep me company.”

  She got up and quietly collected her necklaces from the girls. Then she left the bonfire without saying good-bye to anyone.

  When Toeboy noticed that Geeder had gone, he at once headed for home. Nearly at the farm, he overtook her.

  “Guess what I saw?” Geeder said. She had forgotten she was angry with him for leaving her alone.

  “What?” asked Toeboy.

  “I saw a circle around the moon,” Geeder said. “See?” She pointed up through the trees where the moon was going down. It looked like a cold, yellow eye.

  “There’s a circle, all right,” Toeboy said. “I bet there’ll be mist in the morning.”

  “Of course there will be,” Geeder said, “and it will fit just fine with what’s to happen.”

  “What’s to happen?” Toeboy wanted to know.

  “Why, Zeely!” Geeder said. “Zeely parading all those animals into town—what in the world did you think I meant!”

  Geeder and Toeboy lay under a dark sky that night. The moon went away and the stars seemed hard and far off. Toeboy slept fitfully and Geeder stared into the night. Under the covers with her lay Uncle Ross’ flashlight. She did not touch it; she hardly realized it was beside her. Any thought of the night traveller had drifted far back in her mind. She slipped into a sound sleep.

  Geeder did not dream or speak out in the night, nor did she witness the passing of the night traveller down Leadback Road. But Toeboy did. Perhaps it was the excitement of the bonfire that caused him to turn and toss in his sleep. He awoke several times, turned, saw that Geeder was asleep and went back to sleep himself. Maybe it was the fact that the night traveller did not only walk down Leadback Road this night. Before it passed the hedge in front of the house, it paused for as much as thirty seconds. It seemed to listen; perhaps it waited. Whatever its reason for stopping there in the road, it did so when Toeboy had awakened from a dream of bright fires.

  He couldn’t have said why he crawled all the way out of the lilac bush and sat there with his toes touching the wet grass. It wasn’t just to see if Geeder was still asleep. Maybe he had heard some sound or maybe he thought he was still at the bonfire, for the bright, clear faces of his friends, the smell of smoke and the shape of the flames were with him still. Toeboy saw the thing at the hedge right away. It stood where the hedge parted, at the foot of the path leading to the house. It had no arms or legs. He knew at once what he saw, and he wasn’t afraid.

  “Good evening, Miss Zeely,” he said, softly. “How do you do?”

  Zeely Tayber turned slightly toward the place where Geeder slept. She made a movement as though to silence Toeboy. Then, she glided on down Leadback Road and the darkness of the night was all there was.

  10

  BEFORE DAYBREAK, A FOG rose from the hollows and fanned out through the catalpa trees. It lay like smoke over swimming holes. When Geeder and Toeboy awoke at six thirty, it covered all the land. The whole town and countryside was trapped in a thick fog, too warm and wet to be anything other than strange. They found their bedding soaked. Even their clothing, which they had slept in in order to save time in the morning, was uncomfortably damp.

  Toeboy was about to tell Geeder that he had seen Zeely Tayber come down the road in the night when she whispered excitedly, “Toeboy, it’s begun!”

  And so it had begun. Nat Tayber had started his prize animals down Leadback Road. Toeboy forgot to tell how Zeely looked in the darkness and Geeder forgot to feed Uncle Ross’ chickens. They ran to the elm tree near the road and climbed to the top. There, they could see perfectly and not be seen. They saw Uncle Ross hurry out of the house, look around for them and then wait by the road. From their vantage point they could see above the mist. Suddenly, the sun broke through and the top of the mist was spread with gold.

  It was seven o’clock by the time Nat Tayber and his hogs reached the elm tree. Uncle Ross stood nearby, hoping, perhaps, that Nat would need him to help move the animals. Nat didn’t, of course. He had hired strong, husky lads from the village.

  “The mood he’s in,” Geeder whispered, “he won’t ask Uncle Ross for anything.”

  “He’s got mud all over him,” Toeboy said.

  “I bet he fell chasing one of his hogs. Oh, does he look mean!” Geeder said.

  Nat Tayber was covered with mud from the chest down. In one hand, he carried a long prodding pole. All the boys he had hired were equipped with the same sort of poles.

  “I don’t see Zeely,” said Geeder. “She ought to be right in front.” All she could see through the mist was the trail of animals and Nat Tayber and his boys. Suddenly, Geeder found Zeely far back at the e
nd of the line of animals.

  “Why, what’s she doing way back there?” Geeder whispered. Zeely moved slowly in and out of the mist, never once hurrying and never speaking. She wore a long, white smock that reached to her feet.

  Toeboy recognized the smock Zeely wore. It was what had made her appear to have no arms or feet or head the night before. The smock was streaked with mud.

  “She’s got herself all dirty,” he said. “She’s about as muddy as old Nat.”

  “Hush, Toeboy!” Geeder whispered. “I don’t care if she is dirty. Just look at her! Oh, she’s pretty, with all that mist around her!”

  Zeely Tayber carried a pail of feed instead of a prodding pole. Whenever one of the huge razorbacks stopped for too long, she held the pail under its snout. As it ate, she walked forward again until the animal was moving. It was a slow process but it worked well. Still, the hogs took their time.

  “I bet Nat thinks he’s going to get those hogs through town before it’s full of trucks and cars,” Geeder said to Toeboy.

  “He won’t make it,” Toeboy said, “not the rate he’s going.”

  “It’ll serve him right for not letting Zeely lead,” Geeder said. “Can’t you just see the street packed with folks and those animals and Nat and all those boys trying to get through?”

  On Leadback Road, some of Nat Tayber’s hogs got going in the wrong direction; others lay down by Uncle Ross’ hedge to rest. The boys he had hired rushed to the hedge, hitting the tired animals with their poles. When the first blow was struck, Geeder held her breath. Finally, she had to turn her face away.

  “That’s no way to treat hogs,” Uncle Ross hollered. “Those are prize animals—that’s no way!”

  Nat Tayber ignored him. “Hit them! Hit them!” he yelled to the boys. “That will make them move!”

  The animals rose, squealing frantically, and lumbered away down the road toward the village. The rest of the hogs followed as fast as their great bulk would let them. Nat and the boys ran after the hogs.