Solomon. Marilyn Bishop Shaw
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Название: Solomon
Автор: Marilyn Bishop Shaw
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Учебная литература
Серия: Florida Historical Fiction for Youth
isbn: 9781561645855
isbn:
Throughout the morning, one of the two men would crack the front door or push back the shutters only to discover that the rain was still sheeting down. They noticed a little dampness above their heads, and hoped the palmetto roof would hold. They also noticed the dirt floor getting soggy along the outside walls. Just before noon, the winds picked up still more. Lela and Solomon huddled in the back corner near the stack of supplies as the roof right over their heads flopped up and down with the wind. “Moses!” shouted Lela as she and Solomon reached for a cross piece to hold the corner down.
Moses turned to see them, already soaked, struggling against the wind. “Pete,” Moses yelled as he moved toward Lela and Solomon, “rope in the barn!” Pete dashed out as quickly as he could. Meanwhile Moses crouched to reach the back of the house and took hold of the cross piece.
By the time a drenched Pete returned with the rope, Lela had inspected enough to know that they had lost substantial stores, but there wasn’t time to worry with that yet. Moses and Pete threaded the rope around and through several cross pieces and tied the ends to a heavy trunk handle. All four people were on their knees panting for breath and shaking like wet dogs. Solomon broke the silence. “Reckon it’ll hold, Papa?”
Moses deferred the question. “What you think, Pete? We jess gonna blow away?”
“Nobody but the Lord himself knows that, Moses, but I surely hope this roof stays on,” Pete answered prayerfully. They tried, in the light of the lantern, to adjust the cornmeal and flour away from more possible damage and made their ways back to the front of the house. Pete peeked out a slit in the window and shook his head, “I don’t know, Moses. I just don’t know. I’ve never seen anything quite like this. I’ve heard of hurricanes, but sure haven’t been in one.”
“You ain’t thinkin’ this is one of them heercanes, are you?” Lightning punctuated Moses’ question. They all shuddered, even the house. “That hit close. I hate to guess what Sunny and Sudie be thinking.”
The thunder rolled from a great distance, like a stampeding herd rumbling closer and closer to the Freeman’s home. With it came increased winds and even more rain. Suddenly, the wind died down and the house stopped shaking. They just looked at one another until Solomon couldn’t keep quiet. “Is it over, Papa? Can I go check on Sunny and Sudie now? They must be terrible scairt.”
“I don’t know, son. It seems still as anything now.” He moved toward the door and slowly opened it to reveal a moderate wind wafting across the soggy, limb-strewn homestead.
Pete joined him and stepped outside, looking up. “This is the darnedest thing I ever saw. The sky is almost clear. Y’all come on out and look at this.”
He was joined by three sets of eyes as big as saucers, slowly moving into the yard. “Solomon,” Moses said, “come on with me to check the damage in the field.” Before his father finished speaking, Solomon charged toward the mule pen. “Solomon Freeman, get back here!” Moses shouted.
Solomon skidded to a temporary stop and pleaded, “But, Papa, the mules. I’ve got to check on the mules.”
With one big stride, Moses reached Solomon and took his arms, nearly lifting him from the ground. The boy was perfectly still. “Boy, when I tell you to do a thing, you do it. Them mules know their own keep.”
He relaxed his grip slightly, and the boy wrenched free and shouted over his shoulder, “I’m sorry, Papa. I got to check Sudie and Sunny.” His final shout was a whisper by the time it reached Moses’ ears. “I’ll come find you in the field.”
“Moses,” Pete’s calming hand scarcely touched his shoulder, “we’re all too tired and too worried. The boy will be right on. He’s just trying to do his part. Go ahead, and we’ll both be along in a few minutes.” Moses allowed Pete’s interference, but he wasn’t sure he liked it.
Solomon reached the mule lot to discover that a falling limb had caught Sudie’s halter, not hurting her, but pinning her head down almost to the ground. There was no way to know how long she had struggled against it. Pete was relieved that Diamond was jittery but unhurt.
While they worked, Pete offered Solomon quiet encouragement. “Solomon, you think your Papa doesn’t see you growing up, don’t you?” Solomon didn’t speak; he just tugged harder at the debris. “You want to make some choices for yourself and you think he can’t see that.”
“I guess,” Solomon muttered. He stopped working. “Mr. Pete, how come you see things so clear?”
“Well,” Pete laughed, “it’s not because I’m so smart. Maybe it’s that I’m on the outside looking at both of you. You and Moses are just too close to each other and your own feelings to see the whole picture. That’s all.”
“I wasn’t trying to get out of work, truly I wasn’t. I just knew Sudie and Sunny needed me. I don’t know how I knew, but I knew.”
“I understand, and I think your Papa does, too. Try to be patient with him, Solomon. It’s the hardest thing of all for a father to see his child move away in growing up.”
Lela checked the chicken coop. Moses went directly to the field to see if anything was still standing. There was damage all right, but at least it hadn’t all washed away. Luckily, it was late enough in the fall that much of the corn had already been picked. Lela had followed Moses and put a reassuring hand on her husband’s arm. “Oh, Moses, thank God you didn’t listen to my complaining about building the corn crib first.” Moses took her under his arm and she continued, “You knew just what we needed most, didn’t you? And there I was complaining because I had to haul more palmettos for that roof than we even used on the house. If we didn’t have it to keep the corn, I don’t know where we’d be.”
“I just hope the crib kept dry.” Most of the fodder stacks they hoped to use as winter feed for the mules were twisted and lying in the mud. “Without the fodder, that corn’s gonna have to feed three people and two mules all winter. Won’t be good, but it be food, I guess.”
Solomon had looked into the corn crib, which stood next to the mule pen, and shouted that it looked a little damp, but not damaged. Lela felt Moses relax as he asked her, “The chickens?”
“All there, thank the Lord. Wet and mad but all there. Soon as they get over being mad, they start layin’ again. At least we won’t starve as long as we can get a few eggs most every day.”
They leaned into each other, glad to be clear of the danger. “How about our food in the house, Lela? We lose much?” Moses asked hopefully.
“Oh, Moses, I can’t be sure. Some is ruined and it’ll make things harder when the cold comes, but we’ll find enough to eat.”
“That’s my Lela,” Moses said wrapping his big arms around her protectively. “You can find a rainbow in a storm and make food out of nothin,’ cain’t you, girl?”
In seconds, the wind swirled from a new direction and began regaining speed. Lela and Moses looked at each other in confusion. Then they looked for Solomon, who had raced from mule pen, to chicken coop, to the far edge of the field just happy to be out of the house. No sooner had Moses raised his hand to СКАЧАТЬ