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school did she have before she quit?’
    ‘A couple years.’
    Ma was troubled. ‘Can she read?’
    ‘No ma’am, not too well. When my husband died, bless his soul, I had to take her in to work here with me. The Missus was real good about it. She probably wasn’t much use but the Missus kept her on even so. When she got big enough to work on her own she went over to the Milligans. Been there now for a few years.’
    ‘Dora Lee, could I meet Eliza one day?’ I asked.
    ‘Well, I suppose you can miss.’
    ‘Maybe she’d like to come over after school some time?’
    ‘Maybe so.’
     
    Over dinner Ma told us about her plan to teach Eliza to read. Duncan deliberated slowly, and eventually said, ‘I don’t see why not. We should be doing everything we can to help Negroes here get a leg up. If she wants to learn, then you ought to teach her.’
    Ma leaned forward with her arms on the table. ‘That’s exactly what I think. Maybe Dora Lee would like to learn as well. I could set up the extra bedroom to teach them. I’ll ask her about it tomorrow.’ Her eyes were shiny and wide.
    As usual they weren’t even thinking about themselves, let alone me. ‘Now hold on a minute. Are you sure that’s okay? I haven’t seen any other white families jumping up to teach Negroes to read. Didn’t you tell me it even used to be illegal down here? Besides, they have their own schools. If they want to learn to read they can figure out a way to get to school like I do.’
    ‘May, for goodness sake. They don’t have the same chances and you know it. Sometimes doing things to help other people means we have to sacrifice some ourselves.’
    ‘But at what cost, Ma? What if everyone turns against us like they did in Williamstown? We’ll be outcasts just like before.’ My newly–found social life, spare as it was, would disappear in a flash if everyone got mad at us again.
    ‘Don’t overreact, May. Your Ma’s not going to call attention to what she’s doing. It won’t help anybody to announce it around town. But teaching Eliza to read will be good for her, and we can’t turn our back on another person who needs our help, can we?’
    ‘But she doesn’t know she needs your help, does she? What harm is there in just leaving things alone?’
    Duncan stabbed his finger at me. ‘Shame on you! Leave them alone. Do you know what happens when we leave things alone? When we ignore the things that are right in front of us?! Let me tell you something, I –’ Ma put her hand on his forearm. He looked at her quickly and stopped. ‘How can you suggest leaving things alone, when you know that until Negroes here are educated, they aren’t going to have a ghost of a chance to improve their lot in life? Honestly, May, you know better.’
    I did know better. I knew better than to count on them to put my feelings before the endless list of people they thought needed them.
     
    Within the week Eliza began her education. When she turned up at the kitchen door I harbored a slight hope that, despite my objection to her presence, she’d want to be my friend. She showed no such inclination. She was quiet, not shy but sullen, lanky and very dark. We sized each other up in the kitchen and didn’t see anything we couldn’t live without. Being fifteen was our only point of communion.  School? She didn’t go. Work? I didn’t do any. Movies? I doubted she’d seen any lately. Books? We’d already established that she couldn’t read. The only prospect Eliza held for me was trouble.
     
     

Chapter 9
     
    I wasn’t about to cave in on the matter of our new student’s education, though I was smart enough to plan my protest more carefully before giving it another try. I chose Sunday lunch, the Powell clan’s traditional forum for contentious dialog. We were all working up a good head of steam when Duncan exploded.
    ‘Fine, I’ve had enough of this. May, come with me.’ He held his hand up to Ma and she stopped with her mouth open. ‘Sarah,