Read Online Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Clare Vanderpool
Tags: United States, Fiction, General, Family & Relationships, Historical, People & Places, Family, Juvenile Fiction, Social Issues, 20th Century, Friendship, Mysteries & Detective Stories, Secrecy, Parents, Parenting, 1929-, Depressions, secrets, Fatherhood, Fathers, Depressions - 1929, Kansas
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themselves over the bank. Like flies in a Venus flytrap, they were immediately swallowed up by the crowd of more than fifty men. The point on Jinx’s hood fell short of those around him and the bottom of his robe brushed the ground.
Ned and Jinx maneuvered their way casually throughthe sea of white. They peeked through the eyeholes in their hoods, trying to see over shoulders and around big bodies, moving toward the far side of the camp. Suddenly, a wiry man stood hoodless in front of them, wagging his cigar. It was Lester Burton, the mine pit boss. Their path was blocked.
“Well, lookie what we got here,” he said in a gravelly voice.
Jinx took a step to the right but Burton grasped his shoulder. Ned, a few years taller, stepped closer to Jinx. Whatever happened now, they were in this together.
“Got us a babe in the woods,” Burton said as a few hooded figures gathered around.
Jinx’s hands were sweating. If they could just get around these men … He straightened up tall. “Yeah, this is only our second rally. Our dad took us to one all the way down in Arkansas, ain’t that right, Cletus?”
“Arkansas?” Ned repeated, a little slow on the uptake.
“Yeah, they sure know how to do things down there, ain’t that right, Cletus?” Jinx was more insistent this time, hoping Ned would catch on.
“Uh, that’s right, Emmett. That was quite a rally down in Arkansas. ’Bout twice the size of this one, don’t you reckon?”
“I’d say that’s about right. Course that wouldn’t be counting the women.”
“Women?” This seemed to rile one of the hooded men. “They got women in the Klan down in Arkansas?”
“Why, sure they do,” Jinx said. “Who do you think puts the hems in all their white sheets?”
All eyes descended to the bottoms of the men’s cloaks.
“See there?” Jinx pointed. “You got raggedy bottoms. I’d say you boys could learn a thing or two from the folks down in Arkansas. Wouldn’t you say, Brother Cletus?”
“I’d say so, Brother Emmett. Come on. I think I hear Pa calling us. Coming, Pa.”
They left the men gazing downward and made a beeline to the far side of the camp.
“Over there.” Jinx nudged Ned toward a dilapidated cabin that looked long abandoned. The nearby outhouse apparently stood in good stead, since six or seven men waited in single file.
The boys fell in line and Jinx hopped around enough that three men let him move ahead. It was dark inside, but he easily found the leaves wrapped in his handkerchief. Making appropriate grunts and sighs, he grabbed a stack of newspaper scraps and dropped them into the open hole. Careful not to touch the leaves, he left them in place of the paper, remembering a well-known rhyme:
Ivy on the vine, two leaves on a stem are fine
,
Pick up one with three, and itching you will be
.
“Come on, son. We’re backed up out here,” came a holler from outside.
“Yeah, we’re backed up something fierce,” Ned yelled.
Jinx opened the door. “I guess leaves’ll do in a pinch, but can’t you boys afford any newspaper or something? Let’s go, Cletus.”
The boys sauntered away, Jinx yelling over his shoulder, “They got toilet paper in Arkansas.”
A Bargain Is Struck
MAY 29, 1936
M iss Sadie looked to be done for the day. Her voice had gotten raspy toward the end of her fortune-telling and she breathed like she’d been carrying something heavy.
I wanted my dime back. “I said I wanted to know about my daddy. That was just some old story from twenty years ago about two people I don’t even know.”
Her eyes narrowed a bit and she raised her chin as if she had just figured me out. “You show me a letter. I tell you what the letter shows me.” She wagged a finger. “Next time you should be more specific about what it is you are seeking.”
I didn’t plan on there being a next time. So she’d told a story about Ned and Jinx. A made-up story about two names she read in the letter. I pictured the yellow and
Ned and Jinx maneuvered their way casually throughthe sea of white. They peeked through the eyeholes in their hoods, trying to see over shoulders and around big bodies, moving toward the far side of the camp. Suddenly, a wiry man stood hoodless in front of them, wagging his cigar. It was Lester Burton, the mine pit boss. Their path was blocked.
“Well, lookie what we got here,” he said in a gravelly voice.
Jinx took a step to the right but Burton grasped his shoulder. Ned, a few years taller, stepped closer to Jinx. Whatever happened now, they were in this together.
“Got us a babe in the woods,” Burton said as a few hooded figures gathered around.
Jinx’s hands were sweating. If they could just get around these men … He straightened up tall. “Yeah, this is only our second rally. Our dad took us to one all the way down in Arkansas, ain’t that right, Cletus?”
“Arkansas?” Ned repeated, a little slow on the uptake.
“Yeah, they sure know how to do things down there, ain’t that right, Cletus?” Jinx was more insistent this time, hoping Ned would catch on.
“Uh, that’s right, Emmett. That was quite a rally down in Arkansas. ’Bout twice the size of this one, don’t you reckon?”
“I’d say that’s about right. Course that wouldn’t be counting the women.”
“Women?” This seemed to rile one of the hooded men. “They got women in the Klan down in Arkansas?”
“Why, sure they do,” Jinx said. “Who do you think puts the hems in all their white sheets?”
All eyes descended to the bottoms of the men’s cloaks.
“See there?” Jinx pointed. “You got raggedy bottoms. I’d say you boys could learn a thing or two from the folks down in Arkansas. Wouldn’t you say, Brother Cletus?”
“I’d say so, Brother Emmett. Come on. I think I hear Pa calling us. Coming, Pa.”
They left the men gazing downward and made a beeline to the far side of the camp.
“Over there.” Jinx nudged Ned toward a dilapidated cabin that looked long abandoned. The nearby outhouse apparently stood in good stead, since six or seven men waited in single file.
The boys fell in line and Jinx hopped around enough that three men let him move ahead. It was dark inside, but he easily found the leaves wrapped in his handkerchief. Making appropriate grunts and sighs, he grabbed a stack of newspaper scraps and dropped them into the open hole. Careful not to touch the leaves, he left them in place of the paper, remembering a well-known rhyme:
Ivy on the vine, two leaves on a stem are fine
,
Pick up one with three, and itching you will be
.
“Come on, son. We’re backed up out here,” came a holler from outside.
“Yeah, we’re backed up something fierce,” Ned yelled.
Jinx opened the door. “I guess leaves’ll do in a pinch, but can’t you boys afford any newspaper or something? Let’s go, Cletus.”
The boys sauntered away, Jinx yelling over his shoulder, “They got toilet paper in Arkansas.”
A Bargain Is Struck
MAY 29, 1936
M iss Sadie looked to be done for the day. Her voice had gotten raspy toward the end of her fortune-telling and she breathed like she’d been carrying something heavy.
I wanted my dime back. “I said I wanted to know about my daddy. That was just some old story from twenty years ago about two people I don’t even know.”
Her eyes narrowed a bit and she raised her chin as if she had just figured me out. “You show me a letter. I tell you what the letter shows me.” She wagged a finger. “Next time you should be more specific about what it is you are seeking.”
I didn’t plan on there being a next time. So she’d told a story about Ned and Jinx. A made-up story about two names she read in the letter. I pictured the yellow and
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