Читать книгу The Lady's Slipper - Emma Carlson Berne - Страница 7

TUESDAY AFTER SCHOOL, Melody trotted down her porch steps as Val hopped out of her family’s Ford Fairlane and slammed the heavy door with a clunk.

“Bye, Daddy!” Val called.

Charles leaned across the seat and spoke through his open window. “Now, you girls be careful. The neighborhood you’re going to is mostly friendly to black people, but not every person is. I’ll pick you up back here in an hour or so, baby.”

Val waved at her father, and the station wagon pulled away from the curb.

“Hey, cousin,” Val said. “Have some fliers!” She pulled a stack of fair housing fliers from the bag slung over her shoulder, and the girls headed down the sidewalk.

The day was crystal blue with puffy white clouds sailing overhead. On the tidy lawns, tulips nodded their red and yellow heads, while the last of the crabapple petals sprinkled the sidewalk at their feet. They passed the chain-link fence of the park they’d fixed up last summer with their friends. Melody got a little burst of pride every time she saw the bright metal jungle gym and new swings. The morning glories she’d planted around the base of the swings were starting to twine up the metal poles, getting ready for summer, when their blue horn-shaped flowers would burst forth.

About half a dozen blocks away, the girls turned right. They were out of Melody’s neighborhood now. The houses were larger here, big wooden and brick homes that had once been fancy, with large porches and bay windows. Some had been converted to apartments and had two or three mailboxes on the front porch. At one house, a white woman was collecting her mail. She glanced over her shoulder at the girls and frowned, then disappeared through her front door.

“Is this where we’re stuffing the mailboxes?” Melody asked, suddenly feeling a bit nervous.

“Yep,” said Val confidently. “This is the neighborhood.”

“Hey, did you say Leah lives here? Maybe we’ll see her.” The thought of a familiar face was comforting.

Val shrugged and didn’t say anything else.

Melody looked at her cousin for a long moment. She could tell that something about Leah was bothering Val. But whatever it was, Val wasn’t saying—not yet, anyway. Melody examined the fliers Val had handed her.

“Fair Housing for All!” the headline at the top trumpeted. “Help Integrate Our Neighborhoods.” Then, in smaller type, “The Greater Detroit Committee for Fair Housing Practices works to help families of all races become homeowners. Would you be willing to sell your home to a Negro family? If so, look for a Covenant Card in your mailbox soon! Sign the card and become part of our movement!”

“This is it.” Val counted the fliers rapidly. “Fifty. Let’s see if we can deliver them all before Daddy picks me up.” Her face was lit with an intensity Melody couldn’t remember seeing before.

“This is really important to you, isn’t it?” Melody said to her cousin as they climbed the first set of steps and poked a flier through a mail slot. “You were so sad last year, when you all couldn’t find a house to buy.”

Val nodded. “I wanted to us to have a place of our own, like your family does.”

Melody squeezed her cousin’s arm as they walked. “Well, now you’re in your very own house.”

“That’s right—so now it’s my turn to help some other people who’re having the same problems.” Val smiled and lifted her chin.

“Well, I’m glad I’m helping, too.” Melody looped her arm through Val’s and pulled her cousin close against her side as they crossed a lawn to a house with peeling lavender paint and sagging lace curtains at the windows. Inside, a dog barked repetitively, as if he’d been wound up.

“Oh hey, speaking of mail…” Melody pulled a small cream-colored card from her pocket. “Mommy said Poppa sent you one of these, too!”

Val read the card aloud. “‘Join Us for Our Saturday Night Soiree! 15th of May, 1965. 7:00 p.m., Belle Isle Conservatory. Sponsored by the Detroit Metro Flower Fanciers. Semiformal Attire.’ Yes! I got one, too, this morning. We’re going to be Poppa’s dates!”

“I think I’m going to wear my pink dress, the one with flowers on it. You remember that one?” Melody slipped a flier into the crack of a storm door.

A white woman opened the door suddenly, startling Melody so that she jumped. The woman was older, with a doughy face and cat-eye glasses. “What’s this?” she snapped suspiciously, unfolding the flier with a shake. Melody’s stomach sank. Val’s father had warned them that not everyone would be friendly.

The woman scanned the flier. “And where are these cards?” she demanded, tapping the paper as if it had done her some injustice.

“Uh, we don’t have them right now, ma’am,” Val stammered. Her eyes were big. Melody could hear her voice shaking a little. “We—we’re supposed to bring them next week.”

“It would be more efficient if you brought them now, missy,” the woman said. “Now, I expect one delivered to my house. And you girls stand up straight when you speak to people. Look them in the eye. Half of these old cranks won’t give you the time of day unless you put yourself out there.” She fixed the girls with a glare. Melody inhaled and straightened her shoulders. “Better,” the woman said brusquely. “Now, get back to your work.” She banged the front door in their faces.

The girls skittered off the porch so fast that Melody almost fell down the steps. Once they were safely on the sidewalk, she and Val looked at each other and burst into giggles, holding on to each other for support.

“Oh my, I thought she was mad that we were there!” Melody gasped.

“But instead, she was just mad that we weren’t doing a good enough job.” Val wiped her eyes. “I guess I didn’t expect that, because she’s a white lady.”

“Yeah,” Melody agreed. “You can never tell what’s on the inside of people.” She thought fleetingly of Leah.

“We only have twenty fliers left,” Val said. “Come on, we better tackle the rest of these houses.” She hurried down the sidewalk.

Melody followed. As they passed an alley, she heard raised voices and turned to look. Two people were arguing heatedly—a teenage girl and a man in a hat. She could only see the man’s back, but the girl—Melody stopped. The girl looked just like Leah—it was Leah, Melody was sure of it! Leah’s voice was high, and she was gesturing rapidly, while the man replied in a smooth, deep baritone.

“Leah, hi!” Melody called out. She waved, smiling. Leah looked over, but her face was not happy. She said something to the man, and he stepped aside.

Leah hurried over to Melody and Val, her face flushed. “Hey, I’m busy, okay?” she said shortly. “I’ll catch up with you later.” She looked flustered.

“Oh, okay.” Melody backed away, stung by Leah’s sudden prickliness. “Yeah, of course.” She cleared her throat, trying not to look hurt.

Leah turned around and scurried back to the man waiting in the shadows. Melody and Val set off down the sidewalk again.

“Guess she didn’t want to see us,” Val remarked.

“She said she was busy,” Melody murmured. She kept her face neutral. She didn’t want to give Val a reason to dislike Leah. But she couldn’t help wondering what Leah was doing, talking to some man in an alley. Was she in some kind of trouble?

Melody accompanied Val up and down a few more porches, her mind still puzzling over Leah and the man, only half-listening to Val’s stream of chatter about school.

“Hey, Melody! Hi, Val!” It was Leah, now running toward them. She caught up to them with a big smile on her face. “What are you girls doing?”

“We’re passing out these fliers for Covenant Cards.” Melody showed her one, eyeing Leah closely. Leah looked as sleek and sophisticated as ever in a short plaid jumper and mustard-yellow turtleneck, her long hair held back with tortoiseshell barrettes. Why was she being so friendly now, when she’d just told Melody to back off five minutes before?

“Oh yes, these are really important,” Leah agreed. She took a handful of fliers. “Here, I’ll help you.”

The sidewalk wasn’t quite wide enough for three. Melody didn’t know how it happened, but somehow, she and Leah wound up walking together, while Val followed behind them. It felt uncomfortable, almost as if she and Leah were leaving Val out, although it wasn’t on purpose.

“—grandfather wanted to rent, but they told him, ‘No Jews allowed!’”

“What?” Melody tuned back in to what Leah was saying.

“I was just saying that when my grandfather first came to Detroit, he needed to rent an apartment,” Leah said. “But no one would rent to him. Every place he tried, they’d tell him Jews weren’t allowed in that neighborhood.”

“That’s just like what happened to Val’s family last year!” Melody said. “Right, Val?”

“Yeah. That’s right,” Val said quietly.

“My grandfather had just immigrated to America from Krakow, Poland, where he was a botany professor,” Leah continued. “That’s a professor of plants. Orchids were his specialty.” Leah’s voice trembled suddenly. She folded her lips in a strange tight line. Just the way she did on the carousel when she talked about her grandfather, Melody thought. But in another instant, the moment had passed as swiftly as it had come.

“That’s how my mother and I got started on the Fair Housing Committee,” Leah went on. “When we heard Beth Elohim—that’s our synagogue—was organizing a group, we knew we had to join. And I’m so glad we did, because I got to meet you two!” Leah squeezed Melody’s arm. Her touch was like a warm glow. Melody beamed and looked over at Val hopefully. Leah and Val really did have things in common. Did Val see that? But her cousin didn’t say anything at all.

Leah looked from Val to Melody and back again. She took her hand off Melody’s arm. “Um, Val,” she said softly, “you’re awfully quiet. Do you not want me around?”

“No!” Melody said right away. “No, of course we do!” She nudged Val with her foot. Her cousin was being rude, and now she was hurting Leah’s feelings. “Come on, please help us with the rest of the fliers.”

They finished delivering the fliers at the end of the block, and Leah stopped in front of a yellow house with a wide white porch. “This is where I babysit.” Three little children’s faces appeared at the front windows. “I sit for the Myers three days a week until five.” A little girl squished her face sideways against the glass and stuck out her tongue.

“Lucky you,” Melody giggled.

Leah sighed, but she was smiling. “It’s not so bad. I have a secret weapon.” She pulled three Baby Ruth candy bars from her purse. “Well, gotta go. Hey, you two should come home with me sometime. You could meet my grandfather. And you could see his orchid, too—it’s really rare. He brought it with him from Krakow. It’s a slipper orchid.”

“Ooh, I would love that,” Melody breathed. She felt honored by the invitation. “I’ll ask my mother.” Val was silent.