Carrie's Hired Hand
a Novella
by Mary C. Findley Smashwords Edition
copyright by Mary C. Findley 2012
Published by Findley Family Video Smashwords Edition
Carrie's Hired Hand
by Mary C. Findley
Findley Family Video Smaswords Edition
No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. Exception is made for short excerpts used in reviews.
“Speaking the truth in love.”
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.
Note to the Reader:
This story contains graphics depicting the deaf alphabet used in American Sign Language and fingerspelling. The words they spell out appear below them. On the cover is a line drawing of hands making the sign for "work."
Our daughter is hearing impaired, and when she read this story, she pointed out that she did not think even she, with partial hearing, could do everything the deaf character in this story does. So the reader may have to suspend belief a little to accept all that happens in my little book. If the Lord provides an opportunity to continue this story one day, I may share what I imagine it would take for a deaf person to function in a hearing world as well as my character does.
Carrie Wilkes looked out the window as the train hissed to a stop. Four-year-old Bethany, sprawled in her lap, stirred and gave a small cry. Carrie shushed Bethany and that woke six-year-old Matthew, sleeping on her shoulder. He sat up without a sound. Seeing that the train had stopped, he immediately climbed up on the seat and got their carpetbag down from the overhead rack. Carrie did not even try to take the bag from him.
His father’s gray eyes in his thin little face had looked up at his mother in faint surprise when, at the beginning of the journey, she had protested that the bag was too heavy for him.
“Papa tol’ me t’ take care of you an’ Beffy an’ be a man an’ help all I could,” he had told her gravely.
“Is this where we find Papa?” Bethany asked.
“Yes, dear, I’m sure this is the place.”
They got down off the train and Carrie tried to ignore all the stares. The sign that said “Yankee” must still be hanging around her neck. How do people know where you were born when you don’t even open your mouth? She had asked herself this question ever since the war had begun.
They had just taken over the farm in Virginia that Ben had inherited from his father when the war broke out. Ben had enlisted immediately, and Carrie had been left alone with the two children, Beth just a baby then, and Matthew so small. The few neighbors shunned her, the northerner who had dared to marry one of “their” boys.
The town grocer and dry goods proprietors dealt with her reluctantly and whispered behind her back, especially when the war began to go badly for the south. There was so much talk of spies. Even the president’s wife was accused of spying because she was a Southerner and he from the North.
Then a telegram and money had come. “Your husband is badly wounded. Come at once to the Confederate hospital, Charleston, South Carolina. Robert Salinger.” Mr. Travis at the dry goods store had brought it out to the farm. Carrie had never learned more than the alphabet and the simplest words before her mother had died and she had been taken out of school.
Asking Mr. Travis to read it had deeply shamed her. There had also been specific directions about what trains to take and enough money for the fare and meals. Carrie assumed Robert Salinger must be some clerk in the war department. It was odd that he had signed his name. He had not given a rank, either. She chided herself for obsessing over some stranger who had signed a telegram. She did wonder where Ben had gotten money to send for her ticket, though.
“Mrs. Wilkes? I’m Robert Salinger. Please come with me, and hurry.” Carrie started violently. A slender, exceedingly handsome young man with intense black eyes stepped up to her. He wore a fine morning suit and doffed his hat gallantly, offering his hand to her.
“Mr. Salinger?” Carrie gasped. “But I didn’t expect anyone to meet us.”
“I am a friend of your husband’s, Mrs. Wilkes,” Robert explained in a soft southern drawl. “Please, we must hurry.”
“Where is the hospital?” Carrie asked as he almost pulled her along the boardwalk. Beth stumbled. Robert Salinger scooped her up without breaking stride. They seemed to be quickly leaving the town behind. Robert did not answer. Matthew ran beside his mother, holding her skirt in one hand and the heavy bag in the other.
“Mr. Salinger, where is the hospital?” Carrie demanded as the last house disappeared behind them. Panic struck her suddenly. Who was this man, and where was he taking them? She planted her feet and tried to snatch Bethany from his arms. Robert pulled up short and turned to stare at her.
“What is wrong?” he demanded.
“Where are you taking us?” Carrie asked sharply.
“The field hospital is just around that bend, Mrs. Wilkes.” He saw something of her fear in her expression. “I’m sorry. I should have explained. We have very little time. Please come.”
As they hurried on Carrie saw Robert’s eyes dart to her face every few seconds. Was he, too, staring at her because she was a Northerner? His looks were so intense she had to try to keep her eyes averted from him. But she could feel his gaze all the same.
A thick stand of trees cut off their view around the bend in the road until they had fully come out of the turn. Carrie gasped in horror. A clutter of tents dotted the open fields on both sides of the road, and hundreds of wounded sat or lay on the open ground, some on cots, some on blankets, some right in the oozing mud.
Robert pulled her along through the maze. The cries, the stench, and the misery were almost unbearable. Mud and blood splashed on their clothes and Carrie pulled Matthew closer to her, almost afraid of the dreadfully wounded men who surrounded them. Robert crouched suddenly in the middle of it all and Carrie recognized Ben’s long, lanky form, his face twisted and pale, lying on a homemade birch wood cot a few merciful inches out of the mud.
“Oh, Ben, did someone steal your blanket again?” Robert said softly.
“Naw, there was … a fellah brought in … he needed it worse than me, Rob,” Ben said hoarsely. “He ain’t got … no legs. Hey, little wife,” he added, seeing Carrie. “Rob said … he’d get you here. Matthew, you got to be … an old man while daddy was gone. And Bethy … She’s ‘most … growed up.”
Robert opened the ragged collar of Ben’s uniform and lifted his shirt. Ben’s eyes drooped closed and he seemed to faint. Carrie bit her lip to keep from crying out as Robert exposed a terrible wound in Ben’s midsection. Robert pulled clean bandages from his jacket and began to redress the wound. Carrie automatically moved to help him.
“I’m sorry to bring you here, Mrs. Wilkes, but he couldn’t be moved. I’ve cared for him as well as I could. There is a shortage of everything here, most especially doctors and medical supplies.”
“God bless you … for all you’ve done, Rob,” Ben whispered, half-opening his eyes and gripping Robert’s shoulder. The handsome young man continued his work, but he stared at Ben with the same look of intensity he had given Carrie. “You’re …that friend that … sticketh closer than a brother … the Scriptures …talk about.”
“Not now, Ben,” murmured Robert, turning his eyes away. “Talk to your wife. She’s very frightened.”
“Carrie Sue, I love you,” Ben said, reaching out a hand and stroking Carrie’s hair.
“I love you too, Ben.” Carrie said. “We’ll get you home and everything will be fine.”
“Carrie, Rob got you here … because I ain’t comin’ home,” Ben gasped. He patted Robert weakly on the arm, and the young man looked up at his face again. “Rob, I gotta wet my whistle.”
Robert produced a canteen and Carrie gave Ben a drink. He choked and groaned. “Carrie, I don’t … want to leave you … alone like this,” Ben said when he could speak again. “All alone.”
“I’ll look after them, Ben,” Robert said suddenly, gripping the dying man’s shoulder. “As God is my witness. This was my doing, and I will take care of your family.”
“The work’s got to get done … “ Ben said faintly.
“It will,” Robert promised. Carrie couldn’t help wondering how this slight young man, dapper in spite of the filth around them, was going to help get the farm work done.
“You give me the Lord, Rob,” Ben said. “Try to give Him to my Carrie, an’ my babies too.”
Carrie strained to hear. What Ben had just said didn’t make any sense. Robert nodded.
“I will try,” he said softly.
Ben reached up his hands and touched his children. In a moment, he was gone. Matthew and Bethany stood there beside Carrie, silent and round-eyed. Carrie started up from beside her husband, tears blinding her.
“Whom do I see to make arrangements for removing his body?” she asked, trying to turn her head to keep Robert from seeing the flood of tears. Robert shed his coat and laid it over Ben to cover his face.
“Come,” he said, taking her arm. “I’ll take you back to town.”
“I said, who do I see about taking his body home with me?” Carrie said loudly, shaking Robert’s arm off and turning around to face him. Was he one of those men who thought women weren’t worth bothering about? Was that why he never seemed to listen to her? And why did he always have to stare like that?
“I will see to it, Mrs. Wilkes,” Robert said. “I will make all the arrangements. I have a room for you with a respectable lady in town. The coffin is – is already prepared, and I will see that it’s put on the train. You leave tomorrow afternoon at two. Here – this is some – something owed your husband. It should help with the funeral expenses.”
He gave her an envelope. Carrie took it as they finally got clear of the sea of bodies. The amount of money in it shocked her.
“But Ben was sending all his pay to me,” she exclaimed. “Where did this come from?”
Robert was not looking at her. Bethany had started to cry and Robert had picked her up and was doing something odd with his free hand, making some strange gestures. Bethany began to laugh and catch at his hand as if it were a butterfly. Carrie glanced at Matthew and saw that he watched Robert, too, fascinated. Both children began to mimic Robert’s hand motions.