Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-09
IN THREE PARTS-PART TWO

IN THREE PARTS-PART TWO
OHE didn't even pretend not to nun
y this time. She ran into the middle
of the kitchen calling, Hannah!
Hannah! You're there, aren't you?'
And Hannah wasn't. Only the
dishes piled all about. and Hannah'S
apron lying on the floor, the butter
melting in the sun, and big slow drops
from the faucet going pink pink!
into the sink.
She backed slowly out. The swing
ing door went to and fro a great many
times as if something were pushing it.
She could feel the big house empty
all around her; she didn't call for
Luella. but turned and ran into the
street: and 1t trailed after her.
But 1t went away at the sight of
people. There were a good many of
them in the street, all going n way.
All going to Mr.. jim Sanderson'S. She
got up close behind Mrs. Cameron
Dorothy and Lillian's mother-and
went along with the rest.
But she wasn't going to Mr.. Jim
Sanderson's. She was going to her
grandfather's, which was across the
street from there, and wait for her
father. There were times when she
wanted her father most and times
when she wanted her mother most,
and this was a time when she wanted
her father most-She didn't know why.
But she wasn't going any nearer Mr..
Jim Sanderson's than she had to.
She had never seen a dead person,
and she never, never wanted to- None
of the children she played with I'D
ever seen one; they had told her so.
People didn't ven talk about the dead
before children-not even if one of
them was your brother. Homer King
had been Gertrude's brother, but Ger
trude said that even her mother hadn't
ever nee mentioned his name to her
since he died. The most awful thing
that could happen to a child was to
see a dead person.
Unless Her breath grew short
and her heart beat SO hard that it
hurt. Unless you touched n of them!
Luella had told her once that if you
did you'd never be afraid again. She
thought, out there in the broad sun
shine with people all around her, that
she'd rather be afraid.
She would go in and sit beside her
grandmother, who always read by the
sitting room window on Sunday after
moons, until she saw her father come
out, and then she would run and join
him. Maybe he'd be going off some
where in the country and she could
sit by him and hold his hand where
nobody could see, while he drove with
the other hand, and that strange
scarey feeling that was over every
thing would go away.
But when she got to her grand
fathers Hannah and Luella were
standing under the mulberry tree just
inside the fence, looking across the
street at the little white house where
Mr.. Jim Sanderson lived with his
mother, and Hannah told her that her
grandfather and grandmother had gone
for the day to her Great Uncle Har-
rvs, and held out a hand to her, and
she went and took it, and stood be-
tween them. She grew frightened
again, but she wanted to hear what
people were saying. That is, she want
ed to and she didn't want to.
She tiptoed and whispered up
towards Luella's ear. Isis Mr.. Jim
Sanderson-?"
And Luella bent down, with a strand
Of red hair lying across her cheek
like a scar, and whispered back that
Mr.. Jim Sanderson was dying.
People were whispering all around.
She heard somebody say: 1.-The cor
oner will have to sit on Buck Turpin's
body" The idea was SO horrible that
she was afraid to ask about it, though
she wanted to.
why is 1t Buck Turpin's body?" she
said to Luella. why isn't it Buck
Turpin?"
People" said Luella, aren't people
after they are dead"
What makes them not be?"
But Luella either didn't hear OF
wouldn't answer.
There were a lot of people in the
street in front of the little white house
and some even in the yard, on the
brick walks between the dahlias ane
cosmos and fuchias. All of them were
very quiet. They were waiting for Mr.
jim Sanderson to die. 1t seemed
strange, with so many gathered ther,
in broad daylight, that they couldn'
stop it. She could feel her father in
side the little white house, standing
beside the bed, waiting with the rest
and even he couldn't stop it. HI
couldn't have stopped it-even he
even if it had been her! And som,
day 1t was going to be him! And he
mother. Maybe before it was her.
She began to grow cold and began II
Shiver. But she didn't want HANNAH
to know, SO she pulled her hand away
She began facing the hardest ant
loneliest fact in human life. And We
not quite began, either; it had touched
her before. But now she fell into
as If it had been ice water.
And nobody knew. Hannah stood OF
one side of her and Luella on thu
other, her father was with MI. jim
Sanderson and her mother with Mrs
Balloon, and nobody knew.
Other people kept coming, but a.
they got closer their feet made les
and less noise and they stopped ant
waited, too. Nobody talked out loud