Candle in the Darkness - Lynn N. Austin [24]
My heart leaped like a frog into a pond. “W-what kind of wild animals?”
“Oh, you know, wildcats, bears, panthers. . . .”
Fear froze me to the spot. The woods around me felt eerie and threatening. When something suddenly rustled in the bushes behind me, I ran into Jonathan’s arms, clinging to him. “Take me home! I want to go home!”
To my surprise, he burst into laughter. “Oh, Carrie, I’m sorry. I was only teasing. There aren’t really any wild animals.”
I didn’t want to let go of him until I was sure. “Th-then what was that sound?”
“I tossed a rock into the brush. I didn’t know you’d be this scared. Honest, Carrie, I’m sorry.” But it took him a minute to stop laughing. “You should have seen your face!” he sputtered. I managed to laugh along with him, mostly with relief.
“The pit is really our ice pit,” he explained. “Come here, I’ll show you. The servants cut blocks of ice from the river in the wintertime and bury them here, beneath the sand and leaves. They’ll stay frozen a long time under there. That’s how we have ice in the summertime.”
I had to sit down by the edge of the pit until my knees stopped trembling. Jonathan dug up a chunk of ice and chipped off a few pieces with his pocketknife for us to suck on, wiping them clean with his handkerchief.
“You’re a very pretty girl, you know that?” he said quietly. “I’ve never seen a girl half as pretty as you before.”
I didn’t know what to say. I also didn’t know why my heart suddenly started to pound again, just as it had after Jonathan scared me.
“Come on,” he said, reaching to help me up. “There’s one more place I want to show you. I promise it’s very safe.”
“Promise you won’t ever tease me again?”
“Well . . .” he said with a wide grin, “I promise I won’t tease you again today. How’s that?”
He led me a long way into the woods until we came to a small clearing in the middle of a grove of pines. The trees were very tall, surrounding us like pillars, the branches arching overhead like the nave of a cathedral. The atmosphere was as hushed and reverent as any church sanctuary back home, and every bit as beautiful. Even the wind seemed to whisper, so I did, too.
“I would love to live here.”
“Then why don’t you?” I looked up at Jonathan to see if he was joking. He wasn’t. “You don’t have to go home when your father does. We drive into Richmond every month or so for supplies. We can take you home at the end of the summer.”
I sat down on a fallen log to think about the idea and to enjoy the gentle beauty all around me. I couldn’t understand why my daddy would ever want to leave a wonderful place like Hilltop to live in Richmond. I decided to accept my cousin’s invitation and stay here a while longer. I liked the plantation. But even more, I liked Jonathan.
My cousin was handsome, kind, and lots of fun to be with. We’d already become good friends. But what I was beginning to feel toward him was very different from the childhood friendship I’d shared with Grady. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Jonathan was fast becoming my first adolescent crush.
I loved the feel of his rough hand in mine, the hard muscles of his arm as we bumped shoulders on the path. And as we sat side by side in the secluded grove, I wondered what it would feel like for Jonathan to kiss my neck the way Josiah had kissed Tessie’s.
“Want an adventure?” Jonathan asked suddenly. “The Negroes are meeting here tonight. Want to sneak out and watch them with me? Your boy is going to preach.”
“My . . . boy?” I was confused, thinking he must mean Grady.
“Yeah, your boy Eli. Don’t you know he’s the Negro folks’ preacher? They’re coming from all the neighboring plantations to hear him. But you can’t tell anyone. It’s a secret.”
“Then how do you know about it?”
“I know lots of things.” He stood, pulling me to my feet beside him. “So, do you want to sneak out tonight and watch or not?”
I fell asleep waiting for Jonathan, but