Chapter 22
Two Opposite Moods

All the rest of that Friday Almeda was quiet and kept to herself, while everyone else was happy. Around the house Pa was all smiles, laughing and joking. I’d hardly ever seen him like that! To know they had gone up against a skunk like Royce and won was more than he’d expected. We still didn’t know what effect it would have on the trouble he was trying to cause about our claim. But at least the men with overdue loan payments appeared out of danger.

Uncle Nick and Katie came down to the house, and the minute they walked in, Pa took Katie’s hand, even in her condition, and did a little jig, and then said to her and Uncle Nick, “The two of you watch how you talk around here from now on—this is the home of the soon-to-be mayor of Miracle Springs!” And that set off the celebrating all over again!

Even more than being glad about Royce’s backing down about the loans, Pa was jovial because he figured Almeda was a cinch to win the election on Tuesday! Pa was so excited he could hardly stand it. They were going to beat Royce in two ways!

Despite Royce’s last-minute ploy with his speech, tearing up Mr. Douglas’s call notice and trying to convince folks he was their friend, the word around town was that most of the men were going to go with the person their gut had told them all along they could trust. The words Mayor Hollister went down a lot smoother than Mayor Royce.

Uncle Nick was in town a couple of hours after the banker’s speech, and when he came back he confirmed exactly what Mr. Jones had said. People were relieved at what Royce had done. But a lot of them said they hadn’t been that worried anyway because they knew Drum would help them out. And now more than ever they knew who they were going to vote for, and it wasn’t the man with all the money in the fine suit of clothes from New York.

“Everybody’s sayin’ the same thing, Drum,” said Uncle Nick, “and what Alkali said is right—she’s just about got the election in the bag!”

When Almeda and I went into the office for a couple of hours, people on the street shouted out greetings. Mr. Ashton was all smiles, and when we saw Marcus Weber a bit later, his white teeth just about filled his dark face in the hugest grin I’d ever seen him wear. The two men did everything but address her as Mrs. Mayor.

Poor Mr. Royce! He had tried being mean, and now he was trying to be nice. But neither tactic made people like him nor trust him.

Almeda was silent, unsmiling, even moody. Pa, and I think most other folks, just figured she wasn’t feeling well on account of the baby.

But I knew that wasn’t it. I knew what she was thinking—she was going to withdraw from the election! After all that had gone on, she had victory in her grasp . . . and now she was going to have to let go of it and hand the election to a man she despised.

It took her the rest of the day to get up the nerve to talk to Pa, because she knew how disappointed he would be. Finally, after supper, she asked him if he’d go outside with her for a walk. He was still smiling when they left. But when they came back an hour or so later, his face was as downcast as hers had been all day, and Almeda’s eyes were red from crying. I knew I’d been right. She’d told him, and the election was off.

The instant they walked in the door, a gloomy silence came over the five of us kids. All the rest of them knew something was up, just from Pa’s face, although neither Pa nor Almeda said anything about what they were thinking.

Before long we got ourselves ready and off to bed, leaving Pa and Almeda sitting in front of the fire. The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was the soft sounds of their voices in the other room. I couldn’t tell if they were talking to each other or praying.

Probably both.