Three days remained before Theo was set to go to New York. His injuries from tussling with the doe in the woods a few days ago were well on their way to healing. He had been hanging out with some of his buddies who were also going to New York. John and Tilla understood that he needed to spend the time as he saw fit to get ready for the war.
But John and Tilla had to take care of the rest of the family. Dinner time drew nigh, and Tilla ordered Maggie to corral her siblings.
It was Pearl’s turn to watch Charlie; they came in the house together.
“Where’s Claude and Willie? I didn’t see them outside, Mama,” Maggie said.
“Willie has a fever. I put him to bed to rest. See if Claude is in his bedroom.”
“No, Mama, just Willie’s in the bedroom.”
“Maybe he’s at Aunt Goldie’s. Run over there, Maggie, and see if he’s there.”
“Pearl, you set the table,” Tilla said.
Pearl counted the number of plates needed on her fingers. “Let see: Me, Maggie, Claude, Willie, Charlie, Ma, and Pa. That’s seven.”
“No plate is necessary for Willie; I gave him some chicken soup an hour ago. Your pa is tending to business across town. So how many plates do you need?” Tilla asked.
“Five.”
She filled each plate according to how much a particular person would eat. Three-year-old Charlie received the smallest portion.
Maggie returned huffing and puffing, the result of running home.
Tilla looked at Maggie, who had long hair that was a shade darker than Tilla’s auburn hair. At fifteen, she was as tall as Tilla and had inherited her mother’s high cheekbones, Indian red skin, and intellectual curiosity. “He wasn’t at Auntie Goldie’s house. I even stopped by Kathleen’s house to see if he was playing with her brother. He wasn’t there either.”
Tilla’s face registered a look of mild concern. “Maggie, you see to it that everyone is fed. I’m going outside to look for Claude.”
Her first stop was at Goldie’s house. Like Maggie reported, Claude hadn’t been there. Same for Kathleen’s house. She walked several blocks looking for him calling his name. He knew what time dinner was usually served. He was eleven years old and too old to get a spanking, but she’d leave it up to John to mete out his punishment.
She returned home an hour later, where she saw John at the kitchen table reading a newspaper. “John, I’ve been out looking for Claude. Have you seen him?”
“Pearl told me. And no, I haven’t seen the boy.”
“Wonder where he could be?” Tilla queried.
John shrugged his shoulders. “It’s getting dark,” John said. “He best be making his way home now or he’s in trouble.”
The sun had set two hours ago; still no sign of Claude. John and Tilla sat up in bed wondering where Claude could be. John had set a gas lamp on the front porch hoping it would serve as Claude’s beacon to get home. They couldn’t do anything else for the nonce, but they hoped he’d knock on the door while they slept.
Tilla tossed and turned through the night, not knowing whether she was dreaming that Claude hadn’t returned home. Although she had been fully awake for an hour or so, she got out of bed just before dawn to go look for Claude. As she walked out of the front door, she quickly pivoted and decided to check his bedroom. She opened the door; a few pants and shirts were folded lying on the floor. She bent down and looked her the bed. No Claude. She then called out his name several times as she had done so many times. Tears trickled down her sullen face and she used a cloth to dry the tears. Standing in the doorway to her bedroom, she took a few steps to her bed and collapsed from the pain of not knowing the whereabouts of her son.
The day had finally come for Theo and other Lawrence County men to ship out by rail to New York to get ready for the war. Theo was looking for an escape from the doldrums and lazy days of summer in Mount Hope; France beckoned, and he looked forward to befriending the French, especially the young fils, assuming he’d ever get cross the Atlantic and get there.
Tilla and the rest of her family went to the train station to see Theo off to New York. The station was bustling with excitement about the new adventure the men of Lawrence County were about to embark upon. Their country had called them to duty and they had responded.
Tilla was lachrymose, and had been so ever since she learned of Claude’s disappearance. Her eyes seem to grow more forlorn as each hour passed without word from Claude. Her temper grew short—John and the children knew to use words and a voice that would mollify her in some way.
But her soul was abrading, and her mind and heart were tormented. It had been three days and there was no sign of Claude. Her torment had increased as each hour elapsed to the countdown to Theo’s departure. John had told her not to think of it, but she had no control over her mind, which wandered to family members who left her too soon—her father who was murdered, her mother who died of a spider bite at age forty, her fourteen-year-old sister Caroline who was never found. Claude was still missing. The thought of losing Theo in a charnel region somewhere in Europe was too much for her to bear. She sat impassibly on a bench, barely moving, and unaware of the hoopla in the station, hoping God would release her from her nightmare.
A sergeant barked out the names of those whose turn it was to board the train, last name, then first. “Wallace, Gregory; Taylor, Jessie; Bean, Paul; Jackson, Burdette; Davis, Theo.…”
Theo stepped on the stool with his right foot and the left landed on the floor on the train. In a few months’ time, he’d be on his way to France to help make the world safe for democracy. He turned around and saw his family waving. With his mouth agape with excitement, he waved in turn. But his mouth closed when he saw his poor mother who had her head buried in her husband’s chest. Upon hearing the train’s piercing whistle, she unglued her head from John’s chest and looked in Theo’s direction. Her eyes had the look of a soldier who has a thousand-yard stare after he has been in heavy combat involving great casualties.
“Bye, Theo,” four-year-old Charlie burbled.
Tilla heard Charlie’s excitement and emitted a thin keening sound.