The train whistle blew shrilly. It was so loud that even though she was sitting in the nextto-last car, Christy covered her ears. It was an exciting sound, full of promises of adventure. But the sound was also full of memories. It had been this very train—Old Buncombe, they called it—that had first carried Christy away from home last January.
It was Monday morning. Yesterday, after It was Monday morning. Yesterday, after church, they had carried Bessie to El Pano , the nearest town on the railroad line. Miss Alice had arranged for them to stay overnight with a friend. Bessie had rested fairly well last night. Then, early this morning they had caught the train for Asheville.
Christy was sitting beside David. Behind them, Bessie lay across both seats, with the doctor nearby across the aisle. Bessie looked very pale and weak, but the combination of the doctor’s medicine and Granny Barclay’s tea seemed to have her pain under control.
Ruby Mae seemed unable to sit anywhere for more than two seconds.
“Are we going yet?” she asked excitedly, leaning over Christy and David to look out the window.
The train lurched forward and sent Ruby Mae sprawling over Christy’s lap.
“Now we’re going,” Christy said with a laugh. “Sorry, Miz Christy,” Ruby Mae said breathlessly, taking a seat behind Bessie. “I ain’t been on no train afore. It’s got me as jittery as a bug on a hot skillet.”
The train began to pick up speed and pull away from the little station house at El Pano.
“Lordamercy!” Ruby Mae said. “We’re practically flying! Look at how the trees just shoot right past till they’s nothin’ but a blur.”
“I’d guess we’re going at least twenty miles per hour now,” David said. “We’ll get up close to forty on the flatter stretches of track.”
“It don’t seem possible,” Ruby Mae said. “Aren’t you excited, Bessie? Ain’t this just the best thing ever?”
Bessie managed a tired smile. “It is a wonder,” she agreed.
“You let me know if the pain gets worse,” Doctor MacNeill told her.
Ruby Mae chattered on, remarking on every new twist and turn in the railroad track. And there were plenty of twists and turns. Sometimes it was impossible to see any ground outside the window, because the track ran right along the edge of sheer drops that plunged down hundreds of feet.
Here and there, Christy caught sight of tumbledown shacks stuck back in the trees. They were gray and shabby, just like the homes of most of her students. No running water, no telephones, no indoor plumbing, none of the luxuries that people in the cities took for granted. Sometimes it seemed as if these small cabins had been marooned there, trapped by the sheer walls of the mountains and unable to escape.
The train wound through tunnels and across narrow bridges over the swollen river below. At times it climbed slowly, straining against the force of gravity drawing it downward. But with each turn, the mountains opened a bit wider. The flat stretches grew longer. The curves grew less extreme.
They had only been traveling for seven hours, but it seemed to Christy that Cutter Gap was a million miles behind them.
And then she saw it—Asheville.
It, too, was nestled in the valleys between mountains. But these mountains were small and tame. Here, the houses were white-painted clapboard or dark brick. There were proper chimneys poking through steep shingled roofs. Streets were paved in most areas, with curbs and shade trees in neat lines. Everywhere she looked, Christy saw telephone wires strung on tall poles.
As the train slowed to enter town, it ran parallel to a road. A beautiful dark blue Deusenberg motorcar, driven by a whitegloved chauffeur, kept pace for a while.
“Look at that!” Ruby Mae exclaimed. “That’s one of them automobiles! My, don’t it look fine?”
“Yes, it’s probably heading for the Biltmore Estate,” Christy said. The Biltmore Estate, which belonged to the famous Vanderbilt family, was more of a palace than a home. It rivaled anything ever created by French kings or English lords.
“Do you know the Vanderbilts?” Doctor MacNeill asked.
Christy blushed. “Of course not. I’ve never met Mr. Vanderbilt. Although I have seen him in Pack Square on occasion. I don’t suppose he will be in town at this time of the year. The high season doesn’t begin until summer.”
“Ah, yes. When all the idle rich who live off the labor of others escape from sweltering New York and steamy Richmond and stuffy Washington, D.C.,” Doctor MacNeill said gruffly. “They come to the mountains to breathe fresh air for three months.”
Somehow, Christy got the impression the doctor did not entirely approve of Asheville’s wealthier residents. She noticed him looking critically at a frayed patch on his jacket. Was he actually feeling unsure of himself? Was he self-conscious about looking rustic? It didn’t seem possible that Neil MacNeill could ever feel uncertain about anything.
She glanced over at David. He was looking out of the window. His gaze seemed to be drawn to each church steeple that came into view. His face looked troubled and a little wistful.
“That’s the church I was baptized in,” Christy said, pointing to a particular stone steeple. “I used to sing in the choir. Badly, I’m afraid. That’s the church where you’ve been invited to speak.”
“A church that size must have quite a congregation,” David said thoughtfully.
Christy noticed that even Ruby Mae had fallen silent. She, too, was staring out of the window, looking just a little intimidated.
“Are you excited to be here at last?” Christy asked her.
“Folks has all got so much here,” she answered. “Automobiles and fine houses and such. I seen some of the women as we passed by. They was all dressed fit for a wedding or a funeral. I don’t s’pose these fine ladies would even stoop to speak to someone who looked like me.”
“Ruby Mae, that’s not true,” Christy said earnestly. “This is where I come from. And have I ever been haughty to you?”
“No, Miz Christy,” Ruby Mae said. She smiled in relief. “I ’spec you’re right. Folks is just folks, no matter how they look on the outside.”
“I’m sure you’ll have a good time in Asheville, Ruby Mae,” Christy assured her. Still, she couldn’t help recalling the way some residents behaved cruelly toward mountain people visiting the city. They called them hillbillies or hicks, among other names.
“I’ll tell you what, Ruby Mae,” Christy said. “I have more dresses than I could ever need. We’ll find something that will fit you just fine, if you like. And we’ll get something nice for Bessie, too. Pretty soon she’ll be back on her feet, and we’ll all be having a wonderful time together.”
But as she smiled reassuringly at her friends, all she saw in their faces was worry.
ppp
They were met at the station by Christy’s parents.
“Christy!” they cried in unison.
“Father! Mother!” Christy ran to their open arms. “You haven’t changed, either of you,” she said, when at last they released her.
“Of course not,” Mr. Huddleston said. “It’s been less than six months. What did you expect? To find me with a white beard down to the ground?”
“It seems as if so much time has passed,” Christy said. She turned to her friends. David and Neil were busy helping Bessie from the train onto a stretcher.
Christy felt a pang of guilt. She should have helped Bessie first, before rushing to see her parents.
“This is one of my students, Ruby Mae Morrison,” Christy said.
“Ruby Mae!” Mrs. Huddleston practically yelled in excitement. “It’s Ruby Mae!”
Ruby Mae looked startled.
“You must understand, Ruby Mae,” Mr. Huddleston explained, “Christy writes us letters full of all the events in Cutter Gap. She always mentions you in those letters. We feel as if we know all about you.”
“You write about me in letters?” Ruby Mae asked Christy.
“I only tell people the good parts,” Christy teased.
“And that must be Doctor MacNeill and David Grantland,” Mrs. Huddleston said.
The two men carried Bessie on a stretcher toward a waiting ambulance for the ride to the hospital. The doctor helped make her comfortable inside, while David joined Christy and the others.
“Very pleased to meet you both,” David said, extending his hand.
“Reverend, we’ll be going now, if you’re coming,” Doctor MacNeill called out. “Oh, and pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. and Mrs. Huddleston. I must apologize for hurrying off, but—”
“We understand perfectly,” Mr. Huddleston said quickly. “The young lady’s health is infinitely more important than introductions. Please, we’ll all meet later at the house.”
“I should go with them,” Christy said.
“Are you coming, Reverend?” the doctor asked again.
“I’ll be right there,” David called.
“I’m coming, too,” Christy said.
“I’m sure the two men can manage quite well,” Mrs. Huddleston said. She put a hand on Christy’s arm. “Why don’t you and Ruby Mae come with us? Your father is dying to show you his new toy.”
“What new toy?”
Christy’s father grinned. “I bought one of Mr. Ford’s Model T’s.”
“You bought a new automobile?” Christy cried in surprise.
“I did indeed,” Mr. Huddleston said , beaming.
“Miz Christy! Miz Christy! I ain’t never rode in an automobile,” Ruby Mae said excitedly. “Lordamercy! A train and an automobile, all in the same day. Won’t the others back in the Cove just curl up and die o’ green envy when I tell them?”
“Go ahead, Christy,” Doctor MacNeill said. “Ruby Mae will never forgive you if she doesn’t get her Model-T ride. And there’s no room in the ambulance, anyway. It’ll be cramped, as it is. You can stop by and visit Bessie later.”
As Neil, David, and Bessie pulled away in the ambulance, Christy felt a strange sensation. It seemed wrong, somehow, to let them go without her. Still, it was certainly true that she wasn’t needed at the hospital. And she and Ruby Mae would both be there for the operation.
Just the same, Christy felt she’d made a mistake, as if she’d failed some test for which she was unprepared.
“Come along, dear,” her father said, reaching for her arm. “Let’s take you home.”