Chapter Fourteen
Mason was walking along the fence and whacking at it with a stick when Adam found him.
The sun hung low in the sky. It was about an hour before dinner time—Rachel had already begun to cook. Mason ought to have been in the house by now, but he had taken to staying out as late as he thought he could without getting himself into trouble.
“Mason,” Adam called out from a few yards away, not wanting to startle the boy. But that was in vain—Mason jumped as if he had heard a gunshot and dropped the stick he’d been playing with.
Adam held up his hands. “Take it easy,” he chided. “You’re not in trouble. I just wanted to talk to you.”
“I haven’t done anything,” Mason said sourly.
“Nobody said you had. Will you come help me move some hay so we can have a chat?”
For a moment, he thought Mason would refuse, that the boy would press his luck. But, with a grumble, he turned and followed Adam to the barn.
There really wasn’t much work to be done with the hay, but Adam handed Mason a pitchfork nonetheless. It was always easier to talk when you had something to do with your hands. He began to fork up the hay and toss it up into the loft above them, and after a moment, Mason followed suit.
“You’ve been having a bit of trouble at school,” Adam began mildly.
“No,” Mason countered. “I go every day and my marks are good. No one can say anything bad about my performance.”
“It isn’t your performance.” Adam paused for a moment and leaned against the handle of his pitchfork. “It’s that the other children are unkind to you.”
Mason stiffened but didn’t break his pace shoveling the hay. “They aren’t,” he denied, but his voice rose in pitch as he said it and gave away the lie.
“I’ve found the truth out from your teacher,” Adam said. “You may as well be honest about it, Mason. I’d like to help you, you know.”
Mason scowled. “I don’t need any help.” He stabbed at the hay savagely.
“There’s nothing wrong with allowing someone to help you,” Adam said quietly.
“We all help one another from time to time. You’re helping me right now.
And, Mason, if something is happening at school that needs to be addressed, it’s best that you tell me rather than try to manage it on your own.
The parents and the teachers are worried about the situation, and they may try to remove you from the school.
” He held up a hand. “Don’t tell me that you don’t want to be there anyway,” he said.
“I know how difficult you can be about this, but the law requires that you be in school, and if you can’t get an education there, we’ll have to hire a teacher for you, and I don’t know where we’d get the money for it. ”
Mason threw down his pitchfork, though with far less force than Adam would have expected. He walked over to a barrel and climbed up to sit on it.
“All right,” he conceded, his head hanging. “They say cruel things sometimes.”
“What kinds of things?” Now that the boy was talking, Adam was determined to be as gentle as possible. He set his own pitchfork aside and leaned against the opposite wall, intent on giving Mason space.
“Just…rude things.” Mason fidgeted. “How I don’t live with my parents because nobody would want me. How I live with you because you need someone to work for you, not because you actually like having me here.”
“That isn’t true,” Adam said firmly. “I have you here because I want you here, Mason. You’re a part of this family now.”
“Well, I don’t care,” Mason grumbled. “It’s not like it matters. It’s just people talking. I don’t have to listen to them.”
“But you have been listening, I think,” Adam ventured. “You’ve been letting it get to you, unless I’m mistaken. Because I’m told you’ve been in fights with some of the other boys.”
Mason’s scowl deepened, but he said nothing.
Adam spoke as softly as he could. “I know I can’t do anything about much of it,” he said.
“I can’t stop them from talking to you the way they do.
I wish I could. All I can do is remind you that you are wanted here, no matter what they might say.
But…is there anything else they say to you?
Are there any other cruelties that we might be able to do something about? ”
“No.” Mason jumped up and grabbed his pitchfork again. He set to work shoveling, more furiously than he had before. “There isn’t anything to do about it.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” Adam reached out and grabbed the handle of the pitchfork, forcing Mason to stop and look at him. “The truth, Mason, please.”
Mason stood and regarded Adam for several moments.
“It’s my clothes,” he said at last.
That was the last thing in the world Adam had expected to hear. “Your clothes? Well, what on earth about them? They’re perfectly normal clothes.” Mason wore trousers and a work shirt that fit him well enough—Adam’s own things from when he had been a bit younger.
“They’re worn out,” Mason said. He pointed to the cuffs of his pants.
Sure enough, Adam noticed, they were fraying.
He plucked at the collar of his shirt, and there was a button missing.
He raised his arms, elbows pointed outward, and Adam saw that the shirt had grown so worn there that it was at risk of developing holes.
“Oh,” Adam breathed. “Mason…I never realized.” A sick guilt twisted within him. He had been dressing the boy in rags, and he hadn’t even noticed it.
“I don’t care,” Mason said quickly. “I don’t care what I wear. But you wanted to know.”
“I did.” Adam rested a hand on his shoulder.
“You were right to tell me. I did ask, and I asked because I wanted the truth. And this is a problem that we can solve, Mason. I can’t make them stop being cruel to you at school, and I can’t control what kinds of things they might say.
But we have the power to take one thing from them.
We can outfit you in better clothes, so that no one will be able to tease you for that any longer. ”
“We don’t have to do that,” Mason said quickly. He looked down. “I don’t mean to complain. You do a great deal for me, Adam. I know that. I really wasn’t going to say anything, but you asked me…”
“And I asked you because I wanted to know,” Adam insisted. “Do me the courtesy of allowing me to try to fix this situation, Mason. It isn’t any hardship. Remember what I said? You are allowed to ask for help.”
Mason nodded slowly. The next words were so quiet that Adam could hardly make them out. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Adam nodded and clapped the boy on the shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he said gruffly. “I’ll take care of everything.”
***
“The trouble is,” he told Ruth the following morning, “I don’t know what he needs.
I mean, obviously he needs clothes that are in better shape than the ones he has, but I’d like to get him things that will blend in with what the rest of the children are wearing.
He’s been standing out too much, that’s the problem.
He should be a part of the crowd, and I don’t know quite how to give him that. ”
“You know better than I do,” Ruth said, tipping the bucket of feed in her hands so that it spilled into the trough.
The cattle began to make their way over to get their breakfast. Ruth withdrew the bucket, placed it on the ground, and climbed up to sit on the fence.
She braced her feet against the lower rail and regarded Adam.
“You know what boys need. You were once one yourself. I don’t know what to give the child.
I wouldn’t know where to begin. Shirts and pants, of course, but what kinds? ”
“I don’t know,” Adam sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
“But I can’t get this wrong. I finally got Mason to open up to me, to show some vulnerability.
He showed a willingness to trust me when he told me what was happening at school.
That’s important. It’s the first time he’s really done anything like that. I can’t let him down now.”
He moved to stand beside Ruth and leaned against the fence. “I’m lucky, you know,” he murmured. “Lucky to have gotten through to him at all. I’ve been trying for a mighty long time to figure out how to reach that boy.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ruth nod.
“I never would have believed it had happened if you hadn’t told me yourself,” she agreed.
“That boy has been through such hardship. Maybe this means he’s finally beginning to feel at home here with us.
I hope that’s what we can take from it, at any rate. ”
“But that makes it all the more important that we don’t fail him now.” Adam was desperate. How could something like clothing be so vital? Yet it was. For the very first time, Mason had trusted him to solve a problem. He couldn’t fail.
“You should try talking to Rachel,” Ruth suggested.
He glanced at her. “Rachel? What does she know of what a boy should wear?”
“Well, she’s been down to that school a couple of times now,” Ruth pointed out. “Maybe she’s noticed what the other boys are wearing. She’s a pretty observant woman. Anyway, I don’t see how it could hurt matters to ask her.”
“No, I suppose you’re right, it couldn’t.” Adam pushed off from the fence. “She ought to be starting breakfast before too long. I’ll go and see if I can lend a hand.”
Ruth nodded, jumping down to her feet. “I can manage things here,” she agreed.
“You should go, and I wish you good luck, Adam. This matters. We’re going to show Mason that he has a home here, and that he’s right to have trusted you to help him with this.
There’s no one I can think of who would be better for a young man in his position, and by the time all this is over, he’ll know that too. ”
“Thank you, Ruth,” Adam murmured, a flush of gratitude coming into his face. “I’m grateful to have you, you know. You’ve always known me so well, from the moment we met. Sometimes I think you understand me better than anyone else could. This is what it would have been like to have a sister.”
Ruth chuckled. “You’d be lucky to have had a sister like me,” she said.
“And if you had, you’d have grown up with a bit more common sense.
Go back up to the house and see whether Rachel can help you with this situation with Mason.
I’m willing to bet the answer is yes. I’ll be along shortly for my breakfast.”
She turned and hopped over the fence, heading into the pasture to see to the needs of the cows.
Adam watched her go for a moment. Then he turned and made his way up to the house, hoping that she was right and that Rachel would be able to help him.
***
He found Rachel scrambling eggs in a pan.
As he came through the door, she tipped them onto a plate and looked over in his direction with a smile.
“You’re here,” she said cheerfully. “I started breakfast early, and I was worried that I would be finished before you got here and that the eggs would get cold. I’m so glad that isn’t what’s happening. Sit down and I’ll fix you a plate.”
“Can I help you with anything?” he asked, surveying the scene. The truth was that she looked to be almost done. The eggs were clearly ready, and there was a plate of toast beside them.
“Certainly not,” she said, mock-sternly. “This is my responsibility. Sit down.” She pointed to a chair.
He sat down and watched as she separated a serving of eggs onto a smaller plate and added a few pieces of toast. “This looks wonderful,” he said, smiling up at her as she set it down in front of him.
“Coffee?” she asked. “Juice?”
“Both, I think,” he said. “But I can get them myself.”
“No, you’ve been working hard all morning,” she countered. “Stay where you are and let me serve the meal, please.” Her voice turned mock-scolding. “I’ll be very offended if you don’t let me do my job.”
He smiled up at her. “All right,” he allowed. “You can bring my juice and my coffee, and I thank you very much for doing it.”
She brought the drinks, and he began to eat his breakfast. She sat down with him at the table, cradling her own cup of coffee between two hands, though she didn’t have a plate of food.
“You don’t want to eat?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “I ate earlier, with Mason, before he went off to school.”
“That’s what I wanted to speak to you about,” Adam said, and he relayed to her the conversation he’d had with Mason the day before. She listened attentively, sitting up straighter as he told the tale, and when he was finished, he saw that she was nodding, a small smile on her face.
“Of course I can help,” she said warmly.
“You were right to think of me—or, I suppose, it’s better to say that Ruth was right.
But regardless. Yes, I know what the boys at the school are wearing.
I’ve seen them a few times. I should have realized that there was a difference between their clothes and Mason’s, but I was always trying not to fix too much attention on him when I was there.
” She shook her head. “This makes sense, Adam. It’s hardly the greatest of his problems, but if we can make things easier for him with some new clothes—can you afford it? ”
“I’ll find the money,” Adam said firmly. “You’re right. It’s what he needs, and we’ll find a way to provide it.”
“Then I’ll come with you to do the shopping,” Rachel said. “I’m sure that, working together, we can find enough new things for him to make him feel like one of his classmates, and to make them feel that he belongs.”
She smiled, and he smiled back at her. For a moment, the kitchen seemed to shrink down to just the table. The whole world seemed to shrink down to just the two of them, to this moment of realization that they were facing a problem together, and that together they would solve it.
I’m very lucky to have her.
Warmth grew in his heart as he looked at her, and fondness took hold of him.
He had Mason, he had Ruth—now he had Rachel.
How could anyone suggest that these people were not of vital importance to him?
“We’ll go into town after lunch today,” he told Rachel. “I’ll come and fetch you when it’s time.”