The Secrets of Ordinary Farm

Chapter 13

The more Tyler thought, the angrier he got.

“What’s with this place? Are they all crazy?” He was having so much trouble paying attention to what he was doing that he dropped his flashlight. The batteries he had been loading popped out and rolled across the floor. “That Kingaree’s a slavery guy? What if he’d tried to kill you? They never tell us anything about anything-we always have to find out for ourselves!”

“They’re all from the past, Tyler! They don’t belong here and they’d be in trouble if people found out they were here. Of course they keep secrets.”

Tyler scowled: he’d thought Lucinda was getting better about pretending things were fine when they obviously weren’t. “I don’t care if they’re from Magic Happy Land, Luce-t hey invited us! Dropped us into the middle of all this and didn’t warn us about any of this dangerous crazy stuff-dragons! Billionaires with helicopters and guns! Crazy… slave-whippers from the Civil War days! And now Gideon’s gone, so we’re the only people in this whole place who even legally exist. ” For perhaps the first time ever, Tyler was beginning to wonder if they really did belong at Ordinary Farm. As if to emphasize this thought, thunder boomed in the nearby hills.

Then he thought of Colin and his creepy mother again and his heart filled with anger. “No, it’s not us who don’t belong here…!” he said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Never mind.” He had been planning to go back out and look for Gideon until the evening meal, but instead he put down the flashlight and stood. “Come on. Maybe this Kingaree guy you met really does have something to do with Gideon disappearing-and if he does, I know who might have some answers.”

The women in the kitchen were just starting supper. Tyler noted the good smells with approval, but he was in too much of a hurry to appreciate them properly. However, a little bit of something to take along might not be a bad idea, he thought…

“He is upstairs,” Pema told them. “In Gideon’s study.”

“Meanwhile, if you touch that bacon, Junge, you will be beaten,” Sarah warned him. Defeated, Tyler led Lucinda up the stairs.

Caesar looked up from dusting. With Gideon Goldring now missing for almost a week it was hard to know how much cleaning of his study was really necessary, but Caesar regarded it as his personal job to take care of both Gideon and his rooms, and it seemed he would continue doing it whether Gideon was around or not.

“Hello, children,” he said. “Are you looking for something?”

“For you, Caesar. Could we ask you some questions?”

The old man laughed, showing very white teeth. “I suppose you can.” They were not his own teeth: Mr. Walkwell had found them for him in a church jumble sale in Standard Valley, and although they didn’t fit tremendously well, Caesar was very proud of them. He had lost most of his own at a young age.

Weird we know that about him, but didn’t know he was a runaway slave, Tyler thought. “Did you hear that Lucinda met Jackson Kingaree? He came up to her in town and introduced himself.”

Caesar’s expression grew more distant, but he kept his smile. “Oh, I heard, yes. Terrible thing.”

“We want to know more. About Kingaree. We think he might have something to do with Gideon’s disappearance.”

Caesar looked at Tyler for a long second more, then turned away from them to dust a spotless shelf. “I can’t talk now, children. Too busy.” His voice hitched. “I’m just too sad about Mister Gideon.”

“Just talk to us, Caesar-please!”

“Tyler, leave him alone!” Lucinda whispered, but he ignored her.

“Nobody tells us anything around here. What happened?” Tyler was doing his best to keep calm, but he was tired of everyone avoiding his questions. “Please, Caesar. Did Gideon make a deal with Kingaree? And if he did, why did Kingaree leave the farm?”

Caesar turned suddenly. His smile was gone and his face looked as stern and hard as a wooden mask. “Why did Kingaree leave? Because he’s a devil, that’s why. Because like the Good Book says, the devil needs the whole world to roam in, to go back and forth doing his mischief.”

“Ragnar told me… ” Lucinda obviously did not want to say it-as if it were a dirty word. “He said you were Kingaree’s… slave… ”

“That ain’t true!” Caesar shook his head. “But it ain’t Ragnar’s fault-he’s from far, far back and don’t know any better. Yes, I was a slave once in South Carolina, but to a better man than Jackson Kingaree. Still, don’t nobody want to be a slave even for a kind master. I earned my freedom and went North to live in Pennsylvania. Then one day I was at the market in Charlesville and Kingaree and his gang of slave-chasers snatched me up like I was nothing but an animal, even though I was in free territory and a free man. He was going to carry me quick over the border to Maryland… it was a slave state then… Oh, sweet God…!”

Lightning whitewashed the sky above the mountains outside the window-a summer storm was on its way; thunder followed moments later. Tyler saw that Caesar was shaking so hard that his long, lean body was swaying like a windblown tree. The old man felt for the chair-Gideon’s empty chair-and sat down. “I’m sorry,” Tyler said. “I didn’t mean … ”

“You didn’t know any better either, son. You children don’t know nothing about how things were in my day, ’less they teach it to you in school. But back then you had to know because it was the way of the world-what everyone tell you. ‘Never tease a strange dog. Don’t look white folk in the eye, especially white women. Watch out for the slave-catchers.’ ” He laughed, but it was a cracked, unhappy sound. “Yes, that devil Kingaree took me. Then when his wagon lost a wheel and when I wouldn’t walk in chains to Baltimore, he beat me. I said he might as well kill me right there because I wasn’t ever going back to the south. He damn near did.” He looked at Lucinda. “I beg pardon for my salty language, Miss.”

Lucinda only shook her head. She was pale and Tyler thought she looked like she was close to crying.

“I got away from him, though,” Caesar said. “The Lord was bound to keep me free, and He made sure those shackles were just a little too big for me. After a while, I got out of ‘em.’ He lifted his arms and pulled back his sleeves. Both wrists were badly scarred, covered with streaky gray bumps. ‘I got away into the woods just before we come to the Susquehanna ferry. Kingaree and his dogs and men, they come after me. They were shootin’ too. One way or another, they weren’t going to let me go home again.” He took a shaky breath. “But then Mister Gideon come out of nowhere, just like the Lord’s angel. Asked me if I wanted to get away from all this. Don’t take much to guess I said yes.” Caesar laughed; it was shaky but less bitter this time.

“What was Gideon doing there?” asked Tyler.

“Looking for a Thunderbird, that’s what he told me later.” Caesar shrugged. “At the time, I wasn’t asking nothing-those dogs and all were right behind me. So Mister Gideon took out this strange thing looked half like a trumpet, half like the insides of a fancy pocket watch. He waved it around and started fiddling with it. Just then, Kingaree’s biggest dog come charging out of the trees with Kingaree right behind. Mister Gideon made some kind of big, sparky, burning hole in the air and tugged me through it. Stretched me like nothing you’d ever seen-like string through a knothole!”

“Wow.” Tyler’s heart was beating hard just hearing it. “But somehow Kingaree came through, too.”

Caesar nodded. “Maybe that was the good Lord’s plan-bring that evil man here, where he couldn’t catch any more poor colored folk and drag ‘em into slavery. Still, I can’t help wishing that He woulda dropped Jackson Kingaree in the ocean instead.”

“That’s so terrible!” said Lucinda. “I’m sorry, Caesar.”

“Weren’t your fault, child. Even your granny and your grampy weren’t born back then. Eighteen and forty-eight, that was-long time ago.” He sighed. “We’ll just pray that Kingaree doesn’t come around here-or that if he does, he does it when Mr. Walkwell’s back to catch him at it.”

“How long did he live here on the farm? And why did Gideon let him leave?”

“Wasn’t anything so simple. Kingaree disappeared the night of the big fire. I admit that for a while I was hopin’ he got burned up.”

“The fire in Gideon’s laboratory?” Tyler tried to keep his voice even. The last Continuascope had been destroyed in that disaster. “Did Kingaree have something to do with that?”

“Could be.” Caesar shrugged. “Mister Gideon always thought so, but it didn’t make no sense to me. Why would he burn up that laboratory instead of the house where all the people were?”

A thought was tugging at Tyler. “To make it look like the Continuascope was destroyed?” His heart was suddenly racing even faster.

Lucinda eyed him with something like alarm. “Tyler…?”

“No, think about it. He knew that Gideon would never let him get away with the Continuascope-all these years and Gideon still hasn’t been able to build another one! So maybe Kingaree set the fire so Gideon would think the Continuascope was gone for good.”

Caesar shook his head. “That’s what some of the folks round here thought, too-especially Mister Gideon. He was sure that Kingaree had stolen that thing! He kept Mr. Walkwell out guarding the Fault Line every night for weeks and weeks. But Kingaree never came, thank the Lord. Now why, children, if he had Mister Gideon’s device all those years would he wait until now to come back? And announce it to a little girl? Beggin’ your pardon, Miss Lucinda.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.” Tyler was still frowning when he noticed a shadow out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see Colin Needle leaning in the doorway of Gideon’s office, his thin arms crossed over his chest and a look of sour amusement on his face.

“Up to mischief again, Jenkins?” the tall boy asked.

“Needle! What are you doing, spying on us?”

“You wish.” Colin straightened so that he could look down his nose at him. “I have business here, as it happens.” He turned to Caesar. “My mother wants you to come and take your willow bark tea. Also, she said she’s worked up some more mint oil salve.”

Caesar nodded. “Ah, that is a blessing. I’ve been missing it. My hands have been playing me up something fierce.” He turned back to Tyler and Lucinda. “You children excuse me-Mrs. Needle’s medicine tea works best when it’s hot and fresh.”

After the old man had made his way out of the room Colin lingered behind. “I don’t really expect your brother to stay out of trouble,” he told Lucinda. “But if he keeps on poking and spying into old problems he’s going to drop you into trouble as well. I’d hate to see that happen.”

“What’s that all about?” Tyler said after Colin had left. “Does he think he’s protecting you from me? Dude, I would so like to punch him right in his skinny face!”

Lucinda gave him a hard look. “Cut it out, Tyler. He’s not so bad-not like his mother. I think he was just trying to do me a favor.”

“He was listening in on us, is what he was doing.” Tyler snorted. “Calling me a spy-how long do you think he was standing there listening to us talk to Caesar? Listening to us talk about Kingaree? And the Continuascope! I told you, he’s trying to make one!”

Lucinda shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. If Gideon couldn’t make a new one, Colin Needle sure can’t do it on his own.”

It was a good point, especially since Gideon had actually helped Octavio make the first one. “Yeah, but he’s up to something and I don’t like him sneaking around, listening in on us. I’m going to figure out what he’s doing and then he’s really going to know what trouble is!”

“Oh, man!” Lucinda rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I think Colin’s right about you, Tyler.” She turned and headed up the stairs, the noise of her footsteps for a moment as loud as the approaching thunderstorm.

“What?” he shouted after her. “Wait! What’s that supposed to mean?”