Heaven's Gate Bridge thirty-one

Heaven’s Gate Bridge thirty-one

The big day arrived for Harriet to go to school. Her mother and father were confident that with her recovery but they had told Catherine to be a little more vigilant for her sister. Catherine said that she and the group of girls they ate lunch with would be helping her on this day. The girls dressed slowly and made sure that all of their clothes were on straight. They were also happy that it was not bad weather because they did not like wearing a big coat.

As they reached the kitchen, they were surprised to see the boys already eating cereal. The girls were happy to have toast and the special jam that their aunt had given them the last time they had visited her. Their father’s brother Michael had stopped into town to pick up a suit. His wife Opal was always making jams from the peaches of their trees. Their father had made a suit for his brother as a birthday and anniversary gift. Michael was also the godfather of Timothy. He took the boys to his lovely farm some times in the summer and let them ride the horses. The boys had learned how to do many farming things and came back with a nice tan on their faces and some good looking muscles. It also was fun for the boys to play with the three sons that their uncle had. Ben, Glen and Derwin were one year apart. Ben was William’s age and as tall as a pine tree.

“Good morning girls,” said their mother from the kitchen table. She had her special brown dress on that she wore when she was beginning to get big from her pregnancy.

“Well look at my beautiful young ladies!” said their father with pride. He winked at the girls and put his cup and saucer down to walk over and give them a big hug.

Catherine tried not to pretend that she was too big to be hugged and then sat down.

Harriet hugged her father back and looked up at him. Her eyes seemed to be watching to see if he was going to say anything else. But since he didn’t she sat down at the table and picked up some toast.

“Mother, are you going to be alright until Mrs. Noonan comes?” asked William.

“Well William, I appreciate your concern, but I think that I’ll be fine. I have Buddy here, even though he is still a young dog.”

Buddy lifted his head as he heard his name mentioned. He got up and went to Frances’s chair thinking he was going to be given some food. The whole family laughed.

The breakfast continued and then the time came for all of the children to go to school. Since this was Harriet’s first day back, father decided to drive them all to school and then go to his office. He was leaving a little early, but he thought that he might go to the barber shop for a hair cut. The barber’s shop was on the same street as his office and the walk would give him time to think about how he would handle the situation between Taylor and Joan.

The children got out of the car and walked to the school. Harriet and Catherine were greeted by their best friends. Catherine stood back a little so that Harriet could be the first to be welcomed by the little group. She seemed a little overwhelmed by the fuss so Catherine took Harriet by the arm and the group separated to let them go by. It seemed like a wonderful day was in store for everyone until they got into the room and Margaret looked up from the journal pad that she was writing on.

Harriet sat in the middle of the second row. She opened the top of her desk and immediately gasped. In it was a picture of a girl who had no ears. It was on writing paper with an irregular tear on it. It was a stick figure who was saying, “What are you saying?” and at the bottom was a title, “Deaf people are dumb.” Harriet got out of her desk and walked up to the teacher to show her the art work. Her eyes were tearing up and her hand was shaking a little.

The teacher, read the paper and put it on her desk. She put a hand on Harriet’s shoulder.

“Harriet. Please sit down. I will take care of this.”

Catherine came into the room from the coat room and saw that her sister looked upset. She immediately went over to Harriet who explained what happened. Catherine went to her desk but looked around the room to see who might be laughing or have a guilty face.

“Oh class. We will stand and say the pledge. After that I want to check your writing pad to see if you have completed the cursive alphabet and the spelling words that we started working on.”

The class said the pledge and sat down for a minute of silence. Some of the children put their heads on their desk while others just looked out the window. They then got their writing pads out and opened it to the assignment that teacher had requested.

Miss Phillips went to each desk and flipped the pages to look at the work. She used a red pencil to check the completed work. She also had folded in her hand the page that Harriet had showed her. When she got to Betty Ellison’s pad, Miss Phillips put the offensive paper to it and saw that it had matched.

“Betty Ellison did you make this awful picture and put it in Harriet’s desk?”

Betty sat very quietly and then glanced at Margaret to see if it was okay to answer.

“Betty, can you hear me? I asked you a question.”

Betty noticed that all of the children were very quiet and looking at her. She raised her head higher, “Yes, Miss Phillips. I did.”

“Why?” said the teacher as she picked up the paper and the pad.

“I wanted to. I head that Harriet is deaf now. Deaf people are dumb. They can’t talk. They should be put away.” she said as she looked directly at Harriet.

The room was quiet as a tomb. Only the noise of the children on the playground and the footsteps in the hall could be heard.

Catherine stood up and pointed her finger at Betty. “My sister is not dumb. She is as good and smart as anyone here. And I would not be talking Betty Ellison, you don’t know a fraction from decimal place.”

The boys in the class started laughing.

Betty stood up and pounded her fist on the desk.

“But I can hear. She can’t. That makes her dumb.”

Miss Phillips slapped her hands together twice.

“Girls! Girls! That is enough. Betty Ellison, get your things and go to the principal’s office. You are going home for a while.”

Betty’s mouth dropped open wide. She looked around for someone to support her. She then directed her gaze at Margaret who just sat still with a look of innocence on her face. Then it seemed as if Margaret was shaking her head ‘no’ for some special code to tell Betty that they would talk later. Betty quietly collected her things and went to the coat room to get her sweater. As she left the room, she took one last cold look at Catherine.