SCENE TWENTY EIGHT Isle d' Tresor
'mister Jim? Mister Jim, suh?" a young woman's clear, West Indies accented voice, coming from the hallway outside his room reached Jim as he tried for the seventh to start a letter to his cousins in Norfolk.
"Who's there? Is that you, Jessy?"Jim called out.
"Yes, suh, it's only me, Jessy. Missus Ani asked would I come up and see 'bout anythings you may need again this evenin', suh. Hope I don't intrude, suh." Jessy, the newest and youngest of Ani's housemaids answered.
"No, of course not. C'mon in, Jessy. I'm just wasting my time right now trying to write a letter." Jim sighed, listening as the young maid walked in, her footsteps telling him she carried a heavily laden tray again tonight. "Just set that down on the first flat, cleared off surface you find, Jessy. I'm afraid I've been trashing the room pretty well the past few days… and nights, and getting nothing done."
'mister Jim, 'scuse me, suh, you ain't still not getting your good sleep?" Jessy asked, putting the tray down on the low dresser by the fireplace. "Well, then it's good I brung you some of Cooks real good kinda stew, with garlics, olive oils, t'matoes, an' all them little chunks of fish an mussels an' such. My momma usedta say a body cain't hardly go t' sleep on a empty stomach. no suh. This here stew, Mister Jim, Cook's got a real funny name for it, too… "
"Bouillabaisse."Jim supplied, holding out both his hands. "And you're right, Jessy, it's really good. I'll drink it down before it gets too cooled off. Just hand the cup to me, like you did the other night."
"Oh, yes, suh. Figure that's why Cook puts it in this kinda tea cup for you, suh. Easier… oh, m' terrible sorry, Mister Jim!" Jessy cried out, sounding as if she was afraid she'd cut Jim to the quick.
"Jessy, it's alright. It's perfectly alright. Putting soup or stew in a cup does make it easier for me. So it's just a thoughtful thing to do. Don't worry a minute about that." Jim tried to reassure her. "I'm fine. I'm getting the knack of things pretty well."
"Oh, yes, suh, that's xactly what Miss Mari an' Miss Zulei, an' most th' other girls here hev said. You do really fine, suh, really. Here… here's your … umm… supper, Mister Jim." Jessy said, putting the warm cup in Jim's hands.
'thanks." Jim smiled in the girl's general direction and began to sip at the cup. 'this is wonderful stuff. I could eat it every night. Oh, well, I guess I have been doing just that lately. Have you tried it, yet?"
"Oh, oh, no suh, Mister Jim, I wouldn't never be drinking outa … " Jessy stopped and started, giggling. "Oh, oh, yes, suh, mean t' say I had me some of that stew for m' own dinner, suh. It's terrible good."
"It is that." Jim agreed and drank more of the bouillabaisse. "Jessy, I thought you and I agreed you don't work for me and so you don't have to always say sir, or Mister Jim. You can call me Jim, the way most of my friends do."
"Oh, oh no, suh. Mister Jim! Was my momma here, she'd wallop me good for such a thing. Why, weren't for you, I might maybe not have this here new job. Some of them other gen'lmens they dint want me comin' to work for Missus Ani. Don' hardly know why that was. But you … Mister Jim, suh, I know this is so, Miss Zulei and Miss Teleri both done told me! An' I'm real grateful for that, suh. An' I wanta t' do it up proper, all th' time." Jessy explained.
Jim frowned, remembering the day Jessy was talking about. He'd argued some with Mac and a lot more with Artemus over this youngster who came to the kitchen door looking for almost any kind of honest work. 'thomas, I know you've all of a sudden decided to be worked up about security in and around Ani's house." Jim recalled telling his mentor. "But this really takes the cake!"
"Well, Youngster, I'm not sure I know what you're talking about. So why don't we walk this back a step or two and you can tell me what's on your mind." Mac Macquillan suggested.
"You're not sure? Thomas, this morning I went into the kitchen a little while after breakfast, to find out if there was some coffee left. And while I was in there, I heard someone crying, sobbing actually, outside the kitchen's back door, the one that opens into that alleyway. Well that seemed pretty odd to me, odd that someone would be outside in the rain and cold, so I stepped outside. And then, it got even odder, from my perspective. Prof, there was a girl of no more than seventeen or eighteen out there, bawling her eyes out! And when I asked her why, and she calmed down a bit, she told me she'd been refused a job in Ani's house, refused by 'some ol' genl'mans', who told her 'to be on her way!'
And Jessy, that's her name, was shaking so hard I thought maybe she was feverish. But the fact is, Thomas, little Jessy was feverish and half starved! And I think somebody should have seen that, especially those of you who can see, these days. And I think somebody owes Jessy a second chance to work in the kitchen or somewhere here. And it might have been true once that I MIGHT HAVE been influenced by her looks. But you know that's absolutely, absolutely not the case, now. So, I came to ask you to give the kid another try-out."
'torry, this is a surprise to me, as well." Antoinette said, joining the agents. "Where is the child? I'l send Mariamne or Mered to fetch her in."
"Ani, I knew I could count on a reasonable answer from you." Jim nodded. 'she told me she'd wait just inside the cloak room, back there, so I could find out what could have gone wrong. And Mac, I hope to G-d you're not gonna make an issue of this, an issue out of me helping a starving kid. You're not gonna do that, are you, Prof?" Jim demanded, sticking out his chin and planting his feet wide, ready for a fight.
"Nope. Not me, Youngster." Mac answered.
"Wait. Wait a second, it wasn't you who was doing the vetting this morning, was it, Thomas?" Jim demanded. "No, you and Jere went to another of those meetings you've been having somewhere out of the house, lately. So it was Artemus who …" Jim frowned tautly. "It was Artemus who told this kid, half dead from hunger to go back on the street and …"
"I hardly think Artie would have put it that way, Jim." Macquillan offered. "But look, why get angry about that now, when Ani's all ready to take this young Jessy in and help her?"
"And so I am, Torry will you come now? Come and show me where the child is waiting? I certainly won't send her away. J'regret, I don't know how I could have missed seeing how badly off she was. I did have to make sure at one point that Anetra's children weren't getting her out of bed …" Ani said, putting one hand on Jim's arm.
"And that must be when my partner told the poor kid to get lost! Where is he, Thomas? where is Mister Gordon right now? I want to have a little sit-down with him! Artemus? Artemus, get down here! Get down here on the double quick, Mister!" Jim turned around, calling at the top of his voice.
"Well, I was looking up some more articles on … never mind that now. What are you so hot and bothered about this time, James m'…" Artie asked, peering out from the door of the library, tome in hand.
'don't patronize me, Mister!" Jim scowled. "Get over here. You and I need to talk about something I almost can't believe you did just this morning. But Mac wasn't here and Ani had to look in on one of her house people. So it was you, alright."
Artemus strode over to stare from Jim to Ani to Mac, thoroughly confused. " Due respect. Just what charges are you bringing me up on, General West, Sir. if I may ask?" The former actor asked with all due sarcasm.
"Oh, oh, now I get it!" Jim growled. "You're going for the amnesia defense right out off the starting line, aren't you? Well, that one doesn't work around here. That dog won't hunt in these parts, just lately. And what you did was toss a hungry child out onto the streets of Richmond to starve, that's what, Major Gordon!"
'toss a hungry child…? James I don't have the least idea… Oh," Artie said and suddenly nodded, sitting down on the chair Mac just vacated.
"Your memory's back, I 'see'." Jim scoffed. "Artemus, you were hungry growing up, more than once you told me. How in the very devil could you ever have done this?"
"Jim, there is a huge misunderstanding going on here. In fact it seems to be going in several directions at once, here. I never told that girl… Jessy's her name right? I never told her to go back to the streets. I told her she looked to me as if she was coming down with a fever and there are young children living here who could catch it from her.
So, I told her she should go on over to the clinic… Miguel's clinic behind the house and get some soup or medicine or something. That's what I told her, and I told her to come back for the job when she's well again. It sounds like she didn't understand me even a little bit. And it sounds like you did believe I'd send a child away to starve. And that really … astonishes me, James. In fact, it stings, pretty badly, if you must know." The former actor added.
Jim sighed and rocked back on his heels a minute. 'damn, Artie, 'm … well, I'm being a complete ass, lately, aren't I? 'm sorry, partner. Jessy… I don't think she … I'm sure she didn't understand what you said."
"Well, if she's still here, I'll be glad to try again, James." Artemus said. "And by the way, she IS quite a lovely child, a mulatto, I'd guess, with big, bright blue eyes. I should have thought to try speaking French or Spanish with her as she might very well be from the West Indies or N'Orleans'
"Well, maybe that was the problem, she doesn't speak English all that well. 'm sorry, Artemus, I shouldn't have pinned your ears back that way without at least asking you some … reasonable questions." Jim frowned and shook his head.
"You're pretty cranky lately, that's undeniable, Jim." Artie quipped. "Now, let's both go and see what we can do for this little Jessy you've already adopted, shall we?"
"Yeah." Jim agreed. "Ani, I apologize to you, too. It's not particularly good manners to shout like that in a ladies' presence or in her home."
"Which of course is something Miguel has never done." Ani giggled, getting a laugh from all three agents. "Allons, mes amis, we have an orphan of the storm to rescue."
"Wait a second." Mac protested, but he was chuckling at Jim. 'don't I rate an apology from you, Youngster?"
" Oh, yeah, Mac. 'm sorry, Prof. I guess I … it used to be you'd never accept an apology … that was mostly when I was in your classes up at the Point. Guess that was just the way you followed Honor Code up there. Anyway, I do remember what you'd always say whenever I … messed up, Don't apologize, Youngster, …"
"Just improve!" Mac and Artie chorused.
"Yeah, that was it." Jim groaned.
Jessy had been working for Antoinette for nearly a fortnight and doing very well, by all accounts. She showed her gratitude to Ani, Artemus, Thomas and Jim in dozens of little ways. And although Artie tried to plague Jim about it, the younger man didn't mind at all when the young housemaid did him one favor or another. She almost seemed to have adopted Jim, rather than it working the other way around. He wouldn't stand for hovering or cosseting from any of his friends these days. But Jessy had a way of making Jim feel as if he was doing her favors, not the other way around.
'this boullyah… this here stew, Mister Jim, it helps you feel more like restin' now?" Jessy asked, retrieving the cup from the agent's hands.
"Yes, yes, it surely does." Jim nodded. 'thanks a lot for thinking of it, again. It helped the other night, as well. Maybe if I can get some sleep I'll be able to figure out what I can possibly say to my cousins in this danged letter. I … Their father, my uncle Jimmy … He's very ill….he's dying, now."
'that's terrible sad, Mister Jim. 'm sorry t' know that, suh." Jessy answered. 'mister Jim, suh, would you want to be stretchin' out on th' chaise there, right there b'side your desk now, like you done t'other night, suh?"
"Yes. Yes, that's … that's not a bad idea." Jim agreed, and turned to his left, reaching for the carved wooden frame of the chaise. For some reason he'd been able to sleep better on this velvet covered chaise lately than on his bed. Artie plagued him about that too, saying Jim was still too much of a soldier and still couldn't adjust his habits or his body to civilian comforts one bit. But tonight, Jim couldn't seem to think of a sharp enough come back, so he let it go, sitting on the chaise and nearly falling asleep, still sitting up.
It felt good to just let the big and small troubles of the day lift off him and let him relax. It felt good to blank his mind pretty well completely and let all those annoyances and worries fall away. He couldn't even find the energy right now to worry about why it seemed someone was lifting his legs onto the chaise. And the tiny concern somewhere at the back of his mind that had to do with being wide awake and sleepless only five minutes ago, was just too far away to matter now.
Why should that or anything else matter when he was this exhausted? Why should he worry about anything now when all he needed was some decent sleep? After all, wasn't that what Artemus and all the others had been telling him, constantly these days? Wasn't he supposed to be concentrating on his own recovery and letting them do… whatever they were doing just now? Weren't they always telling him to let things go he couldn't change and just work at getting well again?
Why should he work himself up over a letter he knew he didn't want to send; a letter he knew his cousins didn't want to read? Why should he fume and fuss over Ani's servants when she'd been running one household or another for more than thirty years, to Miguel's demanding specifications and her own rigorous taste? What did it matter that he was jittery one minute and asleep the next, when nobody wanted him to jitter anymore? There was something they didn't like about the way he used to jitter, jabber and just dash around. He wasn't sure what that could be. Weren't they all just a lot of worry warts, anyhow? No, he'd just catch up on his sleep and let them worry about something else for a change!
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Jessy watched 'Mister Jim' fall asleep' and noted that once more he didn't sleep very soundly. Instead he was turning and thrashing on the chaise within minutes of laying down there, muttering and murmuring more unhappily and more loudly by the second. Sighing, the young mulatto woman collected and covered the dishes on her tray and went to kneel beside the troubled young man. As she'd done ever since she came to Isle d'Tresor, Jessy knelt beside the chaise Jim West slept on and did once more, what she'd been sternly ordered do.
She hated what she was doing to someone who'd been her defender here since the first minute he found her outside the kitchen door. But she'd been given no more choice in the matter now then she'd had while still held as a slave along with her brothers, her husband, and their children, as of eight years ago. Her actual, current employer made that absolutely clear. There was no escaping her new orders, not without losing everyone she loved forever. So Jessy sadly obeyed her orders to bring herself to 'Mister Jim's' attention. She obeyed her orders to add things to the food she brought him when he couldn't sleep. And finally she obeyed her orders, albeit with tears in her wide blue eyes and in her low soft voice, to recite the things she'd been told to memorize and repeat to this kind young man.
'they didn't want you to break your heart, that's all, Mister Jim." Jessy whispered. 'they only didn't want you to break your poor heart over what did happen. Ain't nothing could be done about it, after it was over and done, y' know? Y'all can understan' that, surely. So they went and told you some … they went and told you some awfully big fibs, Mister Jim, just sos you wouldn't get all down-hearted whilst you was already low in your mind. But they meant well by it, suh. Surely, they surely did.
An' y'all can understan' that, yes, suh. Knows you can. Mister Jim, they's all your good, real, real good friends, ain't they? They's all your real good long time friends. So y'all can figure why they'd keep what truly happened from you all this while. Surely you'd have done th' same for them, was they in this kinda fix. Surely. You're a good, good, real kind hearted gen'lmans, Mister Jim, so you surely wouldn't want them to go an' break their hearts over this here trouble. No suh."
"N-n-n-no." Jim whispered in his drugged sleep, shaking his head. "N-no, Jessy, they're my best … my best friends. I won't … wouldn't lie to them…They don't … They won't lie to … to me."
'they woudn' ever wish t' do that, Mister Jim, that's nothin' but true." The girl agreed, following the 'script' she'd memorized. 'they surely wouldn't wish t'. But wouldn' you druther tell a fib sometimes, if it wouldn't let your best ol' friends break their hearts? Surely. Surely you'd druther keep 'em from hurtin' so when there was nothin' t' be done after all this here time went by. Y'all can figure that, surely."
"After… after all this … time?" Jim muttered, his arms flailing in the air, until Jessy caught and held his right hand. "After all? … Jessy, I'm not following you one bit. I … I'm half asleep here and muddled as all get out… What … what are you … what d'you mean?"
'mister Jim, suh, I don' entirely know, suh. I only know I heered it's been some time since all y'all fust got into this here trouble." Jessy answered.
" I only heered it's been all over way too long for anything t' rightly be done... done 'bout it now. After all, suh, ain't nobody can call up what's dead an' gone fo'ever. Ain't nobody walkin' th' Earth can do that, anyhow. That's left up t' th' Good Lord an His Justiss, suh, is what my momma allus said."
"Well, that's what…all my aunts and both… my grandmothers always told me, too." Jim murmured, half sitting up. "But I still don't understand. Jessy, what is it that's been all over for too long? What … what is it that's been dead and gone for…" Jim stiffened on the chaise and nearly slid off the velvet upholstery. Then he shook his head viciously from side to side.
"No, no, no, Jessy, Jessy, that's … that's … you…you … you heard something … really, really wrong! You … 'm sorry, but you must've … you couldn't … have understood … You heard them wrong. I know you did! Jessy, you… don't always … exactly understand what … what some of my … my friends say. Remember, Jessy? That very first day, you thought … you really thought Artemus told you to … just go off somewhere. You remember that. And he didn't say that, did he? No he just wasn't clear in what he said. He wanted you to … get well and then come to work here. That… that's all."
Jessy caught both Jim's hands now and pressed her face against them, her tears flooding down. This was a wicked thing she was doing. She knew it and she knew her family stood to die, or to be sold into some South American or Far Eastern plantation if she disobeyed their captors, now. Never in her eighteen years had she known anything like genuine freedom. Having real freedom of choice was still something far beyond her ken.
Like so many other freedwomen and men in the South, she'd gone from chattel slavery to share cropping to begging on the streets of Richmond to keep her own small children alive. Then she and her husband, whom she still couldn't legally wed were caught taking day old bread from bins behind a Richmond bakery. And after a terrifying stay of three days and four nights in a Richmond pauper's cell, Jessy learned the price she would have to pay to keep her family from further harm: A young Yankee gentleman was seen as threat to some very powerful people, even though that young man was ill these days and stone blind. Jessy would have to halt the process that might lead that young Yankee to speaking out by precisely the means she was ordered to use.
"Jessy, Jessy, don't cry, you don't have to cry." Jim gently insisted, mostly awake again, he thought, wishing not for the first time that he could see her face. "You only… You didn't understand what you heard, that.. that's all. So…why don't you tell me what that was? Why don't you tell me what you think you heard, so we can all sort this out?"
"Oh, Oh, no! Mister Jim, Suh, you ain't gonna be tellin' them other genl'mens what I said? Mister Jim I don' think they's mean but I don' figure they'd understand! Mister Jim, suh, please, please don' be tellin' them what I said. I'm just a foolish woman-child! Please, please…" Jessy cried and pleaded, terrified that he'd bring his friends into this when her employers sternly forbade anyone else learning of their plans.
"Alright. Alright, Jessy. Try, try now and calm down a bit. I won't call them in, not Mac, not Artemus, not Jacques… " Jim agreed, feeling badly that he'd frightened the girl, almost into hysterics. "I won't. But, maybe we should let Antoinette know, she really likes you very…"
"OH, NO, NO SUH! MISSUS ANI SHE'S SWEET AS PIE BUT I CAIN'T I CAINT BE TELLIN' HER … I SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN LISTENIN' TO THEM OTHER GENTS A BIT!" Jessy cried out. "An, an, I never meant to, Mister Jim! I never meant to at all. I was takin' … t'other day, I was takin' some tea up t' Missus Ani to settle her stomach… An, an I just walked past th' libaree… downstairs. Oh, oh, Mister Jim, suh, I never meant to listen… them big ol' doors they was standing wide open, them doors like some ol' churches got? Oh, please, suh, don't be tellin' Missus Ani… she's so kind' an' good an' all…"
"Alright. Okay. It's okay, Jessy. Jessy, it's alright, now. I won't tell Ani or the others one single solitary word you're telling me, now. Let's …let's just see if you and me can figure all this out ourselves. Alright? Jessy, calm down for me, and just tell me what you heard… my friends were talking… about." Jim asked, keeping his hands in Jessy's, but with a feeling like ice wrapping itself around his core.
"Ye..yes, yes, suh." Jessy agreed, wishing she could get up and run out of the room, out of the mansion and as far as her strong legs would go. But she'd already done this 'play' with the handsome blind Yankee eleven nights out of the fourteen she'd been working here. She'd already sold her soul for what she was no longer sure was the absolute safety of her children, her brothers and her man. She wasn't sure they weren't dead already. But she felt she'd be glad to join them soon, if that were so.
'mister Jim, you's so kind t' me. I wisht I never heard … Mister Jim, those genl'mans, an' Missus Ani's doctor Miguel… they was shakin' their heads and they was wishin' they coulda kept from doin' what they done. They was all sad like an' sayin' how they was even more sure now that you just plain couldn't hold up very long, was they to … give up on the lie, the Big Lie."
'the … lie… The … Big…Lie." Jim sighed, enunciating each word as if each syllable might choke off his breath. He had to fight to keep from shuddering now. He had to hear the rest. And he would have rather buried himself in the garden outside Ani's kitchen but he had to hear it, now.
"What … what … Jessy, tell me, now, please, what… is …what is… that Big Lie? Jessy, you're my good friend, too. And you know it's wrong to lie, and worse to lie to your friends. So, please, as you're my friend, tell me the absolute, absolute truth, right this minute, now."
"Yes, suh." Jessy nodded. 'those genl'mans, Mister Mac, that nice Doctor Jacs, Missus Ani's Doctor Miguel, an' that real p'lite Mister Gordon, suh… They was sayin' they figured it would be like killin' you dead now, was they to tell you … Mister Jim, that …that ol' Mister Grant up in' Wash'n'ton, he's been dead an gone all this while, nigh onta four years or so. They said it would be like puttin' a knife in your own heart, suh, was you to know … how it was he truly … truly died."
Jim dropped the girl's hands, and clenched his own into fists as hard as rocks, planted on his hips. "… all… all this time… " he echoed. " … dead and… dead and gone… gone all … this time….How… how… how… he … how it … it was he… he truly… " Jim began to shiver and then to rock back and forth where he sat on the edge of the chaise. The hypnotic catalyst the girl had been given to add to his food for more than a week now no longer allowed him the leeway to disbelieve anything she said.
"He's … he's … he's… dead… he… he's dead…. He's… dead… you …you … you… did it…you did it… He's dead… he's… dead…" You did it. You did it. Torry, you did it. He's dead. You killed him for me. You killed him for me. Torry, you killed the Butcher, Grant. You did it, Torry, Torry, Torry… Torry… Torry… Torry, Torry…" Jim started chanting and believing once more the words a maddened, dying girl was given four years ago to send him straight to hell. Then he toppled off the chaise and curled up on himself unconscious, unable to make any other defense against the worst 'memory' of his adult life.
Jessy got up, covering Jim with a quilt from the bed. She knew she couldn't stay and watch over him now. In fact, she knew she had to leave the house tonight. She'd done all that was demanded of her. The kind young blind man was lost and helpless against the people who hated him beyond understanding.
" 'm so terrible sorry, Mister Jim." The girl whispered, as she walked out and looked back just once more. "If'n I coulda told you why I done this, 'm knowin' you'd truly understand. G'bye now. Hope y' don' suffer so much any more."
"What happens to him is not now and was never your concern, my girl." Zara Fairholm, Rowena's sister in law told Jessy, from the doorway across the hall.
"You've carried out your task as required. You are free to go, my girl. So go." Eleora Burnham, the Fairholm's cousin added. "He neither realizes nor requires your sympathy any longer. Moreover he does not deserve it. He is a traitor to and a great enemy of The Southron Cause.
"Yes, 'm." Jessy nodded and turned to flee. Then she stopped and turned back. 'missus… Missus ma'am… may I go to my boys, now, may I please?"
'surely. Why shouldn't you?" Fairholm asked, with a smile that did nothing to warm her ice blue eyes or Jessy's hopes. "You will find them just where you left them, my girl, two weeks ago. You will not come back to this place or ever dare to approach us ever again. Is that entirely understood?"
"Yes, 'm. Figure I understand y'all just fine." Jessy said and ran down the hall and on out of the mansion, into the chill, late winter night.
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