Dollie
Belloit and her sister, Patty, are from the big city Up North. They
have come to work at a small settlement school in Kentucky as the
secretary and accountant. Dollie is sweet on Lucius Henry, a local
man, who is also sweet on her. Both shy, they find it hard to
communicate their interest. When Dollie asks Lucius to help her find
boys to decorate the dining call for a party, he happily complies.
"Don't
worry. I'll get them hopping," he assured her as they passed
behind the clinic. "You head on up to the dining hall. I'll go
by the boy's dormitory and see what I can do."
"Thanks,
Lucius. You're a prince."
He
bowed deeply, sweeping his hand behind him as if pushing back a cape.
"Mine is but to serve, Your Highness."
Blushing,
Dollie giggled nervously. She liked Lucius more than she wanted to
admit. The boys back home had never interested her much, nor had they
treated her like a grand lady. Lucius always gave her the feeling
that she was the most important person in the world.
Lucius
righted himself, stepping closer. "Do you have an escort to the
play party tonight, Miss Dollie?" His voice deepened, growing
husky.
"I—I
don't."
"I'd
be proud if you'd consider me your partner for the dancing."
"I'd
be delighted, Lucius."
"Thank
ye, Miss Dollie. You do me an honor."
"Just
Dollie," she whispered, dropping a slight curtsey. Embarrassed
at her boldness, she turned and ran the rest of the way to the dining
hall.
Lucius
watched her until she was a pastel blur. Turning his steps towards
the boys' dormitory, he whistled a happy tune. Fond of the mountain
tunes of his ancestors, he chose There Was An Old Woman. Soon,
he was singing in a clear, ringing tenor, "There was an old
woman in our town, in our town did dwell. She loved her husband
dearly, but another man twice as well. Sing
too-di-um, sing too-di-um, Whack fa-lal-the-day."
He reached the end of the song when he got to the door of the boys'
dorm.
Snatching
up the first four boys he found, those who couldn't outrun him, he
drove them like cattle over to the dining hall. They, of course,
complained the entire way.
"Luke,
you got no call," his younger cousin, Jed, whined.
"Y'all
oughta helped Miss Dollie without being told. What would your mothers
think, you making a lady work all on her lonesome?"
"She
had to ask you," Jed pointed out rudely.
"But
I
didn't know she needed help, or I'd of been down here all ready."
"That's
cause you're sweet on Miss Dollie," Jed teased.
Lucius
cuffed his cousin. The teenage boy hopped ahead, teasing and
chanting. He danced backward, sticking his tongue out until he fell
over a tree root and sprawled on the ground.
"Teach
you to keep a civil tongue," Lucius said as he helped him up.
"Shucks,
I'm just telling the truth," Jed replied, sulkily.
The
other boys filed into the dining hall. Lucius kept Jed back a moment.
"You
don't ought to say things like that, Jed. What'd Miss Dollie think if
she heard?"
"Well,
ain't ya?"
Sixteen
year old Jed saw deep into his soul. Lucius couldn't hide from him
how he felt about Dollie. Blushing, he partially turned away.
"Don't
have to say a word, cuz. Reckon I know that look. Didn't Jake look
that way over Rachel Gibbons 'fore he popped the question?"
"Ain't
poppin' nothin'," Lucius replied sullenly. "No way Dollie'd
take a man like me serious."
"What's
wrong with a man like you?" Jed could see the time to tease was
over. "You're a hard worker, ain't ye? You've got a spot of land
to build on...."
"I
ain't been to college. I'm not a proper gent. I'm a poor farm boy
from up the holler."
"You're
more a gent than most citified men we ever met," Jed replied
stolidly, punching his cousin good naturedly. "What you lack is
confidence. You look at Miss Dollie sometime when she thinks you
ain't, you'll see what I mean." Raising an eyebrow, he put his
index finger beside his nose, giving Lucius a saucy salute.
©
2017 Dellani Oakes
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