Forest Gate Farm

an abandoned child forces a woman to face a long-held family responsibility

 

Elizabeth walked as quickly as she could but the large man slowed her down and she could not be rude. Not rude to his generosity. Not rude to Davey’s concern. She slowed her pace a little so that they walked side-by-side again. There had been no conversation since they left the train station on the edge of town. She had gotten off the same old passenger car which had taken her to the city some years ago. She had stood on the wooden platform waiting for some sign but nothing had changed since she had left. Then she had realised that something had changed. There was no station master to call a cab for her. The office was clearly locked up and abandoned. Such was the slow death of an old reliable conveyance now that everyone drove themselves from town to town.

Then the heavy steps had sounded on the dark end of the platform, startling her. She turned, preparing for trouble but the large man had simply said. “Davey tell me come get Lizzy. You Lizzy?” She had given him a warm smile and a nod, picked up her bag, and followed him off that end of the platform. She had expected a car up on the dusty road out of town. Instead they had been walking at the large man’s pace for over an hour now, sharing the load of her bag. He was carrying it at the moment and her arms were happy to let him.

She could see the junction ahead. Maybe another five minute walk at this pace and then the five minutes to the house. In ten minutes, she would be home again. There was an old saying that one could never go home again but here she was doing just that. She would never have come if it had not been for her school chum, Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane Simpson had been the prettiest girl in their class from grade one through to graduation. It was no surprise that she had married Jonathan Barker right at the end of June and moved into the big house in Barkerville. But Elizabeth’s heart and soul would never be content in this county. The day after Sarah Jane’s wedding, Elizabeth had packed her finer clothes and some toiletries and moved to the big city where life was safer. She had said that to a co-worker once, that life was safer in the city, and he had laughed at what he thought was a joke. To Elizabeth, it was the furthest from a joke.

As they neared the junction, Elizabeth eyed the lack of vehicle markings in the dusty road. There would be less on the road to the house since the mail box stood on the corner where the road to the town met the road to the house. She turned to the big man and smiled. “I know my way from here and I very doubt that anyone will bother me. Did Davey pay you already?” She pulled her wallet out of the purse slung over her shoulder. But the big man just shook his head, turned, and shuffled back down the road to town. She had never even gotten his name. “Thank you!” she called to his back. One ham hock of a hand raised almost to his shoulder in reply. She got the impression that his hands were too heavy for lifting themselves but could easily lift an average man off his feet. He probably helped Davey with the farm occasionally.

Where she could hardly stand the big man’s lethargic pace from the station earlier, Elizabeth no longer wanted to hurry. Now that the old Victorian was in sight, her heart was filled with a mixture of emotions, and dread was winning the day. She concentrated on her feet moving along the dirt road rather than look at her destination. She knew full well that the wrap around porch would not have been painted in a couple of years. It was a steady complaint in Sarah Jane’s letters since Jonathan’s death. Why her old chum had taken on Davey as a mission of mercy was beyond her. Davey loved the farm, always had. As long as he got enough crops in the ground to make ends meet, he was happy. And, of course, Elizabeth sent home some of her pay to ensure that he got through the leaner times and had enough seed money. It guaranteed that there was no bank holding a mortgage on the place.

She looked out over the corn field to her right. Most of the stalks were above her head and the ears were showing a pale green against them. Davey could well be out starting to harvest when she got to the house. That would be extremely awkward. She had no knowledge about the newest inhabitant at Forest’s Gate, only what Sarah Jane had carried on about. The child was a girl, which was why Sarah was so scandalized, and a pretty one at that. She had simply shown up living at the farm one day and Davey was minding her alone. When Sarah had discovered the change, she had done some investigating to learn that there was no child missing in Barker’s County. According to Sarah Jane, Davey had become angry when Sarah had suggested that the child should be turned over to protective services.

Davey, who had never shown a mean bone, or a moment of anger, from his arrival when Elizabeth was six, through all the years of taunting from the other kids. Mama had died shortly after Davey’s first birthday and Elizabeth was left to mind him most of the time while Papa worked the fields and cared for the animals. Every school day, Sarah Jane’s mother would drive out to pick up Davey and Elizabeth, and would drop the girls off at school with fresh lunches. After school, the shiny black car would be waiting for the girls by the back gate of the school and Elizabeth and Davey would be left back at the farm. Every day as they got out of the car, Mrs. Simpson would say. “He was a good boy again today. Davey’s always a good boy.” She would give them one of her warm but sad smiles and drive away.

For the first few weeks after Davey started school, Mrs. Simpson continued to fetch them. Then one day, Papa met them all at the front porch and said that the kids needed to get the exercise if they were to grow up strong enough to run the farm someday. From then on, Elizabeth and Davey had run to and from the school near the center of town. Davey never complained of the long trip or about the chores he was expected to do before and after school or even about the bullying. His was a gentle soul that saw the good in everyone and a joy in life itself. When the letter had arrived saying that Sarah Jane strongly felt that Davey needed Lizzy’s guiding hand, Elizabeth had immediately asked for her vacation days plus time off for family matters. Not that she really needed to ask since she could prewrite her column or send it out from Barkerville as needed. She had three weeks to resolve the issue awaiting her. Well, at least that one issue. Others might never be solved. She forced herself to pick up the pace.

Sure enough, there were signs of a child living in the farmhouse. There was a worn tractor tire hanging by a stout rope from the old maple. Hard to believe that she and Davey had swung from the same tree so many years ago. She remembered when Papa had cut down the swing after Davey’s ninth birthday, saying it was too old and useless any longer. It had never been replaced until now. The front steps leading up to the porch were showing their age from weather and wear but were decorated with an old ratty teddy bear and a rag doll with a carved wooden face. Papa had made Lizzy that doll one winter. He had made several that year hoping to sell a few in town to make extra seed money but the girls in town loved those new dolls with the squished rubber faces. Elizabeth set her bag down at the bottom step and allowed herself to feel the ambiance of the house. There was the old disquiet but nothing new had been added in a long time. Well, just one but even that was years back now.

“Hello, Papa. I’m home. Did you miss me? May I stay a while to see what’s with this new child?” She felt the hand on her shoulder. Her father had been a lot like Davey, a quiet, gentle man, not prone to showing large displays of emotion, but always a reassuring presence in the background. “I’ll try not to cause any trouble while I’m here.” She felt the squeeze in the grip. “Thanks, Papa.”

She carried her bag up to the front door and let herself in. Absolutely nothing had changed. The furniture was still the pieces that Mama had gathered to make a pretty home for their family. Elizabeth turned out of habit and touched the wooden icon by the door, then trundled her way up the stairs to her bedroom. It was as if she had never left. Well, almost, since the doll that had sat on her pillow guarding the bed now defended the front porch. Elizabeth pushed aside the ink blotter and stationery with one hand to set her bag and purse down. She sat on the edge of the bed, remembering the creaky springs of her youth. Sarah Jane had said that Davey had taken Papa’s room a long time ago so Elizabeth guessed that she would find the child in Davey’s old room. She pushed herself up to check.

Elizabeth stood at the door of the once blue bedroom and stared at the only sign of change. The baseball players no longer dotted the upper edge of the walls. The shelf of 4H and baseball trophies was empty except for a couple of old early-learning books. The room had been given a couple of fresh coats of white paint and the wall beside the bed was papered with bright pink and yellow flowers on a pale green. One could imagine walking off into the meadow through that wall. Elizabeth shook herself. Imagination was not welcome within the walls of this house. Imagination could only live in the city where it was safe. Another old pink teddy bear sat propped up on the pillow of the bed, staring intently at her with its pearl button eyes. “Good to see you, Princess Posy. I hope you’re keeping the room safe.”

Davey must have the child with him. One of Sarah Jane’s written concerns was that she had seen Davey take the little one out in the tractor which Sarah Jane was sure was far from safe. Elizabeth smiled. That had been the sole barrier between them. Townies had no concept of the unsafe environment that farming kids grew up in. Being in the tractor was the least of the potential disasters. Heck, Elizabeth remembered the story of a girl in the next county who wore a dress while doing her chores and got injured when the skirt caught on a branch going into the wood chipper. Long hair and loose clothing had no place in the farming world. Again Elizabeth shook herself. No memories allowed either. Memories caused trouble. She could hear the dog barking as he encouraged the cows to the barn. Davey must be coming in if he set the dog to its evening chore. She should prepare some supper for them.

The kitchen was another sign of change, not a lot, but enough to show something was new at Forest Gate Farm. The tablecloth was new and the old booster seat was also freshly white and tied to a chair again. The honey pot was no longer the old piece of crockery but a metal pail from another farm. And obviously the old fridge had finally given up the ghost since in its place was one of those textured doors so popular a few years back. She opened its door to find a good supply to choose from. She decided to go simple and pulled out the remains of a rasher of bacon, a bowl of eggs, a loaf of bread, and some leftover cooked potatoes. She doubted there was enough potatoes to make hash for all three of them but she would do what she could. She added a green pepper, an onion, and a head of garlic to the pile on the edge of the table. She checked for more ideas of ingredients and then added the slightly dark tomato. She would have to taste that before using it. Elizabeth turned back to the table and there she was in her pale yellow dress staring right back.

“Hello, Mama. I’m home to check on Davey. I need to make supper and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t get in the way right now.” The vision of her mother sadly slipped into nothingness.

The bacon was sizzling well before Elizabeth heard her brother’s laughter coming toward the back door. A child’s giggle joined in. Out of old habit, Elizabeth called out over her shoulder at the screen door, “Wipe your boots.” Her admonition had the opposite effect. Loud thumping ran up the steps and the door flew open with a shout, “Lizzy!” Before she could prepare herself, Elizabeth was swept up in a bear embrace and swung around. In the swirl, she noticed the cherub face standing in the doorway and the door swinging back on its hinges. “Davey!” was all she managed before the double thud. She was dropped again as he lunged to grab the door and sweep the girl up in his arms. “I am so sorry, so sorry. Papa didn’t mean to shut the door on you. Oh, honey, don’t cry.” Elizabeth turned the heat down under the bacon pan and scooped up the kitchen towel as she went to get the ice tray. She handed him the makeshift icepack and indicated for them to sit at the far end of the table. She left Davey to soothe the child while she returned to making their dinner.

Hours later, the evening of domesticity had settled down to the long familiar night sounds of crickets, frogs, and contented farm animals. Elizabeth stepped out onto the front porch with two cups of hot tea. It was a lifetime habit born from their papa’s preference for quiet conversations in the evening. This was the time of day for sharing their stories and confidences. Now she could get to the root of the story of the child. Davey knew the question was coming so he began before Elizabeth could settle into her favourite rocking chair.

“So, I guess you’re wonderin’ about the girl. She’s a foundling, in the real sense of the word. I found her sleeping on the front porch, all tuckered out and dirty, but curled up in Rufus’ lap.” He reached over and gave the dog’s fur a loving ruffle. “When she woke up, she said her name is Suzie, that she’s three years old, that her granmammy was dead and her daddy didn’t want her no more so she’d come here. I thought at first that I was imagining her out of loneliness like when we played with the others.”

“Please don’t mention the others, Davey. I haven’t taken the time to put up the safeguards yet.”

“Oh, no worries there. Since Suzie came, Rufus has been guarding extra hard and I’ve remembered the words to say over the dolls and bears. We haven’t had any visitors except the mailman and Sarah Jane Barker. She’ll be happy to know you’re home.”

“Sarah Jane knows I’m home, Davey. She sent for me. She was worried about you and the girl.”

“Now, Sarah Jane and me had a long talk about that. There is no reports of a missing child anywhere in this part of the state. Suzie is happy here and I love being her daddy. There’s no harm in not telling the state about her since they’ll only shove her in one of those foster homes where nobody really loves the kids, just want the state money.”

“Davey, I agree with you. But if the authorities find out, you could be in big trouble.”

“Nope. I have that figured out too. When it comes time for Suzie to go to school, I will just tell them that her mama and I had a fun night after the county fair and that one day her mama just showed back up on my porch and turned the baby over to me, saying she had done her part with the birthing and breastfeeding.”

“So why didn’t you go do that right off?”

Davey looked so forlorn that Elizabeth rose to hug him. “I was afraid,” she felt whispered into her side.

“It’s okay, Davey. I’ll talk with Sarah tomorrow. She’s kept quiet this long. I’m sure she’d be willing to stay quiet even if only to save her own embarrassment.”

“So you’ll help me keep Suzie?” Davey was so hopeful it pained Elizabeth but she had to be honest.

“I don’t know, Davey, I don’t know. Suzie’s existence has to be reported to someone and we will do what we can to keep her in a safe and loving place. Do you think that Suzie could be coached to change her story to her mommy didn’t want her anymore?” Elizabeth felt the shift in the night air and shivered. “But Davey, you and I both know that Forest Gate is not always a safe place. Has she seen anyone peeking from the forest or heard the whispers at night?”

Davey shook his head hard. “Not that I know of. She seems immune. Besides, Mama and Papa are always about, keeping watch.”

“Yes, I noticed. But angels can’t always keep children safe. If that were so, then Suzie wouldn’t be here in the first place.”

Davey hung his head. “I keep her safe too.”

“I’m sure you do but she will soon be of an age where she won’t want to spend all her time around you, where she’ll want to run in the meadow to chase butterflies and grasshoppers, when you won’t be close by.”

“We do okay.”

Elizabeth hugged her brother again. In many ways he was still a young soul. For that reason alone, she should have stayed. She knew in her heart that she was not prepared to move back and deal with it all again. She turned back to her chair with a heavy heart to find it occupied. Elizabeth sighed heavily. “Hello, Granny.” She continued to the night air, “Alright, I guess everyone has the right to weigh in on this.” She plopped onto the top step in resignation. Within seconds, the whole family going back a few generations or so were assembled. Mama stepped out from behind the rocking chair and reached for her daughter but Elizabeth shifted away from the reach. “Not tonight, Mama. I don’t have safeguards in place yet.”

“I understand, honey. Later then. It’s just good to have you home. You should come more often.” Elizabeth just shook her head in reply. Her mother straightened to her full stature. “Then as the last surviving female, I will speak for everyone. The general agreement from this side is that Davey cannot be taken from the farm. But, it is also important that he have an heir to remain on the farm. Well, that or you will have to speed up your love life.” Elizabeth just shook her head again. “You know full well that this land is the responsibility of the Everach family since they bought it from the tribe. We made a promise and it must be kept.”

“Mama, we have been through this too many times to try convincing one another anymore. If the family dies out then the promise is not broken, it just simply ends.”

“Elizabeth Anne, you know full well what could happen if there were no longer an Everach to keep the gate.”

“And what of it, Mama? When have the townsfolk, except for Sarah and her mother, ever actually tried to be friends with an Everach? When have any of us ever gone into town without hearing the whispers of ‘witch’? When have any of us, other than Davey, been allowed to join in on the town events? If he hadn’t been Major League material, do you think those coaches would have welcomed an Everach on their team? Maybe it’s time the town of Barkerville knew why the Everach family stays on this farm, generation after generation. Maybe it’s far past time that the forest dwellers be allowed to wander. Because, believe me, they will cease to exist once they reach any kind of built up area. They can’t exist where people only believe in what they can touch and hold onto. Why the heck do you think I moved to the city? Why do you think I stay there and rarely come here?” Elizabeth realized that she was shouting and stopped to look about for support. All the other heads were sadly shaking. Elizabeth took a slow breath to calm herself. “Even if Suzie stays here, Davey says she has shown no sign of the talent.”

“The talent is not inherited like blue eyes or curly hair.” Mama reached out to touch Elizabeth’s hair but she flinched away. “Honey, the talent comes with the name. That is why an Everach woman never takes her husband’s name and why an Everach man can allow his wife to keep her maiden name. That way, women like me and Granny can choose to accept the burden.”

“Yeah, but us kids never got a choice did we?” Elizabeth could feel the overwhelming sadness filling the porch. Elizabeth immediately regretted her words. “Sorry, that was low of me.” She shrugged her shoulders and stood up, noticing absent-mindedly that the step was a bit rickety. “This discussion could well be moot. Until Davey adopts her, Suzie is not an Everach. And he can’t adopt her until the authorities know that she even exists.” She stopped to think of the details of the story building in her mind. “We need to find a girl his age that has disappeared from the county in recent months, that no one has any knowledge of her whereabouts. Then Davey can claim that she was the girl he met at the fair. I’ll see what I can do while I’m here. Does anyone have any real information about Suzie’s parents? Last thing we need is her daddy coming back for her.” Heads swivelled among the group. One of the ghostly souls stepped forward a little. Elizabeth watched as her mother stared at the man wearing a loose vest over the usual farmer’s overalls.

“Teddy Everach says a man he’s never seen before, not even as a boy, put the little girl out of a blue pickup at the edge of the property where it meets the main road to town and then drove off. He was guarding that night. It seems as if the girl knew where to go since she came straight to the house and waited with Rufus until she fell asleep and Davey found them.”

“Alright then. How’s this for a story, if we can get Sarah to use it instead of what Davey told her?”

“I actually didn’t tell her anything,” Davey interrupted. “All she knows is that when she came by to ask about news of you, like I don’t know she’s checking up on me for you, there was a little girl hanging about. I never answered any of her questions, just told her that I was looking after her for a while. Two days later, she comes back wanting to know if I told the police or anyone else. That’s when we got into the argument about social services getting involved.”

Elizabeth felt the shift in the energies as a figure took shape at the foot of the steps. She stepped forward ready with the words of warding but the vision solidified into another ghost. A tall, dark-skinned man dressing in leathers decorated with beads and bits of quill stood with both hands stretched forward in the old Native greeting of peace. His hair was cut spiky, like the style often adopted by angsty and angry teens, and was filled out with a variety of feathers.

“I am Jay Windwalker. I bring the Everach family apologies. I did not know that my plans would cause you so much heartache. My people owe you so much for taking on our responsibility when the time came that we knew we could no longer fulfill our duty to the land. The one you call Suzie is of our lineage. My children’s children’s children have no understanding of what our duty here once was, and should be again. There is one of my line by the name of Debra Summerskies. She is a prisoner of the white poison that can be found where the white people build high into the sky. Before she became its prisoner, she gave birth to little Susannah and left her with the father. Now she wakes from poisonous dreams to sleep in the streets or in the beds of men. I suggested to the father in his dreams that he should leave the child here to be raised by good people, people of the promise, so that one day the duty can pass again to our people who first made the promise to keep the land safe. I did not know that this would be so difficult for your family.”

There was a long silence, then he continued, “I have another of our people who may be able to help you, I have spoken to her in her dreams also. Her name is also Susannah, Susannah Walker. She works for the government taking care of children and families. Go to her. She will do what is necessary for you to add little Susannah to your family. Once she is a member of your family, the promise will pass to her and once again to our people where it rightfully belongs. Those that dwell among the darknesses of the forest must be kept away from this land if humans are to continue to survive. The Everach family has served the land well but it is time again for our people to take on their duty.”

He turned to face Davey. “David Everach, you will be watched by my people and yours until young Susannah is of an age to take on her role as Keeper of the Forest Gate. We will help keep her, and you, safe. This is my solemn oath to you.” Davey gave a nod of understanding and Jay Windwalker stood there no longer. Elizabeth reached out her hand to her brother. He took it and held on tightly for a minute.

“So, Davey, tell me all about this night with Debbie Summerskies after the fair?” She smiled warmly at her loving brother. “Finally, imagination time can be safe again.”