SoC 3:1

Renunciation
Oklahoma late 1800s

 

T here once was a bitter man named Ralph with a prejudice-filled heart. He lived in a big Western town, and every time he passed a person of African descent on the road, he yelled nasty things to him. On one occasion a young lady had the courage to ask him why. With a lip curled up in disgust, he spit by her feet and said, “Cuz your skin is different than mine.”

Well, she was a deeply spiritual woman and wasn’t daunted by his words. “May you see the light.” She nodded her head and went along her way.

The troubled man glared after her and went home.

That night he had a stroke. The town doc did not know if he would pull through, but he did. But to his great displeasure, he was blind!

Old sawbones leaned over him in his bed, and Ralph heard the creaking of the floorboards.

“I’m sorry, old man. There’s nothing I can do.”

“Bah!” Ralph clutched the bed sheets.

“Do you have family that can take you in? Care for you?”

“No!”

“Hey now, Ralph, you don’t have to go and bite my head off!”

Ralph grunted.

“How is he, Doc?” The sheriff. Ralph would know his scratchy voice anywhere.

“Not well, sir.” Doc’s eastern accent and high level of education came through and compared favorably to the sheriff’s.

“Well now, that’s a shame.”

“He has no family to care for him.”

“Stop ya talkin’ like I’m not even in the room!” Ralph snapped.

“Sorry about that,” Doc said.

“I have an idea,” the sheriff remarked.

“What is it?”

“We can put him in the Higgins’s school.”

Ralph heard the sharp intake of Doc’s breath. “Oh.”

“Well, do you have a better idea?”

“I reckon I don’t.”

“Who’s Higgins?” Ralph asked.

Doc sat in the chair by his bed. “You didn’t get to town much. Mr. Higgins runs a fine school. He has a generous heart. He’d take you in, and I figure his good wife would cook for you.”

“Huh,” Ralph muttered.

“Is that an agreement?” asked Doc.

“Do I have a choice?

“Not really.”

*****

“Welcome to our home, Mr. Rawlings.” Mrs. Higgins’s voice was as smooth as honey, and she tucked Ralph into his bed with the gentle hands of a mother.

“I thought this was a school!”

She chuckled, and the sound reminded Ralph of twinkling bells . . . so pleasant. “It is indeed, sir. You’re in a room above the main schoolroom.”

“I see.”

“Are you hungry?”

He grunted.

“I’ll take that as a yes and be back shortly with a warm bowl of my delicious stew.” She tapped his arm.

“Miss, are there any . . . negro children in yer school?”

The soft tapping on his arm stopped. Was she holding her breath?

“Sir, this is a school for the blind.”

“Are you blind?”

“Color blind.”

“That’s odd.”

“Not so. Let me fetch you your dinner.”

He managed to murmur a thank you then heard her footsteps cross the wooden floor. The door creaked then clicked shut.

He relaxed as coziness warmed his insides. The laughter of children floated up from under his room. Moments later, the door creaked open and a beef and vegetable combination tickled his nose. His stomach grumbled. Oh, did it smell fine!

He heard her lower herself into the chair next to him and pushed himself up on his elbows.

“I’m placing the tray before you.”

“Thank ya.”

“You’re welcome.”

“It smells delicious.”

“You’ll enjoy it. Everyone does. Now, I’ll leave you be.”

*****

A week passed, and he joined the Higgins and their students downstairs for supper. He remained silent, listening to happy chatter. The children spoke to Mr. and Mrs. Higgins with the greatest respect.

Mr. Higgins told a rather funny joke and everyone laughed. Ralph sensed a tickling in his stomach, and it rose to his throat. Before he knew it, he too was laughing. He hadn’t done that in years.

From that point on, he joined them for every meal, and eventually partook in the cheerful conversations. What a happy, wonderful household the Higginses ran! Great respect for them built up in Ralph’s heart.

Mrs. Higgins put him to work one day. He helped her prepare supper, stirring dough for the mouth-watering bread she always made, or washing vegetables that would end up in the best stew in town.

He helped Mr. Higgins with heavier tasks such as repairing broken furniture. Mr. Higgins gave him a hammer one day and said, “Now you try.”

“But—”

“Now don’t go giving me any of that! You have to earn your keep!”

Ralph smiled because he sensed that under the stern words, Mr. Higgins was regarding him with esteem.

“Here, like this. Be careful. You don’t want to go and smash your thumb!”

He took Ralph’s hand and helped him feel the usage of the hammer.

“First, I’ll have you hit the table top. I placed a coin on it. Feel where the coin is. See it in your mind, and pretend that if you hit it, you’ll win a million dollars. Concentrate.”

Ralph reached and touched the coin, sensing its placement. He visualized it on the table, inhaled and swung the hammer. He heard the coin fly.

Mr. Higgins chuckled. “I’d say that was worth at least a quarter million! You hit the edge of the coin.”

“Let me try again.”

Ralph was enjoying this. He hadn’t felt this inspired in years. On the second try, he hit the coin.

“Very good! Hah!” shouted Mr. Higgins. “You’re a natural.”

“Thank you,” Ralph said cheerfully. “Now give me a piece of wood to work with.”

“Gladly. Now, feel this.” Mr. Higgins placed Ralph’s hand on a broken leg of the chair. “Can you sense what you have to do with this?”

“I believe so. Give me a nail.”

And so Ralph learned to use a hammer, blind! He was so proud of himself. One day a little boy approached him and thanked him.

“For what?” he asked.

“For fixin’ my chair. I thought I was gonna fall and break my head!”

“Yer welcome, lad.”

Months passed. Ralph was laughing with the Higginses and their boarding students over supper when he heard footsteps. Someone came into the room. Ralph heard Mr. Higgins stand from his seat at the head of the table.

“What can I do for you?” His voice was tense. Ralph felt apprehension.

“I’m going to find a way to shut your abominable school down,” the stranger snarled.

Ralph pressed his hand onto the timbered tabletop, the one that just a week earlier, he had fixed himself.

Abominable? Not this school! This is a place of caring, friendship, family, and excellent learning! The Higginses are wonderful teachers to these delightful, respectful children.

“Not if I can help it,” Mr. Higgins responded in a calm voice.

Ralph smiled.

“We do a lot of good for these children,” Mrs. Higgins said in her smooth voice.

If Mrs. Higgins wasn’t married, Ralph would court her himself.

“I doubt that,” came the stranger’s ugly, hate-filled voice.

Ralph stood up. “Leave these fine people alone! They do much good. They changed my life! I was wanting to leave this world after I was struck blind, but now, I’m happy.”

The stranger took a step closer.

“Mr. Rawlings?”

“It’s me. What of it?” he snapped.

“Do you have any idea who you board with?”

“A generous couple and intelligent children.”

“With all negroes, sir!”

A cold streak surged through Ralph. Negroes?

The stranger snickered. “What have you to say about that?”

Ralph’s mind whirled in disbelief. Shock, then disgust nauseated him, but to his total delight, it passed as fast as Mustangs running wild in the open. Warmth seeped into his skin, his bones, and his heart filled with love, joy, and acceptance. The past months came strongly to his mind.

“These are the most excellent people I have ever known. I was a man consumed with hate due to the stupidest thing imaginable. Yet understanding my prejudice, Mr. and Mrs. Higgins took me in and treated me like family. Mrs. Higgins told me the day I arrived here that she was color blind. Now I understand. She could have thrown me out because I hated her people, but instead she chose to treat me with kindness. I’m no longer blind.”

“Well, I’ll be damned! Are you saying they are under your protection?”

“I am!”

“Well then,” he cleared his throat. “Maybe I’ll leave these . . . folks alone. I know you’re good friends with the sheriff, the president of the town’s bank—”

“And all the influential people of this town. Now kindly take your leave,” Ralph said.

The man strode away, and the door in the front of the building closed after the sound of his footsteps. Four children rushed to Ralph and threw their arms around him.

“You saved us!” one little voice announced.

“I have to understand, children, did you know I was white?”

“We never cared about that,” a girl said. “Do you care on Christmas day what your presents are wrapped with, or are you only interested in what’s inside?”

“Smart girl!” Ralph rustled her hair.