Oh Suzannah, Don't You Cry For Me

Chapter Fifteen: Sister's Keeper

This chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but I promised to have an update before the end of January, so here you go. :)

Chapter Fifteen: Sister's Keeper

Indiana could not compete with Brooklyn. The openness of the landscape left a knot in Becca's stomach. Without the tall buildings blocking her in on every corner, the flat landscape and short buildings reminded her that she had no perception of the future. Would Suzie return home safe? Would Becca make friends at the high school?

It turned out that the high school in Shelbyville, Indiana, where Uncle Henry enrolled Becca, hated her. It had far fewer students than the previous school Becca attended in Brooklyn. Everyone knew her as the "new kid" since most of the students had grown up with each other instead of blending into a crowd.

She could no longer be a blurry face in a crowd, known only by her friends. The first day of classes started the first week of January and her teachers spent the entire day forcing her to introduce herself.

Here, the last name "Barnes" had a negative connotation. People ostracized Henry for running off and having a child with a black woman. The bullying Riley used to receive when he first attended school fell onto Becca. It reached the point where Becca begged to stay on the farm. Henry and Ida, not wanting to repeat what Riley went through, pulled Becca out of classes before the third week of January. They still had a few textbooks from when Ida homeschooled Riley, so Ida promised to teach Becca on their homestead.

The countryside did nothing to ease Becca's worries. Every morning, she woke up in a cold sweat from the nightmares that plagued her dreams. Dread would grip Becca's heart anytime Henry came back from town and happened to be carrying something that resembled an envelope, dread would grip Becca's heart. She would have to sit down until Henry confirmed that there were no letters from the army addressing Suzie's death.

Between her studies, Becca helped Henry with the farm animals. One of the horses, Riley's black and white Shire stallion named Shadow, caught Becca's eye and she devoted most of her free time to horseback riding. The fresh air, the wind rushing past her ears, and the sound of Shadow's hooves kicking up the powdery snow allowed Becca to escape from the worries that followed her around.

Shadow grew attached to Becca so she decided to spend her free time in the barn reading in a haystack. Shadow either rested his head on Becca's lap or lay down and allowed her to lean against him to rest. Taking care of the horses became Becca's daily task since it helped to calm her down. She would feed them daily, braid their manes, and brush their coats. They were technically Henry's workhorses, but Becca loved them and they loved her.

Shadow always tuned in to Becca's emotions, so he became her favorite. If Becca cried or did chores slower than usual, Shadow would neigh and nuzzle up against her until she dragged her hand through his thick mane.

For the most part, Becca assimilated into her new life. Ida and Henry welcomed her with open and loving arms and tried their best to make her comfortable. The guest bedroom that sat across the hallway from Riley's old bedroom on the second floor became Becca's room. For the first time in her life, she had a room to herself.

The outhouse took some getting used to since the house did not have a bathroom inside. Bundling up just to use the bathroom, especially in the mornings and evenings, made Becca appreciate her early 1910s home in Brooklyn. In contrast, Henry and Ida lived in a farmhouse dating from the late 1800s, and it showed when the floorboards creaked and the wind howled against the leaky windows.

One day, when a blizzard hit the town and dropped several inches of snow, Becca sat cooped up in the house, staring out the window as the wind whipped the snow around. As she sat there, the half-finished quilt on her lap forgotten, thoughts of Suzie trailed through her mind.