Fire Along the Sky
Page 99
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A: I do. It was a Monday. I know because we was just getting ready to start the washing when the wind come up smart. That was about mid-morning. So we couldn't wash after all, nor go out neither though we was short of firewood.
Q: And what time did your mother wake you that day?
A: Why, she didn't. It was me who woke her, like always. At sunrise I did the milking, and when that was done, I went to shake her awake. And she got out of bed and made the porridge.
Q: Was there any time that day, that first day of the blizzard, when you didn't know where your mother was?
A: No, sir. In the morning she was busy with mending stockings and then the blizzard came up. It was a hard blizzard. Nobody went nowhere for two whole days, except early to bed to save the firewood and the candles.
Q: Now, Martha, tell me this. You understand about telling the truth, about right and wrong?
A: Yes, sir, I understand.
Q: And you swear here today that you were with your mother that whole day that Mrs. Wilde went missing. That she never left the house from dawn when you woke her, not that whole day nor the next.
A: Yes, sir, that's right. I swear it.
Q: You know that your mother has been charged with the murder of Cookie Fiddler?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Do you think your ma did Cookie some harm that day, Martha?
A: No, sir, I don't.
Q: So your testimony is that you were with your mother the whole day in question, and that you never saw Cookie Fiddler or Mrs. Wilde, and know nothing about what happened to either of them.
A: I can't say that. Not exactly.
Q: Well, what can you say exactly then?
A: I saw Mrs. Wilde. She was walking upmountain through the woods behind the mill. I saw her from the porch when I went out to fetch water.
[Recorder's note: The questioning of this witness was interrupted for the half hour it took to calm her, quiet the room, and remove some of the spectators.]
Q: Martha, are you telling us that you saw Mrs. Wilde that morning she disappeared? Walking in the woods behind the millhouse?
A: Yes, I did. She was headed upmountain.
Q: And what time was that?
A: Mid-morning, sir, I'd guess. Ma sold the mantel clock so I couldn't say exactly.
Q: But before the blizzard started?
A: A little while before. The sky was already lowering, and the wind was up.
Q: And she was alone?
A: Yes, sir, nobody anywhere near. Not even Cookie, which was odd, I remember thinking it right off.
Q: How was she dressed?
A: Why, normal. A cloak and boots and a hat, and mittens.
Q: You knew, didn't you, that Mrs. Wilde was ill? That she wasn't to be left unsupervised?
A: Yes, sir. I knew that. I saw how much trouble they took to keep her from wandering. Callie told me about it, and everybody talked about it in the village too.
Q: Martha, you're a brave girl. Don't look at your mother now, just at me. Do I understand right? A blizzard was coming on and you saw Mrs. Wilde walking up the mountain by herself, and you didn't call an alarm? Didn't go after her to help her find her way back home?
A: No, sir.
Q: Why on earth not?
[Recorder's note: Judge O'Brien directed the witness to answer the question put to her.]
A: Because Mama said I was to mind my own business. She came to the window and looked and said, never you mind, Martha Kuick, that's her trouble and none of ours.
Callie got up to put more wood on the fire, spilling the cat, who arched her back and then went back to her kittens in their basket. There was the sound of pattens at the back step, the scraping of snowy heels and a hand on the door.
“Curiosity's come home,” Callie said, blanching. “The hearing must be done.”
“It is,” Curiosity said as she came into the kitchen. “Done once and for all, I hope.”
And at that moment it occurred to Hannah, looking from Callie's frightened expression to Curiosity's sober one, that something had happened in the meetinghouse when Martha was called to testify, something that Callie had known might come to pass.
Curiosity unwound her shawl and managed a small smile.
Q: And what time did your mother wake you that day?
A: Why, she didn't. It was me who woke her, like always. At sunrise I did the milking, and when that was done, I went to shake her awake. And she got out of bed and made the porridge.
Q: Was there any time that day, that first day of the blizzard, when you didn't know where your mother was?
A: No, sir. In the morning she was busy with mending stockings and then the blizzard came up. It was a hard blizzard. Nobody went nowhere for two whole days, except early to bed to save the firewood and the candles.
Q: Now, Martha, tell me this. You understand about telling the truth, about right and wrong?
A: Yes, sir, I understand.
Q: And you swear here today that you were with your mother that whole day that Mrs. Wilde went missing. That she never left the house from dawn when you woke her, not that whole day nor the next.
A: Yes, sir, that's right. I swear it.
Q: You know that your mother has been charged with the murder of Cookie Fiddler?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Do you think your ma did Cookie some harm that day, Martha?
A: No, sir, I don't.
Q: So your testimony is that you were with your mother the whole day in question, and that you never saw Cookie Fiddler or Mrs. Wilde, and know nothing about what happened to either of them.
A: I can't say that. Not exactly.
Q: Well, what can you say exactly then?
A: I saw Mrs. Wilde. She was walking upmountain through the woods behind the mill. I saw her from the porch when I went out to fetch water.
[Recorder's note: The questioning of this witness was interrupted for the half hour it took to calm her, quiet the room, and remove some of the spectators.]
Q: Martha, are you telling us that you saw Mrs. Wilde that morning she disappeared? Walking in the woods behind the millhouse?
A: Yes, I did. She was headed upmountain.
Q: And what time was that?
A: Mid-morning, sir, I'd guess. Ma sold the mantel clock so I couldn't say exactly.
Q: But before the blizzard started?
A: A little while before. The sky was already lowering, and the wind was up.
Q: And she was alone?
A: Yes, sir, nobody anywhere near. Not even Cookie, which was odd, I remember thinking it right off.
Q: How was she dressed?
A: Why, normal. A cloak and boots and a hat, and mittens.
Q: You knew, didn't you, that Mrs. Wilde was ill? That she wasn't to be left unsupervised?
A: Yes, sir. I knew that. I saw how much trouble they took to keep her from wandering. Callie told me about it, and everybody talked about it in the village too.
Q: Martha, you're a brave girl. Don't look at your mother now, just at me. Do I understand right? A blizzard was coming on and you saw Mrs. Wilde walking up the mountain by herself, and you didn't call an alarm? Didn't go after her to help her find her way back home?
A: No, sir.
Q: Why on earth not?
[Recorder's note: Judge O'Brien directed the witness to answer the question put to her.]
A: Because Mama said I was to mind my own business. She came to the window and looked and said, never you mind, Martha Kuick, that's her trouble and none of ours.
Callie got up to put more wood on the fire, spilling the cat, who arched her back and then went back to her kittens in their basket. There was the sound of pattens at the back step, the scraping of snowy heels and a hand on the door.
“Curiosity's come home,” Callie said, blanching. “The hearing must be done.”
“It is,” Curiosity said as she came into the kitchen. “Done once and for all, I hope.”
And at that moment it occurred to Hannah, looking from Callie's frightened expression to Curiosity's sober one, that something had happened in the meetinghouse when Martha was called to testify, something that Callie had known might come to pass.
Curiosity unwound her shawl and managed a small smile.
