Black Bleeding Heart
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The next morning, a horse from the stables at the hotel came to pick them up and bring them back to town. The trip took about three hours and brought them to an impressive stone building in the middle of the city’s business district.
“I hope we’re here for the right reason,” Kate whispered when they reached their destination. “What do you think it is?”
Johnnie glanced around with curiosity.
“It could be an orphanage.” She smiled. “Or a school or a place that cares for the sick. We’ll know soon enough.”
When she saw her own expression on Johnnie’s face, Kate realized how strange this all must seem. “This is the first time I’ve been inside a church. It looks much larger than my family’s church and the church where I was raised in Kansas City.” She’d always assumed that everyone who lived out West attended some type of Christian service each Sunday. Now she knew otherwise.
Kate followed Johnnie as they stepped forward and went through a set of double doors into the foyer. A man in a long black suit greeted them with a smile. He led them down a long hallway lined with portraits of the previous rectors.
They passed a large reception area with a marble floor and a desk staffed by a woman with brown hair pulled back into a tight bun. Another woman appeared from another door, dressed in gray slacks and a white blouse.
They reached their destination, which turned out to be the Reverend James Denton, headmaster, and headmistress at the New Jerusalem Orphan School. The name rang familiar because it had also been the name of one of the orphanages she’d visited in Kansas City, but the location was different.
She’d never seen anyone in such fine clothing before, let alone wearing a corset beneath the dark skirts of her outfit.
Reverend Denton bowed his head and gestured for them to take a seat across the table from him. “I’m sorry for calling so early this morning. I wanted to give you both your first impressions in private. But if there is something wrong, I can call a meeting with everyone involved in a few minutes.”
“No!” Kate answered before Johnnie could respond.
He frowned, but she didn’t elaborate. “We were told our son is being treated here after being attacked. Can you tell me anything more about that?”
She noticed that he did not ask them whether they’d found any clues as to her child’s attacker or why they weren’t back home yet. Instead, he sat quietly and waited for their response. After they gave him the bare bones of what had happened over the last two days, he thanked them for bringing their son here. Then he asked them to wait while he left the room.
After only a few seconds, he returned and said, “Mr. Larken will come to get you in just a minute.”
“Who’s Mr. Larken?” Kate wondered aloud. “Do you work for this place?”
“Yes.” Denton nodded. “My predecessor was named Larken. You may meet him soon. In the meantime, please follow me.”
A young man dressed like Denton appeared out of nowhere and stood waiting for them.
“Come along.” The man smiled when he heard Denton’s instructions and beckoned to them with his hand.
As they walked through the hallways, Kate noticed how quiet everything seemed despite the many people moving in and out of the various rooms. No one spoke as they made their way past other workers who wore uniforms consisting of gray trousers, white shirts, and black vests.
They went down several flights of stairs and entered a large chapel-like room filled with pews and stained glass windows. A choir had gathered at the front of the room and sang a hymn that sounded like it came from the Bible. They stopped singing when they saw the visitors from the outside world, who looked as out of place in the building as Kate felt inside it.
Denton guided them to a small table near the back wall and offered them tea. They accepted without question, grateful for the chance to sit still for a moment. While they were sitting, Kate noticed a number of children playing and studying. One little boy even waved to her in greeting. Others came up to say hello to them, asking them questions about their lives in Boston.
When Denton finally joined them, he explained that they would be shown to a dormitory for boys and girls in another wing of the building. They’d have lunch together with the other students and then go to the library, where they’d begin their studies. After lunch, they could spend time in whatever activities appealed to them: sports, music lessons, dancing or other hobbies.
While Johnnie took a quick tour of the building, Kate watched the kids playing in the yard, trying to decide whether they were happy or sad. They might live here full-time once they got older, but she knew most of them already spent a lot of nights sleeping on the streets.
The thought bothered her and kept her from focusing until Johnnie rejoined her. The look he cast her way told her he hadn’t taken any joy in seeing the children. She wasn’t sure if he blamed her or himself for what had happened to their son, but it didn’t matter. Whatever was responsible for the attack was going to pay.
After leaving the building, they walked around the corner of the church and saw that it was surrounded by a fence that enclosed an area that reminded her of a park. It had several well-maintained paths and benches, and trees and flowers lined the pathways.
Children played in all directions. Some rode tricycles or pushed toy cars and trucks along the paths. Others ran and chased each other, while others sat on the grass under a tree and read.
Kate’s heart warmed at the sight. “It’s beautiful,” she told him.
“I wish I had grown up here instead of in some dirty alley,” Johnnie said quietly.
She turned away from the scene and stared at her feet, wondering if this was how God saw things. If He ever looked beyond these walls and saw the filth and poverty that surrounded them every day.
They headed toward a gate near the main entrance and found the door unlocked. When Johnnie opened it and stepped into the courtyard, Kate followed him. She expected to see the boys and girls of their age playing there, too, but there was no sign of anyone else.
“Where are they?” she asked him, looking around.
He shrugged and pointed. “You’ll find out.”
“Are they hiding?”
“From us.” He glanced at her again, obviously not expecting her to take offense.
Then she spotted a boy coming down from the steps of a wooden porch across the courtyard, and when he saw Johnnie approaching him, he quickly turned away and disappeared behind a shrub.
Johnnie waited for the child to return to the top of the porch and then walked over to him.
“What is your name?” Johnnie asked before they both stood side by side at the bottom of the steps.
“Tobey.”
“Did you see Tobey earlier?”
The boy shook his head.
“How many more kids do you know in this area?” Johnnie asked.
The boy’s eyes went wide with fear. “Just me—and you!” Then he turned away and hurried to join the other children.
“Let’s start by meeting our classmates,” Johnnie told her. They climbed the steps, which led to a landing on the first floor, then went down the hallway to their right. They passed three more boys, one of whom nodded to them in greeting and disappeared after saying goodbye to Johnnie.
Another boy who lived farther down the hall looked at them but didn’t acknowledge their presence, either. Tobey was still missing.
At the end of the hallway, they opened a door on the left that led to a large room filled with desks and chairs arranged in rows. A number of students sat at those desks, reading.
Kate stopped to look around. She recognized Denton, who sat at the front desk. At her approach, he rose to greet them, offering each of them a chair.
“We’re ready to get started,” Johnnie said, and Denton ushered them into the classroom, which seemed larger than it appeared from the doorway.
A few students greeted them. Most ignored them, but one young man looked up as they approached and gave a shy smile.
“Good to meet you, Tobey,” Johnnie said. “I’m sure we’ll see each other a lot.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m Johnnie. This is my wife.”
“My name is Toby,” Tobey replied. “Nice to meet you.”
“You may call me Mr. Parker,” Denton told him. “Or Mr. P.” He motioned to the other kids. “You can all just call me ‘D.'”
That sounded odd but somehow fitting, so Kate decided not to comment.
Denton sat behind a long table at the front of the classroom and began talking about their upcoming school year.
Their classes would consist of religion, reading, and writing, arithmetic, geography, history, penmanship, spelling, Latin, and art. He explained that religion and literature were mandatory subjects and that the others would be taught only if there was time.
Some of the children laughed at the idea of learning art, while others nodded their agreement, and one even said, “Art’s stupid!”
“There are plenty of people who disagree,” Denton replied, trying to keep a straight face. He continued to list their curriculum until all of the students’ names had been called. The next part of the class took longer because of Tobey.
He kept getting lost in the crowd and finally ended up in a group of four boys sitting at a desk near the back. Johnnie made sure he wasn’t left behind by following him from row to row, but Tobey stayed put.
When all of the children had finished answering questions and filling in blanks about their personal histories, Denton thanked them and dismissed the class.
As soon as he closed the door to the classroom, Tobey ran past them, heading for the staircase. Denton looked surprised, then waved his hands to stop the boy from leaving. “Wait!” he ordered. But Tobey kept going.
The teacher tried to grab him but missed, causing Tobey to slip through the legs of some students seated nearby. He raced past Denton and headed for the doors at the far end of the corridor. Johnnie moved to block his path.
“No!” Tobey shouted, stopping abruptly in the middle of the hall.
Johnnie stepped aside. “Why don’t you wait here?”
Tobey stared at the floor and then turned and followed Johnnie and the other boys out the door.
After they left, Denton returned to the front of the class, where Kate and Johnnie waited. He smiled broadly when he reached them. “Now that that’s settled, let’s discuss something else.”
He pulled out his pocket watch. “It’s nearly two o’clock. You should both take a break until supper.”
***
On Friday, the last day of school before winter recess, Kate and Johnnie met Tobey in a small room off the classroom. There they found Denton waiting, along with eight or nine students who had gathered in a huddle around a large map on the wall.
“Where have you been?” Denton asked, looking up at Tobey.
“Out.”
Denton glanced at Kate, then motioned for him to join them. He did, reluctantly.
“What happened?” Johnnie demanded, stepping forward.
“They’re looking for your brother,” Tobey said. “You need to tell Mr. Parker.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Parker, he’s your father!” Tobey exclaimed. “He’s coming back today!”
“How do you know?” Kate wanted to know.
“Because I’ve been watching and listening.”
The other children listened to the exchange, most giving Tobey a suspicious stare. One young man raised his hand and whispered something to Denton.
“Your father works for the railroad?” Denton asked Tobey, his voice filled with concern. “Does he know where your mother lives?”
Tobey shrugged. “I think so.”
“Do you remember how she looks? Does she work in a bank?” Denton asked, and Tobey nodded. “Well, it shouldn’t take too long to find her,” Denton said.
“We need to get there first,” Tobey said, his eyes wide. “Can’t you help us?”
“Of course, we can,” Johnnie told him. “Let’s go now! We’ll find your mother.”
Tobin’s heart leaped as he realized he might actually see his mother again. “But what about my class?”
“Class is over,” Denton replied. “And besides, I think you’d better start calling me by my title instead of ‘Mr.’ And call everyone else by their title or name, too.”
“Yes, sir,” Tobey agreed.
“If Mr. Parker has no more than three people to escort him back home, Tobey and his family will be safe until tomorrow,” Denton promised. “Come on, we’d better hurry.”
Kate and Johnnie followed Denton out of the schoolhouse and down a gravel road leading away from town. As they walked, he explained how he got the idea to help Tobey look for his mother.
“When I heard you were here, I wondered if you might want to teach a couple of extra classes this year,” he said, stopping to point at an old tree in a field of tall grass. “It was hard to believe at first, but when I saw how much Tobey cared about the children in my regular classes, I thought maybe he could make the switch without anyone noticing.”
“That sounds like Tobey,” Kate remarked. “He’s a great kid.”
“Yes, but you wouldn’t expect someone like Tobey to become an excellent teacher, would you?” Denton shook his head sadly. “There are times when even teachers need help.”
The tree Tobey had mentioned grew in a clearing near a creek. They walked down to its bank and stopped at the edge of the water, then turned toward a cluster of low hills behind them. The sun had set and dusk had fallen as they made their way toward the hills. In front of them lay another patch of woods—the only cover in sight.
“We can’t just hide,” Johnnie said. “Someone might spot us in the trees.”
“Then we’d better stay close to the creek,” Tobey said.
“You won’t have to worry about anyone spotting us in the trees,” Denton assured them.
They approached a large oak tree. It was well over five feet in diameter and covered with gnarled branches. Denton pointed out the thick trunk and its twisted limbs, which looked like fingers grasping at the sky.
“The one advantage of this tree,” he said, “is that it’s so large. Not many things live in the woods around these parts.”
Johnnie and Tobey moved quickly past the tree to another, farther along the stream. Denton circled the first one carefully, looking for some sign of human habitation. After a few minutes, he signaled for the others to follow. Then he went into the woods and returned after a short time with four or five bundles of cut brush and branches piled in the center of a nearby clearing.
The End