Heaven Sent by Alice Duncan Read Free Book Online

with vigor. “Yes. They
came from another part of the same country. That’s England. It’s
another big island, Papa used to say.”
    “ Ah. The same place the
criminals came from.”
    Becky looked up at her, shocked. “My
papa isn’t—”
    Callie mentally smacked herself for
being sarcastic about Becky’s father in front of her. “Of course,
he isn’t a criminal.” She made sure she sounded both positive and
jolly. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
    Still gazing up at her and looking
puzzled, Becky said, “You mean it was a joke?”
    A joke? “Well, sort of, although it
wasn’t a very good one. What I meant was that it wasn’t only
criminals who came from England, Becky. My own ancestors came from
the same region. I think they originated in Scotland.”
    Becky’s air of puzzlement didn’t
abate. “Where’s that?”
    Glad to change the subject, Callie
showed her where Scotland was. “See? It’s very close to England and
Wales. They’re neighbors.”
    “ Oh. There are lots of
countries close together there, huh?”
    “ There surely are. Do you
know any of the other continents?”
    “ I know them all.” The
little girl sounded proud of her knowledge. Callie didn’t begrudge
her that; the poor thing needed to feel good about
something.
    “ Can you show
me?”
    Nodding, Becky turned the globe.
Callie noticed that she was very careful with it. Curious, because
she’d also noticed that Becky mentioned her papa with regard to
these geography lessons, she asked, “Was it your papa who told you
where all the continents are, Becky?”
    Becky nodded again. “Yes. He used to
hold me on his lap and show me all the countries, too, He taught me
lots.”
    “ Ah. I see,”
    So. Mr. Remote hadn’t always been such
an old poop. Interesting.
    “ See? Here’s Africa.” Becky
pointed. “People used to capture the natives and sell them to other
people for slaves.”
    “ That was very
bad.”
    “ Yes. That’s what Papa said.
He used to say slavery is one of the worse evils mankind ever
thought up.”
    In spite of the dreadful topic, Callie
smiled. She could almost hear Aubrey’s voice coming out of his
little girl’s mouth. She jumped at the opportunity to mend a fence,
too.
    “ Your papa’s right, Becky.
Slavery is a great evil.”
    Becky nodded solemnly. “And here’s
Antarctica.” She enunciated the difficult word slowly. “It’s cold
down there.”
    “ Yes indeed.”
    “ And where’s the last
continent, Becky?”
    “ Here!” Becky pointed her
finger at it. “America! That’s where we live.”
    “ We sure do. Can you find
Santa Angelica on the globe?”
    Becky shook her head. “No. Papa said
Santa Angelica is too small to show up on the globe. But it’s about
here.” She pointed again. And she was right.
    Callie was impressed. “Right you are.
You’re a smart girl, Becky.”
    “ Papa said so,
too.”
    It was almost always Papa used to say , Callie
realized. She sighed. “Here, sweetheart, let me show you about
where my aunt lives. New York City’s a lot bigger than Santa
Angelica, but I don’t think it’s big enough to show up on the
globe, either. The world’s a very big place. Here it is. This is
where my aunt Venetia lives.”
    “ That’s way over on the
other side of the country.” Becky sounded surprised.
    “ It’s a long way away. Three
thousand miles, or thereabouts.”
    “ That’s a real long
way.”
    “ It sure is. And after you
travel all that way, you have to see Aunt Venetia.” Callie wrinkled
her nose, and Becky giggled.
    “ So. Would you like to see
if your papa has any books about New York or the eastern part of
the United States?”
    “ Oh, yes!”
    The excitement in Becky’s
voice made Callie happy. She was glad she’d applied and been
accepted for this position. She might be a poor substitute for
Becky’s mother, but she was somebody , and it was already a great
pleasure to pay attention to Becky Lockhart, who was a
darling.
    Callie and Becky