The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem Read Free Book Online

Because I'd rather run some more."
    "You run then, boy. I'll get something at Cook's for our supper."
    And so Medford ran. Alone. He ran alone the next day, too. And the day after that. When he wasn't outdoors he stayed in Boyce's workshop and sanded until his shoulders ached. He didn't catch sight of Prudy and didn't try to. Best to let time pass, forget Cordelia and her cloth man, bury them once and for all.
    When Book Learning started up again for the week, he walked into the auditorium to see Prudy standing in front of the lectern, head bowed, while Deemer talked at her, bending in close to her ear.
    Prudy's normally rosy cheeks were ashen and she had circles under her eyes like charcoal. Medford wanted to pull her away from Deemer, run with her out the door and back to Bog Island. Instead he walked to his desk and put his dinner satchel inside.
    "Master Runyuin," Deemer snapped, "help Mistress Carpenter carry her desk to the New Learners section. They will be her charge from now on."
    Prudy didn't look at him, just walked to her desk.
    He joined her there. "Prudy," he whispered, "what is happening?"
    "Silence!" Deemer slammed his ruler on the lectern.
    Prudy spent the day instructing the New Learners. They clustered around her like chicks around a hen, even during the midday dinner. Medford couldn't get near her.
    He watched her, though. Sometimes she relaxed, even laughed at the antics of the young ones in her charge. But when the older students were working on their own Deemer would join her, instruct her, chide her for letting the New Learners giggle too much, say he must "rid thee of thy Carpenterish glee." The light would leave her face and again Medford wanted to take her hand and dash outside.
    When Book Learning ended for the day, Medford waited for Prudy at the door to the auditorium. But Deemer was with her and she gave Medford a look that told him to keep his peace. He stepped aside and she followed Deemer up the stairs to the Archives.
    They couldn't make her be a Learned. Someone had to stop it, but Medford didn't know whom he should talk to. The Council? Prudy's parents?
    He tried Boyce first. Boyce didn't even stop sanding to think about it. "Stay out of this, boy. 'Tis just Deemer trying to become Twig, same as when they were young ones."
    "But what about Prudy?"
    "Leave it be, boy. She won't thank thee for interfering."
    Medford left it be for ten minutes. Then he bolted out to Prudy's house to find Twig and Earnest in the workshop, glowering at each other from opposite sides of the huge workbench. When Medford appeared in the doorway, Earnest turned his back on his father and bent over the plane he had in his hand, sharpening it with a whetstone.
    Medford wasn't sure what to do or say. You didn't question adults very often when you grew up on Island.
    Twig set his whetstone down on the bench. "How fare ye, Medford?" he asked. He didn't smile or get up to slap Medford on the shoulder the way he usually did.
    "She doesn't want to be a Learned," Medford said. "She wants to work with you and be a Carpenter."
    "'Tis what we wanted for her, Medford," Twig said. "But I have Earnest to work with me and Deemer has no one."
    "Aye," Earnest said. "
Bend thy Will to thy Neighbor's need.
" He threw his whetstone down so violently that it skipped across the workbench and crashed into a pile of shovels. He jostled past Medford and disappeared.
    "She doesn't want to be up there with Deemer all day," Medford said.
    "She likes working with the young ones. 'Twill be fine, Medford." But Twig wouldn't look him in the eye.
    Clarity arrived as Medford was heading out the gate. She was as pale as Prudy, carrying a basket of vegetables as if it were a basket of anchors. When she saw Medford she put the basket down and threw her arms around him. It was the first time he could remember being hugged, although it felt so familiar he thought Alma must have done it long ago.
    "Just be Prudy's friend, Medford," Clarity said. "'Tis all