Zeely by Virginia Hamilton Read Free Book Online

mother looked just like her mother, and on and on, clear to Africa, where it all began.”
    Geeder was interrupted by a boy called Warner. He was tall and thin, taller than the other boys. He stood up, hopping back and forth on one foot. “I know about Watutsis,” he said. “They come from a place once called Ruanda-Urundi. It has a new name now because it’s a new nation. I know all about them and they are bad people. They keep people as slaves!”
    The boys and girls sat silently, looking from Warner to Geeder. Geeder said that she didn’t believe him, that he must have made the whole thing up. But Warner wasn’t to be taken lightly. He told a sad tale of the troubles of the Watutsis. He said that their former slaves had risen to fight them, that soon there might not be any Watutsis.
    “Well,” said Geeder, “you shouldn’t speak mean of them if they’re being hurt. Anyway, I don’t see what that has to do with Zeely. She’s still the same. She’s still a queen!”

    “You’re a silly girl,” Warner said, seriously, “and I’m going home.” He whistled for his dog and the two of them ran down Leadback Road. The boy whistled and the dog yapped all the way across town.
    When Warner had gone, Geeder forgot him and all he said. She didn’t have to say that Zeely was a queen again because by now everyone knew how important Zeely really was.
    “Tomorrow,” she said, “Zeely’s going to move all the prize razorbacks down to Red Barn and I wouldn’t miss seeing her do that for the world!”
    A short while after Geeder ended her story, leaves and corncobs were once more heaped on the bonfire. The flames shot high into the air. The boys and girls started leaping and dancing, making enough noise to be heard for miles.
    Toeboy joined in the fun. Right away, he started the game of daring the flames with his clothing.
    Geeder was left alone. “How can they play like that when so much is to happen in the morning?” she said to herself. “Toeboy’s the worst one of all. He could have sat with me to keep me company.”
    She got up and quietly collected her necklaces from the girls. Then she left the bonfire without saying good-bye to anyone.
    When Toeboy noticed that Geeder had gone, he at once headed for home. Nearly at the farm, he overtook her.
    “Guess what I saw?” Geeder said. She had forgotten she was angry with him for leaving her alone.
    “What?” asked Toeboy.
    “I saw a circle around the moon,” Geeder said. “See?” She pointed up through the trees where the moon was going down. It looked like a cold, yellow eye.
    “There’s a circle, all right,” Toeboy said. “I bet there’ll be mist in the morning.”
    “Of course there will be,” Geeder said, “and it will fit just fine with what’s to happen.”
    “What’s to happen?” Toeboy wanted to know.
    “Why, Zeely!” Geeder said. “Zeely parading all those animals into town—what in the world did you think I meant!”
    Geeder and Toeboy lay under a dark sky that night. The moon went away and the stars seemed hard and far off. Toeboy slept fitfully and Geeder stared into the night. Under the covers with her lay Uncle Ross’ flashlight. She did not touch it; she hardly realized it was beside her. Any thought of the night traveller had drifted far back in her mind. She slipped into a sound sleep.
    Geeder did not dream or speak out in the night, nor did she witness the passing of the night traveller down Leadback Road. But Toeboy did. Perhaps it was the excitement of the bonfire that caused him to turn and toss in his sleep. He awoke several times, turned, saw that Geeder was asleep and went back to sleep himself. Maybe it was the fact that the night traveller did not only walk down Leadback Road this night. Before it passed the hedge in front of the house, it paused for as much as thirty seconds. It seemed to listen; perhaps it waited. Whatever its reason for stopping there in the road, it did so when Toeboy had awakened from a