September, 1863
It wasn’t a teacher’s job to play hide and seek. Eliza Draney opened the broom closet and peeked inside.
“April, are you here?” Behind the mop bucket came whimpering. Eliza exhaled and moved the bucket, revealing a little girl, with knees to her chest and tears on her cheeks. Rather than attempt to coax her out, Eliza climbed in and put her arm around her.
“The other children have gone. You have all my attention. What’s troubling you?”
“My little sister is going to die.” April sniffled.
Eliza pulled a hankie out of her dress pocket and handed it to her.
“You mean May? Who told you that?”
“Martha. She said May is going to die because she has seizures.”
“Nonsense, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
“But teacher, the angels came and took my Pa. What if they take May too?”
Eliza swallowed a lump in her throat. “Your Mama told me she’s been having them a lot less since the doctor has been treating her. I think she’ll be okay.”
Even in the darkness Eliza could see two little eyes, as wide as saucers, looking at her. This wasn’t what they paid her to do, but these interactions with her pupils were her favorite part of the job. It almost made moving forty miles away from her family worth it.
Heavy footsteps entered the room and a man cleared his throat.
“Are you in here my little red-haired filly?”
The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Frank Carson. She hated it when he called her “red-haired filly” but she hated it even more that the head of the school board was about to find her sitting in a broom closet.
The closet door opened and the light from a nearby lantern illuminated Mr. Carson’s rugged face and brown wavy hair. He was young to be head of the school board, but being a part of one of the wealthiest families in Kansas meant having advantages it took regular people a lot longer to achieve. His brown eyes sparkled with amusement as he looked down at her.
“Please, I asked you to call me Frank. And you might be more comfortable sitting at your desk.” he held out his hand to help her up.
He helped her to her feet and she smoothed her dress and straightened her bonnet.
“I can explain, Mr. Carson… Frank.” Eliza said.
“I look forward to hearing it. But right now I need to talk to you about…” he peered around Eliza’s skirt at little April clinging to her. He pulled two peppermint sticks out of his coat pocket and handed them to her. “There’s one for you and one for your sister. Now run along home small fry!”
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