The second issue was that Drew had been slacking off in school and worrying Gabe seriously for the first time because of the group of kids he’d begun hanging with.
Intervention of some sort was called for and Gabe had been racking his brains as to what it should be. There was no way he was going to allow Drew to slide further down the slippery slope of disengagement from school.
Three months away from his school would at least change his environment. Gabe went to the school counselor, who helped him make arrangements for lessons and exams.
The third issue was the least important to Gabe. He asked himself again if he would be searching for gold. But it would be an adventure unlike any that had come his way in his uneventful life, and it would help Drew.
The day he’d notified Moultrie that he’d arranged matters with his job, the attorney urged him to get to Swinton as quickly as possible. “Remember the house is fully furnished. All you and Drew need are clothes and personal items like your computer, books and music.”
A week later they were on their way with a check for two thousand dollars in Gabe’s wallet.
Chapter 2
“This is a whole lot better’n yesterday.” Drew drummed the side window in rhythm with the beat from the radio.
“You can say that again,” Gabe agreed.
His spirits had been rising ever since they’d awakened to see clear skies from the windows of the Richmond motel where they’d decided to stay when, instead of the rain stopping as Gabe had prophesied, it had increased right up through the early dark. After breakfast they’d gone through Virginia and were now in South Carolina.
The total mileage from New York to Swinton was around seven hundred miles and Gabe could have made it in one long drive. Friends of his had boasted of driving more than that, stopping only for brief naps by the roadside. That wasn’t his style. He wanted to see where he was going and what the land was like. South Carolina was certainly different from any place he’d seen before.
The sun shone through huge trees whose branches arched over long approaches to houses set back on lots, and it shone as well through tall, straight trees that marked the boundaries of fields.
Some of the fields were already green. Some were still brown.
“What’s that white stuff over there?” Drew pointed to a large field where dry brown plants had balls of white sticking to them.
Gabe slowed the car. “That’s cotton.”
“It grows like that?” Drew looked at him disbelievingly.
“You’ve seen pictures of it in books and on TV, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, but—” He turned to look again at the fluffy balls.
“But it’s different when you see it in real life, isn’t it? I wish Pop had told us about his South Carolina people. Those unknown relatives of ours had seen cotton fields. Maybe they’d even gone along those rows picking and filling sacks to be taken to the cotton mills. Or maybe they worked in the tobacco fields. Remember those funny-shaped tobacco barns we saw?”
Gabe hoped Drew was picking up information that he’d remember. For himself, he was ashamed of his own ignorance. If nothing else good came out of this adventure, his New York insularity had been revealed to him. There was much more to be seen and to be appreciated beyond the five boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.
They passed small towns where there’d be rural sections where empty houses and other structures had fallen in upon themselves and were covered with vines. He’d read somewhere that the green plant that clambered up trees and smothered them was a parasite called kudzu. It was extremely difficult to get rid of. He noticed there were a number of houses with trees, shrubs and flowers around them, but the houses were standing alone except for a garage and perhaps a shed. He wondered who lived in those dwellings and what their lives were like without other people close by.
The contrast between the South Carolina countryside and what he saw daily in Manhattan was fascinating to him.
Signs told him he was coming up on Florence where he knew he’d have to feed the hungry gas tank. Might as well feed his always-hungry brother, too, before he began complaining. He could leave I-95 here and pick up 20 West, get a glimpse of what Columbia, the capital, was like, then go southwest and make his way to Swinton.
“Are we gonna eat anytime soon?” Drew asked right on schedule.
“We’re stopping in Florence for gas and we’ll eat there.” He filled the tank at the first Shell station he saw then drove away.
“Hey! There’s a McDonald’s right next door,” Drew pointed out.
“I see it. Let’s go someplace a little nicer. Aren’t you tired of fast food?”
Drew shrugged and began looking earnestly on both sides of the street. “I just wanna eat sometime soon,” he grumbled.
They came to a small shopping area that had a homey look with its trees, benches, and turn-of-the-
century lamp fixtures.
“There’s a restaurant next to that bookstore,” Drew said. Gabe turned in and found a parking place. He took his new casual jacket from the backseat and slipped it on. After they visited the men’s room and came out into the nicely decorated dining area, Gabe felt a sense of excitement. This was the final leg of their trip. Their next stop would be Swinton.
Business was brisk, with a stream of people at the buffet counter. Many of the tables were already occupied and there was a buzz of conversation throughout.
“The food looks good,” Drew said as he picked up a tray and silverware. “I’m sure hungry.”
“Get whatever you want.” Gabe was behind Drew and had already decided on the steak and baked potato combination, a green salad and cherry pie. A lady farther down the line was having some problem at the cash register. As Gabe leaned a little forward to see what was happening, his attention was caught by the profile of a young black woman just past the third person beyond Drew.
She turned slightly to look at the vegetable casserole she’d passed and seemed to be making up her mind whether to order it.
Her skin, the color of creamy milk chocolate, was flawless and the contour of her face seemed perfectly designed. He couldn’t see her eyes but a turquoise earring sparkled in the lobe of a delicate ear and matched the jacket she was wearing.
As she shifted her shoulder bag, her left hand came into view. It was bare. I’ve got to see her face, Gabe thought.
The line began to move swiftly as a second cashier was added. Drew and Gabe had to answer questions from the server about their steaks and by the time they’d received their meal, the young lady was nowhere to be seen.
“I don’t see an empty table in this section,” Drew commented, and led the way around a partition into a smaller area where the tables and chairs were bunched together.
Gabe was suddenly struck from behind by a tray and felt something damp landing on the left arm of his new jacket.
“What the—” he began and turned while trying to keep his tray of food upright.
The girl in the turquoise jacket was trying to keep the rest of her food from sliding off her tilted tray while apologizing at the same time.
“I’m so sorry.” Big hazel eyes glanced up at Gabe and a deep flush reddened her face.
“Here, let me clean the potato salad off of your sleeve. Someone bumped me and before I knew it my tray hit you. I’m so sorry.”
She