When The Earth Moved
by Atonia
Part Four - Conclusion
John leaned in the doorway of his library where Ainsley had set up office. "You doin’ anything tomorrow?"
"I reckon I should be doin’ somethin’. What you got in mind, John?"
"I thought we might go over to the islands and see if anythin’s left."
"Alright, we’ll do it."
"I understand there’s a ferry operatin’ back and forth now. James was gonna go with me but he’s moved on up the Ashley."
"Whatcha reckon we’ll find?"
"I don’t know. I’ve heard some stories about the islands about sinkholes over on Mt. Pleasant."
"They ain’t just on the islands. I’ve read in the paper about ‘em. Some as big as an acre. Cracks in the earth sending up pure sweet water but folks is afraid of tastin’ it."
John found a seat and sat down. "Melanie’s pregnant."
"I ain’t surprised to hear that. You two been goin’ at it like rabbits."
John grinned and looked away.
Ainsley leaned on the library table. "I’m happy for you, John. It does me good to see you happy and it’s been a long time comin’."
"You don’t think I’m too old to be having a baby do you, Jane?"
"Too old! I’d say not. Hally’s five. I had him when I was thirty-four. How old are you, Melanie."
Melanie tucked back a stray curl. "I’m older than John…I’m thirty three. He’s never even asked me how old I was."
"It doesn’t matter to him. What matters is that he’s found in you someone he can love and who loves him back. I’m glad it’s happening. It’s been hard for him…you never get over the loss of a child."
"No, I know that. I think about Lizzie so often. Cilla can’t quite understand where her sister and her father have gone without her. She wants to go too. She wants to go to this place called heaven because she knows her mother is there with her father and her sister."
Jane sighed. "Too many people we loved are walking around up there. I’d like to think Mr. Legrand was there walking and with his full faculties again. Ainsley found Joab and he said the old man passed quietly right before the earthquake happened. He carried him outside and the house went up in flames shortly afterwards. It’s all been so horrible. If one good thing came out of this it’s you and John." She patted Melanie’s hand.
Craterlets opened all around Charleston. The earth liquefied and sent up streams of water sometimes throwing up blue mud. One was probed on Mt. Pleasant and found to be bottomless. John and Ainsley passed several of them on the western side of James Island. They rode out to Alston’s plantation located on the far eastern side of the island bordering on the Atlantic. Down a long avenue of live oaks they came to the house. It was unoccupied but farther to the left were the old slave quarters and they were occupied by mostly elderly blacks. Alston let them farm the plots he’d set aside for them and live there until they died.
Ainsley stopped a little ways from the house. "You’d never know anything happened here."
"Let’s check the chimneys." John rode on ahead and dismounted.
One of the former slaves came out to see them. Ainsley knew him from his childhood. Grizzled and gray and walking with a carved stick he greeted the men. He was doing all right he said. Got shook up a bit. He said he’d get one of his boys to go up there on the roof and fix that chimney. A few bricks had fallen.
Inside the house looked good. It was dusty and needed a good cleaning. Everything was covered up in dust sheets as Alston had left it.
They walked out to the cotton fields. The cotton had been harvested already from James Island and was sitting in a warehouse on the Cooper River.
"Will you plant again next year?" John asked.
"I don’t know, John. It’s hard to get anybody that wants to work in cotton anymore. Alston was the one, you know. He was the driving force behind it. This was his place…belonged to Mama before Alston." Ainsley let out a long sigh. "If it was left to me, I’d sell off half the land. That’s not what Alston wanted to do. He wanted to keep it intact for his girls. Now there’s just Cilla…three years old."
"You got cattle out here, a dairy farm."
"Yep. I guess we’d better go see what’s what with that."
Later they were on Johns Island and John was anxious about this horses. He found his foreman repairing some stalls in the stables. The horses were all out in the paddock.
"We got shook up pretty good out here. Horses went wild and tore down the stable. Took us two days to round ‘em up. They’re all right now you can go out there and see for yourself."
John did and Ainsley rode back to the house. As with James Island, the chimney’s were damaged and some of the foundation pillars would have to be refitted but the house withstood the shakeup.
"Good sturdy house you got here, John."
"Yeah, Granddaddy knew what he was doin’. I’m thinkin’ I might move Melanie and Cilla out here…get ‘em out of the city…away from the earthquake. Won’t be so bad out here. It’s safe and you and Jane can have the house ‘till you get yours rebuilt."
"You sure about that?"
"Yeah, I’m sure. This is my land. I grew up here in this house. I think…Daddy would have wanted me here. Keepin’ it goin’, you know?"
"Yeah…I know, John. Course you’ll be takin’ Melanie away from folks."
"She don’t know folks in Charleston anyhow. We need to…to be to ourselves and be a family. That’s important to me. I never expected it again. It’s like a gift and I don’t want to share it. I want to be selfish with it for awhile."
"All right if that’s what you want." Ainsley sighed. "Guess I need to paint over your name this time on the door, huh?"
"Might as well, I ain’t been a partner to you in a long time. I’m gonna raise horses out here. Train ‘em and If I can’t make a livin’ doin’ that well, there’s the phosphates. We’ll get that back up and going as soon as possible. I’ll be all right, Ainsley."
Ainsley hugged his shoulders. "I know you will, John. You ‘bout ready to head back?"
"Yep."
Now that Mayor Courtenay was back in Charleston things began hopping. His appeal in the newspaper was picked up and reprinted all over the country and donations were pouring in from individuals, churches, local organizations and state governments. That is, with the exception of South Carolina’s own governor. Politics played a bigger role in his decision not to solicit funds for Charleston. His constituency was from the western or upstate are of South Carolina and rather than lose their support in the upcoming election he chose to offer words instead of assistance. He greatly feared Courtenay would run against him and if he did he would surely win.
Ainlsey was obliged to go to Columbia and was appalled at the governors decision. He wrote a rather tart letter that was posted in the Post and Courier regarding the politics of earthquakes, the hearts of men and the pocketbooks of office. He was heralded in Charleston for his outspoken stance in the matter. Courtenay ignored the governors snub and thanked him for his kind words about the people of Charleston.
The scientific delegation from Washington DC left the state but left it in the very capable hands of a local man who spent months examining Charleston’s earthquake damage and also the surrounding area. When he submitted his report, which practically word for word became the official findings that were published, he documented two epicenters. One being near Summerville and the other just south of Charleston in Dorchester County.
In the coming weeks John moved his family out to the plantation at Seabrook. Melanie was delighted. Cilla started calling her mama. She tried to get her to say Melanie but it always came out mama and so she stopped. The little girl needed a mama, she was her sister’s child and she loved her as if she were her own. Her own middle was beginning to show evidence of her pregnancy and she was nest building. The lovely old house hadn’t received much attention when John was on his own.
He laughed at her furniture shifting swearing he was going to run into something and break his neck. He was back to being the John he used to know before the accident. He kept himself busy with his horses and the phosphate mining had resumed on his property. The company he and Ainsley were planning with Alston never formed after Alston’s death.
Ainsley was back at work in his law office and still making frequent trips to the State House in Columbia. Meanwhile his house was being rebuilt with the addition of earthquake bolts. He had them installed in John’s house too.
Avery Pendleton had made a name for himself with his invention. Unfortunately he didn’t apply for a patent and soon competition sprung up all over Charleston. Still, he’d made his mark and not a little money. He sent a check to John Legrand to repay him for his first quarter’s tuition at college. He moved out of Ainsley’s stable yard and into a college dorm. Unknown to Ainsley he’d been corresponding with Becca Legrand since she arrived in Maryland. She was also attending college and wrote that she would be coming home for Christmas holidays and expected him to call on her. Avery was already beginning to sweat over that prospect.
With inside of fourteen months Charleston was back on its feet and little remained of the terrible destruction of August 31, 1886 when the earth moved at 9:51 PM.