Sabella & Malcolm Ch. 07

Malcolm went into the living room to wait for Sabella. She came downstairs a few minutes later laptop in hand. She joined Malcolm in the living room. She sat next to him on the couch.

"How do you use your computer to use this thing called the Internet?" Malcolm asked.

"I have to turn it on," Sabella said turning on her laptop. "Once it's on it connects to the Internet."

"Once it's on and connected I need you to look for information concerning the Double M Ranch," Malcolm said.

"I'm not going to like this am, I?" Sabella asked as she logged on to the Internet.

"No, you're not," Malcolm replied. "Your brother feels that you should know what you're about to learn, and I agree with him."

Sabella clicked on her web browser and waited for her homepage to open up.

She then clicked on the search field and typed in; Double M Ranch, Tyler, Texas. She hesitated pressing the enter button because it would start a process she wouldn't be able to stop.

"I don't like surprises," Sabella said, "tell me what I'm going to see."

Malcolm took a deep breath and began telling Sabella the story of the Double M Ranch.

"Until a year ago this place, this land wasn't a ranch," Malcolm said. "My father when he was alive was the Grand Wizard of the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan."

As expected Sabella was shocked and she moved away from Malcolm. The hurt he felt at her reaction to what he said surprised and overwhelmed him.

"My father used the land for Klan rallies," Malcolm said stamping down the pain, he felt from the look of disgust on Sabella's face and continuing with what he had to say. "Everything that had to do with the Klan was held on this land. My father was very proud of being the Grand Wizard. He considered the position to be one of honor, and he expected me to follow in his footsteps when he became too old to perform the duties of the Grand Wizard. But, to his chagrin and disappointment I had no desire to follow in his footsteps. I was ten years old when I understood what the Klan stood for but even at that age I knew that what they stood for and what they did was wrong. I refused to attend anymore of the meetings and to have anything to do with my father or the Klan."

"That must've made your father very angry with you," Sabella said.

"Yes, it did," Malcolm replied, "My father said, I couldn't do that, especially since I was his only son, and he held the top position in the Klan. He said my refusal to attend the rallies would reflect badly on him, and he couldn't allow me to do that. So, he forced me to attend the meetings and the cross burnings by threatening to burn down the home of my best friend Jesse. A colored boy about my age that I had become friends with when I was about five years old."

"Your father allowed you to have a colored child as a friend?" Sabella asked amazed that his father would allow such a thing.

"When I became friends with Jesse, he wasn't happy about it," Malcolm said. "He told my mother that he wanted her to keep me away from Jesse because it wasn't right for a white boy and a nigger boy to be friends and my befriending a nigger boy would reflect badly on him because of his position in the Klan. My mother wasn't like my father, she was, in fact, the exact opposite of my father in every way. She told my father that the friendship couldn't do any damage to him because the two of us were just babies. She didn't tell my father that Jesse and I had met because she was friends with Jesse's mother. She kept their friendship a secret because she knew how my father would react."

"How did your mother wind up married to your father if they didn't have the same beliefs?" Sabella asked.

"My father presented a totally different picture to my mother when they were dating," Malcolm said. "It wasn't until they were married that my mother and my mother was pregnant with me that she found out the type of man my father really was."

"Why didn't she divorce him?" Sabella asked.

"My mother didn't believe in divorce," Malcolm said. "She took her marriage vows seriously."

"I guess so," Sabella said amazed at what she was hearing.

"When I told my mother about my father threatening to burn down Jesse's home if I didn't attend the Klan rallies, she told me that I had to end my friendship with Jesse because seeing him would put him and his family in danger. We went over to Jesse's house one last time so my mother could explain to his mother why she, and I wouldn't be coming around anymore. Jesse's mother understood. She told my mother, she would miss their friendship, but she agreed with her that it was the right thing to do."

"I bet you missed your friend," Sabella remarked her tone sad just thinking how she would've felt if she wasn't allowed to have Regina as her friend for whatever reason.

"I did," Malcolm replied. "Jesse and I didn't understand why we couldn't be friends, so we would meet secretly and play together. We did this for months and thought we were getting away with it. I didn't know that my father saw me leaving home one day when I was sneaking off to meet Jesse and followed me to see where I was going. When he saw that I was going over to Jesse's house, he told me that he wanted to grab me and take me home and give me a beating I would never forget. But, he didn't because he came up with what he considered a better way to teach me a lesson, something he knew I would never forget."

"What did he do?" Sabella asked.

"That night as I was preparing to go to bed my father told me he wanted me to take a little drive with him," Malcolm said his breathing becoming labored. "When I recognized where he was taking me, I knew I wasn't going to like what he was going to show me. My father drove until we were sitting over a ridge that overlooked Jesse's house. He turned to me and told me that he knew I was sneaking off playing with Jesse, and since I wouldn't obey him, he had no choice but to do as he said and burn his house down."

"Oh, my god," Sabella said.

"I begged him not to burn his house down," Malcolm said his voice becoming shaky. "I told him he didn't have to burn Jesse's house down because I would never visit him again. But, he wouldn't listen. He said I broke his rule and somebody had to pay for it, and I decided it would be Jesse and his family when I didn't obey him."

Sabella's eyes filled with tears as she imagined the fear and dread Malcolm must've felt when he realized what his father was about to do.

"My father flicked his headlights on and off," Malcolm said continuing his story. "Few seconds after he did that I saw someone dressed in white carrying a torch run towards Jesse's house and throw the torch onto the front porch. Then another person dressed in white appeared a few seconds after the first one also carrying a torch and threw it onto the back porch. I continued to plead and beg my father to stop what he was doing. I promised him once again that I wouldn't play with Jesse ever again. I even promised to go to the Klan rallies and cross burnings if he would just stop, but he wouldn't stop.

Sabella reached out and took hold of Malcolm's hand as he continued with his story.

"His Klan buddies kept throwing flaming torches at Jesse's house until it caught on fire. I stared at the house expecting Jesse, his mother, his father and his little sister to coming running out of it, but they didn't. I prayed they were away visiting family, or that they were being held outside of the house forced to watch it burn that would've been bad but they would've been alive. Anything would've been better than what my father said to me."

Malcolm stared out into space as he continued telling Sabella what happened that awful night.

"He said that all of this was my fault that Jesse and his family were losing their home and their lives was my fault because I disobeyed him. When I realized what he said I started screaming, and trying to get out of the truck so that I could help Jesse and his family escape from the fire. But, that bastard grabbed me and wouldn't turn me loose. He kept telling me that they were losing their home and their lives because of me, because I disobeyed him."

As Malcolm spoke Sabella looked at him and her heart began to weep for him seeing the fear and anger that filled his eyes as he relived the terror of that night.

It was the tears that she saw forming in his eyes, that slowly made their way down his cheek and his body shaking as he spoke that made Sabella reach out and put her arms around him to comfort him and try to ease some of the pain he had to be feeling.

As he continued to speak her own tears began falling as she imagine what he must've felt watching his friend's home and family perish in such a horrible manner because his father chose such a sick way to punish him, to try and teach him a lesson.

Malcolm didn't realize he was crying and shaking until he felt Sabella's arms go around him bringing him back to himself.

He wondered when she moved close enough to him to put her arms around him. Her holding him brought back memories of his mother holding him trying to comfort him when he and his father returned home that night and he was crying uncontrollably.

"What have you done to him?" he remembered his mother screaming at his father as they stood on their front porch.

"I taught him a lesson," was all his father would say as he nonchalantly made his way his way into the house.

"I told my mother what he had done," Malcolm said wiping his eyes and continuing the story. "My mother started crying and screaming when she realized my father and his Klan members had killed her friend and her friend's family. My father screamed that it wasn't his fault. He said that it was my mother's and my fault, and it wouldn't have happened if we had done as he said and stayed away from Jesse and his family. That night my mother told me, we were not staying there. She told me to go upstairs, and to pack up the things I wanted to take with me because we were never returning to the house again. My father tried to keep us from leaving but my father had gotten in touch with her family, and they came over and helped us move out of the house. The next morning my mother filed for divorce, and it was granted in less than twenty-four hours. That was the day I found out that my father wasn't the one who held the wealth in our family, it was my mother's family that had the money. She told my grandfather what happened, how my father blamed me and made me watch the house burn knowing that Jesse and his family were still in it. My grandfather became so angry, he gathered up a group of men, and they went over to our house and threw my father off of the land. My grandfather told him, that since he was no longer married to my mother, he was no longer family, and he could no longer live on land that he owned."

Tears fell out of both Sabella's eyes and Malcolm's eyes as they held each other, and he continued telling his story.

"After my grandfather threw my father off of the land, and he wouldn't allow him to continue using it for his Klan activities my father took him to court and the court said because the land because it became community property after my grandfather gifted it to my mother after they were married and my father had a right to use the land anyway he saw fit. So, my father could use the land to hold his Klan activities until the day he died. Which happened five years ago. My father died five years ago but the memory of what he'd done to Jesse and his family was still so deeply engrained in my mind, I couldn't set foot on this land until last year. It took me over to get over twenty years to over what my father did to me and to be able to step on this property again. When my grandfather died, I learned from his attorney that he left me this piece of land to me. I wanted nothing to do with it. I told his attorney to sell it and donate the money to an organization that helped colored children hoping it would be a start to making up for what my father did to Jesse and his family. Then I was told by my grandfather's attorney that I couldn't sell the property for ten years, so I was stuck with it. But, I couldn't and wouldn't come back here, I had made up my mind that I would never come back here. Then I heard that the Klan was still using the property even though my father was dead. That was the only reason I came back to Culbert County otherwise there was nothing here for me."

By the time Malcolm finished telling Sabella about his father, and what he'd gone through tears were streaming down Sabella's face.

Malcolm put his arms around her and held her against his chest.

"I'm so sorry you went through that," Sabella said through her tears. "I'm sorry your friend and his family lost their lives in such a horrible manner. How could your father force his son to witness something so horrible?"

"He was only interested in teaching me that I shouldn't disobey him and what would happen if I did," Malcolm said resting, his chin on Sabella's head. "He didn't care if or how it affected me as long as he made his point."

"But you were only a child," Sabella said moving away from his chest and looking up at him, staring into his eyes.

She saw his pain from what he'd suffered and he saw her compassion for what he'd gone through.

They both saw something else that neither of them could identify or name. Whatever it was drew them towards each other like two opposite ends poles of a magnet.

It was Sabella, who realized what was happening and broke the attraction.

"So, you're going to wait out the ten years your grandfather put on selling the property, and then you're going to sell it and leave?" Sabella asked to bring them back to conversation at hand.

"Yes," Malcolm said. "As I said before there is nothing here for me in Culbert County."

"Are you sure you're going to want to sell this place after being here that long?" Sabella asked.

"Yes," Malcolm replied. "This place holds only bad memories for me."

"Maybe that's why your grandfather wanted you to wait ten years before selling the land," Sabella said, "to give yourself the chance to make good memories here. To keep you from doing the first thing that popped into your mind when you found out, he left you the land. You've already started by tearing down the old house and building a new one, and I'm sure there has to be some good memories here of spending time with your mother before things went bad. Maybe that's what your grandfather wanted you to remember."

Malcolm looked at the woman sitting before him amazed that she was, able to figure out just from hearing his story something he hadn't been able to figure out since the day he found out his grandfather left him the land. She was right his grandfather wanted him to take the time to create good memories on the land and to remember the good times, he shared with his mother here.

Things he couldn't remember because he was holding on the bad memories his father created. He almost missed what his what his grandfather was trying to do for him.

"Thank you," he said pulling Sabella into his arms. "Thank you so much."

"For what?" Sabella asked.

"You helped me realize what my grandfather wanted me to do and to see," Malcolm said. "Something I couldn't see because I let the bitterness I was feeling could my vision. Thank you so much."

"I'm glad I could help," Sabella said smiling up at him.

After talking to Malcolm, Sabella took her laptop and went, upstairs to her room to call her brother.

"Did he tell you?" Mark asked.

"Yes," Sabella said. "He told me, his father was the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He also told me that wasn't a part of his father's Klan activities."

"Did you go online and read the details about his father online?" Mark asked.

"No," Sabella replied. "I asked him to tell me what it was he wanted to show me online."

"Do you believe him?" Mark asked.

"Yes," Sabella replied.

"Are you going to stay in the house?" Mark asked.

"Yes," Sabella said, "but I'm going to be very careful. At the first sign of trouble, I'm out of here."

"Where will you go?" Mark asked.

"I don't know," Sabella said, "but I'm not staying anywhere I don't feel safe."

"I want you to set up your Web cam," Mark said changing the subject. "I want to be able to see you and know that you're okay while we talk."

"Okay," Sabella said. "I had forgotten my computer had a built in Web cam. I'll set it up tonight and talk to you tomorrow."

"No," Mark said. "I want you to set it right now. So, I'll know whether or not it works."

"Okay," Sabella said. "I'll set it up now."

Sabella reached for her laptop, turned it on and went through the steps required to set up her Web cam with her Yahoo messenger then she crossed her fingers clicked on her brother's name, clicked okay on the warning screen and closed her eyes.

"You can open your eyes, Sabella," her brother said.

Sabella opened her eyes and started crying when she saw on her computer screen was an image of her brother live and in living color.

"Mark?" Sabella said, "is that you?"

"Yes, it's me," Mark said wiping away a tear from his own eyes. "I'm so glad to see you."

"I'm so glad to see you," Sabella said a smile splitting her face in half. "I can't believe this thing is working."

"I'm glad it is working," Mark said. "What part of the house, are you in?"

"The guest bedroom," Sabella said. "The one across from the master bedroom."

"Why did he put you there?" Mark asked his tone suspicious.

"Where would you have him put me?" Sabella asked, "in the garage?" This is the only other room beside the master bedroom that has its own bathroom."

"I thought the other rooms had a Jack and Jill bathroom," Mark said.

"That was added later by another owner," Sabella said.

"Do you lock your door at night?" Mark asked.

"Yes, I do," Sabella said, "but not because I'm afraid of Malcolm. I don't think he could ever see ma as more than a friend."

"White men in 1950's had an awful habit of just taking black women, whether the woman was interested in him or not," Mark said.

"I don't think Malcolm would do something like that," Sabella said. "He's been nothing but nice and accommodating."

"I'm just telling you to be careful," Mark said. "Remember you're in 1954 not 2009 things are totally different for you there."

"I know," Sabella said rolling her eyes up to the ceiling. "I promise I will be careful."

"I know you can take care of yourself, Sabella," Mark said, "but I'm going to worry about you because if you need me, I won't be able to help you."

As her brother spoke Sabella saw tears rolling out of his eyes down his cheeks.

She began crying herself when she heard the helplessness in his voice.

"I promise I'll be careful," Sabella assured him.

There was a knock on Sabella's door as she spoke to her brother.

It was Malcolm.

"Mabel wants to know if you're eating lunch?" he asked when Sabella opened the door.

"Yes," Sabella said.

The two of them stood in the doorway staring at each other.

"What're you doing?" Malcolm asked.

"Chatting with my brother," Sabella replied.

"Would you like to meet him?"

"Excuse me?" Malcolm said a confused look on his face.

"I'm chatting with him using my Web cam," Sabella said. "Would you like to meet him?"

Curious to see what a Web cam was Malcolm agreed to meet Mark.

He followed her into her bedroom over to the bed where her laptop sat.

On the screen, he was a colored man who could only be Sabella's brother the family resemblance couldn't be missed. The look on Mark's face was one of, mistrust and suspicion.

"Mark, I would like you to meet Malcolm Matheson," Sabella said introducing Malcolm to her brother. "And Malcolm I would like you to meet my brother Mark Jamison."

The two men stared at each other neither of them saying anything for a few seconds.