Compassion-Series #12 (Connie over-hears that Mei-ling is going to have a baby.
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Connie just stood with eyes wide open, trying to think of something to say. Isadora thought she knew Connie well, but she had changed from the way she once was. "Dear me," was all she could think of to say. She cleared her throat again..."I never gave it a moments thought that anything like this would happened. Mei-ling being so young herself and all...I don't know what to say. I don't know what Donald would say. I can tell you that he is not going to like it one bit. He's already told me time and time again what a big mistake we made bringing these people here... Their being so different
and all. Not wanting to eat our food, not wanting to wear our clothes and acting as if they never understand anything they don't want to. Donald won't like it at all I tell you!" Connie turned and walk out.

On her way upstairs, Connie remembered what her father once said to her about having grandchildren running around, laughing and playing. Connie winched at her empty womb. It made her angry, but she collected her self, and went to tell her husband the news.

Donald, on his way down the stairs, wearing his riding habit, and knee length highly polished brown boot. He looked questionably at the expression on his wife's face. Connie walked towards him. "Morning my dear ," he said,
"what kind of worried look is that you're wearing on your face. That's one I haven't seen in a while?" Connie told him about Mei-ling. His anger was obvious, but did not say anything for moment. His newly acquired status had gotten to a comfortable place and there was no room in it for a bunch of snotty-nose, crying brats. He said that he would talk to all of them when he came back from riding over to the Brisco House.

The Brisco’s were very wealthy people and were the first to welcomed the
Montgomery's back into their circle of friends. They were impressed with Donald's Chinese help, and said that they were going to send a broker to find them some good Chinese help too. Brisco had just won the election and now he was called Senator Brisco. It made Donald feel privileged to be in his company. But, he could not stop thinking about the look on Connie's face. He knew that she had wanted a child so badly, that it was almost unbearable living with her, but that was many years ago. Now, it was like an old wound opened up all over again. He would have to tell Isadora to get
rid of the child or they go back.

Mei-ling was showing quite a bit now. Tom had very little to say to her and it broke her heart for him to treat her this way. Everyone noticed the difference in the way he was now treating Mei-ling. He never showed her any love and seemed to bark orders at her. He avoided her if he would accidentally run into her in the back, as she hung up clothes or fed the chickens. At night, she slept in the bed, and he slept on the floor.
He told her that if she did not have a boy, that they would not keep the child. That he would find a way to kill it before it's first breath. He acted as if he hated her; he was so angry. But, if she had a boy, then rather than to be shipped back home, they would run away and find some place else to live. Mei-ling hoped that she would have a son.

The bigger Mei-ling got, the more ashamed Tom became, and the worse he treated
her. He no longer cared whether she had a girl or boy. He wanted no part of it and began making plans as to how he was going to get rid of the it. He had one big problem, how would he get the baby from that big "brack" lady.

With only a few weeks to go until she had her baby, Mei-ling was not allowed to do anything around the house. Isadora would sit with Mei-ling, and treated her as if she were on daughter. She would tell her that men were all the same. They never really knew how to show what they truly felt. That, when they were scared the most, is when the treated you the worse. Mei-ling understood, but she still felt heart-broken and all alone with her baby. She would rub her stomach as the baby inside moved about, and began to sing softly to the baby in her the same song that her mother sang to her as a little girl, in their native tongue. She was so bored at having nothing to do. She had made so many baby cloths and little warm gowns for the winter when it came.

Isadora's friends had made so many clothes, that there was nothing left to make. There were piles and piles of clothes for the baby.

Mei-ling began following Isadora around the house, watching her as she did her
chores. Sitting at the table as Isadora cooked. Several times when Isadora thought that she was alone, she was not, and would turn around, bumping into her, nearly stepping on Mei-ling. She made sure that she stayed out of Connie and Donald's eye-sight. She had heard that neither one of them wanted to set eyes on her pregnant body. Isadora had Tom to take the old rocking chair from Henry’s cabin, and put it in their room for Mei-ling. That was the best idea she could of had. Mei-ling lived in that. It eased the pain she was experiencing. She often complained to Isadora that the baby was hurting her. Isadora tried to make her stay in the bed. When she thought that Mei-ling was snuggly in bed, she would nearly stumble over her as if the girl out of nowhere.

One day, Donald rang for Isadora to come into the parlor. He was standing in from of the fireplace with his satin smoking jacket on, lighting the pipe he had brought back from London. He wore a beard these days and it was well sculptured to a 'T'. He cleared his throat as he heard her approach. He hated the sound of those damn slippers. Didn't she ever wear shoes?

Isadora listened to what he had to say. It was her turn now. Her voice was low and steady and had what he later described to Connie as an edge to it. "Mr. Donald, I have never asked you for nothing, but I want you to remember that I did you a favor when you most needed one. I have never mentioned it to you until now. This child is young and she ain't much bigger than a sparrow, yet everyone is treating her as if she did something terrible wrong. If she were having a white baby, you would not care about it
and if she was having a black baby, you would not care about it...why do you care so now? Miss Connie is long past her child bearing years...so, would you send these people out in the cold because they did what is natural. They are human beings just like you and me...no different. I just ask that you let them stay until the baby is born, then I will help to find a place for them to move to. But, right now the child is sickly and can barely get out of the bed." She hated to beg him, but she knew how sick Mei-ling was and that she would not make if she had to be moved down that rough road into town.

Donald told Isadora,..." just until the baby was born." He then, rudely turned his back on her. Shocked at the way he was treating her, she turned and walked out of the parlor. Well, she thought, she didn't like him either.

Late, that night, Isadora was awaken by a pounding on her door. It was Tom, he was frantic. Mei-ling was having her baby. Fortunately, the Montgomery's were at the Brisco's party or else they would have both been upset at the noise the girl was making. The baby was having a hard time coming out and was ripping and tearing Mei-ling's tiny body. Tom stood outside the window and watched. He could not take part in the baby's birth. He looked at his child-bride and felt sorrow for her pain and hated the baby even more. Then he saw it. At first he beamed, then he heard Isadora tell Mei-ling that it was a girl. Mei-ling reached for her baby and Isadora placed the baby in the
bend of her right arm. Tom wiped the sweat from his brow, bent down and picked up the sack he had placed on the ground.

Just as Tom looked once more through the window, Mei-ling saw him this time and raised an arm towards the window, trying for beckon him to come to her. To come see their baby girl. But Tom, not wanting Isadora to see him, quickly ducked and disappeared off into the black of night, with tears in his voice, saying, "Goodbye Butterfly." He ran off through the woods.

Mei-ling knew that she would never see her husband again. With tears streaking her face from the painful delivery, she proudly looked down at the cause of such pain. She smiled and looked up at her friend. They stared at each other for what seemed to be a long time, then with a weak and trembling voice, Mei-ling tried to talk, but could only whisper. Isadora, who was so much taller than Mei-ling, dealt down beside the bed to hear. She was crying also, as she put her hand on top of Mei-ling’s. Mei-ling raised up
her head a little, clutching Isadora's hand with little strength, saying, "I name my baby your name, Isadora....Jatchun. Not my husband's name. My daughter will not be coward like father, Tom Chan. My name Mei-ling Chu, tell my father I am sorry," she gasped in pain, and tried to say somthing else. "...my mother and my sister will ... tell my husband... so sorry for girl." Tears were flowing down the sides of her tiny face. She reached for her baby, then took her last breath. She died holding her beautiful baby girl in her left one arm, and the hand of the woman she had grown to love and call friend, in a tight grip.

THE BUTTERFLY AND THE WEEPING WILLOW

Isadora stood crying as she held the tiny infant wrapped in a towel. She looked down at its tiny mother, who had been a mere child herself. She had come to love Mei-ling. They had grown very close. "You teach me!" Mei-ling would always say. Now, she was dead. She could not control her angry tears. She knew Tom was gone. She never did feel the same way about Tom as she did Mei-ling, but now she hated him, and thought him to be a coward. She had seen Mei-ling's look of surprise when she saw Tom looking through the window. There was a look of discuss on his face. Isadora felt that it was a broken heart as well as the bleeding that caused the girl to die. She stood
alone now in the big house. She wanted her mother. She wanted Henry. She even wished Emmalett were there, anybody. But, there was no one...she was alone... Everyone she loved was gone now, and she felt terrified of being all alone. She had never been alone in her life. Then she looked down at the baby, who seemed to be bathed in a ray of light, coming from the glow of all the candles about the room, and then it dawned on her...she was not alone. She had the baby. A little baby girl named Isadora Jackson. This was now her baby to raise as her very own. She would love and take care her.

Isadora! She held the baby close. She looked back down at Mei-ling and promised her that she would never leave the baby and would always take care of her for as long as she lived.

Although it was dawn, she knew that the Montgomery's would not be back before
noon. She cleaned up the baby and put her snuggly in the center of her bed. She ran out to the shack of one of the field hands, and woke him up. She told him what she wanted him to do. His name was Jasper. Jasper was tall like Henry, but was only in his teens. He and his brother said that they would be happy to help her out.

When the Montgomery's returned, there was no sign of Tom, Mei-ling or any or
their belongings. And, by the look on Isadora's face, they thought it would be better if they question her later. She had told them that the baby was in her care and not to worry about it. They would never find out that Mei-ling was too, buried under the begonias which circled the old weeping willow tree. Isadora made sure the little box coffin of baby Jacob was not disturbed. The little Butterfly, as Tom had called Mei-ling, now also, rested peacefully under the guard of the very old weeping willow tree.

Once Connie had seen the tiny infant, it was not too difficult talking Donald into letting Isadora keep the baby there. Isadora had told Connie that if she could not keep the baby there, then she would leave with the baby. Connie realized that if Isadora left, that she really would be left alone, since Donald was hardly ever there these days. Besides, Donald had said that they would be doing a lot of traveling as he expanded his businesses here and abroad. She would talk Isadora into staying as long as she wanted to.

The sound of the infant was an illuminating sound to all, it was the sound of new life, no matter how hard they tried to ignore it or pretend that it did not exist. The baby was a cute, happy baby and no one seemed to notice that she was Chinese. Just that it was a fat, healthy baby. The field hands made a crib for little Dora, as she was called. They enjoyed whittling toys out of wood and even made a swinging crib to hang on the low bough of the old weeping willow tree, so that Isadora could be close to the baby as she hung up her wash.

Emmalett had come to live there now and was a big help to Isadora. She loved
Little Dora, as the baby was called, and had to be told time and time again to do her work. She now knew what it would feel like had her own baby Jacobe had lived. She tried hard not to think about him, but it could not be helped. Even though she never wanted to have anymore more babies, she had said, but all of her spare time was spent on Little Dora.

Time seemed to have wings. Isadora Mei-ling Jackson was having her fourth
birthday. It was Saturday, the Tenth of December, and there was cake and ice cream for her in the back room of the pool hall. They spent every weekend in town, across the tracks. Isadora had known everyone by now, and everyone in the Colored part of town loved her and helped her with the baby. They gave her their used clothes and toys as their own children grew older.

Dora sat with her pink party dress and had twelve pink ribbons tied on six long, thick, coal-black braids. Isadora had a time with the child's hair. Dora wanted braids like the other children she played with, but because of the
coarseness of her hair, it would never stay braided, so the ribbons were tied at the top and at the end of each braid, to hold them together. Dora loved her mother as much as her mother loved her. Everyone loved Little Dora, and although they had many, many friends, all they really had was each other. Isadora taught her everything she could.

At the pool hall, the child would be kept busy while her mother visited upstairs with Duke. Dora was taught to play pool, poker and roll dice and, unknown to her mother, she could curse like a field worker. Sunday mornings, she would sing in the children's choir at church. Sometimes, she, Earlene and Betty, would be a featured trio, singing, "Yes, Jesus Loves Me."

One Saturday afternoon, the Pastors wife, Mrs. Cherry, heard Dora cursing and fighting with a little boy. She saw her punch the little boy in the eye, then scuffle with the boy in the dirty alley. First, she pulled a small branch of a nearby tree, then she grabbed Dora by the back of the collar of her dirty white sweater, and gave her a spanking with the tree switch, telling her that if she ever caught her talking like that and fighting anyone, she was going to get the 'razor-strap.'

Dora soon learned that when she was at the pool hall, she could act the way she wanted to, and when she was away from the pool hall, she was to act the way little girls were suppose to act. Sometimes, she would spend the week at one house or another and go to school with Earlene and Betty, her best friends. Dora was smart and learned very fast and excelled in every thing she was taught to do, such as reading, writing and especially, arithmetic.

There were only a few times, when new kids entering the school, were there any questions asked about where did she came from. The childre who knew Dora, were quick to defend her against any oposition. She just told them what her mother told her to say, and that was she came from heaven!

AND, THEN CAME DINNER

Then the night came when they were thrown out of the Montgomery house for
good. Mr. Brisco, who was now running for Vice President of the United Sates, and his wife Charlotte along with their nine-year-old son Richfield, came to dinner. A special menu had been prepared and extra help was hired for the night.

Off and on, through the entire meal, as they sat at the table, only 'Richie', as his mother called him, could see little Isadora peeping through the kitchen door. At first, they stuck their tongues out at each other, then, they began to quietly play peek-a-boo. Richie kept laughing and ducking under the lace tablecloth, his father becoming very annoied at the boy.

Finally, at the end of the meal, Richie asked his mother if he could go play with the little girl in the kitchen. His mother repeatedly told him no, until the father, Governor Brisco, became so annoyed with the boy's distractions, and told him to go play, but only for a few minutes.

They left the table and went into the parlor. Governor Brisco, was trying to convince Donald to go into politics, when all of a sudden, their son, Richie, came running full speed through the dinning room, living room and into the parlor screaming, knocking an expensive 'Ming' vase to the floor. Little Isadora was hot on his heels, jumping over the broken glass; she caught him, called him a bad name, and socked him in the eye. As the boy cried in his mothers lap, his father stood embarrassed and ashamed at his son's cowardice. Humiliated, Donald gabbed Isadora by the arm, and dragged her into the kitchen.

Isadora, carrying a tray of sherbet and brandy, was just about to come through the door, when it opened. Donald threw the child into the corner. "Mr. Donald...what the hell do you think you are doing, Sir?" The Brisco’s and Connie all sucked in their breaths at the same time, making a loud noise. Donald was furious. "How, dare you speak to me in such a manner. I've had all of you I am going to take. Now, tonight, you get that... that... that." He was shaking his finger at Dora, who lay startled in the corner where he had tossed her, "... out of my house and you go with her, and I hope to see neither of you ever again. You can leave a note as where to send your belongings." Angry and fit to be tied, Isadora dumped the tray on top of his head, covering him with ice cream, chocolate cake and peach pie.

The Governor looked at Donald, grabbed his wife's hand, she grabbed Richfield's hand, and the three of them stormed out of the house. Connie put both hands to her face, and ran screaming up the stairs. Donald went into the parlor and lit a cigar. He didn't have time to get involved in politics anyway. Besides, he had grown to dislike Brisco and disliked his wife even more. He laughed at the black eye the little brat had. It served him right. He turned the house lights out, went to wash up, and go to bed.

Isadora made sure that she got out every dollar that had been sewn into her
mattress, filling two pillow cases, and not one note under twenty dollars. When Donald came back from London, he had given her two thousand dollars interest on what she had originally given him, plus the money she had given to Mr. Kraft, for the taxes. Little did he know that Connie had persuaded Isadora to invest that two thousand in his new company, Montgomery Shipping? Isadora was very rich. Besides what she carried, she also had money from the black leather bag that her father had given to her, in the bank, earning interest.

Duke had made room for them above his pool hall. Isadora was having her own
house built at the opposite end of the street. It would be the largest house in the Colored section of town. From time to time, she would see Donald come to the red-light district. He was always, as it was called, 'pissin' drunk. This made her decide to take her money out of his company and had a broker put her money in a company called, DeBeers. She made the right move. With the Stock Market going up and down, she was afraid to put too much of her money in it, and still kept the bulk of it with her.

No one but Dora knew she had so much money saved up, until she paid for her new, house in cash. Joking with Dora and Emmalett, she said, "Don't anybody use the new commode until I use it first!" They all laughed.

One evening as she and Dora where walking home from a special church meeting,
they encountered Donald Montgomery, sitting in his car in front of the church. At first they ignored him. They saw him just staring at them. He began to drive slowly behind them as they walked along. Then, he parked his car and caught up with them on foot.

"Isadora?" he said loudly. "I need to talk to you!" She could tell that he had been drinking. His clothes were wrinkled and sweaty. He was over weight and was quickly run out of breath by trying to keep up with them.
He got in front of them and blocked their path. His entire body smelled of cigar smoke and strong Whisky. As they tried to walk around him, he parried, blocking them again. His face was flushed red, and his eyes were glassy. Not wanting to get into a confrontation, she held tighter onto Dora's arm. Dora easily pulled her arm free, and stood with her hands on her hips, and moved a little in front of her mother.

Isadora felt a pain in her chest. Her lungs felt as if they were going to burst. She nearly fell over when Donald grabbed one of her shoulders, squeezing it. Dora quickly moved between them, Donald removed his hand,
apologizing as he did so. He had not meant to be so rough.

"Isadora, I need some money!" he said, as he rambled out of breath. "I have a
chance to make fifteen million dollars by the first of the year. I need four-thousand dollars by mid-night this Friday." He stared into the face of the woman he hated most in the world. He hated to beg her for money and could not help showing how he really felt, no matter how sincere he tried to sound. He waited for her to answer, blocking her path, as she tried to get around him.

"Mr. Donald...I don't have it." she said, after a moment. Isadora thought to what Henry had told her about him, and showed her contempt for him. She took Dora's arm and hurried passed him, pushing him aside. They both heard him call her some dirty names as he walked back toward his car.

Dora stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait here Mama." she said, and turned back,
disappearing around the corner. She caught up with Donald. "Mr. Montgomery!" she said. Standing in front of him, the top of her head not even reaching his chest. He turned, when he saw that it was Dora, his face turned a deep, angry, red. Dora walked closer to him, her tiny fists balled up at her side. "Mr. Montgomery, I think I owe you this." She punched him in the fat of his belly so hard he went down to his knees and threw up.

"My mother is not what you called her. As she was getting ready to let him
have more, she saw a police officer, was walking his beat, hurry towards them. Dora screamed, telling the officer..."He pinched my butt!" She turned and ran back around the corner, yelling "Mommy! That dirty old man touched me!"

Isadora, hearing her daughter scream, hurried towards corner and nearly collided with Dora. "I heard you scream? Did he do something to you? What happen, Dora?" she said, Perspiration, mixed with tears streamed down her face.
Alarmed, she shouted at the girl, "What do you mean, he touched you?"

"Nothing Mama, nothing at all." Dora began to laugh. Isadora, knowing her
daughter began to laugh with her. "Mama, I really gave him 'what-for,' you should have seen him down on his knees." Dora laughed herself to tears. Isadora's chest seemed to close up on her. She began to cough up blood. Dora, became alarmed, held her mother up, wiping her mother's mouth with the sleeve of her sweater. "Mommy, what is it. Come on, let's get home."

There had been many problems getting the right materials to finish building her house, and she had to live over the pool hall a lot longer than she wanted to. She got little sleep and the heavy smoke filtering up through the floorboards caused her a terrible cough. The smoke seemed to have little effect on Dora, the times that she did stay there. Most of the time she slept over at the home of her friends, Earlene and Betty's house. That way, they could do school work together. The loud noise from the pool hall, it was hard for her concentrate and study; Besides, she yearned to go down
stairs and play pool or poker, which over a period of time, she had become as good as Bow-tie, occasionally beating him, and winning few dollars.

Dora could roll dice with the best of them in the alley behind the pool hall. Bow tie never bet against her in a game. The music was loud, making her wanting to dance more than do homework. Dora had learned to do all the latest dances, the Charleston, the Black-Bottom, and fox trot, even waltz very well.

The only difference between Dora and the other people in the Colored part of town was that she wasn't Colored. Isadora did her best to teach Dora, as much about her heritage, and the little she knew about Mei-ling and Tom.

Soon, everyone would know that Dora had the singing voice of an angel. At
sixteen, Dora was the featured singer at church. The Pastor's wife loved her voice and took great interest in her singing lessons. Isadora had tried to put her in an all girls’ private school, up town, but Dora was not accepted. They said there classes were all filled. Isadora bought encyclopedias and had subscribed to all the best magazines.


She made Dora study hard and learn things far beyond her grade level. Dora wore the best clothes and learned to sit and stand like the models in the books. On Saturday's, after doing her chores, she would get her hair curled at Mable's Beauty Parlor. Mable loved to find new ways to fix Dora's long straight hair. Once, she had heated the curling iron up too hot, trying to curl the coarse, straight hair and burned it. But, now she was used to working with it, however, some of the hairdo's never made it past the
alley, before Dora took it down and tie it back into a ponytail.

Word of Dora's voice had spread into the other communities and at sixteen and a half; she was becoming a much-requested performer in other churches as well. Everyone who heard her sing was awed at the ranges she could take her voice. Finally, moving into her own house, Isadora had gotten Emmalett to leave Miss Connie's, and come to work for her. Emmalett would be able to travel from town to town with Dora, when she had to sing. Isadora began to have serious problems with her lungs and was too sick to do any traveling. She had sent many letter to China, trying to find Mei-ling's and Tom's relatives. She went into the white section of town, and hired a firm that specialized in finding people, to do what ever it took to find these
people.

Mei-ling had only left the silver candlesticks, but they did have an inscription on the bottom, of the name of the maker, and an addressed letter to her mother, that had never been posted. The problem with that was the writing. The investigator was able to take the letter to the Chinese laundry, which had recently opened up and get the owner to read the letter. The investigator was able to track where Tom had gone and had given Isadora his address in San Francisco, California.

She would write many letters to a man named Tom Chu. She had forgotten over the years that Chu was not his last name. That Mei-ling had only said her last name was Chu, after she saw her husband turn away at the window. She remembered now, that Tom's last name was Chan. She began writing to Tom Chan.

Dora was quite concern about her mother's health. She had been told when she
was old enough to know that she was not of the same race, where her real parents were and what had happened to them. But, Isadora Jackson was mother to her and could love no other person as she loved her. She had become to hate the thought of her father for running off like a coward, betarying his young wife. Duke was the only father she learned to love and respect.

Isadora lived long enough to see Dora graduate from high school. She was
seventeen now and took charge of the care her mother was getting. But, nothing could be done. The lung disease had rapidly spread and Isadora, dying, told Dora everything she needed to know and do. Dora would sit up with her long into the night. Emmalett had to wake her up, and make her go to bed. She would only leave the room when she was sure that her mother was asleep. Most times, the pain was so intense; Isadora could not sleep, but only pretended just so the child could go get some rest.

Dora had wakened from a bad dream and ran into her mother's bedside. She held
her hand and Isadora's eyes opened to see the girl crying. She put her hand up to the girls face. Struggling to speak, she said..."I have found your father and have asked him to come and take you away," she took a few breaths. "He has not answered my letters, but, if he comes, I want you to go with him." Dora shook her head. "Yes...you
must learn about your own culture..."

Dora said..."I don't care about my culture...I don't want to know him. You and the Colored people are my culture...you are my family." She was unconsolable.
(To Be continued)