Page 145 of The Pearl Sister
‘Camira, it is I, Mister Drum. I have come back to see you. I really am here, but you mustn’t make a sound.’ He put a hand over her mouth, as she stared at him, fully awake now. ‘Please don’t scream.’
The terror in her eyes began to abate and she struggled to remove his hand from her mouth.
‘Promise?’
She nodded and he removed it, putting a finger to his lips instead. ‘We don’t want to wake up anyone else, do we?’
She shook her head mutely, then wriggled to sit upright.
‘What you doing here, Mister Drum? You-a dead for years!’ she hissed.
‘We both know that I was not, don’t we?’
‘So, why you-a come back now?’
‘Because I have something to tell you.’
‘That my daughter is dead?’ Camira’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I know already. My soul tellum me.’
‘Sadly your soul tells you right. I’m so very sorry, Camira. Was she . . . with child?’
‘Yessum.’ Camira hung her head. ‘You tellum no one. Baby now dead too.’
He now knew for certain that what he had surmised was true.
‘Well now, there is something you don’t know,’ he whispered.
‘What is dat?’
He placed a gentle hand on her arm. ‘Cat’s baby survived. You have a grandson.’
Then he told her the story of how he’d found the child and Camira’s eyes filled with wonder and astonishment.
‘Them Ancestors, they make-a clever plan. Where is he?’ Camira peered round the room as if the baby was there somewhere, hidden.
‘He was far too weak to make the journey here. I left him in good hands at Hermannsburg mission. And I must also tell you that the bad pearl was in his basket. Alkina must have found it and—’
‘No! Bad pearl is cursed. Don’t wantum near my grandson!’ Camira raised her voice and Drummond put a warning finger to his lips.
‘I swear that it is being kept in a safe place away from him until you decide what to do with it and the baby. I thought perhaps you might want to bring him here once he has recovered.’
‘He nottum come here,’ Camira said vehemently.
‘Why not? I thought at the very least, he would be a comfort to you.’
It was Camira’s turn to tell him what had happened.
‘So that baby is my nephew’s son? And therefore related to me by blood?’ Drummond said in astonishment.
‘Yessum. Our blood mix inside, so he belonga both of us,’ she said solemnly.
‘But most of all, Camira, to my nephew Charlie, now that his mother is with the Ancestors.’
‘No!Best for all Mister Charlie thinkum baby dead too.’
‘Why on earth would you of all people say that?’
‘You not bin round here for long time, Mister Drum. You not understand. Missus Kitty, she workum so hard, do everything for her son after you gone.’
