Free High Hearts by Rita Mae Brown Page B

mean in a conflict. All we want to do is be left alone, he mused. Why in God’s name won’t they let us go in peace? We can be good neighbors.
    These thoughts still haunted Henley Chatfield as he arrived at the Spotswood Hotel at the southeast corner of Eighth and Main Streets in Richmond. Without washing up he made his way to the capitol building. He suffered few illusions. He would choke in red tape, bureaucratic vanities, younger men hungry for name and fame, older men tired and irritable, all of them the woop and warf of politics. It was a game Henley Chatfield despised. But his country needed him, so if that meant working side by side with baboons, he was prepared to do it. Chatfields accept and discharge duty; they do not evade it.
    The throng of people outside the governor’s office seemed tighter than the Gordian knot. Henley edged into it. Gregory Lawson, an old friend, shouted over the heads of others, “Chatfield, you’re here!” He pulled Henley outside the antechamber and handed him scribbled pages. The proclamationwasn’t even typeset. When Henley read it, he felt that he had been handed a thunderbolt. Instinctively his right hand rubbed his chest. The repeal of the ratification of the United States Constitution was short and to the point. As the Constitution was ratified on 25 June, 1788, so it was dissolved on April 17, 1861, awaiting ratification by the voters of Virginia on the fourth Thursday in May. Henley read in disbelief. Of course, these things needed to be tied up, written down, but why did it hurt when the ordinance declared that the federal government had perverted its powers. Perverted? Well, if we are going to war, I guess we need strong words, he thought.
    Henley handed the scrawl back to Gregory. “The western counties will go.”
    Gregory shouted above the din, “I think so, too.”
    “I’ve got to get as many supplies out of there as I can while they’re still under the laws of Virginia.” Henley ran his fingers through his thick, gray hair. “Who will command the armies of Virginia?”
    “We haven’t anyone yet.”
    “Jesus H. Christ on a raft.”
    The fact that 120,000 followers of the two Midianite Kings Zebah and Zalmunna were killed by the sword and the remaining 15,000 were pursued by Gideon and his scant band of three hundred men failed to cheer Lutie. Given that the North boasted a much bigger population than the South, Lutie might have drawn a parallel. Instead, she snapped her Bible shut and glared at Sin-Sin.
    “Don’t be rough with the Good Book. Your voice would soothe all the givin’ saints.”
    “Flattery is a vice, Sin-Sin, and you’re riddled with it.” Nonetheless, Lutie read John, chapter 2, which was an improvement. This time Christ threw the money changers out of the temple.
    “I likes that. I likes when Marse Jesus fluffs his feathers.”
    “Still, it’s so full of anger and violence. What a bloodthirsty book this is. I really must take this up with the Very Reverend Manlius.”
    “I don’t know how the Reverend keeps all that knowledge in his little head.”
    “He does have a little head, doesn’t he?” Lutie put the book down. She peered out the window. “At least the snow’smelting. I guess Henley’s in Richmond by now. Always a little warmer there.” She sighed and started to say something but changed her subject. “Geneva’s worked seven horses since this morning.”
    “Got no sleep. Looks like a raccoon.”
    Lutie’s delicate, small fingers touched her own face. “I didn’t sleep much either. Do you know, Sin-Sin, there’s not a man in this house? Not one. Poof! Gone.”
    “They be back.”
    “After breakfast I found myself in the library breathing great gulps of air. Henley’s pipe tobacco lingers there. Eventually the odor will disappear. I hated it when he smoked in the house. Now I miss it.”
    Lutie strode into the kitchen with Sin-Sin close behind her. Ernie June and Boyd were sifting flour. Tincia washed pots. Ernie