A Salem Awakening

Chapter 12

The crowd dispersed. The village mortician agreed to take Millie and prepare her body for a proper burial. Since the test exonerated her, it entitled her to a religious funeral. The ministers held all funerals as quickly as they could, the same day if possible. This was in order to prevent any decay and rotting bodies that could create a stench and illness throughout the entire village. Because it was already past sundown, the burial would have to wait until tomorrow's first light. But at least Millie was now with God.

The Sampsons walked over to the Porters and offered their support and condolences. Willa hugged Elizabeth. "We're here for anything you need." Then Willa gave Joseph a tight hug. It was the type of hug normally reserved for extremely emotional situations between family or close friends. Samuel only nodded to Elizabeth, but he put his hand on Joseph's shoulder for moral support. This was a man's way of saying, "I'm sorry and I'm here for you." Joseph placed his hand on top of Samuel's – a man's way of saying, "Thank you."

"There are others," Samuel quietly uttered to Joseph. "Indeed, there are others," Joseph responded through his tears. Abigail overheard this exchange and recognized those words her mother always said to her. "Why is Father saying that to Mr. Porter?" Abigail wondered. But there were more important mysteries for her to consider, and she hastened on to other thoughts.

The Sampsons turned to head home. Abigail did not turn around with her parents – she wanted to stay a while longer to help comfort her friends. Her parents agreed. "Don't stay too long, dear," her mother warned as they somberly headed home. Samuel was relieved Abigail was going to remain at the shore. He was becoming increasingly concerned and there was much he and Willa needed to discuss privately.

Abigail noticed Mr. Putnam sitting to the side of the remaining crowd of only about a dozen people now. He was on a tree which fell over during a recent storm – one leg in the sand, the other bent at the knee and resting on the tree. She sat down beside him.

"What are we going to do now?" Abigail asked, knowing there was no answer.

"What can we do?" Mr. Putnam responded slowly through a deep frown. "Tobias Warnock is up to something. We do not know what his plan is and we have absolutely no proof he's done anything wrong."

"We have some proof," Abigail reminded him. "Christina admitted he put her up to this."

"That's true," he agreed, "But nobody will take the word of a child over that of a respected village elder. And besides, we'd be asking Christina to take a monumental risk to which neither she, nor her family, could agree."

"We'll figure something out," Abigail said reassuringly. She paused and then took one of the biggest risks of her life. She didn't know what came over her, but it felt like the exact proper thing to do. Abigail wasn't sure whether she should do it – would he get angry with her, would he tease her, would he laugh at her? Could she even go through with it? She summoned all her courage and placed her hand on top of his, which was resting on the tree next to her. Rather than reacting with anger or scorn, he simply clutched her hand tightly. William needed comforting as much as anyone else right now, and Abigail was one of the few in their village who respected reason and logic as much as he did. He was happy to have her be the one to comfort him. To Abigail, it was a daring act showing William her feelings for him. To William, it was a simple act of comfort and solace.

William looked at Abigail, grinned, and said, "Thank you, Abigail."

"Actually, if it's all the same to you, I'd prefer if you called me Abi." Her brazenness shocked her, but being this brave and forward just felt... right.

"All right – Abi it is," he said.

They sat together talking on the tree for quite some time, trying to figure out any potential meaning they could find in the dealings of the day. They theorized the most preposterous conspiracies they could imagine, but nothing made sense with the facts they observed. What could Tobias possibly have against Millie, and how did Christina fit into the equation?