The Brooch

The Plot Thickens

With the noon sun, now slowly creeping into that old building, and its bright shine reflecting off of Uncle Jeffy's spectacles while the glare slightly bothered his eyes, he began to squint. Rubbing the gruff on his chin, Uncle Jeffy slowly got up from where Maple was telling the story. He began to roam around in the cool of a shadowing corner.

Poor Mrs. Crowder

"Ain't ya got nuthin to say?" Maple suddenly questioned her now peculiar looking and silent Uncle.

"Well... Poor Mrs. Crowder." My uncle Jeffy said out of the blue. Maple quickly snapped back into reality.

"Come again? Poe Mrs. Crowder?" Maple squawked. "Uncle Jeffy you been sniffin the fumes in here faa to long! Ain't cha? Poor Mrs Crowder my Fannie hide!" Maple hissed! "If anythang, you should be sayin my poe baby niece! Or my poe unsuspectin sis! Sheesh!" Maple growled kicking the crate She sat on.

"Now see here young lady... don't bite my head off for feelin sorry for the old goat!"

"How can ya? Didn't ya hear the story I told ya?"

"I heard it. Loud and clear."

"Then Uncle why you feelin sorry for her and not me or moreover, Mama?"

"Calm down..." Uncle Jeffy said walking back toward Maple and picking up the flopped over crate.

"How you expect me to calm, Uncle, when I caught the hus..."

"Whatcho mouth young lady! It is the Lord's day after all." Uncle Jeffy quickly interjected."

"Yes suh." Maple obeyed in a deep sigh. "I'll watch my mouth... But glory alive... well, Lord forgive me! But I did! I caught her! Redhanded! Can't you see that? That, that, hu... Mrs. Crow-Duh, tryin to steal it from our very home! And do know you know when I confronted her on it, she had the audacity and She said it was hers!!! Hers... uncle! Her family's! Not ours!"

"So she says. Let me see the broach again, Madge." Uncle Jeffy uttered.

Maple once again took the broach delicately out her pocket and gave it to her uncle.

"Hmm..." Uncle Jeffy mumbled looking at the broken pieces.

"Hmm? Is that all you have to say after all that is... hmm?"

"Hmm" Uncle Jeffy uttered again."

"Uncle Jeffy?!?" Maple hissed annoyed by His reaction.

"Waaa? Well oh Maple... This goes without sayin, but honey, I already know that story..." Uncle Jeffy said brushing it off..

"Whatchu mean, you already know that story? How can ya when I just now told ya?"

"Well whut I just said... Oh heck gal, that woman's been spoutin that round here for the last decade or so!"

"You've heard that story and never said anything to me? To Mumma? And if she's be hollerin and shuckin about it for, forever ago, How come I ain't neva heard it till last Eve?" Maple fussed. "I mean Mumma heard?  She know?"

"Course she knows Maple! She's the one who told me."

"She waaaa.." Maple uttered flabbergasted... "Ain't no way!"

"Emm hmm.. She told me." Uncle Jeffy said looking for his tools to fix the brooch. "Sweet baby gal.. that story ain't nuthin new!" He chuckled. "When Mrs. Crowder gets happy with her sherry, well she ain't so nice baby girl! In fact she always comes to town, telling any and all who will listen... how our great great grandpappi stole the Brooch from her great great grandmammi in a lover's spar. And we folks round her just let her squawk till she passes out on the table. It's old, Maple! The story is old..."

"Well it ain't to me!! You know I snatched her wig right off her head last eve and I was about to snatch a lot moe if Mumma hadn't stopped me?"

Uncle Jeffy laughed...

"It ain't funna uncle! I told her off, called her a liar! And oh uncle.." Maple said so confused... "I just don't understand... if you and Mumma knows then why you let her go on like that? Why Mumma ain't came to her defenses!"

"Cause she's harmless... or so we thought." He chuckled. "Say... whut Scar say when you told her what happened?"

"I didn't! Didn't ya hear? I... I couldn't! I didn't know she already knew... I thought I was protectin her. Especially when Mrs. Crowder said it was stolen from the jewelry box on her supposed weddin day."

"Wait just a second... what you mean 'her weddin day?' You mean from her great great grandmother twice ova? So the story goes! Great great grandfather stole it! So Mrs. Crowder likes to imply. I beg to differ. No matter. As folks round this part heard, and what sis told me, in the end, her great great grandma, gave it back to our kin as a peace offering."

"Naw suh! She said 'her weddin day.' I distinctly rememba it. Cause she said Mumma is the one who took it! She claimed that our great great grand father returned the Brooch to their family as a piece offering ... but Mumma stole it right back and held it for ransom!"

"Landsakes!" Uncle Jeffy huffed. "Don't that beat all. The plot thickens." He chuckled.

"It ain't funny Uncle!" Maple growled. "In fact she said next week on the anniversary of her husband's passin and the annual church festival, she's gonna tell the whole town of Ponchas Avenue Row, whut really happened and how Mama thieved and demand the sheriff to take her in for being the true thief and the heartache of her family's past! She even says she had proof! Course I neve saw! I was too busy chasin her out the house with the broom!"

"Well Ain't nobody gonna believe her!" Uncle Jeffy said. His demeanor suddenly changed. "She ain't got no proof! True proof that is!"

"You sure bout the Uncle? Cuz yo face right then and there is startin ta tell me otherwise." Maple said now feeling even more sick to her stomach. "I tell you one thang Uncle... I ain't gonna let her get away with it! Not without a fight!"

When rumors start lives can be ruined whether the accusations are true or not. The world you know can seem to kilter. And all it takes is one mouth and a pair of burnin ears to believe and spread a rumor like a wildfire to dry grass. And Maple worried for the future of her sweet and perfect mother.  Moreover, she now too started to question the account of Mrs. Crowder allegations.

Would Mrs. Crowder keep to her word and ruin Maple's family and the future to come over that simple apple crumb broach? Or was there a way Maple could stop her and salvage what was left of her perfect family...