Bent Creek (17 page)

“You gonna shoot me?” she asked, her hands in the air.

“Ah don’t kill woman folk. Ya kin come on up.”

Steadying herself she ducked her head and went inside. It was just one room with a dirt floor. The walls were covered with animal skins and a pallet of straw lay on the floor.  A small table and a buck stove took up most of the space.  “Whadda ya doin’ up heer? Ain’t nobody posed tah come up heer. Ain’t no women posed tah come up heer.” He motioned for her to sit down on the rough-hewn bench next to the table.

“It’s a long story,” Rachael said trying to get comfortable.

“Ya got anymore of them biscuits? Ya got another and I’ll lissen.” He pointed his finger at her.  “Ain’t no way I woulda let you in heer ceptin’ I ain’t et nothin’ fer two days.”

Rachael dug in her backpack and pulled out the remaining biscuit she had saved for herself.  He attacked it like a bear in a honeycomb, licking his finger to pick up the crumbs that had fallen on the table. “Well go on, tell me yer tale.”

When she had finished telling him about her family and Nevers and the still, he threw his head back and laughed reveal
ing a mouth void of teeth.  “I know’d that Nevers when he wuz jest a youngin’. He wuz a bad ass. Jest like me. So you done put him in the ground.” He laughed again.

“I reckon you know yer a legend down in the holler. People tell yer story all the time.  Why didn’t you come back tah Bent Creek when you got out of prison?”

His face turned grim.  “Ya git yer fill of people when yer in prison. Thangs happen tah ya that ya don’t want tah talk about. I ain’t that same person who left heer. Do ya reckon tah know what I’m sayin’?”

“Yes, I think I do, but don’t you ever jest get lonely?”

“Oh, I wasn’t always alone. Yars back, some men come up heer once in a while and bring me stuff.  Ya know, coffee and salt and bullets.  I always need bullets.  Then I let em hunt back of the ridge. Damn fools think I own the mountain.” He let out another cackle. “Ain’t nobody been round in a whole lotta winters. People down below think I’m plumb loco, but I ain’t. I’m smarter than the whole bunch tied together.  But, now and agin, I’m startin’ tah get
tired of talkin’ tah myself. First twenty yars were okay, but now I’m
getting’ on in age. Ya be the first in a long time tah talk tah me,” he said, pointing his finger at her. “What you want with me, girl?”

“I want yer recipes for whiskey, the ones that all the people in the holler raved about. Could I buy them from you?”

“Ain’t ever given that list of fixins’ tah anyone.”  He pointed to his head. “I got them all up heer. What the hell would I do with money, use it to start a farh.”

“Well, thanks anyway. I’m glad I got tah talk tah you,” Rachael said, standing up.

“Now you hold on a minute, girl. I like ya.  Ya ain’t a feared tah speak yer mind. Ya come back tomarra with some more vittles and we might be able tah come tah some terms.”

Rachael stood up, her head almost hitting the low ceil
ing. “I ain’t comin’ back tomarra.  If’n you want some real good eats, you kin come home with me right now.  Times a wastin’ and I got tah git that still up and runnin’.”

“Now ya
jest sit down and maybe, jest maybe, ya kin persuade me tah come down with ya.  That is if’n nobody knows I’m with ya. It’s got tah be a secret. Truth of the matter is I’m gettin’ reel old, girl. I don’t spect I’m gonna make another winter up heer. Bout froze tah death last year. I got a sore on my leg that won’t mend and my sight ain’t so good anymore. I’m havin’ a hard time hittin’ game with mah bow.  Them wolves are caterwauling outside my door jest waitin’ for me tah lay still so they kin make a meal of me.  I don’t cotton tah be eatin’ alive. Ain’t ever thought I’d leave here, but a time comes for all of us. I could take a looksee at that still and see what ya got going on. So ya got lots of good vittles at yer house?”

Rachael smiled. “Why you old devil, yer jest tryin’ tah outsmart me.” She looked at this shriveled up old man and real
ized he would do almost anything for food at this point. “Do you have anythang you need tah take with you?”

“Jest my gun, Girl, jest my gun.”

“You kin call me Rachael,” she said.  “I wuz wonderin’; how old are you, Joe?”

“I reckon I’m goin’ on tah ninety, best as I kin figure.” He sat down and put on his rabbit skin shoes. “Who lives with you down yonder”

Well there’s Lily—she’s Nevers widow.  Lately she has been actin’ like a little princess, prancing around in her white dress and not doin’ much around the house.  My brother, Ben, just got back from the army. He doesn’t have any legs.  They got blow’d off in an accident.  And then there’s Jesse.  I swear I can’t believe him and me are twins. But he’s strong and most times he’ll do what I ask him tah.  We got a real nice barn where you can bunk and we got lectricity and inside plumbin’.

With his crooked legs and bent back
, it took Old Joe a few minutes to get on the back of the horse, Rachael slowly descended the trail wondering what she had gotten herself into now and knowing for sure that Joe Seminole was going to take a bath first thing.

Joe continued to talk as if he enjoyed hearing the sound of his voice. He reminisced about the early days when he was on top of the world. He told her about his time in prison.  Some of the things she really didn’t need to know. As they neared the bottom of the trail Rachael began to get anxious.  She had no idea what her reception would be when she got home.  She could just imagine.

“That right there is a nice place,” Joe said as he climbed down from the horse. Rubbing his backside he hobbled up the steps. Rachael opened the door and yelled, “I’m home.”

Lily came into the kitchen. She stopped short when she saw Joe standing behind Rachael. “Who is that?” she asked.

“This here is Old Joe Seminole.  He’s come tah halp us with the still.”

It was Ben who chimed in next.  “Well I’ll be danged. How in the world did you do it, Rachael?” Ben looked at the stooped shouldered, old man with his hands in his pockets standing before him. “So yer the mighty Joe Seminole. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Ben’s remark brought a wide grin to Joe’s face.  Rachael breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that Jesse would not be too against the idea. Pouring two cups of coffee she nodded to Joe to have a seat. He cupped both hands around the cup and drank it all in one long gulp, pushing the cup across the table.  She refilled it twice more. Lily stood with her arms folded over her chest staring at Joe.

“What’s that?” Rachael said.  Hearing a wail, she turned her head toward the bedroom. “That’s a baby! Damn, who brung a baby tah our house?”

Lily left the room and returned with a blanket swaddled in her arms. “It’s Emma Jane’s baby.  I brung her here yester
day mornin’.”

“Where is Emma Jane?  Has somethin’ happened to her?” Rachael began to panic.

“Oh don’t get yer overalls in a wad.  Ain’t nothin’ wrong with Emma Jane, not that I know of other than she’s teched in the head,” Lily said.

“Stop all this! What’s going on?” Rachael demanded. “We did like you said, Rachael, after you left, we went over tah yer momma’s house. That place is a sin, Rachael.  Any
way, yer momma, she was in tears. Yer momma said that them gypsies had come round agin a fortnight ago and Jimmy Dell wuz with them. Yer daddy took his gun and wuz gonna shoot him, but Emma Jane grabbed the gun jest when it went off. Then her water come out and a few hours later she had the baby. She wuz a screamin and kickin’, but yer momma got the baby out with no trouble tah either of them. Last night Jimmie Dell snuck back tah the house and talked Emma Jane into leavin’ with him. Jest one day out of havin’ a baby and she left with him. Them gypsies took all yer mommas’ chickens and the two goats.  Emma Jane is a real piece of trash.  She claims she’s still in love with Jimmy Dell and wuz missin’ him reel bad. She left the baby behind without even giving her a name. She writ a note and said that the baby wuz better off with yer momma then travelin’ from place tah place. I jest couldn’t leave her over thar, Rachael.  It’s dirty and wet and they ain’t got no food for this youngin. I begged yer momma tah let me bring her here and yer momma knew she would be better off with me. It wuz reel hard doin’ all that without talkin’. Jest look at her, Rachael, ain’t she the cutest thang you ever seed? She’s my baby now. I named her Violet and I’m gonna keep her. I done been feedin’ her goat’s milk and she’s a likin’ it and it ain’t givin’ her the bloat. Yer momma, she don’t like me none. She gave me some real evil looks, but she still gave me the baby.  I reckon she figured you would be the one takin’ care of her.  I suppose I might have given her that idée.”

“What happens if Emma Jane comes back for her?” Rachael asked. “I’ll tell her she died.  I’ll go up yonder and make a fake grave. She ain’t gettin’ her back.
”

“Yer young, Lily. You can have babies of yer own.” Ben said.

“I don’t care if’n I have a dozen babies,  I’m still keepin’ her. She’s just like us, Ben.  All damaged.  You from the war, me from Nevers and now Violet wuz jest left behind like junk. I’m keepin’ her forever.”

“Them
damn gypsies. I hate them. And I hate Emma Jane, too. How could she go off and leave her baby?” Rachael stomped her foot and Violet began to cry. “Oh, I’m sorry, baby, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Rachael took her from Lily and cuddled her in her arms. She smelled of powder and her skin was as soft as velvet.  Rachael had no fear that Lily would be a good mother to Violet.

Jesse opened the door in the middle of the chaos. Rachael pointed her finger at him, “And you, Jesse Riley, you don’t say a damn thing.” The look on her face was enough to keep him silent. He turned around and left the room.

After Rachael convinced Joe to take a bath, she gave him some of Nevers’ clothes to put on.  They hung on his body like rags on a scarecrow. Joe cinched up the waist of his pants with a length of rope. Lily and Rachael made dinner and every
one ate in silence except for the slurping noises Joe made as he sucked up the gravy off his plate. With blanket in hand he headed for the barn. Lily put Violet to bed in a dresser drawer padded with a quilt. She slowly rocked the drawer back and forth and hummed. Rachael leaned against the door and watched her for a few minutes.

She returned to the kitchen and sat down across from Ben. She put her head in her hands.  It was Ben who finally broke the silence.  “Well, Rachael
, it looks like our family is growin’. We got the old, we got the young, and everythang in between. I reckon we better make the best of it.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Three weeks had passed since the bodies of the two men were found on the mountain. Ben and Jesse had almost completed the smokehouse. Ben crawled around on the ground, placing stones for the foundation and carried boards across his wheelchair to be nailed in place. Jesse grumbled and tried any excuse he could to get out of the work, but Rachael stood guard and threatened him if he didn’t keep working. Her hands were raw from the rough boards and her fingers swollen from the many times she missed the nails. Old Joe tried to help, but he was always more in the way than working.

Rachael had a lot on her mind.  She was worried about the condition her parents were living in, but she knew right now she couldn’t tell them what was going on. She was worried that someone may come around looking for the two men that Nevers had killed or that Jimmy Dell and his gypsy clan may return for the baby. She was also concerned that the still would not be up and running in time to make the next delivery to Clyde.

Unlike Rachael, Lily had lost interest in the house and the cooking. With Nevers not there to make sure it was done, she left all of the work for Rachael.  She was totally involved with baby, Violet. She had dived into the role of motherhood and spent every waking hour with the baby.  It was as if for the first time in her life she had something to call her own and she was consumed by it.

Rachael tried to hold her tongue, but after working all day on the smoke house she was in no mood to find not even water boiling on the stove at suppertime.  She had to deal with Joe following her around asking when they were going to eat and what they were going to eat.  It had become his focus in life.

Tired and dirty, Rachael, Ben and Jesse came into the house and collapsed on the kitchen floor.  “I’m starvin
’,” Jesse said. “How come we ain’t got no supper ready agin’?”

Rachael stood up and yelled for Lily. “Okay, here’s what we have tah do. We got less than one week to make our deadline. We have to get Nevers’ still off the mountain and up and runnin’. The one we got ain’t worth a crap.  We’ll bring it down if we have tah carry it on our backs piece by piece.  If Clyde don’t git his order by Friday, that will be the end of us.” She began to walk around the room. “You, Lily
, will probably have yer family livin’ here with you.  Old Joe, I guess you’ll have tah go back to yer shack because me and the boys will be headin’ home. Have I made myself clear?”

There was silence in the room. “I’ll go, I’ll halp, I promise,” Lily said meekly.  “I’ll put Violet in a basket and take her with me.”

“Me, too. I ain’t gonna go back to that thar shed.  I like it here,” Old Joe said.

Of course, Rachael knew Ben was on board, but she worried about Jesse. “You with us, Jesse?  You want to make a lot of money in a short time
?”  Jesse lowered his head and nodded.