Blaze (The High-Born Epic) (11 page)

             
Harold thought there was too much risk to run now.  He smiled and pushed a pace that no man he knew could’ve maintained.  He quickly found the medium that both he and the mule could maintain and not be exhausted.  Between his newfound strength and the mule, he finished Jim’s field before lunch.

             
Harold wiped the sweat from his brow and he looked at the mule.  It was panting furiously.  He started walking to Jim’s house and he noticed a cool draft.  He grimaced as he felt his rear because he had ripped his undersized overalls.  He didn’t have to look to know that most of his butt was probably visible.  There was some old burlap on the handles of the plow.  He quickly rigged up a way to make himself modest, and managed to get the burlap tied around his waist.

             
Jim was probably already on the way back from the morning’s work at the lumber mill and would be home at any moment.  Tammy was nearly finished with lunch when he walked up to the door.  To his surprise, Jim was walking up about the same time he was.

             
“You breaking for lunch, Harold?” Jim asked.

             
“Yes, sir,” he replied.  “Ummm... I’m finished, Mr. Jim.”

             
Jim looked surprised, “Surely not.”

             
“Yes, sir.  And I would like to change the deal slightly, if I could, sir,” Harold said.

             
“Well, I’ve got to look at the field first, son,” Jim said.

             
“Yes, sir.  Please do.”

             
Ten minutes later Harold and Jim were standing in Jim’s house and Jim was still scratching his head.

             
“I don’t know how you did that, Harold.  But I’m impressed.” Jim said.

             
“That old mule is something else,” Harold answered.

             
‘I’d always heard that nobody could do nothing with her,” Jim said, still clearly dumbfounded. “Anyways, what part of the deal do you want to talk about?”

             
“Well, I was thinkin’ that since I finished so fast that I’d rather have a pair of your old overalls than a sack of corn meal.”

             
“Well,” Jim rubbed his beard.  “A pair of overalls is worth more than a sack of corn meal, bein’ that it lasts longer.”

             
Harold thought a moment, “Well, sir.  I did finish well ahead of schedule, and what about if I trade you a bucket of nails too?  They should last a real long time.”

             
Jim thought a moment, “Tell you what, Harold.  That’s a deal.  Bring me the nails and I’ll give you the overalls.”

             
“Be back in a few minutes,” Harold said.

             
The mule did give Harold a little trouble on the way home, but he just dragged her a few steps and she began trotting again.  He put the mule in the barn, fed and watered her, and grabbed a bucket of nails and went back out of the door.  As he jogged across the yard, he could hear Aunt Nean, Cooper, and Ollie in the house, but he just kept on running back to Jim’s house.

             
Harold knocked on the door.

             
Jim answered it, clearly surprised that he’d made it back so quickly.

             
“I think you got about as much get-up and go as my old blue healer, Gus,” Jim said and pointed at the tied dog in the yard.  It was running back and forth on its leash, jumping up and down barking playfully. 

             
Harold shook his head and laughed.

             
Jim quickly came back to the door and gave Harold a pair of overalls.  Harold was pleased with them because they were in real good shape.  They were barely faded, and only had one small hole in the left knee.  Aunt Nean could fix that without any problem.

             
Harold hurried back home and changed in the barn.  They fitted him well enough and were real comfortable, especially after having worn those tight overalls for nearly a day.  Then he walked toward the house with his torn overalls dangling in his hand.

             
As he neared the house, Scape met him at the edge of the yard.  His cat-like tail always puzzled Harold at the way it managed to wag like a dog’s.  He cocked his head and his ears went from floppy to standing straight up on the top of his head, and he almost seemed to smile.  Harold could see feathers of some sort in his mouth.

             
“I guess you didn’t go with them, did you?  You catch yourself another bird, Scape?” Harold asked as he rubbed his head.

             
Scape half-growled, half-purred as he pushed his body into Harold’s leg.  After a few moments, he left Scape standing there and made his way to the back door.  Harold smiled and his mouth watered when he smelled the beans and biscuits before he even opened the back door.

             
“I sure hope Aunt Nean cooked some of that ham,” he said to himself. 

             
He raised his nose to the air and smiled because he could smell the meat.  When he walked in, Ollie jumped and ran towards the hall squealing.  He caught a glimpse of something blue in her hands as she darted around the corner.  Aunt Nean was at the stove stirring in her pot.

             
“Go ahead and give it to him, kids,” Aunt Nean said loud enough that they could hear.  “They wanted to get you something,” she said only to him.

             
Harold looked at her puzzled.

             
Ollie peeked around the corner.  Then Cooper’s head came around the corner too.  Harold smiled.

             
“Come on, you two,” Harold said.  “Get on with it.”

             
Cooper slowly rounded the corner, thumbs hooked in the pockets of his little overalls.  He shuffled slightly, and looked at the ground.  Ollie leaped from behind the corner land on both of her feet, but kept her hands behind her back.  Cooper looked up with a wide grin on his face, and Ollie giggled as she rose up on her tiptoes and quickly back down again.

             
“We got you something today in town,” Cooper said with a wide smile.

             
“We wanted you to have these,” Ollie said as her hands came around to the front.

             
She was holding a pair of new overalls.  Harold looked at Aunt Nean, stunned.

             
“Aunt Nean,” he said.  “You shouldn’t ha-”

             
Nean held up a finger and shook her head.  Harold could see that she was barely able to contain her emotions when he saw her eyes water slightly.

             
“They wanted to go trade today.  So, they took all of the extra canned goods and toys they got last night,” Aunt Nean paused and gulped.  Then, she put her hand over her mouth and cleared her throat. 

             
She composed herself.

             
“And they traded it all for these.  I couldn’t tell them no.  You needed a new pair anyway.”

             
Harold was so touched that his eyes watered up too, and his nose started running.  Harold wiped his eyes as he walked to them, and knelt down and took the overalls from them.  Ollie squealed a little as she hopped up and down, while Cooper shuffled back and forth, his thumbs in his pockets, and his chest sticking out like a rooster.  Harold then hugged them both and kissed them each on their forehead.

             
“Thank you both, so much,” Harold said.  “Do you know that this is the very first pair of brand new overalls I’ve ever had?”

             
Cooper looked even prouder than he already did, and Ollie bounced in glee a few times.

             
“Go put ‘em on,” Ollie said.  “I think you’ll look so nice in them.”

             
“I think I’ll do just that,” Harold said, and walked to his room.

             
When he returned to the kitchen, everyone was sitting at the table waiting on him.

             
“Oh, Harold,” Ollie said.  “You’re so handsome.”

             
Cooper just gave him a thumb’s up.

             
“Between those things, and those muscles of yours, we’ll have to beat the women in town with a stick to keep them off you,” Aunt Nean smiled.

             
“Thank you, all.  I love them and I love all of you.”

             
“I love you too, Harold,” Ollie said.

             
“Me too,” Cooper chimed.

             
“All right, y’all,” Aunt Nean said.  “Let’s eat.”  As she began spooning out the portions, she said, “So, you had laid your overalls out to dry, and they just disappeared, huh?”

             
The children shuffled uneasily.

             
“Um,” Harold nearly stammered.  “Yes, ma’am.  I reckon somebody run off with ‘em.”

             
“So...” Aunt Nean eyed him closely.  “What were you wearing while they dried?”

             
“Sarah’s towel,” Harold replied.

             
“Oh,” Aunt Nean said.  “I guess Sarah was there with you?”

             
“Yes, ma’am,” Harold said looking down at his plate and feeling caught.

             
“Oh, my,” Aunt Nean seemed embarrassed as she took a bite of cornbread.

             
“Uh, huh,” Ollie said.  “And Sarah kissed him on the lips too.  Then they walked around the river bend where we couldn’t see ‘em.”

             
Aunt Nean started coughing, and Harold dropped his fork while Cooper giggled.  Aunt Nean coughed several times and then took a drink of water.

             
“These beans and turnips are great, Aunt Nean,” Harold said.  His face felt very warm, and he was afraid that he was on fire again.

             
Aunt Nean nodded and fanned her face, “Well...” she said as she fixed her hair, “I’m glad you like them.”

Chapter 8

              When Harold was finished with lunch, he walked down his road, toward the town circle.  He noticed that a few people looked closely at him because new overalls in Foxx Hole wasn’t a regular sight.  Sure, some people had them, but no one as young as Harold.  It made him feel a little funny.  As he strolled down the road, he looked at a woman sweeping off her porch.  She noticed Harold and put a hand on her hip and winked at him.  He didn’t know exactly what to do, so he just waved and smiled and kept walking.  She looked at him strangely as he walked by.

             
It didn’t take him very long to get to the town circle and he moved across it toward the blacksmith shop.  As Colonel Foxx’s image slowly rotated at the top of the pyramid, he saw a few people pointing at his new overalls.  The bell chimed as he walked in and he saw Mr. Willie.  Willie was bearded, had grayish brown hair, and was slightly bald.  Years of swinging a blacksmith hammer had put a lot of stringy muscle on him.

             
“Howdy, Harold,” he said.  “What can I do for you?”

             
“Well, Mr. Willie.  I was wonderin’ if Sarah was around?”

             
“She weren’t feelin’ too good this mornin’, Harold,” Willie said.  “So, I let her stay at the house today.”

             
“Oh, okay,” Harold said, and turned to leave.

             
Harold stopped at the door and turned back to Willie.

             
“Reckon she’s well enough for me to stop by y’all’s house?”

             
“Harold, I don’t know what happened yesterday at the river, but she’s been acting real funny,” Willie replied and looked very harshly at Harold.  “I hope you didn’t do nothin’ to hurt her.”

             
“Oh, no sir, Mr. Willie,” Harold said, stammering.  “I could never do that.”

             
Willie looked at him very closely, and it seemed to Harold that he eventually believed that he hadn’t hurt her.