Bound by Blood and Brimstone (12 page)

out.

"Huh?" Clearly, Caleb hadn’t read his Bible. "Look, little Miss Hotshot," he said

smoothly, turning his pale eyes on Lorrie Beth. "You can’t have your sister with you all the time.

This little tramp, neither. You’re going to be by yourself sooner or later, and I'll be around.

You’re the reason I got my arm busted, and I always pay my debts. You'd best not forget that.”

With that he turned, pocketed the slingshot, and left us standing like statues with only

twittering birds to break the stillness. It wasn't until we started back down the road that I realized

Caleb had forgotten to call Lorrie Beth "Gimpy" when he left.

Janine was the first to interrupt the awkward silence. "Say, Cleo, just what was it that

Cat said to Turd-face the first day of school that’s had him so hot under the collar?” I sighed and

tossed my empty pop bottle over into the weeds by the side of the road.

"She told him he had a big fat pumpkin head," I said sadly. Janine laughed all the way to

Crystal Creek.

Everybody called it a creek, but in truth, it was an inlet deep within the woods beyond the

point where Crystal and Silver Rock Creeks merged. Together, they cascaded over a small

outcropping of rock, feeding into a cove enveloped on all sides by virgin forest. The end result

was a pond of singing water so clear the smooth rock bottom could be seen, even at its deepest

point.

Its bank, consisting of an enormous, flat-topped, jutting rock, appropriately named Big

Rock, made the perfect spot for diving, jumping, and belly flopping. The dappled sunlight

peeking through the treetops had even spawned enough wildflowers to grant a faint essence of

perfume to any who came to play.

There was no preparation for me before going in. My swimming clothes were simply

mid-thigh cut-offs and a cotton shirt. I knew I’d dry out in no time once we came out of the

woods into full-blown sunlight. Giving my towel a quick toss in the grass, I leapt off Big Rock

with a squeal.

Nothing compared to the first swim of summer and the intoxicating rush of that cool, wet

embrace. My head broke the surface, and I flung my hair back, treading water, waiting for my

companions.

Finally freed from socks, shoes, and necklace, Lorrie Beth held her nose and did an

awkward cannonball, spraying water in all directions as she landed inches from me. I dunked her

several times before she dove under to grasp my feet and flip me. We were splashing and

giggling when I turned and saw Janine standing near the edge of Big Rock, smiling down at us.

What’s she waiting for
? I thought.

"How is it?" she called.

"Great! Come on in!" I hollered, expecting her to step off the edge with a big splash.

Instead, she reached for the hem of her sleeveless top and pulled it up over her head in one fluid

motion. Then her shorts came down around her ankles.
She's going to go skinny-dipping! In the

middle of the morning!
Behind me, Lorrie Beth gasped.

"Shh! She'll hear you!" I whispered.

"Ember Mae, she's taking her clothes off! Momma would skin us alive if she knew we

saw something like that!"

"Lorrie Beth, Momma doesn't have to know everything we do," I said, from somewhere a

million miles away. I had to admit, the sight of Janine standing there on that rock in her birthday

suit stunned me.

At our house, modesty had never been a choice, but a way of life. Baths, taken in a

washtub in the bedroom or kitchen, were private affairs, and dressing was done hurriedly, either

alone in your bedroom or with your backs turned to each other.

I’d taken little notice of my own body, aside from the need to keep it clean, and never had

I beheld an adult body, male or female, completely unadorned. Even as a witness to childbirth,

I’d seen nothing but snippets of skin, glistening with blood, hardly an image I cared to revisit.

Now, before my unbelieving eyes, Janine poised herself for a dive, bare and unashamed of the

handiwork God had wrought in her young flesh.

From head to toe, her skin was smooth, unblemished, and tanned a deep honey-gold. I

chose not to contemplate how she’d managed that. She had a long, lean torso and boyish, narrow

hips, but her arms, legs, and buttocks were shapely and sculpted with defined muscle.

Just before she sprang, executing a perfect swan dive, she took a deep breath which thrust

out her small breasts. They were high and plump, peach-sized, and perfectly proportioned to her

compact body.

Every stretch, every flex, exuded a supple grace and confidence that said she was at ease

in her nude state. It also drove home the fact that my own chunky, undeveloped body didn’t give

me the same self-assurance. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a small jolt of envy at that.
Maybe

by next year
, I thought.

She cut the water’s surface cleanly, with barely a plop, before shooting up and out for

another dive. Three times she repeated the sinuous maneuver before flipping on her back to float.

Lorrie Beth and I were fairly good swimmers from a young age, but I’d never seen anything like

Janine in the water.

"Where did you learn to dive like that?" I asked while we floated face up, admiring the

lacy ceiling overhead.

"Oh, that," she said with a snort. "I'm captain of the swim team at school, but mostly I

learned from swimming in the Caribbean with Daddy. He took me to this place that had these

huge cliffs and made me dive off them. He wouldn't let me stop until he thought I was good

enough.” When I didn't respond, she must’ve thought it had to do with her lack of swimwear.

"And I
hate
wearing wet clothes, even for a minute. Chafes me," she offered by way of

explanation.

We floated dead man style. We splashed and swallowed gallons of water. Janine taught

us the Butterfly stroke and something called the Australian crawl. We climbed up on Big Rock

and practiced swan dives until I lost count. And, of course, we talked.

At first it was unsettling for Lorrie Beth and me, swimming with Janine in the nude, but

after a while even Lorrie Beth could look at her without having her mouth flop open. Janine had

a way of making us feel comfortable with ourselves and our surroundings, even if said

surroundings included a naked girl. So, in short order, we adjusted.

Near the shallow end of the cove, out of view of Big Rock, the water was still and warm,

and we spent a good bit of time there deep in conversation. The main topic of interest, naturally,

was Caleb Jacob. I told Janine how Caleb had targeted Lorrie Beth from the first moment he’d

seen her limping down the aisle of the classroom, and how he’d stuck her with the name of

"Gimpy," until other kids had followed his lead.

Lorrie Beth and I explained how other hateful taunts had followed, including “Crip

Hop," "Limper," and finally, most hurtful of all, "She-Freak.”

"Then, in second grade, whenever I was in the schoolyard, he’d shove me every chance

he got," Lorrie Beth revealed. "One time we were playing kickball and, when nobody was

looking, he came up behind me and kicked my leg out from under me."

"Yeah," I added, "that's true. And Sue Lee has yanked her by the hair so many times, it's

a wonder she doesn't have bald spots. Lots of times she’s had scabs in her head where her hair

got pulled so hard she bled.

"Yeah, Sue Lee hates me as much as Caleb," Lorrie Beth said with a sigh. "And I've

never done anything to them. I've tried so hard to be friends, even with Sue Lee."

"Well, it's easy to see what the problem is there," Janine said, shooting me a wink behind

Lorrie Beth’s head.

"What do you mean?” Lorrie Beth asked, clearly puzzled.

Janine's eyes widened. "Why, Cat, don't you see? It’s jealousy, pure and simple.” Lorrie

Beth was now in the throes of total astonishment. Her mouth flopped opened, but nothing came

out for several seconds. She shook her head.

"Why on earth would Sue Lee be jealous of me?"

Janine laughed. "Girl, are you blind? Look at you! Any girl in her right mind would be

jealous of you!” Lorrie Beth had the decided expression of someone who’d just seen Peter

walking on water. While she was recovering from her shock, Janine finished her off. "Matter of

fact," she said thoughtfully, "maybe Caleb really kind of likes you and is too stupid to know how

to show it."

It was too much for me, and before I could stop myself, I was laughing hysterically.

"Yeah, he likes her, all right. Same as a spider likes fly meat. You didn't see him that first day of

school," I said. "If I hadn't smashed his arm with that rock, I believe he would’ve choked Lorrie

Beth to death!” She agreed that he was certainly capable of violence, given his size.

"I've seen his type before," she mused. "You say one thing to set them off, and you've got

an enemy for life.” She looked at Lorrie Beth appraisingly. "You stood up to him today. I think

that got his attention.”

Lorrie Beth nodded. "Yeah, it got his attention, for sure. Remember what he said about

always paying his debts? I don't think he's ever going to let this go.” She said this with the

resignation of someone about to step up to the gallows, and it tore at my heart.

"Well," Janine replied slowly, "in that case, there's only one thing to do."

"What's that?" Lorrie Beth asked. Janine turned suddenly and began swimming back to

Big Rock.

"Come on," she called over her shoulder, "I'll show you."

Janine was already dressed and waiting by the time we heaved ourselves up on the bank.

As I was reaching for my towel, Lorrie Beth let out a small, pained cry. I turned to find her

looking down at her shoes and socks, her finger shaking as she pointed at the ground.

Alarm bells clanged in my head, and I ran to her. "What? What is it?"

She raised her head, her face a mask of sorrow. Tears were coursing down her cheeks.

"My necklace," she whispered. "It's gone."

"Maybe you dropped it," I suggested, knowing better even as I said it.

"Yeah," Janine put in hopefully. "It has to be here somewhere. We'll find it, Cat. Don't

worry."

"No," Lorrie Beth said sorrowfully. "We won't. It was right there in my shoe, and it's

gone."

Just as I feared, Lorrie Beth was right. The emerald necklace was nowhere to be found.

I’d expected as much. After searching high and low, we were forced to face the truth, and it

wasn't pretty.

There had been no nearby weeds for the necklace to fall into. I knew how Lorrie Beth had

treasured that necklace, and the possibility that she’d been careless enough to misplace it was

absurd. Chatting so long out of view of Big Rock, we’d left our few belongings wide open for

the taking.

Lorrie Beth was reluctant to accept our reality. "If somebody wanted to steal something,

why not take your clothes? You left them right by my shoes.”

Janine gave her a narrow look. "They weren't after my clothes. My guess is that they

knew exactly what they wanted when they came here."

It was a miserable walk home for Lorrie Beth. By the time we got to the house, Janine

had let us in on her scheme. Lorrie Beth was to be her "soldier in training,” she told us. Never

again would she have to be afraid of the likes of Caleb Jacobs.

"When I get through with you, he'll be running like a scalded dog," she announced.

Assuming that she had the ludicrous intention of teaching Lorrie Beth how to fight, I stifled the

urge to suggest a one-way bus ticket to Alaska. Turns out, fighting wasn’t what Janine had in

mind at all.

"You'll be the best shot with a rock this hick county has ever seen." We were behind the

barn where Janine had stockpiled a small arsenal of rocks. "We work on power first. Then aim.”

She grinned. "Then, we master the slingshot.” I was skeptical to say the least, but my sister had

some surprises up her sleeve.

By suppertime that evening, she’d achieved a distance I would’ve never believed. I

realized, if not for Janine, Lorrie Beth's grief over her stolen necklace would’ve ruined the rest of

the summer for her. For that, I thanked God for Janine Westerfield. I still do.

Even with the taint of Caleb Jacobs' shadow hanging over us, there were still plenty of

joys to be had that summer. I continued my weekly studies with Wonnie Dean and developed a

bond with Wovoka that surprised us both. I also learned more than I ever cared to know about

what to expect during childbirth.

Lorrie Beth worked diligently with Janine, and in less time than I’d ever imagined, she

was a deadeye shot. She practiced her slingshot on the crows in our cornfield and got so good at

her aim, Daddy joked about making her his new "spy-crow."

Of course, the biggest excitement arrived with men wearing hard hats and belts hung with

heavy tools. The power company finally erected poles in Sapphire Hollow, and people gawked

so much I wondered if they were expecting Elvis to show up.