Jacob's Way (21 page)

Three days later Ben Driver insisted on helping around the house. He only had the clothes that he had worn from the prison, but when Dov went out to build a fence he came out and said, “I can help a little.”

Dov stared at him. “Maybe not. You been sick.”

“I can do something,” Driver insisted.

Dov shrugged his massive shoulders. He picked up a wedge and a fifteen-pound sledge. He handled the sledge as if it were a tack hammer and with one hand drove the wedge in. He added another one, then a third, and with a few hard blows the tree split in two. He quickly split these until he had a small stack of fence posts.

“Those locust posts will last forever and a day after that. Fine for fence posts,” Driver said. He managed to dig a hole for one, and then Dov took the post-hole digger, and the dirt simply flew.

The two worked together, Dov doing ninety percent of the work.

Finally they stopped to rest—at least Driver did. He went and sat down under the shade of a sycamore tree. When Dov sat down some time later, Driver said, “What do you want, Dov?”

Dov stared at him. “You mean—now?”

“No. I mean for the rest of your life.”

“Food to eat, place to sleep—friends.”

“That's all?”

“What else is there?”

At that moment Reisa came out of the house bearing a bucket of water. “I thought you might be thirsty,” she said.

“I am. Sometimes I forget to take a drink and dry myself out.” He drank deeply from the pitcher, then handed it to Dov. The big man simply turned the bucket up and drank deeply.

“What's all this about Jews can't eat certain things?” Driver asked curiously. “The fellows in our outfit nearly starved to death, the two men who were Jews. I knew they couldn't eat hog meat. What
can you eat?”

“We can't eat anything that chews their cud or has a cloven hoof.”

“You mean like a deer?”

“Oh, yes. We can eat a deer.”

“Well, I think it's about time I paid my way.” He left the two and went up to the porch. Sam was sitting there with Jacob, and, as usual, they were discussing Scripture. Driver interrupted, “I'm going to get a deer.”

Sam nodded. “That'd be mighty fine. Like I said, I can't shoot much, and Phineas can't get to 'em. Just a minute.”

Sam entered the house and came back quickly with a rifle.

“This is a Spencer I took off a dead Yankee. You think you can hit anything with it?”

“Well, I got seven chances.” Ben grinned. “I saw lots of deer tracks down by the creek. I won't come back until I get something. Dov, you come along to carry the critter back.”

The two turned and left.

Reisa sat down on the porch beside Jacob, and Sam went inside, leaving them alone.

Reisa shot a cautious glance at her grandfather. He was pale and drawn. She knew he was not eating well and was growing weaker, but she did not mention this.

“
Zaideh
, I know we can make money, but we need to be able to carry more goods.” She sighed deeply. “What we need is a wagon and a good team of horses.”

Jacob smiled at her. “Well, God owns the wagons in a thousand wagon yards. He can surely spare one if you ask.” He paused, then spoke. “I've been thinking about what you said about the ex-slave women wanting wedding rings, and the men wanting hats. The hats are easy, but the wedding rings would be easy to carry, and you should sell them on credit.”

Reisa nodded. “That would be good, but where is the money to come from to get started? A wagon and a team costs more than we would ever have. And as for the rings, how much would they cost?”

“I do not know, but I will write a letter to our friend Rabbi Isaac Tichler in Norfolk. He, no doubt, will be able to find out something for us.”

Reisa did not comment on that. It just seemed too big to take in.

It was four o'clock when the two men returned. Dov was carrying a fat deer over his shoulders, and he smiled broadly. “We have food!”

Sam came down the porch quickly. “Fine fat deer,” Phineas said.

“Well, Jacob,” Sam said. “How do we dress this deer? You will have to tell us how to do it right.”

Jacob said, “That I will do.”

They all went around to the back of the house, where Dov strung the deer up by his hind legs.

“You must drain all the blood out,” Jacob said. When this was done, he said, “Now it is safe. We feel that the life of the flesh is in the blood, and no Jew will eat blood if he is a good Jew.”

Reisa watched as the deer was dressed. “Give me some fat steaks, and I'll start them cooking.” She waited until she had plenty of fresh meat, then she went into the house and started the meal.

It turned out to be a fine supper. All of them ate a great deal except for Jacob.

While they were lingering over the table, Sam said to Ben, “Did you ever get shot in the war?”

Driver nodded. “Three times. The first time was at Shiloh. We were chargin' the Yankees, and I came on a Yankee lieutenant who was down. He seemed to be bad off. He was beggin' for water, and I stopped to give him a drink. When I left him, I turned my back and started away. He pulled out a pistol and shot me in the back.”

Reisa was horrified. “How awful!”

“What happened to that fella?” Phineas demanded.

Driver was silent for a moment, then shook his head. “He didn't make it.”

Reisa cleaned the kitchen, as usual, while the men talked. Reisa started to wash the dishes, but Sam interrupted. “Nope. Me and Phineas will do them. You've done 'em every night. You go sit on the porch.”

As soon as she had left and Jacob had gone to his room, Sam began to wash the dishes. Phineas said, “How long do you reckon they'll stay here, Sam?”

“Until Jacob gets able to move on, I guess.” He gave Phineas an odd look. “You don't mind it, do you, Phineas? I mean, after all, they just take up a little food, and it don't cost much.”

Phineas scratched his chin and stared down at the dishwater. “I don't know as I mind it all that much. Driver—well, I dunno.”

“He's kind of a lost fella wanderin' around and don't know what to do with himself. You know how it was right after the war—so many of our friends just had nothin' left to go home to. Almost like ghosts, they were.”

The two stood there talking quietly, and finally Phineas looked over at Dov, who was sitting on the floor with his head pressed back against the wall. His eyes were closed, and Phineas said, “You finish these dishes. I'll go play that feller a tune.”

He moved over to a case where his violin lay, picked it up, and went over and sat down in front of Dov. “Like to have a little music, Dov?”

“Yes,” Dov said brightening up at once. He sat there and listened while Phineas played song after song. Sometimes he would sing the words, and Dov would beat time with his fists against his meaty legs.

Outside on the porch, Ben and Reisa stood looking off into the gathering dusk in the trees. Reisa's voice came to Ben through the darkness. “Phineas plays so well.”

“Yes, he does,” Driver agreed. “We had a fellow in our outfit that played a banjo like that. He could almost make that thing talk.”

“What are you going to do, Ben?”

Driver turned to face her, although he couldn't see her clearly in the darkness. They were isolated for the moment, and she was sitting close enough that he could smell the violet scent that she used. Once again he wondered about her hair. He could see that it was black and wondered what it would look like if it were loose. “I don't know,” he said finally. “I've been thinking I'd go out to the coast to California.”

“California. Where is that?”

“Three thousand miles away.”

“What would you do when you got there?”

“I don't know. The same as here probably.”

Reisa turned to face him. “Don't do that, Ben.”

“Why not?”

“There's nothing for you in California that isn't here. This is your homeland, isn't it?”

“I used to think it was.”

She did not answer, and the two of them stood there very close together. It had not been planned by either of them, but they were standing almost shoulder to shoulder. Ben knew that if he moved slightly, her arm would be pressed against his. He held himself back. Finally he said, “What are you going to do, Reisa? You and your grandfather.”

“Oh, I have a dream.” She laughed softly, a good sound on the night air. “I have lots of dreams. You'd think I was a silly woman if I told you.”

“Try me. What is it?”

“Oh, I'd like to have a wagon. Not just an ordinary wagon, Ben, but one with compartments in it. You may have seen them. I saw one last week. It was all divided up. In one compartment was clothing. In another was groceries and household things. In another there was tools for the men, and still in another there was jewelry for the women. It was beautiful.” She turned to him and was facing him. Her eyes seemed to glow in the faint light of the moon.

Driver said, “That's not a bad dream.”

She laughed and said, “You haven't heard all of it.”

“What's the rest?”

“All of the ex-slave women want wedding rings. They couldn't buy them before they were set free, you know.”

“I never thought of that.”

“No, they weren't even allowed to marry in many cases. Now they're married, but very few of them have wedding rings.”

“So you'd like to sell wedding rings to them?”

“Yes, but most of them don't have enough money. But if I had enough money, I could buy up a group of wedding rings and go sell them on credit. They could pay a dollar a month or whatever they could afford.”

“That'd take a big investment and a lot of work.”

“I wouldn't mind it,” Reisa said simply.

From far off came a mournful sound. Reisa said, “What's that?”

“Coyote.”

“Are they dangerous?”

“No. Very shy. You hardly ever see one.”

“What do they look like?”