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Authors: Joe R. Lansdale

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BOOK: The Boar
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And that’s when one of the planks on the door split wide open.

Mama screamed, whirled back away from the door.

Startled, I swung the barrel of the .22 up and hit the overhanging lamp, sent it swinging. The room seemed to weave between light and shadow.

The planking on the door cracked wider, and this time something poked through. A long, leathery, black snout that showed only an instant before Mama fired the Winchester at it.

There was a loud grunt that sounded more mad than in pain, and the snout disappeared.

Mama backed toward the table, tried to lean her hip against it. She dropped the rifle and crumpled to the floor. When we got over to her, she was holding herself up on one elbow.

“The baby,” she said, “the baby.”

She rolled over on her back and put her hand to her stomach.

“It’ll be all right, Mama,” I said. “All right. We’ll get you to Doc Travis right now.”

“Old Satan,” she said.

“Gone. You hit him good,” I said.

But the truth was, I wasn’t so sure.

Thirteen

I knew I had to get Mama to town and to Doc Travis, and to do that I had to hitch the wagon up. That meant going outside to the barn. Not something I was anxious to do. But there was no choice.

The cabin still smelled of Old Satan’s stink, and even though he’d only pushed his snout into the room, his odor clung to the place like molasses to a deep-grain board.

“Ike,” I said, “get a rag and dampen it. Put it on Mama’s forehead.”

Mama was starting to bead up with sweat, and it didn’t take a doctor to see she was in fierce pain.

I picked up the Winchester and went to the door to look out through the hole Old Satan had made.

My fear was that soon as I put my eye to that hole his snout would dart through with those big sharp tusks gleaming in the lamplight, or maybe worse, he’d put one big red eye up there to match mine.

But now that the lantern had quit swinging, I felt a bit braver. Nothing like a good, strong light to harden the nerves, Papa always said.

“Anything?” Ike said.

I looked back. He was bending over Mama, touching the damp rag to her forehead. Mama had closed her eyes and was breathing heavy.

“Nothing,” I said. “But that don’t mean he’s gone.”

“She’s hot,” Ike said. “Real hot, like she’s on fire.”

“We got to get her to the doctor. Listen here, I’m going out to the barn—”

“You can’t!”

“I gotta. Now shut up and listen, Ike. I’m going out to the barn. I’m going to take the Winchester in case I meet up with him. I’m going to go out through the window over the dish counter. That way I won’t have to open the door and give Old Satan a chance to get in. I think that window is too high for him to get his fat self through. But when I go out, you close it and throw the bolt.”

“How you going to get back in?”

“If I get the wagon, I ain’t going to need back in. I’ll pull it up to the door, and we’ll load Mama in the back. When you get her comfortable there, you get some pillows and blankets and have them ready so we can make a bed for her.”

“I can run faster than you can. I ought to go.”

“Yeah, but you can’t hitch up a wagon faster than I can, can you?”

Ike finally shook his head. “Guess not.”

“All right now, do what I told you about the window and the blankets.”

Ike nodded.

I took in a deep breath, swallowed, climbed up on the dish counter, unbolted the window, and flung back the shutters. All I could see was the night and the woods, and high up, the stars and a little piece of moon.

Outside it was quiet, except for some frogs croaking and some crickets kicking up a hoedown tune. Way off I could hear some kind of night cry, a bird probably.

The wind had slowed down, but it was still strong enough to lift my hair and rustle the corn and cane in the bottom land.

“Looks okay,” I said.

“He could be just around the corner of the house,” Ike said. “And them hogs can run fast.”

“Don’t remind me, all right? Now you do as I ask.”

I took in another gulp of air and swung myself out the window. I landed softly, the Winchester stock pushed up against my shoulder. I looked left and right, bringing the barrel of the rifle around, ready to fire should Old Satan come roaring around the corner.

He didn’t, however, but a frog hopped on my shoe and startled me. For an instant I wanted to jump back through the window.

But it was too late for that. Ike had closed the shutters, and the sound of that bolt sliding into place gave me an idea of how the Thanksgiving-turkey-to-be must feel when he hears Papa practicing with the axe and chopping block. Both sounds were pretty final.

I looked out at the barn. When I had chores to do, it always seemed too close. Now it seemed too far away.

Creeping to the edge of the house, holding the rifle at ready, I took a gander around the corner. Nothing. The coast was clear.

One more deep breath and I bolted.

Old Satan didn’t come out of the dark after me. Nor did I smell his stink on the air.

I lifted the bar on the barn doors, went inside, and closed them. I still had some matches on me, and I used one to light the lantern.

It took me longer to hitch up Clancy and Felix than I expected. My hands were shaking, and they were both cantankerous about late night work.

Finally the job was done and I went over to open the doors. I did that by holding the rifle at ready and kicking them open.

For a moment, I stood there looking at and listening to the night.

When I turned my back to go to the wagon, a cold strip of fear a foot wide ran up my spine. I climbed up on the seat, laid the rifle across my knees, took hold of the lines, and called out to the mules.

The sound of them grunting and the harness rattling seemed as loud as the old dinner bell Mama used to use. I felt sure the noise would bring Old Satan. But it didn’t.

By the time I reached the yard and pulled up close to the front door, my face was slicked over with sweat, and it felt cold, like someone had dowsed me with ice water.

The two dogs, both dead and looking every bit as torn up as Roger, lay by the door. I felt like I needed to be sick, but I didn’t have time for that.

So Ike and Mama wouldn’t have to look at the dogs, I pulled them around to the side of the house. Then I went back to the door and called out to Ike.

After a moment, I saw movement through the hole Old Satan had made, and the door opened. I went inside without closing the door and bent over Mama. She looked bad, real bad.

“Mama,” I said.

“She don’t answer no more,” Ike said. “Just lays there.”

I got down on one knee and took hold of her hand. “It’s going to be all right, Mama,” I said. Her fingers trembled against the back of my hand, soft and weak as the fluttering wings of a dying butterfly.

I placed Mama’s hand on her stomach and looked at Ike. “Let’s get a move on,” I said.

Ike made Mama a pallet in the wagon bed, and I watched over him with the rifle. When he was finished, we managed a blanket under her and used that to carry her out to the wagon.

To do that, I had to put the rifle aside, and I was sure that was when Old Satan would show up. Just come melting out of the night like he had earlier when I had decided he wasn’t behind me at all, and that it was only my imagination.

But our luck held. We got her loaded in the back and Ike climbed in beside her. I crawled up on the seat, put the rifle across my lap, and took hold of the lines.

“Giddup,” I said, and we began the long, slow trip to Mud Creek.

On the way, and more than once, I heard something big crashing in the brush beside the road. But I never saw anything, and after a time the noises stopped.

Finally the clay road turned firmer where it had been packed down for automobiles. By the time we reached the Mud Creek bridge, Mama had worsened. She had gotten a chill. Ike covered her with a couple of blankets and held her hand.

“She’s got the shakes something awful, Richard,” Ike said.

“We’ll make it,” I said. But Mama wasn’t the only one in trouble. Felix’s sides were heaving and he was starting to stagger. It looked as if he might keel over and die at any moment. I had no choice but to slow down to a trot.

The last half mile seemed like the longest part of the trip. By the time I pulled up in front of Doc Travis’s place, Felix was stumbling and Mama’s teeth were chattering together like the shaking of a rattlesnake’s tail.

Jumping down from the wagon, I raced upstairs to the room over Doc Travis’s office. I was yelling before my fist started knocking.

Doc Travis came pronto. He was pulling on his robe when he stepped out of the doorway and onto the porch.

“It’s Mama,” I said. “She’s bad off. Old Satan’s given us a scare tonight.”

“Let me by, son,” Doc Travis said, and tying the belt of his robe, he went down the steps and I followed after.

Part Two
One

I slept that night in a chair and Ike slept on the floor on the blankets from the wagon. It wasn’t a good sleep I had, and it wasn’t just due to the chair. I was worried sick about Mama, about the baby. I also determined something. I was going to kill Old Satan.

It wasn’t like I didn’t owe it to him. He’d killed my dogs, chased me through the woods, and caused Mama to fall ill, not to mention he’d wrecked some of our corn. If ever a critter had earned him a killing, it was Old Satan. Demon or not, I was going to get him. I had been certain of it when he killed Roger, but if the idea had lagged any, or might have lagged any in the future, what he had made happen to Mama had signed his death warrant.

Doc Travis came out of the back room, and since I was only half-dozing, it woke me up. It was near dawn and a few rays of sunlight were creeping into the room, falling over Doc Travis. It was the first time I’d ever really noticed just how old Doc Travis looked.

I got up from the chair and went over to him.

“I thought you was sleeping.” he said softly.

“Can’t, not soundly anyway. How’s Mama?”

“Resting good now.”

“She going to be all right?”

“I think so.”

“The baby?”

“I don’t know, Richard, just to be honest with you. I think we need to get Leonard back here. I’m going to send out some feelers today, find someone who can hunt him down for me. Till he gets back, I want you boys and your mama to stay here with me.”

“Thanks, Doc Travis, only I can’t stay. Mama and Ike ought to, but I got to go back to the house. I got some things to do.”

He looked at me for a long moment. “Like what?”

“Bury the dogs.”

“What else?”

“Whatever needs to be done.”

“You ain’t thinking about hunting down Old Satan now, are you boy?”

When I didn’t answer, he went on. “That ain’t no pen pig, boy.”

“I know that, sir”

“Yeah, reckon you do. But I’m figuring you’re thinking about trying to hunt that old hog down.”

“If it happened to your family, wouldn’t you?”

“Reckon so. But why don’t you wait until your Papa gets back?”

“Might be a few days. That hog could hurt someone before then.”

“You, maybe.”

“You going to make me stay here?”

Doc Travis shrugged. “I don’t rightly see how. You’re darn near a man now, son. And I figure if I tried to make you stay you’d just slip off and do what you’re going to do anyway. But I’m asking you not to. If something happened to you… well, you think your mama is bad off now… I don’t know if she could take that blow.”

“Ain’t nothing going to happen to me.”

“You got that arranged with Old Satan, son?”

“Doc, I got to do what I got to do. Papa told me to watch over the place. I’m the man of the house now. That hog’s hurt too many already.”

“You’re bound and determined?”

I licked my lips. “No way around it, sir.”

Doc Travis nodded. “You’re more like your Papa every day. Never could tell that hardhead a darn thing either once he made up his mind. But I’ll say this now. I’m against it, and I’m advising against it. You go out to the house if you must, bury the dogs, and forget this boar. Wait until your papa gets home. Promise me you’ll think about it. Promise.”

“All right, I’ll think about it.”

“I mean really think about it.”

“I will. I’m going to go on now. I’ll leave the wagon, but I’ll ride Clancy back. When I get finished doing what I got to do I’ll bring him back. Or maybe Ike and Mama can rent a mule or something.”

“You just take the wagon. I’ll worry about them getting home.”

“It’s Felix I’m thinking about. I don’t think one night’s rest is enough for that old mule.”

Doc Travis nodded. “Have it your way.”

“Take care of Ike and Mama for me.”

“You know I will. And son, leave that Old Satan alone. You think over what I’m saying. That hog is crazy and a born killer. It tore up the best hunter in these parts and left him a cripple. Men have tried to kill it for years without luck. Not putting you down, son, but don’t get to thinking that a youngster like yourself can kill a demon like that.”

“I’ll think on it hard,” I said.

I got the Winchester, got Clancy out of the back lot, and borrowed one of Doc Travis’s old bridles from the tack room. Doc Travis hadn’t had a horse in years, and the bridle was stiff and hard to use. But I found some oil and used that to limber it up some. I fitted it on Clancy, patted Felix good-bye, and went out of the lot leading the mule.

When we reached the street, I turned to look up at Doc Travis’s place. He was standing at the top of the stairs.

“I don’t like what you’re doing, son. I ought to make you stay.”

“No disrespect sir, but it’s like you say. You couldn’t.”

I pulled myself and the Winchester onto Clancy’s back and clucked to him. We started toward home.

“Shoot straight, darn you,” Doc Travis called after me. “You hear, shoot straight?”

I waved a hand over my shoulder without looking back. The sun was coming up and it made the red clay street look like it was on fire. I put my heels to Clancy’s flanks and we began to trot.

BOOK: The Boar
12.29Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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