Bent Creek (13 page)

Sobs wracked his body. “Why’d they take my legs, Rachael? They didn’t even ask me, they jest cut them off.”

Chapter Fifteen

Her decision to take Ben to Nevers’ house with her was met with a sigh of relief from both her parents.  She bundled him into Mr. Mabry’s truck and kissed her parents goodbye. No amount of talking seemed to lift his spirits and he settled into his shroud of depression. “Yah see what I mean, Rachael. Did you see the look on their faces? Thar damn glad tah git rid of me.”

“Don’t blame them, Ben. Thar jest backwoods folks. They ain’t got no smart
s bout this kinda thing and they ain’t got no idée what yer goin’ through. And I got tah warn you.  Nevers ain’t gonna be a bit happy when he sees you, but pay him no mind. I can handle him.”

When they arrived at Nevers, Rachael had to deal with the tirade that she was expecting when she wheeled Ben into the house. “Ya gotta be kiddin’ me. What the hell do you think I’m a runnin’ here, a boardin’ house fer Riley kids.  And now here’s one that can’t even git round. If’n I wasn’t leavin’ this minute, I’d kick the lot of you outta my house. He ain’t gonna be of no halp tah me and I sure as hell ain’t gonna pay fer his keep. Anythin’ he eats comes outta yer pocket, ya heer?”

Nevers already had the truck packed and ready to go into Lynch. He needed Jesse with him and he knew that Rachael was in no mood to messed with.  If he raised too much of a ruckus they would all leave. He could see that look in Rachael’s eyes. He grumbled out loud as he tromped out to the truck. “Got damn mistake hirin’ them Riley kids.  Got tah lissen tah Jesse’s bellyachin’, Rachael’s smart mouth and now Ben sittin’ in a chair with no legs. Damn, what did I do tah deserve this? We‘re gonna have a talk about this situation when I get back.” He turned around and yelled,  “Ya’ll get some work done around here. I want dinner ready when I git home, Girl. And don‘t forget tah make a mess of them biscuits,” He shook his head, “Damn, I sure don’t know what I did tah deserve this.”

“Yer
a mean, old bastard, that’s why,” Rachael yelled out the door. “Don’t you worry none, I’ll take care of my brother.” She ran back into the kitchen and started laughing.

Ben raised his head and a smile came across his lips. Yes, that was his sister, Rachael.  If anyone could tame Nevers Bains it was her.

Lily was busting to talk to Rachael and now she had to contend with another person in the house.  She huffed off into the bedroom while Rachael began pulling things out of the pantry. “Lily, I need some eggs, go out to the hen house and get me some,” she yelled.

Lily slowly walked into the kitchen, picked up the egg basket and headed outside.

“Ben, I have somethin’ tah tell you. Up til now it’s been me and Jesse’s secret, but this arrangement ain’t gonna work lessin’ I tell you. Now you got tah promise me that you’ll keep it a secret. If Nevers finds out, we all might be in for a big hurt
ing. She told Ben all about Lily.

When Lily returned to the kitchen, Rachael spoke up. “You kin talk tah me, Lily.  I told Ben.  He ain’t gonna tell Nevers. How you been since I been gone?”

Lily’s face lit up. “I’ve been purty bad.  Nevers been drinkin’ a lot and been purty mean and when some men came round last week he chased them off with his gun. I don’t know who they were.” She turned to Ben. “Oh, Ben, I’m so sorry about what happened tah you. It’s jest plain awful.  Does it hurt much?”

Ben shook his head. It would take him a while to get used to the two women who would be around him most of the time.

“Where am I gonna sleep?” Ben asked. “I think I’ll go lay down.”

“You’re gonna share a room with Jesse, but right now you kin halp us.” She put a bag of potatoes and carrots on the table and handed him a knife. “Here, peel these.  I’m makin’ stew. When yer finished you can cut some small kindlin’ fer the stove.”

Ben just stared at her.

“Well, go on. Yer hands ain’t broken are they?” she said. “We all got tah earn our keep.”

He slowly picked up the knife and began peeling the potatoes.

On the second day after Ben’s arrival, Nevers and Jesse left for the mountains, Lily and Rachael finished their chores and then spent the afternoon smoothing out the path leading to the river. They wanted to make it easier for Ben to get his chair down the path. They cleared out the rocks and poured buckets of dirt into the ruts and then ran a board tied to a rope down the middle. Ben watched from the kitchen not really sure what they were doing.

“Thar, that should be good,” Rachael said. She brushed her hands on her pants knocking the loose dirt off of them.

“Ain’t you scared he might try tah  kill himself agin?” Lily asked.

“I can’t sit around and worry about that every day.  If he really wants tah do it, he will, but not when I’m around.  The idée is tah keep him busy and make him feel like he has some worth. That’s all everyone wants, Lily, is ta feel like thar needed. If he kin catch us some fish a couply times of week it would be good for him and us, too.”

“Yer a good sister, Rachael. I wish you were my sister. You wouldn’t have let Nevers take me away from home.”

“I surly would have tried tah keep you safe, Lily. Now let’s go fix Ben a fishin’ pole and let him catch us some catfish for dinner.”

Ben protested, but Rachael turned a deaf ear and maneuvered his chair out the door, down the plank she had laid across the steps. She put the can of worms on his lap, slung the pole over her shoulder and pushed him down the path. ”Now, catch us some damn fish. I don’t feel like eatin’ stew again.” She sat down next to him on the bank.  “How much longer are you gonna protest livin’ in this world?  Tell me if I’m wastin’ my time on you.”

“You jest don’t understand, Rachael.  It ain’t easy. Sometimes I jest want tah scream.  I want mah legs back.”

“I know it ain’t easy for you, Ben and I don’t have a clue what I would do in yer place, but one thing I know for sure is that I wouldn’t want tah die. Being dead is forever and it will happen tah all of us soon enough.  Gosh, Ben, I still got so much livin’ tah do, I’m just bustin’ at the seams tah get started. When you get yer pension we can take you up tah one of them army hospitals and they can make you some wooden legs.  Oh, I know, it ain’t the same, but at least you could stand tall.”

Ben sighed. “I’ll stay around fer you.  At least for a while anyway.”

“Does that mean I kin go back up tah the house and you ain’t gonna jump in this water? I ain’t really in the mood fer a swim.”

“You go on, Rachael. I’ll stay put.”

Chapter Sixteen

Jesse sat on his usual rock, his new gun resting across his lap. He had learned his lesson after the incident with the bear. He would never lay it down again. Picking up a round branch he pulled out his pocketknife and began to whittle.  It was something to do to pass the long hours while he waited for Nevers. Jesse had already carved several small animals, which he intended to give to Lily. He wanted to do something to show Lily that he liked her. Ever since that day at the lake, he seldom talked to her. Surely, she had to understand how afraid of Nev
ers he was. If he had caught them together Nevers would have beat Jesse to a pulp or maybe even shot him. No one would blame a man for making sure his wife stayed true to him, even if it meant killing her lover.

Lost in his daydreams and carving, the two blasts from a shotgun almost made him fall off the rock. He bolted upright, wood shavings and his gun falling to the ground. Knowing that was a signal from Nevers, Jesse grabbed his rifle and began run
ning up the steep slope. Another barrage of gunfire rang out, causing Jesse to fall flat to the ground. After a few minutes he got up and ran the rest of the way up the incline.  Out of breath, he was relieved when he saw Nevers’ truck. When he came upon it he found Nevers lying on the ground next to it holding his leg. Blood was dripping out of a tear in his pants.

“Damn, what’s wrong? You been shot?” Jesse asked.

“No! I cut myself. Get me a rag tah tie off my cut.”

“What was all that shootin’? I heard lots of shots fired?” Jesse asked as he stripped off his shirt and tore the bottom part off the sleeve. Nevers let out a loud moan as he let go of the wound and wrapped the blue cloth around it.  “It was jest me, twernt sure you heard the first shot. Get me in the truck!  Take me down tah the lean-to. Now, dammit! Jest don’t stand thar and let me bleed tah death.”

Leaning on Jesse’s shoulder, Nevers staggered to the truck. He lay with his head on the seat while the truck bumped its way down the path while blood dripped onto the floorboards.

“Now lissen tah me, boy and lissen good,” Nevers said. “You gotta take this truck into Lynch and deliver this load tah Clyde Orby at the general store. Pull round back and knock on the door. Tell him I sent you. Halp him unload and then he’ll give ya a bag. Don’t open it! Then come back and git me.”

“I can’t do that,” Jesse said. “You got a bad cut. I ain’t leavin’ you up here all alone, you need tah git tah a doctor.”

Nevers pointed his shotgun at Jesse. “You better do what I say, Jesse or I’m gonna take this gun and shoot you in the head right now. Now git.”

Jesse pulled the door shut on the lean-to and jumped into the truck. At the bottom of the mountain, he turned left instead of going right. A few minutes later he pulled the truck into the yard. Opening the door, he yelled for Rachael.

“What are you doin’ back so soon? Where’s Nevers? What happen tah yer shirt?” she questioned.

“He’s hurt, Rachael.  He’s hurt reel bad.  He’s up at the shack. He said he cut his leg, but I think he done got shot cause he’s got a hole in his leg that goes clean through tah the other side. Didn’t look like no cut tah me. He was gonna shoot me if’n I didn’t take this load of pelts into Lynch before I went back and fetched him. But I can’t jest let him lay thar and bleed tah death. I need yer halp. Git Lily. I need you both.”  Jesse was almost choking on his words. “Settle down. Tell me what happened?” she asked. “Thar’s no time. We gotta go git him right now.”

Rachael yelled for Lily. “Come on, we got tah go, Nev
ers has been hurt. We’ll be back soon, Ben.  You jest stay here in the kitchen.  Boil some water, get some clean rags out of the closet.” They were gone before he could answer.

On the way up the mountain, Jesse told them what hap
pened. “He’s gonna be real mad at me when he sees me back with you two. We might have tah tie him up and make him come with us.”

At the top of the ridge Jesse pulled the truck under a tree
and got out. He ducked his head as he entered the shack.  He stood
there for a moment looking at Nevers and then called to Rachael and Lily. “He ain’t movin’.  I think he’s dead.  Thar’s blood
everywhere.” Jesse poked him with his boot.  “Yep, he’s dead as a doornail.”

“Dang blame it, Jesse, you don’t need tah be pokin’ him with yer foot. Tech his chest and see if’n he’s breathin’.”

“I ain’t touchin’ him. You do it,” Jesse said, backing away.

Rachael slowly moved toward the cot. Nevers face was a pale gray. His mouth hung open reveling a purple tongue. Putting her hand on his shirt she could feel that his body was already beginning to become rigid. “Yep, he’s dead, all right.” Pushing back the leg of his pants, Rachael saw the gapping wound from a shotgun. “Yer right, he didn’t cut himself, he’s been shot fer sure. I reckon we better put him in the truck and take him down tah the house.” She turned to Lily. “Are you okay?” Lily shook her head and bolted toward the door. Stand
ing off in the weeds she heaved up her breakfast and lunch.

“Go clear some of those skins out of the truck. We’ll wrap him in these blankets and put him in the back,” Rachael said, knowing that neither Jesse nor Lily knew what to do. “Oh forget it!  I’ll do it myself. You just stand there like two dum
mies.” She stomped off and climbed into the bed of the truck. Rachael began throwing the pelts over the side of the truck.  A few minutes later she let out a yell so loud that Lily and Jesse came running to her.  “Would you look at this?  I’ll be switched. Moonshine! Jars and jars of it. That Nevers wasn’t a trapper at tall.” She held up a mason jar filled with a clear liquid.  That old sumbitch wuz runnin’ moonshine. That’s why he wanted you tah take it into Lynch right away.  Damn, this changes everythang.”

“He ain’t no moon
shiner. I been up here ten times with him. He always comes down with a load of pelts,” Jesse said.

“Yeah, the same old pelts every time. Hell, these skins are so old that half of them are goin’ bare. Now halp me get him into the truck. We got tah get tah the house real fast.”

With Nevers’ body tucked between two blankets Jesse headed down the steep road. “What are we gonna do, Rachael? What are we gonna do with the hooch?  Should we go straight to the sheriff’s office?”

Rachael put her hands over her ears.  “Be still, Jesse.  I have
tah think. Just let me think on this for a minute.  We have tah make a plan.” Rachael knew the sheriff would ask a lot of questions. He would want to see the location where Nevers injured himself. If
they took the sheriff up to the shack he might get a notion to follow the trail of blood leading further up the path. Then what? If he found the still the revenuers would take everything—the truck, the house and everything in it. Then what would Lily do?