Bent Creek (4 page)

“If’n I ever ketch you a swimmin’ over thar,” he said, pointing to the other bank,
“I’ll cut me a big switch and beat yer ass all the way home. And I kin sneak up thar whenever I get a hankerin’ to and check on you.” They believed him.

The right side was a ledge of quarry rock that shot straight up into the sky. Over the years sturdy vines and small trees had grown into the crevasses.  The branches would sway in the wind like long arms reaching out with a warning for them to stay on their own side of the quarry.

On a hot July day, the Riley kids trudged up the moun
tain and jumped into the cold water, feeling the gratifying release from the summer’s torment.  After a few hours of splashing and playing in the quarry they lay on the huge, gray rock, the warm sun dried their clothes; Rachael rolled over and sat up. “I reckon we should be going home, soon. Momma don’t like us stayin’ up here too long.”

“What fer?” Paul asked. “What we gonna do at home. Taint no food in the house ceptin’ them damn turnips and taters. I’m sick of them.”

Jesse let out a grunt. “Mah belly is so hollow I could play a tune on it. How bout we look around fer some berries or nuts?”

“Damn, nuts or berries. I want food, real food.  I want big hunks of meat and bread. Real good bread like Momma used tah make,” Paul added.

“We’ll be gettin’ some of that pretty soon. When we get tah boot camp. They feed you good in the army,” Ben said.

Rachael bolted upright. “Army, what are you talkin’ about, Army?”

“Well, we was gonna wait to tell ya’ll together, but me and Paul is goin’ up tah Lynch tomarra to join up.  Thangs ain’t gettin’ no better round here, Rachael,” Ben said.

“Oh
, Lordy, Ma is gonna have a fit when she finds out. She still ain’t over losin’ Willie and now with you two leaving, oh, Lordy,” Rachael said shaking her head.  “But, I don’t blame you. Leastwise you’ll get away from here.”  They walked home in silence. Each one thinking about their own future and the changes coming in their lives.

At the supper table Ben cleared his throat. “Well, I’ve got somethin’ to tell ya’ll.  Me and Paul are goin’ up to Lynch tomarra to join the army. They got a man up there that kin sign us up.” Paul continued to stare at his empty plate waiting for his parents to say something.

He was surprised at his father’s reaction. “Don’t says that I blame you one darn bit. You ain’t got nothin’
to hold you here. Leastwise the army will pay you and maybe you kin see yer way clear to send yer ma and me a few dollars.”

“Why you want to go away and get yerself kilt in the army?” Ida Mae mumbled.

Paul slammed his fork down on the table. “How we gonna die in the army? Ain’t no war right now.  We’re dyin’ a slow death here, Ma. What if the mine doesn’t open? What then? We jest gonna’ sit here and starve to death.  This old cabin won’t stand another winter and it’s already July and we don’t have no money. Ain’t no work round here for any of us. Sides they got all kinds of programs in the army to teach you things. Maybe I kin larn a trade that will halp me make a livin’.”

Ida Mae never had an answer for those kinds of ques
tions. She knew there was none.

“Don’t ya worry about that, boys.  That mine will be up and runnin’ in a couply months.”

“Yeah and some more kin can get kilt thar,” Paul said. “Jest like Willie.”

That was the wrong thing to say to Roy Riley.  He slammed his hand down on the table causing the dishes to rattle and spoons to fall on the floor. “Workin’ in the mine is damn hard work and yeah, we all know it’s dangerous.  Willie knew that. Nobody twisted you boys arms tah work thar.  Ain’t no call for you tah remind me that I lost mah son. You jest go on off and join the army.” He left the room, slamming the door behind him.

The day after Ben’s announcement the two Riley boys packed up their meager belongings and left on foot to meet up with the others that were going to enlist in the army.  Rachael kissed them both and hugged them goodbye.  Her mother cried, saying she would probably never see her boys again. Rachael’s father shook their hands and wished them well.  He turned and hurried into the house. It was a sad time even though it meant two less mouths to feed and Jesse would have a bed to sleep in. Roy was counting on the money they would be sending him. They were just boys, but they seemed so grown-up today as they walked down the road and away from Bent Creek.

Chapter Five

Rachael opened the door of the truck and slid in next to Jesse. “Thanks fer pickin’ me up,” she said, “You know how I hate walkin’ home when it is almost dark and rainin’ to boot.”

Jesse nodded and struggled to keep the truck in gear a
s it chugged down the street. “It’s a real toad strangler out there, Rachael. You best enjoy this ride, little sis, cause Pa is sellin’ the truck. He’s got someone comin’ to look at it tonight. He says usin’ the wagon and the mule is as good as the truck and costs a lot less.”

“That is too bad, but I got bad news, too. This was mah last day at the store cause it’s closin’. I only had one customer today and she spent twenty cents.  So now, I’m out of a job.” She stared out the window at the gray and white scenery as they passed by the stripped land just above the mine.

“Maybe you could marry Billy Tate.  I hear he has a crush on you,” Jesse said, grinning.

“Billy Tate! I hate Billy Tate,” she spewed out.  “He’s a slimy little weasel and he gives me the creeps.  Anyway I am not gonna git hitched tah Billy or anybody else livin’ in this hol
ler and have a mess of kids and be stuck here.  I’m gonna leave soon. I’m gonna go to Florida.”

“Well, Emma Jane is lookin’ round fer a fella. She’s afeared that pa is gonna find somebody fer you and her to marry.”

“Well he can just forget that idée.  I ain’t ever had much to say about what goes on in mah life, but I know’d for sure marryin’ Billy Tate will never happen. Beside Emma Jane is only thirteen,” Rachael replied. She’s too young to be even thinkin’ about gettin’ hitched.”

The last turn off the gravel road and into the rutted mud path leading to the house always made Rachael want to close her eyes. How could anyone actually live in this hovel?  Half of the front porch was missing since the last storm hit and the yard was strewn with chickens and rusty tools her daddy picked up off the road. Ragged clothes hung on a line strung between two trees. An old billy goat stood beneath the line chewing one of the pant legs. Rachael jumped out of the truck and shooed him away. It didn’t really seem to matter much; the other pant leg was already ragged.

Since the men went on strike her father was always on the porch when Rachael came home from work with her meager pay. He had laid a board over a barrel and sat playing solitaire with a soiled deck of cards that had the three of clubs missing. He would sit for hours just watching the road, waiting for some
one to come and tell him that the mine was open again.  Today was no different.  “See what I mean, Rachael,” Jesse said.  “Pa is sittin’ there pretendin’ that every thang is gonna be all right and it ain’t. He should be out startin’ to cut wood for the winter. We’re gonna need a lot of it to keep that drafty, old house warm. I’m plumb tired of doin’ all the outside chores round here.”

Rachael saved her bad news until after supper. The family sat in silence and ate the boiled potatoes and turnips seasoned with a little deer meat. As her father pushed his chair away from the table, Rachael blurted out, “I don’t have a job anymore. The store closed today.”

Her father rubbed his head. “Bad news just keeps pilin’ up in a heap. Truck is bein’ sold tonight.  Should give us a little money til the mine opens.”

Around six o’clock two men came to the house and after talking with her father, Roy handed them the keys to the truck and they gave him an envelope.  He stood in the yard and watched until the truck was out of his sight.  He was despondent that he had to sell it, but nothing hurt the family more than when the radio was sold and soon after that all the electricity was cut off.

Chapter Six

“These people livin’ around here are just plain stupid,” Rachael said, throwing her pad of paper on the kitchen table. “I’m tryin’ tah do some good and they look at me like I got two heads.  Alls I wanted was for them tah come tah a meetin’ and hear what I have tah say. They tell me they don’t have time— they don’t have time! That’s a joke.  They’re jest sittin’ round waitin’ fer I don’t know what. That’s what I want to know, what are they waitin’ fer? Are they waitin’ fer one of their kids to starve tah death or freeze when winter comes.  I reckon that must be it.” She plopped down in the chair, folding her arms over her chest. “Grandpa Abe’s the only one that got any sense. He’s been cuttin’ wood for the last two weeks.  He’s got a real big stack goin’ for him, but he’s jest as bull-headed as the rest them. He won’t come to mah meetin’ either.”

“What did you spect them tah do, girl?  They ain’t never had no youngin’ goin’ round tryin’ to set up meetins’.  Hell, they probably think yer plumb loco.”

“That’s the point, Daddy. If they’d jest listen to me I could have told them what it was all about.  We could halp each other this winter. Instead
they’s jest sittin’ on their front porches drinkin’ swill and spittin’ in cans.  Some need wood; others need food or a new roof like us.  Maybe by puttin’ all our resources together we could come up with a good plan.”

“What’s a resource?” Roy asked. “I ain’t got no resource and I don’t tend on buyin’ one.

“Oh forget it,” She stomped off. Talking to herself and kicking clods of dirt from the road, she didn’t even see the figure coming toward her until he said hello.

“Oh, mah gosh, Paul, what are you doing home?” She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.  “It’s only been six weeks, I thought that boot camp lasted eight weeks.”

“Does, for most. I didn’t make it, Rachael.  They said I twern’t what they was lookin’ fer.  They done sent me home. They said I wasn’t army material, so they gave me five dollars and a bus ticket home.”

“Well, that’s okay, Paul
, I’m sure not everyone is cut out to be a soldier.”

“Ben’s still there, Rachael. I seed him right before I left. I’m bigger than him and a lot stronger, too, but the sergeant jest kept a gittin’ on me. Jest cause I couldn’t make it through them trainin’ sessions. I tried reel hard, but they were jest too hard fer me. It’s mah legs, Rachael.  I’m plumb bowlegged. I done fell over mah own feet.” He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “I’m jest a damn failure.”

Rachael put her arms around her brother.  “No, yer not, Paul. You’ll be fine. I’m glad tah have you back.”

It didn’t take long for Paul to sense that he was a big disappointment to his father. The words were never spoken out loud, but given out in small doses, like telling Jesse to help Paul with the chores since he might not be able to do them. Also, there would only be Ben’s allotment sent home to help the family.

Ida Mae was happy to have at least one of her boys home safe. She even went so far as to blame herself for Paul’s failure to make it in the army.  “I shoulda bound yer legs when you were a youngin’. That’s what that old midwife tole me, but I didn’t do it. It’s all mah fault, Paul.”

Nothing anyone said seemed to help Paul.  He took the little money the army had given him and bought tobacco and moonshine. He slept late and spent the rest of the day sitting on the porch drinking from a jug. By evening he usually was too drunk to even make it in the house and spent many a night sleeping in the yard. Other times he would go off with Billy Tate and some of the other boys from the hollow to drink and raise a ruckus. Ida Mae worried constantly about him, but Roy told her to leave him be. He would come around in his own time.

By the end of the summer everyone in the house was totally fed up with Paul. He picked fights with Jesse, told his mother to mind her own business and called Roy a sorry excuse for a father. Even Rachael felt his wrath.  When she tried to help him up when he had fallen he pushed her to the ground and cursed her. He became just one more aggravation to compound the already dire situation in the Riley house.

Paul had also taken up with a girl named Nancy who lived in Lynch. She was plump and short and six years older than him. He began spending all of his time with her.

Laying on the front porch, his hat pulled down over his eyes, Paul didn’t hear Grandpa Abe coming, until he was knocked completely over by his grandfather’s swift kick. “What the hell you do that fer?  Damm you scart the beejeezus otta me.”

“You don’t cuss at me, Boy. Git off yer lazy ass and come halp me pull some stumps.”

“I ain’t pullin’ no stumps today, it’s too damn hot.  Now leave me be.”

Grandpa Abe stepped over him and went into the house.  “I heard you out there givin’ it to Paul,” Rachael said dropping another biscuit into the hot grease. “I wish someone could get him movin’. He’s done ate three biscuits already and has been yellin’ for more.”

“I’ll take one o them biscuits, Darlin’.  Yer ole grandpa is hungry.” He kissed Rachael on the cheek. He had a gruff nature
about himself, but always showed his soft side to her. Whenever he needed something read or written, he would come to her. Grandpa
Abe considered himself a real mountain man until he took a job at the mine. He and his wife had nine children and kept food on the table for them.  He was a trapper in his younger years, selling pelts to the livery stable in Bent Creek. He made a decent living at it until the mine came along and no one wanted to buy and sell pelts. He had always cursed the day he went to work at the Five Star wishing he would have never stepped foot in the tunnels.