Blood Kin (23 page)

Chapter Thirteen

S
ADIE SAT AT
the back of the church in roughly the same spot as before, watching the people fill the benches, waiting for the preacher, sure that if he laid his cold eyes on her she wouldn’t be able to bear it. She would stand up and confess everything and try to accept whatever he decided to do to her. But the time rolled on and the preacher was late and later still, so that unless please God he’d been killed out in the woods she was sure he must be up in his house searching for his missing Bible. The people got restless and started talking to each other, wondering about the preacher because being late wasn’t like him. So they worried, and some of the men talked about getting up and looking for him, but they never did, because getting on his wrong side was a risk they clearly didn’t want to take.

Uncle Jesse staggered in, bumping against people and saying a loud “Excuse me, praise God, Lord help me Je-sus!” every time, again and again, repeating it even when he didn’t bump into nobody, and still saying it when folks shushed him, just saying it a little softer when he finally sat down.

Aunt Lilly rushed in after him looking really upset. She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him out of the pew. “Please, Jesse! Let’s just go on home!”

“Woman get off me! I’m here to listen to some mighty fine
preachin!
I told you one of my kin was a preacher didn’t I?”

“Jesse, please! Dont let him see you like this!” She looked over her shoulder at the open church doors and the empty hill. No signs of the preacher — he was late. Several men tried to help her get Jesse to his feet but he fought them all off. Finally he got up and ran around to the front of the church. He stared at the cross as if he didn’t recognize it. Then he turned around and glared at the congregation. Then he smiled a little lop-sided. “Preacher’s runnin a little late tonight looks like,” he said. “Did I ever tell you all he’s my kin? A brother in Christ, a brother in blood. He says they’re the same — I aint so sure. But as his kin, I reckon I’m next in line, so here goes the first part of my sermon.”

His eyes rolled to the top of his head. Sadie thought he was going to faint, but then he said, “Oh Lord, bless this here mess! I know I’m a big old ass, but I’m your ass, I swear!”

A couple of women in the front row gasped, but there were scattered chuckles among some of the men.

Suddenly Jesse turned and pointed at one of those men, shouting, “You’re wearin a smile in my church! You’re wearin a smile in my church! Well
damn
you to Hell! See if you can smile with my foot up your ass!” He looked dark and furious, then suddenly smiled. “Only joshin. But
dont
let it happen again!”

Uncle Jesse tried to prance then, but could only stagger. He almost fell onto an old lady in the front pew, ended up sitting right next to her, his head lolling onto her shoulder. He appeared asleep, but suddenly jumped up swinging his arms like he was ready to fight somebody. “Holy! Holy holy holy ghost hallelujah! Dont let the Holy Ghost creep up on ya! Dont let him stick his hand in your pocket and steal your money! Dont let him kiss your wife or do none of that nasty stuff to her naked heavenly form by God Hallelujah!”

“Jesse!” Aunt Lilly yelled from the congregation.

“Hey now!” He waved his finger. “Dont interrupt the preacher while he’s a-preachin! We dont allow no interrupters in this here church! No sir! We dont allow no retrobates, ingrates, crazy eights, or yellow apes who masturbates! No sir! We only want good clean Christians in this here church! No irritatin masturbatin stay up late-in scoundrels wanted here! No sir!”

Some men were still chuckling, but most of the congregation looked disgusted and angry. A stern looking saint came up the aisle with his fists balled. Jesse managed to stumble out of his way yelling “Bring out the snakes! Bring out the snakes!
They’ll
protect me!”

Aunt Lilly came up out of the congregation, crying and shaking. “I’m so, so sorry. Oh Lord, please forgive this drunkard of a husband I’ve been saddled with all these years!”

“Hey, woman, a little respect! Aint I a man of God? Dont I have me a big black hat?”

Some more men came up to the front, their hands raised, mouths set. “Oh please dont hurt him,” Aunt Lilly cried. “Just let me get him home, let him sleep it off?”

“Where’s my snake box? Oh, Lordy, somebody done stole my snake box!” Jesse started lifting women’s skirts, looking under benches, saying “Have you seen my snake box? I think some devil done stole my snake box!” And “Dont worry, ladies — I might a-been lookin at your undies, but I swear hit twere for Jesus purposes only!” Then he ran to the front doors and closed them. “I know my snakes is in here! Ladies you know what a preacher’s snake looks like, now dont you?”

The doors exploded open. The preacher stood there glaring at the congregation as if he blamed every last one of them for what had happened during his absence. He wore his broad hat firmly on top of his head, but his white shirt was loose, sweaty, hanging out of his pants on all sides. Sadie found it a little shocking to see him at church that way, so sloppy and uncontrolled. His upper body looked swollen, and writhed beneath his shirt when he moved.

He grabbed poor Uncle Jesse by the throat and lifted him up on the toes of his boots. Uncle Jesse turned pale, then red as he struggled to breathe. Aunt Lilly came running over and pulled on the preacher’s arm. “He’s just drunk. He dont mean no harm. You know when he gets the drink in him he has no idea what he’s doing! Please! He’s your own
kin
. You’re gonna
kill
him!”

The preacher turned his head slowly and stared at Sadie. It was like he was asking her “Do you want this? Do you really want this?” and Sadie felt like telling him where his Bible was, who had it and why, but she couldn’t make herself move.

The preacher dropped Jesse. Aunt Lilly ran to support him so he wouldn’t fall to the floor. Then the preacher tore off his white shirt and threw it down.

He had a giant rattlesnake curled around his belly and wrapped up over his chest and under one arm. His skin was something terrible to see, slashed and torn and bitten, a lot of it old scars but some of it fresh wounds. In places the muscle looked torn away, and the spaces left behind were dark and twisted up, ridged with gray scar lines. He stepped forward and grabbed Jesse by the back of the neck and pulled him toward him, dragging Lilly with him when she wouldn’t let go.

“Is this what you’re looking for Brother Jesse?” the preacher screamed, as the snake darted forward and opened its mouth into Jesse’s face.

Jesse went rigid. As the snake came closer he closed his eyes. Aunt Lilly screamed. The snake kissed one of Jesse’s eyelids, then the other, but did not bite.

The preacher pulled Jesse into his embrace and the rattler crawled over them both. Aunt Lilly jumped back, hand over her mouth. The preacher put his lips to Jesse’s ear and talked rapidly, but so softly no one could hear what he was saying. Finally he kissed Jesse on the lips and stepped back. The snake slid lower along the preacher’s body and clung there perfectly still.

“Take your man home, Sister Lilly!” the preacher commanded. Aunt Lilly grabbed Jesse’s hand and started to lead him away. Then she stopped and looked at Sadie.

“I need you Sadie. Somebody needs to help with the kids while I get him straightened out.”

Sadie jumped up and ran ahead of her aunt and uncle out the door. She avoided the preacher’s eyes. Out in the cool dark air she felt relieved, and suddenly free.

Chapter Fourteen

U
NCLE
J
ESSE SAID
nothing on the walk home. Sadie would steal a glimpse of his face now and then, and every time she’d be sorry she did. His jaw looked stiff and frozen, but he kept twitching his lip side to side, like he was trying to work something off the skin there, but he couldn’t get it off, and he was suffering for it. It was there in his eyes, a pain in just seeing. Aunt Lilly would ask him questions, and all he would do was curl and uncurl his fingers, like he needed to grab something but there was nothing around to grab.

Their little shack was even worse than the one Sadie’s family lived in. Uncle Jesse had never been much for work, or doing repairs. So Aunt Lilly took on most of the chores herself, but what with three kids to take care of she could never keep up, and their house just got worse and worse. When the three of them arrived one of Aunt Lilly’s own aunts was watching the kids — she had about a hundred aunts on her momma’s side. She told the old woman to go home, but the aunt hesitated, watching Jesse go back into the bedroom without a word to nobody, sitting on the bed inside and staring at his hands, still curling, uncurling like he couldn’t stop them.

The aunt looked at Lilly but Lilly just shook her head. Sadie had heard before that Lilly didn’t like sharing her troubles with kinfolk on that side of the family. “Are the children asleep?” she asked.

“In bed, not asleep. You know they dont fall sleep till you’re home.”

“How come you dont bring them to church?” Sadie asked, but knew right off it was a stupid question.

“Aint the type of church you want to bring younguns to. Bad enough we have to go. Sadie, go in there and sit with the children while I talk to your uncle.”

Sadie opened the bedroom door and went inside, closing it as snugly as she could behind her. There were spaces between the boards around the door so you could still see a sliver or two of the living room. Sadie stood in front of them so the kids couldn’t even see that.

A lamp burning in the room was turned down low. Three little heads popped up from under the covers and stared at her. “You’re Sadie,” the biggest one said.

“And you’re Joseph. We’ve seen each other lots of times before. Like probably ever day of your life.”

“You’re just our cousin so we dont have to do what you say.” The other two heads nodded.

Sadie tried not to smile. They were so cute. Their skin was like a dark yellow color and their eyes enormous and black. “I guess we’ll see about that. I’m not telling you nothing, but your momma says you got to stay in bed.”

“Why dont she come in and tells us our story?” the littlest head, Abigail, said.

“She’s busy talking to your daddy right now. But I can tell you a story.” She heard Lilly speaking in the other room, softly at first, then sharper, angrier.
Why you drink when you know where it always goes?

“What
kind
of story?” the middle one, Bill, asked.

“Your momma ever tell you a Jack story?”

“Jack and the Beanstalk? That old thing? A thousand times!” Joseph declared.

What’s wrong with you? Dont look at me that way! You’re the one messed up with your drinkin and your foolin! Nobody thinks you’re funny, you know?

Sadie spoke louder, moving her hands around. “Well that sure is a Jack story, one of the most famous! But there are others. Let me tell you another. This one is about Jack not working.

“In fact Jack was just the laziest, the sorriest thing. His ma and pa needed all kinds of work done round the place but he wouldn’t lift nary a finger!”

Joseph said, “I like old Jack” and all three children giggled.

Out in the other rooms Sadie could hear a loud slap and Lilly crying. Then Uncle Jesse started talking, but it wasn’t exactly his voice. It was a rough voice full of hate and sour spit, kind of like the preacher’s voice but not like the preacher’s voice. Maybe it was like Jesse’s voice would be if he’d been swallowed whole by the preacher.

As they tell us in Proverbs, if a husband can trust her, a wife will greatly enrich his life. She’ll bring him good, not harm, all the days of her life. That aint too much to ask is it — it’s in the Bible!

Sadie tried to keep the shaking out of her voice. She couldn’t quite manage it, but maybe the children wouldn’t notice. “Jack was just so very lazy. His parents kept on telling him they needed him to work but he just flat out refused! But maybe if he got a job somewhere else he could still live at home.”

Doesn’t Peter tell us you wives must accept the authority of your husbands? Isn’t that your duty to God? Peter tells us that submission makes us the kind of person God designed us to be!

“Is that Daddy? Did something happen to Daddy’s mouth? What’s he talkin about?” Abigail asked.

“That’s just adult talk, honey. It aint for us younguns.”

Obey the voice of the Lord your God!
Jesse’s voice was like thunder. Aunt Lilly began to wail.

“Sadie?” Joseph sat up in bed and stared at her.

“So his mother fixed him a snack for the trip to find himself a job somewhere else. But he ate the snack before he even left the house!”

Out in those other rooms Jesse’s voice continued to distort, rising louder and louder and drowning out Lilly’s screams. Sadie thought maybe she should go out and check on her but she was too scared and besides she couldn’t leave the kids. Clearly her uncle was under the influence of a lot more than alcohol. It was like his voice and his head and everything else had been turned inside out.