Halley (12 page)

“A few bruises,” Bootsie answered.

“And her period started,” Halley whispered. “Mama, could you bring some water to the far room?”

Soon Bootsie was cleaned up and lying in the bed where Halley and Kate usually slept. Halley sat by the bed, thinking she was asleep. But then Bootsie’s eyes opened.

“Something happened back there, when I fell to the bottom of that bank that I didn’t tell you,” she said. “When I rolled over and looked at the sky, there was a voice.”

“A voice?” Halley asked.

“Sorta like in my head. I been called—called to preach.”

13. Bud Gravitt’s Gift

December came, and with it bitterly cold weather. At night when the fire died down in the stove, the temperature dropped below freezing. Ice formed on top of the water bucket before morning.

Kate never missed a day of work, not even the day it sleeted on top of a snow, not even the day following that when huge limbs were snapping off trees under the weight and crashing to the ground with sounds like thunder.

Robbie did miss a few days of school, and Halley had finally accepted that it was absolutely too late for her to attend school this year, even if her grandmother were suddenly well. Recovery didn’t seem likely. Though Ma Franklin was out of bed most of every day, she went no further than the rocker next to the stove. The old woman was still unable to help cook, clean, or wash, and Halley wondered if she would ever be strong again.

Often the days were too cold to do the wash outside, and Halley had to boil the clothes on the stove and beat and scrub them on the kitchen table. Her grandfather hated the noise and mess of these days, but not enough to hire the wash done.

One day when Halley went to the far room to get a clean apron, she caught him going through her book box.

“I don’t have any more money,” she told him in a cold voice. Actually, she did have the very last money she’d earned on her tufting. Clarice had slipped it to her on one of the rare Sundays that Halley was able to go to church. That seventy-five cents was safely tied in her bosom, and it was going to stay there. Halley reached for a clean apron on the apron peg. “Pa Franklin, you already took everything I had, remember?”

“You mighty right, I took it,” he answered without any shame whatsoever. “You eat here. You can help pay for the food. You can just go over to the Calvins tomorrow and tell them you’re signing up for new spreads to tuft.”

Halley jerked the apron over her head. She was as angry as he was, but she wasn’t going to show it. “I’ll be happy to tuft if you want to take over cooking, washing, ironing, churning, and cleaning the house—or hire someone to do it.” Turning, she went out the door and headed for the kitchen. Pa Franklin was right on her heels.

“Set up at night and work like you used to,” he said as Halley threw open the kitchen door.

“Kerosene for the lamp costs money, and you already said we had to cut back on that. Besides, I can’t stay up every night
and
get up before daylight every morning. But
you
could start tufting. You could do it in the daytime instead of painting Jesus messages.”

“Me?” he thundered. “You’re talking about
me
doing spreads?”

“Webb,” Ma Franklin said from her rocker. “Webb!”

He ignored his wife. “Girl, don’t you get smart with me. I’m not doing woman’s work.”

Halley was ready for that argument. “Mr. Bonner says there are men all over these mountains helping their wives tuft because it’s the only way they have of getting cash money. You have lots of free time. I’ll get some spreads for you, and I’ll show you how to do the work.”

“Nobody would have to know but us, Webb,” said Ma Franklin.

“Ada!” he said. “I can’t believe you’ve turned on me.”

“I’ve not turned,” she replied. “I’m just trying to help you get some more money, so you won’t load more on this child.”

Pa Franklin swung around and headed out the door.

A gloating happiness filled Halley’s chest for a short while, but by the time she had started supper, she realized that her grandfather would only take out his anger on the others. He was harder than ever on Robbie. Several days before he had given him a whipping for sneaking a piece of cornbread out to Goliath.

“How many times have I told you not to waste food?” Pa Franklin had said, reaching for the switch beside the stove.

“Golly’s hungry,” said Robbie. “You can see how bony he is.”

“Then let ’im go catch his own food, ’stead of begging,” said Pa Franklin, bringing the switch down on Robbie’s legs. “The dog’ll have to get his own food at this house.”

After this, Halley redoubled her efforts to keep Robbie busy after school. She thought up errands to the Calvin’s or sent him to Carrie Gowder’s to get more tea. When she could think of no errands, she tried to keep him out of Pa Franklin’s sight. “Gather twigs for starting fires,” she’d say, or “Check the barn to see if the chickens laid any eggs there.”

That was what he was doing one Saturday when Kate got home earlier than usual. She changed into a clean dress and then returned to the kitchen with her hair let down so Halley could get the lint out. “Some of the machines broke down,” she said when her father questioned her early arrival.

“Looks like all the easy money’s about to end,” Pa Franklin said. “That whole place is about to close down.”

Kate made no answer. “Come out on the porch and brush my hair,” she said to Halley, handing her the hairbrush. “I need to get it back up.”

The day was warmer than it had been in over a week, and there was no wind. On the far end of the porch where the sun was shining, it was almost pleasant. They headed for that patch of sunshine, where Goliath had already staked his claim.

“Move,” Halley told him. Stiffly, he pulled himself to his feet and moved just enough to make room for them.

Halley began to brush. Kate’s hair fell below her waist, thick and heavy. It gleamed in the sunlight, making Halley think of summer days when she had brushed her mother’s freshly washed hair on their front porch in Alpha Springs. For a moment she pretended they were back in those happy days. Daddy was out in the barn cleaning a stable, and Robbie was trying to help. Mama would soon go in and start supper, and, as for Halley, she could read a book or work on her embroidery this afternoon. Or she might sit down to the piano one more time and try to coax out the music Robbie and her father always found there.

The illusion was shattered when Goliath suddenly leapt up and began barking. A truck loaded with furniture had turned into their road. There were two men in the cab. Robbie came running from the barn. The truck stopped, and Bud Gravitt stepped out in his going-to-town clothes. Halley had rarely seen him in anything other than overalls.

“Hey there, Robbie,” Bud said, and then turned toward the porch and removed his hat. “Well, hello, Kate,” he said, and then couldn’t seem to remember what else he’d planned to say. He gazed at her for a long moment before finally saying, “You look good.”

Blushing, Kate swept back her hair and tried to get it up in its usual bun, but it was no use—her hairpins were still in the kitchen.

“You look in good health, I meant to say,” Bud said, “And you too, Halley.” His eyes were still on Kate. The passenger got out of the truck, and Halley realized that it was the oldest Gravitt boy, the one they called Chub. The name must’ve been a carryover from babyhood, for there was nothing chubby about him now. He was tall, sturdy, and muscular, like his father.

“Hey,” Chub said.

“We heard about Orrie,” Kate said as Bud approached the porch. “I was mighty sorry. She was a good woman.”

Bud twisted his hat brim in his hands. “Losing a mate is a grievous thing, as you yourself know.”

“Yes, it’s hard but a person has to go on.”

Bud nodded. “But my baby boy is a fine ’un. Named him Will.”

Kate smiled and closed her eyes. “Will,” she said in a soft voice. “That’s the name I picked for one of the babies I lost. I wish I could see
your
Will.”

Pa Franklin came through the dogtrot hall and out onto the porch. “Howdy,” he said somewhat reluctantly, Halley thought. He must be worried that the Gravitts would stay for a meal. “Come on in and warm up,” he said.

“We don’t have time to visit,” Bud said. “My daughter Lula May got married and moved not far from here.”

“We got word of that,” said Pa Franklin.

“Well, I’m taking her a few furnishings, and while I was over this way, I decided to bring Kate something I wanted her to have.” He motioned to his son, and Chub pulled a quilt off the biggest thing in the back of the truck.

Robbie’s face lit up. “My piano!” he cried.

“Never felt right about buying it to begin with,” Bud said. “Now, with Orrie gone, nobody at my house cares anything about it. Reckon music is one of them things you either got a gift for or you ain’t.”

Kate was shaking her head before he even finished speaking. “I can’t pay you, Bud, and I won’t allow you to give it to us.”

“That’s right,” said Pa Franklin. “We don’t need no piano. We got enough noise around here, way it is.”

Halley, who had been wavering between a longing to reclaim this part of their old life and a reluctance to accept such a gift from the Gravitts, made up her mind. “Mama, let’s take it.”

“It’d be my pleasure if you’d accept,” said Bud, “for the children.”

Finally Kate nodded. “Thank you, Bud.”

Pa Franklin let out an exasperated grunt.

Bud backed the truck up to the porch, and, despite Pa Franklin’s grumbling, they wrestled it off the truck, across the porch, and into the kitchen. Robbie followed with the stool. By moving the cupboard a few feet in one direction and the flour and meal bins in the other, they had room to set it against the wall opposite Ma and Pa Franklin’s bed.

Bud Gravitt took time to speak to Ma Franklin and tell her how fine she was looking. “It’s easy to see where Kate gets her looks. I hear you’ve been ailing, but I bet you’re well in no time.”

Meanwhile, Pa Franklin kept muttering about how the piano crowded the kitchen.

“We’ll move it to the far room come spring,” Kate promised.

Robbie sat down to the keyboard but Halley stopped him. “Not now,” she said. “We’ll have to figure out when you can play without bothering anybody.”

“That’ll take big figuring,” said Pa Franklin.

Ma Franklin reached a hand out to her husband as though to soothe him. “It might be nice to hear some good gospel tunes right here in our house,” she ventured. “It’s been so long since I could go to church and hear any. Reckon you could play, ‘Beulah Land,’ Robbie?”

“You hum the tune and I can play it,” he replied, hugging his grandmother. “I can play anything.”

Kate turned to Bud. “You and Chub have a seat while I go get my hair up.”

Halley went with her mother to the far room and helped to put up her hair. Kate gave herself a long appraising look in the mirror as she tied on her best apron. Then, using her hands like combs, she loosened her hair a bit on either side. In the mirror, she caught Halley’s eyes and blushed. “It felt tight,” she said.

When they got back to the kitchen, the men were talking crops and weather. They discovered they both planted by the zodiac. “It’s the only way to farm,” said Pa Franklin.

“I just don’t believe in taking chances myself,” Bud Gravitt said. “I figure if good farmers been doing this way hundreds of years, there must be
something
to it.”

“Well, I got a better reason,” said Pa Franklin. “It’s according to the Bible. You read Ecclesiastes where it says there’s a season for ever’thing. A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted.”

As if that was a signal, Bud Gravitt stood. “I reckon it’s time I was going,” he said.

“I was aiming for you to stay for supper,” Kate said without any apologetic glance for her father.

Halley was astonished at her mother’s boldness.

Bud looked sorrowful. “Me and Chub have to get that stuff over to Lula May’s and then head on back home. Maybe I could take you up on that offer next time I’m over this way?”

Again, Kate spoke without seeking permission from her father. “You’d be welcome any time, Bud.”

Halley noticed that her grandfather did not join in this invitation. But Bud Gravitt seemed unaware.

“Maybe some Sunday,” he said. “I could hear Brother Franklin preach in his own church.”

“He won’t sound any better than he did in Alpha Springs,” said Robbie, and everybody except Pa Franklin laughed.

Kate followed Bud out to the porch. Halley watched them from the front window. Kate kept smiling and patting her hair. Halley suddenly realized that not one time during the visit had she seen Kate hugging herself. Her shoulders were squared. She looked several inches taller than usual.

Halley turned back to the piano. It did feel good to have it back, although Robbie would only be able to play it when his grandfather was away. But when would she have time to try to learn to play? Bud Gravitt’s words about either having a gift or not having it flashed across her mind, but she quickly dismissed them. What did he know about music? Besides, she had to believe that
something
good could happen in her life. After four terrible months where nothing had gone right, surely something would finally go the way she wanted.

14. A Trip to Belton

Bud Gravitt did not come the following Sunday. Almost continuous rains for three days had made the roads such a mess by Saturday that horses and wagons were having trouble using them. For trucks and cars, the roads were almost impassable.

“Shows how much Bud Gravitt’s word is worth,” commented Pa Franklin with satisfaction at Sunday supper. “He lets a little rain and mud stop ’im.”

Kate said nothing.

Several days later a letter arrived from Bud Gravitt. Luckily, Halley was the one who went to the mailbox that day. She gave the letter to her mother when she went outside to brush the lint out of Kate’s hair. Kate slipped the letter into her pocket without comment, but Halley caught her reading it after supper.

“Well? What about the letter?” Halley said when they went to the far room at bedtime.

“Robbie, go to the toilet before you put on your night shirt,” Kate said. She was deliberately ignoring the question.

Halley jerked off her dress. “What did Bud Gravitt say?” she asked.

Kate tugged her dress over her head and pulled on her gown. “Grown women don’t usually feel obliged to answer a daughter’s questions about private things,” she said, “but I’ll tell you Bud couldn’t make it this Sunday because of rain.”

“I knew
that
. I’d like to know why is he coming to begin with?” Halley asked. “He gave us the piano. So why’s he coming
back
?”

“I guess he’s lonely.”

Halley pulled on her flannel gown and unlaced her shoes. “His handwriting is awful.”

Kate’s teeth were chattering in the cold of the room. “Most men don’t write a good hand.”

Halley dived under the covers on her side of the bed. The springs rattled, and the rough sheets seemed to have ice on them. “
Daddy
had beautiful handwriting and good spelling. I noticed Bud Gravitt misspelled ‘Alpha’ in his return address. He can’t even spell where he lives.”

“Bud didn’t have a chance to go very far in school,” Kate said. “That’s no sign he’s not smart. Don’t put yourself above him. I grant you he’s not as educated or handsome as your father, but he’s a good man—a man who takes care of his family.”

At that moment Robbie burst in with a blast of cold air and so Halley had to hold back all the other things she wanted to say. Unfortunately, the temperature was dropping and roads were freezing. That meant cars and trucks would soon be able to move again.

The next morning Kate pulled Halley aside before leaving for work and slipped something into her pocket. “A tracing of Robbie’s foot and my wedding ring,” she whispered.

“What . . .” Halley began, but Kate shushed her.

“Go to Shropshire’s Store,” she said. “I don’t have enough time off at dinner to do it myself, and after work, I have to hurry to beat dark. Talk to Tate Shropshire. Tell him I need to sell my ring to get Christmas presents for Robbie. Buy some rubber boots and a little candy. Maybe some kind of toy, if any money is left.”

“Mama, your ring . . .” Halley began.

“Christmas for Robbie is more important. He’s little. I wish I could get something for you, too, but I doubt Tate will give you enough money for more.”

Halley shook her head. What she wanted, money couldn’t buy.

“What y’all plotting over there?” asked Pa Franklin from the table.

“Halley’s going to the store today,” Kate said, hurrying to the table and sitting down. “You’ll need to give her money for coffee.”

“What? The coffee’s gone already?” Pa Franklin said, but before he could say more, Robbie overturned his milk.

In his fury, Pa Franklin forgot all else. “You careless young’un! Do you think milk comes free?”

Ma Franklin grabbed a dish towel and mopped up the spill before it could run off onto the floor. “The child didn’t do it a purpose, Webb,” she said.

Pa Franklin turned on her. “Woman, you keep out of this. The road to hell is crowded with people who didn’t do a single thing on purpose. The boy’s going to have to learn to think what he’s doing, and I guess I got to help him learn.”

“My Lord, Pa!” said Kate, leaping up and putting her arm around Robbie. “A child going to hell because of spilt milk?” To Robbie, she said, “Get ready for school.” She handed him two biscuits. “Go to the Calvins and wait there until Steve and Dooley are ready to go.”

The Calvins were way out of the way, but Halley didn’t point this out. She wanted him away from his grandfather’s wrath as much as Kate did.

When Robbie was gone, Kate turned to her father. “Pa, I’m trying my best to go by the Bible and honor and obey you. But Robbie is my son and I owe him something, too. I’m asking you—begging you—to stop expecting him to be perfect. He’s a child, and children make mistakes.”

“And I ain’t allowed to correct him?”

Halley was expecting the usual surrender. But to her surprise, Kate didn’t back down this time.

“You know that’s not how it is,” she said. “I’ve kept quiet through several hard whippings. But you have to be fair.”

Pa Franklin drew himself to his full height. “Proverbs 22:6, train up a child in the way he should go. Bring up a child in the admonition of the Lord.”

Halley could keep quiet no longer. “Doesn’t the Bible say something about not provoking your children? And it says, when I was a child I spake as a child.”

“Well, you can see for yourselves what sparing the rod does,” Pa Franklin said, waving his hand at Halley. “The girl’s been allowed to plain-out tell us she won’t work no more, and she got away with that. Now she’s quoting scripture at us, just like that floozy Gid’s about to marry. Now Bootsie’s telling folks she’s been called to preach!”

“Maybe she
has
been called.” Kate shoved her chair up against the table. “I’m beginning to think Bootsie is better acquainted with God than a whole lot of preachers.” Kate grabbed her coat, pulled it on, and picked up her lunch pail. She was out of the door and gone before Pa Franklin could reply.

After breakfast while Halley cleaned up, put beans on to boil and put sweet potatoes in the oven, her grandfather ranted and raved about how badly he was mistreated. Ma Franklin tried to soothe him but to no avail. By the time Halley gave her grandmother her cup of tea, Pa Franklin had pulled out Gid’s letters and started complaining about him.

“Taking classes! Learning electric wiring! Fixing motors!” How’s any of that going to be worth a hill of beans to him or us?”

“I’ve been studying on that,” Ma Franklin said. “You recollect Gid didn’t want to quit school back yonder when we told him he had to.”

“It don’t matter what Gid wanted,” said Pa Franklin. “We needed help on this place to make a living!”

“I ain’t blaming you,” Ma Franklin said quickly. “You and me both said he had enough schooling and we thought at the time we was doing the best. But I still recollect how bad he wanted to go when that woman come around trying to take young’uns off to her school over yonder in Rome. High school and college, she said, and he could work out what it cost.”

Pa Franklin said, “You talking about that Martha Berry woman with her big fancy school for mountain young’uns? Well, I wasn’t about to let that rich old maid take my boy off to live at her school!”

Ma Franklin nodded. “I said the same at the time. But maybe we was wrong, Webb. Miss Berry said she could train Gid to be a better farmer if we’d let ’im go. Maybe he’d a took more interest in this place if’n he’d went. Maybe he wouldn’t be wanting to leave now.”

“Is that school still in business?” asked Halley, trying to keep the eagerness out of her voice.

“This talk don’t concern you, gal,” said Pa Franklin. He turned back to his wife. “Gid ain’t never going to farm. School or no school. He’s going to git married and slave away his life at some mill, like Ralph.”

“If working at the mill is slavery for Ralph and Gid, why is it okay for Mama?” Halley asked.

“Because Kate ain’t worth nothing here on the farm, just like you ain’t worth nothing. Now, Gid and Ralph was good workers when they tried.”

The words hit Halley like a slap. She was worth nothing and Kate was worth nothing. Halley tuned out the rest of the conversation. She got her coat, scarf, and mittens as if nothing had changed. In reality, everything had changed. She had just seen a crack in a closed and bolted door, and there was daylight beyond that door. Somehow she was going to go to that school that Gid had wanted to go to.

Halley spoke to her grandfather without her usual caution. “Do you want coffee or don’t you? I don’t care either way, but I’ll need money, if you want it.” Turning to her grandmother, she asked boldly, “Do you need anything?”

Ma Franklin shook her head. Pa Franklin stared hard at Halley, as if seeing the change that taken place in the last few minutes and trying to figure it out. “My, ain’t we got bossy?”

Halley shrugged and looked at her grandfather until he averted his eyes.

“You and your Mama act like I’m made o’ money,” he said. Standing, he dug into his pocket and handed Halley two dollars and some coins. “Now you bring back ever’ penny of my change.”

Halley ignored him and turned to her grandmother. “You think you can manage the churning?”

Ma Franklin nodded. “I done it yesterday, didn’t I? Carrie’s tea is fixing me up.” She was no longer bothering to keep the home remedy a secret.

Pa Franklin grunted. “I think it’s more Doc Graham’s medicine than that old bat’s herbs.”

Halley ignored him. “I got the churn close to the stove so the milk ought to be sour enough.”

Ma Franklin nodded.

Halley went out to draw a fresh bucket of water. The winter sun had brightened the yard a little, and Goliath was curled up on the sunny side of the oak near the wood shed. The dog looked so thin.

“You’ll need to stir the beans every now and then,” she said to her grandfather when she returned with the water. Thinking of Goliath, she scooped two biscuits from the warming oven and put them in her pocket. “The kettle has hot water in it, if the beans get too dry,” she went on, ignoring her grandfather’s scowl.

“You better help the Old Woman with the chamber pot ’fore you take off loafering,” said Pa Franklin.

“No need,” said Ma Franklin. “I’ll manage.”

“You sure?” Halley asked.

Ma Franklin nodded.

Moments later Halley was outside. It felt like being released from prison. She tossed the biscuits to Golly and then looked back at the front window. There stood Pa Franklin watching her. She looked straight back and lifted her chin. “I’m not going to be here long,” she muttered. “I can stand anything for a little while.”

At last Pa Franklin turned away, and Halley set out for Belton by way of the trail her mother used every day. It followed their pasture fence for a good distance and then it left Franklin property. From what Gid and Pa Franklin said, it went over the MacAfee land and skirted the edge of the two hundred-acre Tyree place before reaching the outskirts of Belton. Though she had never taken the path before, she wasn’t worried about getting lost. There were side trails here and there, but the main path was well-beaten and easy to follow.

Hope bubbled up inside her like a spring. She was going to write Miss Berry in Rome, Georgia, this very afternoon. She would tell the woman that she was Gid’s niece and that she wanted to go to school more than anything.

But the old worry came—what would happen to Robbie? She argued with herself that Kate was beginning to stand up to Pa Franklin. She had not allowed him to whip Robbie this morning. But on the other hand, Kate was gone a good bit of the time. And what about after school? What about Saturday mornings?

But what about me? she thought. What about my life and what I want? And like Clarice said, how was Robbie going to learn to take care of himself if
Halley
kept doing it? Nobody had ever looked after Halley that way. She’d had to learn to take care of her own problems.

Halley’s pace grew slower and slower as she debated back and forth. Suddenly her eyes caught a movement across the field. A dog. It had to be Mr. Tyree’s dog, Blackie. Despite what Robbie had said about the dog, she wanted to keep her distance. “Just don’t never run from it,” Robbie had said. “And don’t look ’im straight in the eye.”

Quickly averting her eyes, Halley made sure to keep her pace slow. The trail began to drop and soon the dog was out of sight. Gradually she became aware that she was smelling smoke. Not, she thought, from anyone’s chimney. The MacAfee house was probably closest and it was far back behind her. This smoke was much nearer. As she looked about, she spotted it—a trail of smoke rising from a little wooded ravine down to her left. Was it a forest fire? Unlikely, since the ground was so soaked from recent rains, but if so, she would need to tell someone.

Leaving the trail, Halley crept downhill, circling around clumps of underbrush. Just ahead was the ravine, and that’s where the fire was. Then she was at the edge and, looking down, saw a man or a tall boy squatting with his back toward her. In front of him was a pile of burning boards. White boards and crosses, she suddenly realized, with lettering on them. Jesus messages! She sucked in her breath sharply and backed up, and as she did so, a shower of pebbles and debris broke loose under her foot and cascaded downward.

“Hey!” a voice yelled. “Stop!”

Halley ran uphill toward the trail. Behind her she could hear someone scrambling up the bank of the ravine. Just as she reached the trail, a hand grabbed her shoulder and swung her around to face—Elmer Logan.

“What you mean, spying on me?” he asked so close to her face that she could smell his foul breath.

“I wasn’t spying,” she said. “I—I thought the woods had caught fire.”

“Likely story, wet as it is!” Now he had her by both shoulders, and his fingers were squeezing through the layers of her sweater and coat into her flesh. “You seen what I was burning.”

Halley tried to think of a lie he would believe, but couldn’t. Finally she nodded.

“The Jesus man s’posed to be a preacher, but he treats me and my family like dirt. Well, I’m getting even. You ort to be helping me. He treats you like dirt, too.”

Halley shook her head.