Skip Rock Shallows (20 page)

“So many memories crowding around me; if I keep them in, I’ll suffocate. Besides, talking helps me forget my predicament.”

Man,
Tern thought,
I can’t take much more of this. I’ll be bawling like a newborn calf taken from its mother.

“Anyways, my favorite of all the widow women was Miz Rella Montgomery. She was a tidy woman and real nice. I’d fill up the wood box by the cookstove, and she’d give me a fried apple pie still warm from the oven. Doggies, I wish I had me one of them tasty treats right now. A fried apple pie and a glass of cold buttermilk would go down good.”

After a trying time of listening to several more stories, Tern felt a hard tap on the sole of his work boot. He slid out.

“What’s your take on this, Joe?” Stanley James asked. The other men stood around, listening.

Tern relayed what he had learned of Elbows’s predicament. The men then took turns peering in to have a look. Stanley agreed with Bob. It would be best to go in from the other side. If they tried to pull Elbows out, they risked breaking his back.

“Someone should stay here with him—keep his spirits up,” Stanley said.

Tern resigned himself. “I’ll stay.”

Woodsmoke drifted through the screened window in the front room of the clinic, where Lilly waited. In the gathering darkness, campfires up and down the hillside looked like the twinkling lights of a city. She sat by the window waiting. Her full doctor’s kit was sitting by the open door.

With Armina’s help, everything in the clinic had been aired out and scrubbed. Lilly was prepared to treat one man or a dozen, whatever presented. Aunt Orie had been moved via a rolling chair to Tillie Tippen’s house to make way for the injured. Bubby and Sissy were with Myrtie. Mrs. DeWitt had set up a canteen at the base of the operation, where she served cold sandwiches, slabs of pie, and hot coffee. People milled about eating and talking. It was a macabre carnival.

Armina poked her head in the door. She’d taken up a station on the stoop, where she could watch the comings and goings. “Want to go get a cup of java?”

Lilly agreed and followed her outside. “How was Aunt Orie when you left her?” Lilly asked as they waited in a short line for drinks.

“Mrs. Tippen was chewing her ear off.”

“I hope she doesn’t get overtired. Maybe we should have transferred her to Mrs. James’s house.”

“She seems to be enjoying herself now that she’s feeling better. Mrs. Tippen’s put me a cot by the bed, so I’ll go over there tonight.”

“You seem to be enjoying being here too, Armina.”

“I never in all my born days liked to come to town. Every three weeks or so, Uncle Bud will get the wagon out, whether we need anything or not. That man likes to run the roads, and we’ll come down here to the commissary for coffee and sugar and such, maybe a tub of lard—you know. If we need a lot, and if we’ve got the money extra, we’ll go to the county seat instead.

“Bubby likes it. I always bring him. Uncle Bud gets a sack of stick candy—about makes Bubby jump out of my lap. Always before, when we came down, folks acted like we had the German measles or something—like they were better’n us. I never liked to come to town.”

“What is different this time?”

“Only thing different is I’m with you. People respect you, Doc, and some of that respect is rubbing off on me.”

At the front of the line Armina poured cream into two cups of coffee and handed one to Lilly.

“Help me watch for Ned,” Lilly said. “I can’t believe he hasn’t come for me yet.”

Armina untied her apron strings, rolled the apron up, and stuck it in the pocket of her dress. “Ain’t it hard to imagine being under the ground, trapped like a mole on a pike? Gives me the willies.”

“Surely they’re making progress. Oh, look, there he is.” Lilly waved.

Armina sipped her coffee, looking at Ned over the rim.

“I was just coming down to the clinic,” he said.

“Did Mr. James send you for me?”

“No, they ain’t got him out yet. It might be all night, but Joe Repp’s asking for soda straws. Do we have any?”

“Soda straws?” Lilly asked.

“Sounds strange, don’t it?”

“There’s a half-dozen invalid straws in the back room. The last time we used one was when Darrell was hurt.”

“I know where they’re at. I’ll run and get one,” Armina volunteered.

Ned watched her go. “I’m taking a shine to that girl. But I’m trying to be patient like you said.”

“You’re doing the right thing. She’s starting to come around.”

“Yeah?” Ned said, his face stretched in a grin. “How do you know?”

“She took her apron off when I mentioned you were coming.”

“You don’t say? Well, that there’s a sign for sure.”

One of the canteen staffers handed Ned a steaming mug. He balanced expertly on his crutches as he took a swallow. “You know what else?”

Lilly added more cream to her cup and a little sugar. “What else?”

“She ain’t bit my head off all day.”

“Ha. Just don’t give her reason, Ned.”

He gave Lilly a sage wink. “As my daddy always said, ‘Don’t ever corner anything that’s meaner than you are.’”

“Your father was a wise man.”

A boy ran down the road, steering a hoop with a stick. Lilly and Ned moved to stand under a tree with long, drooping branches.

“Listen, Doc, I don’t want to speak out of turn, but that Joe guy? There’s talk about him among the men. The fellow seems to be straight up, but you need to be careful.”

Lilly touched his arm. “Am I that obvious, Ned?”

“Only to somebody like me. Somebody that knows you. Mostly, I’ve been watching him watching you.”

Feeling a chill, she held her cup tightly for warmth. “Thank you, Ned. I appreciate you.”

“I’d take a stick to anybody I thought was going to hurt you, Lilly.”

Suddenly Lilly’s burden seemed too big to carry alone. “I’m breaking my engagement to Paul,” she confessed.

He nodded. “When I took you to the station this morning, I could feel there was a distance between you and Dr. Hamilton.”

Lilly felt a sting of tears. It felt so good to have a confidant. “As much as I care for Paul, I was never in love with him. Marrying him just seemed the logical thing to do, like the right next step.”

“There ain’t no logic to love, Cuz. You want to hear something else my daddy said?”

“Surely,” Lilly said.

“He used to sing these lines just to aggravate my mother. ‘When love is new, it’s magic; when love is old, it’s tragic.’ If the feeling’s not there in the beginning, it won’t come later when the new wears off.”

“I don’t want to hurt Paul. He’s a really good man, but all of a sudden it seems a far piece to Boston.”

“You know you’re doing the right thing.” Ned adjusted his crutches. “But I wouldn’t mind to tour that place—that Boston. See the historical markers.”

Lilly held her skirt aside and poured what remained of her coffee out on the ground. “I hope you will take advantage of Paul’s offer. He meant every word of it.”

They could see Armina coming up the path. “I was thinking a honeymoon in Boston might be just what the doctor ordered.”

Lilly laughed, delighted. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

Ned patted her hand. “I’m just thinking is all.”

Lilly looked around, making sure no one was eavesdropping. “Ned, what are you hearing about Joe Repp? Are you at liberty to say?”

“Some think he’s a spy for the company—that he’s here gathering information so they can fire people. It’s happened before. A few years back they laid all the men off and put prisoners to work in their place.” Ned finished his drink and Lilly took his cup. “They took us back quick enough when the convicts didn’t pan out, but still . . .”

Ned pulled a leaf from the tree and chewed on the stem. “Why else would the company insist on opening Number 4, except to give the men trouble? And why else would Repp be supervisor, and him a veritable stranger, except for the company’s orchestration?”

“What do you think?” she asked, unsettled.

“I don’t rightly know. There’s something different about the man, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

Silently, Lilly had to agree. There was something about the man. She wished she could tell Ned what she had just learned about Tern, but she couldn’t. He had asked for her silence.

Ned scraped the ground with the tip of a crutch. “If the men find out he’s spying for the company, someone’s liable to shove him down an abandoned shaft,” he said in a low voice. “I don’t want to see nobody come to harm.”

Lilly hungered to ask him more, but Armina hurried up with invalid straws. “I brought two because if ye have just one of anything, it breaks.”

Ned offered his arm. “Care to walk with me?”

Armina looked to Lilly.

“I think that’s a lovely idea, Armina. Take your time.”

She was amazed to see Armina tuck her hand in the crook of Ned’s elbow as he hitched his way on crutches up the road toward the mine. The Armina she thought she knew would have sent him packing. She shook her head. There was no figuring love.

Well past bedtime, Lilly paced the floor of the clinic. Every few minutes, she went to the door and looked toward the mouth of the mine. One by one the campfires winked out. She watched as women leading sleepy children, young couples holding hands, and old folks hobbling from rheumatism straggled by. The canteen closed down.

What was taking so long? Why hadn’t Mr. James sent for her?

Ned’s words concerning Tern’s safety kept coming back to her. Was Ned confiding in her so that she could warn Tern? Mr. James was in charge, and Lilly doubted that he was unaware of the men’s suspicions. Surely he would see that there was no violence.

She looked at the clock for the umpteenth time. She wasn’t doing anybody any good just waiting. After picking up her ever-ready kit, she headed out the door.

The warm night air was thick with humidity. In the weeds at the side of the road, locusts thrummed hoarsely in an unmelodious chorus. From a quarter mile away, Lilly could hear the sound of men working into the night. She supposed the darkness made no difference to miners. It was always midnight in their world.

Drawing closer, she saw they had strung lanterns across the foreboding, beetle-browed portal of Number 4. Suddenly she felt vastly unprepared for what was going on behind that gaping wound in the face of the earth. A man was trapped, and probably dying, inside that mountain. Inside! She could hardly take it in. She wished she could do something—anything—to help. She was not trained to stand and wait.

Mr. James stepped out to meet her. His shoulders seemed more stooped than they had been this morning. His face was black with coal dust. He made a motion as if to tip his hat, and she was filled with pain for him.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t stand just sitting around.”

“It’s a bad one, Doc. But there ain’t nothing you can do right now.”

“I’m ready to go in, anytime.” She pulled on the strap of her overalls and saw him smile at her attempt at humor.

“You’re a good gal, but I wouldn’t chance it right now.”

“The men don’t want me in there, do they?”

“In truth, no, and it ain’t a good time to push it.”

“I understand,” she said. “Have you eaten? I promised Myrtie I’d keep an eye on you.”

“Soda crackers and some of them little canned weenies. I’m eating high on the hog, tell Myrtie.”

One of the lanterns flickered, casting them in and out of shadow like a celluloid picture show. “Mr. James, I wish there was something I could do.”

“I expect we’ll have him free by morning. You might as well get some sleep for now.” He wiped grit from his face with the blue bandanna from his back pocket. “Say, that bird you liked is around here somewheres. I saw Billy bring it out.”

“You don’t mind if I take it?”

“No, but keep it away from Cleve.” He chuckled. “That dog’s a killer.”

“Do you like him?”

“Gal, I wish I was setting on the porch with him right now.”

Lilly couldn’t help herself. She threw her arms around the neck of the man who had become her hero. “Please, please be careful.”

Clumsily he patted her back. “Don’t fret over me. Just say a prayer for Elbows.”

If Tern stayed still long enough, he could feel the earth shifting beneath him. Most of the time, he was on his knees, leaning his upper body inside the crawl space, keeping Elbows company. But right now, he was sitting outside the narrow tunnel, resting his cramped legs and working the splinter out of his hand.
Man,
he thought when at last the sliver was free,
that feels better.

Somehow, Elbows had decided Tern was his long-lost brother or something, the only one who could placate him. Tern thought the man was losing touch with reality. Maybe he was thirsting to death. No matter how many lids full of water Tern scooted in, he was still asking for more. His plaintive begging was driving Tern nuts.

Mr. James, and sometimes Billy, came and went, checking on them, but the real work was on the other side of Elbows’s crook-legged, rock-jagged prison. Bob figured the whole thing to be less than half a mile long—wide as a doorway on one end and tight as a coffin on the other. The big problem was the rock slide smack in the middle of the burrow.

Tern thought the problem was Elbows and why he would try to maneuver through a squeeze that tight in the first place. He’d told Tern he didn’t want to take the time to turn around. He figured if he scrunched his shoulders, he could slip through. Tern figured he thought he was a mole.

“I’m thirsty,” Elbows called down the tube.

Billy had brought a couple of straws. Made of glass and bent on the sipping end, one might be just the ticket for getting more fluid into Elbows. Tern had a thermos of coffee now also and a plate of food. The temperature in the mine was a cool fifty-four degrees year-round. Welcome when a man was busy working but a chill to the bones if he wasn’t. Besides which, Elbows didn’t have a bit of fat on him. He would get cold faster than most. Coffee would probably be good for the scrawny man.

“Do you want a bite to eat?” Tern asked.

“I could try, but don’t you reckon I’ll be out by suppertime?”

Tern wasn’t about to tell him it was well past supper. Elbows had lost track of time. He didn’t seem to know if he’d been for trapped days or hours.

Sliding the plate of food and a folding cup half-full of coffee ahead of him, Tern made his way in. The trick was getting the food and drink to the man’s mouth. Plus, with the way Elbows was lying, Tern was afraid he would choke. Then what would he do?

“That sure smells good, but I don’t think I can eat. Is that coffee?”

Tern put the straw in the liquid and touched it to the other man’s lips. “Go easy. It’s hot.”

Elbows drank it down, then sighed like he’d died and gone to heaven. “Ah, me, that was good. What kind of taters you got there, Joe?”

“Looks like mashed, and there’s baked chicken, biscuits with butter, and green beans with fatback.”

“I could maybe try a few taters. My belly’s so empty it’s talking to my backbone.”

Tern tore a hunk of chicken into bits and stirred it into the potatoes. Many years ago, he’d seen his mother do the very same thing for his younger brothers. That was in the good old days.

Elbows was able to eat a few spoonfuls. Tern felt like he’d accomplished something major, but man, the situation was nerve-racking.

When Tern emerged from the tube, Stanley James was waiting.

“How’s he holding up?”

“He’s eating a bit and drinking. It’s bad in there, though, Stanley. How’s it going on the other side?”

“Slow but steady; they’ve removed a ton of rubble. I figure we should be to him before morning.” He crouched and looked in the hole. “I’ll bring Elbows up to date. You go catch a break.”

Tern stood at the mouth of the mine, gulping breaths of air that was stale as pond water. He couldn’t seem to get enough. You wouldn’t think it would be so since he spent every working day in the deep. It was like his lungs had tensed while inside, like they were trying to hold on to every breath, like each one might be the last. He walked outside for a bit. He had hard questions to ask himself.

Number 4 was no less dangerous than it had ever been. It was time to shut it down. His dream of finding a way for the miners to work it in safety was gone. Plain and simple, he had failed.

He kicked a rock and it bounced out of sight like a startled rabbit. He had to remember why he was here in the first place. It wasn’t to change things or try to make this a secure place to work; it was to observe what was already in place and report that back to the agency. He should leave right now. Pages of evidence waited at the boardinghouse. The very best thing he could do for these men was to report the violations committed by the company who owned the mine against the men who worked it. His goal through the agency was long-term improved working conditions for the miners, not their short-term paychecks.

He clasped his hands behind his back and stretched. Who was he kidding? He couldn’t leave until this present situation was resolved. And then there was Lilly. His arms ached to hold her again.

A slight wind kicked up. Dark clouds moved ominously across the face of the moon. Heat lightning flashed impotently, burning out before it even came close to touching the ground. Tiredly, Tern hunched his shoulders. All they needed now was another storm.

A rustle from the other side of a stack of timber caught his attention. The shoring crew had just gone inside with a new stack. The boards must be shifting. He’d set them to rights before he went back in. That would help work the kinks out of his back.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. There stood Lilly, bathed in lantern light, dressed in overalls, with a battered birdcage in her hand.

“Forevermore,” she said. “Do you spend your days figuring out new ways to startle me? I almost dropped the forewarning bird.”

The bird sat huddled on the floor of his dirty cage. “Looks like somebody needed to warn him,” Tern said.

“I know, poor little thing. The least I can do is feed him.” She set the cage down and turned her attention to Tern. “I’m glad to see you’re all right. Do they have the man out?”

“No, but we’re working on it.” He looked around to be sure no one was within earshot. “Lilly?” Her spoken name was as appealing as the golden flower that bloomed in wild abandon along the mountain trails. He was lost in her.

She put her finger to her lips. “Shhh, someone might overhear.”

“There’s no one back here but us.” Looping his thumbs in the shoulder straps of her overalls, he drew her closer.

She tiptoed up, but it was not for a kiss. “Listen to me,” she whispered in his ear. “There’s talk among the men. They’re onto you.”

“There’s always suspicion and talk. They have no proof.”

“They don’t need proof. You need to tell Mr. James about whatever it is you’re up to.”

He tightened his arms. Her hair smelled like sunshine. “I don’t care about that right now. Just let me hold you for a minute.”

Her body relaxed against his, but not for long. “This isn’t right,” she said. “I haven’t talked to Paul.”

“You’re not rightly his.”

“But, Tern, he doesn’t know that.”

“Ah, but, Lilly, I’ve never kissed a girl wearing overalls. I might not get the chance again.”

She tossed her head. “Do you have a checklist, Mr. Still?”

He pantomimed crinkling up a bit of paper and tossing it over his shoulder. “Not anymore.” Then, becoming serious, he asked, “Will you promise me something?”

She shrugged. “I can’t promise you anything after what I’ve done to Paul. Obviously, my word is easily broken.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You didn’t make a rash decision.”

“Don’t you think it’s rash to throw the love of a good and kind man away and walk right into the arms of a stranger? Isn’t that exactly what I’ve done?”

In his estimation, she didn’t really want his answer to that. He was not fond of the fellow, but he did feel sorry for him. Tern’s whiskers rasped when he drew his hand across his chin. “Well, I’m sorry if the man is upset, but you were always meant for me. He just got in the way for a while.”

She nodded and put her palm to his face. “I want to be. I want to be meant for you.”

“I’m not letting you go again. I mean to marry you.”

“I’m not the usual woman who lives for a man, Tern. If we are to be together, you would have to be willing to go where I go. And right now I’m not sure where that would be.”

“Honey,” he said, “I would live on the moon just to be with you. You are home to me.”

She brushed his cheek lightly with her lips. “I think I love you, Tern Still.”

“Joe!” he heard from the mouth of the mine. “Joe Repp.”

Please,
he nearly moaned aloud,
not now.
Not when she’d said the most precious words he would ever hear.

Billy clambered over the stack of lumber. A plank skittered off the top of the pile, nearly striking them.

“Thank goodness I found you,” the young man said. “Elbows is crying out, and I don’t know what to do.”

“Give me a minute,” Tern said. “I’ll be right there.”

“Hurry up,” Billy said. “He keeps asking for you.”

“In a minute!”

Billy went back the way he had come, leaving planks skewed every which way. It wouldn’t have taken him any longer to walk around.

“He’s scared,” Tern said of Billy, as if it were important to make excuses.

“You’d best go,” Lilly said.

“Lilly, I need to know that you’ve forgiven me for all that happened to you.”

“Tern,” she said, “I never blamed you.”

With mercy and grace, she absolved him of the guilt he’d carried in his gut like a stone. What would happen if a grown man cried?

“I wish I had time to explain what I’m doing. I want you to know it’s nothing illegal.”

“I wouldn’t be standing here if I thought you were capable of anything like that.”

“So can I have that kiss?”

A smile toyed at the corners of her mouth. “Maybe someday soon.”

“Maybe?”

“I’ll be waiting for you, Tern. Be careful in there. Don’t risk your life.”

“Joe!” Billy yelled again.

“All right! I’m coming!” He tucked his knuckle under her chin and lifted her face. “Say you love me, not that you think you do.”

“I love you.”

“I can live a long time on those words,” he said. “I love you, Lilly. You stole my heart so long ago.”

He walked away backward, looking at her for as long as he could. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done.

Nearly around the corner of the stacked wood, he turned back. “Don’t throw those overalls away.”

“I thought you chucked that checklist,” she said.

The image of her in the moonlight was all he needed to keep him company through another treacherous night. He forced himself back inside to where Elbows waited.