The Miracle, page 16
“You would have liked him. Everybody did.” Kezia’s eyes grew dreamy. “He was a fine-looking man. Could have had any woman he wanted, but he picked me.”
“Well, he picked the right woman. Was he really as good a shot as you told us?”
“Of course he was. He could hit anything with a pistol or a rifle — even the first time he ever fired a gun! And he was only twelve years old. Said he could outshoot any man in Markley County. Annie Oakley was like that, I heard. Some things are just born in people.”
Lanie sat very still, listening while her aunt talked about days gone by. It was apparent to Lanie that Aunt Kezia’s days with Calvin Butterworth, in a trail town where he was sheriff, were as real as the life she now led.
Suddenly Aunt Kezia stopped talking and squinted at Lanie.
“What’s the matter with you, girl?”
“What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong with me.”
“You’re worried about something. I can tell.”
“Well, I do worry about Davis and Cody and Maeva.”
“They’ll be all right. What you worried about Cody for? That boy’s got more irons in the fire than anybody I ever saw. He goes at life like a man frightened of bees.”
“He’s not himself. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“He’s fourteen years old. That’s what’s wrong with him. He’s bumping into the hard stuff just like we all do.” Kezia took Lanie’s hand. She held it, young and strong, between her own withered fingers and stroked it. “He’ll have to learn how to cry just like we all do, girl.”
The sun had passed the meridian and now was beginning its journey to the west as Cody stopped in front of the church. At first he walked into town aimlessly but soon found himself at the church as if drawn there by a magnet. Except for his father, he had never met a man he admired as much as the Reverend Colin Ryan. He stood in front of the parsonage irresolutely for a moment, and then when he heard a sound walked around back. He saw Colin wielding a shovel over some kind of flower bed, making the dirt fly.
“Hello, Pastor,” Cody said. “Need some help?”
Colin turned. He was wearing his usual rather disreputable old clothes, and his face gleamed with perspiration. “I never do work myself that I can get somebody else to do, but I think it’d be a better idea if we went inside and got some refreshments. Think you can keep it down?”
“I can sure try.”
The two went inside and sat down at the kitchen table where Colin had put a plate of moon pies and two bottles of Nehi cream soda. They drank straight out of the bottle, and for a time Colin simply smiled and talked about the work of the church. He was an astute man, however, and soon he said as politely as he could, “You know, I can remember when I was fourteen years old. Everything was better then. I can remember onions. I’d just go dig one up, wash it off, and just take a bite out of it like out of an apple. Onions aren’t as good anymore. I think only a fourteen-year-old can really appreciate what a real onion tastes like.”
Cody grinned. “I eat ’em like that too.” He started to say something else and then fell silent.
Colin took a swig from his Nehi soda and said, “Something bothering you? You look a little bit worried. Is it about Davis and Maeva going to St. Louis?”
“Nah, they’ll be fine.”
“You’re not still worried who the Antichrist is, are you?”
“Oh, no. I got all that pinned down.”
“Oh? Who is it?”
“I think it’s Mae West.”
Despite himself Colin had to laugh. “Well, I never heard of her being a candidate for that office.”
Cody moved the soda bottle around on the table making a pattern of the dampness, and finally he said, “I – I went to see her in a movie over at Kenton. I was over there with the Emporium, and I saw this picture of her out in front of the movie theater, and I went in and I seen it.”
“Sounds like the sort of thing I might have done when I was fourteen.”
“No. I don’t think you would’ve. It bothered me, Pastor. She wore — well, she wore revealing clothes.”
“That’s her trademark, all right. She was in a play, I understand, called Sex. That’s getting right down to the root, isn’t it?”
Many men would have rushed on, trying to pry Cody’s problem from him. Colin simply sat there nibbling on a moon pie and waiting.
Finally Cody said, “I can’t keep what I saw out of my mind.
Some of the things, all about that woman, they keep coming back —especially at night when I’m in bed.”
Colin said quietly, “You know, one of the first Scriptures I ever memorized was in the book of Psalms. The hundred and first Psalm in the third verse. It says, ‘I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.’David wrote that Psalm I think, and I often wondered if when he wrote it, he was thinking about Bathsheba. You remember that story?”
“Yes, sir. David got himself into a mess with that woman.”
“The Bible says that it was a time when kings went forth to war, but David hadn’t gone to the war. He stayed home. And he looked out and he saw this woman bathing.”
Colin leaned forward, his eyes intense.
“You know, it’s not the first look that’s wrong. A man can’t help looking or he’ll fall down in a hole. Sometimes a tempting woman or something that we know is wrong just pops up. It’s the second look, though, that gets us in trouble.” He shook his head and added, “If David, after that first look, had shut his eyes and turned around and walked away, I think his life would have been different.”
“I never thought about that, Pastor.”
“I thought about it a lot. I used to think that it was kind of an instant thing that David saw her and right then he sent for her. The Bible doesn’t say, but it could have been something gradual. He could have thought about her on his bed like you say, and that image could have been coming back maybe for weeks. So it got to him at the last.”
The two were silent, and finally Colin leaned forward. “You don’t think you are the only young man in the world that has trouble thinking evil thoughts stirred up by the wrong kind of picture, do you, Cody? We all have that problem.”
Cody looked up, his eyes tormented. “What do I do, Pastor?”
“You do what Joseph did. That’s my rule. You remember what he did when Potiphar’s wife caught hold of him?”
“I sure do. He ran out of there as quick as he could. So quick he left his clothes in her hands.”
“He did exactly the right thing. Of course he didn’t give up, but his method was right. What I try to do now, Cody, is when I look at something and it causes me to feel lust or envy or anything that I know is against the will of God — right then I just run. If I have to, I shut my eyes, turn around, and get out of the room. If it’s in a book, I shut the cover. Throw it away, in most cases.”
“I never thought of it like that.”
“Think of that woman as a rattlesnake. You wouldn’t keep a rattlesnake and pet it and let it sleep with you, would you? Of course not.”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
“Just remember. Christ is in you, Cody. You’re weak and He’s strong. That’s the way with all of us. When the battle starts and you have a temptation, if you start fighting in your own strength, you’re probably going to lose. So what I do is I run and as I run, I pray: God, you fight this battle for me. I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you and I pray right now?”
“That’d be good, Preacher. I need it.”
Colin began to pray for the young man. He prayed the simplest prayer that he knew, for he knew that this boy before him, who would quickly be a man, was at a critical hour. He grew fervent and prayed that God Himself would surround Cody with a bubble so that the evil things in the world could not get in.
Finally, when the prayer was over, Cody looked up, and he had tears in his eyes. “Thank you, Preacher. I’ll remember all this.”
“We all have to remember it, son. Now, how about another moon pie?”
Lanie had noted Cody as he headed toward town, and she watched carefully until he came back. He said little enough, but he seemed somehow more at ease than when he had left. She noticed he took Corliss out to look for worms to fish with, and the voices of the two of them were a pleasant sound in her ear.
After supper, Lanie sat down at the table with a glass of tea. Cody came in, and she looked up. “Need something?”
“I’m thirsty.”
“Here,” Lanie said, “let me pour you some tea.” Getting up, she chipped some ice with the ice pick, put it into a large glass, and filled it with tea. She set the glass in front of Cody, who took several loud swallows.
Lanie returned to her seat. “Where’d you go this afternoon?”
“I went to town.” Cody hesitated and said, “I had to go to talk to Brother Colin about a problem.”
“You want to tell me about it?”
“Not really, but I guess you might as well know.” He repeated the story as he had told it to the pastor, and when he had finished he said, “I don’t know why I went to that dumb old picture show with Mae West.” He looked down at the table and shook his head slightly. “Sometimes, Sister, I don’t think I’m as smart as I think I am.”
Lanie felt amusement bubbling over, and yet she knew this was a serious thing to this brother of hers. “Well, I expect Brother Colin was able to help you.”
“He sure was. Taught me how to fight the devil when he comes. For one thing, I’m not going to no more of those awful movies with Mae West or any of those other half-dressed hussies.”
“I think that’s a pretty good idea.”
Cody downed the remains of his tea, set the glass down, and then turned and put his eyes on Lanie. “Lanie, do girls ever have bad thoughts about men the way men have them about women?”
The question flustered Lanie. Her face colored, and she said, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Why, sure you do. I just told you the kind of bad thoughts I had, lustful and all. Do women ever have that kind of lust?”
Lanie tried lamely to avoid the question. Finally Cody said, “You’re not answering me. That’s not like you, Lanie.”
Lanie knew she had to give an honest answer, and she tried to gather her thoughts. Finally she said, “I think women have less weakness in this way than men — but yes. I’ve had to do exactly what the pastor said, to run away just like Joseph. So you’re not alone.”
Cody stared at Lanie in disbelief. “I can’t believe it! I never thought you’d have thoughts like that.”
“I’m sorry, Brother, that you had to find out that I’m such a weak person.”
Cody took a deep breath and nodded. “Well, that’s all right, sister. I’ll pray for you tonight. I’m going to have it out with that red-legged rascal, the old devil!” He got up and awkwardly squeezed Lanie’s shoulder, then went off to bed.
Lanie sat alone for a time. Finally Booger came over and sat beside her. He put his big paw on her lap and made noises.
Lanie put her hand on his smooth head. “Bloodhounds have the saddest faces in the world.” She reached down and hugged the big dog. “But you’d help me if you could, wouldn’t you, Booger?”
Chapter 15
The bright shaft of morning sunlight that angled through the window beside Cass seemed to make the dullness inside her heart even more pronounced. As she sat with the needle in her hands, staring down at the baby dress she was stitching, a familiar sensation of grief and hopelessness seemed to fill her spirit. Beau was barking at something outside, and Aunt Kezia was singing in her creaky voice as she worked in the kitchen. Even so, with Davis and Maeva gone, the house seemed too still, adding to her loneliness.
The passing days at the Freeman house sometimes seemed like a dream. Many nights she dreamed of her life before she came here and more than once had wakened, sobbing and trembling with fear. Her future was a blank. She kept it that way deliberately, for when she tried to reason and think and consider how she would live and how she would take care of her baby, a sense of hopelessness almost pulled her down physically.
Suddenly she pushed the sewing aside and got to her feet. She moved across the room carefully as if she were carrying a precious burden. Her time was very near now, and all during her pregnancy she had had strange appetites. They were fierce, voracious hungers that came upon her without warning. Once she thought if she couldn’t have a watermelon, she could not live — but that had passed, for there was none to be had.
Now there was a fierce appetite in her for fresh tomatoes. She could almost see them in her mind, red and plump, with their juicy, sharp taste so real her mouth watered. To get her mind off the yearning, she left the house. The sun was high, beaming down with the mild heat of early spring. She walked over to the garden. The soil was broken into small clumps, readied for planting in a few weeks. As she stood there, staring down at the dirt, she felt a lust for a fresh tomato that made her want to burst into tears.
A sound caught her attention, and she looked up to see Nelson Prather coming down the road, driving his team. He had a car, fairly new, but he had told her once, “I like horses better than cars. Cars are so cold, and horses are so nice and warm and friendly.”
Cass stood there until Nelson pulled the horses to a halt. He swept his hat off and grinned down at her. “Morning, Miss Cass,” he said and leaped to the ground with one athletic bound. “Fine morning, ain’t it now?”
“I guess so. How are you this morning, Nelson?”
“Finer than frog hair. I had a cold coming on, but I got to it quick enough and got it all cured up.”
“Did you go to the doctor?”
“Doctor! I reckon not!” Nellie smiled. “If you get a cold, don’t fool around with a doctor. They can’t help you.”
“What did you do then?”
“Well, what you got to do is take a woolen sock and it’s got to be dirty, worn by somebody else besides you. It’s best for a woman to use a man’s sock and vice versa, don’t you see?”
Cass found herself amused despite the despondency that had gripped her. “What do you do with it?”
“Well, you turn the sock inside out, put the grungy part on the outside, then you wrap the sock around your neck. Be sure that the foot part of the sock covers the worst sore spot on your throat, Miss Cass. You leave it there all night. Smells pretty rank, but I done it, and I woke up this morning. My fever’s all gone. Throat felt fine. I recommend it.”
“Nellie, do you really believe that a dirty sock can cure a cold?”
Nelson looked at her and then grinned. “Well, my granny told me it worked so I tried it. Trouble is I prayed to get healed, and I tried the dirty sock too. Now I don’t know which one it was.”
Cass suddenly laughed. “If I were you, I’d rather believe that the prayers did the job.”
“I reckon you’re right.” Nelson smiled. His eyes went involuntarily to the swelling of her stomach, and Cass felt embarrassed. “I hope you’re feeling good these days.”
“I feel all right, but — ”
Nelson looked at her sharply. “But what?” he demanded.
“I get hungry for things that about drive me crazy.”
“What kind of things?”
“Oh, different things. Sometimes for a cucumber. Other times for liver.”
“You got any special longing for something right now?”
Cass shrugged her shoulders and gestured toward the young tomato plants. “Fresh tomatoes, but of course, there aren’t any.”
“How much would you bet?”
Cass looked up to see Nellie was laughing, with his eyes at least.
“You come with me, and I’ll guarantee you you’ll be eating fresh tomatoes before you know it.”
“Where would you get fresh tomatoes?”
“Why, I got a greenhouse. I keep tomatoes all year round. If there’s snow on the ground, I just go out and pick me a nice tomato out of my greenhouse. Takes a lot of work, but I guess I’m like you. I get hungry for things sometimes.”
Cass said, “Why, I couldn’t do that. Go with you, I mean.”
“Sure you can. Come on. Let’s go tell Miss Lanie where we’re going.” He took her arm, and the two walked up to the porch.
As they approached, Lanie came out and smiled. “Hello, Nelson.”
“Good morning, Miss Lanie. I’m going to borrow this here young lady for a while. She’s got a yearning for tomatoes. I’m going to take her to my greenhouse and feed her tomatoes until she turns red.”
Lanie laughed. “I think that would be good. You go along, Cass — and bring me back a big red tomato too.”
“I’ll do better than that. I’ll bring back enough for the whole family.”
Cass was entranced by Nelson’s farm. As they drove through the fields to get to the house, she exclaimed, “I never saw such a neat farm, Nelson!”
“Well, I take care of it pretty good. Can’t stand a messy place.
Look. I’m starting a new barn over there. Just work on it when I can.
It’ll be a jim-dandy when she’s finished though.”
As they drove up to the house, Cass exclaimed, “What beautiful flowers!”
Nelson pulled the horses up and sat for a moment looking at the daffodils. Indeed, they did make a beautiful sight with their bobbing, cheerful yellow faces. “My ma always loved flowers. After she died, I kept up the flower garden. Seemed like it reminds me of her. You need to take some of them home with you. We’ll fix up a nice bouquet.”
Nelson quickly ran around the wagon, reached up, and said, “Here. You don’t need to be jumping down.” He picked her up as if she were as light as a feather. Cass was amazed at his strength. He didn’t look that strong, for he was a lean man and tall.
“Come on over and get some of the best water you ever tasted.”
She followed him to the well, which was covered. He started to remove the cap, then stopped and turned to her with mischief dancing in his eyes. “You want to see the man you’re going to marry?”
Cass looked at him with astonishment. “What?”
“I’ll show you the man you’re going to marry.” Nellie removed the cover, reached into the pocket of his overalls, and came out with some change. Selecting a penny, he gave it to her and said, “Now don’t look, but toss this down there. As soon as it hits, you look.”
