The Rock Hole

by Reavis Z. Wortham

  It was too much. It was too hard. I didn’t care that I cried like a baby with the smell of scorched flesh in my nose.

  After a few minutes, he quit paying attention to me and got down behind Pepper and started kissing her blistered shoulder. “Does this make it feel better?”

  I finally quit crying and thought about rolling downhill because he hadn’t tied me to the ground. But the creek was too close and if I went into the water I’d drown. I couldn’t swim with both my hands and feet tied.

  I wasn’t sure, but it felt like my ankles were tied and not handcuffed like my wrists. Something gave when I moved my legs. After a couple of weak breaths, all I could do was roll under a bush and wiggle into a tangle of thick berry vines. I didn’t even feel it when they stuck me. Raymond didn’t notice I was gone.

  A minute later I thought about the spear point in my jeans, but it was gone. Then I remembered the pocketknife Uncle Cody had given me months ago. It was there! Raymond had missed it.

  I wriggled around and fished the knife out of my back pocket with only my fingertips. I felt with my thumbnail until I found the slot in the blade. From there it was easy to open. I bent backwards and went to sawing on whatever it was holding my ankles together.

  I was making good time at it when something crashed through the vines toward my hiding place. For a second I was paralyzed with fear and thought it was Raymond until I felt a warm and wet tongue on my face. Hootie had tracked me through the rain to the edge of the Rock Hole.

  “Top!” Raymond’s voice cut through the rain. He finally realized I was gone. “Where’d you go boy? C’mon out! I have something for you.”

  I sniffled and sawed at my ankles while Hootie licked the tears from my face.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  As Ned had feared, they chose the wrong bank and found themselves on the high side of the Rock Hole. Frustratingly close, yet too far away, they crouched in the brush across the storm-shrouded creek.

  “There they are!”

  John looked over the edge. “I never seen no water come up this fast. It’s already too wide here to try and jump. The only place to cross is back up at the bridge.”

  “That’ll take too long.” Ned panted and squinted at the circle of fire light through the falling rain. “Oh god, John. Looky there at what that son-of-a-bitch is doing.”

  They saw Chase pick something up from the fire and hold the end against Pepper. She screamed and writhed in pain. Through the veil of rain, Ned gave a hoarse cry and aimed his pistol.

  Behind him, John wrapped his big hand around the revolver and pushed it down. “Hush, Ned. You cain’t shoot. Your hands are shaking too much, and you might hit one of the kids.”

  “He’s branding them!”

  “I know he is, but hush now and be quiet before he hears us.” The branding cut John deep and he recalled the scars on his great-grandfather’s back. “They’re still alive. That’s what matters.”

  “Which one is it?”

  “Cain’t tell, but we have to get over there to the other side.” John looked back over his shoulder. “We have to go back a little bit and wade across where it narrows.”

  “Goddamn it. Let’s go.”

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  When my ankles were free I dropped the knife and rolled over to get onto my knees. Excited and thinking we were playing, Hootie barked and jumped up on my back, nearly knocking me over again.

  “Top! I see you in there,” Raymond called in a sing-song voice and the beam of his flashlight caught me in the brush. “Who’s with you? Your friend? Hey, I have an idea. I’ll show you what makes Hootie work and then we’ll see what makes Pepper work.”

  I sobbed and pushed back through the brush. Getting to my feet, I ducked my head and pushed through the vines. Thorns ripped my soaked clothes, scratching me deep and sharp, and then I was free. The rain hit me even harder in the open. Hootie jumped at my legs, nearly tripping as I stumbled. I thought I had gotten away when a hand grabbed my collar and yanked me off my feet.

  I lost the will to fight. “Don’t, please don’t.” Hootie barked and growled, but he didn’t sound mad. Stupid dog, I thought. You should be trying to save me.

  A voice whispered in my ear. “Shhh.”

  “Please, Raymond.” I opened my good eye and was shocked.

  Uncle Cody slapped his hand over my mouth and pulled me into another thicket as lightning split the darkness.

  “Top? Where are you little buddy?”

  Hearing Raymond, Hootie left us and loped toward his friend.

  I heard a shot and Hootie shrieked.

  “C’mon Top, and let’s look in your puppy.” Raymond called to me as if we were on the porch back at the store. “Irish ’taters. He may be full of Irish ’taters. Let’s see.”

  Cody’s hand cut off even more of my air to keep me quiet.

  Can’t breathe…

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Ned’s heart almost stopped when the muffled shot echoed across the bottoms. He held the pistol high above the chest-deep water, half way across the creek. “We’re too late! He’s done killed one of ’em!”

  John pulled the old man through the increasing current. “Maybe not!”

  They splashed onto the bank. Ned’s leather shoes slipped, and only John’s strong arm kept him from falling back into the creek.

  Lightning flashed, and they climbed high enough to gain better traction. Both men charged toward the sound of the shot.

  Chapter Forty

  “Stay here,” Cody whispered in my ear. He lowered me to my knees and disappeared.

  Raymond held Hootie’s limp body by the back legs, his head flopping back and forth in the flickering firelight. Rain ran down Raymond’s naked chest. A knife glinted in his hand and he gave a horrifying grin that looked like one of them Halloween masks.

  I roused up and my head cleared some, but I was far from all right. Light sparkled in front of my eyes, and I felt close to the edge of a dark pit.

  Uncle Cody charged across the smoky fire and body-slammed Raymond before he knew what happened. They went down in a heap and Hootie splashed onto the soaked ground without moving. The men quickly got back up facing one another in a strange fighting stance.

  Uncle Cody kicked at Raymond like he did when he was fighting Calvin Williams and his boys at the store, but Raymond dodged back out of the way, blocking it with a downward swipe of his hand like he expected it. He immediately lunged with the knife, but Cody blocked it with his forearm and slid around and punched Raymond in the side. I heard his air empty in a whoosh.

  Uncle Cody jerked upward on the arm holding the knife and Raymond’s shoulder looked like it came out of the socket. Cody twisted it so hard the knife splashed into the mud. Raymond threw himself backward and hit the ground, rolled, and came back up, covered in mud that immediately began to wash off in the downpour. Then they went at it too fast to follow in the darkness and flickering lightning. The kicks and punches landed hard as they do when men fight, while they blocked others with their upper arms and forearms.

  Sometimes lightning stopped the action like a flashbulb. Other times they were shadows fighting by firelight. I fell forward, shivering from cold and fear.

  Rain beat on my back and it all went black.

  Chapter Forty-one

  Ned and John finally broke free of the soaked underbrush, expecting to find Raymond at his blood work. Instead, a fight raged beyond the fire. Ned’s heart missed a beat when he recognized Cody.

  The two young men fought with grunts, wet slaps of hands and fists hitting knotted muscle, and muddy sucking sounds as their feet sought for purchase. Neither had been out of the military so long they’d forgotten their skills.

  Cody’s sodden clothes slung water in the brief flashes of lightning. Though fueled by anger, he fought methodically, confident of his skills.

  Shirtless, Raymond’s muscular upper body looked slick and lethal. Insanity powered his aggression and proved almost equal to Cody�
�s hatred for the man who stole his nephew and niece.

  Raymond lashed out with his foot and Cody blocked the kick with his left forearm. He drove in with his shoulder, trying to knock Raymond off balance. He missed and dodged backwards, away from a blocked return kick.

  Relieved they’d found the kids, Ned knelt beside Pepper’s shirtless body lying limp and still over the log. He choked back a sob of relief. “I believe she’s alive. Oh, god. He’s burnt her shoulder. John, do you see Top?”

  “No, sir. Not yet.”

  On rubbery legs Ned played his flashlight around them.

  Big John kept one eye on the fight. He leaned his shotgun against the log and touched the seemingly unconscious little girl’s cheek. She jumped at the contact and turned fearful eyes toward him.

  “John?” Her normally bright eyes were dim.

  “I’m here.”

  “Can you help me?” Her soft voice could have been that of a four-year-old asking for help to tie her shoelace.

  Nerves jangling and muscles twitching in tension, John knelt on one knee, removed his shirt and covered Pepper’s naked upper body. “You done helped, baby.” He opened a switchblade knife with a push of his thumb and reached around the log to cut her bonds as he blinked tears from his eyes.

  “Grandpa?”

  Startled, Ned pointed his flashlight toward the sound. Not twenty yards away, Top lay handcuffed facedown in the thick loam. Ned stumbled forward and held the gasping boy, feeling for the wound he knew would be there. “Thank god, we got here in time.”

  Ned half carried, half dragged Top closer to John‘s protection and knelt, utterly exhausted.

  The brutal fight took Cody and Raymond beyond the circle of firelight near the roaring creek. A violent kick from Raymond slammed Cody backwards. He landed flat, his head banging into an exposed tree root. Lights flared behind his eyes. He instinctively rolled to avoid a follow-up attack.

  Instead, Raymond grinned through bloody lips and waited for Cody to stand once again. “Come get some more.”

  Cody slowly regained his feet and crouched as his combat instructor taught him. He stepped forward with his left foot and moved his right the same amount of distance to maintain his balance.

  Then he smiled.

  Unnerved by the sudden change, Raymond’s own grin faltered.

  With both children finally safe, and suddenly, incredibly tired of the battle, Ned rose. He crossed the short distance to the creek bank and grabbed Cody’s arm just as he was about to launch another attack.

  Without a word, Cody paused beside the constable, breathing hard. He glanced at him and was taken aback by the look in the old man’s eyes. No one in those woods besides John had ever seen the old man so full of fury.

  Ned drew the revolver from his side.

  Raymond had violated everything dear to Ned; the law, right, and his family.

  With absolute certainty, John knew what was coming. He turned to Pepper and gently shielded her with his big hand. “Close your eyes baby. Top, you still with us?” He softly patted Top’s skinny back with the other hand as the boy lay on the muddy ground. “Look a-here at me, son.”

  Raymond raised his hands for the cuffs. “Here you go, Ned.”

  Ned didn’t intend to arrest Raymond.

  Ned shot him.

  The young constable looked down in puzzlement at the tiny hole in the bare skin of his chest. A small amount of blood trickled out of the wound and was immediately diluted by the rain.

  He fell face down into the sand.

  Emotionless, Constable Ned Parker stepped past Cody who dropped to his knees in exhaustion at the shot. “Ned?”

  “In a minute.”

  Lying facedown with one foot digging into the mud, Raymond moaned quietly. “Help me.”

  Instinctively knowing it wasn’t over, John almost lay over Pepper and moved his hand upward to hold Top’s face away from the creek.

  Ned aimed his pistol downward.

  Thumb-cock.

  The short hair in the back of Raymond’s head fluttered around the small hole that suddenly appeared.

  Thumb-cock.

  Another shot and dark hole and black gouts of blood mixed into the mud and rain.

  Thumb-cock.

  A chip of something flew into the creek and Raymond’s head rippled.

  “There’s only one way to deal with a mad dog,” Ned said.

  Cody wiped watery blood out of his eyes. His mind raced. “All right, then. Y’all go on. Y’all get Top and Pepper to the doctor. Those kids need help. I’ll take care of this.”

  Ned’s tired blue eyes rested on his nephew.

  Cody nodded. He knew what to do. “It’s all right now. Just remember when they ask, he got away.”

  “I got ’em!” John called over the storm. “I believe Pepper’s in pretty good shape even though he burnt her, but Top ain’t. We got to go!”

  Astonishingly quiet, Pepper stood in the rain with downcast eyes, clutching John’s shirt closed at her neck. John knelt and lifted the almost unconscious Top, his head resting on John’s bare shoulder. Holding the boy like a sleeping toddler, John turned to Pepper. “C’mon, baby.” The big lawman picked up the shivering girl and draped her over his other shoulder like a sack of feed.

  “I can carry one of them.” Ned fumbled the keys from his front pocket and unlocked Top’s handcuffs, releasing his arms.

  Lightning cracked overhead, bathing them in a cold light. Thunder hammered immediately behind.

  “No, you cain’t. It’s too far and we have to run some more before this boy gives up the ghost.” Tears glistened in his eyes. “Let’s go, Mr. Ned. You know the way, so lead us out of here.”

  They ran through sheets of rain, and neither man looked back again, though they both heard Cody calling. “Remember, he got away! Say he got away!”

  Chapter Forty-two

  Big John Washington carried the kids out of the wooded bottoms in his great arms, jogging all the way. When they reached the deputy’s car parked on the side of the highway, John let Ned open the back passenger door, and he fell inside. Barely able to control his trembling muscles, Ned used John’s radio and told the dispatcher to send an ambulance to his house. Then he made a quick u-turn away from the creek, and with his last reservoir of energy, punched the accelerator and shot down the highway in the rain.

  Miss Whitney’s party line was hot and everyone in town knew there had been trouble. Despite the storm, people filled the porch and the well-lit house to wait and make themselves available to help.

  Miss Sweet, Big John’s aunt, had been in Center Springs acting as a midwife for a colored family living in a dirt-floor shack near the river. Since the newborn arrived without incident with all twenty fingers and toes, she didn’t see any need to spend the night.

  She and Ralston were in a car borrowed for the visit. She’d found him loafing around Chisum after he got out of jail on bond. He was behind the wheel, and they were turning off the gravel road onto the highway when Ivory Shaver passed and tapped his brakes. He shifted his old truck into reverse and backed up to stop beside the car.

  Ralston cranked down his window. “Where you going so fast, Ivory?”

  “Going to get Willamena and then head up to Mr. Ned’s house. Hi-do, Miss Sweet. It’s a good thing you’re here. They’s something wrong with Mr. Ned’s grandkids, and they might need doctoring.”

  “All right, then. Get out the way and let’s go.” Miss Sweet punched Ralston’s arm. “Get going.”

  “But Miss Sweet, I cain’t go to Mr. Ned’s house, not after what I done.”

  “It don’t matter none to him what you’ve done in the past. Miss Becky is gonna need me right soon. Now you drive us there, or I will.”

  Knowing Miss Sweet had never driven in her life, Ralston turned onto the highway. They pulled into the yard seconds ahead of Ned and Big John.

  Top’s eyes had already rolled up into his head when Ned slid to a stop beside the back porch and a yard full of
cars. The men waiting at the house rushed to help them out of John’s sedan. Isaac Reader opened the back door and Big John stepped out, still holding the children on his shoulders.

  Half a dozen pairs of hands reached out to help. “Get back!” He intended to get them safely into the house and wasn’t going to tolerate any other ideas or arguments. Unsure what to do and having never had a black man speak to them with such authority, they stepped back.

  Miss Sweet didn’t bat an eye at the sight of John holding the children. “Sweet Jesus, them po’ little things.” Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Miss Sweet struggled out of the car and took charge, despite all the white people standing around. “John, you get them babies in this house and out the rain. Ralston, you bring my bag in for me.”

  Ralston looked as if he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him, but the two people he respected most in the world were standing right there, and when either John Washington or Miss Sweet told him to do something, he did it.

  Miss Becky pushed through the crowd and onto the porch. “Sweet, thank God you’re here.”

  “They’re both in bad shape and Top’s barely breathing,” John declared.

  “What happened?” She took one look at her grandson and knew he was in trouble.

  John spoke softly and stood free of the car. “They was took.”

  “He’s worse than I’ve ever seen him. Oh my god, what did he do to Pepper?”

  “We’ll fix ’em directly.” Miss Sweet made a calming motion with her hands and rocked toward the porch in her gaited walk on creaky knees. “Lawdy mercy, I’m old and cranky, and if these young fellers don’t help me up the steps I’m gonna commence to whoopin’ on somebody.”

  Jolted into action, Ty Cobb and Jimmy Foxx stepped forward and took her large arms to help Miss Sweet up the steps. She grunted, taking each riser one at a time, making everyone wonder if her knees could take the strain.

  Miss Becky offered her hand. “Sweet, come on in, hon’. Tell me what to do. Isaac, you men need to help Ned out of the car, too, and get him in here out of the rain.”