by Pamela Morsi
"Your Honor," Althea countered. "Her daughter-in-law just wants Mother Winsloe to tell the court a few things about herself."
Pigg was thoughtful. "Well, can ye come up with kindy a better way to ask?"
"All right," Althea agreed. She hesitated, thinking. "Mother Winsloe, how many times have you mentioned remarriage to me."
"I've spoke about it," she answered. "How would I know how many times? I don't go around counting my conversations."
"Well, could you make a guess?"
"I could guess, I suppose. A few times."
"A few times?"
"Well, more than a few times."
Althea nodded. She turned back to face the assemblage as she asked her next question.
"And when you first started talking about this remarriage, who by name did you suggest as a suitable husband for me?"
Beulah's expression was cross as she turned to the judge. "I don't see how this matters nothing."
Althea still didn't look at her.
"Answer the question, Beulah," Pigg admonished.
Beulah huffed disgustedly and then answered so softly it was barely above a whisper. ”Tom."
"What did you say, I'm not sure everybody heard it?" Althea prodded as she turned to face her.
”Tom," Beulah answered more loudly.
'Tom." Althea turned to face the crowd and then pointed at a rather red-faced Tom McNees, who was standing to the far side of the porch. "This Tom? Tom McNees, your brother, our preacher?"
The crowd tittered delightedly, both at the suggestion and at the much apparent embarrassment of both Beulah and her brother.
"You know there ain't no other Tom."
"Isn't it a bit unusual for a woman to marry the uncle of her late husband, the brother of her mother-in-law?"
"It's done. Ain't no law forbidding," Beulah insisted. "Nothing vile or immoral about it. You ain't more blood to him than you were to Paisley."
"But it is a little strange to match me up with a lifelong bachelor twice my age."
“Tom's a fine, good man. He deserves a good wife," Beulah stated adamantly.
Althea feigned puzzlement. "But, Mother Winsloe, haven't you, since the day I married your son, told each and every human being on this mountain what a poor wife you think I am?"
* * *
Hoots of laughter filled the air. Althea had clearly hit the target. Beulah was an unwavering gossip and complainer. Her daughter-in-law, Althea, had long been the most frequent victim of her unhappy colloquy.
Althea let the round of amusement slowly fade out.
"So, Mother Winsloe, what was in fact the main reason that you chose your brother, Tom McNees, for my potential bridegroom?"
Beulah sat mute for a long moment, her cheeks puffed up in anger.
"I don't have to answer that, do I?" She asked the question of Eben, but it was Pigg that replied.
"Beulah, we're all waiting to hear."
Chin high, she answered sharply, "As Tom's wife, you'd have to do what Tom tells you to do."
Althea nodded and folded her arms across her chest. "And who is it that tells Tom what to do?"
Once more the crowd exploded in laughter. Beulah's expression could have turned August to icicles. And Tom McNees's face was now so florid, he appeared in danger of having a stroke.
Althea didn't wait for her mother-in-law to try to answer that one. "No more questions, Your Honor," she said simply.
The spectators actually applauded. Althea raised her chin challengingly toward Eben Baxley. He looked less confident, but not defeated. His eyes narrowed shrewdly.
"May I ask this witness one more question?" he said.
Folks began to hush, wanting to hear.
"That's re-DI-rect, young man," Pigg answered. "You want to redirect?"
"Yes, I do."
"Go ahead," Pigg suggested.
"Miz Winsloe, you ruled out your brother as a potential husband for your daughter-in-law. Is that correct?"
"I sure did."
"Why did you change your mind?"
"That's two questions," Althea pointed out.
Pigg waved her words away. "It's redirect, he can ask as many as he pleases."
"I just need this one," Eben said, almost smiling again. "What made you decide that Tom McNees would not make a good husband for Althea Winsloe?"
Beulah looked momentarily confused as if she had no idea what Baxley might be getting at.
"Just answer truthfully, Miz Winsloe," he told her.
"Well," Beulah said. "I sort of realized that a young woman like her, still in the prime of her life, well ... she would need a younger man. One who was more appealing in a man-woman kind of way. Or who could, you know, show her more affection."
"You mean one that she'd more likely want to be bedding up with."
A gasp of shock reverberated through the crowd. Several ladies actually screamed. Judge Broody swallowed a big jaw of his tobacco. And Beulah Winsloe covered her eyes in horror.
* * *
Althea paled so, she felt she might faint. Such things were just not discussed in mixed company. And to be discussing her, she felt as if she had been stripped naked in front of the crowd. Her heart trembling in her throat she looked around for help and sympathy. She found it in a pair of vivid blue eyes watching her so intently. Jesse clearly didn't know what had happened. But this unwavering loyalty, his so-very-dependable presence, was somehow a warm, soothing comfort.
"Lord Almighty!" Pigg exclaimed furiously, rising to his feet to harangue Eben. "Where do you think you are, boy? In a bawdy house or in a schoolboy sneak behind the barn!"
Tom and Orv both stepped up to young Baxley's side and were, in furious whispers, giving their representative a thorough piece of their minds.
Nearly every person present was chattering excitedly. Talking all at once, louder and louder. The sound created couldn't have been duplicated at the Tower of Babel. Althea kept her eyes on Jesse, strong silent Jesse. She knew in that moment that more than anyone present he understood her public humiliation. He understood the burn of shame that stained her cheeks.
"Hush!" Granny Piggott ordered loudly as she came to her feet. "You people act as if you'd ne'er heard of the birds and bees."
The people quieted as the old woman eyed them scornfully. "All right, young feller," Granny said, addressing Eben. "What're ye getting at? And mind you, it better be something, 'cause right now it just seems like yer up to no good."
"I am getting to something," Eben insisted. He turned to Pigg, who still looked rather green from his unwelcome ingestion of half-chewed tobacco. "If I could call my next witness, I think I could make it all very clear."
"I ain't so dang sure," Pigg answered.
"Judge," Eben said, deliberately using his tide to pull the participants back into the focus of the kangaroo court. "This whole case is a question of whether Althea should do what she wants or follow the direction of her family and remarry. It really all hangs on what is really best for her. I think I can show that remarriage is what's best."
Pigg pondered thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged. "Step down, Beulah. Call your next witness, Mr. Baxley."
"I call Simple Jess," he said.
Chapter Thirteen
Jesse was surprised to hear his name called. The folks were picking on Miss Althea. They were saying things to hurt her. Part of him wanted to just start slugging people. Another part wanted to run over and pull her into his arms. But Pa had taught him never to hit unless the other fellow hit first. And Miss Althea had told him he couldn't hold her in his arms. No, not ever again.
"Come on, Jesse," Pigg Broody said to him. "Come on over here and take a seat. We know you ain't ne'er been a witness before, but you've seen plenty of kangaroo courts. You know that the witnesses jest answer the questions."
Jesse nodded and made his way across the porch. He felt strange sitting by the judge when Eben and Miss Althea and everybody else was standing.
He looked closely at M
iss Althea. Her expression had changed. She still wasn't happy. Jesse could tell that. But she didn't look as hurt anymore. She was worried, Jesse decided. His heart lifted lightly with further realization. She was worried about him.
He grinned at her, to show her that he was all right.
"All right, Jesse," Eben Baxley began. "Like the judge told you, all you have to do is just answer the questions with the truth. You do know the truth from lies, don't you, Simple Jess?"
Jesse was affronted. "Course I do. I been to more churching than you have, Eben Baxley."
The crowd laughed at that answer as Eben nodded agreement. A lot of the tension from moments earlier was drained from the air.
"So all you need to do, Jesse, is tell us the truth about what you've seen and heard."
"I ain't seen or heard nothing," he said.
Laughter once more.
"Wait until I ask the questions, all right?"
Jesse nodded.
"You've been working out on Miz Winsloe's farm, haven't you?"
"I'm working to earn the dogs," he explained. "Miss Althea says they are mine, Eben. So you cain't have 'em, I don't care what you say."
"The dogs don't really matter right now," Eben began.
"They sure matter to me!" Jesse interjected.
The crowd chuckled once more.
"What I want to ask you about is Miz Winsloe," Eben said. "You've been spending a lot of time out at the farm with Miz Winsloe, haven't you?"
"Pretty near every day," Jesse answered.
"So you know just about everything that is going on there, don't you?"
He nodded vaguely. "Well, I guess so," he said, a bit of concern creeping into his thoughts. "I don't always understand all of the things."
"Now don't worry about that. I'm not going to ask you to explain, just to say what you have seen or heard."
Eben was smiling broadly, very friendlylike. Jesse's brow furrowed. Eben Baxley was not his friend, he was sure of that.
"Do you recall the day I came up to Miz Winsloe's farm?"
"Yep," Jesse answered. "I'd caught two rabbits and a possum in my snares."
Eben continued to smile. "Yes, that must have been a day to remember," he said.
Little titters of laughter could be heard in the crowd. Jesse didn't know what he'd said funny, but he smiled back at the folks as if he did.
"What did I do when I came to the farm?"
"You talked to me about the dogs," Jesse told him truthfully.
Eben sounded impatient. "After the talk about the dogs," he said.
"You went up to the house," Jesse answered.
"Miz Winsloe's house."
"Ain't no other house there."
More chuckles. Again Jesse smiled. He was beginning to relax a little. Miss Althea still looked worried. But Jesse thought he could do it. He thought he could answer the questions. There really was no trick to telling the truth. It just spilled out of a person.
"Who was up at the house that afternoon?"
"Nobody," Jesse answered. "Just Miss Althea and Baby-Paisley."
"And do you know what they were doing?"
"Miss Althea was baking bread. It was a Thursday. And the little boy was taking a nap, like he does every afternoon."
"So." Eben turned away. He was facing the crowd, but he was, it seemed, still talking to Jesse. "I was in Miz Winsloe's house alone with her while her baby was sleeping."
Jesse's brow furrowed. "Well, yeah, I guess you was."
"How long was I in the house?"
"Awhile, I guess."
"A long while or a short while?"
"I ain't got no watch," Jesse answered. "I cain't tell time, so I don't need one, I suspect."
"I was alone in the house with Miz Winsloe a good bit of time, wasn't I, Simple Jess?"
Jesse didn't quite know what Eben was getting at. But he didn't think it could hurt to tell the truth, he nodded.
"Well, yes, I guess so."
"Did you see Baby-Paisley after that?"
"Why sure."
"When did you next see him?" Eben had turned back to face Jesse. His eyes were calculating and keen, like a fox planning a double-back trail.
"I seen him in just a few minutes," Jesse answered.
"What did he do?"
"Baby-Paisley come out of the house and went off playing," he said.
"And at that time I was alone in the house with Miz Winsloe."
He made his statement louder than necessary. It almost sounded to Jesse like some kind of announcement. Jesse glanced over at Althea. She still looked worried. He became worried, too.
"Well, yes," he said finally.
"Did that seem right to you?"
"Right?" Jess could see himself getting cornered. Somehow the words were on all sides of him and he couldn't get past. Eben was trapping Jesse with words as easily as Jesse could trap a rabbit. Jesse didn't understand how, but he knew it was happening and for the life of him he didn't know how to avoid that snare.
"Did it seem right to you that I should be in the house alone with Miz Winsloe?" Eben continued.
"No, no it didn't seem right, I guess. But I don't think it was wrong neither. Miss Althea wouldn't do nothing wrong."
"Just answer the questions, Jesse. What did you think about my being alone in the house with Miz Winsloe?"
"Well, I didn't like it," Jesse admitted. "I didn't like it at all."
Eben nodded and spoke more softly as if he were attempting to comfort Jesse.
"You didn't know that there was anything wrong, but even being simple, Jesse Best, you didn't like me being alone in there with her."
It was a statement that didn't seem to call for an answer. Jesse turned his puzzled gaze to Althea. She was biting down upon her lower lip.
"So what did you do, Jesse?"
"What did I do?"
"When you didn't feel right about me being in the house alone with Miz Winsloe," Eben said. "What did you do?"
"I went up to the house."
"You went up to the house," Eben repeated loudly. "You went up to the house, unannounced."
"Unannounced?" Jesse was unfamiliar with the word.
"You just walked through the door, didn't you, Jesse? You didn't knock or call out or anything like that to let the people inside the house know that you were coming."
Jesse blushed slightly. Had he been supposed to call out? Sometimes he made mistakes about the way to do things. His sister Meggie warned him about that. She said it made him look rude. Jesse hadn't meant to be rude.
"Nope. Didn't see no need to call out," he answered. "I just walk in the house when I want mostly, except in the morning when Miss Althea might be abed. She don't mind my comings and goings, at least she's never said."
The explanation was made for the other people more than Eben. Eben ignored it completely.
"Simple Jess," he said, facing the crowd once more. “Tell us what you saw when you walked into the house that day, unannounced."
"I seen you and Miss Althea."
"And what were we doing?" Eben was not looking at anybody now. He was facing the crowd, but he was staring down at his shoes as if he didn't want to meet anyone's eye.
"You weren't doing anything," Jesse said.
"We weren't doing nothing?" Eben turned to face Jesse.
"Nope."
“Tell the truth, Jesse," he whispered.
"I am."
"Where were we, Jesse? Where were Miz Winsloe and myself?"
"On the bed."
There was a gasp from the crowd. Jesse looked at Althea. Her eyes were closed. Jesse wondered if she was praying.
"We were on the bed," Eben repeated.
"Yes," Jesse admitted quietly.
"Were we sitting on the bed?" Eben asked.
Jesse's brow furrowed. "No, not sitting exactly."
“Tell the folks how you caught us on the bed," Eben encouraged.
Jesse swallowed nervously. Nobody was laughing now. Everybody was listening
close. As one they were almost leaning in to hear.
"Well," he said nervously. "Miss Althea, she was kindy lying down and you was bending over her some."
There were hisses of whisper coming in every direction. They were hurriedly hushed.
"She was laying on the bed and I was bending over her."
Jesse knew then what he was trying to get at. Eben Baxley was trying to make it sound like he'd been doing that with Miss Althea. It wasn't true. It wasn't true at all, but it was what he was trying to get the folks to believe.
"That was how it looked," Jesse stated with conviction. "But it weren't nothing."
"What happened when we saw you, Jesse?"
"You got up. Miss Althea got up, too."
"So when you walked in," Baxley stated more loudly, "Miz Winsloe and I were lying on the bed and when you saw us we got up."
"Well, yep, I guess so. But nothing had happened."
"Nothing had happened, you know that."
"Yes."
"And you know that because you didn't hear Miss Althea scream or cry out for help."
"I knew nothing happened, 'cause all I could smell was fresh bread."
Eben appeared momentarily puzzled at that comment but he didn't give Jesse a chance to explain.
"Just answer the questions, Jesse. Miss Winsloe was lying upon the bed with me and she didn't scream, or yell out for help, or try to push me away."
"No."
"Because," he said, turning to face the crowd once more, "she apparently didn't find my attentions unwelcome."
"'Cause you didn't do nothing," Jesse explained quickly. He was getting angry now. Eben Baxley was talking bad about Miss Althea. That he understood. He shouldn't be doing that. Miss Althea was good. She was very good.
"There weren't no attentions," Jesse said, his fury growing. "You're talking like you tried something and she let you, but that didn't happen."
"You're sure of that."
"I'm sure."
"Why?"
"Because . . . because . . ." Jesse silently cursed his weak mind. There were reasons why. There were good reasons why. Jesse had to think of those reasons. Jesse had to think of them now. Eben Baxley was trying to hurt Miss Althea and Jesse couldn't let him do it.
