The Burgenton Files
Page 21
Evan was perfect for the job. Trevor decided. He contacted Glynda who was pregnant with baby number one, and she phoned me at my college dorm and LBJ at her apartment in Arkansas where she had moved with her mother. We had needed a keeper. The area had become a sort of shrine—a legend of sorts for the teenagers of Camden County. Evan was the perfect derelict freak to keep them at bay. And he needed a home.
Deep into the bowels of the woods we walked without caution. This was Evan’s neighborhood and no one dared cross through it. After a good hour we came upon the trailer. Still in the same spot as it was ten years earlier.
“Hey there Ralph!” Evan called to the barking hound chained to the horse trailer’s base. It was good to hear some enthusiasm from Evan. Maybe he wasn’t as sick as I had thought. Just lonely.
Evan leaned over Ralph and scratched his ears. “Wanna come inside?” He asked us, playing the part of the perfect host. We stood in a semi-circle, Glynda and I remembering the last time we had entered the trailer. We were hesitant, but agreed.
“Sure.” I replied. “We’d love to see your place.” Evan entered first and tugged on the cord hanging from the roof. A bare bulb suspended from the ceiling lit the room. A lone two by three foot generator purred away in the corner. I looked to the light and followed the cord which ran from the generator to the bare bulb. “Nice.” I offered. Then added, “How do you cook, Evan?”
He pointed to a large barrel of apples and bags of beef jerky. “Don’t need to. Those keep me tied over, and Trevor and me go to the tavern once a week...” Knowing I was probably too curious, but asked anyway. “What about daily hygiene? You know—bathing, brushing your teeth?
“Don’t got running water out here to brush ‘em.” He grinned again to expose his tar covered and decaying teeth.
I glanced at LBJ whose nose wrinkled with disgust. “Where da bafroom?” Rodney innocently asked.
Evan pointed to a jug of bleach. “There’s a hole covered with tree limbs out to the east. If you gotta use the crapper, take the bleach. If you just need to piss...” and he waved his arm in an open gesture. “...pick a tree.”
“The master bedroom is to your left.” Evan motioned with his hand to a bedroll in the corner and the dining area is to your right.” He grinned when we looked to see a parasitic tree stump oozing with black ants. “Just cut it this morning. Them bugs are keeping me company. See...” And he picked up the largest one. “Think I should return this table and get my money back? They’ll die soon.” And he took his cigarette lighter and lit the biggest one, scorching his fingertips while he did it. “Ow. That smarted.”
“Are we ready to get it?” Glynda finally spoke. I could tell she was not enamored with the surroundings, and then remembered when I had to help her clean up after her filthy stinkin’ brothers.
“Let’s get at it.” Everyone nodded in agreement with me.
Evan knelt to the floor. “I hate to mess up this place, but if I have to...” And he took a crowbar and pried up one fake plank after another until enough of the ground was exposed to allow three of us to jump down with shovels and dig. For the next hour we took turns turning over the dirt and piling it to one side until the pile reached into the trailer. Rodney was the first to hit the concrete slab.
“I got it.” He wailed with excitement. And he moved back and looked up at Glynda. “You do it. Dat’s important. You almost died dat night, not me.” And he jumped up into the trailer while LBJ, Glynda, and I jumped down to the earth and feverishly dug up the cement slab to expose a small tackle box. We stood with our mouths open wide with disappointment. The map’s message on the metal backing of Rita Brennan’s picture led us to believe we would find something a little more substantial.
“Well...this is it, guys.” I said as I jumped into the hole that was narrow enough for one of my legs to fit and pulled up the box. The weight of it was promising and a smile parted my lips. Glynda and LBJ noticed my expression.
“What is it, Donna? Is it what we thought it would be?” Glynda asked.
I nodded. “Exactly.”
THIRTY-SIX
We carried our treasure out into the moonlit night. The trailer was gross with bugs and worms creeping around. Even Evan said he didn’t feel like sleeping in there tonight. The outdoors solicited a more appealing offer with the sweetness of a late summer breeze floating through tree leaves.
I set the box down in the center of the clearing with the white brightness above us. The metal lid was not easy to open and it took some prying with the crow bar before it gave way. And when it did, the moon shone on what looked like more than a hundred gold coins. The same coins I had later learned through research were most likely Confederate gold. It had only made sense, hadn’t it? Ned Hollis’s adopted father was an Atlanta banker, the family had sudden wealth. I had let LBJ in on my findings, and she in turn confided in Trevor. Glynda didn’t know the significance of the discovery. Nor did Evan or Rodney.
“Them sure shiny.” Rodney commented as we all stared down at the moonlit gold.
There was silence. Not a sound pierced the night as we stood in solemn wonder.
Then Trevor spoke. “Now that we have this... all this...” And he pointed to the area north of us toward the road. “...will be developed.”
“Developed?” Evan looked surprised.
“Developed?” I reiterated. “What do you mean, developed?”
“Burgenton is growing and well...it’s become a bedroom community—you know, for the surrounding cities. People come from Chicago looking for a summer or weekend place. Well...this is it.” Trevor appeared nervous as his eyes darted back and forth between Glynda and Evan. “I know you like the place, Evan. You could buy a place here in the woods...it would be yours—your home.” In the moonlight Trevor smiled slightly.
“What do you think it’s worth, Donna?” Glynda asked in her innocent voice. The tone sent me back ten years before when we wandered into these woods looking for a Halloween adventure.
“It could be a lot, but we’ll have to see. What should we do next?” I asked. I honestly didn’t know what to do. I knew there was lore that Hollis’s family owned this wealth. “Glynda. We think it’s Confederate gold and worth a lot. We don’t know for sure, but we have to keep this private until we find out more. Trevor, what do you think?”
I could see the disappointment in his face despite the clouds overhead masking the moonlight. “I thought this was a done deal.” Trevor spoke now looking at LBJ for validation.
Finally LBJ spoke. “Donna. What do we do? Isn’t...Isn’t this suppose to have a happy ending? Trevor wants the money to develop this land...it’s his dream. I need the money for you know...things. You have all those student loans, Glynda has two kids plus Rodney. I do think we need to well...split it up among all of us, and then we can decide what to do with it next. Legally or illegally.”
Trevor nodded in agreement; Evan glanced at Trevor and followed his lead, then Glynda. I felt outnumbered and no longer part of the sacred team which had sworn not to disclose the treasure we learned we owned just four years earlier.
“Okay...” I agreed with hesitation. Whatever you guys want to do. Um...does anyone else know about this?” I asked knowing that the years had lapsed and lips do not always remain sealed with secrecy for that length of time. Burgenton was a small community and people talked—hopefully Glynda had sworn to the secrecy.
My hopes were lost. “Nope...” Glynda began as she hunched her shoulders and looked to the ground—just Rodney. I turned to her as did everyone else in the group.
“Are you sure it’s just Rodney?” I asked point blank to avoid Glynda’s stammering.
“Yeah.” She replied with hesitation and eyes still averted to the ground. Suddenly she looked up and the rambling began. “And then you know, well...maybe Thelma—we’ve become friends. But she don’t know where it’s at. She thinks it’s hidden somewhere down in a bank in Georgia. She don’t know where. Thelma never knew she was sleeping on it all tho
se years ago when Hollis had her tied up in this trailer. Thelma thinks it was all stories anyway. At least I’m hoping she believes it’s all stories. She hasn’t said one word about it since I told her awhile ago. Do ya think she really thinks it’s all stories?”
I shook my head in quiet wonder. “No...no I don’t Glynda, but I don’t know Thelma like you.”
After all, Hollis sprung from the womb of Thelma Carson and the deviance he possessed may not fall far from the tree. I wondered if Thelma was still my questionable enemy, and had I lost a trust and confidant in Glynda, too?
LBJ and Trevor stood side-by-side while Glynda and Rodney paired together. Evan and I stood apart—two solitary and confused figures. I was confused about the prospect of our findings—not necessarily the monetary implications, but the historical significance. While I’m dreaming about the gold at the Smithsonian Institution, my partners had visions of wealth and prosperity. Was I the crazy one? My eyes roamed across the circle of adults we had become. No longer were we the all-encompassing force of youth and innocence, but now we had become a division of values and ideologies that would divide us, I was afraid, for a long time.
Trevor reached down for the open box, closed the lid and picked it up.
“Where are you going with it, Trevor?” I asked with nervousness not trusting the man.
Trevor looked at me and around the circle. All eyes stared at him except for LBJ, who remained by his side. Evan walked over to Trevor, turned his head and spat a wad of chew on the ground.
“This just ain’t yours, Trevor. It belongs to us,” he said motioning with his arm at the circle now growing smaller as we all inched forward to secure the treasure.
Evan counted the lot of us, and then took the box from Trevor’s arms, set it on the ground and opened it; counting out coins to equal all in the group. No one said a word about this diplomatic move. I could see that our dreams for the coins were dividing us. I was uneasy about the prospect of turning over the Confederate gold to the nation’s museum when the remainder was being disbursed for one’s own gain.
When the last coin was placed in the pile, Evan broke our silence. “There’s one extra coin and that goes to Donna ‘cause she’s the one who killed that bastard. It’s only fair.”
No one begged to differ, and we all reached down, scooped up our piles, and placed them in jackets to carry our find out of the woods. The night closed in on us as we reached the edge of the wood. Clouds moved across the moon casting dark shadows on the faces of my friends. We gave our trite good-byes, got in our cars and headed down the dark stretch of road and back to Burgenton. Evan had asked to catch a ride back to town with Glynda, Rodney, and me since his home was trashed from the excavation. He and Ralph filled the void of silence in Glynda’s car as we made our way back to town. As I glanced in the rear view mirror to see the car behind me carrying LBJ and Trevor; I prayed Hollis’s evilness had not rubbed off on the coins and onto one of us. At the fork in the road by LBJ’s house, we stopped, waved our good-byes and went our separate ways. LBJ and Trevor went to the Jameson family home while we headed back to town.
We entered Burgenton from the south careening over the tracks of the railroad and then turned right down the side road. I didn’t know why Evan wanted Glynda to head in this direction until we jutted over the wood boards of the bridge and took the winding road toward his sister’s grave. The night was dark as pitch now, but Evan hopped out at the top of the hill.
“I’m gittin out here, Donna. I need to see Linda and tell her what I’ve got.”
I looked at Evan and saw his aged eyes with crow’s feet and the scruffy beard hanging from his chin. He looked older than his twenty-four years; the large protruding belly of alcoholism did not do him any favors, either.
“Are you sure, Evan? Where will you go from here?” I didn’t want to be responsible for him, but I also didn’t want him to go off and do something rash. Life for Evan had become a remote trailer in the woods and family was a framed portrait and an old coon dog with fur even scruffier than his master’s beard. I knew he was feeling lost and I was regretting the words that were about to come from my mouth.
“Why don’t you head back to Arizona with me?” I swallowed hard and crossed my fingers underneath the seat of the car so he wouldn’t see. Glynda gave me a sharp look and I returned the glance with a pleading look to be quiet.
Evan looked at me and tears welled up in his eyes. “You know, Donna. Trevor betrayed me. He betrayed all of us. He’s not doing what he said he’d do when he got the gold. He said like you we would turn it over to the proper authorities. Now...now it seems he’s carrying on like Hollis did—he’s just a selfish bastard. It’s all about him and all about greed.”
I didn’t know what everyone would do with their share. I knew we were holding on to history, or what I thought was a piece of history. Glynda, well Glynda would stash it away and save it for a rainy day like she did everything else she earned. LBJ...well... LBJ didn’t need the money, but she was smart and she liked things. And she liked Trevor. I was beginning to wonder just how well she knew Trevor. And I was beginning to wonder if I truly knew LBJ as well as I thought.
THIRTY-SEVEN
It was hard to pull away from the curb and see Mom standing alone on the porch, her face in a frown of tears. I had promised I’d be back—soon I had said. Although she knew me too well to know when I was hiding something. “Christmas.” I told her. “I’ll make sure I’m home for Christmas.” In my heart I believed it, but in my mind I knew it was unlikely.
I made my way through downtown with the Opera House and its newly cleaned double doors staring at me as I drove past to the intersection and turned south to the meeting point.
Evan was waiting for me just like he promised. He and Ralph. I found them at Linda’s grave saying a last good-bye. The Catholic Cemetery was just down the road where I had stopped to visit Dad and ask his blessing. “It’s going to be awhile before I return, Dad.” The marble grey headstone stared back at me, and in my memory I pictured Dad giving me a wink and a silent nod.
I wasn’t sure what the trip would be like driving cross country with a drunk and a mangy dog. A pine scented tree freshener hung from my rear view mirror. I didn’t think it would conceal the odor of the two of them, but I could try. At least the weather was hot enough for the windows to stay rolled down.
As we whizzed by the sign, “You are Now Leaving Burgenton” Evan turned to me and said. “I ain’t leaving for good, right Donna? ...Just awhile. I’ll come back.” He reassured himself as he pulled out the snuff and pinched a bit under his upper lip. Evan looked at me and smiled.
I knew we would be back, but greed can damage a friendship and any trust I once had in my partners was gone. Coming back to Burgenton would be different now that a distance had developed between Glynda, LBJ, and me.
“We’ll be back, Evan. You can always come back even if I don’t make it back right away. Home is always going to be here.” I looked at him and smiled, thought about the gold resting in the spare tire compartment of the car, and reassured myself that Burgenton would always be here.
“Yes, we’ll be back.”