by Darrel Bird
miles.”
The little girl of about six stared up at the ragged woman, and asked, “Are you the prophet lady? Where is the angel?”
“Don’t ask the lady questions Brenda.” The man scolded.
The woman went to the corner and retrieved her green pack, “She’s right here see?” She pointed to the white angel.
“Its pretty.” The little girl returned.
“She speaks to me sometimes.”
“How does an angel on a bag speak to you?”
“Brenda, stop!” He laid his hand on the girls shoulder, and pulled her too him.
“Are you going to hurt the child?”
“Oh, no ma’am, but she doesn’t understand angels is all. She won’t bother you again.”
“May we ask your name ma’am?”
“Well…” She pursed her lips, and looked at the ceiling, “I’m not rightly sure at this time. Some people have called me crazy Lou. If I remember it, I will make an announcement. I seem to be a bit forgetful these days. I really don’t think its crazy Lou though…” Her voice trailed off as she kept looking at the ceiling.
“No ma’am.” The man said gently, “You’re not crazy, maybe tired, and worn through; I have seen it so many times.” The man sighed. “May we call you Lou for now…until you remember for sure, that is?”
“I’m Tom Rawlins, and this is my wife Linda, and our child, Brenda.”
“It rhymes pretty.”
“Could we wash our hair in the River, I have shampoo?” Linda asked.
Lou reached up and felt her matted hair, “I sometimes forget to wash.” She said sadly.
“That’s ok, I can wash, and rinse it for you in the River.” Linda said ever so gently.
“Dead man is down there. He says he doesn’t want to be disturbed, but the cups bring water on the great wheel there.” She pointed to the water wheel.
“Why yes, where are my brains today, and so convenient, we shall wash our hair here in this room.” Linda dug around in her pack until she found a plastic bottle of shampoo. She walked over to the water wheel, “Come… come.” She motioned.
“You won’t hurt me?”
“No, just wash your hair, and then you can wash mine for me.”
“I’ll just take a look around the place while you ladies tend to that.” Tom said, and opened the door.
“You won’t disturb dead man? He doesn’t want to be bothered you know.”
“No ma’am, I’ll let him be at peace.”
Tom went out, and gently closed the door. He took some time to check the area through his binoculars, seeing no one he went down the stone steps, and then found the body sitting by the tree, “Poor devil, blew his own head off, and who could blame him? I pray that those people are there lest we perish sooner than later.” He gently lifted the revolver out of the man’s hand and stuck it in his back pocket.
He walked up the River a ways, and then turned and walked back to the old mill. He stood a minute and admired the handy work of bygone days. He walked up the steps and around to the door, and when he opened it he was shocked as the woman was in clean clothes, her long black, going to grey hair was clean, and her fine features were pleasant to look at with the layers of grime gone. He got the feeling she had been a very educated woman, but the grief lines would have been impossible to erase, and he wondered what she had been through.
“You ladies all look great. We need to rest now, and leave in the morning.”
“Where are you going?” Lou asked, she looked as if she was upset by the thought.
“We heard of a group that have gathered in a little valley in the mountains just south of Longview. We are going there to see.”
“Its bad in the homeless camps, I don’t want to go there.”
“No ma’am, these are all Christians, but you don’t need to go if you don’t want to.”
“You won’t make me go?”
“Oh, no ma’am, that is not our way, we are Christians to. We force no one. I’m not even sure of it, but we got word, and a man drew us a little map to show us the way. He says the soldiers don’t go there.”
“I’ve got beans and whiskey!” Her face brightened.
“We don’t want your food ma’am, we have a little to eat, but we can throw it altogether and share a meal if you like.”
They opened a can of corn, spinach, and beans. He heated it over an open fire outside.
“Oh, that smells heavenly!” Lou said.
When they each had their plates of food they sat around the room, and Tom said a prayer asking Gods blessings over their lives. Lou felt a warm-ness go through her that she hadn’t felt in a long time, as she snuck peeks at each of them.
“I remember my name!” She said suddenly. “It’s Louisa Grimes.”
“That’s good, it’s a pretty name.” Linda said.
Brenda reached over and kissed her, “Hi Louisa.”
At that moment they became a family, even though Lou was unaware of this. “Lets turn in, it’s getting late and we have a long trip tomorrow.” Tom said.
They lay their sleeping bags out on the floor and Tom threw the latch on the door; soon there only the sounds of small insects, frogs, and the breathing of the sleeping group, but Tom lay away a long time praying that the people would still be there.
Just as daylight began to lighten the window, Tom slipped on his boots, and quietly opened the door. Slipping through it he walked outside, and began to scan the terrain with his binoculars. He thought he heard something, but couldn’t locate the direction the sound was coming from. He walked back through the door, and shook his wife and daughter awake, “Time to go he whispered.” He looked over at Lou, and saw she was awake, “We’re leaving Lou.”
“The angel says I should go with you.” She said.
“Ok…we leave in ten minutes.” She crawled out of her sleeping bag, and began to roll it up. By the time the others were ready, she had the dead man’s back pack on, with the green bag sitting on top. They walked out, and Tom closed the door quietly behind him, and led off down the road toward the interstate.
“We will take the old road after we get past Kalama, if you even think you hear anything, get off the road, and hide. Stay quiet as we walk, so we can hear.”
They walked the morning out, and were past Woodland. They had gotten off the road to eat lunch, such as they had, when they heard the sound of a truck coming from the direction of Longview. “”Stay here, I want to see what it is.”
He ran quickly to where he could see the road, and peeked through the brush. He saw a military truck with six soldiers riding the back, and two in the cab. The truck was moving fast, and the soldiers head’s were bowed against the wind. Soon he could hear the sound of the truck fading in the distance.
“That’s the first soldiers I have seen in a week. They didn’t have people on the back, only the soldiers.” He said.
“Do you know why the soldiers are killing people? They killed everybody in a camp I was in.” Lou asked.
“They’ve been killing everyone they think is not very healthy, the homeless camps more than others.”
“They killed my two children.” Lou said. “Sometimes I don’t remember it.”
“I’m so sorry Lou.” Tom looked at her.
Brenda walked over and kissed her, “Bless you child.” Lou said as she hugged her close.
“We’d better be going Tom; I want to get away from this road.” Linda said.
Tom pulled his arms through the straps of his pack, “Yes, lets. Its twelve more miles to Kalama; after we cross the bridge we can get on the old road. Most people don’t know about the old road, and we lessen the chances of running into anyone.”
They walked the twelve miles out at a steady pace, until they came to the Louis River Bridge. They crossed quickly, and then were on the old road. When they got two miles down the old road, Tom led the way off the road onto an old log road to camp. They found a spot by a small stream that still had water even though it
was late August. The stream was most likely fed by springs on up the mountain.
No one spoke as they quickly made camp. They had already done this a thousand times. They opened cans and ate out of the cans. Lou, laid out her sleeping bag, and crawled into it, and in three minutes was sound asleep.
“Poor dear, she has lost so much, and been through so much.” Linda said.
“Do you think we will find good people there Daddy?” Brenda asked.
“I don’t know sweetie, I hope so. We found Lou didn’t we, and she’s good people.”
“She killed a man, she said so herself.”
“Well…she had to honey, she didn’t want to. There is a difference between those that do want to kill people.”
“Yes Daddy, I still like her.”
“That’s good honey, now try to go to sleep, we have another long walk tomorrow.”
“Will there be kids there Daddy?”
“I don’t know honey.”
Tom’s eyes came open in the early morning light, and he lay in his sleeping bag listening.
What woke me? Every nerve was on edge, as he cocked his ear toward the road. He was hearing foot steps. Soon he heard the footsteps leave the road, and then they were coming closer. “Hey who’s out there?” A voice called.
Now
