by Joel Baker
Pa had been after her in an unnatural way even before her mother was in the ground. She’d do about anything to be rid of her daddy and that dirt poor farm. At first Calvin and Clarence had been real nice to her. They’d given her presents and everything. The rutting had been difficult but she’d had boys up on her before, not to mention her pa. Momma had told her to just lay still and it was all over quick enough. Still the Haskins brothers were a dirty and disgusting bunch. Then they’d started knocking her around a lot.
Several days after she’d left home, her pa happen to walk in when Calvin had her laid face down on a table, going at her. Pa didn’t say anything, other than to complain he deserved something for the loss of his daughter’s help on the farm. Calvin never even stopped doing her, when he told pa he’d make sure he got what he deserved. A short time later, the old cabin burned. Daddy and little brother were found inside the rubble. Thinking about her little brother made her sad.
Cassy stood up from her bed, suddenly alert. She heard someone shuffle up to her locked door, and the sound of a key turning. Teddy walked in and leered at her.
“Cassy,” Teddy said. “Calvin says for you to clean up the mess you all made last night, and he says to be quiet.”
“Okay,” Cassy said.
She waited for Teddy to leave first and then followed. As she came through the door, he stood grinning at her. When she walked by him with her head averted, Teddy pinched her hard on her bottom.
“Leave me alone,” Cassy said, through clenched teeth.
She pulled away from him. He’d meant it to hurt and now she’d have another purple bruise. Teddy laughed in a high girlish giggle, making her skin crawl. She shuddered as she entered the room where Calvin and Clarence sat nursing their headaches. She shuffled over to far side of the room where a broom leaned against the wall and began sweeping the debris on the floor into a neat pile. Cassy tried making herself as small as possible.
Chapter 15
Jesse was anxious to get the last leg of the trip out of the way. The dogs were in the back of the truck with Sarah and Lily. Mark and Cole were up top. He asked Paul to ride up front with him. They pulled out of the wooded lane, onto the small dirt road, and headed toward Haven. The closer they got, the more memories flooded back to Jesse.
His father and he were never especially close. Jesse remembered harsh words and the occasional belt strapping in the barn. Usually it was about work or something that needed to be done on the place. Jesse felt it was probably why he’d stayed away so long from the old homestead.
He’d loved his mother dearly. She’d done what she could to deflect some of his father’s harshness away from Jesse. Though she was a soft and gentle person, she had a protective shell on the outside from hard work. His mother tried to make sure that some fun and joy was in Jesse’s life. Jesse believed his father had loved his mother, which made her life a lot easier. Still when they’d died suddenly, they’d both left a hole in Jesse’s heart.
“What are you thinking about Dad?” Paul asked.
“I was just thinking about my parents and when they died,” Jesse said.
“What do you remember?” Paul asked.
“Not much really,” Jesse said. “More like impressions than memories. I was twelve, about your age. I was in bed, when I remember hearing a car pulling up outside our house. I remember thinking it was my Mom and Dad. They used to go into town to a little bar in Eagle Rock. They had live country music on Friday nights, and my parents would go to listen. I was by myself when I heard a pounding on the door.”
“Who was it?” Paul asked.
“It was the police,” Jesse said. “I jumped up and answered the door. The first thing I noticed was the red and blue lights from the squad car flashing through the front door. The sheriff told me both my parents were killed in a car accident. Just like that. Apparently, they’d run off the road and hit a tree. When I saw the car later, it had blue paint smeared down the side. I’d asked the sheriff about it, but he’d said it was nothing. I always wondered about that blue paint.”
“Why was that Dad?” Paul asked.
“My father was a fanatic about that car,” Jesse said. “He washed it all the time, and kept it spotless. I know there was no blue paint on the side of that car when they went to town.”
“What happened then?” Paul asked.
“Well,” Jesse said. “I remember lots of people coming and going. Lots of casseroles dropped off. Friends of my parents, Franklin and Hattie moved out to the place to watch me until the authorities could find next of kin. My Dad was the last of his family, but my mother’s sister lived up in Dayton. That was your great aunt Rose. Do you remember her?”
“Just a little bit,” Paul said.
“They contacted her,” Jesse said. “A couple of months after the funeral they put me on a bus for Dayton. All I took was a cheap suitcase and five dollars. Aunt Rose met me at the bus station. She was a really good person, but I was sure lonely.”
“Gees, Dad,” Paul said. “That must have been really tough. No matter how rough things are now, at least we’re all together.”
“It makes all the difference,” Jesse said.
They rode in silence for some time.
The closer they got to Haven the more things looked familiar to Jesse. Mid-morning they stopped and stretched their legs. They let the dogs run a while and then everyone piled back in. Just about noon, Jesse slowed as he turned on to Sand Hill road headed towards Haskin Hill. The name Haskin jarred Jesse’s memory.
He remembered a fight he'd had with the Haskin brothers shortly before his parents died. It was after school, just before the summer vacation when he was eleven or twelve. One of the twins said or did something to a girl Jesse liked, and made her cry.
Jesse called him out, knowing that you always got two for one with the Haskin brothers. Jesse held his own for a while. He’d bloodied the nose of one, and split the lip of the other one. He’d fought hard as he could. They were bigger and he was eventually pinned to the ground.
That was the first time his nose had been broken. Jesse remembered the little brother too. What did they call him? Rat? No, it was Weasel, Jesse thought. The little kid with thick glasses was giggling like a girl as his brothers kept hitting and kicking Jesse.
“Welcome home, Jesse,” Jesse muttered to himself.
“What was that?” Paul asked.
“We’re here,” Jesse said.
He slowed and spotted the lane back to Haven. Jesse flashed on one more distant memory about that fight. When the fight was almost over, a truck had pulled up. Old man Haskin got out and stood as his boys finished with Jesse. He didn’t try to stop it, just stood watching. Jesse wasn’t sure, but he seemed to recall that old man Haskin’s truck was blue. The same shade of blue as the streak down the side of his father’s wrecked car.
Jesse turned into the road to Haven. It was about three hundred yards down a twisting hilly road, cut through the woods. It’d been some time since a truck this big had been down the road. The limbs of the trees scraped the truck. Jesse stopped just inside the entrance and told Cole and Mark to get down off the roof. He was afraid a tree limb might impale one of them. When they finally broke out of the woods, Jesse stopped. Sarah and Jesse climbed out of the truck and stood holding hands. The kids joined them and stood in silence.
A large secluded valley extended into the distance. It was just after noon, and the sunlight filtered down through the trees lining the edge of grassy fields. The sound of rushing water came from their left. Jesse stood looking at the blue hazy hills receding into the distance. The sky was pale blue with white puffy clouds slowly drifting like ships on a sea.
“It’s so beautiful!” Sarah exclaimed.
“Hey, everybody, come see this,” Jesse said.
Sarah and the kids followed Jesse as he started down a small slope that skirted the start of the valley. They kept to a small footpath that meandered to a large cliff of red limestone. Beneath the cliff, water boiled
out crystal blue and clear. The stream ran from under the cliff’s face, down the valley, a full twenty feet wide and ten feet deep in the middle.
“Watch this,” Jesse said.
Jesse knelt on one knee and drank deeply from the creek.
“It’s the purest water you’ll ever drink,” Jesse said. “Ice cold too. I’ve really missed this water.”
“Where does it come from?” Paul asked.
“No one knows for sure,” Jesse said. “A vast drainage area feeds a reservoir deep in the earth. The water chose this point to resurface. It carved this valley. The stream has never failed or slowed. This spot makes Haven special.”
“Cole,” Sarah said. “Go let the dogs out. Would you?”
Cole headed up towards the truck, and a few moments later the dogs came down the path in single file. They drank one at a time, and lay down on the grassy bank.
“How big is this place, Dad?” Paul asked. “It looks huge.”
First you have to realize the valley’s really shaped like an hour glass,” Jesse said. “The ridges run almost due north and south. They curve in the middle like a waist. The cabin and out buildings are located at the waist where the ridges come together. The narrowest part of the valley’s probably a mile wide. At the widest points, it’s more like three miles. Overall, the valley runs north for about six miles. Let’s go see if Franklin and Hattie are home. Everybody back in the truck.”
The boys raced each other to the truck. The dogs followed single file in an orderly procession. Jesse drove down the right side of the valley along the eastern ridge.
The rooftops came into view. The smoke coming from the chimney of the smaller cabin was reassuring to Jesse. The rich smell of newly plowed earth wafted through the truck windows. Jesse could see that Franklin had a good start on the fields surrounding the cabins. Jesse pulled under a huge oak tree next to the main cabin and shut the engine off.
“Welcome to Haven, everybody,” Jesse called out. “Let’s keep the dogs in the truck for now.”
Jesse sounded the truck horn a few times. He and Sarah climbed out of the truck and waited. The screen door on the smaller cabin opened. Out stepped a large black man about sixty years old with hair that was mostly white. He was tall but didn’t appear so, because he walked with a stoop. He wore bib overalls, a bright red shirt, and a straw hat that was more straw than hat. It was Franklin.
“Boy,” Franklin said. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
He walked up to Jesse, put his arms around him and lifted Jesse into the air. He then went to Sarah and took his hat into his hands.
“You must be Mrs. Colter,” Franklin said. “Please to meet you.”
“Call me Sarah, Franklin,” Sarah said. “We were worried about you and Hattie”
“Me and Hattie been worried about you too,” Franklin said. “No way for us to get a hold of you, so nothing we could do but keep on, keeping on.”
“Where’s Hattie at, Franklin?” Jesse asked.
“Oh, she’s in fixing herself, because you’re company,” Franklin said.
“Hattie! Come on out here!” Franklin shouted back towards the house.
The door opened and a small black woman came out on the porch and walked towards the group under the oak tree. She appeared younger than Franklin, but not uncomfortably so.
“Hattie, you know Jesse, and this here’s Sarah,” Franklin said.
Sarah walked up to Hattie and gave her a hug.
“If first impressions mean anything,” Sarah said. “We’re going to be fast friends.”
Sarah introduced the children and Cole to Franklin and Hattie. Lily peeked from behind Sarah’s legs, too shy to actually look at the new people.
“See Hattie,” Franklin said. “I told you they’d be here today.”
“Yeah, and you was right,” Hattie said. “Course you been wrong every day for two months, but today you were right.”
“Ouch!” Jesse said. “Franklin, it looks to me like we’ve met our match with these women.”
“You got that right, Jesse,” Franklin laughed. “Hattie’s got some cornbread and ham inside if you’re hungry. Jesse, maybe you and the boys want to eat before I show you around the place.”
“Good idea, Franklin,” Jesse said. “But first we need to finish the introductions. We brought some friends with us. They’re still in the truck.”
“What friends?” Franklin asked.
“Well, I need to ask you and Hattie something first,” Jesse said.
“What?” Franklin asked, a puzzled look on his face.
“How do you and Hattie feel about dogs?” Jesse asked. “Big dogs?”
Franklin and Hattie both looked at Jesse with concern.
“We got nothing against them,” Franklin said. “But we’ve had trouble with wild dogs round here. They come down at night and try messing with livestock and chickens. I keep chasing them out.”
"How about you Hattie, are you afraid of dogs?” Jesse asked.
“Not especially,” Hattie said, a look of concern still on her face. “I do prefer little dogs to big dogs.”
“It might be a good idea for you both to go stand over there,” Jesse said, pointing to the front porch of the little cabin.
Once they were situated on the porch, Jesse went to the truck and opened the side door. Boss was the first out, followed by Daisy and the rest of the dogs. Boss walked towards Franklin and Hattie. When he got about ten feet from the porch, Hattie disappeared into the house and looked through the screen door. Boss stopped and stared at Franklin. Franklin stared back.
“Franklin, come on down and meet the friends,” Jesse said. “They’re good dogs and won’t hurt you. Besides, I’m not big enough to make them leave.”
Franklin came off the porch and took a tentative step towards Boss. Boss sat down and Franklin petted his head. The other dogs walked over toward Boss and Franklin.
“Hattie, come on out here,” Franklin said. “We got to get used to these dogs. They seem peaceable enough. Not like the wild ones.”
Hattie’s head poked out of the door. Sarah walked over to where the dogs and the men were.
“Come here, Lily,” Sarah said. “Introduce Daisy to Hattie. With luck, Hattie, we’ll have puppies around here real soon.”
“Daisy, this is Hattie. Hattie, this is Daisy,” Lily said with a smile.
Hattie emerged from behind the screen door.
“Oh Lord!” Hattie said. “I’ll get used to them, I guess. But they’re not coming into my house, and that’s final.”
Hattie reached out and patted Daisy lightly on the head.
“There are some things you need to know about the dogs,” Jesse said. “The good news is that they don’t eat livestock or people. They just eat wild food they hunt themselves.”
“What you going to do if they eat your chickens?” Hattie asked.
“Eat corn bread,” Jesse answered.
Everybody laughed as the headed for the small cabin. Daisy stayed close to Lily. Boss and the other dogs each headed out in different directions as if a signal were given.
“Where are those dogs going?” Franklin asked.
“I have no idea,” Jesse said. “The dogs joined us on the trip down here. They’re a little strange. We found some information on them, but it was kind of sketchy. Both Sarah and I think they may be able to help us around here. Please tell me you don’t have and dogs, do you?”
“No,” Franklin said. “Hattie and me never really been that keen on dogs. Why?”
“Well,” Jesse said. “If you had a dog we’d probably bury it. They don’t like other dogs either. Let’s get something to eat.”
Chapter 16
Lunch was delicious and went well. Hattie appeared much less nervous away from the dogs. After lunch, Hattie took Sarah and Lily out to the chicken coop, carrying a basket lined with a kitchen towel. Daisy followed them at a distance.
"Looks to me like Daisy is going to have puppies within the week," Hattie sai
d, glancing at Sarah for a moment. "Could be, we're going to have more than puppies around here before too long."
Sarah smiled to herself at Hattie's observation. They entered the darkened coop. She was immediately struck with the smell of ammonia from chicken dung. Straw covered the floor. Wood boxes hung from the walls with hinged lids. There were holes cut in the front of each box. Trays of fine gravel sat on the floor.
"What's the gravel for?" Sarah asked.
"Chickens need gravel so they can chew," Hattie answered. "That's because they don't have teeth."
Sarah left it at that. She made a mental note to ask Jesse if Hattie was pulling her leg. Poles for roosting were suspended by wire from the ceiling. Dim light filtered through windows covered with mesh wire.
Hattie showed Lily how to look for eggs. Sarah noticed that Lily was a little timid about lifting a sitting hen to see if she was on eggs. The chicken house had old rusty sheet metal around the building at the base. Hattie explained to Sarah it was added to try to keep wild animals from getting at the chickens.
Sarah watched as Lily warmed up to Hattie. Hattie's easy-going demeanor soon transformed the trip to the coop into an egg hunt. Lily laughed with delight with every egg she found. Hattie showed her how to dip cracked corn out of the barrel in the corner and pour it into the feeders along the walls.
"Next to horses,” Lily said. “I like chickens best. I think I'm going to name this one Tulip," Lily said, pointing to a fat hen in the corner.
"Lily, honey, don't be naming the chickens," Hattie said shaking her head, "Cause chickens are probably the dumbest animals God ever created."
As an aside to Sarah, Hattie whispered that they were having fried chicken for dinner that night and how she refused to eat anything that had a name.
Franklin took Jesse and the boys on a tour of the outbuildings. They housed equipment and tools. Some of what they saw caused Jesse to flash back thirty years. A scythe hung on the wall with a rusty blade. The wooden handles were polished by sweat, and worn smooth by the calluses of his father's hands. The hoes stacked in a corner took Jesse back to long summer days and endless rows of corn and beans. Dust motes drifted lazily in the shafts of sunlight like columns from holes in the roofs.
