Moonshine, Coal, and Hope

by Richard Allen Evans

  “I do have my hands full here right now,” John said.

  “At least think about it,” Bob said.

  “Give me a couple of weeks or three and I’ll see what I can do,” John said.

  “You’ll let me know when it’s safe for Daisy to visit? We’d both love to see Ginny,” Bob said.

  “I’ll let you know. Good luck today,” John said.

  “Thanks. I’ll talk to you later,” Bob said and hung up the phone.

  John heard the click on the other end of the line and took a thoughtful look at the earpiece before replacing on the hook. He heard a noise and looked up to see a still half asleep Trish walking from her room.

  “You look as tired as I feel,” John said.

  She smiled. Locks of her chestnut hair fell across her forehead.

  “And good morning to you Doctor,” Trish said. “Would you like some coffee?”

  “I believe I could go for a whole pot this morning,” he said.

  “I put it on it,” she said as she walked toward the kitchen.

  John watched her all the way out of sight. His eyes were fixed on the gentle swaying of her shapely hips. It was a pleasant sight. Strange, it was as if he’d never really noticed what a beautiful woman she was before that moment.

  He walked into the kitchen and took a seat at the table.

  “You know I didn’t get a chance to thank you for everything you’ve done the past couple of days. I don’t know what we would’ve done without you. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you,” John said.

  Trish turned with a surprised smile that showed off deep dimples on each side.

  “You don’t have to thank me. I’m just glad I could help,” she said as brushed her hair from her forehead.

  “You were a big help. You’ll never know how much,” he said.

  “So when do you think it will be safe to pick up Ginny from Marlene and Adam?” Trish asked as she turned and bent over to pull a cast iron skillet from beneath the stove.

  Again, John’s eyes were drawn to the sight.

  “Uh, I think a couple of more days to be safe,” he said trying not to be so obvious in his staring.

  She placed the skillet on the stove and looked back to him.

  “I know they enjoy having her out there. Want some breakfast?” Trish asked.

  “I could eat,” John said.

  “Ham and eggs okay?” She asked.

  “That’s fine,” he said as she moved toward the ice box. John noticed a stirring he hadn’t felt in months and hoped Trish couldn’t under the table from her vantage point.

  She looked at him and smiled warmly.

  “You don’t have to keep me company you know. I look awful this morning anyway. Why don’t you go back to bed and I’ll let you know when breakfast is ready,” Trish said, her almond brown eyes seemed to sparkle.

  “Nonsense. You look fine. And I’m already up. Bob’s call made sure of that,” John said.

  She dropped two ham steaks into the skillet.

  “I know it’s none of my business but is anything wrong?” Trish asked.

  “No, he’s fine and so is Daisy. He was just calling to let me know what he’s up to. It appears he is running for Congress,” John said.

  “Really? That’s big news. You don’t seem happy about it though,” she said.

  John smiled softly.

  “It just worries me. Bob’s made powerful enemies. He’s already been shot once and could have died very easily. I saw men in France that died from less,” he said.

  Sadness filled her eyes.

  “Too many men died in France,” Trish said.

  John shifted his weight and looked at her.

  “I’m sorry. Did you lose someone in the war?” he asked.

  A faint smile crossed her lips.

  “Yes...my husband,” Trish said.

  John looked at her, mildly shocked.

  “I never knew you were married,” he said.

  “Not many people do. I was only fifteen. Jerry was only sixteen when he joined up. We got married just before he shipped out in May 1918. He was killed a month later. That’s when I left Harlan and moved here to take a job as a housekeeper for Mrs. Martin, my former employer,” she said.

  “So you know what it’s like,” John said.

  She nodded as she turned her attention the frying ham.

  “Did...did Rachel know about your husband?” He asked.

  Trish never turned around.

  “We talked about it from time to time. She was one of the few people I felt comfortable enough to share that information with,” she said.

  “I’m truly sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up such a painful memory,” John said.

  She turned back to him with a half-smile.

  “You didn’t. I did. All you did was express concern for your brother,” Trish said.

  He looked down at the table and shook his head.

  “But still...,” his voice trailed off.

  “It’s okay John. Really. It took some time, but I learned to live with it,” she said.

  He nodded and shifted uncomfortably.

  “Can I ask you something?” John questioned.

  Trish nodded.

  “How much time did it take?” He asked.

  She forked the fried meat over into a plate and sat the skillet off the burner.

  “It’s hard to say. For the first few months I was just in shock and I never really grieved. I guess maybe a year later it finally sunk in. After that every day was a struggle. Slowly but surely, it got a little easier to face each day until one day went by without me thinking about it. When I realized that, I felt guilty but at the same time, I felt relieved. The sense of loss never goes away but you find life goes on. You can live the best life you can or you can wallow in pain. Jerry wouldn’t have wanted me to stop living,” Trish said as she opened the icebox door. “And I know Rachel didn’t want that for you.”

  John nodded as she turned to pull a wire basket of eggs out of the icebox.

  “Scrambled or fried?” She asked.

  He chuckled softly.

  “Fried,” he said as Trish reached up into the cabinet and pulled two coffee cups down. As she reached up, her robe rode up and John caught sight of her bare legs from behind. The stirring returned. She filled both cups, turned with one, and walked over to the table. He carefully scooted even further under the table to prevent her from seeing his arousal.

  “Thank you, but I could have gotten it myself,” he lied.

  Her eyes twinkled as she smiled.

  “I know but you look comfortable sitting there and after the past couple of days, you need all the rest you can get,” Trish said.

  John smiled.

  “I can’t argue there but you’ve earned a break too. Why don’t you try to get some extra sleep today? I’ll head to the office after breakfast. Hopefully, the worst of the flu outbreak is behind us,” he said.

  “I might take you up on that. But only if you promise to call me if I’m needed,” she said.

  “You have my word,” John said as watched her walk back to the stove. His eyes lingered a split second too long as she turned. Embarrassed at being caught watching her, he could feel his face redden.

  Trish merely smiled playfully.

  “Three eggs?” She asked.

  He nodded while battling what was now an almost painful throb between his legs.

  “So tell me about Bob and his campaign for Congress,” Trish said.

  “That’s about all I know. He’s running for Congress and making the announcement today,” John said.

  “Think he’ll win?” She asked as she flipped the eggs.

  “Don’t know. Bob’s running in a Republican area and he’s a diehard Democrat. It’ll be tough,” he acknowledged.

  She sat the plate of ham and eggs in front of him, “Thank you,” he said as she turned to prepare her own plate.

  He glanced quickly through his eyebrows. John could have sworn her ge
ntle sway was more exaggerated.

  They ate in silence for the most part, chit chatting about the ill people who needed to be rechecked. When finished their meal a few minutes later, Trish leaned back, stretched, and yawned.

  “I don’t mind telling you, I’m ready to slip back under the covers,” Trish said.

  The now familiar throbbing returned.

  “By all means, get some rest. You’ve earned it. We can leave the breakfast dishes in the sink until later. I need to get ready to go to the office,” John said as Trish nodded but didn’t move.

  He pushed the chair out, stood, and turned as quickly as he could, hoping she didn’t notice the obvious bulge in his crotch.

  With his face reddening again, John hurried out of the room.

  “I need to get ready,” he repeated, not seeing her cover her mouth with her hand to suppress a giggle.

  It had been a long time since she felt attracted to a man and even longer since she enjoyed feeling desired. There had been no man in her life since her husband was killed though several men attempted to develop a relationship with her over the years. None of them captured her heart or even appealed to her — until John.

  A part of her felt guilty because she truly cared for Rachel. But even John didn’t know that on the night she passed away, Rachel had asked Trish to look after not only Ginny but John’s needs as well.

  Trish remembered Rachel’s exact words.

  “Promise me. He’s a good man and you’re a good woman. You can fill a need in his life and he in yours,” she said.

  “But...he’s your husband and you’re my best friend,” Trish said.

  “Then as my friend, care for my husband and child, please promise me,” Rachel said.

  “I promise...but what if he doesn’t...what if he doesn’t want me to do that?” Trish asked.

  Rachel smiled weakly.

  “You know as well as I do. He’s a man. He’ll want you to,” she said.

  Trish came back to the present, her heart and mind in conflict.

  ***

  “Everything is set on the courthouse steps. We’re ready to go,” said Duncan James, a veteran political advisor Ed brought in to run the campaign.

  Bob looked at Duncan, who stood 5’7 and weighed one hundred and forty pounds. With his short stature, his thick silver hair stuck out wildly in all directions. The sixty—two year old Duncan always had the look of a man caught in a windstorm. His craggy face had the look of a man at least twenty years older.

  “Well get out there boy! Just remember to stick to that speech we wrote for you and you’ll do fine,” Duncan said as he patted Bob on the back and pushed him toward the door leading to the courthouse steps.

  Bob stepped along, leaning on his cane for support. The cold, damp air caused an ache in the stump of his leg.

  He stepped to the podium without introduction and pulled the carefully prepared speech from his pocket. He looked out at the fifty or so on-lookers gathered for the announcement. In the crowd, Bob spotted Ed, Lucy, Mae, and Hill as well as several newspaper reporters he knew well. Daisy stood behind him and to his right as she was flanked by Cotton and Duncan to her left.

  He placed the speech on the podium and cleared his throat. Bob was nervous — maybe more than he had ever been.

  He looked down to the paper and back to the crowd.

  “I’d like to thank all of you for comin’ out on such a cold day. Many of you are old friends but I’d like to introduce myself to those of you who don’t know me. My name is Bob Fulton and today I am announcing my candidacy for Congress, he read woodenly.

  Bob knew he would never be a great orator but looking at the bored expressions doubly reinforced his belief.

  “Kentucky needs a new voice in the U.S. House to represent the ideals...,” he continued.

  Some people openly winced as he read through the speech. Suddenly, he stopped reading. Bob shook his head.

  “Let me tell you something folks — this ain’t me,” he said as held the pages up and then wadded them into a ball. “I didn’t write this. I’m a better writer than that,” Bob said as he tossed the speech back to Duncan, who stood mouth agape as several people in the crowd chuckled loudly.

  “A lot of y’all know who I am. I was born and raised not too far from here. I started digging coal when I was ten. I know what it is to put in a twenty-hour day with a short-handled shovel. I worked beside a lot of you. I worried about cave-ins because we didn’t have enough timber. I worked like a dog, mostly for pay that could only be spent in a company store. Y’all did the same thing. But I guess I was lucky. My mom and dad had a little farm so I had a home to go to that the company didn’t control,” he said as became more animated and the crowd started listening.

  “I know what it’s like to work in a corn field before the sun comes up and after the sun goes down; gettin’ by on a couple of hours sleep and a bowl of beans. Miners have had it rough. Y’all know that and I know that. There’s a lot of places in this country where convicts get treated better than coal miners. And all this time, a Republican has represented this district in Washington, ridin’ shotgun for the interests of mine owners. They helped the rich get richer on the backs of hard workin’ folks who never saw a penny more than the owners were forced to pay,” Bob said as people began to cheer and even more people started to join the crowd.

  Ed looked at Hill with a knowing grin. Hill nodded as they behind Bob to see Cotton and Daisy smiling broadly too.

  “Didn’t I tell you?” Ed asked.

  “Takes to it pretty good,” Hill said as he turned his attention back to the now not so reluctant candidate.

  “It ain’t gonna happen overnight but y’all need somebody that’s gonna fight for you and not the millionaires who use you and then throw you away when you’re used up. You have a right to live like they have a right to live. If you elect me I’ll fight for every last one of you. I ain’t sayin’ I’ll win every fight but I let people know they’ve been in a fight. And I’ll tell you this: I’ll break’em. I’ll break every one of ‘em of the habit of wantin’ to fight me again!” Bob exclaimed as the crowd cheered wildly.

  “The days of mine owners running your lives are coming to an end. They’re gonna find out, that dog won’t hunt!” He yelled over the shouts and cheers as the original crowd doubled in size.

  Cotton leaned over to Duncan, who stood staring in amazement.

  “Whaddya think Duncan?” He asked.

  “From now on, he writes his speeches,” the little man with the wild hair then mumbled with a pleasantly surprised expression, “That dog won’t hunt.”

  ***

  “So tell me about this man, Lansky,” Lee said as he and Joe strolled the grounds of the family estate.

  “He’s a Jew from New York City and he says he can make money for us — big money if we’ll trust him and his business partners,” Joe said. He sounded even raspier in the cool early spring air.

  “Let me see if I understand. He’s asking us to bankroll his gambling operations,” Lee said as he shoved his hands into his pants pockets.

  “Yes,” Joe said as they walked along.

  “Whores?” Lee asked.

  “That too,” Joe answered.

  Lee chuckled.

  “I thought we was going legit for a while,” he said as he stopped walking, forcing Joe to do the same.

  Joe sighed and the steam from his mouth was visible.

  “We went into the stock market pretty heavy — Ford, Chrysler, Boeing, and so on. But the problem is manufacturing is down. They’re not selling products — too many people are out of work. We’re making money but not fast enough. Lansky’s promising a quick turnaround on our investment and it’s free of taxes of course,” Joe said.

  “So much for patience,” Lee snickered.

  “I was patient until Fulton jumped in the race for Congress,” Joe replied.

  “You want to give Roper money now?” Lee asked.

  “No, I don’t know that it
would do any good. Roper is too lazy and too greedy,” Joe answered.

  “So you’re willing to let Ed Elkins pick a flunky to give him a voice in Congress,” Lee said bitterly.

  “I don’t see we have a choice at this point but we can rebuild our family fortune if this venture is successful,” Joe said as the two started to walk again.

  “You actually trust Lansky to know what he’s doing? How do you know he ain’t full of shit?” Lee asked as he dug out a pack of cigarettes.

  “I don’t fully trust him but I think he knows what he’s doing. New Orleans is a prime location for gambling and prostitution. We can make some money,” Joe said.

  Lee lit his cigarette and thought of his sojourn in the Big Easy; remembering his pleasant nights with the teenaged whore named Marguerite.

  “It is a fun town,” he said as he blew out a haze of smoke. “How much is he asking us to put up?”

  “Fifty thousand,” Joe said quietly.

  Lee thought it over as he took another drag on his cigarette.

  “Tell you what. Offer him an even hundred thousand. If we’re gonna do this, let’s do it right,” he said.

  Joe nodded.

  “If that’s what you want,” he said.

  “And I want to go down there and check the operation out,” Lee said. “I don’t trust him either and it might be good if he knew who he was messin’ with. I ain’t no flat nose Eye—talian in a cheap suit.”

  “Alright. I’ll make the arrangements for the money as soon as we get back to the house,” Joe said.

  “And I’ll start packin’,” Lee said.

  ***

  “Do you think I let her husband die?” John asked Cat as they sat in the exam room.

  “No, I don’t. He was dead when you got there and if it hadn’t been for you, Avalene Brummett and most of the Buchannan family would likely be dead now,” Cat said.

  “I don’t see what the problem is,” John said.

  “The problem is Avalene went to the Commonwealth’s Attorney seeking a manslaughter charge against you. She’s claiming you were drunk,” Cat said.

  “You know better,” John said.

  “Yes, I do but you didn’t do yourself any favors there for a couple of months. You did just enough to start people gossiping,” Cat said.

  “And you think the Commonwealth’s Attorney will use gossip in court?” John asked.