The Devil's Sinkhole

by Bill Wittliff

  WE HADN’T GONE BUT MAYBE A MILE, Papa said, and me and Calley was already scratched up and bleeding from all them Mesquites Thorns o’Pelo was a’leading us through. I believe you are trying to hurt us ain’t you, Calley said, These Mesquite Thorns is like walking through a Bob Wire Fence. Our Dear Lord Jesus Christ had to wear him a Crown of Thorns, Pelo said, I don’t hear him Complaining so much do you. No Sir but I bet he didn’t like it worth a Dam no moren we do, Calley said, and besides we ain’t neither one a’us Jesus Christ if that’s what you been a’thinking. No Senyor I wadn’t never thinking that, Pelo said then led us into another thick Stand a’Mesquites. You know it ain’t right to just ride round the Country Hanging People for something they didn’t never do, Calley said, You ever consider that in your Travels. It’s what them others and this Boy’s Daddy done to my Daddy is Why I’m doing it, Pelo said, then shook his finger at me. If it’d a’been a Pistol, Papa said, Why he’d a’blowed my Head off with it right Then and There. Well the way I heared it, Calley said, your o’Papa was a Horse Thief and earned him his Hanging. No Senyor, o’Pelo said, My Papa wadn’t never no Horse Thief in his Life. Yes maybe he stole him one or two for us Family to ride on and maybe a few other Ones too but No he wadn’t never no Horse Thief. Well they Hanged him for Being One any how didn’t they, Calley said, I ain’t never heared a’Hanging some body for stealing Nothing. Here in Texas you Hang Mexkins just for being Mexkins, Pelo said, that’s the only reason you need. Well me and this Boy here ain’t never Hanged no Mexkins, Calley said, Ain’t that right. Well I chopped one of em’s toe off for him one time, Papa said, but I ain’t never Hanged one in my Life. No but your Daddy he did, o’Pelo Blanco said. I know he Wishes he could take it back now that he’s a’setting on a Flat Rock down in Hell, Papa said, if that matters any to you. No Nenyo it don’t matter not even one little thing to me, Pelo said. And then, Papa said, o’Pelo pushed a Mesquites Limb back and of a sudden we was up under this big Secret Rock Over Hang must a’been there since the Creation cause they was Pitchurs all over the Wall of olden Lions and Tigers and Hump Back Elephants and Little Men just a’going at em with Spears and Sticks and whatnot and then this pretty Red Head Girl bout Calley’s age come out from back behind a Rock and o’Calley Pearsall took him a Look and Oh his Heart just went Bump a’Bump a’BumpBumpBump and I seen hers did too but they both turned to look way off out yonder somewheres else cause they didn’t want o’Pelo to see they was already in Love with each other. I didn’t know you had you a Pretty Daughter Senyor Blanco, Calley said. No I ain’t got me no Pretty Daughter, o’Pelo said, This is Pela Rosa and she is going to be my Wife.

  OH I SEEN THE LOOK that come over Calley when o’Pelo said Pela Rosa was going to be his Wife, Papa said, and Oh then they was Booming Thunder and Cracking Lightning in his Eye when he seen he had her hobbled with a little Chain that run tween her ankles so she couldn’t go a’running off on him when he wadn’t looking. You stole that Girl off a’somebody didn’t you, Calley said. No Senyor, Pelo said and give him a Look cold as Froze Ice, I saved her Life for her is what I done. Did he, Calley said, Did he save your Life for you. Pela Rosa nodded and said Yes he saved my Life from the Fire. What Fire was that, Calley said. The one that burned my Daddy up in the House, Pela Rosa said. Then Calley give me a Look like Yes Sir he knowed it all along, Papa said. Was your o’Daddy with my Daddy that time they Hanged his Daddy from that tree, Papa said. It was my Grandaddy was there, she said, not my Daddy. Calley eyed o’Pelo, Papa said, and said I reckon You was the one set that Fire burned her Daddy up in his House wadn’t you and I reckon you are the Sorriest Son of a Bitch I ever did come across in my Life and I hope I don’t never run across another one like you again. O’Pelo reached up and jerked o’Calley down off Firefoot to the ground, Papa said, and give him One Two Three Hard Kicks and then Oh here come all them Buzzerds a’hopping over in a big Storm and went to pecking on Calley like he was a chunk a’Meat or something but they wadn’t nothing he could do bout it cause his Hands was still tied up back hind his Back and Oh Boy Hidy it scared me so bad they was gonna Eat him a’live I jumped off o’Edward and piled on but Oh them Buzzerds went to pecking on me too must a’been Ten Thousand of em but my Hands was still tied up back hind my Back too and wadn’t nothing I could do to get em off me but of a sudden something jumped right down in the middle of em just a’Snarling and a’Biting like a Bob Cat Tiger and them Buzzerds went to screeching QueetQueetQueet like that and went a’Running off in ever which direction like some o’Horn Devil was after em but No it was o’Fritz was who it was. Then next thing, Papa said, here come Pela Rosa to help us get up on our feet and when she did I seen her give Calley a little squeeze round his middle then whisper to his ear Yes I knowed you was coming. Oh and then o’Pelo Blanco grabbed her away and said Don’t worry Amigos these Buzzerds is going to peck your Bones clean here pretty quick any how then he sent Pela Rosa off to cook him some Suppers and put them nasty o’Birds in a big Circle round us so we couldn’t run off somewheres without them a’pecking us to Death on the way.

  You stole that Girl off a’somebody didn’t you, Calley said.

  ME AND CALLEY TOOK A LOOK AT ONE ANOTHER, Papa said, and Oh we was so all Pecked Up by them Buzzerds we looked like we had the Pox and our Nose and Ears was so swoll up o’Calley said If I didn’t already know who you was I don’t believe I’d be able to tell from looking at you now. And that wadn’t all, Papa said, now all them Birds went to Pooting on they own feet then tromped round in it like they was making Mud Pies. Wooo, Papa said, them sure is some Dirty Birds ain’t they. You may not know it, Calley said, but when that stuff gets Hard they each one gonna have em a Pair a’Shoes on they Feet to protect em for when they go a’walking round in all them Dead Messes they eat. All God’s Creatures in the World got em they own Way don’t they, he said, I don’t reckon nothing surprises me much any more old as I am. Not even Poot Shoes huh, Papa said. No Sir but that ain’t to say I wanna go down to the Store on Saturday Morning and buy me a Pair my self, he said, then we both looked over and here come Pela Rosa with a Bowl a’Chili and a big spoon and started feeding Calley. How’d you know we was coming, Calley whispered then Pela Rosa pointed over at the Wall with her spoon, Papa said, and when we looked we seen these Pitchurs drawed up there on the Wall a’One Big Man with his Stick up and One Little Man with his Stick a’hanging down and both of em was sending off Lightning Strikes in ever direction and the Big Man had his Hand up in the Air and it looked to me like he was a’holding a big o’Pistola in it or might a’been it was just his Long Finger a’making that Sign the Mexkins make to say Hidy but I couldn’t tell which one, Papa said. Them o’Boys can’t be us, Calley said, Why somebody drawed em up there on that Wall Sixty-Seven and Two Million Years ago or more and we ain’t that old yet you know it. Pela Rosa touched her Hand to her Heart and said Yes but ever night I prayed to send them Two Cow Boys here to Save me and Now Look, she said, you are Here. Yes Ma’am, Calley said, but our Hands is tied up back hind our Back and all these dam Birds is a’keeping Guard on us and I don’t have no idea in the World how we gonna Save you or our self neither one. Uh Oh, Pela said and we looked over there and here come o’Pelo a’taking that Noose off from round his neck to Hang me with, Papa said. See what I mean, Calley said. The only one can Save you now is the Little Saint I been praying to, Pela said. What Little Saint is that, Calley said, I don’t see no Little Saint nowheres round here. Why right over there, Pela Rosa said and pointed to a Rock over yonder with a bunch a’Candles burning on top and a’setting right there in the middle a’all them Candles was a little Mesquites Wood Saint a’wearing a o’Flop Hat and Oh I bout Fell over Dead, Papa said, cause a’all the Saints in the World that was the only one I ever knowed personal my self.

  LALO. WHY THAT’S LITTLE O’SAINT LALO AIN’T IT I said, Papa said, just when Pelo was reaching to put his Noose round my neck to Hang me with. How you know any thing bout our Blessed Saint Lalo, he said. He is the Saint a’all us Mexkins
that come to Texas. Well, Papa said, that’s my o’Hat he’s a’wearing that I give him when we was a’riding down to Mexico so he could get him two hand fulls a’Mexkin dirt for his o’Granpa Crecencio to be buried under. Ay Ay Ay, Pela Rosa said, the Dirt. Then she made that sign they make over they selves and went to kissing my Hand and Oh I reckon that made Calley feel left out cause right away he said Well I was there too you know it. Oh, Pelo said, you must a’been that Cow Boy went in the River with all them Swirls in it. Calley bowed up and give him a nod I reckon thinking o’Pelo is bout to give him a Prize for jumping in the River and saving Lalo’s Life. Yes Sir, Calley said, that was me sure enough. Oh you was lucky Saint Lalo jumped in and saved you when them Swirls started sucking you down under the water wadn’t you, Pelo said. What, Calley said, I was the one doing the Saving not the Drowning you ignert SonofaBitch. But, Papa said, o’Pelo was looking at me and didn’t hear not one word o’Calley was saying any how. So you was the one helped our Dear Saint Lalo bring all that Dirt back from Mexico so all us Mexkins over here in Texas can go get us some any time we want for just a few Centavos, Pelo said. Me and Calley give each other a look at that, Papa said, and then I said I didn’t have no idea Lalo brung that much Dirt back with him in just his two Hands did you. Well Dirt’s a funny thing, Calley said, I reckon it can multiply on you same as your o’Rabbit can you know it. No Sir, Papa said, I didn’t know it. I reckon you got that little wood statue a’Saint Lalo the same place you got the Dirt huh, Calley said. Oh yes, Pela Rosa said, they got many things you can buy over there Even little jars a’water from them Swirls where all them other Saints come out the River from. Don’t surprise me a’Lick, Calley said, I might like to have me a drink of that water my self some day. Oh No Senyor, Pela said, it’s for your Wife so she will want to make Babies for you. Well, Calley said, people been doing pretty good at that for a long time now without no Magic Water ain’t they. And then, Papa said, he give Pela Rosa a Look had a little Something Special in it and she give him that Look right back but o’Pelo Blanco seen it too and Oh when she seen he seen it Why she tried to smile like they wadn’t nothing going on tween em but Pelo already seen it and she and Calley couldn’t get it back. I didn’t know nothing bout such things back then, Papa said, but I knowed enough to know this was Trouble Trouble Trouble a’coming. And then, he said, o’Pelo reached round back hind my Back and started undoing my Hands. I cannot Hang you Nenyo, he said, you was Little Saint Lalo’s Friend when he was down here on the Earth and No I cannot Hang you. But then, Papa said, he put his Snake Eyes over on Calley and I knowed he wadn’t thinking the same thing bout him.

  O’PELO BLANCO UNDONE MY HANDS out from round my Back, Papa said, and said You free to go now I ain’t going to Hang no Friend a’our Blessed Little Saint Lalo. Well then Mister Pearsall is Free to go too, ain’t he, Papa said. No Senyor Pearsall he ain’t Free to go no wheres. You go on without him, Pelo said. Well No Sir, Papa said, Mister Pearsall is my Friend and I ain’t a’going off nowheres without him. Senyor Pearsall ain’t never gonna be nobody’s Friend ever again here in a minute, o’Pelo said, you go find you a new one. I don’t want a new one, Papa said, I like the one I already got. Well you can’t have him no more, Pelo said, he’s mine to keep, You go on now. Oh and then I looked over at Pela Rosa and they was big tears a’coming up in her eyes. Maybe I’ll get me a good Night’s Sleep first, Papa said, then ride on out bright and early first thing in the morning fore the o’Rooster even crows. No you get your Horse and that little Dog you got and you ride on out Pronto right now, o’Pelo said, then picked up his Noose and said Or maybe you don’t never ride out never again. Go on, Calley said, Don’t worry bout me I’ll catch up to you here in a day or two I reckon. But, Papa said, I knowed o’Pelo wadn’t never gonna let Calley go but was gonna do him Bad Harm in sted by Hanging him and Pela Rosa knowed it too cause she was over there a’Crying in her Hands bout it. I told you to go, o’Pelo said and put his mean o’Snake Eyes on me. Yes Sir and I told you I ain’t a’gonna, Papa said, and then I put my own Snake Eyes back over on him and wouldn’t neither one a’us give in to the other for bout a year then Calley piped up and said No you go on now You can’t do nothing for me here though I do appreciate it you give it a Try. Now just go on like the o’Son of a Bitch said, he said, and we’ll meet again someday in the Sweet Bye and Bye and laugh bout these Old Times. No Sir, Papa said, I ain’t a’going. Go, Pelo Blanco said. No Sir, Papa said. Go, Calley said, Go. No Sir, Papa said, I ain’t a’going. Go Go Go, o’Pelo said then come at me to put his Noose back round my neck again and when he did, Papa said, I looked over there and Why I seen them Flames round Little Saint Lalo just a’flickering up and down like they was trying to jump off them Candles and go a’running off. I don’t care you Hang me or not, I said, I still ain’t a’going. But I will, Pela Rosa said. We was all surprised by that, Papa said. Go where, o’Pelo said. Go with You that’s Where, Pela said, to be your Wife. O’Pelo bout fell down dead. My Wife, he said. My Wife. But you got to let this Cow Boy go Free, she said, that is my Bargain. O’Pelo wadn’t sure he liked it. Let him go Free, he said. Yes, Pela said, and you can’t never go Hang nobody else ever again neither. Pelo went to sliding his eyes this way and that and back and forth trying to decide Yes or No I reckon, Papa said, then he said Here’s one more thing I want to make me Happy. You promise I won’t never have to use none a’that Magic Water on you. Pela give Calley a look like she’d never ever see him again in her Life then she said to where you could just barely hear it Yes I Promise. Oh and when she said that, Papa said, Why I seen this big o’Tear come up in Calley Pearsall’s Eye and go a’rolling down his Face.

  O’PELO TOOK THE CHAIN OFF from around Pela’s ankles, Papa said, then he said he was going over there to get Saint Lalo down off his Rock for they Trip and she better gather up all the pots and pans and whatnot right quick cause they was a’leaving Now. I’ll find you, Calley said, and when I do you ain’t gonna like it much. Yes you come find me o’Pelo said then went over there to get Saint Lalo off his Rock. I wish you hadn’t traded your Life away for mine, Calley said, Being his Wife is worsen any Death I know of. Grab me my Pistola over there and I’ll change the whole Landscape round here for you and ever body in it, he said. Pela was bout to cry, Papa said, but she just shaked her head No then throwed her shoulders back like she was carrying a big Load. I give him my Word, she said, What’s done is Done. Yes Ma’am I said, Papa said, Mister Pearsall is always a’saying they ain’t nothing in the World more important’n keeping your Word oncet you give it Ain’t that right Mister Pearsall. That was bout something else, Calley said, it don’t necessarily pertain here. Look, Pela said, and we looked over there and o’Pelo was trying to get Little Saint Lalo up off his Rock but he just wouldn’t budge. What’s wrong, Pela said. Saint Lalo growed in this Rock or something I don’t know what, Pelo said. He won’t move a Lick. Maybe he just don’t wanna go nowheres with you You murdering o’White-Haired SonofaBitch, Calley said. He goes where I tell him to go, o’Pelo said then give him some more shakes hard as he could, Papa said, but Saint Lalo still wouldn’t budge. He’s a Hard Nut to Crack ain’t he I said, Papa said. Oh and that made o’Pelo so mad he grabbed Saint Lalo by his Arms and went to shaking him and Hammering on him with a Rock and cussing him at the same time. Get down off that Rock, he hollered, get down off a’that god dam Rock you little Flea of a Saint. Oh and then, Papa said, all them Buzzerds went to jumping all over the place and a’going QueetQueetQueetQueetQueet til you was bout to go Loonie from it and then Fritz went to snapping at em ever one he could and all this time, he said, o’Pelo was still over there just a’Cussing and a’Hammering on Little Saint Lalo with his Rock. Oh and then, Papa said, I seen all them fires on them Candles round Saint Lalo go to jumping up Higher Higher Higher ever time o’Pelo give Lalo a lick and then of a sudden Why them Fires jumped off them Candles and jumped right on top a’o’Pelo like a Swarm a’Bees and Oh Boy Hidy next thing they was a big Whoosh and o’Pelo’s Ha
ir was all on Fire like you was out there in the pasture somewheres and just throwed a Match on a pile a’dry Brush. Oh and then he let go a’Little Saint Lalo and went to Hollering and Jumping round like a Loonie cause his Head was all on Fire and then them Buzzerds went to Flapping they wings all over him I reckon a’trying to put the Fire out but all that come a’that, he said, was it set they Tail Feathers on Fire too and Oh now they really did go to screeching QueetQueetQueet and went a’flying off with they Hineys just a’Burning to light up the whole World in ever which direction they went.