The Devil's Sinkhole

by Bill Wittliff

  SO WE FOLLERED the Rags Pela left a’hanging on the Thorns to show us the way through the Cactuses and Mesquites to come find her by, Papa said, and sometimes she just bent a little Twig down double to say the same thing. Look at that, Calley said, Well Kiss a’Duck’s Wet Butt if she ain’t just the Smartest Girl in Town. Yes Sir I reckon she is, Papa said, long as o’Pelo don’t catch her at it. Calley give me the Squint Eye for what I said and said How come you to go and say something like that You ain’t a’saying she ain’t the Smartest Girl in Town are you. No Sir I ain’t a’saying that, Papa said, I don’t even know no Girls in Town. You don’t huh, Calley said. I don’t believe they’s been moren a Day or two in my whole Life I didn’t know least three four Girls in ever Town I ever been in but that’s bout twicet too many if you ask me. I got a Girl, Papa said, but she ain’t in no Town. I’d like to hear bout her, Calley said, What’s her name. I ain’t a’telling, Papa said. I ain’t gonna tell Nobody else, Calley said, if that’s what’s a’worrying you. No Sir I just ain’t telling that’s all, Papa said, you already know her name any how. Oh, Calley said, you mean Annie Oster don’t you. She’s your Girl huh. Well she says she is and I ain’t gonna say no other, Papa said. You ain’t a’scared a’her are you, Calley said. I don’t know why I’d be scared a’some o’Girl, Papa said. Cause the one you talking bout there got some Red Chile Pepper in her that’s Why, Calley said. But I like her for it, he said, Don’t you. And then it come to me, Papa said, that Yes Sir I did Like Annie for her Red Chile Pepper too even if I hadn’t been a’thinking bout her much for a long time til now. She wanted us to get married and live somewheres out there behind the House but her o’Granny Oster said No they’d throw the both a’us way back in the Jail House for Robbing the Cradle if we was to Marry at our young age. Maybe even shoot you for it, Calley said. They ain’t gonna shoot nobody for getting married, Papa said. No but you might wanna shoot you self for it, Calley said, you ever think bout that. Who said I was getting married any how, Papa said. Well you the one said you had you a Girl. Yes Sir but I didn’t never say I wanted to Marry her, Papa said. Well do you or not, Calley said. She ain’t gonna be able to sleep at night til she got your answer. I knowed he was just a’teasing me bout it, Papa said, but then of a sudden I seen all the way down to the Bottom a’my Heart and what I seen there was Oh Yes Sir I do wanna marry Annie Oster when the Time comes round to do it and not no Other Girl that I could think of. And in all my whole Life to come, he said, they never was not even oncet no Other One.

  WADN’T LONG, Papa said, and we bout had us nough Rags to make Pela a new Dress. I hope she ain’t a’walking round out here in her Birthday Suit, Calley said, course I’m gonna buy her a new Dress soon as I can I reckon she knows that don’t she. Yes Sir I reckon so, Papa said, but I don’t know for sure she does. Well I do, Calley said, I know for sure. Yes Sir, Papa said, Well then I reckon I do too huh. They’s a’nother one, Calley said and pointed way out yonder at a Rag a’hanging off a Mesquites Limb. You see it, he said. I see it, Papa said, but I don’t believe it’s the same as all these other pieces we been finding off a’Pela Rosa’s Dress. Why I don’t know why it wouldn’t be, Calley said. Cause it’s Red, Papa said, and I don’t recall her Dress having no Red any wheres on it. Oh and then Calley give me a Look and then he give that Rag way out yonder a’nother Look and then his Eyes went big on him and he give o’Firefoot his Heels and hollered Heeyaaaa Heeyaaaa and went a’jumping through the Cactuses and Mesquites to it and me and Fritz did too on o’Edward but we was more mindful a’the Thorns that was gonna poke us to Death if we wadn’t careful so by the time we got over there Calley’d done pulled that Rag off the Mesquites Limb and was looking at it like it was the worstest thing he ever seen in his Life. That Red you seen, he said, is Pela’s Blood and then, Papa said, he showed me his Finger was Red with Pela’s Blood from that Rag off her Dress. It’s still Wet, Calley said, They can’t be a’head a’us by Far. Oh and then he pulled his big o’Pistola out his Pants and said You stay here Amigo then away he went but not so fast as a minute ago cause now he was just a’looking round careful in ever which direction for sight a’o’Pelo and what ever it was he done to Pela Rosa to make her Bleed like that. Oh I didn’t know what to do, Papa said, but I knowed me and Fritz and o’Edward wadn’t just gonna stay there all day long by our self like that so I give o’Edward a little shake a’the Reins to get him a’going again and off we went trying to keep Calley in view way off out yonder where he was a’going in and out a’the Cactuses and Mesquites with his Pistola there in his Hand ready for what ever Trouble might come his way I reckon. Oh and then o’Fritz a’setting up there on the saddle with me started a’growling like he knowed they was some thing up there a’head somewheres wadn’t no Good at all and then here in a minute I seen Calley pull up and go to looking round like he knowed it too and so I pulled o’Edward up and we all just set there real quiet a’looking round cause Don’t ask me how but we all knowed they was something Bad Bad Bad bout to happen here in just a minute and then, Papa said, Oh and then I looked way out yonder and I seen o’Pelo shove Pela out from behind a Cactuses but Pela’s Hands was tied back behind her Back now and then o’Pelo raised up his gun to Aim it at Calley when he wadn’t looking and didn’t see o’Pelo behind him. Oh and then I just went to Hollering loud as I could MISTER PEARSALL MISTER PEARSALL LOOK OUT LOOK OUT LOOK OUT but just when Calley was turning to Look Out like I said Why they was a BIG BOOM and Smoke come a’blowing out the end a’o’Pelo’s gun and Oh Calley went a’flying off o’Firefoot like he been Shot out a’Gun his self and landed somewheres down there in the Cactuses to where you couldn’t even see him no more.

  NEXT THING, Papa said, was o’Fritz jumped off o’Edward and went a’Running and a’Barking at o’Pelo and o’Pelo seen him coming in a big Surprise and tried best he could to load up his gun to shoot him Dead but by now I was a’Hollering NO NO NO and I give o’Edward my heels hard as I could and Oh listen here we went to running through them Cactuses at him and I reckon o’Pelo didn’t know if we was some mean o’Bear or What and run off a’pulling Pela behind him and I seen her Face and Arms and Feets was just everwheres all scratched up and a’Bleeding and I reckon that’s where that Blood come from we seen on that Rag from her Dress. Oh and then my Old Karl Blood come a’bubbling up in me, Papa said, and I could taste that Copper Taste in my mouth like always when I lost my self to Hate and Wanting to Murder some body for something or other like I did when o’Pepe and Peto was trying to kill my Friend Mister Pegleg in the Barn that night back at Home. But here was the Bad Part, he said, O’Pelo was Running off in the Cactuses with Pela Rosa in one Direction and my o’Amigo Calley Pearsall was back yonder in back a’me a’rolling round in the Dirt with a Bullet in him some wheres maybe even in his Vitals and I could go try to help him or I could go try to save Pela Rosa from o’Pelo one or the other but wadn’t no way I could go do both at the same time. So, Papa said, I jumped down off o’Edward and run over there to save Calley if I could. How Bad he shoot you I said, Papa said, and Calley touched his Leg up there tween his Knee and his Pocket and said They’s a big Bloody Hole a’running clean through my Leg Front to Back. I wish I had me a Bucket a’Coal Oil, Papa said, I’d pour it down that Hole for you or poke some Bees Honey down it if I had some. It ain’t that what hurts me so Bad, Calley said, It’s that I let that dam Pelo Blanco trick me with them pieces a’Pela’s dress so he could get me out here in the Cactuses and Shoot me. I just hope Pela wadn’t in on the Joke, he said. Oh I could see he was bout to cry bout it, Papa said, so I said No Sir Mister Pearsall she wouldn’t never in this World a’done that. You don’t think so huh, Calley said. Oh No Sir, Papa said, O’Pelo had her hands all tied back behind her Back That’s how I knowed she wadn’t in on the Joke cause I seen it my self. So wadn’t no way Pela could a’teared off them pieces a’her Dress with her hands tied up behind her Back like that could she, Calley said. No Sir, Papa said, I don’t see no way. Calley wiped his eyes and give m
e a little Smile. Well I’m glad to hear she wadn’t in on it he said. Now Help me up I gotta go see bout saving her. Then, Papa said, he took my Hand and tried to come up on his elbow but No he couldn’t do it and flopped back down again and went off to sleep like some body’s little Baby Boy a’taking him a Nap.

  . . . Calley went a’flying off o’Firefoot like he been Shot out a’Gun his self . . .

  OH I WAS ONE SCARED RABBIT NOW, Papa said, and didn’t have no idea in the World what to do next but First Thing I done was go over there and grab up Calley’s big o’Pistola off the ground and stick it down my Pants and it made me feel some better to know I had some thing to shoot o’Pelo with if he come a’creeping back in the Night to finish the Job on Mister Pearsall. Fritz wadn’t Happy bout nothing neither, he said, and come over there and set down right by me and tried to Lick my Hand but No I said, Papa said, I ain’t got no time for it now Fritz then I went to gathering up all the Cobwebs I could find from off Cactuses and Mesquites and then I staubed em down in Calley’s Bullet Hole with my thumb to stop the Bleeding if I could and Oh he groaned and carried on when I was a’poking em down in him like that. But the Good Thing was he was still a’Live and Breathing but I could tell he wadn’t gonna be much Help if I needed some to save Pela Rosa. Oh Lordy Lordy I said to my self, Papa said, what am I gonna do and I was bout to Cry bout it my self then Here I went to thinking bout What my o’Amigo Calley Pearsall’d do his self if he was me and what I come up with, he said, was Why he wouldn’t wait for o’Pelo to come a’Looking for him for one minute. No Sir he’d pull his big o’Pistola out his Pants and go to Looking for o’Pelo in sted. So, Papa said, I pulled Calley’s big o’Pistola out my Pants then give Fritz a scratch under his chin and said Fritz you in charge a’Mister Pearsall here just like you was Genral Robert E Lee and don’t you go a’running off nowheres til I get back with Pela Rosa safe if I can and Fritz looked up at me and said Heh Heh Heh like he did pretty much all the time any how so I knowed what I just said didn’t mean nothing in particular to him.

  Oh and then I just set there for bout a hunderd years rubbing on Calley’s big o’Pistola til the Sun gone on Down, Papa said, then I got up on my two feets and seen the Direction o’Pelo had took through the Cactuses and Mesquites when he run off with Pela Rosa. You better Look Out there Mister cause I’m a’coming after you, I said, but not so loud he might could hear it and mess up the Surprise I had coming for him. And then there I went, Papa said, just a’Tip a’Toeing one little Step at a time real quiet and it was getting Darker Darker Darker the whole time and the Moon and the Stars come out and some o’Coyote went to yipping way off out yonder some wheres and that give me some Comfort I reckon cause it made me think it might be my o’Friend Mister Pegleg a’looking out for me tonight even if he was Dead and Gone with all them Shimmery People now. Any how, he said, I just kep on a’going and a’trying not to make no Noise but then I stepped on a little stick and it went Ca-rack like that but lots louder and then everwheres I stepped was more sticks and they went Ca-rack Ca-rack Ca-rack Ca-rack sounded like some o’Bear a’walking through the Woods with his Boots on. So, he said, I just stopped still right there in my Tracks and went to trying to figgur out how I was ever gonna Surprise o’Pelo like this but bout that time, Papa said, some o’Owl went to Hooting and that o’Coyote went to Yipping again and right in the middle a’all that I heared this other Ca-rack Ca-rack Ca-rack a’somebody stepping on sticks but it wadn’t me this time and then of a sudden somebody come up out a’the Dark back behind me then blowed in my Ear and said You ain’t out here a’looking for me are you Moochacho.

  COURSE IT WAS O’PELO BLANCO HIS SELF, Papa said, and he had a Gun on me bout yay long and it was cocked all the way back too. Where’s that Cow Boy at he said. He’s out yonder somewheres a’getting ready to come over here and Shoot you, Papa said, that’s where he is. Pelo thought that was funny but his face was all burned up so Bad it hurt him to laugh so he just said What’s he going to shoot me with then grabbed Calley’s Pistola out my hand. What was you going to do with this he said. I hadn’t decided yet, Papa said, but I was thinking I just might Shoot you my self. Oh he give me a Bad Look when I said that, Papa said, and said You don’t know Not one dam thing bout killing nobody do you Nenyo. No Sir, Papa said, but I know what happens to you when you do. How you know any thing bout it, o’Pelo said, you don’t look so smart to me. I been down there in Hell to see for my self what happened to my mean o’Daddy for Murdering my Momma and I reckon for helping them others Hang your o’Daddy from that Limb too, Papa said, that’s how I come to know bout what happens. I don’t believe nothing you say bout it, Pelo said, but you tell me any how then he give me a hard poke in my Belly with Calley’s Pistola, Papa said, and said Tell me I said. You gonna see for you self here fore long but when you do it’s gonna be way too late for you to do any thing bout it I can tell you that Mister. You telling me the Devil is going to get me huh, he said. You think I am scared a’some o’Devil down there. They ain’t no Devil down there that I know of, Papa said, they’s just a bunch a’Neckid People all stacked up in Caves like Fence Posts and they all just a’Moaning and a’Groaning and a’Crying and a’Hollering cause now they so Sorry for all the Bad Things they done when they was up here in they Life but now they ain’t nothing they can ever do to make it Right again. Who tends to the Fire if they ain’t no Devil, Pelo said. No Sir they ain’t no Fire to tend down there and they ain’t no Devil down there neither one, Papa said, It’s just all them Bad People a’setting on a Flat Rock and a’wishing they had a Chance to do some Good Things to make up for all the Bad Things they done in they Life so they wouldn’t have to set down there on that Flat Rock for all Time to come but No now they won’t never ever get em a’nother Chance. O’Pelo tried to laugh at that, Papa said, but when he did his o’Burned Up Lips went to bleeding on him and then in a minute they wadn’t nothing to Look at but one big Red Mouth. I ain’t sorry for nothing I ever done in my Life he said. Well you gonna be when you a’setting down there on that Flat Rock with nothing to do but wish you wadn’t there, Papa said. I don’t think I’d like that too very much, o’Pelo said. No Sir and my Daddy don’t like it too very much neither, Papa said. The last time I seen him he was shoving Dirt up in his Eyes with his Fingers cause he didn’t wanna see none a’the Bad Things he done in his Life. And they wadn’t no Devil down there to make him do it neither huh, o’Pelo said. No Sir, Papa said, I reckon ever body just they own Devil and punishes they own self for all the Bad they done is how it works. O’Pelo put his gun down then, he said, and looked way off out yonder somewheres like he was a’getting Scared bout what I said. I don’t like this one little bit, he said.

  THEN WE JUST SET THERE all night long, Papa said, o’Pelo a’asking me questions bout everthing I seen down there in Hell. Main thing was he wanted to know did I see his Daddy down there and he told me what he looked like that Day when my Daddy and all them others Hanged him. I told him No I don’t recall seeing you o’Daddy but they was a bunch a’Mexkins down there and I didn’t have time to go a’looking at all of em and that was true a’the White People and the Black People and ever other Color a’People too cause they was all bout equal in Number far as I could tell. And then, Papa said, o’Pelo wanted to know how it was I ever come to go down there in the First Place and I told him I had me a three-legged Coyote for a Friend name a’Mister Pegleg and he took me down there one night when I was a’sleeping. Oh Yes, o’Pelo said, I knowed Coyotes was Magic People all my Life. Then I told him he was Wrong bout Calley Pearsall, Papa said, that it wadn’t Saint Lalo pulled Calley out a’the Whirls in the River but was the other way round and it was o’Calley pulled Lalo out in sted and saved his Life and that’s when all them Shimmery Ancestors come out the River too and now we got more Mexkins in Texas than was ever here before. Thanks to Mister Calley Pearsall I said, Papa said. O’Pelo just went to shaking his Head at that like it was the Funniest Thing he ever did hear in his Life. And I was going to Hang that
Cabron you know it, he said. Yes Sir I do know it, Papa said, Only thing saved his Life was Little Saint Lalo burned your Face off fore you could do it ain’t that right. Oh and then o’Pelo really went to shaking his Head and said Ay ay ay and then I went and chopped that Little Saint up in a bunch a’pieces for it. Ay ay ay, he said, Ay ay ay what am I going to do now. I don’t have no idea, Papa said, but I wouldn’t wanna be you when you down there a’setting on that Flat Rock with my Daddy. No me neither, Pelo said. Oh he was bout to cry, Papa said. I don’t want to go down there with all them Neckid People, he said. Well from What I know, Papa said, That’s where you a’going any how you don’t change your Ways here while you still can and maybe not even then cause you been so Bad all you Life. Oh Poor Me o’Pelo said, Papa said, then he put his Hands up on his Face and went to Crying bout it but his Burned Up Skin come right off on his Fingers and they wadn’t nothing he could do bout it but Cry some more. Oh Poor Me, he said, What am I going to do What am I going to do. I ain’t got no idea What Mister Blanco, Papa said, I’d tell you if I knowed. Then o’Pelo just got up and walked on off out in the Cactuses some wheres til you couldn’t even see him no more but you could still hear him a’Moaning Oh Poor Me Oh Poor Me Oh Poor Me and then in a Minute, he said, he was so far out in the Dark you couldn’t even hear that no more neither.