The Devil's Sinkhole

by Bill Wittliff

  . . . Little Missey was a’putting Dabs a’Honey on her Finger and a’poking it down them Bullet Holes . . .

  THEN ME AND O’CALLEY walked the Creatures down to the River to get em a Drink a’Water fore Dark, Papa said, but Mister Pearsall kep his hand on his Pistola and his Eye back on Little Missey and Possum the whole time they was drinking. I think o’Possum’s gonna Live don’t you I said, Papa said. Yes Sir I believe o’Possum’s too sneaky to Die ain’t he, Calley said then made a ugly face at that Dog Bite on his hand. Ever time we turn round, Papa said, Why here comes Some Body else. First it was Little Missey showed up and now it’s o’Possum. It’s like we a’growing us a Family here ever step we take ain’t it Mister Pearsall. Yes Sir cep they’s still one a’missing to make it whole for me. Oh I could see how Sad he looked, Papa said, and I knowed why too. You talking bout Pela Rosa ain’t you Mister Pearsall I said. It’s either Her you a’talking bout or your Sister Eurica one ain’t it. Speaking a’my Sister Eurica, Calley said, I still ain’t rode up there and told her the Sheriff a’Comal County done shot and killed her Husband and she better go on and find her a new one fore she gets too old, he said, I told you long time ago that was some other Fish I got to Fry didn’t I. Don’t you reckon some body else already gone and told her by now, Papa said. They’s that, Calley said, and it’s Possible she just got tired a’waiting for him to come back Home and went on and got her a new Husband any how. You don’t talk bout her much do you, Papa said. Well, she ain’t much to talk bout, Calley said, that’s Why. She’s your Family ain’t she, Papa said, Ain’t that a reason to talk bout her if you need one. They’s all kinds a’Family the way I see it, Calley said, Ever Body don’t always have to be Blood Kin to you like you a’thinking. You take o’Fritz there. You love him don’t you. Yes Sir I do love him, Papa said. You love him moren you do your own god dam mean o’Daddy ain’t that right, he said. I had to think bout that a minute, Papa said, then I said Well maybe I do and maybe I don’t. I don’t know. Even after all them mean things you o’Daddy done to you and your Momma and your Sorry o’Brother Herman in his Life and you still don’t know, Calley said. Well he’s down there in Hell a’setting on that Flat Rock for it, Papa said. I reckon I just feel a little Sorry for him is all. Ain’t been but a minute, Calley said, and here we already got off on Old Karl when I was trying to say some thing to you bout they being all kinds a’Family not just By Blood Family okay. Yes Sir okay, Papa said. Here’s Family to me, Calley said, Ever body and Ever thing you Ever Loved Don’t matter if it’s your Momma or your Daddy or your Dog or your Horse or your o’Amigo or just that o’Cow you been a’milking all you Life or even that big o’Oak Tree out yonder in the Pasture you usted to climb up in to see the World when you was just a Little Boy, he said, Why they ever god dam one a’em your Family if you Love em ain’t they. You see what I’m a’saying here, he said. Yes Sir, Papa said, You a’saying you and me is Family too long with all these others you been a’talking bout ain’t that Right Mister Pearsall. Why Yes Sir it just couldn’t be no more Righter’n that he said and Oh, Papa said, him a’saying that just filled me up to the Top.

  NEXT MORNING I asked o’Calley had he dabbed some a’that Bee Honey on his new Dog Bite from o’Possum, Papa said, and he said No we need that Bee Honey for you and Little Missey there and for all the Creatures even o’Possum before I need any. Well I said, Papa said, that ain’t Right you need some Bee Honey on that Dog Bite you got too so it don’t Fester and you lose that Hand like you bout did you Leg Mister Pearsall. Well they’s three ways I know a’getting Bee Honey, Calley said, You can go find you a Bee Tree and Rob you some or you can go knock on some o’Farmer’s Door and ask him if he won’t sell you some or you can ride on back to San Antoneya and they’s usually some Mexkin or other a’selling some on the Plaza in Jugs and you can get you some there. No Sir I’ll go find a Bee Tree, Papa said, I don’t wanna go back to San Antoneya with this swole up Lip I got. It don’t look so Bad, Calley said. I reckon you can get you a job in the Circus for good Pay with it but you better Look Out if you go to climbing a Bee Tree, he said, Cause them little SonsaBitches’ll sting you all up and down and ain’t you or no body else got nough Hands to swat em all off oncet they get after you. I’ll just go find me some o’Farmer then, Papa said, they always got some Bee Honey on em I reckon. I’d go with you, Calley said, but I don’t wanna leave Little Missey and o’Possum here just all by they self. No Sir me neither, Papa said. They’s some thing else been a’bothering me too, Calley said, you know it. No Sir I don’t know it, Papa said. O’Possum over there, he said, Why in Hell you reckon he don’t like me. Ever Dog I ever knowed in my Life always likes me. Well maybe he just had him a Hard Day is all, Papa said. Why Hell we all had us a Hard Day the other Day, he said, but didn’t no body see you and me go to Biting some body for it did they. No Sir but I might’a if I could’a, Papa said, I was so Mad at them Town Boys when they was a’hitting me and ever body else with all them Rocks and a’poking us with they Sticks I could taste that Copper Taste come up in my mouth. When I get Mad, Calley said, I just empty out all the Mean I got in me at who ever it is a’standing there I’m Mad at and Hooo Look Out then Mister Look Out. Like them o’Dogs you was a’Popping with you Rope when they was trying to bite Little Missey and her o’Panther huh, Papa said. That what you talking bout. You a’saying that just give me a Thought, Calley said, you don’t reckon o’Possum was one a’them Dogs I give a good Lick to and that’s why he give me a Bite back for it first chancet he got. I’m kind a’that way my self, he said, I don’t Never forget a Off ense some time not even for a Day. You talking bout o’Pelo Blanco now ain’t you Mister Pearsall, Papa said, I know you still Mad at him even if he is a’changing his Ways. A Skunk don’t never lose his Stink Mister, Calley said, you might remember that in you Travels if you ever catch you self a’thinking Otherwise, he said.

  Then I went over there, Papa said, and give o’Possum a Pet to say Goodbye and get Better if he could fore it was too Late and tole Little Missey I’d be back fore long with some more Bee Honey for ever body’s Dog Bites and Not to Worry bout it no moren she had to. Keep you Eye on which a’way you a’going so you’ll know which a’way to get back when the Time comes, Calley said then he give me a little Tip a’his John B like he was o’Genral Lee his self and I was his Best Soldier a’going off to Capture the Fort. Yes Sir I will I said, Papa said, and me and Fritz and o’Edward went on off from there to go find us a Farmer had some Bee Honey on him.

  WADN’T MAYBE BUT A DAY OR TWO when we come up on this Farm House and they was a Lady a’Churning Butter out there under the Tree in the Shade. How you this morning Ma’am I said, Papa said, and tipped my John B to her like Miz Choat told me always to do. I could use some Help a’Churning this Butter, she said, I’m bout all wore out from it. Don’t you have no Chilrens a’you own to Help you, Papa said. That’s what my Momma always done when she needed some Churning. My Boy run off some wheres yester day I think it was and I ain’t seen him since the Lady said and Oh then, Papa said, I seen Tear Trails down her Face and knowed she been a’crying bout it all day long. Why’d he go and run off, Papa said, you didn’t make him Mad bout some thing or other did you. No and my Husband didn’t neither she said. He just run off is all. You want me to go see if I can’t find him for you Ma’am, Papa said. It ain’t no Trouble. Oh she really went to Churning then and said I’m Scared to Death some thing Bad might a’happened to him ain’t you. Well I don’t even know him, Papa said, but Yes Ma’am I reckon I am a little Scared too. How you gonna find him any how, she said, if you don’t even know him. Well you just tell me which a’way he went and I’ll go Look and see if he ain’t there. He might a’gone off some wheres with his Daddy you know it the Lady said. No Ma’am I didn’t know it, Papa said, you ain’t never said Nothing bout no Daddy til just now. I think he’s out there in the Barn doing some thing, she said. He been out there all morning long may be even longern that. Oh and then I heared some body a’hammering on some
thing with a Hammer out there in the Barn behind the House. Well maybe I oughta go see I said, Papa said, but she was a’Churning the Butter so Hard and Fast now she couldn’t a’heared it Thunder and then Oh I seen they wadn’t nothing in the Churn to Churn and that poor o’Woman was Loonier’n six Snakes in a Basket.

  I WENT OUT TO THE BARN THEN, Papa said, and knocked on the Door where some body on the other side was just a’hammering a’way on some thing or other. Hello in there Mister, I said, I think you wife’s gone Loonie on you out here under the Tree. Oh and then I heared him start to crying in there his self. Who are you, he said, And what you want. I ain’t no body, Papa said, just some body a’looking to buy em a’Jar a’Bee Honey so we can dab it on all these Dog Bites we got. Come on in, the Man said, I got some Jars a’Bee Honey on the shelf in here Just take you what you need and go on. So I pushed the Door open, Papa said, and Oh I seen that Crying Man was a’making him a Wood Box to bury some body in and then I seen this Dead Boy just bout my size a’laying over there on the Hay with Stab Holes all in him. I bet I know who done that, Papa said, but the Man just went on a’Hammering and a’Crying and didn’t hear not one Word I said. What happened, I said, and the Man said, They was this Boy come by here the other Day a’looking for a Bite to Eat and said he’d Trade his Work for it if I’d give him a Chance so I give him a Chance and fed him food to Eat but when it come his Turn to work why he stole my GranDaddy’s Pocket Watch my Daddy give to me and run off with it and it made my Sammy Boy here so mad he went after him to get it back for me. But that was all he could say, Papa said, cause he went over there and Hugged his Sammy Boy to his self and just Cried and Cried and oh I just set there til he was all cried out bout it and then said Don’t tell my Minnie bout our Boy here she don’t need to know it. Yes Sir I won’t, Papa said, she’s already Hurt nough ain’t she. She’s out there just a’Churning Air ain’t that right, the Man said. Yes Sir, Papa said, she don’t know she ain’t gonna get no Butter out a’that does she. Don’t know nothing in the World, the Farmer said, and ain’t never gonna know nothing else neither is she. No Sir, Papa said, I don’t reckon. You got a Momma and a Daddy, the Man said. No Sir not no more, Papa said, but I usted to have. We gonna be a’needing us a new Boy like this one here, the Farmer said. You wanna be it. You can keep your little Dog if you want to but I’d probably wanna trade that o’Nag off you got there. No Sir Thank You, Papa said, but I already got me a’nother Family where I come from. What is it bout us you don’t like, the Farmer said and give me the Snake Eyes, Papa said. They ain’t nothing bout you I know to Like or Not Like neither one he said. I don’t even know you. You’d have to do your Chores, the Farmer said, I ain’t offering you no Free Ticket round here if that’s what you been a’thinking. How much I owe you for that Jar a’Bee Honey I need over there on the shelf, Papa said. It ain’t for Sale, the Man said. You gonna have to work it off you want it. Yes Sir be glad to work it off, Papa said, just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll go do it. You sure you don’t wanna be our Boy huh, the Farmer said. No Sir but Thank You for the chance, Papa said. I reckon you just afraid you gonna end up like this Dead Boy Sammy we got here is Why huh, the Farmer said and went back to his hammering.

  SO I DIGGED THE HOLE to put the dead Sammy Boy in, Papa said, and the Farmer give me a Jar a’Bee Honey for it. You change you mine bout being our New Boy just come on back, the Farmer said, and we be glad to have you even if we already got us a’nother one by then cause we might could use us Two. You gonna go Help your Wife now ain’t you, Papa said. I think she needs some Help don’t you. What kind a’Help you a’talking bout there, the Farmer said. You want me to drill a Hole in her Head with that o’Auger I got over there on the Bench and let all the Crazy run out is that what you a’saying. She ain’t like that all the Time is she, Papa said, I figgured it just come over her here recent cause a’this Dead Sammy Boy here. No Sir she always out there a’Churning Air like that ever day, the Man said. What come over her to do that, Papa said. I ain’t never heared a’such a Thing. Runs in her Family, the Farmer said. Some Body tole me they had to get a Wagon and go over there and haul her o’Momma and her Sister both off they was a’getting so Loonie they went to Biting ever body they could even they o’Cow. Mister Carson I think it was tolt me that, he said, o’Rolf people call him o’Man Rolf. Over yonder on Cypress Creek by where Old Man Borgers Lives you know him don’t you, he said. No Sir I ain’t ordinarily from round here and ain’t never even seen Cypress Creek in my Life, Papa said. You ain’t never heared a’ o’Rolf. No Sir just from you here a minute ago, Papa said, I ain’t never run cross him or No Body else knows him in my Life. Well they’s lots a’People knows him but ain’t a’one of em wants to shake his Hand I can tell you that, the Farmer said, and I’ll tell you this too You ain’t gonna wanna Shake it neither You wanna know Why. Yes Sir Why, Papa said. Cause his Hand Shake is so strong he just might pinch your Hand off your Arm when he shakes it and you ain’t never gonna get it back again that’s Why he said then raised up his Arm and said See what Happened to me but Oh they wadn’t nothing there to see cep his o’empty Sleeve but not no Hand. Oh and that come as such a Surprise to me, Papa said, I jumped back from it But when I did Why he of a sudden poked his Hand out from up his sleeve where he been a’hiding it and laughed at me. Fooled you didn’t I, he said. Yes Sir you did I said, Papa said. Ain’t no body got a Grip on em strong nough to pinch your Hand off for you, he said, I don’t know What made you think that. Well it’s what you said, Papa said, I guess I just believed you when you said it is all. Well I don’t believe you Smart nough to be our New Boy here any how you know it, the Farmer said, You just gonna have to get you a Job some wheres else. No Sir I wadn’t never Looking for a Job any how, Papa said. I was just a’looking for a Jar a’Bee Honey to put on some Dog Bites we got. Why Hell Boy, the o’Farmer said, you got a’Jar a’Bee Honey right there in your own god dam Hand and don’t even know it. That’s what I mean bout you not being Smart nough to be our New Sammy Boy. You go on now, he said, They’s some body a’setting out there under that Tree in front a’the House and I gotta go see who it is and what they want fore they run off with the Place like that other Boy done with my GranDaddy’s Pocket Watch and I don’t know what all else.

  WELL THEY WAS JUST BOTH LOONIE, Papa said, the Man and the Woman both but what scared me most was it was o’Arlon that o’Farmer was a’talking bout stabbed that Sammy Boy Dead and I wanted to get on back to Camp quick as I could fore I run into him some wheres out there in the Country my self. Stop a’Licking on you self Fritz I said and Let’s go so o’Fritz jumped up on o’Edward with me and a’way we did go me a’holding that Jar a’Bee Honey tight so not to drop it on the way and then, he said, after a good long Time I looked down and I seen this Pitchur a’Trees and a Bird some body or other’d painted and left on the Ground and bout the time I seen that Pitchur Why o’Fritz Hair went up on him and he scrunched back close to me as he could get like he was scared a’some thing and o’Edward didn’t like some thing neither and wouldn’t go no further less I whupped him to do it but No I wadn’t never gonna whup my Friend to do nothing. Then, Papa said, I seen all these other Pitchurs on the Ground and they was all kicked in and busted up and some of em was Butchered ever which way with a knife and I said Well it’s Time for us to go some wheres else ain’t it Fritz But, he said, bout that time I heared some body just a’Hissing and a’Spitting up yonder in the Brush and I sneaked on up there by my self and pulled a Mesquites Limb back to have a Look and Oh, Papa said, Oh Oh Oh the Shivvers just went a’Running all up and down me cause what I seen next was o’Arlon just a’Snarling and a’Spitting and a’Cutting them Pitchurs up like he was one a’them Loonie o’Dogs from back in San Antoneya the other Day. Oh and then this o’Donkey come a’walking out the Brush had a’Bunch more Pitchurs tied on him and he went a’going a’Hee a’Hee a’Hee HawHaw like that and o’Arlon seen him and wiped the Spit off his face on his Shirt Tail then went over there with his Knife in his H
and to do him some Meanness with it and I was just bout to holler No Sir Arlon you leave that poor o’Donkey lone He ain’t never done nothing to you. But, Papa said, just when I thought he was a’making ready to stab him in his Heart Why he reached over there and give that o’Donkey a pet on his Head in sted then tried to get him to come on long with him but No that Donkey didn’t want none a’him and wouldn’t go a step So, he said, o’Arlon give him a Hug Good Bye then got up on his Horse and went on off back in the Brush to where I couldn’t see him no more and Oh Boy Hidy, he said, that was okay with me.

  BOUT THEN, Papa said, here come Fritz a’setting up on o’Edward to find me and I was Glad they hadn’t a’come no sooner cause Oh I seen o’Arlon was a Total Loonie now same as that o’Farmer and his Wife was back there with their Dead Sammy Boy and I didn’t know but what he might a’tried to hurt em with his knife same as he done all these Pitchurs. And Oh, he said, they was Pitchurs just ever wheres you looked And not only Pitchurs but Paint Brushes and Paint Jars and they was all a’leading back in the Cactuses and Mesquites and I went to follering em and o’Fritz and Edward went to follering me then Fritz jumped off o’Edward and went a’running pass me just a’Barking at some thing or other up yonder and, Papa said, when me and o’Edward got there Why they was some little Fat Man way up a Tree a’Looking down at us. That Boy been stabbing all my Pitchurs ain’t with you is he, the little Fat Man said. No Sir he ain’t, Papa said, He went off in the bushes some wheres and we ain’t seen him since. They’s People say Things bout my Pitchurs all the time but this is the first time some body ever went at em with a Knife, he said, then climbed on down out the Tree and put out his Hand. Wasskum Yancy, he said, of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Papa said, That’s way off up yonder some wheres ain’t it. Yes Sir and getting further ever day, he said. I reckon you the one painted all these Pitchurs scattered round here on the ground ain’t you Mister Yancy, Papa said. Yes Sir I am, he said, when they was still Pitchurs. I reckon it was o’Arlon run you up that Tree huh Mister Yancy, Papa said. No Sir I was already up that Tree a’Painting a Pitchur a’the World from high up like on a Cloud when that Boy come a’riding by underneath and got Mad at my Pitchurs. O’Arlon’s Mad bout ever thing they is in the World, Papa said, it ain’t just your Pitchurs. Mister Armke says he got the Devil’s Hand on him is what. Maybe both Hands, Mister Yancy said. I’d say that’d be more like it. If I’d a’had a Rock with me, he said, I’d a throwed it down on the little Piss Ant and Knocked his Head off for what he was a’doing to my Pitchurs. Well you can always paint you self a’nother one can’t you, Papa said. No they ain’t no Artist can ever paint Two just xactly a’like. Cep me I reckon, he said, I’m bout the only one in the World can do it And Oh he looked so Sad when he said it, Papa said, I said Why’s that Mister Yancy. Cause maybe I just only got one Pitchur in me and not no other, he said.