The Devil's Sinkhole

by Bill Wittliff

  MORNING, the o’Horse Trader said, I can see yall a’looking for a Good Horse ain’t you. No Sir, Calley said, we ain’t got no interest in a Good Horse today We just passing through is all. Cep I’d like to buy this one here I said, Papa said, then went over there and started petting on that Little Bay Mare. Well you got the Best Eye for a Good Horse I ever seen on a Man or a Boy your age in my Life but that one is my Little Sick Daughter’s Favorite Horse and I wouldn’t never sell her out from under that Poor Child for nothing. Yes Sir, Papa said, Well I wouldn’t wanna hurt her feelings by trying to buy her off you neither so Thank You very much any how Mister. On the other Hand, the o’Horse Trader said, they’s another Horse my Little Sick Daughter likes bout much as she does this one so I might could give her that one there in sted a’this one here. Well you such a good Daddy I reckon you gonna wanna give you Little Sick Daughter both of em ain’t you I said and when I said that, Papa said, Why o’Calley give me a Look and stepped back cause he seen I might could do this Horse Trade my self without no Help from Him or No Body else neither. Yes Sir, the Trader said, I was planning on doing xactly that but now my Little Daughter got so sick I got to sell one of em off to pay the Doctor Bill so the way I look at it, he said, is you’d be doing me and her both a Favor if you was to buy this Little Bay Mare off a’me so I could go on and get her some more Medicines. Well, Papa said, how much you reckon you’d want for her if I was interested in buying her but I don’t believe I am. Oh, Papa said, that o’Horse Trader squinted up his eyes at me and said Well I reckon that’s a Fifty Dollar Horse don’t you Young Sir and Oh Calley give me a Look then to say Oh No Young Sir she ain’t no Fifty Dollar Horse but I said Well I reckon Fifty Dollars is a Good Bargain for this Horse cause what I like most bout her is how she points her Ears up in the Air like that all the Time. Yes Sir Perky Ears is a sure Sign of a Good Horse ain’t it, the o’Trader said, and then I walked over there to her and said, Papa said, Wonder how she keeps em up like this all Day long and then just fore he could keep me from a’doing it I run my Fingers all over her Head to feel the Thread I knowed was wrapped round her Ears to hold em up. How much a’that Fifty Dollars you reckon is the Cost a’this Thread here a’holding her Ears up, Papa said, and the Trader said I just bought this Horse off a Man from Johnson City this morning and Why Look a’here he was trying to Trick me wadn’t he. So, Papa said, I give him Five Dollars a’o’Calley’s money and put Momma’s Mexkin Saddle on her and we all walked on off down the street. How’d you know that Trick bout wrapping thread round her Ears to make em stand up like that, Calley said. Oh, Papa said, my mean o’Daddy used to do that all the time when we was out on the Road trading Horses and he wanted to make one of em look younger’n they really was and then of a sudden, he said, o’Wasskum looked round and said Where’s Little Missey at.

  OH LITTLE MISSEY WAS GONE, Papa said, Gone Gone Gone but didn’t none a’us have no Idea where to. Maybe Somebody just reached out and grabbed her when we wadn’t looking I said, Papa said, but Calley said No Fritz and o‘Possum would a’pitched a Fit if any body’d a’tried that then o’Wasskum Looked round again and said Why both them Dogs is Gone too. Oh and we was really scared then, Papa said, Scared Scared Scared. All cep o’Calley, he said, who pointed way on down the Street to where Fritz and o’Possum was a’setting there on they Hineys. I reckon they just waiting for us to come on ain’t they he said so we went on down there quicks we could, Papa said, and when we got there we seen they was a Wagon Yard on the next street over where ever body put they wagon when they come to town on Saturday to buy their Necessarys and visit some. Where is she Fritz I said, Papa said, but course o’Fritz didn’t have no idea in the World and just set there but o’Possum limped off a’ways then stopped in his tracks and now we seen Little Missey a’setting in a wagon way over Yonder with some Old Man ever bit old as she was and may be some older and this Old Man looked like he was sound a’sleep a’setting there even if Little Missey was a’Pushing on him and a’Jabbering in his Ear and Squeezing his Hand then Kissing on it like he was a Little Baby born just Yesterday. Is he Dead I said, Papa said. Looks to me like that Old Man is Dead and Calley said Yes Sir I think that Old Man may a’been Dead a good long while now but just don’t know it. Oh and then Little Missey squeezed his Hands on her Travelling Bundle and said some thing in his Ear again but No he was so a’sleep he didn’t even know it and Oh the tears just come a’Running down Little Missey’s Face. Whys Little Missey so sad, Papa said. Cause that o’Man don’t even know her no more thats why, Calley said and he looked like he was bout to cry too. Well how would he ever know her I said, Papa said, she been in a cave all her Life. It was fore that he knowed her, Calley said. Long time fore that. A Life Time fore that, o’Wasskum said. See them Marks on his Face and Arms there he said. Yes Sir, Papa said, I see em. I believe Them are Tribal Scars Most likely cut there when he was just a Young Man back where he come from in Africa o’Wasskum said Then Calley said and they xactly the same as all them Squiggles and Marks Little Missey painted on her Travelling Bundle the other day ain’t they and then I looked, Papa said, and Yes they was xactly the same like o’Calley said. Them god dam o’Slavers got em both from the same Village I reckon, Calley said, Long long time ago when they was just young like you are now. And seeing how hard she’s a’Working to bring him back to Her now, he said, they’s one more thing I reckon and then o’Wasskum nodded I guess cause he reckoned it too. Yes Sir I said, Papa said, What’s that. I reckon Little Missey and that Old Man was oncet Sweet Hearts in they Young Life and thats where that Little Baby she carried round in her arm all over the Country come from when they was old enough to Spark.

  SO WE JUST SET DOWN THERE, Papa said, and let Little Missey have all the Visit she wanted and Oh she just never let off a’Talking in his Ear the whole Time. She’s telling him the Story a’her Life, o’Calley said, but he ain’t hearing a word of it is he. I reckon I’d be the same way, o’Wasskum said, some o’Woman go to talking in my Ear like that. You talk bout Little Missey like that Mister Yancy and I’m sure as Hell gonna run you off. I wadn’t talking bout Little Missey in particular, o’Wasskum said. I was talking bout Womens in general. Some Time I think you just trying to pick a Fight with me Mister Pearsall. I just want you to act like a Gentleman when you round Little Missey that’s all Mister Yancy, Calley said. Then, Papa said, here come the Man owned the wagon Little Missey and that Old Man was a’setting in. Well I see o’Dutch got him a Visitor, he said. First one in his Life I reckon. Well he ain’t much of a Conversationalist may be that’s Why, o’Calley said. We been here bout three hours and he ain’t said a Single Word that we can tell. No o’Dutch never been much of a Talker, the Man said, but they was a Time he could out work any three men on the Place. Out Fight em too, he said. Oh Lord you just have to stand back and watch when he was riled. You know any thing bout him in his Young Life, o’Wasskum said. No Sir he just come a’walking up to my Daddy’s Place one Day after the War and wanted some work to live on and then stayed on with me after my Momma and Daddy passed here bout six years and three months ago. Both went together one right after the other within a Day, he said, Him just fore Her. They buried out there behind the House side by side o’Dutch pulls the weeds just can’t keep him from it he loved em so much in they Life I reckon cause they was pretty much the only ones was ever Nice to him. Oh listen, he said, o’Dutch got so many Whip Marks on his Back looks like a Spider Web from how he was treated fore my Momma and Daddy. I can show you, the Man said. I don’t think he’d even know it was you to raise up his shirttail and Look. They ain’t Brother and Sister are they, he said. No sir, Calley said, we think may be they was Sweet Hearts one time. Well why not, the Man said, my Momma and Daddy both usted say they just bout ever bit Human as you and me ever was.

  BOUT DARK, Papa said, Little Missey got down off that Man’s wagon and come a’walking back over to us. You ready to go Little Missey, o’Calley said, but she just stood there and watched that Man go off in his wagon with th
at other Old Man still hadn’t said a word to Her or no body else neither one. We’ll ride you over to that Man’s Farm here fore long and you can have you a’nother visit Calley said but Little Missey just stood there a’watching that wagon roll on off I reckon thinking her o’Sweet Heart was least gonna wave her a Good Bye but in a minute, Papa said, they was already all the way down the Street and gone and No he never. Didn’t never say Hello didn’t never say Good Bye, o’Wasskum said. I hope that Old Man grows him some Manners fore next Time then, Papa said, we all went back over there where my new Horse was a’making Friends with Firefoot and o’Edward and I went on and Named her Sister cause that was how I felt bout her and Oh when I went to looking, he said, Why they was some Beat Marks on her where some body’d been a’being mean to her but course we had us a Jar a’Honey so me and Little Missey went to rubbing some on in the right Place while o’Calley was reading her age on her Teeth. This ain’t no Baby Horse you got here if that’s what you was a’looking for, he said. Long way from it. Don’t matter a Lick to me her age, Papa said, This was my Horse First Time I ever seen her. I might paint a Pitchur of her for you, Wasskum said, if we can get her to hold her Ears up a minute without that thread. I like her just the way she is, Papa said, Don’t go trying to change her on me. Well Mister I will say this for her, Calley said, She got four Legs and a Tail just like all the Best Horses in the World got don’t she. Oh and then they had em a laugh bout it while me and Little Missey give Sister a good pet all over and Fritz and o’Possum jumped up on her back like they was a’couple a’Genral Lee’s Soldiers a’guarding the Fort. We still got miles to go, Calley said, less you wanna stay and buy you a Pig and a Chicken to go long with your Horse and Oh, Papa said, I had to laugh bout that one my self cause a’the Pitchur it made in my Head a’us going down the Road with a Pig and a Chicken just a’follering long behind in a Row. Yes Sir, o’Wasskum said, I’d like to paint a Pitchur a’that too. What would you call it, Calley said. You got a name yet. Well for now, he said, I reckon I’d just call it A Pig and A Chicken. A Pig and A Chicken huh I said, Papa said. Well, Wasskum said, I couldn’t very well call it A Pig and A Chicken and Abraham Lincoln could I less we could get o’Abe to fall in behind. Oh we laughed and we laughed til we was almost rolling on the Ground from that one, Papa said, and here o’Calley and Mister Yancy was both full growed Men and we might a’gone on a’laughing bout it like that til Kingdom Come, he said, cep after bout five miles here come a wagon down the Road had a Dead Man in the back with a Tow Sack up over his Face and when Calley pulled it back to see who it was under there Why we bout had to cover our own Face up cause it wadn’t no body but our o’Friend Superintendent Wayne Shettles from the Boy Prison over yonder in Gatesville and he had him a Bullet Hole in the middle a’his Head and some more just for Meaness in bout ever other Part too. Oh, Papa said, they was so many I didn’t even wanna count em.

  . . . I reckon Little Missey and that Old Man was oncet Sweet Hearts . . .

  WHERE’D YOU FIND HIM, Calley said. Out in the Road just this side a’Saddler, the Man said. I didn’t know what to do with him so I just brung him along. You know any body might want him, he said. No Sir, Calley said, but you ride him on into Blanco I reckon they’s some body there’ll know what to do with him. Oh and then I looked over and Little Missey was down in the wagon with poor o‘Superintendent Shettles trying to help him get up Dead as he was. I don’t know that Man’s Family’d like that, the Man said, her a’fooling with him like that you know it. You ain’t scared it’s gonna kill him all over again are you, Calley said. No I’m just a’saying, the Man said. Yes Sir we know what you just a’saying Mister, Calley said, Go on with it. But fore you do, Wasskum said, it might serve you to know this Little Missey here a’trying to help a Dead Man come back to Life is our Friend and I’d just as soon skin you neckid and run you up a Tree as let you Bad Talk her for a’trying to be Nice to a Dead Person and then, Papa said, o’Wasskum come out from his Lap with that little Two Shot Sissy Pistol he had and put it on his leg to show he meant ever Word he said. Well I reckon you just a bunch a’god dam Yankee SonsaBitches ain’t you, the Man said, Wadn’t enough you went and Hanged o’Robert Lee now you a’picking on me too. Didn’t no body Hang o’Robert Lee, Calley said, I don’t know where you got that Idea. You mean o’Robert Lee ain’t dead, the Man said. No Sir he ain’t Dead, Calley said. Far as I know he’s setting out there on his Porch somewheres a’smoking his Pipe with some body singing him Dixie. I heared they Hanged him cause he wouldn’t never give up, the Man said. I don’t know who you been a’talking to, Calley said, but just sos you know it Yes Sir he did give up. Surrendered his whole Army and ever Boy in it put they Gun down to the ground and went a’walking on off to Home after that. That was some years ago, he said, fore this Boy here was even borned yet. The Hell you say, the Man said. Yes Sir the Hell I do say, Calley said. You must live under a Rock some wheres not to a’known that, Wasskum said. If you ain’t careful Mister, the Man said, you gonna be a’riding in back a’this wagon same as this other Dead Fella here for the way you a’talking to me. Let’s just leave off the Threats both a’you, Calley said, They’s already enough Trouble a’lurking round here. You get a Look at Who done it, he said. Just a dam Spud, the Man said, no biggern this one here but course he wadn’t wearing no John B Stetson Hat. How’d you get pass him in a wagon, Mister Yancy said, You sure he wadn’t your First Cousin or some thing. Mister Yancy let’s not talk that way no more you hear, Calley said. He was just standing there a’kicking this Dead Man here when I come up on him and I thought Well it’s Adios Muchachos to me too ain’t it but I figgur it embarrassed the Boy me a’seeing him a’crying like that over a Dead Body he just Murdered and he put his pistol back down his Pants and rode on off. You remember what Direction he took, Calley said, We ain’t wanting to run into him no wheres our self. Yonder Ways the Man said, Papa said, Going South and not even looking back like he already seen all he ever wanted to see round here. That’s Good News for us then ain’t it, Calley said, then tipped his John B Good Bye and said Well we’ll be on our way now Mister. And me on Mine the Man said then, Papa said, him and o’Wasskum give each other a Ugly Look and we never seen that Man again in our Life or poor o’Dead Superintendent Wayne Shettles from over at the Boy Prison neither one.

  I DON’T LIKE IT that Boy might still be round here in this Country somewheres, Calley said, I say Ever Body keep a Sharp Eye out. Yes Sir I got mine out, Papa said. Yes Sir me too, Wasskum said, I didn’t know Evil could grow so big in a little Boy. Mister Armke said the Devil got his Hand on him that’s why, Papa said. Yes Sir I’ve known the o’Devil to put his Hand on One or Two in my own Life, Calley said, Easiest way to tell is they already mean to Animals bout the Time they learn to foot walk. It ain’t that way with Arlon, Papa said, I seen him be Nice to Animals before. Humans is Animals too, Mister Yancy said. I don’t reckon he was Nice to that one we just seen full a’Bullet Holes in that wagon back there was he. They’s all kind a’Evil, Calley said, it ain’t just when Some Body goes to Murdering Some Body else. Stealing a Story off a Little Boy and running off with Some Body else’s Sweet Heart is another xample a’Evil the way I see it, he said then give me a Look, Papa said, and said Now ain’t that right Mister. No Sir Mister Pearsall I don’t think so, Papa said, it ain’t like he got his Catch Rope and run off with em. Is to me, Calley said. Yall talking bout your Sweet Heart there ain’t you Mister Pearsall, o’Wasskum said, ain’t that right. I don’t wanna hurt your Feelings Mister Yancy, Calley said, but it ain’t none a’your Business what we a’talking bout. Oh Why Hell’s Bells, o’Wasskum said, I’ve had me maybe Twenty Thirty o’Gals run off on me in my Life and after a Day or two Why I can’t even remember what they looked like with they Clothes on. That’s your little o’Peeny Stick a’talking to you, Calley said, that ain’t the same thing we a’talking bout here. Oh so you just talkin bout being in Love with some o’Gal then ain’t you, Mister Yancy said. Yes Sir I reckon may be I am, Calley said
, if you wanna put it that way. Well I can tell you Ever Thing you ever gonna need to know bout being in Love with some Woman in bout two Words, he said, you wanna hear em or Not. Go on, Calley said, I know you gonna tell me any how. Run Run Run Run Run Run and then Run some more, Wasskum said, Break your Heart ever Time That’s what I know bout it, he said, even if it is moren two Words. And Oh, Papa said, I could see it bout Broke o’Calley’s Heart to hear it. You ever find a Cure for it in all your Travels Mister Yancy, Calley said. No Sir Not a One, he said. If yall so Sad bout it, Papa said, yall oughta go talk to Mister and Miz Choat. I never seen neither one of em a’walking round with a Broke Heart and they been a’Loving each other they Whole Life. I’d like to paint me a Pitchur a’that, o’Wasskum said, and then o’Calley said Yes Sir and I’d like to see it when you do. Oh and then, Papa said, Why o’Possum just went to Howling at the Moon even if they wadn’t one you could see that time a’Day.