Chapter Twenty-Six
Viola passed the next month praying for Virgil to see the light and return to his family. Every day, at the time Virgil would be leaving work at the mines, she kept watch outside, hoping to see him coming up the walk. But he didn’t. And then one day the skies grew dark and gray, and rain poured down on the small mountain town. The blackness in the sky burrowed deep into Viola’s heart. It was as if the constant rain were Viola’s tears of grief flowing from the heavens like a river. As Viola lay in her bed that night weeping, she thought that the echo of the wind in the trees sounded like the angels singing a sad song.
Each day the rains grew heavier and Viola’s depression grew stronger. Finally, she couldn’t bear it anymore. She decided that she must see Virgil. If he was going to leave her forever, she wanted to see his eyes at least one final time. She was certain that her father would not want her to face Virgil alone. He would also want her to wait until the storms stopped before she went. But she knew she had to see her husband, alone, without her father beside her and she wanted to see him now, not later.
One night, she got dressed and waited until her parents fell asleep. She put on her coat but she was very big with child and her coat would not go around her entire body, it gaped in front. But it was the only coat she owned so she pulled the hood over her head and quietly left the cabin.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Uncle Wade had been layin up in an old shack with a prostitute on the wrong side of town for the past two days. Her name was Lisa, and she was his refuge from work and the responsibilities of a wife and children. No one would have called her pretty or even attractive. But she had a good understanding of men and more importantly, she knew when to talk and when to be quiet.
Over the past year, Wade became a regular visitor at this woman’s shack. At least once a month, he left his wife and children and went on a binge of drunken debauchery. It had become almost predictable to any outsider, but not to his family. They couldn’t see the forest for the trees. When Wade was itching to get away, he would come home on a Friday night and find something to start a fight about with his wife, Rita Jane. Then he would storm out of the house feeling justified in leaving and would go directly to Lisa’s place. Most of the time he arrived late on Friday night. By the time he left late Sunday afternoon, he’d given her most of his wages. The rest he spent on alcohol.
Each time he went home, he promised himself that it was the last time he would do this. Yet, right now, he was lying on the dirt floor in Lisa’s cottage, sleeping off the last of his drunken stupor. It was Saturday night and, for a quick moment, he thought of Aiden’s church service the following day. He would miss it, as he always did when he went on one of these binges. Although Aiden never openly judged him, he imagined the disappointment in Aiden’s eyes. Then he fell back asleep.
Outside, strong winds hissed through the trees, and the sky wept with an outpouring of rain.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Only four houses to the left of Lisa’s shack was the Graystone house where Virgil was staying with Clover. Viola knew exactly where she was going. After all, she’d gone to Clover’s house many times to bring charity baskets. And right now, Viola was filled with rage toward Clover for being ungrateful. Never before in Viola’s entire life had she wished anyone harm. However, as she trudged through the mud, her boots sinking deep and the sky plummeting buckets of rain on her head, she was wishing that Clover would just die, just cease to exist.
Hate was a newly-found emotion for Viola and she didn’t like the way it felt at all. But she couldn’t understand a girl like Clover—someone so different from herself.
How could that piece of white trash steal my husband after I been so good to her?
Viola had never used the word white trash before in her life. By the time she got to Clover’s shack, she was drenched. It was a starless night and only a sliver of moon lit the sky. She let out a small sigh like a dying animal then she gathered all the courage she could muster and knocked on the door. Her tears fell and mingled with the rain as she recognized Virgil’s voice coming from inside.
“Who’s there?” Clover asked.
“It’s me, Viola.”
“What’d you want? It’s the middle of the damn night.”
“I want to talk to my husband.”
There was silence for a few minutes. Then Clover said, “He ain’t here.”
“I know he’s in there. I done heard his voice. Now come on, Clover. I gotta talk to him. If he wants to stay here with you all I’m askin fer is that he tell me his self.”
“Damn it, Viola. Hold on then.”
Viola heard them speaking but she could not make out what they were saying. However, from the tone of their voices she knew they were arguing.
There was a crash of thunder followed by a bolt of lightning that looked like an arrow God had thrown directly at the little shack. Viola felt the ground move beneath her feet as if it had suddenly taken on a life of it’s own. Then the earth began to move just a smidgen faster. Viola gasped as she looked and saw the beginning of a mudslide. Her hands trembled. She knew she ought to run as fast as she could out of the way of the coming debris.
“Virgil!’ she shouted. “There’s a mudslide a commin right fer ya. You better get outta that house.”
The earth gained momentum and was moving much faster and stronger, carrying branches and small items in its wake.
Virgil opened the door. His eyes met Viola’s.
“What are you doin here with her, Virgil? Tell me why you done this to us?”
He shrugged his shoulders, looking away ashamed. “I’m so sorry …” he said. “I’m so sorry, Viola.”
But before she could answer, the mud pulled a tree right up out of the ground and slammed it on top of the house with Virgil and Clover still inside. The last thing Viola saw before she was carried away by the river of mud was Virgil falling onto the floor of Clover’s shack, covered in blood.
Viola reached out as she was pulled along. She tried desperately to hang onto the trunk of a solid oak tree, but the pull of the mud was too strong. She was being swept away so fast that she lost all control. She had become part of a moving monster of earth bent on destruction. There was nothing she could do to fight against this giant. So she held her belly and prayed for her unborn child. For a single moment she thought of Virgil. Her mind drifted back to the beginning of their marriage.
How had things gone so wrong?
She wasn’t certain, but she thought he was dead. A chill ran through her and she was both filled with sadness and terrified at the same time. But then the moving earth pushed her forward and she hit her head against a large rock. Blood spilled into her wide-open eyes and she passed out.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The house where Clover and Virgil were staying was only a small, shabbily built structure, and the force of the mud river was too much for the shack to sustain. It was ripped in half. The half that the tree landed on was flattened to the earth with Virgil lying dead inside. The other half was ripped right out of the ground and sent hurling down the hill with the rest of the debris.
Clover was inside the moving half. It all happened so quickly that Clover did not have a moment to think. If she had, she would have tried to grip onto the tree that was lying like a cross over the house. But within seconds, Virgil and the tree were gone. The house rocked and hit the trunk of another tree. It began to roll over, tossing Clover around like a rag doll. She was thrust into a table leg, which penetrated her abdomen. The pain was horrific. She cried out, but there was no one to hear her, only the sound of the raging rush of the mud river. Blood poured from her wound. She reached up with her hand and held her belly. She looked at her palm and saw that it was wet with blood.
She closed her eyes and felt the life flowing out of her, pouring into the muddy river. The sound of the rushing mud water filled her head, obliterating all other sounds. Then there was silence. All Clover could hear was the thumping of her
heart. The stillness was even more horrifying than the noise of the rapid river of mud. Her entire body was trembling and then … she heard the soft hiss of the snake. She opened her eyes wide and even though it was very dark, she was able to see a green snake hanging from a tree limb that had fixed itself onto the house
“Clover,” the snake’s voice was sugar-coated and breathy. “How are you, my dear old friend?”
“How the hell does it look like I am?” Clover said.
“Not doing very well, I’m afraid. But sometimes this is the way it goes. You know? Anyway, so how was it for you when you snatched Virgil Cooper away from his sweet little no backbone wife? He was such a weak pansy. Such a joke of a man. I’ll bet you would have gotten tired of him after a little while had it lasted that long.”
Is this real or am I dreaming? Clover thought, wishing the pain in her stomach would subside.
“Please, I’m beggin you. Please, can you help me? Can you somehow make this awful pain go away? I’ll do anything. I promise.”
“I am truly sorry, Clover. I only give out one wish per person. However, as you have learned by now, I always deliver what I promise. And then … I always come to take what is owed me. What is mine. So here I am to collect my payment for your wish. Clover, I’ve come for your soul.”
Chapter Thirty
Viola opened her eyes to find herself in her own bed.
Was I dreaming? she wondered, but her body ached, her head throbbed, and she felt hot and feverish. Alice was sitting on one side of her and Aiden on the other. Viola felt the warmth of her mother’s hand in hers and tears formed at the corners of her crusty eyelids. She glanced up at the curtains with the tiny yellow flowers that her mother had embroidered for her when she was a child.
I am home in my own bed, she thought, feeling disoriented.
“Maw? Paw? What happened? Was I dreaming?” She could hardly speak above a whisper; her throat was raw.
“Praise God, you comed back to us,” Alice said, reaching for Aiden’s hand. “We was afeared that we lost you fer sure.”
“In my nightmare, I was in a mudslide. You see, I’d done gone over to Clover’s house to look fer Virgil and then … and then some awful, bad things happened.”
“It wasn’t a nightmare, honey. It really happened. We’re all feeling lucky to have you alive.”
“Virgil …Virgil. Is he alive?”
“No, honey. I’m sorry. He ain’t,” Aiden said. “Clover’s gone too, and so is your Uncle Wade.”
“Is my baby alive? Is everything all right with my baby?”
“It sure looks like everything’s good with the baby.”
“Praise God,” Viola said. “But I don’t know how I’m ever gonna go on living without Virgil. I don’t know what made him leave me. But I always believed he’d come back after he got whatever was botherin’ him outta his system. You see, we never got a chance to talk things out. I went to Clover’s house cause I thought maybe if’n we could just talk things out like face to face, I mean. But now, I’m feelin so lost without him.”
“I know honey. But you gotta remember that God’s got a plan. He always has a plan fer all of us. And even though you can’t see it right now, I promise you that there’s a reason that you survived. God has somethin’ good in store fer you. Give him a chance and you’ll see,” Alice said.
“And Maw, what was it you said about Uncle Wade? You said he died in the mudslide.”
“Yeah, he did.”
“Was he out lookin fer me? I would hate to think he died searchin fer me. I don’t think I could ever forgive myself fer that. He’s got him a wife and kids that be needen his care.”
“I don’t rightly know what he was doin on that side a town in the middle of the night. It sure don’t seem likely he was lookin fer you though. I mean how would he know you was headed there to the Graystone house? He’d have no way of knowin that. So please don’t be blamin yourself. You know your Uncle Wade was a strange fella. Besides, it don’t make no matter now. The best thing fer you to do is try best as you can to get some rest. You got the baby to think of.”
“Oh Maw, I ain’t never gonna love no one again. I’m so young and I ain’t never gonna be in love again. I’m supposing that I’ll just take care of my child and be as good a mother as I can. But I’m sure gonna miss havin’ a man to hold and care fer.”
“You just don’t know what God has in store, honey. I know everything looks real bad right now, but give God a chance. Will you do that fer me?”
“I’ll try Maw, but Virgil was my whole life.”
“I know, but like you said, you’re still so young and your life ain’t rightly begun. So even though you’re hurtin right now, just trust in God, Viola. Just put your faith in God, the same way our family been doin’ our whole lives. You gotta promise you’ll try hard fer me, honey?”
“Yes Maw. I’ll try.”
Chapter Thirty-One
1936
On the fourth of May, Viola gave birth to a little girl.
“What you gonna name her?” Aiden asked.
“May, on account as she was born in May,” Viola said, holding the baby in her arms.
“Pretty little thing, ain’t she?” Alice said looking at Aiden. But he returned her gaze with a worried look.
Although Viola had an easy labor, mother and baby were both exhausted. Once Viola fell asleep, Aiden pulled Alice into the bedroom that they shared.
“I was wantin’ to talk to you,” he said as quietly as he could.
“What’s a matter? You look like somethin’s wrong.”
“Well, I think there might be somethin’ wrong with the baby. She ain’t right. Cain’t you see it? Her head is too big and her body’s too small. Her little back is curved and her tiny legs are bowed.”
“I didn’t look fer none a that. I was just thinkin’ that she’s a mighty pretty baby,” Alice said, sinking into a chair, her face suddenly a map of worry wrinkles. “Do you think she’s gonna die?”
“Naw, she seems healthy. Although I did notice that sometimes it looks like it might be hard fer her to breathe.”
“What you think’s wrong?”
“Don’t know fer sure. But I’m thinkin she might be a dwarf.”
“A dwarf? You really think so? I’m fairly certain that there ain’t no dwarfs in my family. Ain’t that handed down from your family tree?”
“I ain’t sure,” Aiden said. “Might well be.”
“You got dwarfs in your family?”
“I don’t rightly know. But I seen this kind a thing before. Do you recall when Ruth Green gived birth to that little boy and he was deformed like this? Well, she called fer me to come to her house on account of me bein the pastor and all. So anyway, when I got there she had a real doctor too. And he looked at the baby then said the child was a dwarf. Ruth was ravin’ mad, she was sure that the baby was cursed by another woman. You see, she was keepin company with another woman’s husband and the baby was his. She thought the man’s wife done cursed her. After the doctor left, she called fer me. Poor thing done cried bitter tears, tellin’ me all about her fears of bein’ cursed. I tol her wasn’t no such thing as curses but she didn’t believe me. After that, Ruth moved away from Mudwater, takin’ that baby with her. I didn’t never know where they went.”
“You never tol me nothin about this before,” Alice said. “Although I must admit, I didn’t hardly know Ruth. I see’d her in church once in a while but I didn’t never talk to her. All I knowd about her was what I overheard the other women say. They said she was pregnant and didn’t have no husband. The woman folk around town talked badly about her. But you know I ain’t one to gossip so I didn’t get into the conversation. Instead, I just kept to myself.”
“Yeah, wasn’t no use in spreadin gossip. But I never forgot that little baby boy. Still remember what the child looked like. I even pray fer him sometimes. And now our little May looks like she might have them same problems.”
“You think the baby migh
ta got hurt during the mudslide and maybe it ain’t a dwarf after all?”
“Don’t rightly know. But maybe we outta take May into town to see a real doctor. We could see what he’s got to say,” Aiden said.
“Or we might could just let the child be and wait and see if’n she grows outta it. We could pray fer her and maybe with God’s blessings, she’ll grow up normal.”
“We sure could do that, honey. After all, even more miraculous things than that have happened through prayer. We seen it, ain’t we Alice?”
“Sure ’nough we have,” she said and kissed him softly on the lips. Then she took his hand in hers and squeezed.
“Sides, I ain’t sure there’s anything a doctor can do fer her if she is a dwarf,” Aiden said.
Alice shrugged her shoulders then said, “Anyway, let’s not be worryin’ Viola with all of this. She sure does have enough to bear with losin her husband and all.”
“And even though he wasn’t much of a husband in the end, as long as he was alive she still had hope that he’d come around. Now she ain’t got no hope for her and Virgil. That part of her life is closed. And there ain’t never gonna be no openin’ it back up again. So I agree with you there. Let’s not be addin’ to her worries right now.”
“And little May … well, she sure is a pretty little baby, ain’t she? With them alert brown eyes,” Alice sighed, smiling.
“She sure is,” Aiden said. “She’s a gift from God.”
“No matter what, she’s a Hunt, she’s one of us. Whether or not she’s a dwarf we’re gonna love her just the same. Ain’t we?”
“Yes,” Aiden said. “We will because whatever happens it’s God’s will.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Viola found it difficult to care for the baby. She was overcome with depression over the death of her husband and the change in her lifestyle. Aiden and Alice gave her the choice to move back into the Hunt’s old house with May or to stay with them. She chose to live with her parents.
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