A Tale from the Hills (14 page)

*********

William did not see anyone after he left the hobos until he reached the trestle that crossed the great New River. The black man had been right about the impressive presence of the railroad bridge. If he had not been so scared by the things that he had witnessed only a short time ago, he would have taken the time to appreciate the scenery that was directly in front of him. But he wanted to get as far away from the river as he possibly could. He was afraid that if the hobos saw him, that they would know that he had witnessed the events up the river.

He climbed the steep bank that surrounded the foundations of the longest trestle that he had ever seen. He could have moved a little further down the line and had easier access to the tracks, but he did not want to lose the precious time that it would take to do so. He grabbed weeds and tree limbs to pull himself up. A huge blacksnake slithered passed him but he never slowed down or even changed his course. He was determined to get away from that damned river.

He was taking short choppy breaths by the time that he had climbed onto the tracks. Then he breathed a sigh of relief because he almost felt like he was at home again. He looked around to make sure that he was all alone and then he put his ear to the track to feel for the vibrations of an oncoming train. There was a faint vibration but he decided to go ahead anyway. He thought that the train was far enough away for him to make it across the trestle safely.

Even though he was practically out of breath, he started across the long trestle. He walked for a short distance and then he began to quicken his pace. When he was about a fourth of the way across, he looked behind him. There were two men coming onto the trestle behind him. He thought that he recognized them the river. He felt a freshburst of adrenaline because he was afraid of what might happen if the men caught up with him. They could easily throw him from the massive structure and no one would ever know it. Like the hobo who was killed at the river, he would be joining the untold number of lost souls at the bottom of the unforgiving river.

The men saw him and shouted for him to stop. The more that they shouted, the faster he walked. By the time that he was on the other side of the trestle, he was running. He never realized that he had so much strength and energy in his young body until that moment. As soon as he was back on solid ground he left the tracks. He ducked into the bushes and completely surrounded himself with the thick brush that seemed to be everywhere. He saw a trail running closer to the tracks and he suspected that the two men would use it, thinking that he was on it too.

While he lay there in the bushes his strength was renewed. If he had to run again he was sure that he could. The men came into the bushes just as he suspected. They were close enough for him to see and hear them, but they did not have a clue that he was watching them. He was sure that they were two of the hobos from the river, and one of them looked like the man who had thrown the deadly rock.

“I wonder where the kid got to?” one of the men asked the other.

“Who knows and who cares? He was running like he saw a ghost. Do you think that he saw what happened at the river?”

“No, there wasn’t anybody there but us. And you know that none of us are going to talk. We all know too much on each other for that to happen.”

“Yeah, I guess that you are right.”

“We won’t meet up with the others until we get to Charlotte. If anybody asks about Pete, we’ll just say that he stayed in the mountains. We’ll say that he took up with a widow woman or something like that.”

“Oh yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“Let’s get out of here ourselves.”

William waited for what seemed like an hour before he got back on the tracks. While he was waiting another train passed him by. It was longer than any train that he ever saw while he lived on Jewel ridge Mountain.

He had eaten almost all of the apples that were still in the knapsack before he finally came to a trading post. He was now on the edge of Alleghany County, and only a few miles from where his daddy grew up. He remembered hearing his daddy talk about the family farm. William had no idea just where it was or even how to get there. His daddy never spoke of a community or town that was close by the farm. He only said that the farm was in Alleghany County.

William cautiously entered the trading post. He did not want to come face to face with the men from the river. But there were only two people in the little country type store, and both of them appeared to be working there. He assumed that they were husband and wife. Each of them gave him a curious look, probably because of his age and the fact that he was all alone. He responded quickly to their curious stares. He stated matter of factually that he was passing through on his way to meet his daddy in Charlotte. He had heard the hobos mention Charlotte, so he figured that it was somewhere close by.

“You are quite a ways from Charlotte. Ain’t you afraid to be alone that far away from your daddy?” asked the old lady.

“No.” William answered. “I don’t mind traveling alone. Ma’s dead, and its just me and pop now.”

The male storekeeper looked sympathetically at him.

“Its all right. Ma’s been dead ever since I was little. I never even knew her.” William added.

William had already learned that it was all right to lie if it helped his situation. He figured that he would never see those people again anyway, so what did it matter.

“I’m so hungry that I could eat a dead horse.” hesaid.

“We have beef stew and some fresh baked bread. How does that sound?” she replied.

“Fine by me. Could I have some please? And I will need some traveling supplies too.”

The old man finally spoke.

“Tell me what you will be needing and I will gather it up while you eat.”

“Show us some money first.” the old woman added.

William pulled a handful of change out of his pocket. She said nothing more for the time being. William got the feeling that the old man only got a word in edge wise once in a great while. For the short time that he had been in the trading post, he already felt sorry for the old fart. He ordered a large piece of the baked bread and some beef jerky to go. He sat down and ate his meal in silence.

As he was paying for his meal, he decided to ask one more question.

“Do you folks know anybody in these parts with the last name of Hill?”

The old woman thought for a few moments and then a frown formed on her face.

“There’s a Hill woman that lives just north of here.” she pointed in the same direction as their front door. “She’s the only Hill that I know of in these parts. Why are you a Hill?”

“No.” William lied. “I have some cousins by that name somewhere in North Carolina. I thought that maybe they lived around here somewhere.”

“Do you think that she might be your cousin?”

Then she turned toward her husband and whispered loud enough for the boy to hear.

“I have heard some bad things about that woman.”

“She’s probably no kin to me.” William answered unassumingly as he continued eating.

He settled up with the storekeepers and started on his way. His brief encounter at the trading post had cost him another twenty cents.

It was getting late in the day when William got back on the railroad tracks. If the people at the trading post hadnot been so nosey he would have inquired about a place to stay. Under the circumstances he preferred not to answer any more of their questions. He would rather just fend for himself. There was something about traveling alone that made him feel independent and sure of himself. In the short time that he had been away from home he had acquired a totally new outlook on life. He realized that things were not always exactly as they appeared, and that good intentions did not mean too much if you were at the bottom of the river.

He needed to find a safe place to spend the night. He did not want nightfall to catch him on the tracks. He was about to reach the top of a steep hill, so maybe he would see something in the distance that would provide a shelter for a weary traveler to make a bed. Sure enough as he looked out over the horizon he spotted some type of building that was not too far away. It looked like a barn or granary or some type of storage shed. The closer that he got to it, the darker it was getting outside and the better the building looked to him. He finally decided that it would have to do. He was not in a position to be choosy.

There was hay in the top of the building but the bottom was empty and open. He thought that the bottom must have been used to cure tobacco. A homemade ladder was attached to the outside wall of the well built building. He easily climbed it to the top. He got busy because he did not have much time to arrange the hay into a sleeping space that would be inconspicuous to an outsider. He finally finished with very little precious daylight to spare. He commemorated his accomplishment by proudly peeing an impressive arc from the top of the barn. It looked like a good five footer at least, maybe more.

He ate bread and beef jerky for supper in the top of the barn. This was his third night away from home. He missed his daddy and his brothers but he did not regret leaving a school that he had grown to hate. He only hoped that he found his place in life before he ran completely out of money. He wanted to get an early start in the morning, sohe decided to try and go to sleep as soon as he finished eating.

He woke up sometime in the night with a terrible stomach ache. It hurt so bad that he curled up into a ball in the soft hay. He needed to get out of the barn and go to a toilet badly, but his stomach was hurting so badly that he did not know if he could make it down the ladder. He eased down his pants and raised himself enough to look outside. He was alone and desperate in a strange place.

He climbed down the ladder in just his shirt and socks. His modesty took second place to his need for relief. He barely made it around the corner before he had to squat. He suddenly felt much better. It must have been the apples or the beef jerky, or a combination of the two that set his insides on fire. Anyway he felt a hell of a lot better climbing back up the ladder. He fell back to sleep without any trouble at all.

The old man was waiting for him as soon as he fell asleep. William dreamed that he was up in a strange barn and it was as dark as pitch. He heard the ‘tap’, ‘tap’ of someone climbing the ladder. When he peered over the edge, he saw the old man with the spiders in his hair, and the slimy stuff oozing from his skin, and he was climbing the ladder. Even though it was very dark, the old man had a glow about him that terrified the boy down to his bones. A sudden chill ran all over his body. He wanted to run but there was no place for him to go but down. The old man peered up at him and gave him a wink with his bloodshot eye.

“William my boy, how the Hell are you? Have you missed me? I thought that it was time for another visit.” the old man wheezed.

William was making low grunting sounds in his sleep. He had a look of great distress on his pale white face. the old man climbed into the loft and sat down beside of William’s makeshift bed. William tried to raise himself from the hay but he was paralyzed in fear. In the dream he had not put his pants back on and the old man was staring at hisnakedness.

“You are turning out to be a fine looking young man. I can even see a hair or two down there. But you should see your sister. She is so small and fragile looking, and she is so pale. She never gets to see any light down there where she is trapped. She’s cold and so, so sad. She wants you to help her. Why have you deserted her son?”

“Go away!” William pleaded. “Leave me alone. I’m starting over. I can’t help Alice, she’s gone. I’m trying to get away from you old man.”

“You will never get away from me son. I am your family. You belong with me. Your sister wants to be with her mother. You with me and little Alice with her mother Mary. We make a fair trade. that is the way that it has to be. You might as well accept the truth.”

Even in his dream state William was confused. Why did the old man want him? What was the meaning of all of this talk?

Almost as if the old man could read his thoughts, he responded to William’s questions.

“You just have to be patient son. You will find out soon enough. You are almost there.”

The nightmare was over as quickly as it began.

**********

William woke up in a cold sweat. The hay all around him was wet from all of the sweat. It was beginning to get daylight outside and he wanted to be back on the tracks again as soon as possible. His stomach was hurting again and his nerves were on edge from the nightmare. In his dream the old man saw him naked. In reality he had put his pants back on when he climbed back up the ladder, and now they were a complete mess. He had an accident with his bowels sometime while he slept. He was in a predicament that was way beyond his control. He did not have a spare pair of pants and he definitely could not travel in such a disgusting mess. He did not know if there was a stream nearby but he had to wash his clothes real soon.

The area around the barn was remote so he decided to look for a stream. He wrapped his shirt around his waist and put on his jacket. It was not cold but he felt uncomfortable with just a shirt over his otherwise naked body. He carried his disgusting rolled up pants under his arm. He was glad that no one else could see or better yet, smell them. He was afraid to leave his supplies in the barn, so he took them under his other arm. He was a sad looking sight, walking around with all of his worldly possessions and a pair of rolled up dirty pants, and wearing a shirt around his bare legs, and a jacket.

He barely got clear of the building when someone shouted, “Hey you there!” in his direction.

It was a woman’s voice. He was in a predicament. His clothes were not in a position that would make it possible for him to run. He wanted to just throw his hands up in the air and surrender, but he was much too ashamed of the way that he looked right at that moment. He sat down in the middle of the field and began to cry, loud and hard. He had reached a point in his life where it did not matter who heard him either. He had taken about all that he could in the last three days without breaking down. To Hell with holding back another second.