Dark Water Rising (16 page)

Josiah glanced over his shoulder at all the men carrying their ghastly burdens to the barge. “Best we get on home, now,” he whispered, “ ’fore somethin’ bad happens.”

I glimpsed more bayonets and nodded.

We turned south, headed toward Broadway where there seemed to be less debris, and right away Josiah’s long legs put half a block between us. Just as I was about to holler at him to slow down for me, I heard a loud shout.

In seconds, Josiah was surrounded by three bayonets. I ducked behind an overturned buggy, fear thumping wild in my chest, and peered around a busted wheel. He glanced at me, eyes wide, then quickly turned away so the men wouldn’t find me.

Josiah was led to a larger group of workers, and it was then I realized why he’d drawn attention. He was lean, but his height made him look as old as any of them. Without another glance in my direction, he fell into step, marching back the way we’d come, north toward the barges. I held my breath while they passed just yards away from me and heard one of the newly pressed workers pleading to be let go.

“For heaven’s sake,” he said, “don’t make me do that. I won’t go! You can shoot me if you want to, but I will not and I cannot do what you ask.”

The guardsman stopped and called his men to attention. “Load with ball cartridge,” he ordered. “Take aim!”

The threat was all the poor man needed. He threw up his hands, and when the guns had been lowered, he hung his head and marched off behind Josiah to the barges.

Even after the footsteps faded, I couldn’t move. Flies droned, and overhead, seagulls called and buzzards circled.

I finally slunk away, avoiding the main streets, ducking and hiding all the way home. I could hardly let myself think about what Josiah would be facing. Guilt and horror squirmed inside me, but I knew I couldn’t help him. I had to get home.

I had to do what Papa wouldn’t.

19

Mama must’ve seen me walking back alone. She ran to meet me at the foot of the stairs, but before I could reach her, Aunt Julia and the four boys raced down, too. Ella Rose stood on the landing near the screen door with Elliott on her hip, holding Kate’s hand, waiting like everyone else to hear why I was alone. Elliott’s heat-flushed cheek brushed against hers and his chubby fingers tangled in her hair. I stared at her, wishing I didn’t have to say anything to anyone, wishing I could forget what had happened and just go to her.

But I couldn’t. Papa had seen to that.

Everyone gathered around, but I waited till I saw Ezra step from behind the corner of the raised basement before I began.

“What happened?” Mama asked. “Where’s your papa?” Her voice sounded fearful, breathy with impatience.

“He’s okay,” I reassured her. “He was needed to help
rebuild the railroad bridge. I’m to show Matt where to take his meals this evening.”

She let out a relieved sigh, but her eyes quickly glazed over as she considered what this would mean to us.

“How long will he be away?”

I shrugged. “He didn’t say. He just said to tell you that you were right about there being a reason for everything.”

I hadn’t bothered to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. I thought for sure Mama would be as mad as I was that Papa had left us at a time like this, but instead, I saw a slow smile curl the corners of her lips. When she kissed me on the cheek, I felt I must’ve missed something, but I didn’t have time to think about it. Aunt Julia had already turned her pale, freckled face to mine, and I couldn’t ignore what had to be said.

“Any news for us?” she asked.

Her voice sounded small and brittle, stripped of hope, and my heart near broke just hearing it. I wrapped my arms around her, wishing I could find the words to lessen her misery, but all I could say was “I’m sorry, Aunt Julia.”

She hugged me tight, and over her shoulder, I saw Andy and Will hang their heads. “I’ll try again in the morning,” I told her. “First thing.”

She shook her head. “No more searching, Seth. No
more.” Then, as if there were more important things to consider, she said, “You must be so tired and thirsty. Let me get you some water.”

Andy piped up, quick to volunteer. “I’ll get it for him, Mama.”

She shook her head, patted him on the shoulder, and headed for the stairs. I was relieved to see Ella Rose follow her inside.

Andy’s eyes welled with tears, and Will swiped at his wet cheeks with the back of his sleeve. Ezra still stood at the corner of the raised basement, waiting. I didn’t know how to tell him about Josiah. It wasn’t fair that he’d been taken and I’d been spared, but I was finally coming to understand that there had been little in Josiah and Ezra’s world that had ever been fair.

He, Mama, and the boys listened quietly while I told about all I’d seen, and when I was through, Mama couldn’t hold back her tears any longer.

“What were they thinking? He’s just sixteen.” She wiped her eyes with the tail of her apron and looked up at Ezra. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “We’ll keep Josiah in our prayers.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said softly. “But he’s a powerful strong boy. I ’spect we be seeing him when the work be done.”

He thanked me, too, and went back to building the outhouse, leaving me to marvel at the way he accepted
what he couldn’t change. I hadn’t handled things nearly so well.

“Come on, Andy,” Matt said. “Let’s go pry those nails loose like Ezra asked.”

Lucas nodded. “Yeah, he has a surprise for us when we finish, remember?”

Andy shook his head. “Maybe in a little while.”

Will sat on the shady bottom step, still sniffling. Mama squeezed around him, headed back to the kitchen, but not before she gave him a kiss on the top of his head.

Matt and Lucas glanced at me, not sure what to do. I wasn’t either, but since Papa had abandoned us, I figured it was up to me to do something. And soon.

I heard Ezra hammering on the outhouse and headed around back. He’d already filled in the old hole, dug a fresh one, and managed to get the new building almost finished, but it was Aunt Julia and the boys I wanted to talk to him about most. I wasn’t sure what Papa would’ve done if he’d been here, or if he even knew how to deal with a loss as great as theirs, but I had to start somewhere.

Ezra saw me coming, pulled a rag from his back pocket, and wiped his face.

“It’s looking real good, Ezra.”

“Yessir,” he said, “it be coming along.”

I nodded. “I was just wondering if you could tell me how my aunt is doing?”

He shook his head. “Grieving. But the missus, she be burying it deeper than that gulf out there.”

I wasn’t sure what I could do about that, but it seemed that she and Ella Rose had been spending more time together. Maybe they’d found a way to share each other’s pain in a way that none of us could. At least I hoped so. “And how about Andy and Will?”

“Aw, they’s good boys, and strong, too. They’s a big comfort to their mama, even if she don’t see it yet.”

I nodded, thankful that Ezra was watching out for them. He showed me the big pile of lumber and slate that he and the boys had gathered this morning, enough to repair the veranda and the roof over Ben’s room. I pointed to a smaller stack of odd-length boards beside it. “What are those for?”

Ezra laughed, making me think of Josiah again.

“Why, that there lumber is gonna hep make a new treehouse for all them boys,” he said.

The storm had ripped the old tree fort from the ash in the front yard and washed it away. Building another must be the surprise Lucas spoke of.

I smiled. “Good idea, Ezra.”

“Busy hands can sometimes hep heal lonesome hearts,” he said.

He turned back to his work, and I found myself staring at my own hands. Everyone would be looking to me now.

Nearby, Matt and Lucas had begun pulling nails, but Andy and Will still hadn’t joined them. I didn’t know what I could say to make things easier for those two boys, but I needed to try. I turned to find them, but they found me first.

“Seth,” Andy said, “me and Will have been wondering about Papa and Ben. Would you tell us what you think happened? Mama won’t talk about it at all.”

Their question almost knocked the wind out of me, like the time I was eight and fell off Papa’s horse. I hit the ground so hard I was afraid I’d never draw another breath.

The thought of telling them what I suspected fluttered sick inside me, but if it were me in their place, I couldn’t have rested easy, either, till I knew something, no matter how small. I braced myself for what needed done. “I will,” I said to them and led them back to the steps.

They settled near my feet while I grappled with the words tumbling in my head. “I suppose,” I said, “we should begin with what we know.”

They nodded, faces grim but expectant.

“Your papa spoke to your mama by telephone early Saturday, the day of the storm, and he told her that he and Ben were securing the lumberyard as best they could. They must’ve worked really hard trying to save the business, but I figure they might’ve stayed too long.”

The boys’ eyes, still red, never left my face.

“You see,” I continued, “when Josiah and I made it back here that afternoon, the streets were already flooded. We struck out again, right away, for the rental, and before we were even halfway there, we saw people get hit by flying bricks and slate and knocked over by all kinds of debris sweeping down the streets. Many of them were pulled under and didn’t come back up.”

“So you think they drowned?” Andy asked.

“I think it’s possible.”

“But you didn’t find their bodies, did you?”

“No, and we looked really hard.”

“Then maybe they got saved,” Will said. “Maybe they’re sitting in someone’s house right now, hurt, and they can’t get home just yet.”

I nodded. “Maybe. That’s why we won’t give up.”

The boys sat quiet for a moment, then Andy blew out a long breath. “Thanks, Seth.”

“Yeah,” Will said. “Thanks.”

I watched them walk around back to pull nails with Matt and Lucas, and when I rose from the step, I glimpsed Aunt Julia standing just inside the screen door, my cup of water in her hand.

That evening I led Matt through the back streets to the rail yard, watching carefully for anyone who might take me from his side. I wished I could protect him
from seeing the wagons loaded with dead, the dazed, half-naked people looking for loved ones, but it was impossible. I feared what it must be doing to him. As much as I’d seen, my stomach still knotted at the sight of each bloated body; my heart still ached when I looked into all those desperate, searching faces. Matt never spoke a word about it the whole way, but I understood why. There just weren’t words big enough to speak of such things.

We found Papa near the old bridge pilings with a half dozen other men, sorting and stacking storm-wrecked timbers. It looked like it might take a while to gather all that was needed before the real work could begin. His clothes were soaked and his eyes red, bloodshot from salty sweat, but he smiled when he saw us.

Matt set his basket of food and clothing down next to the water jugs I’d carried and went off to prowl around the stacks of timber. Papa dropped to the ground close by, breathing hard from his work. “Glad to see you made it safe,” he said. “I’ve already seen too many boys your age pressed into service, forced to clear debris and such.”

“I’m fine,” I told him, “but Josiah was taken to the barges right after you left us.”

Papa cringed, and grief welled in his eyes.

I stared at him, surprised that Josiah’s misfortune would bring him pain, and even more surprised that I
was finding satisfaction in his misery. But it was all his fault. If he hadn’t so willingly shirked his duty to family and home, Josiah might be with his grandfather instead of loading barges with unspeakable cargo and heading to the gulf.

Papa shook his head as if to rid himself of the horror he’d glimpsed. “I heard they don’t keep the dead gangs long, Seth. He’ll probably be let go tomorrow morning when the barges come back in, but keep in mind that they may come looking for him again.” He pulled in a deep breath. “Matt should be okay walking to and from the house,” he said, “but if you get stopped on the way home, be sure to tell them you’re just sixteen and that you’re the only man left in the house. They’ll let you go.”