Manroot (18 page)

William climbed into the front seat of the
Lincoln with Tom, who was driving.

April sat between the twins in the back seat.
They dared not say a word.

The men talked companionably about baseball and cars.
The Judge asked Tom to take the car in next week as he’d heard several rattles that he hadn’t noticed before.

They arrived at The Crossroads.
Small groups of men were huddled at the corners, solemn-faced and grave.

Tom stopped the car in front of the sheriff
’s office.

When they alighted, the Judge was greeted again and again:
“Mornin’ Judge.” The salutation came from many different lips.

The children
’s eyes were big as saucers. Had they broken some law? Was he taking them to jail?

The sheriff came out and shook hands with the Judge, ignoring the three silent children standing before him.
“Come in,” he said, and he stood aside the door.

Tom left them to join the groups of men that stood outside the jail.

The sheriff’s small, dingy office was piled high with papers, and the walls were decorated with Wanted posters.

The boys stared at the harsh faces on the posters.
Kyle almost whispered to his brother that he was sure he had seen that guy, the one with the beard, in Bailey’s store. Gee whiz, there was a reward and everything.

The Judge offered the sheriff a cigar.
He sniffed it appreciatively before he lit it. The room soon grew stuffy with cigar smoke.

“
In there,” the sheriff indicated, nodding.

“
Let’s do it,” the Judge said.

The sheriff walked to the glass door marked
Private.

“
Go in,” the Judge said to the children. They walked into the room single file; the cigar smoke could not cover the odor in that room.

April gagged.
The room reeked of antiseptic which did not disguise the stronger stench of decay. On the porcelain table they saw something mounded up, covered completely with a pristine white sheet.

The sheriff stepped forward.
Like a careful housewife, bit by bit he carefully folded back the sheet.

They stared, fascinated and fearful.
It lay there like some horrible matted thing, gray-blue, swollen to twice its normal size. The thing’s stringy hair was plastered close around its face, with mud and sticks a part of the grisly cap. The hands – huge gray shiny things, with fingers thick as sausages, were spread wide, forever frozen in the pose of grasping.

The eyes of the creature bulged and glistened white.
Whatever color they had been was gone.

“
How many days?” William asked.

“
Found him this morning. I reckon he’s been in about three days.”

Silence again
– only the clock ticking loudly.

They stared as the Judge
’s voice boomed: “Walk around him. Look good – no, children, open your eyes! Walk around him, I said.”

They obeyed like robots.
Eyes watering, gulping, they walked slowly around the table. Suddenly the corpse’s mouth drooped open; a trickle of stagnant water leaked out. Hypnotically they watched as something bubbled to the surface. It was round and an unpleasant green. They watched in horror as it unwound, paused on the man’s lower lip. The head turned, the small antenna moved. Then the worm crawled carefully down the corpse’s chin.

April bolted first.
She ran outside to be joined in the bushes by her cousins, where they gagged for a time. There was nothing to bring up; they hadn’t eaten their breakfast.

Tom offered his handkerchief and searched his pockets.
Usually Hannah put two somewhere on his person.

They rode silently back to the house.
When the car stopped, the Judge turned around and looked at their faces, studying the effect, then he said, “Don’t ever tell me you’re not afraid of the river. Only a damn fool would say that.”

Chapter 20

For weeks afterward they all had nightmares, seeing in their dreams the bloated corpse.
In the daylight hours the boys talked about the body with a false bravado. When Bradley came to play, they went over and over the description of the body, and in the telling a few details were added. As well as the slimy worm, they had spiders and scorpions crawling out of the dead man’s eyes and ears. April hushed them and tried to interest her cousins in the homeless fledglings or tiny rabbits that Bradley invariably seemed to find. This always instigated a trip to the cabin to see Kack, who could usually find another cage for the new charge.

The boys were quiet and helpful around the Judge; they helped him in the greenhouse.
The sweet, cloying scent of the flowers was unpleasant to them, but the treat of snitching an almost-ripe strawberry from his section of edible plants made the work bearable.

The Judge assigned them to help Tom, who was building an add-on to the porch where Bruce would be housed.

They fetched nails and hammers and held the ladder for Tom. Both boys made fun of Bruce when no one was looking, following behind him, arms flailing and parodying the blind man’s walk.

Elizabeth
watched the blind man with distaste. “William, is this really necessary? I thought you were checking into places that would be more suitable for him?”

“
Now Elizabeth, you know how I’ve tried over the years, but there’s absolutely nothing available, given his limitations. There are long waiting lists, and with his mental capacity he doesn’t qualify for most of those institutions anyway.”

“
He’s not really our responsibility,” she said peevishly.

“
Elizabeth, please. He’s never bothered anyone. Hannah and Tom give him chores, he helps in the greenhouse, and he seems so happy just making those brooms. I thought you’d be pleased. The room addition will have its own entrance, and moving him out of the kitchen room gives Hannah more pantry space.”

“
I don’t want him in other parts of the house.”

“
You know he never ventures beyond his own room or the kitchen.”

She didn
’t answer for she knew this was true, but she hated anything ugly or unpleasant, and just the sight of Bruce, stumbling along, made her head throb. She turned away from William abruptly and went up to her room to lie down.

The twins grew bored with their good behavior.
They missed going fishing. They built a treehouse, played Indians, and were delighted when Kack announced that it was time for the sang-hunt.

August found the woods splendid with color, and
they each grabbed a burlap sack. Bradley went home, for he knew that he always got poison ivy or poison oak when he had gone deep into the west woods with them before.

They walked single file following Kack, until she would stop and point at the plant of
vivid yellow.

“
There, Ryan – and remember to plant the berries.”

They had a game of who would find the prize manroot.
The boys argued with each other – “I’ve got the most!” – and then each sat down to rummage in the sack to settle the argument.

The favorit
e taunt when mad at each other was, “I hope you fall in the river and drown,” and each time one of them said it, they shivered with fear and took it back.

They stopped for lunch and Kack spread a cloth and set out the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; fr
om the thermos she poured them each a cup of Kool-Aid. For dessert, there were wild Chickasaw plums.

Before they had finished, they looked up, and through the maze of trees they saw a doe, silent as a statue.

“Now Ryan,” Katherine whispered, “as I taught you.”

The boy leaned forward.
His eyes glittered brightly; he caught the doe’s eyes. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he drew in his breath and paced with the animal.

A beam, a tie of energy
– something – held them motionless, the boy and the animal. Nothing stirred but the wind.

Time stood still for Ryan.
He was in communion with the beat.

“
This game is dumb,” sputtered Kyle.

Released by the sound, the creature whirled and sped away, leaving the bushes trembling.

Kyle and April were jealous of the game that Kack and Ryan knew. Kack said they were antsy and they didn’t sit still. They didn’t concentrate, so they could never learn.

In the next hollow, Kyle found the prize root
– six inches long – a headless man. It was the first and only one to be found that day.

The children grew bored with the hunt.
At first it had seemed like a treasure hunt, and the competition of who found the prize manroot was exciting, but now it was only hard work, dragging the sacks through the dense woods.

Eventually they came to a dead tree, which Ryan skillfully scaled to the top.
He came down instantly, his face flushed with excitement. “I saw them, a whole bunch of them!”

“
Who?” Kyle urged.

“
Gypsies! It’s their camp, just down the ridge.”

“
Gypsies?” April said with awe, feeling important.

Ryan went on, “
They look like terrible people.” His imagination took over. “I think they have big sacks probably full of gold.”

“
Really? Gold?” Kyle repeated with awe.

“
Let’s get closer,” Ryan said. “I wish we had our spyglass.”

They abandoned Kack, left their burlap sacks of ginseng where they lay, forgotten, and marched single file through the brush, the sound of cracking twigs audible in the woods.

Ryan led the way, for he knew which direction the camp lay.

After ten minutes, they stopped, picked a tree, and decided to climb it to see if they were any closer to the camp.
Ryan went first. He scaled the fir tree, noticing the smoke from the fires, and saw a wagon very near. Excitedly, he came down.

“
They’re real close,” he whispered.

“
Let me see,” Kyle begged, and he began climbing the tree.

“
Me, too,” April pleaded, and Ryan cupped his hands so she could stand in them and be able to reach the first branch.

Before April was halfway up the small tree, a loud
voice startled them: “What are you doing? What do you want here?”

An old gypsy woman parted the bushes and stepped forward.
Her many skirts swished, her armful of bracelets rang musically. Her face was very round; patches of rouge stood out harshly on her cheeks, and wisps of grizzled gray-black hair peeked out of the purple scarf around her head. Huge gold earrings tinkled along with the bracelets. Her black eyes took in all of them in a second, appraising.

Her appearance so startled April that she let go of the branch and felt herself sliding roughly down the tree to land hard on a stone at its base.

To April’s dismay, it was the woman who leaned forward, grabbed her by both arms, and pulled her to her feet. April’s behind hurt terribly from the fall. She would have cried if she weren’t so frightened.

Ryan looked at his birthday watch.
“We have to go.”

The gypsy
’s eyes followed his movement and rested on his arm. Her voice, now smooth as honey, coaxed, “Not yet. Come, I will show you something wonderful.”

She still held fast to April
’s arms. Then she let go, took the small hand within hers, and started leading their cousin away.

The boys looked helplessly at each other.
They could not leave her. They would be punished. They followed, their hearts hammering loudly with fear. Kack was too far away; she could not help them. They walked through the brambles and came to the clearing.

A dark man shoeing a horse looked up, smiled, and went back to hi
s job, his hammer ringing.

She led them to a bench alongside a wagon; two dusky children paused in their game of hide and seek to stare at them.
“Shoo-shooo,” the woman hissed at them.

They ran off.

From the wagon, she fetched a large black sack. Her arm disappeared inside it, and she brought forth a round object.

“
This is a crystal ball. In it I can see tomorrow – and many tomorrows.”

“
You can?” April said in amazement.

“
Now child, take off your locket.”

April had forgotten she was wearing it.
“Why?”

“
Because I need to touch things that belong to you, so I can tell your future.”

April struggled to find the catch; twisting the locket around, the chain broke, and she started to cry.

“It’s all right. I will make two,” the gypsy crooned. She took April’s hand, turned it upward, smoothed her palm, and peered intently into the small, dirty hand. “Oh, yes. You will marry well ---” She looked up at the boys’ faces, mirror images of each other. “You will marry him.” She pointed to Kyle.

Then she frowned, con
fused. “No, no. You will marry
him
.” She pointed to Ryan.

“
It doesn’t matter. You will marry well, live in a big house, and have many lockets,” she promised.

“
What about my locket now?” April asked, looking toward the pocket it had slipped into.

“
Never mind, child. Tonight I will bury it by the full moon, and tomorrow look under your pillow. There will be two.”

“
There will?” she said, delighted.

“
Now you,” she drew Ryan forward, “give me your watch.” Seeing his hesitation, she coaxed, “Come now, I need to touch it.”

Reluctantly he unstrapped the watch.
She held it in her palm, closed her eyes and murmured softly to herself. “Now let’s see.” She pulled his hand forward and appeared to study it carefully. “Ah yes – you will be famous.” Ryan smiled. “Very, very famous. Many people in the world will know your name. You will ---” She stopped – halted – a shadow fell over her face. “That’s enough, you’re lucky enough. Not everyone can be famous.”

“
Me, me. What about me?” Kyle urged, shoving his hand under her face. She searched his person for valuables and saw none. Disgusted, she looked down into his palm. Her eyes widened. She looked at one boy, then at the other. Her head swiveled back and forth swiftly. Looking again into his palm, she shrieked – an unearthly scream:
“Junto, Junto!”
and clearing her throat, she spat into his palm.

Like one person of one mind, the three children turned and ran stumbling through the woods, running until their lungs were fit to burst.
They only stopped when they had reached the east lawn by the house. There they fell into the manicured grass, panting.

“
What about my locket? Do you think I really will have two?” April wondered.

Ryan looked at her.
“No, stupid. She tricked you out of your locket, and she stole my watch.”

Kyle rubbed hi
s fouled hand on the grass. “She told you both nice things because you had something to give her.”

Ryan remembered and began laughing hysterically.
“She spit in your hand! That dirty gypsy spit in your hand. I bet you’ll have a wart.”

With that, they began
fighting, chasing each other around the yard, falling and wrestling viciously in the grass until Hannah called them in for supper.

As they walked to the kitchen, April mused, “
Which one of you will I marry? I wonder.”

They snickered.
“Don’t be dumb. You’re our cousin.”

“
Oh,” she answered, not knowing why that made a difference.

The next day, they accompanied Kack back to the woods to locate the half-filled sacks that they had abandoned.
The cold snap had turned the trees, and vivid reds and yellows were a beautiful sight. Activity was high, the animals sensing that winter was near.

Kyle and April lagged behind.
“My brother’s crazy. Did you see him yesterday with that doe? He’s definitely crazy,” Kyle whispered.

“
No, he’s not.” April defended him in an angry voice. “You’re just jealous because you can’t do it.”

“
Yes, he is crazy. I know, the mirror told me.”

“
How can the mirror tell you?” April reasoned. “It’s only you in the mirror telling you.”

He ignored her rationale and asked, “
How would you like it if someone stole your face?”
“Is that what being a twin means?” she asked. “I hope I never am one.”

“
Stupid. Stupid April,” Kyle shouted, and ran ahead, leaving her lagging behind.

Kyle spot
ted the tip of the dead tree. “There, Kack! It’s over there. That looks like the tree Ryan climbed.”