Soul Catcher (31 page)

^{"We had something very much like that back home. But we called it ' 'Neath the Chestnut Tree.'"}

^{"Yes, that's 'Lilly Dale.' It goes by several names." The old woman went back to her dishes, but now she commenced to singing in a high, fluttering voice that clutched at the back of one's throat.}

^.

^{"'Neath the chestnut tree,}

^{Where the wildflow'rsgrow,}

^{And the stream ripples forth}

^{Thro' the vale,}

^{Where the birds shall warble}

^{Their songs in spring,}

^{There lay poor Lilly Dale."}

^.

^{When she finished she said, "You're welcome to stay the night in the barn. The roof leaks, but it's not supposed to rain tonight." "Much obliged, ma'am," Cain said.}

^{Later, she led them out to the barn, carrying a lantern to light the way. When she got them situated, she headed back up to the house. Cain followed her up. At the front porch he removed his billfold and said, "I'd like to pay you for your kindness."}

^{"It wouldn't be a kindness if I took your money, now would it?" she said. "But I will ask a favor of you." "I'd be happy to oblige if I can," he said.}

^{"It is in the manner of moving something. Something that's too heavy for me."}

^{"Would you be needing it moved now, ma'am?"}

^{"No. It can wait till morning," she said absently, looking at him with those loose eyes of hers. In the lantern light, they shone a soft gray, and they made him think of someone else.}

^{"Well, thank you for the food, ma'am. Good night." He tipped his hat and turned to leave, but she suddenly grabbed hold of his wrist. The coldness of her touch caught him by surprise. It sent a shiver coursing through him.}

^{"Ma'am?" he said.}

^{"Have you ever been smitten, Augustus?" she asked, slowly relaxing her grip.}

^{"Smitten, ma'am?"}

^{She laughed girlishly, and he saw beneath the hard years and the wrinkles the pretty girl she'd once been. When she laughed like this, he suddenly knew who it was she reminded him of. Not so much in the appearance of her, but in the way she acted, her manner. The woman made him think of his mother.}

^{"In love. So in love you thought your heart would burst in your chest."}

^{He scratched his beard, unshaven now for days.}

^{"I suppose."}

^{"It's not something one has to suppose. You would know if you had ever felt it. A body has not lived if he has not loved."}

^{"Yes," he confessed after a while. "I was in love once."}

^{"What happened?"}

^{"She died."}

^"How?"

^{"They killed her."}

^{"I'm so sorry."}

^{"It was a long time ago. I've almost forgotten."}

^{She stared at him and smiled sadly, as if she'd caught him in a lie that they both knew. "When it happened, were you all torn up inside?"}

^{Cain shrugged. "I suppose. What I mostly felt was an urge to kill those that did it to her."}

^{"You poor man," she said, touching his shoulder gently. "Love is God's greatest mystery. It's not something one can ever understand, nor ever live without. Remember that, Augustus." She fell silent for a moment, looking up at the house. "Love entered my life when I was fifteen. This man walked me home from a dance. He was a widower who lived on the next farm over from us. His wife had gotten a fever and died young and he'd never remarried. He was a good deal older, had grown children older than me. I had seen him before, not much to look at. He had a nice smile, though, and calm eyes. Like an evening sky in summer. And I liked his walk. Not a strut like that of some men, but a determined gait. He stood at my front door on a night just like this, and he took my hand and asked if he could kiss me. I didn't say yes, but he kissed me just the same. I thought of slapping him for being so forward, but my heart knew I was in love. I knew right then I would love him for all of my days and that if he wouldn't have me I would curl up and die."}

^{She paused for a moment. Now it was Cain who asked, "What happened?"}

^{"We married. I came here and lived with him for almost fifty years. I gave birth to three boys and a girl. The youngest two I saw buried out in back of the house." He waited for her to finish her story, but her eyes grew vacant as she stared off down the road, just the way she had when they'd come riding up earlier that day.}

^{"Good night, Augustus."}

^{"Are you all right, ma'am?"}

^{"I am fine. Remember not to let anything happen to the girl."}

^{"I shall try."}

^{"No, don't try," she commanded. "See to it."}

^{"I will, ma'am," he replied. "Good night."}

^{After securing the two runaways to a horse ring in the tack room, the four men turned in.}

^{"Crazier'n a hoot owl, that old biddy," said Preacher.}

^{"She just old," Little Strofe offered.}

^{"She gives me the willies," Preacher said. "She's the sort who'll sic the ab'litionists on you, sure as shootin'."}

^{The others soon fell asleep, leaving Cain to thrash about awake. He had to agree with Preacher. He felt something was amiss with the old woman. The wary-hunter part of Cain wondered if she might indeed be an abolitionist who would sneak out after they were asleep and turn them in. But the other part, the one who'd confessed to having loved someone, worried about her. So he got up and quietly made his way out of the barn and up to the house, where he saw a light inside. He crept up to the window and peered in. It was her bedroom. The old woman sat on the side of the bed in her nightgown, combing her long gray hair and putting it in braids. She had a mirror in front of her that she turned this way and that, inspecting herself. He never imagined such vanity from an old lady, but she looked like a schoolgirl before her first dance. Then he saw what lay behind her in the bed: the sleeping form of a man. He lay on his back, his eyes closed, his hands under the covers. Cain wondered why she'd lied about being alone. Maybe the man was a lover and she didn't want anyone to know about him. Or maybe he didn't help around the place, merely slept in her bed. In any event Cain figured it wasn't any of his business; he backed quietly away from the window and headed to the barn.}

^{When he woke with the first cockcrow in the morning, Little Strofe was already up and about, tending to his dogs.}

^{"The old lady up yet?" Cain asked.}

^{"Ain't heard a thing up there," he replied.}

^{Cain left the barn and headed quietly up toward the house, retracing his footsteps from the night before. The black dog, he realized, was no longer barking. It lay in a dark heap at the end of its chain, its mouth open, its tongue swollen and lolling out onto the ground. Cain didn't have to, but he went over anyway and nudged it once with the toe of his boot, just to be sure. The animal was stiff and lifeless. He then headed back up to the house and knocked on the door. Receiving no reply, he opened it and walked in. The smell from the previous night was even stronger today--sharper, more concentrated, a pronounced sour tang that turned the stomach. Cain followed his nose toward the back room. As soon as he pushed open the bedroom door, he saw them--the old woman on the left, next to her the man he'd spotted sleeping the night before--lying side by side on the bed. While they might have looked to the casual observer as if they were merely an old couple sleeping, Cain knew immediately, they were both as dead as the dog. The old lady had died within the past few hours; her body was still somewhat pliant and not fully cold, more just cool to the touch. When he lifted her lids, her eyes were vacant but still those of a human being. The man, on the other hand, had been dead for much longer. His face had begun to collapse, and he already exuded the rank corruption of death. He was much older than the woman, though it was hard to assign an age to him now. Cain assumed then that the woman had probably poisoned the dog just before she did herself.}

^{Only later did he find the note on the bureau, scratched quickly in a shaky hand.}

^.

^{April 23, 1857}

^{Dear Mister Cain,}

^{The favor I would ask of you is if you would see to it that my husband and myself have a proper Burial. You'll find our family Plot out back, where our two youngest children have been laid to rest. There are spades and picks in the barn. You needn't dig two Graves, as neither Father nor I are very large nor are we of a particular nature. We will be just fine resting together for Eternity, if Providence so wills, as we have for many years in this our marriage Bed. Thank you very much for your kindness. And please be sure to remember what I said about the girl.}

^{Yours sincerely,}

^{Hettie Atkins Burch}

^.

^{p.s . There is a side of bacon in the smokehouse. You're welcome to it.}

^.

^{When Preacher heard what Cain was proposing, he balked at it. "We're gonna dig their
what?"}

^{"Their grave," Cain said.}

^{"Ain't none of our affair," he said. "I say we leave 'em and get the hell out of here before somebody comes 'round and finds us with them. Who's to say they won't think we kilt 'em?"}

^{"It's not a C-Christian thing to leave 'em unburied," Little Strofe said.}

^{"I don't give a shit. What's that crazy old biddy to us?"}

^{"She fed us and put us up," Cain said. "It's the least we can do."}

^{"Least
you
can do. I don't figure I owe her a dang thing."}

^{"Suit yourself then," Cain said.}

^{Cain and the Strofe brothers took turns digging the grave out in the family plot, while Preacher went over to where the two Negroes sat chained to the chestnut tree and stretched out and took a nap. The spring day turned sunny and warm, and they worked up a good sweat hacking through the rocky New England soil. When the grave was deep enough, they headed up to the house to fetch the bodies. However, on the front porch, the brothers fell to arguing over what to do next. Strofe thought they'd already wasted enough time and was just for throwing the two in the hole and covering them up as fast as they could, while his brother took the position that they ought at least to prepare their bodies and wind them in shrouds, since they didn't have proper coffins.}

^{"You cain't just stick 'em in the g-ground like that," Little Strofe said.}

^{"Why not?"}

^{"Ain't decent. They ought leastways to be wrapped in a shroud."}

^{"I ain't washin' a couple of dead strangers," said Strofe. "You want to do it, then be my guest."}

^{They went back and forth. Finally a voice said, "I'll prepare the bodies if you want."}

^{They turned to see Rosetta, who sat underneath the chestnut tree.}