Whippoorwill (18 page)

Baby Boy ducked his head. The offer of a wagon ride and the possibility of a sweet treat at the general store were hard to pass up, but if he went, it would be near to impossible to bypass the blacksmith’s son. He was the one who’d started the teasing Baby had endured, although Baby Boy privately thought that Arnold Detter’s son didn’t have a name that was all that much to brag about, either. Going through life with the name of Pearl had to be hell for a fellow to live down. If Baby had been a little older, he might have understood Pearl Detter’s need to ridicule someone besides himself, but he wasn’t. Wisdom doesn’t normally come to a man until some time after he’s bedded his first woman and survived a fight for his life. Baby Boy had yet to do either. He was just hoping to get past his eighth birthday with all of his permanent teeth intact, and he feared if his momma made him go back to that school, it wasn’t going to happen.

Isaac suspected the reason why Baby didn’t want to go with him. But he also knew that to run from a fear was the single worst thing a man could do, no matter what his age. Once in the habit of ducking a problem, the habit seemed to stick throughout life. It made a weakling out of a good man every time.

“I’ll let you drive,” Isaac offered.

Baby Boy vaulted into the seat. He’d suffer a bloody nose any day for the opportunity to drive his pa’s fine team of mules.

“I’m ready when you are, Pa,” he said, his palms fairly itching to take the reins in hand.

Isaac hid a grin. “Just let me get yore momma’s list and we’ll be off.”

Minna had overheard their conversation and met Isaac at the door with the list and a warning he knew meant business.

“You bring him back in one piece, Isaac Jessup, or so help me God, I’ll take a stick to you, myself.”

Isaac grinned, then lifted Minna off of her feet and danced her around the kitchen.

“You’re awful pretty when you’re mad.” Then he stole a kiss she didn’t much bother to dodge.

“And you are a scoundrel, Isaac Jessup. Now get! I’ve got things to do.”

“We’ll be back before chore time,” he promised.

She stuffed the list in his shirt pocket. “Tell Baby I’m making apple pies, but I don’t want to milk that darned cow by myself. She kicks worse than a mule.”

Isaac grinned. He heard more than complaint behind her words. She was telling him she loved him and needed him as best she knew how.

“You won’t have to, honey,” he said. “I’ll be back in plenty of time to do chores.”

“Pa! Let’s go!”

Isaac grinned. “Sounds like our son’s impatient to get his lights punched.”

Minna frowned. “All I know is, Baby better not be the only one who comes back with a bloody nose.”

“Dang, honey, Arnold Detter is twice my size.”

“And Pearl is near twice Baby’s size.”

The smile slid off of Isaac’s face. “I get the message.”

Minna stood in the doorway and waved until she could no longer see so much as a dust trail. After that, she went inside, cried until she gave herself a headache, then walked up the hillside toward seven small tombstones and sat down among the wildflowers that blanketed her babies in a way she could not.

***

Crawler’s Mill was no different from any other territory town except that it had no mill to explain the significance of the name. Main Street was the only street, and it was head high in dust when it was dry and knee high in mud when it rained.

The general store was the only establishment that welcomed women as customers. The other businesses, few though they were, catered solely to men, which was the way of the west at this time.

Dump’s Saloon was a dump, but it was Dump Smith’s pride and joy. Where else could a man with his sparse abilities and education make a living such as this? In a land where shade and drink were at a premium, he boasted the only place this side of Lizard Flats where both were available and only one for sale.

Each year, he promised himself that he was going to retire and go back East where civilized amenities abounded. He had a hankering for houses with fine floors and indoor baths. Where everyone he met didn’t smell like sweat, horses and manure, or a combination of all three. And this year, like all the rest, he found another reason to stay on. The reasons never amounted to much, but in spite of his grandiose plans, it didn’t take much to satisfy Dump Smith.

Detter’s Blacksmith and Livery did a good business as well. Arnold Detter could shoe a horse in the blink of an eye and was training his young son to follow in his footsteps. It gave the residents of Crawler’s Mill and the surrounding area a sense of stability to know that there were two generations of blacksmiths at their disposal.

Arnold’s son, Pearl, was still young, but for a boy of ten, quite strong and as brawny as some men. Unfortunately for Pearl, his opinion of himself was larger than he was. More than once, he’d gone to bed with a fat lip and skinned knuckles, compliments of the fights he’d had with bigger boys who’d laughed at his name.

When the new teacher started a school, Pearl had been delighted to learn there was one youth in the territory that had a name worse than his own. Pearl Detter decided that making Baby Boy Jessup’s life a living hell might alleviate some of his own.

The plan worked clear through the first week of school. After that, Baby Boy Jessup didn’t come back and Pearl was again on the defense, daily pounding the jeers from other boy’s lips. That was why when Pearl heard the squeak of a wagon wheel in need of grease and turned to look, he began grinning from ear to ear. It was the Jessup wagon that was coming toward their livery.

While Pearl was gloating at his good fortune, Baby Boy flinched in fear as his father turned toward the stables.

“Pa! What are we going to the livery for?”

Isaac heard the terror in his son’s voice, but could find no words to explain that his son must face his nemesis. With every day that passed, Pearl Detter became bigger in Baby’s mind than he actually was.

“Wheel squeaks.”

Baby knew that. It had been squeaking all the way to town. Had he realized the significance of it, he might have bolted from the seat and run back home. It was too late now. Pearl Detter was coming out of the livery with a smile on his face.

“Mr. Jessup. Baby Boy. What can I do for you?” Pearl relished the silly sound of the boy’s name on his tongue.

Isaac heard the taunt in Pearl Detter’s voice and, for the first time, began to understand the hell his son had been enduring at his expense.

“My wheel’s a squeakin’, Ruby. I wondered if you had any wheel grease.”

Baby gawked. Pa knew the Detter boy’s name was Pearl. He fidgeted on the seat, certain now that when Pearl got the chance he’d whomp him twice for his pa’s insult.

Pearl frowned. “My name is Pearl, Mr. Jessup. Not Ruby.”

Isaac pretended not to notice the indignation in the big boy’s voice.

“Oh, sorry.” He crawled down from the wagon to kneel near his wheel, pretending to inspect it as he gave Baby Boy the list Minna had put in his pocket. “Son, you run on over to the general store and start gatherin’ up your momma’s necessities while Pearly and I fix the wheel.”

Pearl Detter turned red in the face and wished he was a man grown. He’d bust Isaac Jessup in the nose for sure.

“It’s Pearl, not Pearly,” he muttered.

Isaac shrugged. “Sorry. I ain’t much good with names.”

When he was certain Baby Boy was too far away to hear, he gave the smithy’s son a steely glance. “I ain’t too good with names,” he repeated, “’cause I don’t think they matter all that much. My daddy always said it was what’s inside a fellow that makes him a man. It don’t matter how big he is, or how good he is with his fists, if he’s a coward, it’ll show. Somehow… someway.”

Pearl flushed. He recognized the rebuke. He would have liked to be angry, but was too shamed before this big, gentle man to make the effort. Pearl Detter knew the misery of being made fun of and he’d spent every day Baby was in school making sure his life had been hell.

Pearl ducked his head. “I s’pect you’d be right about that, Mr. Jessup. I’ll be gettin’ that wheel grease if you don’t mind waitin’.”

He ran back into the livery just as his father was coming out.

“Jessup.” Arnold offered his hand. “What can I do for you?”

Isaac shook the man’s hand. “I’m fine, Arnold, just fine. Your son is takin’ real good care of me and mine. He’s a boy to be proud of, I reckon.”

Arnold beamed. When Pearl came back with the bucket of grease, Arnold gave him a sharp thump on the shoulders and knelt to help remove the wheel.

“You’re sure right about Pearl, Mr. Jessup. I am proud of him.”

Pearl’s belly flopped. He felt like he’d swallowed a worm and now it was squirming on him from the inside out. When they’d finished with the wheel, Pearl dusted off his hands.

“Pa, can I go and say hello to Mr. Jessup’s boy? He sits behind me at school.”

Arnold nodded. “I reckon, but you hurry on back. There’s still work to be done.”

When Pearl darted off toward the store, Isaac suffered a spurt of worry then let it settle. Whatever happened now was up to the boys. He’d interfered all a man should in a case like this.

Baby Boy was leaning on the counter, watching the jar of peppermint sticks next to his left ear as if they might suddenly jump into his mouth. And because he was staring so hard at the jar, he missed seeing Pearl Detter come into the store.

“How you doin’, Baby?” Pearl asked, and then took a couple of steps back just to prove he meant no harm.

Baby Boy pivoted, and looked toward the door. Pearl was too close, and it was too far away to make a run for it.

“Your pa is talkin’ to my pa,” Pearl offered, and then stared at the candy jar for something to do.

Baby Boy thought about running anyway, then doubled his fists and stood his ground. Whatever happened, it couldn’t be too bad with the storekeeper nearby.

Pearl dug in his pocket. “I came to get myself a sweetie.”

Baby glared and pretended he didn’t care that Pearl Detter had two whole pennies to call his own.

The storekeeper was in the back room weighing Minna Jessup’s flour into a sack. “Mr. Calley, I’ll be gettin’ myself two of these here candies,” Pearl shouted.

While Baby looked on, Pearl plunked down a penny and dug two of the biggest sticks of candy out of the jar. To Baby’s surprise, Pearl shoved the biggest stick in his face.

“Want one?” Pearl asked.

Baby didn’t know whether to say thank you, or wait for Pearl to ram it up his nose.

Pearl persisted. “So, do you want it or not?”

Baby wasn’t giving in this easy. Not after what Pearl had put him through. “Why are you bein’ so nice?”

Pearl shrugged and stuck his candy in his mouth for lack of anything else to say. Reluctantly, Baby took the peace offering.

Isaac Jessup walked into the store just as Baby stuck the candy into his mouth.

“Hey now, Baby, I didn’t say you could have one of those.”

“It’s my treat, sir,” Pearl said, and ducked his head. “I reckon I owed him.”

Isaac’s expression softened. “So you reckon you owed him a candy?”

Pearl nodded. “Yes sir.”

Baby Boy couldn’t quit staring. Something was going on, but for the life of him, he couldn’t bring himself to care enough to figure it out. All he knew was his worst enemy had just bought him a peppermint stick and his pa was grinning like a possum in a persimmon patch.

“See you at school,” Pearl shouted, and ran out of the door.

Isaac sighed. At least when he went home Minna wouldn’t take that stick to him.

“That’ll be a dollar and twenty-three cents,” John Calley said, as he plopped the last of the items onto the counter from Minna Jessup’s list.

Isaac dug into his pocket and pulled out the hard-to-come-by coins.

“Pa, look!” Baby was pointing toward a colorful poster on the wall behind the counter. “What does that say?”

Mr. Calley grinned. “It says, minister of the faith. That means there’s a bonafide preacher from back East coming to Lizard Flats. I hear tell they’re planning a wedding and a revival and who knows what else.”

Isaac’s thoughts took a sudden turn. “Hey, John, when does it say that preacher is comin’?”

The storekeeper squinted at the date then counted on his fingers, estimating today’s date against the printed date of the preacher’s arrival.

“In a week and two days. Yes sir, an honest-to-goodness preacher from back east is coming to Lizard Flats.”

Isaac grabbed at the two largest packages. “Baby, you get the rest and hurry on out to the wagon. We’d best be gettin’ on home.”

“Yes sir, Pa.” Baby Boy poked the candy to the side of his mouth like a fat cigar and did as he was told.

By the time Isaac and Baby Boy were home, his idea had taken firm root. When Minna came running out to meet them, Isaac jumped down from the wagon and caught her in his arms.

“Why Isaac Jessup, what on earth?”

And when he kissed her behind both ears before claiming the spot dead-center on her lips, she gasped.

Baby Boy grinned. He’d seen his momma and his pa kissing before, but he’d never seen them do it in broad daylight. He giggled behind his hand and tied the reins of the team to the hitching post near the porch.

Minna was still blushing when Isaac set her on her feet. “I swear, what will Baby say?”

Isaac tweaked her nose just to see her blush. “It doesn’t matter, ’cause we’re goin’ on a trip.”

Minna couldn’t have been more shocked if Isaac had asked her to strip naked and run to the creek with a bucket in each hand just to see if she could do it. “A trip? Where’bouts are we goin’?”

“We’re goin’ to Lizard Flats.”

Minna was trying not to get excited by the prospect of seeing new territory after eighteen years of seeing nothing more than their farm and Crawler’s Mill. “But why? What’s in Lizard Flats?”

“A preacher from back East is comin’ to Lizard Flats, and we’re gonna be there when he arrives.”

“Whatever for?” Minna asked.

“We’re gonna have our son christened! I ain’t never gonna give another child of mine a name without the blessin’ of a man of God to keep him safe.”