Wish You Well Read online

  LOU AND Oz RACED PAST THE EMPTY YARD AND IN-side the schoolhouse. Breathless, they hustled to their seats.

  "I'm sorry we're late," Lou said to Estelle McCoy, who was already chalking something on the board. "We were working in the fields and ..." She looked around and noted that fully half the seats were empty.

  "Lou, it's all right," said her teacher. "Planting time's starting, I'm just glad you made it in at all."

  Lou sat down in her seat. From the corner of her eye she saw that Billy Davis was there. He looked so angelic that she told herself to be cautious. When she lifted up her desk top to put away her books, she could not stifle the scream. The snake coiled in her desk—a three-foot brown and yellow-banded copperhead—was dead. However, the piece of paper tied around the serpent, with the words "Yankee Go Home" scrawled upon it, was what really made Lou angry.

  "Lou," called Mrs. McCoy from the blackboard, "is anything wrong?"

  Lou closed the desk and looked at Billy, who pursed his lips and attended to his book. "No," said Lou.

  It was lunchtime, and the air was cool, but with a warming sun, and the children gathered outside to eat, lard buckets and other like containers in hand. Just about everyone had something to line his or her stomach, even if it was just scraps of cornbread or biscuit, and many a hand cradled a small jug of milk or jar of springwater. Children settled back on the ground to do their eating, drinking, and talking. Some of the younger ones ran around in circles until they were so dizzy they fell down, and then older siblings picked them up and made them eat.

  Lou and Oz sat under the deep shade of the walnut tree, the breeze slowly lifting the ends of Lou's hair. Oz bit heartily into his buttered biscuit and drank down the cold springwater they had brought in a canning jar. Lou, though, did not eat. She seemed to be waiting for something, and stretched her limbs as though preparing for a race.

  Billy Davis strutted through the small clumps of eaters, prominently swinging his wooden lunch pail made from a small nail keg with a wire driven through it for a handle. He stopped at one group, said something, laughed, glanced over at Lou, and laughed some more. He finally climbed into the lower branches of a silver maple and opened his lunch pail. He screamed out, fell backward out of the tree, and landed mostly on his head. The snake was on him, and he rolled and pitched trying to get the serpent off. Then he realized it was his own dead copperhead that had been tied to the lid of the pail, which he still clutched in his hand. When he stopped squealing like a stabbed pig, he realized everyone in the schoolyard was belly-laughing at him.

  All except Lou, who just sat there with her arms crossed pretending to ignore this spectacle. Then she broke out into a smile so wide it threatened to block the sun. When Billy stood, so did she. Oz pushed the biscuit into his mouth, gulped down the rest of the water, and scooted to safety behind the walnut tree. Fists cocked, Lou and Billy met in the very center of the schoolyard. The crowd closed around them, and Yankee girl and mountain boy went for round two.

  Lou, the other side of her lip cut this time, sat at her desk. She stuck her tongue out at Billy, who sat across from her, his shirt torn and his right eye a nice purplish black. Estelle McCoy stood in front of them, arms crossed, a scowl on her face. Right after stopping the championship bout, the angry teacher had ended school early and sent word to the fighters' respective families.

  Lou was in high spirits, for she had clearly licked Billy again in front of everybody. He didn't look too comfortable, though, fidgeting in his chair and glancing nervously at the door. Lou finally understood his anxiety when the schoolhouse door crashed open and George Davis stood there.

  "What in the hell's going on here?" he roared loud enough to make even Estelle McCoy cower.

  As he stalked forward, the teacher drew back. "Billy was in a fight, George," Mrs. McCoy said.

  "You called me in here on 'count of a damn fight?" he snarled at her, and then towered menacingly over Billy. "I were out in the field, you little bastard, ain't got time for this crap." When George saw Lou, his wild eyes grew even more wicked, and then the man threw a backhand that caught Billy on the side of his head and knocked him to the floor.

  Father stood over the fallen son. "You let a damn girl do that to you?"

  "George Davis!" Estelle McCoy cried out. "You let your son be."

  He held up a menacing hand to her. "Now on, boy works the farm. No more this damn school."

  "Why don't you let Billy decide that?"

  Louisa said this as she walked into the room, Oz following closely behind her clutching at the woman's pants leg.

  "Louisa," the teacher said with great relief.

  Davis stood his ground. "He a boy, he damn well do what I say."

  Louisa helped Billy into his seat and comforted him, before turning to the father. "You see a boy? I see me a fine young man."

  Davis snorted. "He ain't no growed man."

  Louisa took a step toward him and spoke in a quiet voice, but her look was so fierce Lou forgot to breathe. "But you are. So don't you never hit him agin."

  Davis pointed right in her face with a nail-less finger.

  "Don't you go telling me how to handle my boy. You had yourself one child. Had me nine, 'nuther on the way."

  "Number of children fathered got little enough to do with being a good daddy."

  "You got that big nigger Hell No livin' with you. God'11 strike you down for that. Must be that Cherokee blood. You don't belong here. Never did, Injun woman."

  A stunned Lou looked at Louisa. Yankee. And Indian.

  "His name is Eugene," said Louisa. "And my daddy were part Apache, not Cherokee. And the God I know punishes the wicked. Like men who beat their children." Louisa took one more step forward. "You ever lay a hand on that child agin, best pray to whatever god you counsel with I ain't find you."

  Davis laughed nastily. "You scaring me, old woman."

  "Then you smarter than I thought."

  Davis's hand curled to a fist and he looked ready to swing until he saw big Eugene filling the doorway, and his courage seemed to peter away.

  Davis grabbed Billy. "Boy, you git on home. Git!" Billy raced out of the room. Davis followed slowly, taking his time. He looked back at Louisa. "This ain't over. No sir." He banged the door shut on his way out.

  * * *

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  SCHOOL HAD ENDED FOR THE YEAR, AND THE HARD work of farming had begun. Each day Louisa rose particularly early, before the night even seemed to have settled in, and made Lou get up too. The girl did both her and Oz's chores as punishment for fighting with Billy, and then they all spent the day working the fields. They ate simple lunches and drank cold springwater under the shade of a cucumber magnolia, none of them saying much, the sweat seeping through their clothes. During these breaks Oz threw rocks so far the others would smile and clap their hands. He was growing taller, the muscles in his arms and shoulders becoming more and more pronounced, the hard work fashioning in him a lean, hard strength. As it did in his sister. As it seemed to in most who struggled to survive here.

  The days were warm enough now that Oz wore only his overalls and no shirt or shoes. Lou had on overalls and was barefoot as well, but she wore an old cotton undershirt. The sun was intense at this elevation and they were becoming blonder and darker every day. Louisa kept teaching the children things: She explained how blue lake beans have no strings, but pole beans, grown around the cornstalks, do, and they'll choke you if you don't first string them. And that they could raise most of their crop seed, except for oats, which required machinery to thresh them, machinery that simple mountain farmers would never have. And how to wash the clothes using the washboard and just enough soap made from lye and pig fat—but not too much—keeping the fire hot, rinsing the clothes properly, and adding bluing on the third rinse to get everything good and white. And then at night, by firelight, how to darn with needle and thread. Louisa even talked of when would be a good time for Lou and Oz to learn the fine arts of mule shoeing and quilting by
frame.

  Louisa also finally found time to teach Lou and Oz to ride Sue the mare. Eugene would hoist them, by turns, up on the mare, bareback, without even a blanket.

  "Where's the saddle?" Lou asked. "And the stirrups?"

  "Your saddle's your rump. A pair of strong legs your stirrups," Louisa answered.

  Lou sat up on Sue while Louisa stood beside the mare.

  "Now, Lou, hold the reins in your right hand like I done showed you, like you mean it now!" said Louisa. "Sue'll let you get by with some, but you got to let her know who's boss."

  Lou flicked the reins, prodded the horse's sides, generally kicked up a good row, and Sue remained absolutely motionless, as though she were sound asleep.

  "Dumb horse," Lou finally declared.

  "Eugene," Louisa called out to the field. "Come give me a boost up, please, honey."

  Eugene limped over and helped Louisa up on the horse, and she settled in behind Lou and took the reins.

  "Now, the problem ain't that Sue's dumb, it's that you ain't speaking her way yet. Now, when you want Sue to go, you give her a nice punch in the middle and make a little chk-chk noise. To her that means go. When you want her to turn, you don't jerk on the reins, you just glide them like. To stop, a little quick tug back."

  Lou did as Louisa had shown her, and Sue started moving. Lou glided the reins to the left and the horse actually went that way. She fast-tugged back on the reins and Sue came to a slow stop.

  Lou broke into a big smile. "Hey, look at me. I'm riding."

  From Amanda's bedroom window, Cotton leaned his head out and watched. Then he looked to the beautiful sky, and then over at Amanda in the bed.

  A few minutes later, the front door opened and Cotton carried Amanda outside and put her in the rocking chair there, next to a screen of maypops that were in full bloom of leathery purple.

  Oz, who was now up on Sue with his sister, looked over, saw his mother, and almost fell off the horse. "Hey, Mom, look at me. I'm a cowboy!" Louisa stood next to the horse, staring over at Amanda. Lou finally looked, but she didn't seem very excited to see her mother outside. Cotton's gaze went from daughter to mother, and even Cotton had to admit, the woman looked pitifully out of place in the sunshine, her eyes closed, the breeze not lifting her short hair, as though even the elements had abandoned her. He carried her back inside.

  It was a bright summer's morning a few days later, and Lou had just finished milking the cows and was coming out of the barn with full buckets in her arms. She stopped dead as she stared across at the fields. She ran so fast to the house that the milk splashed around her feet. She set the buckets on the porch and ran into the house, past Louisa and Eugene and down the hall yelling at the top of her lungs. She burst into her mother's room, and there was Oz sitting next to her, brushing her hair.

  Lou was breathless. "It's working. It's green. Everything. The crops are coming up. Oz, go see." Oz raced out of the room so fast he forgot he only had on his underwear. Lou stood there in the middle of the room, her chest heaving, her smile wide. As her breathing calmed, Lou went over to her mother and sat down, took up a limp hand. "I just thought you'd like to know. See, we've been working really hard." Lou sat there in silence for a minute more, and then put the hand down and left, her excitement spent.

  In her bedroom that night, as on so many other evenings, Louisa worked the Singer pedal sewing machine she had bought for ten dollars on installment nine years back. She wouldn't reveal to the children what she was making, and wouldn't even let them guess. Yet Lou knew it must be something for her and Oz, which made her feel even guiltier about the fight with Billy Davis.

  After supper the next evening, Oz went to see his mother, and Eugene went to work on some scythes in the corncrib. Lou washed the dishes, and then sat on the front porch next to Louisa. For a while, neither ventured to talk. Lou saw a pair of titmice fly out of the barn and land on the fence. Their gray plumage and pointed crests were glorious, but the girl wasn't much interested.

  "I'm sorry about the fighting," Lou said quickly, and let out a relieved breath that her apology was finally done.

  Louisa stared at the two mules in the pen. "Good to know," she said, and then said no more. The sun was starting its fall and the sky was fairly clear, with not many clouds worth noting. A big crow was sky-surfing alone, catching one drift of wind and then another, like a lazily falling leaf.

  Lou cupped some dirt and watched a battalion of ants trail across her hand. The honeysuckle vine was in full, scented morning glory, filling the air along with the fragrances of cinnamon rose and clove pinks, and the purple wall of maypops dutifully shaded the porch. Rambling rose had twisted itself around most of the fence posts and looked like bursts of still fire.

  "George Davis is an awful man," said Lou.

  Louisa leaned her back against the porch railing. "Work his children like mules and treats his mules better'n his children."

  "Well, Billy didn't have to be mean to me," Lou said, and then grinned. "And it was funny to see him fall out of that tree when he saw the dead snake I put in his lunch pail."

  Louisa leaned forward and looked at her curiously. "You see anythin' else in that pail?"

  "Anything else? Like what?"

  "Like food."

  Lou appeared confused. "No, the pail was empty." Louisa slowly nodded, settled back against the railing once more, and looked to the west, where the sun was commencing its creep behind the mountains, kindling the sky pink and red.

  Louisa said, "You know what I find funny? That children believe they should be shamed 'cause their daddy don't see fit to give them food. So shamed they'd haul an empty pail to school and pretend to eat, so's nobody catch on they ain't got nothing to eat. You find that funny?"

  Lou shook her head, her gaze at her feet. "No." "I know I ain't talked to you 'bout your daddy. But my heart goes out to you and Oz, and I love both of you even more, on 'count of I want to make up for that loss, even though I know I can't." She put a hand on Lou's shoulder and turned the girl to her. "But you had a fine daddy. A man who loved you. And I know that makes it all the harder to get by, and mat's both a blessing and a curse that we all just got to bear in this life. But thing is, Billy Davis got to live with his daddy ever day. I'd ruther be in your shoes. And I know Billy Davis would. I pray for all them children ever day. And you should too."

  * * *

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  THE GRANDMOTHER CLOCK HAD JUST STRUCK MJD-night when the pebbles hit Lou's window. The girl was in the middle of a dream that disintegrated under the sudden clatter. Lou stepped to the window and looked out, seeing nothing at first. Then she spotted her caller and opened the window.

  "What do you think you're doing, Diamond Skinner?" "Come get you," said the boy, standing there next to his faithful hound. "For what?" In answer he pointed at the moon. It glowed more brightly than Lou had ever seen before. So fine was her view, she could see dark smudges on its surface.

  "I can see the moon all by myself, thank you very much," she said.

  Diamond smiled. "Naw, not just that. Fetch your brother. Come on, now, it be fun where we going. You see."

  Lou looked unsure. "How far is it?" "Not fer. Ain't scared of the dark, are ya?" "Wait right there," she said and shut the window.

  In five minutes' time Lou and Oz were fully dressed and had crept out of the farmhouse and joined Diamond and Jeb.

  Lou yawned. 'This better be good, Diamond, or you should be scared for waking us up."

  They set out at a good pace to the south. Diamond kept up an animated chatter the whole way, yet absolutely refused to divulge where they were going. Lou finally quit trying and looked at the boy's bare feet as he stepped easily over some sharp-edged rocks. She and Oz were wearing their shoes.

  "Diamond, don't your feet ever get sore or cold?" she asked as they paused on a small knoll to catch their breath.

  "Snow comes, then mebbe y'all see something on my feet, but only if it drifts to more'n ten foot or so. Come o
n now."

  They set off again, and twenty minutes later, Lou and Oz could hear the quickened rush of water. A minute later Diamond put up his hand and they all stopped. "Got to go real slow here," he said. They followed him closely as they moved over rocks that were becoming more slippery with each step; and the sound of the rushing water seemed to be coming at them from all quarters, as though they were about to be confronted by a tidal wave. Lou gripped Oz's hand for it was all a little unnerving to her, and thus she assumed her brother must be suffering stark terror. They cleared a stand of towering birch and weeping willow heavy with water, and Lou and Oz looked up in awe.

  The waterfall was almost one hundred feet high. It poured out from a crop of worn limestone and plummeted straight down into a pool of foamy water, which then snaked off into the darkness. And then Lou suddenly realized what Diamond had meant about the moon. It glowed so brightly, and the waterfall and pool were placed so perfectly, that the trio were surrounded by a sea of illumination. The reflected light was so strong, in fact, that night seemed to have been turned into day.

  They moved back farther, to a place where they could still see