The Whippoorwill Trilogy

by Sharon Sala

  “Uh… what do you remember about last night?” Eulis asked.

  Letty threw her hands up in the air and would have stomped away, but she couldn’t see where she was going.

  “Going to get water. I was going to get water.”

  “You did. I used some of it to cook su—” Eulis stopped. “Sorry. I forgot. We ain’t talkin’ about cooking, right?”

  Letty’s stomach lurched, but to her relief, it was only a small spasm.

  “Eulis. I swear to God when I can see again I will kill you with my bare hands if you don’t stop beating around the bush. What happened to me? Why am I covered in filth?”

  “After you got skunked, I dragged you in the creek to help you stop pukin’, then you went and passed out on me, so I dragged you out of the creek and back to camp. I put you to bed all cozy like and there you stayed ’til now.”

  Letty moaned. No wonder the backs of her legs and heels hurt.

  “I need to pee,” she said.

  “Okay,” Eulis said, then bent down and took the frying pan off the campfire and set it aside. Wouldn’t do to let their last piece of fat back burn.

  Letty stood up, waiting for assistance. All she heard was Eulis puttering about. She exhaled on a sigh and told herself to remain calm.

  “Eulis.”

  He put the coffee pot down and looked up.

  “Yeah?”

  “I said I need to pee.”

  “Well, go on ahead,” Eulis said.

  “I would if I could see where I was going.”

  “Oh. Yeah. Sorry,” he said, then hurried toward her. He took her by the arm and started leading her toward the trees.

  “Here’s good,” he said.

  Letty reached out, feeling the shelter of being surrounded by bushes, and then frowned.

  “Can you see me?”

  Eulis sighed. “Well, hell yes, Letty. I’m a’standin’ right here.”

  She took a deep breath, smelled too much of herself and gagged again, and then hit him on the arm.

  “That’s not what I mean. If I squat down here, are you gonna be able to see me.”

  “Not if I walk away,” Eulis said.

  “Then get.”

  “Oh. Yeah. All right. When you’re done, just holler.”

  “I was hollering my head off last night and you didn’t hear me.”

  “I’ll be right over there,” Eulis said, pointing to indicate his location, and then sheepishly grinned. “I forgot. You can’t see.”

  “Go away, Eulis. Walk away and turn your back, please. I am humiliated enough as it is.”

  “All right.”

  Letty stood, listening until she could no longer hear Eulis’s footsteps.

  “Are you looking?”

  “No, Sister Leticia, I am not looking at your bare ass, although I am probably the only man within a hundred-mile range that hasn’t seen it.”

  Letty would have liked to give him what for, but the truth was a hard thing to ignore. Instead, she pulled down her bloomers and squatted, taking no small amount of comfort from the relief of emptying her bladder. Now if she could only see and rid herself of the smell on her body, she might never complain about anything again.

  A few moments later, she walked out of the bushes.

  “Eulis.”

  Eulis turned around. Letty was out of the trees, but she was looking toward the creek.

  “I’m here,” he said.

  “Oh,” she said, and turned to face him.

  “Do you mind taking me down to the creek? I know I won’t be able to wash off the skunk, but I would sure like to get rid of the dirt and weeds.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Eulis said. “Want me to go get your soap?”

  Letty smiled. “That would be wonderful.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

  Standing On The Promises

  Once Letty had given up trying to maintain any sense of modesty, she stripped down to her skin then eased into the creek.

  Eulis handed her the soap and then patted her on the head as she sat down.

  “I’ll wait for you up here on the bank,” he said.

  Letty hesitated. It would be comforting to know he was nearby, but she remembered the breakfast meat he’d been cooking.

  “I’ll be fine,” she said. “You go on back and have your breakfast. I’ll yell at you when I’m ready to get out.”

  Eulis eyed the buxom sway of her breasts and the soft curves on her body and then sighed. She was a fine looking woman, but that was as far as it went.

  “You sure?”

  “You don’t see any snakes or such?” Letty asked.

  Eulis looked carefully around. “Nope. All clear.”

  “Then run along.”

  Eulis waded out of the water and up the side of the creek bank. He looked back once to make sure Letty was okay, and then hurried back to camp.

  The water was spring-fed, so it was cold on Letty’s skin, but she didn’t care. She’d never felt so disgusting in her life. She scrubbed at her undergarments with some of the soap and then rinsed them in the water. Bracing herself against the swift flow, she lowered herself backward until her hair was completely submerged and let the current have its’ way with the filth. Once the worst of it was gone, she sat up, scrubbed the soap through her hair and then rinsed again and again.

  When she was satisfied with the feel of her hair, she began working on her skin. Time passed until only a small sliver of soap was left. She’d rubbed her skin raw and her swollen eyes were seeping tears. Her hair had been scrubbed clean and shiny, but she still smelled to high heaven.

  She lifted her arm to her nose and inhaled, then coughed and choked. The worst of the nausea she’d experienced last night was beginning to pass. If it weren’t for the smell and her eyes, she’d feel close to normal.

  She combed her fingers through her hair several times to get out the tangles, then turned so that it caught the sun to let it dry. She thought about getting out and calling for Eulis, but he was probably packing up camp. He’d bring her clean clothes when he came back, but for now she would enjoy the quiet.

  She sat still for a bit, feeling the current of the water pushing against her flesh as well as the layer of sand and pebbles on the bottom of the creek. There was a slight breeze in the air, but not enough to carry away the smell stuck to her skin. She wondered if she would ever smell decent again.

  Birds called to each other from the tree tops, mingling with the circling air, the sounds of running water, and filling Letty with a rare sense of peace. She couldn’t remember when she’d been this miserable physically, and still calm within her soul.

  As she was sitting in the water and feeling sorry for herself, she suddenly realized she was singling out a particular bird call from the multitude of sounds, and it was something she’d never before heard in the bright light of day.

  It was a whippoorwill’s call.

  She turned toward the sound, hoping to catch sight of the small brown bird and then realized she couldn’t see. The irony of it all made her laugh, but when she opened her mouth, the sound wouldn’t come. To her horror, she started to cry. At first it was nothing but the hot wash of tears seeping out from beneath swollen lids, but soon the sobs caught up with her pain.

  She’d been a willful and prideful woman who’d lived a life of sin. Just because she’d gotten religion and left the life of a whore, didn’t prove anything. She remembered her impatience with the men on the stage, then the rage she’d laid at their feet when it was Forney Calder’s goat that should have garnered the blame.

  She was convinced that her latest travail was a warning directly from God’s hands. He’d judged her and found her wanting, then handed out this punishment. Because she’d been hateful, even vengeful toward her traveling companions simply because of their lowly behaviors, God had smitten her with a vile scent of her own—one that would linger long enough to remind her that only those who were without sin should cast the first
stones. Afraid that she’d lost her religion before it had a good chance to stick, she laid her head on her knees and started to bawl.

  Crow’s Call had been watching the white woman from the opposite side of the creek bank for almost an hour. The smell of the small polecat was still strong about her, although she looked cleaner than when she had stumbled into the creek. The dirt and grass that had been stuck to her body was gone, revealing heavy breasts, strong legs and a flat, muscular belly.

  But her eyes did not open and she had rubbed her white skin until it looked like the inside of a gutted deer. He understood her misery. He knew of the fire behind her eyes. He remembered well the lingering stench and the laughter of his brothers when it had happened to him. They had made him sleep alone outside their wiki-up. Even the camp dogs had refused to come near him.

  He glanced back over his shoulder, checking to make sure his pony was still in sight then turned back toward the woman. He had been gone from his camp for two sleeps gathering plants and roots for healing. The gathering had been good, and as healer for the Turtle clan it was his duty to make sure he had what might be needed to get his people through the winter. Even though he felt sorry for the young white woman, she was not his problem. He stood up, intent on leaving before the white man came back when she started to cry.

  He stared at the woman for a few moments more, and then looked past her to the other side of the creek. The white man was nowhere in sight. He stared at her again and then sighed. If he followed his instincts, he should get on his pony and ride away. But the woman’s misery was strong, and while he couldn’t take away the smell from her body, he could ease the pain in her eyes.

  Before he talked himself out of it, he stepped out of the trees and down into the water, ignoring the water soaking his moccasins and leggings.

  Letty heard the footsteps on the creek bank and then the splash as they came through the water. She felt around and grabbed onto the undergarments she’d been washing and quickly wrung them out. It didn’t occur to her that the footsteps had come from the wrong side of the creek or that Eulis hadn’t called out. She was too busy trying to hide the fact that she’d been crying.

  Before she could think what to say, a hand encircled her wrist and pulled her upright. Clutching the wet clothing against her breasts, she let herself be led, then stumbled once when she stepped on a sharp rock. Immediately, she felt him catch her and set her back on her feet.

  “Thanks,” she said, and had yet to wonder about his silence. When she began to feel the brush of leaves and vines against her skin, she knew they were back in the trees.

  “I still smell awful,” she said, stating the obvious.

  All she got for her truth was a grunt. She shrugged it off, figuring Eulis was taking the high road by no comment at all.

  A few moments more and she heard the snort of a horse. When the hand on her wrist moved from her arm to her shoulder and pushed, she took it as a sign to stop.

  “Eulis, I need my clothes,” she said.

  He didn’t answer, but she heard him walking through the brush then heard a low, steady murmur as he steadied the horse with a sound that resembled a low hum.

  She frowned. That didn’t sound like something Eulis might do. Still, being sightless made everything seem frightening and strange, so she didn’t question her confusion.

  “Come on, Eulis. I’m not claiming any large amount of modesty, but be fair. Please hand me some clothes.”

  She stretched out her hand, expecting to feel fabric. Instead, she felt something like grass or leaves in her palm. She fingered it, then decided it was leaves and lifted them to her nose. They had a sharp, medicinal smell and when she crushed one, it left an odd, oily substance on her skin.

  “What’s this?” she said.

  He touched her eyes then put her hand on the leaves then touched her eyes again.

  “You want me to put this on my eyes?” she asked, and took a leaf and held it near her face.

  He moved her hand to her eyes then gently pushed until the crushed leaves were lying next to her skin.

  Almost immediately, her burning eyelids felt a measure of relief.

  “Oooh, that feels good,” she said, and reached back into her palm, took another pinch of the leaves, crushed them between her fingers and rubbed it on her other eye.

  She felt him put more leaves in her hand then he touched her on the shoulder in what felt like a gesture of goodbye, which she found strange. Moments later, she heard the shuffle of feet and then the horse whinny as it accepted the man’s weight.

  “Eulis?”

  He didn’t answer. She curled her fingers around the precious stash of leaves and then reached out with her other hand, searching for his location while thinking, surely to God he isn’t going to run off and leave me.

  She lunged forward, felt the familiar warmth of the horse’s shoulder and realized there was no saddle and that made no sense. On a good day, Eulis was not much of a rider. Bareback, he would have been laughable, and yet someone had mounted this horse.

  She moved her hand again. Instead of Eulis’s long, bony leg, she felt a strong, muscular calf encased in wet buckskin.

  This wasn’t Eulis.

  “Oh. Oh, God,” she said softly and instinctively crossed her arms across her breasts, although to be honest it was way past the time for modesty. “Who are you?”

  She heard what sounded like a sigh. When she frowned, she heard a soft chuckle. The sound was foreign to anything Eulis had ever done, but at the same time it was still very male. It frightened her and intrigued her. Whoever it was obviously meant her no harm or he would have already taken advantage of her state of undress.

  Frustrated by her inability to see, she scrubbed angrily at her eyelids, rubbing even more of the medicinal properties of the oil into her skin and as she did, realized she was beginning to see daylight. It wasn’t much of an improvement, but it was the first sign she’d had that this too shall pass. Then she heard the horse moving and knew whoever was on it was backing away.

  “Wait!”

  She heard the horse stop. She stepped forward, holding her hand out before her as she felt her way.

  Suddenly her hand was enveloped in one much larger and stronger. She felt the brush of hair against her arm and knew it was not her own. She opened her mouth, then immediately shut it when his hand touched her face. She felt a fingertip tracing the path that her tears had made earlier and knew that he’d seen her cry.

  “I don’t ever do that,” she said.

  He took her fingers, put them back onto the leaves and then touched her eyes once more.

  “You want me to put some more on my eyes? Is that it?” Quickly, she grabbed some leaves and began scrubbing them against her eyes. Each time that she did, she felt relief from the swelling until the misery was almost gone. She looked up again, and this time saw more than daylight.

  His expression was motionless, his eyes hooded and dark. His shoulders were broad—his belly flat. He sat the paint horse as if they were one and the same, while wearing nothing but a feather in his hair, a breechclout and leggings, and moccasins on his feet. She should have been scared out of her mind. Instead, she felt an odd sort of empathy.

  He touched his eyes once, then pointed at hers and suddenly she understood. He knew how she felt.

  She held out her hand, showing him the leaves.

  “Thank you,” she said, and touched her eyes, then her heart.

  He stared at her for a moment, letting his gaze wander over her nudity without lust or shame then nodded.

  Suddenly, his gaze slid from her to the creek behind her.

  Letty turned. Eulis must be coming.

  He grabbed the reins and turned his pony to the East.

  There was a moment when their gazes met again, this time in a silent acknowledgment of what had transpired, and then he kicked his horse in the flanks and was gone.

  It wasn’t until he disappeared that Letty started to shake.

  “Lord, Lo
rd, this is twice in my life that you’ve saved me from murdering Indians.”

  Then she scrambled through the brush and into the creek just in time to see Eulis coming through the trees.

  She turned once, looking behind her to make sure the Indian was gone, and then shivered. It dawned on her that, until she’d seen him, she’d not been afraid. She wondered what God was trying to tell her with that encounter, and then said a mute prayer of thanksgiving that the Indian had left her with her hair on her head and—she silently added—the ability to see.

  “Hey, Letty, your eyes opened up some, didn’t they?” Eulis said, as he helped her out of the creek and up the bank.

  “Yeah, probably the cold water,” Letty said, and then wondered why she didn’t tell Eulis the truth.

  There could be a whole band of Indians just over the hill waiting to swoop down on them and do them in, just like the ones who’d killed her father. But that didn’t fit the gentleness of the man as he’d led her out of the creek, or the leaves he had given her that led to the blessed relief to her swollen and burning eyes. She touched her face where he’d traced the paths of her tears and shuddered, too miserable and confused to figure everything out.

  Eulis walked just a bit in front of her so as not to be staring rudely at her nudity, which would have been impossible to ignore.

  “I didn’t plan on you bein’ able to see, so I already laid out some dry clothes for you. If I picked the wrong stuff, you just trade for what you need.”

  “Whatever you laid out will be fine,” Letty said, still holding her wet bloomers against her breasts.

  Eulis scratched at his whiskered cheeks as he nodded. When they got to Dripping Springs, he was going to need a good bath and shave, too. A few moments later they reached the campsite.

  Letty grabbed her clothes and slipped behind a bush then began to dress.

  Eulis politely kept his back turned as she put on her clothes, although he couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out why it now mattered to be modest. Before, when she hadn’t been able to see, she hadn’t cared a bit. Now, because she could see again, she was hiding in bushes. If he lived to be a hundred he would never be able to figure out women.