by Sharon Sala
She screamed, then stumbled, and fell over the doorsill, going face first onto the floor. The water spilled as she busted her lip. When she rolled over and looked up, she realized that it wasn’t the wolf, but the skin.
She had cured and stretched it like Eulis had shown her, spending hours scraping the hide before the fire. It galled her that, even in death, its spirit was still strong enough to scare her.
But, she reminded herself that it was dead and she wasn’t, so she lay where she’d fallen, too exhausted to care that she was lying in water. Finally, she exhaled on a sigh as she rolled over and stared up at the raftered ceiling. After a few moments, she closed her eyes.
The scent of sickness filled the room. The pox on Eulis’s body had begun to break and run, and the stench was not unlike that of something rotten. She’d tried so hard to keep him alive, but she didn’t think it was going to happen. She’d quit praying to God right after she’d skinned the wolf, and tossed the carcass out into the meadow for scavengers to devour. The way she figured it, she’d committed too many sins for God to hear her now, and Eulis was going to pay for her mistakes. She was helpless to save him, and since God wasn’t answering any of her prayers, Eulis was doomed.
“You’re gettin’ wet.”
“Like I don’t know it,” Letty muttered, then opened her eyes and screamed. “Eulis! You’re awake!”
“You’re still wet,” he mumbled, then closed his eyes.
She jumped to her feet and ran to him, feeling of his forehead and then his cheeks. His skin felt damp and clammy, and he wasn’t as hot as he’d been. Could it be? Was it possible? Was the fever breaking? Was Eulis going to live after all?
“Eulis! Eulis! Can you talk to me?”
“Water.”
Letty grabbed his cup and then lifted his head enough that he could swallow without choking. To her overwhelming relief, the water actually went down. It was only one small swallow, but for a man who hadn’t done anything more than breathe in and breathe out for days, it was a miracle.
As soon as she lowered his head, he passed out. But this time she didn’t care. She stripped off her wet coat, took the broom to the floor and used it like a mop until the water she’d spilled had worked its way between the floorboards into the dirt below. Then she ladled a bowl of elk broth into a cup to let it cool. When he woke up again, she was going to get some of it down him or die trying.
A few minutes later, he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a spoon coming toward him. He opened his mouth in reflex. The warm broth slid between his lips onto his tongue. He choked and then swallowed to keep from choking again.
“What’s that smell?” he murmured.
“Yourself,” Letty said. “Pox stinks.”
“I am rotting.”
Letty spooned another bit of broth into his mouth. This time he only choked once.
“Up. Raise me up.”
She wadded up her coat and used it to pillow his head.
He immediately moaned, and quickly closed his eyes. The bed was spinning one way, the room the other. It was too much motion too soon.
“Down. Down,” he begged.
She gently lowered his head back to the bed.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Did that make you sick?”
He blinked once for yes, and then closed his eyes.
“Want to eat any more soup?”
Unable to stand the sound of his own voice, he just mouthed the word, no.
Letty set the cup aside, and then went to get a pan of water and the wash rag. She pulled aside the covers and began to bathe his body, gently washing away the rotting skin and pus. And for the first time since she’d laid him in the bed, Eulis began to object.
“Pants… nekked butt…” he muttered, and tried to push away her hands.
Too weary to be delicate, Letty shoved them aside and continued her task.
“Be quiet, fool. I have been looking at your naked butt for more than a week and I haven’t passed out yet, so hush.”
He hushed, and while he was considering the indignity he was enduring, quietly passed out again.
As soon as Letty had him cleaned, she covered him back up and then tossed the water outside. She didn’t have the strength for another trip to the falls, so she laid another stick of wood on the fire, blotted his peeled and drying lips with a clean wet cloth, and then wrapped herself in a blanket and lay down on the floor beside his bed. Confident that the worst had passed, and knowing that if she didn’t get some rest, she would pass with it, she closed her eyes. Within seconds, she was asleep.
The Time Of Revelations
It was snowing the day Eulis stood up on his own. The wind was a constant wail, not unlike the howls of the wolf pack that visited them every night. The storm was a white-out of thick snow blowing horizontally from north to south. The wall beside the fireplace was stacked high with firewood, while a large hunk of elk roasted on a spit over the fire.
Letty sat on a stool near the hearth, stitching the soles to the tops on a pair of moccasins she was making for Eulis. She’d measured his feet while he’d been sleeping and was hoping to finish them up before he woke. Since Eulis had gotten sick, she’d lost track of time and wasn’t even sure what day of the week it was, but she figured Christmas wasn’t far away. The holiday had never meant a lot to her before, but considering their metamorphoses from drunk and whore, she thought it seemly to honor the day. She had yet to tell him about her encounter with the wolf, and thought it great fun to surprise him with shoes made from the hide of the deadly marauder.
She was almost through with the leather lacings when Eulis started to stir. She quickly gathered up the pieces and stuffed them in a box just as Eulis opened his eyes.
He hadn’t expected to see her watching him from the foot of the bed and was still sensitive to the way he looked. The pox was in the scab stage, the last stage of healing and looked disgusting. He raised up on his elbows and frowned.
“If you were plannin’ on givin’ me another bath, you better think again. I wash my own butt from here on in.”
Letty was so happy he was alive to complain, that she didn’t let his smart mouth get to her as she might have. Instead of arguing with him, she changed the subject.
“Are you hungry? I got a roast on the spit and some soup left over from yesterday.”
His indignation was replaced with shame. She’d just spent the past week keeping his sorry ass alive, and now here she was offering him some food, and all he could do was complain. He rolled over and then swung his feet off the side of the bed.
“I reckon I could eat a bite.”
Letty hurried to the fireplace, happy to be doing something productive. Before he’d gotten sick, she’d been in the habit of working outside for at least a part of the day, and being cooped up in the cabin was more than a little confining. She grabbed a plate, sliced off an outside piece of the roast, then ladled a cup full of soup and carried them to the table. But when she turned around to help him to the table, she was surprised to see that he’d started on his own.
He had wrapped himself in one of the blankets, and was unsteady on his legs, but he was walking alone, and for Letty, it was the final proof that he was almost healed.
“Oh Eulis,” she said, and then burst into tears.
“Well, here now… what are you cryin’ about?”
She quickly swiped at the tears on her cheeks as she took his elbow and steadied his steps until he could sit down.
“There were days when I didn’t think I’d ever see you do this again. I’m just happy, that’s all.”
He gave her a quick hug as she settled him into the chair.
“There were days when I didn’t think I would do this again, either.” His voice shook. “I owe you my life.”
Letty tried to laugh it off, but the moment was too precious to jest. She looked down into his dear, familiar face and ached for the pain that he’d suffered.
“Yeah, well, you kept me from hanging, so I reck
on now we’re even.”
He grinned as she moved to the other side of the table.
“You know somethin’?”
“I know lots of somethings,” she said.
He laughed and then took a sip of the soup.
“You don’t know my somethin’,” he countered.
“So… I’m listening.”
“The people we were in Lizard Flats…”
She hated to be reminded of that life. It always left her feeling worthless and dirty.
“What about them?”
“They don’t exist anymore. They died as surely as if we buried ’em in the grave with the real preacher and that trapper.”
Letty was too moved to speak.
“In fact, they’re so dead that I think we oughta bury ’em right and proper.”
“Bury them? Have you lost your mind?”
He took a bite of meat, slowly chewing and contemplating what she’d suggested.
“You know… I might have… just a bit. But that don’t change the fact that we’re not the same people we once was, and I’m sayin’ that the best way to forget the past is to bury it. What do you think?”
“I’d like that,” Letty said.
Eulis took another drink of soup and then reached across the table and took her by the hand. She hesitated for just a moment, then slowly opened her fingers and threaded them through his.
“What’s happening to us?” Letty asked.
“I don’t know ’bout you, but I been fallin’ in love with you for some time now.”
It was the last thing she’d expected to hear, and yet the best thing that he could have told her. She figured she ought to be giggling, but it was beyond her. She felt his thumb rubbing across the outside of her hand and shivered.
“You sure? I mean, I’m nobody’s perfect little woman. I can’t be all prissy and pretend to be helpless and innocent.”
“Well that’s a relief,” Eulis drawled. “I’m a deserter and a used-to-be drunk. Why would you think I’d be wantin’ some useless, prissy female?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, all right then,” Eulis said, and popped another bite of roast into his mouth.
“You sure you know what you’re talking about?” Letty asked. “I’m all bossy and opinionated and I’m always talking when I oughta be listening.”
“I know,” Eulis said. “You’ve also got a real mean streak.”
Letty’s lips went slack.
“Well, I never!” she muttered.
“Yeah, you did,” he said. “Remember back in Lizard Flats how you used to yell at me on my bad days?”
“Dang it, Eulis… I never could tell the difference between your good days and bad. Besides, if you hadn’t been so plowed, I wouldn’t have had to raise my voice.”
He shrugged. “It don’t matter now. I let that man die. Reckon when it stops snowing, I’m gonna bury him deep.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“All right then,” Letty said.
Eulis frowned. “All right about what? Havin’ a funeral for our old selves, or all right you ain’t mad at me for fallin’ in love with you?”
“Both.”
“All right then,” Eulis said again, and then smiled.
“Are you laughing at me?” Letty asked.
“Nope.”
“Then why the grin?”
“It’s simple, Sister Leticia. I’m happy, that’s why.”
“I’m happy, too.”
Eulis nodded, and returned to his meal, although he couldn’t manage it all. By the time he’d finished the soup and eaten a few more bites of the roast, he’d broken out into a cold sweat.
“I reckon I’d better lay down for a bit,” he said. “Still a mite weak.”
Letty helped him to the bed and covered him up as soon as he was down.
The wind rattled the door on its hinges, but the patches she’d made in the cabin held strong.
“Sure glad we’re not in that tent,” he said.
“Me, too,” Letty said, and then went back to the table to clean up.
Eulis eyed her as she worked, studying the curve of her face and the stubborn thrust of her chin.
“Letty…”
“Yeah?”
“You never did tell me how you come to know that Indian woman… that Little Bird.”
She stopped, and for a moment, stood without moving, her back to the bed. When she turned around, there was a strange expression on her face.
“Letty?”
“I helped her hide a dead man.”
He sat straight up in bed.
“The hell you say! What made you do somethin’ like that?”
“You helped me do the same thing once, remember?”
He sat there for a moment and finally shook his head.
“If I live to be a hundred… and the way things are goin’ I sincerely doubt that will ever happen… I don’t think you’ll ever fail to surprise me.”
Letty bit her lower lip then lifted her chin.
“Is that bad or good?”
“Good… damn good,” he said softly.
“You cursed,” she reminded him.
“Yeah, and I expect you’ll drive me to it again before we get out of this valley.”
“Close your eyes and go to sleep,” Letty said.
“Lay down beside me,” Eulis asked.
It was the last thing she expected, and all of a sudden, the thing she wanted to do most.
“You’ll be safe. I’m still a sick man,” Eulis said. “Besides, it’s cold. You can help keep me warm.”
Letty snorted beneath her breath, but put a couple of logs on the fire anyway, then stirred the coals. The logs caught and the added warmth was soon felt within the small room. When she turned around, he was still watching her.
“You’re making me nervous. Close your eyes.”
He closed his eyes, but he was still smiling. She had the strongest urge to see what the smile tasted like, but wouldn’t follow the thought. Instead, she picked up the broom and began sweeping the floor. When she next looked at the bed, Eulis had truly fallen asleep. It was only then that she put up the broom, stirred the fire one more time, then slid into the bed, wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes.
Sometime during the night the wind stopped blowing. Letty woke, felt the chill in the room and got up to add wood to the fire. When she turned to go back to bed, Eulis was sitting up in bed. He was little more than a silhouette, but she could hear him breathing. It was slow and even, a blessing after his near brush with death.
“Are you all right?” Letty asked. “Do you need a drink of water? Do you need to pee? I can—”
“All I need is you. Come lay with me, Letty.”
Letty sighed. The tenderness in his voice was her undoing. Still, she knew that once they crossed this particular bridge in their relationship, nothing would ever be the same. She shook her head and frowned.
“You’re too sick to fool around.”
“There ain’t nothin’ foolish about what I’m feelin’.”
“There’s something you need to know,” Letty said.
“No there ain’t,” he said softly.
“So you don’t care to know if I love you back?”
There was a long moment of silence, and then he cleared his throat.
“I care.”
“All right then. I felt it was only fair that we start even in this matter.”
Glad that it was too dark for her to see his face, he let himself smile. God how he loved this woman. She might drive him mad, but he was gonna love her all the way to his grave.
“So, you have feelings for me, too?”
Letty had never been so scared in her life. To admit this was to show weakness, and everything that she’d survived had taught her never to let them see you cry. Still, he’d been sick and she didn’t have it in her to lie—not to Eulis—never to Eulis.
“Yes
, I have feelings… strong feelings.”
“Then come to bed with me, darlin’.”
Letty sighed. The inevitability of this moment had been lingering between them ever since she’d promised him free pokes for life if he’d just help her get rid of the dead preacher’s body.
“Only if you let me do all the work,” Letty said.
Eulis chuckled. “I reckon that’ll be all right… for now.”
Letty unbuttoned her shirt and then stepped out of her pants. Immediately, goose bumps rose on her skin.
“I hope we don’t regret this tomorrow,” she said, as she slid beneath the covers.
He wrapped her up in his arms and then pulled her close.
“I won’t, if you won’t,” he offered.
Letty laughed and then laid her head upon his chest.
“This is crazy,” she mumbled.
“Then lock me up later,” Eulis begged.
She raised up on her elbows. The smile on his face was somewhere between hopeful and scared to death that she’d back out.
“You sure you want to do this?” she asked.
“Yes, lord, yes. Have mercy, love. Have mercy on me.”
She touched his face with her hand, then lowered her head and for the first time in all the years that she’d known him, kissed him squarely on the lips.
Much later, and after the passion of the moment had passed, Letty lay within the shelter of Eulis’s arms and slept. And as she slept, she dreamed of a little brown bird that kept calling to its mate. She’d dreamed the same dream her entire life, but tonight the dream was different. Tonight, she heard the whippoorwill’s call, and then the answer that had been so long in coming.
A week later, Eulis was cursing the taste of elk and swearing that if they ever got out of this valley, he would never eat elk meat again. Letty let him gripe without comment, because it did her good to see him up and moving around.