Found Drowned

by Norris, Laurie Glenn;

  Ann shook her head. “Will’s not as bad as that, thank God.”

  “One day in the summer, I was fifteen, I think, he was out on the river fishing and got into a rage about a line or something. A bunch of us kids was on shore watching him. It was thundering in the distance. Just as the old man began to holler, calling up the Devil himself, a bolt of lightning hit him and lifted him clean off the punt, about ten feet straight up. Then he fell back into the water. He was dead before he landed, I’m positive. Took the rest of the day and half the night to find him and fish him out. And his whole body was covered with this dark red rash, lightning flowers, the doctor called it. Looked like the pattern the frost makes on a window. It was the Devil’s mark if you ask me. Guess he finally accepted Pa’s invitation.”

  “What a terrible thing for a child to see.”

  “Maybe so.” John nodded. “But the house was a lot more peaceful after he was gone. And the neighbours around helped us out until I was old enough to take over the farm.”

  “What about Mabel? What was she like growing up? She must have been scared to death of your father too.”

  “Mabel was always cranky as long as I can remember. She does have a soft heart but you don’t see it very often and she doesn’t like to be crossed. And she’s had her troubles and disappointments just like anybody else that didn’t make her temper any sweeter. What with Pa being so mean and her losing Harold when she was still fairly young. And she lost a baby too. She was never the same after that.”

  “I never knew that. How did it happen?”

  “A little girl. Just died in her sleep one night. About six months old. Will’s little sister. Mabel did want more children, but time went by and then Harold died and it just never happened. And Mabel wouldn’t marry again. Said if she couldn’t have Harold she didn’t want anybody else.”

  Ann sighed. “She and Will are just so difficult to get along with. It makes life harder than it has to be. And I don’t know what I can do about it.”

  “Will wasn’t always like he is now, you know. Before his father died he was always polite and well-mannered and a lot calmer than he is now. But he changed after that.”

  “Tell me about his father. I’ve asked him but Will won’t talk about him.”

  “After Mabel and Harold were married, Ma and I went down to Tatamagouche to help them get their farm going. We were there about nine years, then Ma died and I came back up here. So we did live with them for a while. Harold was from Tatamagouche originally but had moved up to Pugwash to live with his grandparents. So Mabel and I knew him ever since we were kids. He was a grand fellow. Kind, and always helpin’ somebody out. After his pa died, he wanted to go back to Tatamagouche to look after the farm. He and Mabel were courting then and she married him and we all went down together.”

  “So you knew Will as a little boy?”

  “I did. And he was just like his father then. Real dear little soul. But it all changed when Harold died.”

  “Tell me about that.”

  “They were, Harold and Will, out in the woods cutting down trees. They went everywhere together, those two, Harold doted on him. Well, that day Harold cut his right foot with the axe and started to bleed something awful. Will was only twelve and didn’t know what to do. They did get the leg up and leaning against a tree, then Harold told Will to go for help. Will ran as fast as he could. When he got back with the doctor and a couple of men, Harold was gone. Bled to death.”

  “How awful.”

  “Mabel said she would never forget the sight of Will running in the kitchen, covered with his father’s blood, and talking like a crazy person. It took a long time to get him calmed down enough to know what was going on.”

  Ann winced. “Poor Will.”

  “He didn’t talk after that for two weeks. He just laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling. She had to wrestle with him to get those bloody clothes off. Didn’t go to the funeral either, Mabel couldn’t budge him. After the two weeks he got up, nasty as hell. He was mad at his father for dying I guess, and he’s been mad at everybody and everything ever since.”

  “I never knew. Will hasn’t had it easy either. I’ll try to remember that the next time he starts up with his foolishness.”

  “That’s why I usually give him the benefit of the doubt even though he’s a pain in the arse by times. And it’s probably best not to mention to him what I told you. It’ll make him mad.”

  “Yes,” Ann agreed. “Well, he doesn’t like to be seen as weak. And he’s so hard to deal with once he gets an idea in his head.”

  She hugged the baby closer to her. What kind of a life had she brought this little one into?

  “Now, you’d better get in the house. It’s starting to get chilly out here and she should be in her bed.”

  Ann stood up, kissed John on the forehead, and walked around to the porch door. John sat back in his chair and rolled another cigarette.

  I’ve never been so far out, so late. His face in shadow.

  My hand draped over the boat.

  Shouldn’t we be going back?

  Rockley

  Nova Scotia

  April 1876

  It was cold and damp when Will got down from his horse and tied its reins to the hitching post in front of Bailey’s store. He was on his way back to Wallace for the week and needed some tobacco. The door of the store was open and he could hear laughter inside. He stopped in his tracks when he heard his name mentioned.

  “Do Harney, do Harney,” Calvin Bailey said, and then roared with laughter.

  He hurried inside to see Jack Reid, facing away from him, walking towards the back of the store with his head held high in the air and his chest puffed out. Over the laughter, Jack didn’t hear Will come in. At fourteen, Jack was a born mimic, able to walk and talk like just about anyone in Rockley. Mostly, it was something he did at home. His mother warned him within an inch of his life not to be making fun of people in public, but sometimes he couldn’t resist.

  Will charged down the length of the store, ignoring Jack’s outstretched arms and Calvin’s pleas. He punched Jack and sent him sprawling onto the floor. Then he picked him up by the back of his shirt and the seat of his pants and threw him against the back wall where he landed, among the shovels and picks.

  “My God, you’ve killed him, you’ve killed him,” Calvin shouted, running toward Jack.

  “Throw a bucket of water on the little bastard and he’ll come ’round. That’ll teach him to make fun of me.”

  Will held the sore, reddened knuckles of his right hand in his left fist.

  “I came in here for some tobacco,” he declared, standing at the counter waiting to be served.

  “Get out of my store and stay out!” Calvin yelled over the noise of the clattering tools as he attempted to disentangle the groaning boy.

  “You’re not welcome here anymore. Get out!”

  Will went behind the counter and grabbed two cans of tobacco from the shelves. As he walked around to the front again, he used his free hand to sweep everything from the top of the counter. Glass candy jars, bottles of pickles, a display of knives: all crashed to the floor. Without a word, Will walked around the mess and out the door.

  “You’ll pay for all that, don’t think you won’t,” Calvin called out to Will’s retreating back as he helped Jack to his feet. The boy’s face was bleeding.

  Will turned. “You’ll squeal for your money, arsehole.” Then he stomped out the door.

  He brought his bruised hand to his mouth. Tears sprang into his eyes. He put the tobacco in his saddlebags and started down the road to Wallace.

  ***

  “He punched me.” Jack held his sleeve to his nose. “I can’t see right. Everything’s blurry.”

  “Sit down here and I’ll run over and see if Dr. Creed is around,” Calvin said.

  “He better not have broken my nose.�
�� Jack flinched as he touched it gently. “Is it ever sore.”

  Calvin threw a towel in the boy’s direction and ran for the door.

  Jack knew he’d be in trouble when he got home, broken nose or not. He dabbed at his bleeding face with the cloth and began to cry.

  ***

  Jack walked into Betty Reid’s kitchen, escorted by Calvin. He saw his mother freeze momentarily, then she walked towards him, arms reaching out.

  Jack swallowed. He didn’t want to cry in front of Calvin.

  “Land sakes, what happened to you?” she said, leading him to the kitchen table.

  Jack just shook his head, tears welling up in his eyes. “Will Harney punched me.”

  “God’s teeth, why?”

  “He came into the store and saw me walking like him and he got mad.”

  “Take that cloth away. Let me see what it looks like.”

  Jack removed the blood-splattered towel from his face. There was cotton wadded up in each of his nostrils. He leaned forward against his mother and felt her arms go around him.

  “Doc Creed patched him up. He said he’d come and have a look at him in a couple of days after the swelling goes down a bit. He can’t tell right now if it’s broken or not,” Calvin informed her. “The bleeding’s stopped for good he thinks, but he said to leave the cotton in there for a while just in case. If it starts to bleed heavy again, send someone over to fetch him. He said he’d come right away.”

  “Jack, are you all right? Your face is a mess.”

  The boy nodded, his head on his mother’s shoulder.

  “Help me get him to his bedroom, Calvin, it’s just off the kitchen this way.”

  Jack felt like a ragdoll as they removed his bloody shirt and sat him down on the side of the bed. His mother placed his pillow against the wall. “I’ll get you one from our bed. Stay with him, Calvin, I’ll be right back.”

  “You better not lie down straight just now, Jack,” she said as she returned to the room. “It’s not going to be comfortable but it’s for your own good.”

  “Yeah, Dr. Creed said the same thing,” Calvin offered. “Said for him not to lie down flat or to go to sleep until later tonight, and to put lots of cold cloths on his nose to help with the swelling.”

  Betty smoothed her son’s dark hair and kissed his forehead.

  “Just lie back now, but don’t go to sleep. I’m going to get you a clean cloth.”

  Once Jack was sitting up in bed with his back leaning against the wall and holding a towel filled with ice shards to his face, Betty went to the stove to heat the kettle for a fresh pot of tea for her visitor.

  “Now tell me what happened, Calvin,” she said.

  Afterward Betty sighed. “I told him, I don’t know how many times, not to be making fun of people. I knew it would get him into trouble one of these days. Now his father’s going to be mad as a wet hen when he gets back from Pugwash.”

  “Will Harney should be charged with assault, so he should,” Calvin said. “There was no need of going at the boy like that. Just telling him off would have been enough. There’s not sense in what he did.”

  “Thanks for bringing him home, Calvin, I appreciate that.”

  “Yeah, I better get back. The ol’ woman says she can’t watch everybody in the store at once. She thinks they all steal.”

  Betty smiled and rose from the table. “Well, I’d better go check. I don’t want him to fall asleep. Once he’s healed he’ll get his punishment, but right now I’m worried about him.”

  “I think he’s gotten punishment enough,” Calvin observed, picking up his hat and heading for the door.

  “Hopefully this will cure him of making fun of people,” Betty said. “His father and brother encourage him in that foolishness and look what’s happened.”

  ***

  Barney Thompson, foreman of the Huestis Graystone Company in Wallace, was seated behind a desk, with a cigar clamped between his teeth, when Constable Pat Ryan walked into the office.

  “You have an employee by the name of William Harney, I believe?”

  “Yeah, Harney’s been with us for the last few years. Does a lot of the dirty work around here. If any of it can be called clean.”

  “Is he here today? I have to talk to him.”

  Thompson grabbed his hat off a hook.

  “I’ll walk over with you.”

  “The rain we’ve had lately has kept the dust down a bit. Sometimes it’s so thick it’s hard to breathe around here,” Thompson observed as the two men walked across the work yard. “Hope there’s not going to be any trouble here today,” Thompson said, looking sideways at the lawman. “Will can be pretty touchy at times. Has he done anything wrong?”

  “He beat up a fourteen-year-old boy the other day.”

  “A kid. Jesus.”

  “Smashed his face up pretty good.”

  “Without cause?”

  “That seems to be the case.”

  “There he is over there.” Thompson pointed. “Hey.”

  A man halfway down a ladder with a bucket in one hand turned in their direction.

  “Will, come over here for a minute,” Thompson yelled.

  Will waved in return and continued his descent. He carried the bucket over to where Ryan and Thompson were standing.

  “Will, this man here would like to talk to you.”

  “Mr. William Harney?” Ryan asked.

  “Yeah, who are you?”

  “There’s a warrant issued for your arrest on three counts. One count of assault on the person of Jack Reid of Rockley, one count of theft, and one count of destruction of property by Calvin Bailey of Rockley. You are to be remanded to Pugwash jail until the circuit judge comes through next week.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Harney stepped forward and pushed Ryan backwards with an open right hand.

  “Hold on there,” Thompson warned. “None of that foolishness here.”

  “That smartass kid got what was coming to him. And I didn’t hit him that hard. If I’d wanted to I’d have knocked his block off.”

  Will spat on the ground at Thompson’s boots.

  “You broke the kid’s nose. You’re under arrest.” Ryan produced handcuffs from a pocket of his long black coat. “Don’t make it any worse for yourself by assaulting an officer of the law.”

  “The law, my ass.” Will spat again.

  “Take it easy, Will. Just do as he says,” Thompson cautioned. “You’ll get it all straightened around if you just stay calm. And you’ve still got a job here.”

  By this time the other men had stopped working and were staring at the three figures at the far end of the yard.

  Will shrugged off Thompson’s hand. “I didn’t do anything wrong. Just stood up for myself.”

  “Well, you can tell all that to the judge in due course. Right now, you’re coming with me.” Ryan clamped the handcuffs on Will and turned to Thompson. “Can you lend me a horse and buggy for a few hours?” he asked. “I’ll drive him to Pugwash, leave my own horse here, and come back for it later.”

  “No problem. I’ll get one of the men to get it ready for you,”

  “And if I could have a man of yours to come along with me, just in case of trouble, it would be much appreciated,” Ryan added.

  “I’ll go with you myself,” Thompson said. Turning to Will, he said, “And I don’t put up with any foolishness.”

  Will’s trial was held in Pugwash the following week. He was found guilty on all charges and would have spent six months in jail if John had not paid his fines. It cost him and Mabel fifty dollars to set Will free.

  “I also paid Bailey ten dollars for the damage you caused and that tobacco you took,” John told Will.

  “Then you’re a bigger fool than I take you for” were the only words Will directed to his uncle on the journey home.


  ***

  The next morning, Jack’s father, Hiram Reid, rode over to the Dempsey farm.

  “I know he’s home,” Hiram told John when they met in the barnyard.

  “I don’t blame you for being mad,” John reassured his neighbour. “I’d like to break his neck myself, but your coming here will only make matters worse.”

  “Jack has problems breathing through his nose. It’s all twisted to the right side. Doc Creed doesn’t know if he can fix it or not. His mother cries practically every time she looks at him. Jack’s just a kid and Will hit him the same as he would a full grown man.”

  “We feel awful about it,” John said. “Ann said for you to give us any of Doc Creed’s bills and we’ll pay them one way or another.”

  “Got some right here.” Hiram reached into his coat pocket and handed the receipts down to John. “There’ll be more if Creed has to operate.”

  “No matter. Send them along, we’ll take care of it.”

  “Now tell him to get his arse out here.”

  Will had heard Hiram’s horse come into the yard. He jumped out of bed, looked out the window down into the yard, and saw the two men talking. “That fool uncle of mine will give me up like nothing.”

  He ran to Mary’s bedroom on the other side of the house, climbed out the window, jumped to the ground, and ran for the woods.

  John sighed and turned towards the house. When he walked into the kitchen, Mary and Mabel were washing the breakfast dishes and Ann was rocking thirteen-month-old Harry while Little Helen sat at her feet.

  “Hiram just came into the yard. He wants to talk to Will.”

  Ann rose to her feet. “Oh, John, he’ll kill him.” She handed the baby over to Mary and headed out the door.

  “No more than he deserves, hurtin’ that kid the way he did.” John headed for the stairs.

  “I think your mother was worrying about just the opposite,” Mabel told Mary. “I’d be mighty careful if I was Hiram Reid, I would.”