The Granite Heart (An Ozark Mountain Series Book 2)

by Alan Black

  “Well, you see that you do. I am not having my family out under the night sky again. Them being sick-”

  The old widow Bailey, having come up behind them unheard, interrupted. “Shut your yap, son. These are good folk. They will be out of here soon enough, you don’t need to worry.” She looked up at the cabin. “Suppose the ladies would mind if I join up with them?”

  LillieBeth said, “I am sure Mama would be happy to see you. She is making tea for Mrs. Grissom. Miss Harbowe and I were planning to go up soon, sort of breakfast like. Mama has plenty of herb tea to spare, but you might have to share cups.”

  Mrs. Bailey shook her head and patted a pocket in her skirt. “Brought my own.” She started up the hill, but stopped to look back. “Miss Harbowe, you coming along?”

  Susanne said, “I will be along soon. I was going to help LillieBeth with her chores at your place.” She wanted to go to tea, but she also wanted to make sure LillieBeth was all right. New neighbor or not, she did not want to leave her young friend alone with any man.

  “Son, move the wagon like she done told you to and get them critters in your corral. They need resting and looking after. Then you go unhitch my horse and brush him down. And after that you can help LillieBeth and Miss Harbowe with the rest of the chores at my place. I expect you need to learn to do them right from someone who has done them afore.”

  Bailey looked at his mother. “I ain’t your slave no more, Ma. I am a grown man that don’t need your ordering him about.”

  Mrs. Bailey laughed. “You are going to do what I say as long as you are living in my house rent free.”

  LillieBeth yawned, trying unsuccessfully to cover her mouth. “I guess we better get to it. I am going to go to sleep just standing here.”

  Susanne followed her. She helped LillieBeth lead the Hazkit mules over to a grassy spot at the edge of the property and stake them out. They gave them enough lead to reach as much grass as they could crop.

  LillieBeth yawned again. “Pardon me. I could not sleep last night and it seems I cannot stay awake now.”

  Susanne said, “I did not sleep much myself.”

  LillieBeth said, “I tried everything to fall asleep, but nothing worked. I even got out of bed and tried to recheck my math homework. Sorry Miss Harbowe, but I could not muster up the enthusiasm for schoolwork since I was not going to school today. Even reading the Bible did not calm my mind. I did fall asleep for a while, but it was fitful.”

  Susanne said, “Grace Grissom and I talked until late into the night. Then we just packed up and came here. I haven’t stayed up all night since I was in school and studying for tests. I don’t sleep as well as when I was younger anyway.”

  “If this is what it means to be all grown up, then I do not want to do it.” LillieBeth said. “I just wanted to be up and doing. Doing something…anything, but I wanted to be quiet for Mama. Since she is with child, she needs her rest.”

  Just like LillieBeth, Susanne was an only child and did not have much experience with pregnant women. Everyone said they needed a lot of rest.

  LillieBeth said, looking around, “Where is Mr. Bailey? We have work to do and he is leaving us just standing around. At least we get to do outside chores for a while. Inside chores do not come easy to me. I am going to have to try to do more since Mama will be busy with the new baby.”

  Susanne said, “It won’t take long to carry your belongings to the mule cart. I will help with that.”

  LillieBeth said, “I am thankful for that. Mama will insist we scrub and clean the cabin as best as possible. They may not be paying tenants as they are Mrs. Bailey’s son and his family, but Mama said they deserve a clean house to start with. Since Mrs. Bailey’s daughter-in-law and grandchildren are ill we need to leave the cabin as clean, neat and fresh as possible.”

  Susanne nodded, “Your mother is a lot more thoughtful than I would be.”

  LillieBeth nodded. “Me, too. I would just as soon burn the place to the ground, but Mama’s cleaning list includes a scrubbed outhouse and fresh water in the water trough by the garden. It means we take rags and sandstone to scrub down the fireplace. It also means pulling any weeds out of the garden and mucking out the mule shed.”

  Susanne said, “Once your mother sets her sights on a job, she does not leave it half done.”

  LillieBeth said, “That is not even half the truth. I can understand why we would leave the outhouse clean, but pulling weeds from the garden seemed a bit more than neighborly, since we Hazkits planted and watered, but we will be long gone before anything worth eating is ready for harvest.

  Susanne said, “Yes, but your new place and the extra money you inherited from Mr. Hoffman will provide far more than the garden would offer. If I remember correctly, your garden grows more rocks than anything.”

  LillieBeth said, “I really should be ashamed of myself. God is providing for Daddy, Mama and me. I should know what it is like to have the devil at your back door. The Bailey’s need a hand up and I guess my hands are free to help.”

  Susanne said, “I am here to help, too. My hands are free to do whatever task God wants of them.”

  LillieBeth’s eyes filled with tears. “I do not know why God would want to help me.”

  “Why would you think that? Whatever for?”

  “The Braunawalls murdered Fletcher Hoffman in cold blood in the middle of the street in broad daylight. It is my fault Mr. Hoffman is dead. I convinced him he could change his life and obtain forgiveness from God. He allowed himself to be killed rather than kill again himself. He would not have done that if I had not spoken the Bible to him.”

  “No,” Susanne said. “You cannot blame yourself for what others do. Fletcher Hoffman made his own choices. The Braunawalls made their choices. I may not know everything about God and His Word, but I cannot believe that it is ever wrong to speak it. We cannot take credit or blame to ourselves whatever the outcome.”

  LillieBeth pointed up the hill. Mr. Bailey was ambling down toward them.

  LillieBeth said, “Bring him along, please.” She turned and fairly flew down the hill to Mrs. Bailey’s house.

  Running downhill in the Ozarks was certainly easier than running uphill, but strangely, it was the more dangerous of the two activities. For some reason, running downhill caused a person’s feet to slip and slide more on loose rocks causing a headfirst tumble.

  More than once as a youngster Susanne had lost control of her feet, moving too fast going either direction, falling forward and scraping skin from hands, feet, legs, knees, elbows, and once her forehead. But every child knew the thrill of running far outweighed the threat of such minor injuries.

  She wondered if she had ever had as much energy and enthusiasm as LillieBeth. The young girl started her chores with exuberance. She pointed out this thing or that thing to Mr. Bailey. The man never lifted a finger in any chore. He wandered away from the two women and came back at odd times and without apparent reason.

  During one of Mr. Bailey’s absences, LillieBeth said, “I am going to miss these critters. I will miss the goats, chickens and even though I do not like them, I will miss the pigs.

  Susanne said, “Maybe in time, your parents could get you some animals of your own to care for.”

  LillieBeth said, “I think there are horses on our new place. But, other kinds of animals would be nice. Well, maybe not the pigs.”

  “Okay, maybe not pigs.”

  “Miss Harbowe…Susanne? I feel confused about this move. I am excited to be moving to a new home, a better place, prettier, roomier and set on better land. But it is still sad to leave a place where we have been so happy. I know it sounds silly, but I have a whole passel of imaginary children that grew up working on this very place with me, imagining it was mine.”

  Susanne said, “It doesn’t sound silly to me. I had children all over the world until I became a teacher and then had real children to spread to the world.”

  Mr. Bailey wandered back to them again as they were tossing feed to
the chickens. He said, “Dang it. I couldn’t wait to get married and get out of her house and here I am back again. Dang it all to…” He looked sheepish as his voice trailed away. “Sorry, LillieBeth, Miss Harbowe.”

  He followed them around a bit more, neither wandering off nor paying attention, even when she stripped off the harness from Mrs. Bailey’s horse and led him to his stall. Mr. Bailey had been told to put the horse away, but he had made no attempt to do so.

  LillieBeth pulled the currycomb off the peg on the wall, preparing to brush the horse.

  Young Mrs. Bailey called from the back porch, “Honey? When are we going to get into our own house? You know I can’t stay here with your mother.”

  “I am working on it. We will be in as soon as we can.” He looked at LillieBeth. “You done here? That horse don’t need brushing down. You got work to do back across the road, hear?”

  “Yes, sir,” she said. She handed the currycomb to the man and walked out.

  Susanne followed. She wanted to say something, but she still was unsure of her place in this group and even of her place in the world. She didn’t have a home or a job to go to. She doubted Mr. Bailey would put the currycomb back on the wall hook. It was not her concern. She and LillieBeth had been dismissed and ordered out. The man’s family owned the land they were standing on. LillieBeth would not sass an adult. So, Susanne felt that no matter what the circumstances, there was no reason to disobey.

  They were far enough away from Mr. Bailey he could not hear when LillieBeth whispered. “I think that young Mr. Bailey needs a good whack with my pig-staff as much as Mrs. Bailey’s old boar does.”

  Susanne could not disagree.

  Mr. Bailey had put his horses in the Hazkit corral. He caught up with them again moving quicker only because his legs were longer. He all but spat out at LillieBeth as he looked at the water level in the corral water trough. “Dang gone it. Don’t you all keep water in the trough for your animals? Why there is hardly enough in there for a field mouse to get its toes wet. Where is a bucket? I guess I am jest goin’ have to haul some water in.”

  LillieBeth said, “Sorry, Mr. Bailey, but all of the buckets from here have already been taken over to our new place. Besides, we do not have to haul water to the corral. Let me show you.”

  The girl leaned down and pointed at the plug near the water trough’s bottom. It was a metal bolt screwed into the end of a pipe. She unscrewed the plug and water gushed into the trough.

  “I’ll be.” He said. “I never seen the like. Running water for the horses.”

  LillieBeth pointed up the hill. “Up by the garden is another water trough. When it is full, you can pull this plug and fill this one. Daddy ran a pipe from there to here. See that long strip of flat rocks going uphill? The pipe is buried under those rocks. We put the rocks over the top, because the pipe is not down very far, so it keeps us from accidentally hitting the pipe if we were to dig or run a heavy wagon over it.”

  She waited, watching the trough fill. She reached in, unconcerned about getting her dress sleeve wet, and screwed the plug back in. “Keep the plug greased up every few times and it won’t rust or get stuck.”

  LillieBeth walked on up the hill toward the other water trough. Susanne followed close behind. She assumed Mr. Bailey would follow. He did.

  The trough by the garden was practically empty, having run all of its water down hill to the corral. LillieBeth pointed at the plug near the base of the uphill trough. “You can water the garden by filling this trough and pulling this plug. We have small irrigation ditches that fill up and spread the water pretty evenly. I did not water today because we just had a couple days of rain this week.” She grabbed the handle of the pump and began working it up and down. “The pump fills this trough from the well down by the house. Daddy ran a pipe from there to here.”

  “Well, I never seen the like!”

  Susanne could see LillieBeth suppressing a grin. She knew Clare had taught her it would not be polite to appear too prideful of her father’s work. “It does make some of the labor a might easier, but you will still get more rocks than taters from this patch of ground.”

  Mr. Bailey shouted at his children. “You young‘uns come here.” He put them to pumping the handle to fill the garden trough. He pointed at Ulysses, his oldest son. “Useless, you make sure you stop only when it reaches a hand width from the top, you hear me?”

  The children were making a game of pumping water uphill before Susanne and LillieBeth got back downhill to the mule corral and shed. Somewhere between the trough at the top of the hill and the trough at the bottom of the hill, Mr. Bailey disappeared again.

  Most of the Hazkit possessions from the corral and shed had been taken by Art and Clayton Grissom. The goods would be waiting for them at the new place. Most, but not all, as LillieBeth had left a few behind for working chores.

  LillieBeth said, “I am a little disappointed I will not see Daddy’s face when he first sees his new land. It is such a pretty piece of property and Daddy trusted me to buy the place sight unseen.”

  Susanne said, “I know your father trusts you, but even ugly land was worth much more than he paid for it. I agree the look on his face would have been worth seeing.”

  She and LillieBeth put the mules in the cart traces. Ruth and Naomi pulled the mule cart over by the corral fence. LillieBeth grabbed a lone shovel from the mule-shed wall and began mucking out the area.

  The mules were as clean as any mule, but it did take a lot of shoveling to make things right. Susanne watched LillieBeth scoop manure from the open sided shed and the corral area, piling it onto the mule cart. The girl explained they were going to haul it up and spread it around the garden. They would then wash down the boards of the cart before they used it again.

  Susanne spotted a small mattress hanging on the back corral fence. She untied the end and scattered the straw ticking around the shed floor. She shook the mattress hard, turning it inside out and hung it back on the rails to let it air. They would re-stuff it with fresh straw when they reached the Hazkit’s new home. She broke open the one remaining straw bale left behind and scattered it around the mule shed along with the mattress ticking.

  LillieBeth took the mattress twine from Susanne and stuffed it into a pocket. Normally, everyone in the hills saved everything, as eventually they found a use for everything they saved. The girl changed her mind, pulling out the twine, wrapping it around her long loose hair and tying it back from her face.

  LillieBeth said, “I think I prefer the pretty ribbon Mama uses to tie my hair back, but this is a work day. Twine will do just fine.”

  Susanne asked, “So no more braids?”

  LillieBeth said. “It seems like a fair trade. I get breasts and lose the braids.”

  The two giggled as they rode the mule cart up the hill to the outhouse. It was as clean and neat as it always was. The only things in the outhouse were an old bucket with fireplace ashes used to spread in the hole keeping smell and maggots under control and the remains of the old Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog used for wiping. LillieBeth dumped the bucket of ashes down the hole, trying to spread them as much as possible. The bucket was old with holes in it. It would not hold water, but it still had its uses.

  Susanne said, “Might as well keep the bucket. You might need it in your new outhouse.”

  LillieBeth pulled a couple of pages from the catalog. Wadding them up, she wiped down the seat, the bench and the walls.

  Susanne said, “I suppose your mother would want to use water to clean the outhouse, but I am in no mood to do the young Mister Bailey or his wife any favors.”

  LillieBeth nodded in agreement, but stopped. “No. I am not thinking right. It does not matter who they are. It matters who we are.”

  They rode the cart the rest of the way up the hill to the garden. LillieBeth began shoveling and spreading mule manure around the garden.

  Susanne took the broken bucket and some wadded papers from the catalog. The Bailey grandchildren were
nowhere in sight and the trough was only about half full. She finished pumping the trough full, stopping exactly where Mr. Bailey had told his children to stop.

  The bucket from the outhouse would not hold water long, even when she stuffed the wadded papers in the holes at the bottom. But it held from the trough back down to the outhouse. She sluiced water around the small building and scrubbed with the wadded papers. When she was finished, she dropped the wadded papers down the hole. She couldn’t see that scrubbing it with water made much difference. It did look a bit cleaner, but it was an outhouse after all, not a kitchen.

  She thought about taking the remainder of the Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog with her, but it was the 1918 edition. She knew Art had brought the 1920 edition home a few months ago, making the 1919 edition available for use in the outhouse. She knew about the new wishbook because one Friday evening, she and Clare spent a long time turning page after page together, giggling and laughing while LillieBeth and her friend Pearl laughed and giggled across the room.

  Of course, there was no reason to quit using the 1918 edition until it was all used up. She left it in place, knowing the Hazkits would take the 1919 and 1920 editions with them.

  She angled toward the house as LillieBeth parked the cart next to the east door. The back of the cart dripped water, but it would dry quickly enough. She dropped the outhouse bucket into the cart. It did not take long to find rocks to chock the wheels so it would not roll down hill. Susanne could see Clare, Grace Grissom and Mrs. Bailey through the open door. The women were sitting around the table. Much of the kitchen goods had been packed and a lot of things were off the walls ready to move. Susanne could smell biscuits and it was making her hungry.

  Instead of joining the older women she followed LillieBeth into the house. The girl grabbed her blanket from the wooden bench she called a bed. Susanne grabbed two corners and they folded it. LillieBeth pulled the wooden box of her belongings from under the bed. She showed each item to Susanne, even though Susanne had seen each item dozens of times. Until yesterday, the box had held an old doll the girl was too old to play with but too young to give away, a small bundle of Sunday school recitation cards all dutifully memorized and a harmonica LillieBeth couldn’t play. Today it also held a box of .38 caliber cartridges and the small chest inherited from Fletcher Hoffman.