‘She’s dead, Mark, I’ve told you that.’ Mathew sat up, wrapping skinny arms around his knees.
A distant rumble sounded. ‘Fold the blankets and get ready,’ Jerome told them, rolling the history of his people into a flat cylinder he shoved it down his shirt-front. He ran toward the railroad tracks, jumping over fallen timber and skirting shrubby bushes. In the distance pinpricks of light appeared in the west. Placing his ear against the tracks, the vibration was immediately obvious. ‘It’s here!’ he yelled, racing back to their camp. He helped Abelena remove the bridles from the horses and unsaddled Ernst. ‘Goodbye, friend.’ He rubbed the animal’s nose and then slapped the horse’s rump. ‘Off you go, boy.’ The horse walked a few paces and turned to watch them as they ran towards the water tower.
‘Keep running.’ Jerome led his family along the track until they were a good few hundred feet away from the tower. They squatted in a huddle near the railway lines.
‘What if it doesn’t stop?’ Mathew asked. He had an arm around his brother’s shoulders lest he wander.
‘It’ll stop,’ Jerome replied, glancing at Abelena.
‘Maybe we shouldn’t have turned the horses away.’ She looked anxious.
‘We should have stuck one for meat,’ Mathew told them, ‘had ourselves a decent feed.’
The rumble of the approaching train grew louder. The shiny black locomotive charged by in a haze of steam and dust as the sky grew lighter. Wooden freight cars flashed past, rattling loudly.
‘It’s not going to stop,’ Abelena yelled as they turned their faces away from the flying grit and rushing wind.
‘Look.’ Mathew pointed to the tops of the carriages. There were men riding the train, their legs dangling over the sides. Gradually the train slowed. The creak of metal followed a whoosh of steam.
‘It’s a freight train,’ Jerome told them, ‘come on.’ He fell in step with the slowing train and called up to the men above. ‘We want to get on!’
‘It’ll stop,’ came the response.
True to the man’s word, the train did slow to a complete stop. Soon the air was filled with the noise of people clambering off the railway carriages. Men formed groups, cigarettes were lit. People bustled around them. Jerome listened to the voices in the early morning and drew his family closer as the sound of men relieving themselves only feet away mixed with the idling engine of the locomotive. The stink of unwashed bodies, of tobacco and urine was strong as a crowd of people walked towards the water tower to fill containers.
‘You gotta ride on the roof.’ The man standing in front of Jerome looked tired and wind-blown. He wore a pair of round spectacles, the frame of which appeared to be held together with twine. ‘These three cars here,’ he gestured, ‘them others are open-topped piled high with coal.’
‘How much?’ Jerome asked.
‘I ain’t no official.’ He perched the cap he wore on the back of his head and pushed the spectacles higher up onto the bridge of his nose. ‘I’m just hitching a ride like everybody else; this way.’
‘Where are you all heading to?’ Jerome took Tess from his sister’s arms and shepherded everyone forward to where the man waited near the end of a freight car. There were metal railings forming a ladder at one end and men were already walking past on their way back to take their seats up on top.
‘Anywhere a man can get work. Near everyone I hear tell has gone or is going west to California, but some of us reckon the east might have more to offer,’ he grinned. ‘That’s what my cousin Arnold reckons. He’s already been out to California, couldn’t get a single job picking fruit, spent the year living in makeshift camps called Hoovervilles. Yessum, it seems every town’s got a Hooverville. Well, he wrote me and said not to come. So I says to myself, Charlie, it’s time to make your own luck, so I turned east and started walking and before I knew it I wasn’t alone.’
‘And they let us ride for free on the trains?’ Jerome asked.
‘Well it ain’t like it’s first-class travel. They tell me it’s different in the big cities. The conductors are onto us train-hoppers in them big towns, so a man’s gotta watch himself. Yessum, a man’s gotta be on his guard but out here, well, if a man behaves himself and goes about his business quietly, the conductors turn a blind eye. What are they going to do with us all anyway? Pick a fight?’
Jerome realised the man had a point.
‘You better get your wife and family up there and hang on. You look like you’ve travelled some already.’
‘Come on.’ Jerome steered his sister towards the ladder and, following the man’s advice, they scrambled onto the top of the car to sit in the middle of the roof. Men walked past and spread out along the length of the flat-topped freight car. Jerome made out gaunt faces and wary eyes. There were few women that he could see and if there were children they were not in view. Some of the men were roughish types and interested glances suggested Abelena would be considered a prize. Others were friendlier, welcoming them as if they were toffs sharing a first-class cabin.
‘Keep them children of yours away from the sides, mister. These tracks ain’t what they used to be.’
‘You’ll be fine, mister, just hang on and if you need to get some shut-eye, it’s best if you do it in the daylight.’
‘Yeah, two fellas fell off last night. Had a fight they did and when they shook hands at the end of it and agreed to disagree the driver slammed on the brakes to miss something on the tracks and, whoosh, over they went.’
Abelena pulled Tess closer.
‘You got a nice family there, real nice,’ Charlie commented. ‘You’d be Mexican?’ He sat next to Abelena.
The train shuddered, jolting them roughly as it slowly picked up speed. Mark gave a hoot of excitement.
‘You sit still,’ Jerome cautioned, pulling Mark closer as Mathew steadied his brother with a firm grip. ‘Yes, Mexican,’ Jerome replied.
‘Thought I’d check, I can’t always tell between you lot and an Injun. Don’t go too much on Injuns. So where you headed then?’ Charlie asked. ‘Me, I’m going all the way to New York City, yessum.’
The wind whipped at their faces. ‘Not sure,’ Jerome revealed. ‘Do you reckon there’s work in New York?’
‘Well if there ain’t, there’ll be soup kitchens.’
‘What are those?’ Mathew had his arm linked through his brother’s.
Charlie stared at the younger of the two twins. Mark’s droopy eye was red-rimmed and weeping. ‘Where they feed people, ’cause of the depression.’ He finally drew his gaze from the younger of the twins. ‘They your kin?’
‘Cousins,’ Abelena answered. ‘They lost their parents so we took them in.’
Charlie nodded. ‘Where are you folk from anyway?’
‘Kansas,’ Jerome lied. ‘We were sharecroppers but the drought near cleaned us out.’
Charlie lifted a leg and plucked a splinter free of his trousers. ‘You’re telling me. Our place was near Boise City in Oklahoma. You would have heard of the place.’
‘Sure thing.’ Jerome sensed Abelena’s nervousness.
‘The missus went to live with her parents after we lost our farm, sent me out to find work. Like it was my fault the country went bust and then it stopped raining.’
‘Is it far to New York?’ Abelena asked.
‘Far enough,’ Charlie explained, ‘a couple of freight trains I’m told and then a passenger train, although the likes of us still have to ride on top unless you got money?’
The question hung, Jerome laughed. ‘Yeah, like I’d be making my family ride the roof if we had money.’
Charlie lit a cigarette by ducking his head between his knees and cupping a hand around the match. ‘Well, it’s just that you asked me how much to ride on the roof, so I figured –’
‘I’ve got a sick child and a few coins saved for food.’
Charlie lifted his hands in surrender. ‘I ain’t looking for no argument.’ The cigarette travelled across his bottom lip, the smoke dissipating i
nto the wind. He leant forward. ‘Most of these men got real empty pockets.’
Their conversation was interrupted by a shout. All along one side of the locomotive a string of men were elbowing each other and pointing. Mathew and Mark knelt on the carriage roof, trying to see past the bobbing heads in front of them.
Charlie swivelled on his backside. ‘Well, I’ll be.’
Jerome picked out a flash of movement below, a blur of tail and mane. The Blums’ horse, Ernst, was running beside the train at the gallop.
‘Now that’s a nice piece of horse flesh,’ Charlie commented, dragging heavily on the cigarette.
The animal kept pace with them, his rippling flanks showcasing sinewy muscle as the gelding’s stride lengthened. Those men dangling their legs over the side of the freight car cheered the horse onwards. There were bets laid on how far and fast the animal could run, whether a horse could outrun a locomotive.
‘Ernst!’ Mark shrieked.
Jerome laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder. ‘Shush up.’
Mark began to sniff uncontrollably. Another cry rang out from the passengers riding the rooftop as Ernst veered into the timber.
‘You know that horse, boy?’ Flicking the dying cigarette over the side of the train Charlie looked intently at the twins.
Mark’s bottom lip dangled, his droopy eye focused on Jerome. ‘No.’
‘Mark gets a bit confused sometimes,’ Abelena explained. ‘And he’s worn out from the travelling, we all are.’
The man looked unconvinced. ‘A person would have to be in a bit of trouble to leave a horse like that behind, yes siree.’
‘Horses ain’t worth nothing these days,’ Jerome answered. ‘Why, I know a man who took a couple of mares into town to sell and ended up bringing them home.’
‘Well, that’s what I’m saying,’ Charlie continued, ‘if you couldn’t sell a horse like that one, then you’d keep him. What were you doing at the water tower anyway? Why didn’t you all just hop a train earlier?’
‘Can’t a person get on and off when they choose?’ Jerome replied.
Charlie’s face creased. ‘I don’t trust him,’ Jerome said softly to his sister after the man had moved on to sit with some other men.
‘Good, neither do I.’
Jerome took a steadying breath. As the train moved across the land, he watched the railroad growing smaller in the distance. With every mile of track covered, the possibility of escaping the law grew. There was a chance that they would all have a future, one with jobs and food and a home to share. The thought of such freedom rallied his spirits and for the first time in weeks he thought of what it would be like to stop moving, forever.
Abelena leant towards him. ‘What are you smiling about?’
‘What our lives could be like.’ He shifted the sleeping child in his arms. The little girl woke, rubbing her eyes with balled fists.
‘Safe,’ Abelena answered, ‘I just want us to be safe, with food and a house to live in.’ She clucked Tess under the chin. ‘I want a proper life. A white person’s life,’ she whispered.
‘Our life has nothing to do with the colour of our skin. Money makes the difference in the world. Either you have it or you don’t.’
‘And why are we poor, brother?’ Abelene asked bitterly. ‘Because of our blood, because the Wades turned away our mother when she asked for help. Because our great-grandmother was abducted by Indians. That’s why.’
‘Keep your voice down. You must let go of this bitterness you carry, sister. No good can come of it.’
‘It has grown to be a part of me, brother, and at times it gives comfort.’
Jerome didn’t pursue the conversation. Who was he to lecture if the anger within his sister helped her, helped them all to survive?
The twins soon became impossible to control. They raced back and forth along the freight car roof as some of the men dared Mathew to jump across to the next car. The older boy pulled up short on the first three attempts, much to the mixed response of the spectators. Mark delighted in the attention. He yelled and clapped his hands, not understanding that the handful of men who spurred them on were also making fun of him.
‘Don’t let him jump, Jerome,’ Abelena pleaded, taking Tess from his arms. ‘He’ll fall.’
Getting unsteadily to his feet, Jerome balanced on the moving train and, careful not to step on any hands or feet, joined Mathew. The boy was walking backwards from the end of the wagon, clearly measuring the distance. He stopped when he saw Jerome and they both spread their legs slightly as they braced their bodies against the moving train.
‘What if you jump and Mark follows?’ Mathew clearly hadn’t considered such a possibility for he did not respond immediately. ‘He’d fall,’ Jerome continued. ‘We both know that.’
The older boy jammed his hands in the pockets of his pants.
‘What’s worse, some of these men are making fun of him.’ Jerome had caught a number of the passengers mimicking Mark.
Mathew wet his lips. ‘Then you hang onto him, Jerome. That man there said he’d give me a quarter if I jumped, so I’m a-jumping.’
The man Mathew pointed to held up a shiny coin and bit it as if to prove its genuineness.
Mathew took a single step backwards and began to sprint along the car.
‘Stop him!’ Abelena called.
Jerome just had time to grab Mark and stop the younger boy from following as Mathew leapt. The red-headed boy’s legs and arms flailed the air as shouts of encouragement rang out. Patchy sunlight filtered through the trees, throwing Mathew into shadow as he landed safely on the next freight car, and pumped the air with a clenched fist.
‘Thank heavens.’ Abelena clasped Tess tightly to her chest as the train shuddered and slowed. The locomotive rounded a corner and, unprepared, Mathew lost his balance. Jerome pushed Mark towards his sister and broke into a run as Mathew fell over the edge.
‘Help him!’ Jerome yelled. Mathew was hanging from the side of the car. Men rushed to his aid but as Jerome took a running jump across to the freight car, Mathew lost his grip and fell.
The boy tumbled down a ridge, his slight body blurring with bushes and trees. There was a moment of noise and light and rushing wind as Jerome leapt after him. Then he landed heavily on the ground and began to roll.
Chapter 34
May, 1935 – Broken Arrow, Tulsa County, Oklahoma
It was nearly dusk when the train entered Broken Arrow. As it wound slowly behind rows of timber houses, some of the men jumped off and began knocking on doors asking for food. A water tower and grain elevator were silhouetted against a pink-tinged sky and roses bloomed along picket fences. Abelena thought it a pretty place. The town had been built in the middle of a prairie and there were green pastures filled with cows and hundreds of cattle calling out from a corral.
As the train drew closer to the distinctive green walls and red-shingled roof of the depot, a number of short, sharp toots sounded. A man ran across the tracks and waved at the engine driver before skirting a small stack of corn and a pile of hickory logs on the depot platform. The train stopped with a shudder and a blast of steam.
Wind-blown and cold, Abelena climbed down the side of the carriage to where Mark waited. Her legs trembled and it took a moment to become accustomed to the lack of movement after so many hours sitting on the train’s roof. Above, men stared and whispered.
The boy tugged on her hand. ‘Mathew?’
Having spent most of the day since the accident trying to explain to Mark what had happened, Abelena was growing tired of placating him. ‘We’ll find him,’ she promised again, as one of the passengers threw down their rolled blankets. The material landed with a thud on the ground.
‘There’ll be a sheriff’s office in town,’ a man yelled from above her. ‘Best you go straight there. They’ll find your man, missus. Look, I’ll be betting that there’s the stationmaster.’ He pointed to the silhouette of a man standing in the doorway of a building. ‘He’ll give you direct
ions, I’m sure.’
Abelena thanked him and stepped back from the railway tracks. She shifted Tess on her hip. The child hadn’t made a sound for hours.
Men were loading and unloading goods. They wheeled wooden crates on trolleys, laughing and talking as they worked. Further along the line a whistle blew. As the engine let out a burst of steam, a group of men talking to the stationmaster ran to the locomotive, quickly climbing aboard as the train chugged away. Abelena was left alone with the two children. They appeared to be in the middle of Broken Arrow for the glow of house lights flickered on either side of the tracks and the scent of cooking smells made her stomach turn. She looked back along the railway line in the direction they’d come as the sound of the locomotive gathering speed echoed. It was growing dark quickly now that the sun had set and Mark squeezed her fingers.
‘What?’ Abelena asked the boy. In response Mark tugged at her hand.
A light appeared to be travelling towards them, a lantern. There was another man smoking at the far end of the platform. Abelena felt the breath catch in her throat.
‘Somebody expecting you?’ the male voice enquired.
Abelena lowered her face against the brightness. Tess grew heavier by the second. The man peered at her intently, at Mark and then at the child in her arms. Gradually the lamp was lowered. ‘No. Well, I’m waiting for my husband. We’re to meet here at Broken Arrow. But we’re looking for work.’
‘Half the country is looking for work,’ the man replied. ‘That man there,’ he thumbed at the figure further along the platform, ‘he says your husband fell from the train. That a boy fell as well. Is that right?’
‘No.’ Abelena tugged on Mark’s hand and walked quickly away from the railway tracks.
‘Hey lady, come back here.’
‘Where are we going?’ Mark whined.
‘Shush, I don’t know.’ She could feel the man’s eyes on them as they left the platform and walked out onto the main street before returning to the rear of the station. It was too dark to wander far and Abelena was exhausted. She slid down the rear wall of the station building and pulled the children close to her on either side. There was a warm patch on the boards no doubt created from a stove on the other side. ‘Sleep,’ she told them quietly, squirreling them all closer to the warmth. ‘Sleep and tomorrow we’ll find Jerome and Mathew and get some food.’
The Great Plains Page 28