by Kate Merrill
She gently lifted old Betty out of the coop and stroked her feathers. Betty had been with her a long time, but her production was down. Mattie’s heart ached as she slipped her hand up the bird’s long neck, so she made herself think about Floyd. Again hatred bubbled like water in the pot on the stove, the pot waiting for Betty. Mattie gripped hard under the head and spun the chicken around in a violent twist, breaking its neck. She wrestled the twitching creature onto the chopping block and lifted the ax. After that, time was a sorrowful blur.
Mattie calculated she hasn’t seen her granddaughter in a good five years, not since Leona came limping home, broken from her miscarriage. She brought her young husband, Darryl, home with her. It took Mattie months to warm to the big man who had caused her girl so much hurt, but in time she came to like his slow, kind-hearted ways. She saw he loved Leona and did what he could to provide. Darryl sat for hours along the roadside selling furniture and carving little critters of his own design. Mattie had urged folks to buy from Darryl, but some, like Flake, never gave Darryl the time of day.
Mattie whacked off Betty’s head and feet as she recalled how the community was just coming to accept Darryl when Floyd showed up. She drained the blood from the bird.
When Floyd convinced Darryl to up and leave with him, they took Leona along for the ride. It had all happened sudden-like, about the same time the Boone convenience store was robbed by a man who looked a lot like Floyd. Luckily, the townsfolk thought too much of Mattie to take up the chase---five long years ago.
“Bird ain’t hungry,” Leona said once Betty was boiled and served up in a stew. “He needs his sleep.”
Mattie wiped her knotted hands on her apron and turned all her pent up anger on the girl. “All that sleeping ain’t natural. What have you done to that boy? Filled him with drugs?”
After a spell of weeping, Leona produced a box of pink and white pills. “Floyd made me give him these. They don’t hurt him, they just make him sleepy.”
Mattie snatched the little box, soaked it under the faucet, then shoved it in the trash. “Well Floyd ain’t here now, is he?”
* * *
After that, life turned more normal. By Tuesday, the boy was up and eating like a regular kid, but Leona was sleeping like the dead. Mattie was too excited to eat or sleep. She drifted in a haze of happiness as the small family relaxed in her care. She made them both strip and bathe. She gave Leona one of her housedresses to wear and dressed Bird in a blouse and pair of shorts from Leona’s childhood. Once the two were clean and clothed proper, Mattie ordered Leona to climb up on Gee, one of their two white mules, and then Mattie hoisted Bird up behind her.
“Take the young’un out to the woods. Show him the secret place and the Indian caves,” Mattie said. “That’ll put the roses back in his little cheeks.”
When Bird returned home that night, flushed with fresh air and full of mountain legends, he ran out to tell Mattie, who was tending to the new puppies in the barn.
His eyes widened when he saw the ugly little creatures nursing on Lassie’s tits. “Are those dogs?”
Mattie giggled. “I guess they’re part dog. Usually Lassie mates with Flake’s old beagle, but not this time. Near as I can figure, she met up with one of them little wolves the government let loose in these hills.”
“Wolves?” Bird yipped. “Awesome!”
“Now I can’t say for certain,” Mattie amended. “I call my dog Lassie, but that don’t make her a collie.”
He considered that, biting his lip, then lowered himself into the hay, a safe distance from the pups. “Well, if their daddy’s a wolf, then they are wolves.”
Mattie didn’t argue. She watched in silence as the child inched closer to pick up a piece of straw and tickle the puppies’ bellies. Soon he found a wad of string and fashioned a toy by tying little bits of twig and hay to the end of the string. He tossed the string toy at the pups, which started playing like kittens as one by one they slid off Lassie’s nipples.
“You have a way with animals.” Mattie smiled.
The child grinned through astonishingly white teeth and fixed her with his magnetic blue eyes. “Leona says your name is Birdsong. That’s an Indian name, right?”
“Cherokee. It was Leona’s name too before she got married.”
“Yeah, she married that creep, Darryl!” The boy frowned. “If her name’s Birdsong, is that why she calls me Bird?”
Mattie had no idea why Leona called the child Bird, but his theory sounded reasonable. “Did Darryl hurt you, boy?”
The grin faded from Bird’s face. “Not so much.”
“What about the other man, Mr. Floyd?” she demanded.
His eyes flashed with fear, and then filled with tears. He crawled away from Mattie and the pups.
“He can’t hurt you anymore, Bird.”
“My name’s not Bird, it’s Juan!” The child spat into the straw. “If anyone calls me Bird again, I’ll kill them!”
Mattie was shocked and saddened. Violence didn’t come natural to this boy---it came from too much close association with Floyd, like ticks off a dog. “Trust me, Juan. No one can hurt you long as you’re with me and Leona.”
“I’m not scared!” The boy thrust out his jaw. “Because everyone’s looking for me---Aunt Nita, Bobby, and my Indian brother.”
“Leona didn’t tell me you have a brother.”
“Well, I do.”
Mattie was captivated as Juan described a blood brother pact he’d made with a boy named Johnny, but he would not repeat their secret oath.
“You’re an Indian, Mother Mattie. You should know all about that stuff.”
Mattie racked her brain. “I never heard tell about blood brothers, but that don’t mean it ain’t so. I can tell you about the Yunwi Tsunsdi, though.”
“The what?” Juan inched closer.
“Before the White Man came, the Cherokees told about a tribe of little people who used to hide away from the light of day. They were always playing dirty tricks on the Indians…” She paused to watch Juan’s eyes light up. “Anyway, the little Yunwi people did one good thing---they were the guardians of lost children. When they saw a child was lost, they stood in the shadows at the edge of the woods to guide the child’s spirit towards the village while they called their parents’ name.”
“Lost children like me?”
“Yes, Juan, exactly like you.”
By late Wednesday, Mattie lost patience with Leona, because once the girl got her fill of sleep, she’d taken to crawling around like an old river turtle, afraid to pull its head out of its shell.
“You might could help me with the chores, Leona.” Mattie’s bones ached from the roots of her long white hair to her gnarled toes. “Go tend the garden, then fetch us some eggs!” she barked.
“I can’t go out, Mother Mattie. What if Floyd’s hiding in the shadows?”
“And take the boy with you. He’s busting a gusset cooped up all day.”
“If Floyd sees Bird, he’ll grab him for sure!”
Mattie tromped across the room and snatched Leona’s chin. “Listen to me, young lady. Like as not, Floyd’s half way across the country by now, high tailing it from the law like a gun shy hound.”
Leona’s eyes pleaded, but Mattie kept hold. “And the boy’s name is Juan, you hear? Don’t be calling him Bird no more.”
Leona pulled loose and started to cry. Ever since she came home, she’d been moaning about her poor Darryl on his hospital deathbed, but Mattie sensed that Juan’s safety was at the root of Leona’s problems.
“It’s time to give that boy back, Leona. No two ways about it. So far you ain’t done no wrong that you can’t make right. No one knows you’re here, not even that old busybody, Flake Brown. It ain’t too late to drive straight into Boone, drop Juan at the police station, and take the medicine you got coming.”
“But I love him, Mother Mattie.”
“Sure you do, honey, but he don’t belong to you.” Mattie�
��s throat ached from the words, because she knew Leona’s pain was real. “You don’t need me telling you what’s right, but you ain’t got much more time. Come Friday, Flake will be knocking on the door to take me to town. What’ll you say then?”
After their heart-to-heart, Leona’s tears continued through the night, and Juan was so upset, he left Leona’s room to curl like a baby at the foot of Mattie’s bed. By Thursday morning, the plan of action was decided.
“Okay, I’ll take him back,” Leona announced. “But I can’t turn him in wearing my stupid old clothes and looking like a little girl.”
Mattie walked silently to the sink and opened the metal doors. Down amongst the pipes she found the plastic waste can full of paper trash. She lifted out the liner and poured her life savings onto the kitchen table. “Now you got money, girl. Take Juan into town and get him some new clothes. Treat him to a nice lunch and buy him a little present to remember you by.”
“But I’m scared, Mother Mattie.” Leona sniffled. “What will the police do to me?”
The old familiar pain shot up Mattie’s arm as she beheld her grandchild. She made herself a picture memory to last a good long time. “Can’t say what they’ll do. I hope they’ll bear in mind how you’ve been protecting young Juan and how you done right in the end. Whatever happens, come straight home to me when they turn you loose, you hear?”
Leona nodded, but refused to look Mattie in the eye. She left to fetch Juan, then made him lie down flat on the back seat of the station wagon.
As Mattie leaned through the car window to kiss Leona’s cheek, she considered the possibilities. With all that money, Leona could run far, taking the boy with her. Else she might drop Juan off at the police station, and then head out for parts unknown. After all, what did an old woman like Mattie have to offer? Mattie knew Leona loved her, but what if this was the end?
Mattie had suffered too many betrayals in her long life to endure one more. The pain in her chest grew more intense as the blue station wagon careened down the mountain, leaving a rolling hubcap behind in the dust, taking Mattie’s heart with it.
FORTY-THREE
Inside out…
Diana stood at a miniature stove frying the bacon and eggs Matthew bought on the way home from the Inn last night, and she gazed out the trailer window as the sun lifted through the morning mist above purple mountains in the distance.
Every muscle in her body ached in unaccustomed ways, and the heat from the stove was minor compared to the burning sensation radiating through every part of her like liquid fire. At the same time, she was filled to brimming with a long-forgotten contentment. No, not even that. How could she forget what she’d never had before? Loving Matthew was new and bright as the sunrise.
“Smells mighty good…” Matthew poked his dripping face through the curtain of the closet-sized shower. “Wow, this means you’ve cooked breakfast for me two days in a row.”
Seemed impossible. Had it been only yesterday they ate together, watching the lake from Diana’s patio, and then decided to take this trip? Since then, her life had suffered a sea change, causing her to swim up from hidden depths to drown in Matthew’s arms.
He stepped from the shower clad only in a towel knotted loosely above his slim hips, revealing the contours of a part of his anatomy Diana had come to know quite well. His powerful shoulders, flat belly, and long muscular legs were the physique of a young man hardened to maturity, while the gentle and generous technique he had shared with her spoke of a seasoned love unparalleled in her experience or imagination.
Now he approached from behind, wrapped his wet arms around her, and pulled her close. Once again she ached for everything he had given her through the night. When he kissed the back of her neck, then moved his mouth to caress the soft hollow at the base of her throat, she returned that kiss and broke loose from her moorings, adrift in an unchartered sea of her own desire.
Only when a spray of hot grease spattered on her arm, did she breathlessly pull away. “Hey, I’ll burn the bacon…”
He backed off and searched her eyes. “Thank you for last night, Diana.” His voice was hoarse with emotion.
Her eyes thanked him back, and she knew Matthew would likely not speak of this again. In spite of their intimacy, they were both a little shell shocked by this new state of affairs.
“Put some clothes on, will you?” She snapped a dishrag at his very fetching backside and sent him grinning like a schoolboy in the direction of the bedroom.
She hummed a tuneless melody as she set silverware at the tiny Formica table for two. Making love had been her idea, since Matthew would never have made a move without a clear signal from her. And she had no regrets, although every brain cell still functioning said maybe she should have a few. Those old synapses were grooved for self-defense, and she had been avoiding the danger of relationships for so long that every function required reprogramming before she could completely trust anyone. What if the closeness ended when this trip was over? She took a deep breath and forced herself to live in this moment, to accept this interlude of great joy and peace.
When Matthew wandered out, bashful in soft faded jeans and an old plaid shirt turned inside out, he was, if possible, more attractive than ever as he padded barefoot across the floor carrying a phone book tucked under his arm.
“Flake Brown’s not listed.” He frowned.
Diana laughed. “If you’re talking about Miss Mattie’s neighbor, I’m sure his name is Blake, not Flake. Your friend Lucy the waitress must have got it wrong.”
“Don’t count on it. Problem is, I see no Browns listed at all. Let’s go into town and ask folks. Someone’s bound to know him.”
She wrapped her arm around his waist and eyed the phone book. “My dear Matthew, you didn’t expect to find him that easily, did you?”
“Why not? Mama used to say it takes a smart man to try the simple way first.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, but didn’t your mama teach you to put a shirt on right?”
He glanced down sheepishly. “Whoops, I see what you mean, but this situation requires yourhelp…”
A mischievous glint ignited his eyes, as Diana waited for the punch line.
“Remember how we were talking about folk wisdom? Well, if you put a shirt on inside out, it’s good luck. But unless you get someone else to turn it right-side out for you, your luck will change for the worse…”
FORTY-FOUR
A cloud passed over the sun…
Leona pulled into the alley behind Mast General Store and parked between two delivery vans tall enough to hide the old station wagon. Her heart raced a mile a minute, and she couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder, but so far… so good.
She had never done something this important on her own, so she was extra proud when she found the secret road off the mountain. No one had used that trail since her granddaddy Birdsong hauled corn mash, but Leona had spotted it right off when she arrived with Bird last Saturday night. Thanks to her quick thinking, no one, not even that nosey Flake, had seen her coming, or going.
“Can I sit up now?” Bird whined from the back seat.
“Sure, honey. Tie your shoestrings and get ready. We’re going shopping.”
“For real?” Bird’s head looked funny when he lifted it up in the light. Black roots sprouted at his scalp under the blond fuzz, and his eyes were wary and frig
htened. He looked like one of those punk kids on TV, but at least he didn’t have no earrings pierced in strange places.
Like Leona, Bird had been on the run so long, he was half scared to step out of the car. “Where are we?” he demanded.
“We’re in Boone, child, the town where I grew up.”
“I thought you lived in the mountains?”
“Yes, but I came to school here sometimes.”
The boy snorted in disbelief. Fact was, Mother Mattie had given up hauling Leona into town for an education before she reached high school. It was just too much of a hassle, and back then nobody cared, not even the truant officer.
“I’m supposed to start third grade this year.” Bird grabbed hold of her hand as they sneaked in the backdoor of the store. “Bobby and Aunt Nita say it’s a brand new school, and I’ll be the best student.”
“I ’spect you will be, honey.” Her throat hurt as Bird’s eyes asked an unspoken question. Ever since he’d perked up from those pills, the child had been a handful. He never stopped asking when he was going home, but Leona never answered. Of late his fear had turned to anger, and once he punched her real hard when she would not talk.
“Why’d you bring me here?” Bird stalled at the edge of the sales floor. “Are you gonna let me go?”
Leona crouched down and tucked in his shirt. Her heart was breaking. “I’m fixing to buy you some new clothes, and then we’ll get some ice cream. Okay?”
He stomped hard. “I’ll run away…!”
An elderly man browsing through camping equipment overheard Bird’s outburst and scowled at Leona.
“Be quiet, Juan,” she whispered into his ear. “Else someone will come and take you away from me. Then what’ll you do?”
Her words startled him silent. She had never before called him by his real name.
“What’s gonna happen, Leona?”
How should she know? A dozen times on the way into town, she almost turned off in a complete different direction, but where would she go? Darryl was gone, she had no friends, and Mother Mattie’s money wouldn’t last forever.
She pulled Bird close and hugged him real tight. “Don’t worry, honey, everything will be just fine, I promise. Now be a good boy, and I‘ll buy you a special present, so you’ll remember me.”