All That Lives (54 page)

“Betsy, bring my brush along with my tea. Your hair is outrageously tangled, and I would put it in a braid.” I hoped her instructions
to me were meant only to dissipate the tension further by bringing normal routines into the room, but I feared she suspected
something amiss. I hurried to her dark bedroom and took the brush up off her chest of drawers, carefully avoiding looking
to her bed for I was thinking of Father, and it was easy to conjure the image of his corpse lying there. I hastened back to
Mother’s side, kneeling before the fire, and she began to brush my hair.

“Tell us your most exciting story, brother,” Joel pleaded. He took his piece of cake from Chloe and sat on the rug at John
Jr.’s feet.

“That would be the storm of lightning at Bailey’s Crossing …” John Jr. smiled to see that despite all our trauma Joel was
still a trusting child, relishing a good evening’s entertainment.

“Did it get you, John Jr.?” Richard sat cross-legged beside him, encouraging him to tell the tale.

“We had been on the road for three long weeks of terrible weather. You recall the rains last spring? The heavy ones that went
on and on after Clara Lawson hanged herself?” He looked quickly to Mother, as if he would apologize for the reference, but
felt it was essential to conjure up weather we could picture. I felt Mother nod to him, absently brushing over my tangles.
“The rain was like that, endless, and in the afternoon, the wind whipped up. The tracks in the road were a swamp beneath the
horses’ feet. We were striving to reach Bailey’s Crossing, for we were greatly in need of supplies, but the animals stumbled
and sank near to their knees each step in the muck and the road had not been properly cleared, so branches whipped and struck
our sides, and it was very slow going.” Abruptly the sound of loud rain splashing into mud filled our parlor. “Leave off!”
John Jr. turned his head with great annoyance to the fire as if the Spirit would speak from there. “I can tell it well enough
alone,” he snapped, but the Being did not answer, though the sound of rain did stop, and he continued.

“Isiah and I were unaware the demon was present in the storm until it spoke.
‘John Jr. Bell, stop this instant or your head will burst like a melon!’
” John Jr. did an excellent imitation of the Spirit’s most commanding tone. “We heard a thunderous cracking sound and a bolt
of lightning was hurled from the sky into a tree before us on the roadside. It crashed down across our path, and if we had
gone one foot farther it would have meant our skulls crushed for certain!”

Now they know, I saved your life, and your lowly slave.

“ ’Tis certain you were there, creature of the damned, but ’tis as likely you did
cause
the damage as relieve it.” John Jr. took another drink from his flask.

“It nearly got you, brother, just like it nearly got me in the whirlpool of quicksand!” Richard clasped his hands in excitement.
I tried not to flinch when Mother ripped through an impossible knot in my hair.

“It saved you, Richard! It didn’t
get
you,” Joel objected. “Tell it again, John Jr.,” he begged.

“I have many more stories I know will interest you,” John Jr. laughed, “but I believe you have your own share.”

“One day in winter Drewry shot a witch rabbit!” Joel was anxious to recount that story.

“And pretty Miss Sallie Barton from Virginia came to call,” Drewry spoke up.

“Not tonight, dears,” Mother interrupted, “for it is growing late. Perhaps you can continue telling tales in the comfort of
your beds.” Mother did not wish to observe John Jr. hearing Drew’s description of Sallie Barton, I could tell, and I certainly
did not wish to relive our sleigh ride. “I must finish Elizabeth’s plait.” Mother continued to pull the twigs and leaves from
my slippery hair. She did not speak to me about it, but she did place her hand on my back, smoothing the wrinkles in the cloth.
I hoped she did not know what I had done that day. I wondered if I knew myself. John Jr. stood.

“I will take the boys upstairs, Mother. So many nights I have longed for my bed, I am looking forward to this rest. Provided
it will be undisturbed.” He spoke to the walls and ceiling as if he hoped the Spirit was listening and would heed his desire.

“It will be peaceful, I am certain,” Mother said. “It has been for some time. You know not the depth of my joy over your return.”
She tilted her cheek and John Jr. bent and kissed her. Taking the boys by the hand, he climbed the stairs, returning a different
person to his same old room.

The following morning was a Saturday and I awoke to John Jr. shaking my shoulder.

“Will you come to the cavern, sister? Drewry is out on the lands and Mother has taken the boys to Thorn’s store. I greatly
desire to see Father’s best view. Will you come?” I wondered if he had something private he wished to tell me. Something had
changed between us, exactly as I had felt it would before his departure, but what it was I could not say. So much had happened,
I knew not how to tell him of the many events he had missed while he was away, or even how to accurately express my feelings.
I pulled my quilt up to my chin, blinking to focus on his face. He reminded me of Father in so many ways, it made me sad.
And yet, in the gleam of his teeth, smiling his inquiry, I saw my brother’s true nature. His soul lived for adventure, though
unlike Drewry, he might meet it simply to practice restraint.

“I will,” I answered, pushing back my cover. I would not pass on an opportunity to visit the cavern, as I had not been there
since last I went with him.

We set out directly after eating breakfast. The sun was pleasantly warm and large white clouds rolled behind the treetops.
I carried a saddlebag of our warmest woolens which could suffer mud, and our lunches, and John Jr. carried his rifle on his
shoulder, as well as a coil of rope, in case of an emergency. The oil lantern he’d fetched from the barn swung carelessly
in his right hand and twice he bumped my knee, until I fell to walking a step behind.

“ ’Tis nowhere more lovely than Father’s land.” John Jr. spoke over his shoulder, invigorated with the spring.

“In truth?” I was curious what the rest of the world was like, despite my suspicion it was much the same as where we walked.

“Betsy, there is land vastly different from this.”

“In all aspects?”

“In all aspects. I saw mountains so tall they stood in the clouds, with faces of sheer rock one hundred times the size of
Father’s cavern.” John Jr. adjusted the rope on his shoulder and I remembered he had always enjoyed climbing. He would not
exaggerate. “The land past here is God’s great majesty, but many settlements are evil and corrupt.” His lips curled into a
grim frown reminding me of his face when he teased Drewry over Little Bright, and I wondered what else he had seen in his
travels.

“How say you?”

“I tell you, Betsy, there are parts of this great south where impecuniousness has caused whole communities and their outlying
districts to go to wreck and ruin. The larger cities are filled with swindlers, wanting only to fleece you. Our father has
provided for us well here, Betsy.”

“That is understood by me.” I had the feeling there was something more he wished to say.

“All men will not have your father’s or your brother’s good intentions toward you, sister.” I could see he was concerned for
me. “There are men in this country who would dishonor you as quick as they would blink an eyelid and with less thought as
well. With your beauty, you must be aware.”

“I am aware, John Jr., but you forget, I am unlikely to travel far from this secluded farm.” My response reassured him and
he left it at that. I wondered what he had observed on the evening of his arrival as I strode unconscious of his presence
up the hill? I had committed a grave sin, I knew, but it was between me and the Lord and Josh Gardner. Besides, I felt my
brother was hardly one to give advice.

We reached the sinkhole that marked the cold storehouse and we stopped there, before the mighty wooden door. Dean had carved
it from a massive oak felled by himself and Father, such a feat of strength he had recalled it before doing battle with the
black dog witch creature. Set into the knoll of the hillside and reinforced with stones, it was a formidable sight. The iron
padlock and chain were kept well oiled and when John Jr. fitted in the key, the lock snapped undone. The handle Dean had carved
was long enough for many pairs of men’s hands, as in the winter it took more than one person to heave it open. John Jr. and
I grasped the smooth wood together and pulled with all our strength, until the foot-wide door creaked, gave way, and the cold
air smelling of smoked meats and cheese blasted our faces.

“We must dress out here.” John Jr. took the satchel off my shoulder and we pulled out all the clothes, leaving only our lunch
to carry in the bag. I put one of Mother’s old wool gardening smocks over my plain cloth dress and John Jr. wore his oldest
woolen coat. I watched him expertly light the lantern after striking the flint and steel to get his char cloth going, igniting
the flame in his tinderbox.

“Are you prepared, dear sister?”

“As ever I will be.”

He went first, descending the stone steps into the wide room of the larder.

“Look at the prosperity we enjoy, dear Betsy. Look on it!” He raised the lamp and I saw we had two sides of pork and two of
beef strung near the wall where it was coldest, while wooden shelves built to stand alone held cheese wrapped in muslin and
quantities of butter blocks. Sitting in pewter bowls of icy water was enough butter to cover all the corn-bread eaten in Robertson
County. There were fifty-pound sacks labeled
sugar, hominy, cornmeal
and
oats,
stacked cross-wise on the highest shelves. I did not often come to the storehouse and our abundance
was
astounding.

There was a natural slope down to the back of the room and John Jr. went that way. The passage narrowed slightly and then
more, until the walls became so tight we had to turn sideways and slide along. We did this silently for nearly half an hour,
winding our way back through the rock of the massive cavern. It was damp in places and very tight in others and, as I moved
along, I felt the chilling rock pressing my body hard, and I had to hold my breath to squeeze through. John Jr. had the lantern
before him and the passage grew completely dark as he rounded a corner more quickly than I. Without the light I could not
see my hand before my face.

“Go more slowly, brother,” I called ahead.

“Hurry, it is not much farther,” he called back. I was happy I had worn my oldest ragged bonnet, for even though John Jr.
was in front and got the worst of it, the spiderwebs were thick and I did not like the feel of them on my cheeks and hands.

We emerged from the small passage into a large cave some thirty feet high with walls the color of ripe figs and giant dark
stalactites hanging from the ceiling. I felt as I remembered feeling last time I had visited; as if I’d entered the most unusually
sacred church. I knew abruptly John Jr. and I were not the first to see the pleasures of this place. I wondered why it had
not struck me before.

“Brother, do you think the Injuns once lived here?”

“Injuns, or maybe animals.”

He held the lantern up and we examined a stalactite.

“See how the minerals contained within our earth cause the cone to shimmer?” John Jr.’s interest in geology was deeper than
I’d realized.

“ ’Tis lovely,” I agreed, marveling at the swirls of color, but as I stared at the icicle of rock, the flame of his lantern
wavered and I thought I saw an ancient and unfamiliar face staring from inside the cone. I gasped and grabbed John Jr.’s arm.

“What, Betsy?” He turned to me, surprised, but I did not say what I had seen.

“Let us move on and have our lunch, dear brother, for I am nearly faint with hunger.”

We carried on to the back of the room, then climbed upward through a short but wide passage that served as the hallway to
the great mouth of the cavern. We entered there and I noticed first how smooth and flat the floor became, and, looking up,
I saw framed by the gigantic arch of rock the gorgeous view of Father’s acreage spreading far below.

“What’s this?” John Jr. did not face the panorama as I did, but rather turned away and held the lantern high to better see
the concave wall rising on our left. I looked where he pointed and saw a pile of something that resembled bones in the corner,
under the shelf of rock.

“Never mind. Look at this!” I insisted he survey the land, and moving past him, I settled on my knees in the arc of sunlight
bathing the floor right at the mouth of the cave. I looked down at the river and the fallen elm, the perfect fishing hole.
I thought of the day I’d stood below with Josh, admiring the icicles hanging from the arched mouth above where I sat now.
I wished heartily he was by my side.

“The floor is smooth as window glass, John Jr. Let us spread our luncheon here.”

“Are you growing, Betsy?” John Jr. came quickly over, teasing me, unshouldering his gun and rope. He set the lantern down
and sat cross-legged at my side.

“ ’Tis nowhere more lovely,” he said, resting his hands on his knees, looking out. I saw he was completely satisfied with
what lay before him, and yet, deep sadness etched contours in his face and made his spine too stiff. I recognized his mood,
for I had seen it in myself and Drewry. His blessings were not enough to provide sufficient relief from his pain. I wished
to make him understand how ready I was to leave behind our times of dread, and be able to enjoy the warm excitement a handful
of black cherries or innocent kisses in the woods could bring.

“You know, dear brother, the Spirit saved our mother from her death.” I started the discussion I realized we must have.

“I know only the Spirit murdered our father and has done damage to the souls of all his children and his wife. I will not
hear you speak in its favor, little sister.”