Pricksongs & Descants (12 page)

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3

The Brother

right there right there in the middle of the damn field he says he wants to put that thing together him and his buggy ideas and so me I says
“
how the hell you gonna get it down to the water?
”
but he just focuses me out sweepin the blue his eyes rollin like they do when he gets het on some new lunatic notion and he says not to worry none about that just would I help him for God
’
s sake and because he don
’
t know how he can get it done in time otherwise and though you
’
d have to be loonier than him to say yes I says I will of course I always would crazy as my brother is I
’
ve done little else since I was born and my wife she says
“
I can
’
t figure it out I can
’
t sec why you always have to be babyin that old fool he ain
’
t never done nothin for you God knows and you got enough to do here fields need plowin it
’
s a bad enough year already my God and now that red-eyed brother of yours wingin around like a damn cloud and not knowin what in the world he
’
s doin buildin a damn boat in the country my God what next? you
’
re a damn fool I tell you
”
but packs me some sandwiches just the same and some sandwiches for my brother Lord knows his wife don
’
t have no truck with him no more says he can go starve for all she cares she
’
s fed up ever since the time he made her sit out on a hillside for three whole days rain and everything because he said she
’
d see God and she didn
’
t see nothin and in fact she like to die from hunger nothin but berries and his boys too they ain
’
t so bright neither but at least they come to help him out with his damn boat so it ain
’
t just the two of us thank God for that and it ain
’
t no goddamn fishin boat he wants to put up neither in fact it
’
s the biggest damn thing I ever heard of and for weeks wee\s I
’
m tellin you we ain
’
t doin nothin but cuttin down pine trees and haulin them out to his field which is really pretty high up a hill and my God that
’
s work lemm
e
tell you and my wife she sighs and says I am really crazy r-e-a-14-y crazy and her four months with a child and tryin to do my work and hers too and still when I come home from haulin timbers around all day she
’
s got enough left to rub my shoulders and the small of my back and fix a hot meal her long black hair pulled to a knot behind her head and hangin marvelously down her back her eyes gentle but very tired my God and I says to my brother I says
“
look I got a lotta work to do buddy you
’
ll have to finish this idiot thing yourself I wanna help you all I can you know that but
”
and he looks off and he says
“
it don
’
t matter none your work
”
and I says
“
the hell it don
’
t how you think me and my wife we
’
re gonna eat I mean where do you think this food comes from you been puttin away man
?
you can
’
t eat this goddamn boat out here ready to rot in that bastard sun
”
and he just sighs long and says
“
no it just don
’
t matter
”
and he sits him down on a rock kinda tired like and stares off and looks like he might even for God
’
s sake cry and so I go back to bringin wood up to him and he
’
s already started on the keel and frame God knows how he ever found out to build a damn boat lost in his fog where he is Lord he was twenty when I was born and the first thing I remember was havin to lead him around so he didn
’
t get kicked by a damn mule him who couldn
’
t never do nothin in a normal way just a huge oversize fuzzyface boy so anyway I take to gettin up a few hours earlier ever day to do my farmin my wife apt to lose the baby if she should keep pullin around like she was doin then I go to work on the boat until sundown and on and on the days hot and dry and my wife keepin good food in me or else I
’
d of dropped sure and no matter what I say to try and get out of it my brother he says
“
you come and help now the rest don
’
t matter
”
and we just keep hammerin away and my God the damn thing is big enough for a hundred people and at least I think at least it
’
s a place to live and not too bad at that at least it
’
s good for somethin but my wife she just sighs and says no good will come of it and runs her hands through my hair but she don
’
t ask me to stop helpin no more because she knows it won
’
t do no good and she
’
s kinda turned into herself now these days and gettin herself all ready and still we keep workin on that damn thing that damn boat and the days pass and my brother he says we gotta work harder we ain
’
t got much time and from time to time he gets a coupla neighbors to come over and give a hand them sucked in by the size and the novelty of the thing makin jokes some but they don
’
t stay around more than a day or two and they go away shakin their heads and swearin under their breath and disgusted they got weaseled into the thing in the first place and me I only get about half my place planted and sec to my stock as much as I can my wife she takes more care of them than I can but at least we won
’
t starve we say if we just get some rain and finally we get the damn thing done all finished by God and we cover it in and out with pitch and put a kinda fancy roof on it and I come home on that last day and I ain
’
t never goin back ain
’
t never gonna let him talk me into nothin again and I
’
m all smellin of tar and my wife she cries and cries and I says to her not to worry no more I
’
ll be home all the time and me I
’
m cryin a little too though she don
’
t notice just thinkin how she
’
s had it so lonely and hard and all and for one whole day I just sleep the whole damn day and the rest of the week I work around the farm and one day I get an idea and I go over to my brother
’
s place and get some pieces of wood left over and whaddaya know? they are all livin on that damn boat there in the middle of nowhere him and his boys and some women and my brother
’
s wife she
’
s there too but she
’
s madder than hell and carpin at him to get outa that damn boat and come home and he says she
’
s got just one more day and then he
’
s gonna drug her on the boat but he don
’
t say it like a threat or nothin more like a fact a plain fact tomorrow he
’
s gonna drug her on the boat well I ain
’
t one to get mixed up in domestic quarrels God knows so I grab up the wood and beat it back to my farm and that evenin I make a little cradle a kind
a
fancy one with little animal figures cut in it and polished down and after supper I give it to my wife as a surprise and she cries and cries and holds me tight and says don
’
t never go away again and stay close by her and all and I feel so damn good and warm about it all and glad the boat thing is over and we get out a little wine and we decide the baby
’
s name is gonna be either Nathaniel or Anna and so we drink an extra cup to Nathaniel
’
s health and we laugh and we sigh and drink one to Anna and my wife she gently fingers the little animal figures and says they
’
re beautiful and really they ain
’
t I ain
’
t much good at that sorta thing but I know what she means and then she says
“
where did you get the wood?
”
and I says
“
it
’
s left over from the boat
”
and she don
’
t say nothin for a moment and then she says
“
you been over there again today?
”
and I says
“
yes just to get the wood
”
and she says
“
what
’
s he doin now he
’
s got the boat done?
”
and I says
“
funny thing they
’
re all living in the damn thing all except the old lady she
’
s over there hollerin at him how he
’
s gettin senile and where does he think he
’
s sailin to and how if he ain
’
t afraid of runnin into a octypuss on the way he oughta get back home and him sayin she
’
s a nut there ain
’
t no water and her sayin that
’
s what she
’
s been tellin him for six months
”
and my wife she laughs and it
’
s the happiest laugh I
’
ve heard from her in half a year and I laugh and we both have another cup-of wine and my wife she says
“
so he
’
s just livin on that big thing all by hisself?
”
and I says
“
no he
’
s got his boys on there and some young women who are maybe wives of the boys or somethin I don
’
t know I ain
’
t never seen them before and all kinda damn animals and birds and things I ain
’
t never seen the likes
”
and my wife she says
“
animals? what animals?
”
and I says
“
oh all kinds I don
’
t know a whole damn menagerie all clutterin and stinkin up the boat God what a mess
”
and my wife laughs again and she
’
s a little silly with the wine and she says
“
I bet he ain
’
t got no pigs
”
and
“
oh yes I seen them
”
I says and we laugh thinkin about pigs rootin around in that big tub and she says
“
I bet he ain
’
t got no jackdaws
”
and I says
“
yes I seen a couple o£ them too or mostly I heard them you couldn
’
t hardly hear nothin else
”
and we laugh again thinkin about them crows and his old lady and the pigs and all and my wife she says
“
I
know what he ain
’
t got I bet he ain
’
t got no lice
”
and we both laugh like crazy and when I can I says
“
oh yes he does less he
’
s took a bath
”
and we both laugh til! we
’
re cryin and we finish off the wine and my wife says
“
look now I fyiow what he ain
’
t got he ain
’
t got no termites
”
and I says
“
you
’
re right I don
’
t recollect no termites maybe we oughta make him a present
”
and my wife she holds me close quiet all of a sudden and says
“
he
’
s really movin Nathaniel
’
s really movin
”
and she puts my hand down on her round belly and the little fella is kickin up a terrific storm and I says kinda anxious
“
does it hurt? do you think that—?
”
and
“
no
”
she says
“
it
’
s good
”
she says and so I says with my hand on her belly