Harvest Home Part 6

Maggie laughed. "Look how she takes that corn off the cob. My teeth wouldn't stand for it. Isn't it amazing how she keeps her faculties? And her energies. You'll see-after her lunch she'll sit there and quilt the whole afternoon, she and Mrs. Brucie and Mrs. Zalmon."

"A quilting bee?" Beth asked.

"Quilting's become fashionable everywhere these days, but it's never stopped in the Coombe. Our ladies can turn out a dozen quilts a month."

"Patchwork quilts bring a lot of money down in New York," Beth said speculatively.

Out on the field, Fred Minerva had hitched his team to a skid with wooden runners like a sled. Worthy explained that this was called a stoneboat, onto which sacks of sand had been loaded. Deftly manipulating the reins, Fred encouraged his horses to pull the stoneboat along the turf, and at a certain point he unhitched his team and another took his place. The various pairs of horses were decked out in bell-laden harness, and I saw that Justin's team had little corn rosettes stuck up behind the blinders.

I turned back to Robert. "The thing I don't understand is how, in a day of modern technology and machinery, farmers still continue to use a horse and plow in place of tractors."

"They don't believe believe in tractors," Maggie said. in tractors," Maggie said.

Worthy sat up, attentive to the conversation, as Robert said, "The farmers hereabouts discovered long ago what farmers elsewhere are just coming to realize. There's a good deal of work on a farm that can be done more cheaply by animal power than by gasoline. And your seed will go in early, before you can use a tractor on the wet ground."

"Maybe you lose a little time at early planting, Professor," Worthy put in, "but in the long run you make it up. And I'll bet if I hitched my tractor onto that skid I could move it farther and faster than all those horses put together."

"Hot, hot, hot. Never saw a fair day so hot." It was the redoubtable Mrs. Buxley, the parson's wife, accompanied by her husband. Wearing a flyaway hat and billowing chiffon, like a four-masted schooner in a high gale she descended upon us. She blew out her cheeks and lowered her bottom into one of the chairs Mr. Buxley had brought along. "Can't remember a fair day hot as this, not since-James, can't you bring your chair closer and join us?-the year of the last great flood. That was the year you and Robert came to us, wasn't it, Maggie? Remember, Robert?"

"I remember." Robert laughed shortly.

"Gracious, that was fourteen years now, hardly seems possible." She lavished a smile on Beth. "And for you, this will be your first. We don't see you in church-do we, James?"

Mr. Buxley's reply was inaudible. Mrs. Buxley wrinkled her brow, her smile becoming one of infinite patience. "And we miss seeing your little girl for Sunday School-isn't that so, James? You know that I take the Sunday School myself, James has so much work composing his sermons. You like our church, Ned? I may call you Ned? Allow me to see some of your work, may I?"

Her insistent hand slipped my sketchbook from my lap and began leafing through it. "Why, there's Amys Penrose to the life. And old Mr. Huie! And those hands hands-you are are talented, Ned. Your husband's talented, Ned. Your husband's very very talented, Mrs. Constantine." She displayed the page for all to see. talented, Mrs. Constantine." She displayed the page for all to see.

"What are those things?" Beth pointed to several drawings of the corn designs the men were weaving.

Mr. Buxley spoke up for the first time. "They're harvest symbols. Supposed to bring good luck. You'll see them on almost every door and chimney in town for the next month."

"And look how he's captured that doll," Mrs. Buxley chimed in. "Ned, wherever did you find it?"

I explained it belonged to Missy, the postmistress's child.

"Of course. What do they call it, Robert-a 'gaga'?"

"A corn doll? Yes, a gaga."

"Gaga? What does that mean?" Beth asked.

"Vaguely, it's Indian for 'fun' or 'funny.' Just a child's plaything."

"I should think, it'd keep a child awake at night."

Mrs. Buxley laughed. "One of our little traditions. You're bound to think us positively heathenish hereabouts-isn't that so, James?"

"We've had our fill of progress," Beth said.

"Coming from the city and all, yes-they seem to progress right into d.a.m.nation down there, don't they? I see you're wearing some of our earrings-pretty, aren't they? Imagine, from soup bones. Clever, what our carvers can do. Roger was the best carver, wasn't he, James? James! Roger Pen Penrose? The best carver? That brooch the Widow wears on Sundays-Roger carved that, as I recall. Look at those strong horses horses-"

Out on the field, the horse-drawing contests continued. When each team had pulled the skid as far as it could, it was unhooked and another was put in place, and so on. After each round, more sacks of sand were added to the load, which became increasingly difficult to pull.

It came Justin Hooke's turn again; his horses strained under the burden, their flanks streaming, their forelegs buckling. Unlike the others, Justin did not use a whip, but coaxed the animals ahead by manipulating the reins and calling to them. The stoneboat moved a good distance, and a cheer went up among the spectators. Mr. Deming, the chief elder, after measuring out the last distance, p.r.o.nounced Justin the winner.

As the teams were withdrawn from the field, the sound of Worthy's tractor was heard. Looking around, I saw that he had vanished, and now his head appeared over the crowd as he drove the John Deere onto the field. He had hitched chains behind, which he quickly attached to the stoneboat, then resumed his seat and began throwing levers. The front end of the tractor nosed up in the air and the tracks dug into the ground, then, obtaining purchase, began to slide the load. Shifting quickly, the boy skillfully sent the tractor forward, and when he had got up speed the stoneboat went jouncing over the gra.s.s, the crowd parting and closing behind until stoneboat, tractor, and driver were lost from view.

"Oh, dear," Mrs. Buxley muttered, "Mr. Deming's not going to like that at all. See how the gra.s.s is all chewed up. Worthy ought to know better. I hope there won't be trouble again. James-?" She gave her husband a piercing look. Mr. Buxley opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, and suddenly remembered his socks needed pulling up. Mrs. Buxley rose. "There's the Widow, James. We must go and say h.e.l.lo. See you in church." She waggled her fingers and-the Reverend Mr. Buxley trailing after with the chairs-she went to greet the Widow Fortune.

When they had gone, Robert chuckled and shook his head. "Leave it to Worthy to rile things up around here. You won't get him set in his ways, not while he's got that tractor."

Worthy came back to take Kate to the platform for the wrestling matches, and since we had a good view from our picnic spot, the Dodds, Beth, and I remained under the tree. The Widow Fortune, carrying her own chair, came and set it down close by, adjusting her things around her.

"Why does a tractor stir up such consternation?" I asked Robert.

"You get plenty of resistance around here to new ways. I suppose Cornwall Coombe's always been a world unto itself." He paused briefly while Maggie held a match for him to relight his cigar.

"Look," she said when she was done, "here comes Justin onto the field." Shading her eyes, she described to Robert the action that preceded the wrestling matches. Roy Soakes shuffled out onto the turf, where he took off his shirt and stood around looking surly and sweaty, rubbing the palms of his hands on his jeans. There was a pause, then a tumultuous shout went up. Justin Hooke appeared, stripped to the waist, looking more gigantic than ever as he surveyed his opponent. Raising his arms in salute to the crowd, he advanced with long, rapid strides to the platform, where he bowed to Sophie and all the girls, then returned to the field and shook hands with his opponent. The referee spoke to them, stepped back, and the bout began.

It was wrestling of an order I had never seen before, the good old-fashioned country kind, with no holds barred. Whenever Soakes got the upper hand, he received no encouragement from the crowd, though his father and brothers suggested mightily, "Kill the guy!" "Break his arm, brain him, Roy!" And for all that Roy had weight on his side, Justin's strength carried the first round, then the second, then the third. When at last Tobacco City's finest went limping from the field, Old Man Soakes angrily shoved another of his offspring out in his place, and, after taking off his shirt, he faced Justin. Without waiting, the newest opponent shot out his foot, tripped Justin up, and dropped on top of him. There were boos and catcalls at such dirty tactics, and Jack Stump darted out on the field to protest to the referee, but Old Man Soakes came roaring after him, seized him by the collar, and tossed him back into the crowd.

Even with the unfair advantage, it was no contest. Heaving himself up, Justin threw Soakes to the side, fell on him, and put a half-Nelson around Soakes's neck until his eyes rolled up. Then he released him and stepped away. As Soakes got to his feet, Justin whirled and gracefully planted a well-placed kick on his backside, which sent him sprawling. Amid cheers and laughter, Justin left the fray.

Justin took a towel from Worthy and wiped himself down, then went to the platform where he talked with Sophie and the girls, waiting for the next event to begin. At one point, he stooped and cordially spoke a few words to Kate, who was seated on the steps. When the whistle blew, announcing the next contest, he handed her his towel, then ran lightly onto the field again, accompanied by Worthy and half a dozen other young men. It was time for the pole-shinny.

The referee held up his hand and the first contestant readied himself at the base of the pole, testing its surface with his palms until the whistle blew and up he went. He touched the top, then slid down, and Jimmy Minerva took his position while the referee called out the time from his stopwatch. He signaled again, and Jim went up and came down. Third to go was Justin, moving with dexterity for a man of his height and weight, quickly arriving at the top, where he paused briefly, then slid down. Applause followed the announcement that his time had beaten the first two. On the platform, Sophie and her girls had risen, also Kate, who was standing on the steps, caught in the excitement of the moment as Worthy addressed himself to the pole. He spat on his palms, rubbed them together, and grasped the wooden shaft, waiting, his knees bent so they almost touched the ground. Hearing the whistle, he came up out of his crouch in a slick leap and, hand over hand, feet gripping, he went up like an agile monkey to tap the top of the post.

He waited, grinning down at the crowd, until the referee called out the time, well under Justin's. Holding on with one hand, he waved, and I saw Kate waving back at him excitedly. He did not come down immediately but, grasping the tip of the pole with both hands, he began to sway with it back and forth. Mr. Deming hurried out on the field gesticulating, while the crowd murmured excitedly, watching Worthy's body describe an ever-widening arc against the sky. Kate rose from the steps, staring wide-eyed, fearing for his safety.

Using the pole as a fulcrum, the boy extended his body outward in a horizontal position. Suddenly there came a single, loud report, almost like a pistol shot. Dropping to the vertical again, Worthy began sliding down, but when he had got less than halfway another cracking sound was heard as the pole continued to split. Without looking below, he flung himself outward in a graceful movement, and plunged to the turf. I was certain he must be hurt, but in another moment Justin had him on his feet, dazed but laughing and shaking his head. He was hoisted aloft and borne around the field, until Mr. Deming stepped up and ordered them all off. Glancing over at Kate to catch her reaction, I saw only the back of Sophie's dress as she bent above a crumpled form on the steps. I started at a half-run, then stopped as the Widow Fortune seized my hand.

"No," she said, pointing to the valise beside her chair. "The black bag-bring it!" She hurried toward the platform while, unnoticed by the others under the tree, I s.n.a.t.c.hed up the black bag and dashed after her.

Kate lay collapsed against the steps, and when I arrived Sophie was cradling her in her arms while the Widow leaned over her, listening to her heart. Kate's face had gone livid; the blue veins in her forehead bulged and throbbed. The eyes were wide and gla.s.sy in the way I had seen so many times that summer, and her skin was flooded with perspiration. Great gasping noises issued from her throat as she fought for air; her fingers clutched at her neck as though to tear away the invisible hands that were strangling her.

"A doctor-" I looked wildly around. The Widow shook her head, fumbled open the valise, located a bottle, and pulled the cork. Holding the gla.s.s neck to Kate's mouth, she put several drops of liquid between the parted lips, then stroked the neck muscles until the drops had been swallowed. She repeated the operation, and in a moment the terrible gasping sounds subsided, to be replaced by a dry rattle. Then the chest became almost motionless, and Kate's breathing slowed. I seized her wrist and tried to find her pulse; there was none.

As the crowd came toward the platform, the Widow motioned for me to carry Kate into a nearby tent, where I laid her on a table and again tried to find her pulse, cursing myself for having forgotten the Medihaler. I dropped her limp wrist, raced from the tent, and thrust my way through the figures thronging the platform where the elders were making a presentation to Justin's winning team of horses. Catching sight of Beth, I shouted "Kate!" and jerked my head toward the tent, then pushed on through the crowd. I found the Medihaler in the car, and hurried back. Expecting the worst, I tore aside the tent flap to discover Beth, Sophie, and the Widow grouped around the table where I had left Kate in a paroxysm of agony. I stopped in my tracks at the sight that now greeted me. Kate was sitting up, her hands in her lap, listening as the Widow spoke to her. Beth gave me a wild look; we knew from experience that the attacks usually lasted from an hour to two or three days, but here was our daughter breathing easily if feebly.

I started forward, the Medihaler in my outstretched hand, Beth drew me beside her and I put an arm around her, holding her close, not daring to speak. The Widow stood behind Kate, leaning slightly forward, her head even with the girl's, her lips close to her ear. The tips of the ancient fingers were working at the cords of Kate's neck, then at her temples, and as she worked she spoke in low, soothing tones. I felt Beth's hand fumbling for mine; I took it and held it hard, observing the old woman's careful but firm ministrations, the movements of her large womanly hands, her intent, grave expression, and I was flooded by a sense of relief and release, relief for Kate's recovery, release from my own guilt.

Sophie came over to us and, a.s.suring us that all would be well, took us outside the tent. Maggie Dodd was there with Justin Hooke, and together we waited. Then, silent, stricken-looking, Worthy Pettinger joined us. From inside we heard the Widow's gentle, yet insistent alto voice.

Justin's head turned and our eyes met. Then he nodded, once, twice. He did not speak, but I could tell he meant us to know what Sophie had already voiced: all would be well.

Shortly we heard Kate's husky laugh. "All right now?" the Widow asked; there was a sound of a.s.sent, and in a moment the flap was raised and Kate appeared, looking pale and shaken. Beth rushed to embrace her; then she and Sophie led her away. With another look, Justin followed with Worthy. The Widow, who had been watching, bit her lip in contemplation, clasping and unclasping her fingers across her ap.r.o.n front, then went back into the tent and reappeared with her black valise.

I remembered how Kate's attacks would seemingly abate for a time, only to return with increased vigor, and I wondered if this was not merely one of those stages. The old woman seemed to read my mind, for she rested her hand on my arm and exerted a firm pressure, as though to buoy up my spirits.

"She'll be all right now. Don't worry yourself, and tell your wife not to worry. And whatever you do, don't fuss the child. Act as though nothing happened." Brushing aside my expressions of thanks, she employed the shears hanging at her waist to snip an errant thread from the cuff of her sleeve; then, beaming behind her spectacles, she patted my cheek. When she had accepted Maggie's arm and permitted herself to be led away, I remained staring at the useless Medihaler in my hand, then absently slipped it into my pocket and followed after the others, wondering how the old woman had effected a cure at once so swift and so miraculous. And though I did not realize it then, it was not the last time the Widow Fortune was to rescue Kate, to rescue Beth, and to alter all our lives.

8.

An hour later, it was as if nothing untoward had occurred. Kate went off with Worthy again, while Beth, calm now, talked with the Dodds. The Widow had removed her chair to its former spot under the other tree, and I could see by her impatient gestures how she dismissed among the circle of ladies grouped around her all talk of the earlier incident. With the heat, the women had drawn well into the shade of the overhead branches, digesting their lunch, as well as such tidbits of gossip as still remained unconsumed from the morning's repast.

Though I could not explain it, I felt that a great weight had been lifted from me, and that the threatening fact of Kate's illness had suddenly dissolved; the occasional looks the Widow Fortune directed to me as she conversed only served to substantiate this feeling.

Leaving Maggie and Robert engaged with Beth, and taking my sketchbook, I made myself inconspicuous while I ambled closer to the Widow's group, where I uncapped my pen and began to sketch the group of ladies putting their heads together and talking. The Widow took out her gla.s.ses and inspected the lenses for lint, then put them on. "Mrs. Zee, I believe we might bring out our quilts now." She smoothed down her ap.r.o.n while the other ladies drew their chairs closer and took quilts from their baskets. The complacent bleat of a sheep rose in the torpid air as it stood patiently in a wooden tub while some men washed it. Overhead, the sun nickered through the green canopy of leaves, glinting on the rims of the Widow's spectacles, the thimble on her finger, and her shears as she scissored out a piece of bright cloth and pinned it to her quilt.

"Wa'n't Justin the marvel today?" Mrs. Brucie said. Mrs. Zalmon put her hand to her breast. "I've never seen such a handsome Harvest Lord."

"Worthy Pettinger'd be obliged if he didn't try to make such mischief," Mrs. Green said.

"Such jackanapes tricks," Mrs. Zalmon said.

"Don't it put you in mind of somethin'?" Mrs. Brucie said.

"It surely does!" Irene Tatum pulled up a chair and flopped. She had a piece of newspaper, which she pleated, and began fanning herself. "If I didn't know better, I'd say Worthy's gone off his rocker just like the bad one." A chain of looks went around the circle like small, silent explosions.

"Hush, now," the Widow Fortune ventured gently.

"I've said it before so I'll say it again; she was a bad one." Irene Tatum's tongue was sharp, as if she kept it whetted on a stone, ready to carve on all occasions.

"A bad apple spoils the barrel," said Mrs. Green.

"Went bad long before Agnes Fair," said Mrs. Brucie.

"We gave her honors and she flaunted them in our faces," said Irene Tatum.

"Hush, now, Irene." The Widow's needle flashed. "'The evil men do lives after them, the good is oft interred...' Some things are best not spoken of. Leave her in peace."

"Never find no peace, Grace Everdeen," declared Irene hotly.

"Goodnight nurse!" the Widow exclaimed, then deftly changed the subject. "I never saw such a leap as Worthy made. A daredevil is what he is."

Mrs. Brucie shook her head. "Devil, yes. The boy holds contrary notions. Let one get ideas, and they'll all get them, and then where are you? On the verge, on the pure and simple verge. Widow, oughtn't you to talk to the boy?"

"Worthy?" The Widow looked surprised. "Why, Worthy's nice as pie. And a good boy, I'll be bound." She drew out a length of cotton and rethreaded her needle.

"Well," Mrs. Green said firmly, "if anyone's to be chose, it's sure to be Jim Minerva, mark my word. I'll put my corn and stock to wager."

Though I found the conversation puzzling, wondering who was to be chosen and for what purpose, and by what means, I was forced to smile at the agreeable circle.

"Dear sakes," the Widow said, "if that sheep's not positively snowy." The men had rinsed the animal's coat, and one of them lifted it from the tub and set it on its feet to dry in the sun; another retied the bell around its neck. While the women continued together, sewing and gossiping in their group, the unoccupied men likewise drew off together, meditatively picking their teeth, an easy lackadaisical drone to their voices, their attention occasionally directed to the sheep's bell, whose soft tinkle hung in the air as the washers brushed the white woolly coat, none of them speaking, all of them seeming to be waiting.

A little distance away, Missy Penrose stood stock-still, idly staring up at the sky where a silvery jet traced a white contrail across the blue. The Widow called out to a pa.s.serby, "Miss Clapp, take her out o' the sun. Out o' the sun, I say. It's too hot. She'll never last till they're ready." Miss Clapp brought the child under the tree, where the Widow took her on her lap. She rummaged in her piece-bag, produced a length of twine which she tied in a loop, and began showing Missy how to do cat's cradle. The old lady seemed at pains to amuse the child, and when they had played for a time, she set Missy on the gra.s.s and resumed her st.i.tching.

Mrs. Green looked up at the church clock. "Soon it'll be time."

"Soon," said Mrs. Brucie.

I felt a touch on my shoulder, and turned to find Beth beside me, watching me sketch. She smiled, then walked across the gra.s.s and circled the tree until she stood behind the Widow, where she looked down at her work.

"It's a beautiful quilt."

The Widow smiled up at her. "Bit o' fancywork. A way to pa.s.s the time."

"Why, it's Noah and the Ark."

"Aye, dear, it's only lackin' two giraffes and the dove."

"How long does it take to make one like that?" Beth asked.

"Depends. Four or five of us can finish this off before the moon goes a full quarter. What you ought to do, dear, is try a bit of fancywork yourself. Everyone in these parts sews. Set a spell, dear. You start savin' your hand-me-downs and worn-outs, you'll have enough to begin quilting right off. Never throw nothin' away, that's what my granny used to say."

I smiled to myself; the idea appealed to Beth, I could tell.

"Here, dear, let me thread up a needle," Mrs. Zalmon said. "Mrs. Brucie, pick out a patch there, can you? See-you just pin it on, then it's ready to be st.i.tched."

Beth glanced over at me with a smile, her expression clearly saying, My G.o.d, look at me-I'm in a sewing circle My G.o.d, look at me-I'm in a sewing circle.

Later it cooled slightly, the shadows began to lengthen as the sun dropped, and the Common settled into somnolence. The air was still and heavy and smelled faintly sour, the odor of weeds or gra.s.s cuttings. The pennants hung limp and tired on the booths. No traffic pa.s.sed, no voices called, no dogs barked. All was silence.

I went across the roadway in the direction of Penance House, where I had seen some of the men disappearing. Wondering what had taken them there, I walked past the post office, and when I heard low voices from behind the barn next door, I went to investigate. Abruptly the voices stopped. In the stillness, I could feel the same p.r.i.c.kling at the base of my neck I had felt that morning, and a lifting of the hairs along my forearms. An uncanny feeling, telling me something was about to happen. I took several steps toward the barn, then halted, riveted by a sound I instantly recognized, climbing to a terrible pitch, a wild cry, rising upward and outward as though from the heart of a bell, to float, then to die in the air, trailing away to nothingness. A pair of swallows, alarmed, took abrupt flight from the eaves of the barn, arcing out against the sky, dipping and swooping past my vision. I rounded the corner of the barn and was confronted by a baffling semicircle of backs. No one turned. Why so still, these men and boys, why so grave, so silent?

Then I saw the child, and thought at first she must be hemorrhaging, so red were her arms. I saw Will Jones's simple farmer's face looking at me. In hat and overalls, he stood meekly in the center of the circle, the handle of his sickle clasped loosely in one hand, the sharp silver crescent gone red. At his feet lay the felled sheep; below the red wool its thin legs still jerked. The child knelt in the dust, busily engaged as she gazed dreamily down at the red ma.s.s of viscera she held in her palms, her arms red to the elbows.

She raised her blank face and, as though waking from a dream, peered around the circle of men stolidly looking upon her and upon the red maw of the sheep's cleaved belly and upon the still-palpitating entrails she tenderly cupped in her hands. Dripping red, the glossy tubular glands and bulgy membranes slid about and slowly slipped through her splayed fingers and fell back into the parted red cavity beneath them. Never removing her eyes from her hands, she raised them palms upward before her, toward the sky, their redness trembling against the blue. There was no sound, only the dry rattle of the watchers' breath trapped in their throats; one man coughed, another blew his nose into a bandanna. Still the red hands remained outstretched; as if in a trance, the child rose and began a slow circuit, her eyes glazed, uttering not a word as she moved around the circle of younger men.

Stiffly she walked past young Lyman Jones, past the Tatum boys, past Merle Penrose, past several others, until she stood before Jim Minerva. A faint sign of recognition appeared in her face, a perceptible widening of the eyes, a murmur in the throat. Her hands moved slightly as if to touch him; then she pa.s.sed on in her dream and in her dream stopped again, reaching out her hands and laying their redness against the cheeks of Worthy Pettinger.

A sigh, a murmur; stillness. The whir of insect wings.

When she took the hands away, a replica of each palm lay upon Worthy's flesh, and as she slowly turned, she dropped her hands almost to her sides; not quite, for in her dream something told her to hold them away from her dress. Some of the men gathered closer to Worthy-pale now around his b.l.o.o.d.y marks-and thumped him on the shoulders, congratulating him, while others dragged the sheep aside, leaving a smeared trail of red upon the brindled ground. Several men lit up their pipes, scratching blue-tip matches on the seats of their overalls, exchanging nods and low remarks. Out on the street a car backfired, jolting me into shocked reality. I looked again, saw dust and straw and blood, heard the dull buzz of flies, the dry hiss as someone took breath in through his teeth, smelled the stench of the animal. The women came running from the Common in pairs and groups, looking at the ring of men, all amazed.

"Did she choose?" they wanted to know. Who? Who was it? Was it Jim? Jim Minerva? "No," said the men, shaking their heads, moving aside, and "Praise be!" the women cried, seeing the marked boy. They kissed him, hugged him, bore him away, the men following, until there was no one behind the barn except me.

And the gutted sheep.

And Missy Penrose.

Breathing through her mouth,, she was making strange, incomprehensible sounds as she stared at the open cavity. "Mnn -mean-um-nmm-" Where all had been red before, now a black liverish-looking bile was running from the rent tissue. She stopped, put her fingers into it, brought them out bloodier, darker, held them against the sky, her body going rigid and beginning a tremulous shaking.