Pearl inhaled a shaky breath and scooted closer. Slipping an arm around my shoulder, she leaned her head against mine and we wept quietly, our cries drifting up into the scarred, cragged bones of grandmother mountains.
Thirty-Four
The child drew her eyes to the rooster when it sounded a piercing churr, the shiny hackles jutted out along its neck, a warning swallowed in the bird’s waxing plumage. Quietly, Wrenna turned her gaze back to Gillis.
Tired of the coal miner’s taunting, I dug out my timepiece. Already one o’clock. Where was Mr. Morgan? I snapped the watch shut, dropped it back into my bag, and shifted at the top of the courthouse steps, waiting, sneaking glances down to the town as an older gentleman climbed up the thirty-six stairs toward me. Pressing my earlobes between my fingers, I felt for Pearl’s earrings. Satisfied they were safe, I dug out the compact of pressed powder she’d given me and inspected my makeup in the tiny mirror. I had been careful to apply it lightly, but enough to make me appear a bit older. I checked my lipstick, then looked back over my shoulder at the courthouse doors.
Businessmen and attorneys bustled in and out of the stately white building, the scents of stale coffee and smoke-filled corridors haloing before escaping into the sunshine.
I turned back to the town below. Across the street, coal miners loitered outside the Company store, smoking their Camels and Lucky Strikes, drinking ice-cold Cokes, Ale-8-Ones, and harder beverages while bantering after another brutal morning shift. Bonnie saw me standing at the top of the steps and waved, then pulled out seeds from the large breast pocket of her threadbare bib overalls and threw one to Tommie.
But the bird wasn’t interested today. Instead, Tommie picked up the sunflower seed, bobbed his head, and shuffled up sideways to Gillis. Clucking deep, hopping excitedly, the bird dropped the kernel at his feet.
Amused, Gillis bent down and flicked the seed back.
Bonnie stood back and smiled thinly.
The men roared, shouting vulgarities. “Look’a there, fellers, damn bird’s done turned Gillis into a fairy boy!” one of them hollered. “Baak-bak-bak! Cock-whipped!” another cackled into the miners’ howls.
Reddening, Gillis took a hard puff off his cigarette and swallowed the smoke through clenched teeth before exhaling it out his nostrils.
The day was unbearably warm, and I peeled off my sweaty gloves and stuffed them inside the bag, drying my damp hands on the sides of my dress. Somewhere an automobile door slammed above the distant thrum of rail song from coal trains moving through the pines. I searched for Mr. Morgan in the parking lot below and scanned the storefronts, my eyes resting on Bonnie once more. She scowled at Gillis and said something, then flung another morsel onto the sidewalk. Again, Tommie plucked it up and preened, tidbitting for Gillis before tossing it at him.
Gillis’s jaw hardened, and he flicked his cigarette toward Tommie, cursed, and slapped at the rooster, his hands catching only air.
Wrenna silently watched from the street.
The men laughed harder, bursts of hoots and more hollers ringing through town square.
A businessman whisked past me, hurrying down the courthouse steps, a brew of strong coffee, cigar smoke, and spicy cologne hovering, tickling the back of my throat. Coughing, I lifted a hand and fanned my face.
Shop bells jingled greetings as townsfolk went about their daily business, the warm Kentucky afternoon slowly sweeping into another, the cadences of today folding into yesterday.
I tugged at the collar of my clean dress, wiped a brow. Overhead, a crow cawed across sunny blue skies. Another answered back, its grating bickers swallowed in the hills.
Gillis cursed loudly again and snatched one of Tommie’s tail feathers.
“Damn you, Gillis!” Bonnie screamed and threw a handful of seeds at the miner.
Tommie scurried to pick them up. Gillis kicked at the bird, and Tommie shrilled and batted his wings, the hackles rising around the neck. Briskly, the rooster hopped up and slashed Gillis’s pants leg, the claws ripping into the soiled fabric.