“Hell, this place ain’t no different than any other.”
“I been in’em before, and it won’t nothing like what’s going on here.”
“Wait just a dang minute. You saying I ain’t a good operator?”
Del was angry, and now Peewee was too. They quit talking and stood there, neither one looking at the other, at odds. After a few seconds of silence, Del walked to his horse.
He said, “Mark my words. It ain’t gonna get any better if you don’t take care of it.”
He mounted and rode off. He had to get his day started. He was late, and as soon as he got into the woods, and the men saw him, the call names started coming fast, and he spent the rest of the morning it seemed trying to catch up. Right before the dinner break, Nolan Brown came into their work area, bark hack in hand.
Del said, “Hey there, Nolan, what’s going on? What’re you doing?”
Nolan said, “Boss man, he told me to come give y’all a hand. Said you was short.”
Del said, “We are, but ain’t he needing you?”
“I reckon, but he sent me on anyhow.”
What was Crow up to?
Del said, “Come on, I’ll show you where you can start.”
He went into the woods with Nolan. After a few minutes they came to the drift Cobb had been working.
Del said, “This is partly worked. Start here, keep going that way.”
“Sure thing, boss man.”
Del said, “You ain’t got to call me that. Call me Del. Or Butler.”
“Naw suh, can’t do it.”
Del said, “You don’t give in, do you?”
Nolan exhaled and said, “It’s jes how things is. Why you got to question it?”
Del shrugged, pulled out his tally book, and added “Long Gone” to the list of call names, which consisted of Preacher, Big’Un, Sweet Thang, and Juke-n-Juice. Long Gone disappeared into the woods, and within seconds, Del had made a couple marks for him. He sure was fast. He’d catch up Cobb’s drift and be ready to start a new one before day’s end. While Del weaved in and out of the work areas, he thought it a curious turn of events for Crow to send on a worker, but who could figure what went through his head? Nolan had said when his mama showed up, he got real different, and he’d sure proven it.
By five o’clock the men had done the day’s work. They still had a few hours of daylight, but he called quitting time. They acted like they still couldn’t believe this could happen, and some kept working until Del made them stop. Nolan tossed him the same dubious look he’d given him when Del said he didn’t drink. After the woods had cleared out, he heard a couple squirrels in the trees above his head. He eased his shotgun out of the holder and aimed. He got them both because the second one got confused by the noise and the disappearance of his buddy. He gathered them up and trotted Ruby to the hang-up ground where the men were crawling into the back of the wagon. He gave one to Preacher and the other to Big’Un.
Del said, “Ain’t nothing better’n stewed squirrel.”
Preacher agreed. “Don’t you know it. This here’s a fine one.”
Big’Un held his up by its tail, admiring it while Nolan gave Del a look like he was trying too hard. Nolan sure wasn’t an easy one to win over.
Del followed the wagon out of the woods, wondering how Ray Cobb had fared, and hoped since nobody came to get him, that meant good news. Once he arrived at the Riddles, Cornelia must have been on the lookout because she opened their door right away, looking relieved.
“You ain’t gonna believe this. She woke up.”
Surprised by this outcome, he said, “She did?”
“Um-hmm. Opened them big green eyes of hers a couple hours ago. I ain’t been able to talk to her much ’cause she went right back to sleep afterward, but she’s awake again.”
She motioned for him to follow her into the room, and there sat Cobb, as she still was to him. She laid propped against some pillows, looking like death still hovered, but Cornelia was seeing to things, and one was a tempting glass of fresh lemonade on the table beside the bed.
Cornelia bent over her and said, “Here now, shug, you have some more a this.”
Cornelia put the glass to Cobb’s mouth, and she sipped a little. Cornelia set it back on the table while Del stood with his hat in his hands, not knowing what to say. Had it been Cobb, the kid, he would’ve figured it out.
But when she cast her eyes in his direction, all he could think to say was, “Hidy.”