“It could have been Root,” Grandma said.
“With horns on his head?”
Grandma didn’t respond to that. We waited a while longer, then, carefully, Grandma had me lift the bolt on the front door and open it. She stood with the pistol ready.
The Goat Man didn’t jump in on us. We both breathed a sigh of relief. Grandma got her box, and we went out of there, back into the rain. The rain was softer now and the sky was much lighter. The air smelled fresh, like a baby’s first breath. The bottoms themselves were beautiful. The trees lush, the leaves heavy with rain, the blackberry vines twisting and tangling, sheltering rabbits and snakes. Even the poison ivy winding around the oak trees seemed beautiful and green and almost something you wanted to touch.
But like the poison ivy, looks could be deceptive. Under all the beauty, the bottoms held dark things, and I tell you true, I felt greatly relieved when we reached the Preacher’s Road.
We stopped at the car, tried it another time, but no deal. It was stuck and proud of it.
There was nothing to do but walk home. The rain quit and the sunlight turned hot. It was very muddy. My shoes and pants bottoms were caked with it. So were Grandma’s shoes and the hem of her dress.
“Next time I’m wearin’ pants,” she said.
And she meant it. It was just the sort of thing she’d do and it would start a scandal. Back then, the idea of a female, unless they were a kid like Tom or some movie actress, wearing pants wasn’t even considered.
When we finally walked onto the porch the sun was starting to slip on the other side of high center. Mama opened the door. She was beside herself.
“Are you okay?” she said. “Where you been?”
“We run off the road,” Grandma said.
“You shouldn’t have walked all that far, Mama. How’s your heart?”
“Fine. I ain’t an invalid, you know.”
Both us changed clothes while Mama fixed us something to eat, a couple of rewarmed biscuits and some salt pork. Grandma even told Mama part of the truth. She said we had gone for a ride and ended up sliding off the road and staying in Mose’s old shack. She didn’t mention we had gone to Pearl Creek, that we had seen Root, and his root. She didn’t mention the Goat Man.
It was my idea to hook Sally Redback up with a single tree and some chains, go back and pull the car out, but Mama nixed that idea, saying Sally was too old for that sort of thing, and the strain might kill her.
It was decided, instead, I would ride Sally into town and get Daddy, who had as of late gone back to the barbershop to hit a lick at working. He’d come in as if he had never left, or perhaps as if he had never come home. He’d go into the bedroom, or outside, and sit in the chair beneath the great oak and whittle a large stick to splinters.
Since I was going into town I decided, while I was at it, I would return a book to Mrs. Canerton, maybe get another.
I put a bridle, reins, and saddlebag with the book in it on Sally, and Tom, who was disappointed she had missed out on our adventure, insisted on riding with me. I let her hang on the back, and Sally bounced us into town.
At the barbershop I noticed Daddy’s car wasn’t there, but Cecil’s truck was and the shop was open. We dismounted and went inside. Cecil was sitting in the main barber chair reading a pulp magazine. I hadn’t seen him in a while. He looked tired, but happy to see us. He got out of the chair, came over to greet us, picked Tom up and sat back down in the chair and held her in his lap.
“My goodness, you’ve grown,” he said.
“I’m two inches taller than last year,” she said.
“And heavier,” Cecil said. “You’ll be a woman soon.”
I came over and stood beside them, not wanting Tom to get all the attention. I noticed up close that Cecil had a thin line of rash on the back of his neck, just above his collar.
I wanted to interject myself somehow. “You still seein’ Mrs. Canerton?”
“From time to time,” Cecil said, pushing Tom’s hair out of her eyes. “But she hasn’t been as friendly lately.”
“I’m going to see her today,” I said. “Return a book she loaned me.”
“Tell her I said hello,” he said.
I had almost forgotten my mission. “Where’s Daddy?”
“Well, he’s not around just now.”
“Where is he?”
“Actually, he’s at my place.”
“Why?” Tom asked.
“He wanted to relax.”
I could tell something wasn’t right. I said, “I’ll go over to your place and check on him.”
“Tom can stay here,” Cecil said.
“Naw,” Tom said. “I’m goin’ too.”
“He really wanted to be alone,” Cecil said.
“This here is an emergency,” I said.
“It might be best you went and got him,” Cecil said. “Tom could help me clean up here, make a nickel.”
“A nickel,” Tom said. “You got a whole nickel?”
“You’d have to earn it,” Cecil said. “There’s work needs to be done. Sweepin’ and such. Cleanin’ that mirror, wipin’ them hair oil bottles down.”
“I’ll go on then,” I said.
Cecil nodded. I slipped out the front door and untied Sally from the tree by the barbershop, started on over to Cecil’s house. By the time I got over there the sun was creeping down the horizon like a smear of sweet potato sliding off a navy-colored plate.
I had only been to Cecil’s house once, when Daddy had wanted him to come into work early. He had given me directions and sent me over there, but I remembered the way easy.
Cecil’s house was just on the edge of town, back amongst some trees, and it wasn’t much to look at. A two-room gray shack with a rusty tin roof and a bunch of sweet gum trees around it; a limb from one of them had grown in such a way it lifted a corner of the tin roof as if its intent was to peel it off and peek inside. The porch was rotted in spots and there were gaps in the wood where the ground showed. The ground around the house was littered with sweet gum balls.
Daddy’s car was parked out to the back of the house, not far from the outhouse. The driver’s side door was half open. Leaning against a tree out back were the wooden side boards Cecil sometimes used for his truck, and his fishin’ boat was up on bricks to keep from rotting.
I tied Sally to a tree, closed the car door, went on the porch and called out for Daddy. He didn’t answer. I pushed at the door and it came open. There was a faint stink inside. I walked in and looked around. A wood stove, chintz curtains over a window, a table, couple of chairs. No Daddy.
The second room had a curtain over the door. I pulled it back, and that’s where the stink was coming from, and the stink was Daddy.
He was lying on the bed asleep, blowing out his breath in such a way his lips trembled. The room was full of the stench of his breath, and the stench on his breath was alcohol. There was a tall bottle lying by the bed. It had turned over and whiskey had poured out of it.
I stood there looking at him, not knowing what to think. I had never seen my Daddy drunk. I knew he liked a drink now and then, but just a drink. Yet, here he was, knocked out on the bed with an empty whiskey bottle lying in the dust.
I knew then why I had seen him around less, and why he always got away from us when he could. He had been drinking regularly. Where before I had been sympathetic, I was now disappointed.
I began to understand what Mama was going through, and I marveled at how well she had held up and kept it from us. Grandma probably knew as well. Suddenly, I saw those women, who I had always loved, in an even brighter light.
I stood over Daddy, almost wanting to hit him. I decided not to try and wake him. He wouldn’t be any good if I did get him up, and I didn’t want to see him awake the way he was. I didn’t want him to see the disappointment in my face, and I didn’t want to see it on his.
I went out of the room quietly, closed the front door, and rode Sally back to the barbershop.
When I got back, Tom had done most of the cleaning Cecil had wanted, and he had sent her over to the general store to bring us back Dr Peppers and peanut patties, his treat.