The Moonshiners Part Three

Ike threw his hand's up in a gesture of despair.  Jim insisted on taking the guns used in the shooting.  'That's Luke's gun,' Tommy protested.  Jim went to his car and returned with a thirty eight pistol, a replacement rifle and ammunition.  'Get used to the thirty eight,' He said.  ‘If all this blows over you can have Luke's gun back.'  At that, Jim and Harriet left and Ike and Tommy returned to the field work.  Left alone, Lotte lowered herself down on the swing and stretched out.  Pearl flopped down on the porch beside her and stuck her cold nose in the palm of her hand.  Caressing the dogs ear with her finger and thumb, Lotte fell asleep.  To his father's annoyance, Tommy came to check on her at regular intervals but Lotte slept for twenty four hours.  When she did wake up she could only move about with Tommy's assistance.  Her reliance on the boy and his willingness to help, indeed the pleasure he seemed take from his role, annoyed Ike.  A week passed and Lotte could see Ike's anger mounting.  She decided to try and move independently.  She got to her feet one morning and using the wall to steady herself, she hopped into the main room of the house and rested her hands on the table for support.  As she did so she heard boots on the porch and turned to see Ike studying her.  She shrank back fearfully as he surveyed her from head to toe.  Then from behind his back he produced a crutch fashioned from an old hay rake padded with sacking.and handed it to her.  Relieved lotte put it under her arm and smiled.  It was a perfect fit.  She said 'Thank you Mr. Hamilton.'  Ike surveyed his handiwork, then, Satisfied, he left.

The following day Harriet arrived in a buckboard pulled by a mule.  She produced food; Bread, fruit, biscuits and a ham.  This she did on a regular basis.  Provisioning both farms was her responsibility.  She also produced cleaning utensils, bedding and a straw palliasse.  Tommy arrived.  He said, 'We going to fix up somewhere for Lotte to sleep?'

'That's the general idea,' Harriet replied somewhat tartly.

'Do you think you can make it up them stairs?'  He asked Lotte.

Lotte frowned, 'I'm not sure.'

'Tell you what,' Tommy went on, 'how would it be if I got a length of rope and fixed it to the wall, then you could pull yourself up.'

'That might work,' Lotte conceded.

'How do you like her crutch?' Tommy asked Harriet.  'Pa made it.  She's getting around real good now.'

Harriet marvelled at the transformation in her normally taciturn nephew. 'My, my, ain't you full of beans,' she said scathingly.  'That's the most I've heard you say in all your life.'  Lotte got the feeling that Harriet was not too fond of Tommy.  She watched aunt and nephew stare at each other stonily then Tommy turned and set off on his quest for a suitable length of rope.  Harriet unloaded the buckboard.  Tommy arrived with The length of rope and fixed it securely to the wall.  'Let's see you go up there,' Harriet. instructed.  Lotte began the accent.  Using the crutch and her good arm and leg, she hauled herself slowly to the top.  'I knew you'd make it,' Tommy said.  Harriet was impressed.  'You get back to work,' she told Tommy.  Lotte looked about her.  There was no window in the loft.  The only light came from chinks in the roof tiles and walls.  The place was dusty and straw strewn.  The only furniture was an old bedstead and a battered chest.  Harriet set to cleaning the place up.  Lotte helped where she could.  They worked silently.  The loft cleaned up and the bed made, they returned down stairs.  Lotte found the best way to descend the stairs was to sit down and transfer her weight one step at a time.  Harriet went out to the garden and Lotte followed her.  She saw that the garden had once been well tended and productive with fruit trees and bushes.  Now some of the garden was overgrown, some of the bushes dead. Harriet silently gathered vegetables, potatoes, onions, tomatoes and various types of fruit and returned to the house.  Lotte limped after her.  She saw that there was a pantry at the back of the kitchen full of jars of preserved produce. The jars stood on stone slab shelves.  She said, 'If you will let me I'd like to help.'

'You ain't in no fit state to help anybody.' Harriet said dismissively

'I could do some work in the garden and cook a meal,' Lotte replied.  'Tommy will help me,' she added.

'Men won't do garden and house work,' Harriet said.

'Lotte was assured, 'Tommy will if I ask him.'

Harriet looked at the girl and realised she was probably right, Tommy would do whatever she asked.  'OK' she said, There's some hogs liver there and a fruit pie I baked yesterday. Use some of the vegetables I've just pulled.  Let's see how you get on.'  She went outside turned the mule around and headed for home.  Lotte watching her depart, saw her stop and speak to Ike and Tommy as they were working in the corn.  They looked back at her as they spoke.  Suddenly Tommy broke away and came running.  Lotte heard Ike call out to his son.  Tommy clattered onto the porch.  'You want some help?'  Lotte looked back,  She saw Ike snatch off his hat and dash it to the floor in anger.

The meal was a great success.  The men wolfed the food down.  'What do you think of that Pa. She cooked that on a crutch with just one arm. I just helped peeling things and I lifted the heavy pans.  Lotte's as good as aunt Harriet if you ask me.'

Ike glared at his son, 'I can't have you running back to the house every five minutes to do house chores.'

Lotte said, 'If we could prepare the vegetables the night before and cover them with water I think I could manage just fine Mr Hamilton.'

Ike knew when he was beaten.  He nodded resignedly.

'Come on, Let's go,' Tommy said.  The two young people returned to the kitchen.  Ike heard them talking.  The dog  got up and plodded after them.. She was Lotte's dog now, rarely leaving her side.  Left to his own devices Ike poured himself a glass of whisky.  He worried about his son. And this black girl.

The following day Lotte decided to clean the main room of the house, as much for her own safety as anything else.  Bits of harness, ropes, tools and boots, were strewn about the floor.  When it rained the men trailed mud into the house which turned to a fine dust when it dried.  She worked hard handicapped as she was with the crutch. and when she finished it was mid morning.  She made coffee and sat on the porch.  After a while she fell asleep and then awoke with a start and smothered a scream.  Facing her at the end of the porch stood a man, The strangest she had ever seen.  He stood tall and thin.  He wore a battered high crowned hat, a collarless shirt and a suit and waistcoat.  The wearer had spent so long in the woods that the suit was now so coated in moss and grease that the original colour was indistinguishable.  The man had a greying beard from which only his mahogany toned cheek bones and his piercing dark eyes stood out.  He carried a blackened, oiled, Winchester rifle from a sling on his shoulder.  Lotte glanced accusingly at Pearl.  She lay on the floor, her head on her paws, the whites of her eyes showing.  Tommy arrived on the porch.  The man smiled.  He said, 'You killed em Tommy.

Tommy turned to Lotte, 'This here's Chuck Calderwood.  You've heard tell of him.'  He went on, 'She killed one of them.''

Calderwood nodded, 'One of the boys came back off lookout, said he heard gunfire.  I figured it would be you.  Thought I would come and see.  I would have been here sooner but the woods is crawling with revenue men.  It's real irksome dodging them.'  He grinned and went on, 'I saw where you went off the track.  Couldn't figure what you hauled out of that hole until I found these.'  He tossed a pair of women's shoes onto the floor.

'Lotte let out a yelp of delight and bent to retrieve them.  Calderwood said, 'They jumped you by the creek but you had the drop on them.'

Tommy nodded, 'I heard them coming.'

Ike stepped onto the porch.  Chuck acknowledged him by saying, 'Just checking Tommy got home alright.'

'He got home alright,' Ike replied gruffly.  'He turned to Tommy, 'If you heard them coming, you had

time to run,' he said accusingly.

'What! And leave Lotte in Gagan's hands.  Hell!'  Tommy surveyed his father with contempt, then addressing Calderwood he said, 'I wanted to kill Gagan.  Luke can rest easy in his grave now.'

Chuck Calderwood gave his now familiar grin.  'You sent em straight to hell boy.'  He nodded at lotte, 'Going to keep her Ike?' 

'Hell no.  She's his problem.'  Ike jerked his thumb at Tommy.

'Well that's the Gray in him, part Cherokee, partial to a bit of colour.'

'Don't start that damned foolery,' Ike said hotly.

Calderwood, Laughing, leant against one of the porch supporting posts and said, 'I don't know why you get so all fired wound up about it.  Way back in the time old man Gray, on his travels, married a Cherokee squaw.  My Ma is a Gray and you married my cousin Anne Gray.  That's the nick between the Grey's the Calderwoods and the Hamilton’s.  Hell we fought a war over it.'  Seeing that Ike was disinclined to continue the conversation, Calderwood turned to Tommy,  'I here from Jim you ain't working with us any more, bound to work in town somewhere's.'

'It's the way Jim wants it,' Tommy replied.  'If I don't like it I'll come home and start bootlegging again.'

Calderwood sighed, 'Jim reckons prohibition is going to end.  If it does bootleg liquor will drop in price. The game will be over.  We have had to shut the still down for a while anyhow while the heat's on but you won't like town life boy.  The houses are all sealed up. You can't breath.  It's never truly dark, it's never truly quiet and the water tastes real bad.  You happy to let him go?'  Calderwood asked Ike. 

Ike shrugged, 'It's what everybody wants.'

 Calderwood held out his hand, 'You are kin to me Tommy.  I'm going to miss you boy, be real careful.'  They shook hands, then with a nod to Ike, he left.  Tommy watched him cross the open ground at the side of the house and enter the woods and Lotte realised that Tommy was closer to Calderwood than he was to his father.

That night Lotte slept badly.  Being reunited with her shoes brought back disturbing memories.  She remembered the carefree optimistic girl she had been when she first put them on.  Memories flooded back, good and bad.  She also thought about the Hamilton's and Tommy's mixed race ancestry.  She wondered about the man she had killed.  Lying out in the woods unburied, his body being consumed by animals.  In the morning she was in need of female company and was glad to see Harriet approaching.  She stopped the mule and spoke to Ike, then after a brief conversation she carried on and pulled up at the porch.  'Make coffee girl,' she said as she dismounted from the buckboard.

'Yes Ma'm.' Lotte responded.  With the coffee made Harriet settled in the rocking chair.  Lotte perched on the swing.  'The men are pleased with your cooking and cleaning,' Harriet conceded.

Lotte smiled, 'Thank you.'

Harriet spoke more kindly, 'Don't put pressure on that arm.'

'I won't.'

'Does it hurt?'

Lotte shook her head, 'Itch's though.'

'Can't be helped,' Harriet said.  'Don't you go messing with them bandages.  Those splints need to stay in position for a while.'

lotte asked, 'What are you going to do today?'

'Putting up fruit and vegetables to get us through the winter.'

'You mean preserving them?'

'Yes.'

'Can I help?'

'Do you know how?'

Lotte shook her head,

'Then I'll show you.'

They went out into the garden and gathered a variety of vegetables, tomatoes, peas, beans, and butter beans.  These were brought back to the house and prepared, then partially cooked, placed in quart glass jars and the jars were then lidded.  Finally the jars were boiled under pressure to ensure that the lids were a good seal.  The women spoke little.  Harriet gave instruction where necessary but she was secretly pleased with Lotte's help.  Whilst Harriet stored the newly preserved produce away, Lotte made coffee and the two woman sat on the porch.  Pearl padded onto the porch and put her head on lotte's lap.  She stroked him.  'Don't stroke the dog.' Harriet said sternly.  She went on, 'You'll make it fond.'

Startled, Lotte withdrew her hand.  After a period of silence Lotte asked, 'Why does it all have to be so tough.  Why can't I stroke the dog.  Why is Tommy's Life so hard?'

After a pause Harriet said, 'That dog will go on its first bear hunt.  If she is soft she will be killed.  Tommy has been killing things since ever he had to.  He's a wild head strong boy, needs hard discipline.  Life is tough up here.'  She went on, 'Were the men who hurt you your own kind?'

Lotte nodded, 'Yes.'

'Well you can't go calling the way we live then can you.'

'I meant no criticism,' Lotte said.  'I am very grateful to your family, I will never be able to repay you.'  They sat in silence for a while, then with the intense curiosity of the young Lotte asked, 'It must be hard being the only woman around.  Did you miss Tommy's mother when she died?'

Harriet said, 'Yes I missed Anne,' adding sardonically, 'I had to do the woman's work on both farms after she died.'

'What was she like?'

Harriet said, She was like all the Gray's, a good musician.  She made this garden, it was real beautiful when she was alive.'  She went on, 'The Gray women are good looking but they've got Cherokee in them so some men won't marry them.  It didn't stop Ike though, he wouldn't listen to us.'

Lotte bit her lip.  This wasn't going very well.  To lighten the conversation she asked brightly, 'Would you have liked to have had a daughter?'

'I did have a daughter,' Harriet replied.  'She died in great pain when she was three.  Bone cancer.  Frank couldn't take it and hit the bottle.’

Harriet turned to Lotte and saw the younger woman's eyes were filled with tears

'I'm sorry, I had no right asking.'

Harriet sighed wearily, 'You are just young child.  You have a lot to learn.  What about you, how did you get into this fix?'

Lotte frowned,'Stupid I guess.  My father wanted me to train as a teacher and walk out with a young man from our church.  He's called Leon.  He is a teacher but I just love modern music.  I thought singing in a band would be the most glamorous thing.  It isn't, Seedy hotels and pushy men.  Dad told me what it would be like but I wouldn't listen.  I joined the first band that asked me and just took off.  I soon realised they weren't much good and when I got an offer from another band I told them I wanted to leave.  They said if I did one more show they would let me go but they didn't.  After the show, instead of dropping me off in town they drove out into the country.  I realised I was going to have to make a break for it.  They stopped the car to eat and handed me some food and a drink.  I Ate and drank some then I realised I was getting drowsy.  They had put something in my drink. I saw a car coming the other way and thought that was my chance.  I jumped out of the car and ran but I was so woozy I fell down.  That's when I got smashed over the head. I don't remember anything after that until I woke up in that ravine.  It was coming daylight when I realised I'd been thrown down a hole and left for dead.  I shouted and screamed but then I realised there wasn't a sound, that I was deep in the woods.  I couldn't move.  I new I was going to die there.  I was just crying and praying when Tommy's head appeared.'  Lotte's eyes filled with tears, 'I owe him everything.  I don't care what you all say about him. I trust him because it seems nobody else ever has.'

Harriet flushed, 'Well it wasn't for want of trying.'  After a pause she asked, 'Well what are you going to do now?'