Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death;
The Deadly Sins
the sins of pride,greed, lust, (wrath), gluttony, envy, and sloth
Chapter One-Wrath
March 1866
Strawberry, California
The creaking sound of an old swing swaying in the wind haunted the town of Strawberry, California. Those that passed by the green cabin whispered about the event that didn't really shock the town but made for good gossip.
Three women once lived in that house and a boy. Of the three, only the former prostitute survived and the boy, her son. The boy was addled in his mind folks said. He was even moreso after what he witnessed that day.
There were whispers that another boy lived there once too. He had left to join a war that was meant for men but was pursued by boys. If rumors were true, the boy was twelve when he left to fight in a man's fight. That was three years ago. The war had ended over a year ago.
A tall man walked beside his daughter making their way to the general store. They had to pass by the cabin due to it being nearer to their house. The man and girl were an unlikely looking pair yet they were relatives. The balding man was tall and thin. The girl was petite in stature like her deceased mother was. It was obvious to any that knew the father and daughter, there was much love between the two. The older man couldn't imagine his little girl going through the events of three weeks ago. The haunted event that took place in that cold abandoned cabin was still fresh in his mind. He shivered slightly as he squeezed his daughter's hand tightly.
"Do you think he'll be back, Papa?" The redheaded teen girl glanced up at her father as they passed the now abandoned house.
"Don't rightly know, Libby. Heard tell that he was captured and was either dead or in a Confederate Prison camp. If the boy is alive, he won't want to come back here." Mr. Keene pulled harder on his daughter's hand as to bypass the deserted cabin hastily.
Libby shivered as a cold wind blew across her bare arms. Folks in town said the place was already haunted. Libby didn't think so. Miss Leah and Miss Hannah were too Godly of women not to be taken to heaven. Their souls wouldn't linger in this desolate place. Yet, the devil himself couldn't have placed a crueler ending to their lives.
After passing the cabin, Libby startled at the sound of breaking glass. She peered over her shoulder to see the one known as Rachel yelling at two teen boys.
"Get out of here! Have you no respect!" The once harlot screamed as her voice broke with pain. "Leave them alone to rest in peace!"
Libby watched as Rachel cleaned broken bottles from the graves at the side of the green cabin. She heard Rachel talking to her departed friends as if they were still there. Miss Leah had Miss Rachel move in with her so the former prostitute wouldn't have to return to that type of life. Once again, she felt her father tug her hand.
"Papa, Heath will kill those men for what they did. If he survived the war, he'll kill every last one of them." Libby swallowed the burning that suddenly attacked her throat. She missed her friend.
"Nonsense, Libby. Heath is barely fifteen. Fool boy joined a war at twelve. What can a fifteen year old boy do to five grown men?" Mr. Keene stopped and knelt by his daughter. "I know how fond you were of that boy, Liberty. But you can't be his friend. You and I both know you have a promising future. If he is still alive, Heath Thomson is a bastard that can only pull you down. Especially now. That boy is going to want revenge. I'd not want to be around feeling his wrath."
Libby nodded at her father as they made their way up the walk to Barker's General Store. Barker's was the only store left in the slow dying mining town. Libby spotted the two teen boys, who had thrown the beer bottles at Leah's and Hannah's graves.
"I'm going to talk to some friends while you get things, Papa." Libby released her father's hand as they stopped by the mercantile door. Her papa had took to holding Libby's hand after that horrible night. He wanted to protect her as best as he could.
"That's fine. But don't you dare head towards that hotel. Ya know what the Simmons folk are capable of. If they can sell their own kin…" Mr. Keene stopped his words.
No use fretting his daughter over the facts that led to the death of the two women and the insanity of the third. Not to mention that poor boy who witnessed it all. The boy was already addled in the mind but to see such a crime committed in front of him made his weak mind worse. Mr. Keene thought to himself that at least the childlike boy's mother lived through it even if her friends did not. He supposed Rachel Caulfield being a former prostitute had been done to similar in her life while little Miss Leah was an innocent woman despite having given birth to a child out of wedlock. And poor Hannah. Mr. Keene figured she died trying to keep the men away from Leah. The black woman always was protective of little Miss Leah. She treated her like her own child. Heath would be angry over losing Hannah too. They were so close. The tight knit family was a strange one but love resided once in that little green cabin.
"Okay, Papa." Libby smiled sweetly at her father as she agreed not to go by the hotel. She loathed the people that owned that place almost as much as Heath Thomson did. Her father headed into the mercantile to get a few items to make it through the week.
"Hey, Libby." Ward Whitcomb slouched against the side of hitching post out front of the mercantile. "Reckon, you been pass the cabin."
"I have." Libby plopped down on the stairs that led up to the wooden boardwalk. She nodded at the larger boy beside of Ward.
The boy's name was Hank. He was three years older than Libby and Ward, who both had just turned sixteen. Heath was the youngest of the trio of friends as he was barely fifteen.
Hank was a robust boy with bad hygiene and a worse attitude. He had bullied Heath since they could remember. Heath was always smaller than normal due to not eating as much as a growing boy should. Hank and a few other boys made Heath's life miserable due to his circumstances of birth. At least that was the excuse they used. Honestly, it was picking on the weak that made the bullies feel powerful.
Hank smiled at Libby revealing his rotted teeth. "Hey, Lib."
"Ya'll ought not be throwing rocks at Miss Leah's and Miss Hannah's graves." Libby fiddled with the lace on her satin dress. Most were afraid of Hank and his Pa. Libby wasn't because she knew Hank had a major hankering for her. So she spoke up as she pleased.
"Why? Ya think it may be true about them haunting this town now?" Ward adjusted his shoulder against the rotting post getting more comfortable.
"No." Libby rolled her eyes. "But Heath was our friend, Ward. Not to mention Miss Leah was kind to us all. Even you, Hank, despite how you treated her son. She gave us free cookies every time she baked them. I don't know why you'd throw rocks at her grave. That's all."
All three knew how poverty stricken Heath and his mama were. They knew the cookies were made to be sold. Even Heath rarely ate any. Although his mama had offered him one each time she baked. They took the treasures offered by Leah when Heath would not.
"Heck, Libby." Ward rubbed the back of his neck feeling guilty. "Heath ain't around any more. He left and I'm friends with Hank now."
"I never had no care for the bastard." Hank chuckled slightly. His grammar showed his lack of education like most in the town. "Although I do admit his mama was a nice woman to me. She was still a …"
"That's enough, Hank Garland." A young saloon girl scolded as she stopped in front of the trio of teens. She had been in Barker's store buying some items for the other saloon girls. The girls at the saloon took simple pleasure in the sweet smelling soaps that Mr. Barker had shipped in once a month. "Leah Thomson was a good woman. Don't be scorning her name."
"You're only saying that, John, because ya liked Heath." Hank crossed his arms over his broad chest defiantly. He didn't care for the girl any more than he cared for Heath Thomson. His pa said both were bastards and should've died at birth. Hank wasn't one to argue with his Pa. His mama argued with his Pa once. Once is all it took.
John was the name given to the young girl by her mother, who was also a saloon girl. It was a terrible name given by a terrible woman. John's mother said the girl could belong to any John, Paul, or Harry that had walked through the saloon doors eighteen years ago. It was obvious the girl didn't belong to any white man. She was a rare beauty with green eyes and caramel skin. Her dark hair laid in natural ringlets down her back.
John snarled at Hank as she popped her plump ruby red lips together. "Ya are just mad cause at age twelve, Heath Thomson was better in bed than you or your Pa."
The young saloon girl knew her words weren't exactly true. The girl had never been with Hank but his dad was another story. Hank's Pa was the vicious sort who slapped around the girls. Fred Garland paid for his time so he was allowed at the back of the saloon like all other patrons.
As far as Heath was concerned, she was with the twelve year old but it wasn't magical. If anything, it was awkward. John had decided that if Heath was going to be a man and join the war, she would bestow the honor of making him a man in other ways. She was fourteen and had been sold since she was eleven. Besides, Heath didn't call her John but he called her Johnna. The name sounded prettier to her ears.
"Don't matter none anyway!" Hank backhanded Johnna as he spit out the words. "The bastard is dead."
Johnna, as she decided to call herself, grabbed her face to ward of the stinging. She wasn't afraid of any man. Although she realized she should be. Especially after what happened to Leah and Hannah.
"Hitting me won't change that fact, Hank. Ya'll don't know he's dead."
"The war was over part near a year ago, Johnna." Libby twisted her finger in her red curls. She prayed Johnna was right. She wanted Heath alive just as much.
Libby knew the name Heath had chosen for the young saloon girl. She also knew that Heath had been with Johnna. He hadn't told anyone. He was respectful like that. However, Ward told them all thinking he was bragging on his twelve year old friend. Ward had been there the day that Johnna led Heath to the back of the saloon.
Johnna shrugged slightly. "Don't know if he is dead or if he ain't. That's all."
"John! Get your hide back to the saloon. Miners are heading in. Need all the girls there!" Screamed Johnna's mama from the swinging doors of the local saloon. The saloon sat adjacent the hotel and the general store.
Johnna's mom was named Grace but the men just called her Red for her red hair. There was nothing kind or graceful about her anyway. The robust woman wore a tight red corset outside of her faded yellow dress. The corset caused the fat to be squeezed upwards. Thus her plumpness added to her ample display of bosom. Her ankles could be seen below her too short dress alerting anyone who cared to look of the heaviness of her body. Her face was extremely over done with pale powder and red rouge. The white wig she wore saw its better days years ago. Still some men sought her out when desperately wanting a female companion. In a place like Strawberry, California, men weren't too picky.
Johnna's mother pulled Johnna to her. She cupped her face and frowned at the purple bruising forming on Johnna's face. "Hank Garland, if she doesn't get customers tonight, I'm charging your daddy double!"
Johnna flinched as her mother's fingers twisted a knot in the girl's hair. She pulled Johnna through the saloon doors cursing her as she did so. Her words were of chastising Johnna for leaving the saloon and getting hurt. After all, Johnna's rare beauty was what some of the wealthier clientele paid for. Bruising her pretty face wasn't her mother's concern. The money lost due to the bruising was.
"Do you think she loves him?" Libby shifted on the step as she looked up at Ward.
"Who?" Ward had picked up a few rocks and were skipping them across the dry dirt road.
"Johnna that's who. Do you think she loves Heath? Do you think that's why she doesn't want to think him dead?" Libby blinked a few times trying to keep the dust from going into her eyes.
Hank saw Libby trying to keep clean and blinking the dust away. As always, he came to her rescue. "Ward, stop throwin' them there rocks. Ya's a kickin' up a dust."
Ward stopped immediately due to his fear of Hank. There was no use getting beat up over a few rocks.
"I think she loves him." Libby sighed slowly. "I think Johnna loves Heath more than she loves anyone in this world."
"I suppose she does." Ward plopped down on the other side of Libby. "He's about the only one that treats her decent. I don't think it is the marrying type love though."
"Figures though. She's a black girl and he's a bastard. The two fit together." Hank fidgeted with straps on his overall bibs. "You're always talkin' of him, Libby. Do ya love Heath?"
"He's my friend, Hank. I'll tell you this much though. I would love Heath a whole lot more than someone that hits a girl. No matter what color that girl's skin is." Libby made her point clear. She liked Johnna even if her Papa wouldn't allow her around the saloon girl.
"I won't be hittin' her no more. But she best quick mouthin' off to me." Hank glanced up when Mr. Keene walked out of the general store. Hank immediately helped Mr. Keene with his bundles. "I'll run this home for ya, Mr. Keene."
Mr. Keene and Libby walked behind Hank as they made their way back home. Mr. Keene had big plans for his Liberty. She was going to be famous one day. If the dreams didn't come true, Hank could make her a decent husband. A lot better husband than Heath Thomson. He knew his little girl had always taken a shine to the golden haired boy. Mr. Keene couldn't help but be grateful that the blonde boy wasn't around any longer to steal his daughter's heart.
Besides the way that blonde boy loved his mama and the black woman, he would be trouble for anyone around him. If he did come back alive, Heath Thomson would definitely make someone feel his wrath.