Chapter 20: LEAVING THE PAST BEHIND
Monday, December 1st... Carlton Joseph Harper, Captain, 1st Florida Infantry Regiment, breathed his last in the wee hours of the morning. No stranger to the death rattle, Jess had ample time to summon the others beforehand. All cried out himself, he clung tightly to Olivia and Samantha as they poured out their grief. Painter and Matilda McCord stood quietly in the background, knowing the harder part was just beginning.
Word spread rapidly by jungle telegraph and soon friends and neighbors began straggling in with food baskets. Several men began constructing a coffin. Two of the older women joined Tilda behind the closed door of the bedroom to undertake the laying out of the body. Objecting violently to being excluded from the process, Sammie was unceremoniously hauled off to join her little brothers wherever they were being kept.
Numb, Jess was relegated to a chair on the front porch to provide moral support to the new widow as individuals came up to offer condolences. Between arrivals, Olivia explained that while Tony had been nominally regarded as head of the tribe, functional leadership had for some time been carried out by another, younger member. After the rites, Daniel 'Snake' Wilson would officially be acclaimed chief. He and his family would be moving into the cabin on Harper's Hummock.
"But... where are you an' the young 'uns gonna live?"
Ollie gave him a wan smile and patted his hand. "Tony expected we'd continue on here after his death. I went along with him to keep the peace but I have other plans."
"What plans?"
"Later on today we'll talk about it, okay?"
"Well… okay." Not okay… but if she don't wanna talk about it…
Jess turned his attention to the coffin construction crew. "Why're they makin' that thing so deep? That's gonna take a lot a diggin'."
"For the rocks that go in the bottom."
"I don't unnerstand. What rocks?"
"Think about it, Jess. There's not enough solid ground and the water table's too high to actually bury someone according to standard Christian practice. Of necessity, we choose to follow the native custom of returning our loved ones to the swamp."
Jess couldn't form a mental picture of what she meant and said so.
"Somewhere out there is a bottomless sinkhole. The men know where it is—we women don't. When it's time, they'll take the coffin away and drop it in where it will never be found, just as the ancients did."
At first repelled by the savagery of the idea, Jess quickly accepted that this was actually a very practical expedient. Still made his skin crawl, though.
"There won't be a viewing although there'll be a service of sorts," Ollie continued. "We're not wholly godless, you know. There'll be words from the good book to comfort those who still believe. Those who don't needn't participate. They're free to offer their respects and wish safe journey to whatever plane of existence they imagine lies beyond, each in his own way. Tony himself leaned toward atheism in his later years."
"I don't know what to say."
"Say whatever's in your heart, Jess... or nothing at all. It's your business and none of mine. I doubt Tony would've cared one way or the other."
A woman poked her head out the door with a query and Olivia stood up. "Please excuse me..."
Left alone on the porch, Jess marveled at his sister-in-law's composure and resiliency. At just about every other funeral he'd attended, the female relatives'd been swathed and veiled in black, weeping and wailing and requiring attentive consolation. Olivia Harper wasn't even wearing mourning—but then, neither were any of the other women in sight. Maybe they didn't own any black dresses. Everyone was going about his or her business as if preparing for a church picnic on the grounds. Minus any sounds of hilarity, of course. Even the children playing at the periphery were doing so quietly... no running, jumping or hijinks or getting in the way of the adults.
Worries started to encroach... was the Jolie Rouge still waiting upriver to carry him back to civilization? What were Cap'n Booger and Jay Dee and the crew doing to while away the time? What was happening back at the ranch? By the time he got home—if he got home—he would've been absent going on three months. Would he be welcome back or had Slim found some other, dependable worker to take his place? Unbidden, words said in anger by Slim three years ago leaped into his mind: "... if you go, it's for good this time. No coming back." True, Slim had assured him that didn't apply to this current venture... but neither had really thought he'd be gone this long. He'd missed Thanksgiving 'at home' this year... would he miss Christmas as well?
You idiot... this ain't the time to be gettin' homesick! Anyways, you can't go home now—you got new responsibilities... Ollie, Sammie, them little boys. Where's she gonna go? What's she gonna do? Someone's gotta look out for 'em...
Jess dreaded the letter he knew he'd be having to write as soon as they reached a real town.
The early afternoon activities went just as Olivia had described. From time to time someone would come out to see if he needed anything. Lunch was served at makeshift trestle tables and leftovers restored to baskets instead of being brought into the house. Faintly nauseated, Jess ate sparingly. As motion seemed to encourage vertigo and a lingering headache, he remained seated except for visits to the outhouse. He watched as several men filed indoors with empty crates and boxes.
The oversized coffin went into the house and was brought out again by four sturdy youths, to be placed on sawhorses. Everyone gathered around, including Sammie, who'd been allowed to return. What a ragtag bunch they were, with sincere sadness on every face as folks took turns reading bible passages or just speaking their piece. Olivia spoke of her love; so did Sammie. When all eyes turned to Jess, he nearly panicked, but a solid squeeze of each hand—one by his sister-in-law and one by his niece—calmed him enough to choke out an appropriate sentiment. After which he couldn't remember a dadblamed word he'd said. Must've been fitting—heads nodded appreciatively.
The coffin was borne away down the path, disappearing in the woods followed by a cortège of most of the mourners. Ollie and Sammie made no attempt to follow. Every trace of the gathering vanished except for some men, including Painter, still bustling around inside the house. Jess wondered what they were doing. After a while Ollie and Sammie rejoined him on the porch.
An hour elapsed with Jess and Olivia trading memories—he, repeating some of what he'd said to Tony during his watch... she, describing Tony as she'd known him back in the days when they were still married to their original spouses, and in the early days of their own union. They'd never been legally married. Sammie sat cross-legged and quiet on the floor at their feet. When Jess displayed hesitance about speaking plainly in front of the girl, Ollie assured him that they'd never kept anything from her.
Jess was distracted when Snake came outside. "We're done. You ready?"
Ready for what?
"I am."
A line of bearers marched single file down the steps and across the open space toward the path. Sammie got up and followed them. Jess then understood that the reason Ollie'd gone inside earlier was to oversee the decommissioning of her household. When she'd mentioned moving out, he'd assumed it meant in a day or two... or maybe next week.
Painter was the last one out, closing the door behind him. "Time to go."
Jess jumped up. "Hold on just a dadgum minute... where we goin'?"
" 'Down to the sea in ships,' " Painter quoted enigmatically before setting off with Ollie's arm tucked under his elbow. "You stayin' or comin'?"
Evidently no explanations were to be forthcoming at this time. Jess followed, grumbling to himself all the way.
The hidden basin—which they reached by a much more direct route than Jess had been brought in by—was packed with pirogues ready to move out with their loads. Sammie was already installed in one, looking both excited and a little scared. As soon as Ollie was settled in one of the larger vessels her three sons were handed down. Painter invited Jess to share his pirogue and the procession of little boats was on its way. Theirs was the last one in line.
"Where we goin'?" Jess asked again, looking over his shoulder with an angry edge to his voice.
Painter grinned. "Where you think? To the Jolie Rouge, of course. We're goin' to Boggy, soon's we load all Ollie's belongings."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that. It's all arranged."
Jess was damned sick of being told 'everything's arranged' without further enlightenment and had a considerable amount to say about it as they paddled downstream. Painter just laughed at him.
In daylight, the surroundings weren't nearly as disconcerting as they'd appeared to a confirmed land dweller in the middle of the night with Painter paddling at a maddeningly leisure pace. Jess was relieved when the sternwheeler appeared just where'd they left her. Was it only two nights ago? Seemed like weeks. Some of the pirogues had already unloaded and were headed back. Men raised hands in farewell as they passed. Jess caught a glimpse of Jay Dee scampering like a monkey up a rope ladder to the afterdeck. Olivia and the children were waiting on the foredeck, being welcomed aboard by the captain. Within minutes of the last item being handed over, the swamp people quickly retreated and were soon lost to sight. Snake was the last to leave, waiting for Jess and Painter to come aboard. Explaining that Cap'n Booger had gifted to the tribe the two pirogues he'd bought in Jolly Bayou, the new chief paddled away in one with the other in tow.
Although Jess wanted to follow the captain up to the wheelhouse for a powwow, he had more immediate concerns—getting the family up the companionway and settled in staterooms... which wasn't as easy as it seemed. Jonathan, Jess and Davey were full of piss and vinegar... overexcited as little people tend to be when thrust into an alien environment full of enticing sights and sounds and gadgets and widgets. Quick as lizards, too. More than once Jess had to dive for a toddler before he tumbled overboard.
I'm never EVER havin' kids. This's like tryin' ta herd cats…
Getting the squirming youngsters up a slippery, circular metal staircase proved nerve-wracking. Jess wrangled below while Painter carried them up one at a time. The boys were fast entering the whining and squabbling phase that precedes bedtime. Ever helpful, Alcide showed Olivia to a cabin equipped with an exterior lock for the purpose of incarcerating unruly guests. There was nothing in there they could break or on which they could hurt themselves. Thanking Jess and Painter for their assistance, Olivia advised she and Sammie would be engaged for the next hour in putting the three little boys to bed, after which they would retreat to their own stateroom next door to 'freshen up'.
"You two could do with some freshening up yourselves," Olivia remarked before closing the door.
Left standing in the passageway,the men agreed their appearance could certainly do with some immediate improvement. Anticipating their needs, Alcide met them at the doors of their respective cabins with soap, towels and pitchers of hot water water.
Jess determined that his first order of business was getting get rid of that beard although it was past the prickly stage. With the swamp behind him, it was no longer necessary to blend in. A little stubble acquired out on trail every now and then was one thing, but he'd never felt comfortable with a hairy face or even a soupstrainer. When he stepped out on the promenade to empty the basin, he encountered Painter doing the very same thing. They both did a double-take and started laughing.
"Yer wife ain't gonna recognize ya."
"Might give 'er a fright... she's never seen me without it."
"Er... why did you shave it off, Painter?"
"Don't want to give Miss Pettus a fright, neither."
"Hold on... Miss Amelia Pettus? I thought we'd be droppin' you off at the Mitchell River so's you could go on home?"
"Got business with Miss Pettus. She's never seen me with foliage."
Jess sighed. "Seems like all y'all know each other. I'm odd man out here."
"After what you've been through, I reckon you can claim honorary swamp rat membership. Hey... I'm gonna see can Ollie give me a trim later. An' it occurs to me that cistern up on the afterdeck's been sittin' in the sun all day. I'm for a hot shower."
"Sounds good to me." Even though Jess had done a cursory wash-up, the pervasive odor of mosquito repellent lingered unpleasantly.
The sun was already beginning its descent when, with boilers fired up and engines engaged, Jolie Rouge pulled into the main channel. Passing by the wheelhouse,Jess and Painter paused to give Cap'n Booger a brief greeting before going around back to the quarterdeck. With the wider view from that elevation Jess was taken aback to discover they'd already cleared the mouth of the Choctawhatchee River and were turning northward. The setting sun limned the rippling waters with fiery reds and golds as it poised to dip below the horizon.
"If we're lucky we'll see something real special. Keep watching..."
With no clue as to what he was supposed to be seeing, Jess dutifully squinted at the steadily vanishing orb. Just as the last speck of orange flickered out, a brilliant streak of green-gold appeared over the spot for only a second, immediately fading away. He couldn't be sure he'd actually seen something... or if it were just his imagination.
"What the hell...?"
"That, my friend, was the green flash."
"What causes it?"
"No idea. Doesn't happen often... but when it does and you see it... it's good luck."
"I need all the luck I can get," Jess intoned mournfully, dropping his swamp attire on the deck and stepping under the improvised shower.
Twenty minutes later, lye-scented and dressed in his own comfortable clothes, Jess rejoined Cap'n Booger in the gloom of the wheelhouse and claimed the second chair. Painter continued below to the saloon.
"I'm sure glad to be away from that place. Why would folks wanna live like that?"
"Ain't always a question of want to but got to. Sorry 'bout yer brother."
"Me, too. Thanks. Kinda hard to accept he went that sudden..."
"Just goes to prove what I always held to be true."
"What's that?"
"God's got a sense a humor an' enjoys a good practical joke at our expense every now an' then."
"That ain't funny."
"I ain't laughin."
Jess suddenly realized it was dark and they were still moving.
"We ain't layin' up for the night?"
"No need. We're in open water an' there's plenty a starlight to steer by."
"What if we hit somethin'... like another boat... or somethin' hits us?"
"You worry too much. We got runnin' lights strung all the way around an' we're lit up like a bonfire at a hog killin'. Ain't no one gonna ram us less'n they intend to. Crew should be done eatin' by now. Asked Alcide to serve 'em early so's we could have a parley in the saloon. He'll bring us a light meal later on."
That was definitely sounding good to Jess. It'd been a long time since the pre-funeral repast.
Cap'n Booger picked up a speaking tube and blatted for Remy to report to the wheelhouse. The boy came bounding up the ladder and skidded in.
"Take the wheel. We're aimin' to make Boggy by morning. You know the coordinates."
"Yessir."
At the foot of the ladder, outside the door to the saloon, Jess broached his newest concern. "Ain't he kinda young to be runnin' this rig?"
"Remy's seventeen an' he knows this ole gal like his momma's titties."
" 'Scuse me?"
"He's my grandson, Jess. He was whelped up in that wheelhouse. She got caught short an' couldn't make it down the ladder in time.
Jess was speechless. These seagoing folks're somethin' else…