Great Jehoshaphat and Gully Dirt! Part 39

"Yeah."

Papa left in a big hurry.

Chapter 11

"Mama, am I gonna stay at Grandma Ming's?"

"No, Bandershanks, you'd better go to Miss Ophelia's house with me. It'll probably be late before we come home. When there's a death, you never can tell what's to be done. Here, stick this other shoe on and let's go to the kitchen and get you some breakfast."

"I want lots, and lots, and lots of breakfast!"

Doanie was back before the b.u.t.ter in my biscuits had melted and before I'd tasted my strips of fried salt meat. She pushed the kitchen door shut and came straight to the cook stove, wringing her hands together and saying, "Chile, this is the coldest day the Lawd done made!" Doanie blew her breath on her fingers and kept rubbing her hands. She held them up over the steam coming from the teakettle.

As soon as Doanie's hands got warm and limbered up, Mama told her to help me wash my face. Doanie poured lots of water in the wash pan, and I thought for a second or two she was going to scrub my ears off. Finally, she gave my face one last swipe and emptied the pan of soapy water out the back door.

"Now. That does. .h.i.t. Dry yourself off good. You looks clean as a kitten with a fresh-licked face!"

The minute Doanie got my mittens and wraps on me, I ran out to climb in the buggy. Sun Boy had already loaded on the stovewood and had stacked it all the way up to the back of the seat. So when Doanie came out bringing the collard greens and meat and coffee and b.u.t.termilk-and all the sheets and quilts and stuff Mama had gathered up-she had to pack the whole works in front. The sack of eggs she set up on the seat by me.

Mama told me to prop my feet up on the pile of quilts. The thickest one she slid out and unfolded to wrap around our legs.

Even that heavy cotton quilt didn't keep us from s.h.i.+vering and shaking as we drove down the road.

After we crossed Rocky Head Creek, we turned right on a little side road. Mama said it was a short cut, a different road from the one we took Sunday when Papa went with us to Miss Ophelia's.

We heard a gunshot way off up the creek.

"Who's that shooting, Mama?"

"Just somebody hunting squirrels, or maybe partridges. I sure wish your papa had time to kill us some. We haven't had a partridge on the table since Thanksgiving Day! And not many squirrels."

As soon as we got out of the creek bottom, we crossed over a steep ridge, and then I could see fields and two houses-one was Ned's house, and the other one, with two chimneys, was Miss Ophelia's. It took only a few more minutes to get there.

"I declare, look at the wagons and buggies, Bandershanks!

We'll have to go on around to the side yard."

Papa was standing on the porch, talking to some men. More men were down at the wagon shelter, where they were looking at Mister Ward's automobile. One man was up in it, trying out the hand wheel and the pedals.

As soon as Papa noticed us, he came around the house to help us get out.

"Nannie, drive Dale up in the yard, and I'll hitch him to this corner post. It's a good thing you brought this dry stovewood, 'cause when I got here, there wasn't a stick cut. I finally got Ned to chop kindling for both fireplaces."

"Jodie, what have you found out?"

"Not much, yet. You remember Miss d.i.n.k's half-brother, Mister Hiram?"

"Of course. He was the man who brought Bandershanks home."

"Well, Uncle Hiram, as they call him, found Ward early this morning, lying down yonder below the barn, about halfway between the barn and the woods."

Papa kept talking as he lifted Mama down to the ground.

"Uncle Hiram couldn't tell if Ward was dead or not, he said. So he hobbled across the field quick as he could to Ned's. He got Ned and some of his boys to help tote Ward to the house. He sent Ned's oldest boy to Ralph Ware's to phone for the doctor, and he got Ned to run and tell Wes and Lida Belle. 'Course it was pretty soon after that when Wes phoned me, like I told you."

"Yeah. Then what?"

"Ralph said he never could get the doctor."

Papa helped me down. When my feet touched the ground, they felt so stiff I had to grab Mama's skirt to keep from falling.

"Is Doctor Elton here yet?"

"He got over here right after I did, but Ward was already dead. He didn't even examine him-just took one look at him and said he'd been dead all night."

Mama picked up the bucket of b.u.t.termilk and the eggs. She let me carry the sack of coffee. Papa gathered up some of the other sacks and boxes, and we walked up to Miss Ophelia's house.

"How is Ophelia taking it?"

"Oh, she's in hysterics. I reckon anybody would be. But, Nannie, old Miss d.i.n.k is the one in bad shape."

"Worse off than she was yesterday evening?"

"Yeah. Lots worse. Lida Belle says the old soul's talking out of her head."

"Lida Belle's here?"

"Her and Wes both. I figure they don't want anybody suspecting that anything's wrong at their house."

"Has anybody notified Ward's folks yet?"

"Uncle Hiram's gone back home to get his wife and to get word to the kin over around Millers Crossing."

"What about Ophelia's young'uns?"

"Most of them are at the schoolhouse. Uncle Hiram came the day before yesterday to take Miss d.i.n.k back to his house, but she was too bad off. So, he took the older young'uns home with him. I guess he figured it would help Ophelia. This morning he brought them back, straight to the schoolhouse. Then he came on over here."

"How'd he know where to look for Ward?"

"He didn't. He said when he first got here Ophelia told him Ward sneaked home Sunday but didn't stay long."

"But, Jodie, she vowed she hadn't seen him!"

"Well, anyhow, Uncle Hiram went down to the barn to feed the mules and to milk the cow. But the cow got out of the pen and was already way down the lane. He went to drive her back up, and that's when he saw Ward slumped down by the fence."

Papa pushed open the back door. There was n.o.body in the kitchen, and we didn't hear any sounds coming from the other part of the house.

"Nannie, some of the men seem to think Ward might've shot himself on purpose. And I wouldn't put it past him. He was a crazy, curious man. But, I oughtn't to criticize the dead."

"I'm wondering about Ward's automobile. When do you guess he-"

"Ned told me this Hicks fellow and another man brought it a few minutes before I got over here. 'Course they left, right away."