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“You got a wife and
family?” Esau asked and Weatherby nodded.
“I do too. But my wife probably gave up on me by now. I tried twice to
escape (prison) and that doubles the time (of my detention). I counted up; I’d
have to live, to be a hundred five years old to get out of here. That’s too
long for a woman to wait. But I’d like
to see her,” Esau said solemnly, “even if all I find out is who’s with her.”
---
Weatherby turned away and stopped by a convict who lay on
the ground whimpering. He felt the man’s forehead and the man jerked his head
away; he never had been touched by a white man before. “You have a fever,” Weatherby said.
“No, suh, I’m all
right.”
Weatherby sent forth a blanket and covered up the convict. “How old are you? You fifty years old?”
“I lost count,”
the sick man said, embarrassed by all the attention. “But I can remember being as young as that.”
“You from downcast?”
“Flatlands. You can’t
fall off a cliff there. It’s so flat at home that the water wont flow.”
“How do you keep it fresh?”
“The catfish keep it
moving.” He bobbed his head in pleasure, thinking about it. “I wish I was home.” He spat blood then
squinted at Weatherby. “Are we going to
have a Christmas here?”
“I’ve not planned
much, except maybe an orange apiece.”
“Christmas is the only day I care
about. When that little Jesus was born. I wish He’d come and get me out of
here.”
---
“I’d marry ye, Nettie.”
“You like to be here,
but you don’t love me,” she said. “A woman wont marry the man who offers the
most, but the one who needs her most.” Her pretty voice spun out the
meaning, and Red wasn’t sure he like it.
“Nettie, you’re
complicated,” he said.
“Listen to that,”
she said. “Is there a woman who’s not? We all have to be needed, even if we
know it’s only for a little while.”
