Chapter 1 "The Writing on the Wall

Sweat dripped from Harlan's brow as he stopped and pulled a handkerchief from the back pocket of his overalls. At fifteen, he was farm life strong. A hardworking responsible boy who could turn a serious countenance to a wink and a song in the snap of a finger. Wiping his forehead, he leaned against the hoe and looked out across the field. His eyes strained to see through the shimmering heat the noon day sun was pouring out over the weedy rows of waist high tobacco. 

     They had been at it since daybreak but the work would stretch on into sunset . In the rows beside him, Harlan could hear the steady chopping of his brothers' hoes, a unified rhythm, lulling and steady. Stuffing the handkerchief back into his pocket, Harlan turned and looked toward the house. Squinting his eyes even more as he peered down the path. He was hoping to see Bessy coming up to call them in for dinner. Instead of Bessy he heard the harsh grating cry of a large flock of crows  and watched as a shadow darkened the ground. Circling the house once, they flew back toward the field. The crows settled in the trees, where they continued to screech and squawk. With a swishing sound a well-aimed rock  hurled from the row beside Harlan caused them to rise as one, and fly away toward the river.

     Harlan smiled as his twelve year old brother Jesse parted the stalks of tobacco and stepped over into his row. 

"Got them crow birds good" said Jesse laughing. 

The stalks began to rustle a little further down the row and another brother, Curtis, stepped through.  Dragging his hoe behind him , he plopped down on the ground and said ...

""I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

 "Curtis, you could've been eat'in crow if Jesse's aim had been any account" Harlan teased.

 Curtis laughed as Jesse lowered his head and tackled Harlan onto the ground. The two brothers tumbled between the rows. Harlan pretended to let Jesse get the better of him, until they heard Bessy calling up the path... 

" Time to eat y'all... dinner's on the table. "

  She stopped at the edge of the field and said in an exasperated voice. 

"What are y'all do'in...that ain't work ...you're just playing. Here I've been in that hot kitchen all morning with Dory, and you haven't even finished these rows.

" I ain't stay'in in the house when we get through with dinner, I'm gonna come out here and help you fella's have fun. I don't like to cook any how...now come on dinner's wait'in." 

Walking to the edge of the field, the boys propped their hoes against a pine tree and followed Bessy down the path toward the house.

    

      In the farm house kitchen, Dory set the hot pan of biscuits on the table and laid the dish towel on the sink. She was a medium height rotund woman who wore her hair short and clipped close around the ears. The top teased into a bouffant and sprayed with "Aqua Net" until it was as as stiff as a helmet. At night she would wrap it with a nylon scarf to preserve its style.  In the morning she used a "rat-tailed" comb to lift any flattened places back into their former shape.

    

      Gazing out the window over the sink , Dory saw her niece and nephews heading toward the house. Three tow haired boys and one red headed girl coming down the path. They were her brother Roland's children. At fifteen Harlan was the oldest. A willing worker when the day demanded it but a writer and a scholar when time allowed. He worked hard at his studies and his teachers all had dreams that he would go far in life. They held hopes that he could work his way out of the fields and into a profession, maybe a lawyer or a politician.

      Jesse and Bessy were  twelve year old twins. They were both head strong and spitfire sassy. They often set out together whenever they could into the surrounding country side to fish or hunt arrowheads. In the stand of pines behind the farm house they had built an amazing tree fort.

     It had began last summer when they'd swept and raked the ground between four pine trees to make a picnic area.  From there it only took a little imagination to see the next step would be to build a platform off the ground. Everyday for the next week they scoured the farm for old boards and any useful pieces of lumber to build their treehouse. The next few evenings the farm rang with echoed hammering in the woods. Soon they had a secure floor ten feet off the ground that they made accessible by building a wooden ladder. But they didn't stop there. With a first floor as a starting place they decided to build until they ran out of tree top!

     

     All that summer they continued to scrounge for lumber and add levels to the fort. By the time autumn  arrived it had grown into a four storied pine sky scraper! Their daddy Roland was the building inspector. He climbed every level with his nail apron full of nails and a hammer in his hand. He checked out every brace they had built and added a few of his own. He also made a set of banisters around the outside of each platform. Then and only then did he declare it to meet his personal code of safety and give them a certificate of occupancy. In a spark of good- natured humor he hand wrote a certificate  and nailed it to the tree. They laughed when they read it, hugged their daddy and thanked him for his help. Roland was a good man. He knew children needed love and time. He gave them plenty of  both . 

Each level had a small area left open in the floor. A knotted rope tied at the top level passed down through an entry hole in each floor to the ground. They shared their fort with Curtis but he wasn't allowed to build a hammock on the top level like they had. There was only room for two and Bessy and Jesse claimed the pinnacle.

They gave Curtis the first floor nearest the ground. He was fine with that. The truth was Curtis didn't care too much for heights. He didn't tell Jesse or Bessy though. He was afraid they would think he was a baby.

 Jesse took the next floor and he kept a wooden trunk in the corner filled with his treasures. Wrapped in pieces of tissue were all the arrowheads he'd found on the farm and down by the river. He liked to hold them and wander just whose hand was the last one to touch it before his, and what were they doing with it? 

Did they send it flying on the end of an arrow in to the body of a deer? 

Did the deer run and lay and die and the shooter never find it? 

Did the carcass decompose and the arrow shaft rot away? 

Did it lay in that spot until Jesse came along years and years later and picked it up?

 Fascinating things for a boy to ponder late evenings in his treehouse. He also kept the latest book he was reading and a flashlight in the trunk. "White Fang" was in the trunk in the moment.  Most nights after supper he'd climb to the top with his book and flashlight crawl  into his hammock. As a gentle breeze rocked the pines he would read about the Yukon wilderness and the savage struggle for life men face in this world. He would read under the starlight with his flashlight till Dory would call them in for bed.

Most nights the other hammock was  swinging beside him. Bessy's flashlight shining on the pages of " Robin Hood."  Her heart climbing in the sky with Robin as she swung in her hammock in the tree top.  She kept her book and flashlight in Jesse' trunk to keep it safe and dry. These were mama's books taken off the bookshelf in the living room. Daddy said she had read them all as a child and had intended to read them all to her children. 

Only Harlan could remember mama. He said she'd read to him and Bessy and Jesse every night after supper. All Bessy and Jesse could remember was not a picture in your head kind of memory. But a feeling kind of memory where they knew they were all wrapped up and secure. After mama died, Roland did all he could do as a dad and Dory did all she could do as an aunt. But there was a longing place in all the children's hearts, Only Esther could ever fill that need. The bottom shelf contained picture books. Some of their favorites when they were smaller were the set of Dr. Seuss books. They would read and study the crazy creatures and buildings he had illustrated. Harlan often teased his younger siblings saying  their tree house looked like a Dr. Seuss building!

At ten Curtis was the baby. A freckle faced boy who spent his spare time down by the river  catching frogs and tadpoles in the the early spring and studying nature. He could sit for hours watching a muskrat hole in the riverbank till mama muskrat came out followed by her babies. Sitting 

still and quiet he would watch as she taught them how to swim across the river and catch minnows and crawdads for their meals. He carried a sketch pad with him and had become quite skilled at capturing wildlife with his art. He covered his bedroom wall with the drawings he made of nature. Curtis was a sensitive boy who enjoyed wandering the river banks alone. He preferred the solitude of the outdoors to the frantic busyness of man.

     

     Dory had come to babysit  the night her sister in law Esther had gone to the hospital in labor with Curtis. She had never left because the children's mama had never come home. As Esther gave life to Curtis she lost her own.  Dory's brother, Roland  had never gotten over losing his wife. Eight years is a long time to grieve . The years had been hard ones too. The last two had seen Roland almost lose the farm. The weather played havoc. The crops were insufficient to pay the mortgage . Roland brought in a little extra cash by being a handy man and a mechanic. The family was still afloat but just barely. 

This year the spring rains had been bountiful. The tobacco was jumping in the fields but so were the weeds. Roland and the children were hard pressed to keep up with the hoeing. But they were making headway and the biggest tobacco field was almost finished. It looked like the crop was going to be big enough to haul them out of debt.

When the foursome reached the porch Bessy detoured around to the back of the house.  " I'm going to go in the back" she said, so I can get my book from the tree house. Bessy disappeared around the corner as the boys walked up onto the front porch. The screen door spring creaked as Harlan pulled and held it open for his brothers to enter the house. His mouth watered as he breathed in the appetizing smell of pinto beans, hot biscuits and pie. Letting the screen door slam behind him , Harlan followed them into the house. Dory had the radio playing in the kitchen and Loretta Lynn was belting out "Blue Kentucky Girl. "

 Jesse and Curtis were already in the bathroom washing up, so Harlan went into the kitchen. Dory was taking an apple pie out of the oven as Harlan walked to the sink and as he began to wash his hands, he said...

" It sure smells good in here aunt Dory, especially that pie. I'm gonna have a slice of that first off."

 "Oh no you're not! Harlan Ralph Jones, this pie is for dessert"

 Dory answered , setting the pie to cool on the porcelain counter beside the sink.  

Natural light poured into the kitchen from the large window over the sink. Above the panes hung a valance of printed cotton. Tiny corn blue and yellow flowers dotted the material. Green vines entwined the pattern together. The yellow flowers matched the yellow paint on the walls. The back kitchen door had curtains that matched the fabric over the sink. The effect was pleasant and cheerful.The white painted door frames were latex paint as well and were easy to keep clean. Hanging beside the inside kitchen door frame was a black wall-mounted rotary phone. And beside the phone hung a calendar that's page displayed June 1965. The worn kitchen floor was wood and a small blue rug 

A bright yellow wall enfolded the farm house kitchen. The latex paint sported a slick shiny surface that was easy for Dory to keep clean. Grease and splatters wiped right off which suited her just fine. She would rather be out in her garden than she would be cleaning the kitchen any day. The electric stove was new from Sears and Roebuck  featuring a self cleaning oven. The Formica table was yellow as well almost matching the shade of the wall paint. During the warm weather months Dory kept a constant display of fresh  flowers from her garden as a center piece.

    A mint green, plastic Tupperware pitcher filled with sweet iced tea set on the table. Two pink plastic tupperware  salt and pepper shakers sat beside it.  Dory loved her tupperware and the porcelain cabinets held a large variety of burping bowls and gadgets. Plastic teal colored glasses completed the plastic  table setting. 

Harlan was drying his hands on the towel when Jessy and Curtis entered the kitchen. Both of them echoed what Harlan had said earlier about the food smelling good. The boys all sat down at the large kitchen table . Pinto Beans steamed from the bean pot and a creamy mound potatoes stood cradled in in a deep blue mixing bowl. Ham, fried okra , tomatoes,corn on the cob and a big pitcher of iced tea composed the rest of the meal.  Dory opened the back screen door and called for Bessy. An old ford pick up truck was rattling  up the driveway.

     Roland parked the truck next to the barn, opened the door and got out. He saw Bessy walking from the edge of the woods she was carrying a book in her arms. He met Bessy at the back porch steps and gave her a quick hug and asked...

 "What'cha reading, princess?" 

 Bessy handed him the book. He read the title then opening the cover he ran his finger across the name printed in pencil on the inside leaf.  "Esther Cates." Roland closed the book and handed it back to Bessy. 

"Your mama would be so proud of you, you know that, don't you Bessy girl?" he said.

"Yes, daddy and I'm taking good care of mama's book. I keep it in Jesse's trunk." she said. 

He opened the back door screen and held it as Bessy walked into the house, then he  followed her into the kitchen. They washed their hands then sat down at the table. Dory turned off the radio,moved the pie from the counter to the table then took her seat as well. They all bowed their heads as Roland asked grace. Picking up the bowl of potatoes , Dory began to pass the food around the table.

"How many rows did y'all get hoed this morn'in." Roland asked the boys.

 " We have have four rows left down on the river side." answered Harlan.

 Bessy, holding her book open in one hand reading and feeding herself with the other piped in.

 "I'm gonna help with the hoeing too, after dinner."

With a sheepish look,she peeped around her book at her aunt and added

 " I mean if its okay with aunt Dory." 

Dory replied...

 "Some women would rather be outside than in the kitchen and you're one of 'em, 

You did your part spending all morning in here with me. 

We're gonna have these left overs for supper anyway

 so you go on out and out and help them in the field.

 

And besides I'm planning to go out and tend the kitchen garden myself after I get through in here."

     Jesse and Curtis were too busy eating to talk. Their forks clacked against their plates. as they filled the hollow place in their stomachs. Roland took a biscuit from the platter and sliced it open. Moist steam rose into the air as he laid it on his plate, reached  over and speared a slice of tomato with his fork. After placing it on the bottom side of the biscuit Roland laid his fork down and picked up the pink plastic salt shaker. Shaking it over the tomato, then his entire plate, he put the top back on his biscuit and began to eat.

 By this time Jesse was almost finished. With the last bite of biscuit, he sopped up the bean juice, put it in his mouth and said...

"Can I  have a piece of pie now?"

 "Me too" Curtis added.

 "You boys swallowed that food whole" Dory replied.

 "I bet you didn't taste a thing."

 " Yes we did" they protested in unison. " It was delicious . "

Jesse said... 

You're the best cook in Anderson County...

 

No, I mean the best cook in  North Carolina." 

"Maybethe best cook in all  the whole United States of America " he concluded.

 Curtis threw in for good measure...

 " You're the best cook in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD... Now can we PLEASE  have some pie?"

Dory slid the pie over and began to slice it with the big  butcher knife laying on the table beside her. The aroma of tart Granny Smith apples canned last fall, rose from the broken crust. Curtis and Jesse both held their plates out to her and she placed thick warm slices on them.

" There's vanilla ice cream in the refrigerator, let me get it out." She said. 

Bessy laid her open book face down beside her and began eating in earnest. Dory opened the top freezer door of the refrigerator and removed a box of vanilla ice cream. She went back to the cabinet reached inside and took out a dinner plate and set it on the counter of the sink.

 Tearing off the carton she pushed the frozen block of ice cream onto the plate. She dropped the carton into the trash can sitting behind the back door. Walking back to the table she picked up the butcher knife and then washed it off at the sink. After running hot water over it to heat up the metal she used it to cut two half inch thick slices of the ice cream.  Balancing them each one at a time she carried them over to Jesse and Curtis' plates and laid them  on top of  their pie. 

 Bessy quickly  finished eating and had added her own  pie to her clean plate. Dory went back and cut her a piece of ice cream and placed it over her pie. She glanced at Roland's plate and saw he was nearly finished as well.

She asked...

 "Are you ready for some pie?" 

 "I made a fresh pot of coffee too."

 Roland pushed his plate aside and wiped his mouth.

 " Yes, ma'am, I shhhhooore am." He teased.  

Dory fixed him a piece of pie and ice cream and reached for a coffeecup from the overhead cabinet beside the sink. Lifting the perculator from the electric eye of the stove she poured Roland a cup of coffee. After taking care of everyone she sat back down to finish eating. Harlan stood up.

He said...

"Don't get back up, Aunt Dory. I am going to fix my own."

 Retrieving  a bowl from the cabinet he reached across the table and put a piece of pie in it. He cut himself a slice of ice cream then went to the refrigerator and took out the bottle of milk. Holding the door open he popped the cardboard cover off the milk. Propping his bowl against the inside rail of the refrigerator door he poured milk over the ice cream and pie. Balancing his bowl with one hand he put the top back on the milk and slid the bottle back on the shelf. He managed to shut the door without any mishap. As he sat back down at the table...

 Jesse said  ...

"Ewww...Milk mush pie." then added...

"I'm finished can I be excused?" 

Roland blew across his cup of coffee then took a sip.After swallowing he said 

" Are you headed back out to the field?" 

 " Can I wait till Harlan finishes his mush milk pie?  Jesse answered. Then we can all go out together." 

I'm through too " said Curtis, 

"Can I go turn on the TV till everyone's through at the table?  

"Aw Curtis,  said Jesse...

 " There ain't noth'in on but "The Edge of Night" or one of them other silly soap operas...

Let's go outside till they're done eat'in." 

"Yeah " Bessy added...

 " I'm through too, can we all be excused, daddy?

Roland answered...

 " Clean up your own dishes first, then go  ahead, Harlan'll call you when he's headed back to the field. Bessy ran a sink full of soapy water. They washed their plates, forks and glasses then stacked them in the red vinyl coated metal dish rack on the left side of the sink. The screen door slammed as they left out the back door.

Dory got up and took a square Tupperware bowl from the cabinet. The screen door slammed again as Bessy ran back inside and grabbed her book from the table. She spun on her heel and ran back out with the sound of the screen door slamming shut behind her. Placing the Tupperware dish over the ice cream Dory flipped the plate over dumping the the ice cream inside the bowl. She placed the plastic cover over the top and dutifully "burped" the air out as carefully as if she were burping a baby. Not quite sure that she'd gotten out as much air as she could, she repeated the process. At a corner  She partially lifted the edge of the top and pressed forcibly on the lid. Another slight sigh of air escaped.. Dory popped the lid down before it could inhale again and sealed it with a satisfied smile.

 "They've come out with freezer safe tupperware you know,"  she stated to no one in particular.

 "I bought this bowl at  the party Rachel's had at the fellowship hall last week.

 It'll keep this ice cream fresh for months... that is if it'd last that long with those boys eat'in like horses."

She opened the freezer and put the bowl inside. Walking back to the table she began to clear away the dishes.

 "You not gonna have a piece of pie" Roland asked.

 "I will afterwhile" she answered.

 " I guess I'm as bad as Bessy really, I want to get finished up in here and get out to my garden."

 

"Well, if it's ok I want another piece while it's still warm" Harlan said.

 He got  up and headed toward the freezer. Roland laughed,  looked at Dory, winked and said...

 " There goes that ice cream!"

 Dory smiled and shook her head and sat the dishes on the drain board beside the sink of soapy water. She began to wash them. Harlan fixed another bowl of "milk mush pie" and sat back down at the table. Roland took the last bite of his dessert, turned up his coffee cup and downed the final swallow. Dory looked over her shoulder asked if he'd like her to pour him another cup.

. "Naw, Roland answered, I 'm as full as a tick." 

But thank you anyway Dory, you're the best cook in the whole wide world,

 

 "No I'll go one better, You're the best cook in all  creation!" 

Dory pulled her hand from the suds and flicked  water  toward Roland. He ducked and grabbed the dish towel, winding it up like he was going to flick it back at Dory. He  thought  better of it when she raised a glass full of soapy water and threatened to douse him with it. He put the towel down kissed Dory on the cheek and said...

" I 'm going to go put that new switch I picked up from the hardware store on the tractor. I'll be out in the shop if anyone needs need me.

" Harlan, y'all head on back out to the field as soon as you finish eating. " 

"We will, daddy" Harlan answered.   

 He put his bowl by the sink.  Following his daddy's example he gave Dory a peck on the cheek and thanked her for the meal.  He walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. The piano stood beside the entryway and Harlan sat down at the bench and played a quick tune then went out the front door. He stood on the porch and called out...

 "I'm going back to the field, y'all come on." He sat down on the porch swing and tightened up his shoe laces. Just as he was finishing tying them up , Jesse, Bessy and Curtis came running around the side of the house. Bessy carried a hoe she'd picked up at the barn. Together they all four walked up the path back toward the tobacco field.

Roland stopped by the truck and took the box with the starter from the truck bed. He carried it past the barn to the shop located behind it. The tractor stood in the bay with  parts scattered in  so many pieces that only Roland knew what they were and how to put back them  together. The tractor was old and most folks would have junked it a long time ago. But most folks weren't like Roland. He had an innate knowledge of mechanical parts and the patience of Job. The shop was equipped with tools to repair almost anything. Some of the tools were unique and couldn't be found in a Sears and Roebuck catalog or any hardware store in the country. These were tools Harlan had invented himself to fix things when there was no manufactured tool to do it.

 Roland's hands were calloused and there was grease under his finger nails that no amount of washing seemed able to remove. Work worn hands formed by love for his family and the desire to keep them fed and provided for. Preacher Smythe had just preached a sermon on thisvery topic last Sunday from the book of Timothy chapter 5 verse eight. 

"But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."

Roland didn't need the preacher's reminder he had always been the kind of man who put his family first. He sacrificed whatever he had to in able to take care of them. He was proud of his children and his heart ached terribly that Esther wasn't there to see them growing up. Even though it had been ten years since she died Roland missed her something awful.

 He still celebrated her birthday , their anniversary and all  the holidays by buying her a card. He would sign his name to it, then wrap it carefully in wax paper to protect it from the weather then tape it closed. Esther's grave was on the farm in the family lot. Roland would there and place the card on her tombstone. All spring and summer he kept a fresh bouquet of flowers in a vase on her grave.

Roland set the box on the cement floor and opened it, picking up a screwdriver he began to pull the old starter off the tractor.

Harlan reached the field first and picked up the hoe he'd left leaning against the tree. Jesse and Curtis walked up and did the same. They lined up at the beginning of the last four rows left to hoe. Harlan took the row to the inside, 

Jesse took the row next to him, Bessy the next and they gave Curtis the shortest row on the edge of the field closest to the river. Together they began the chopping and pulling of weeds down their row. With stomaches full and the sun moving slowly toward the west they began to fall into a rhythm. 

Dory finished stacking the dishes and wiped her hands on her apron. She opened a cabinet drawer and removed a table cloth. Flouncing it in the air she covered the dishes of food on the table and left them to sit like that till supper time. Dory went to a shelf in the kitchen where the plastic transistor radio sat. She picked up the earphone laying beside it and put them both in her apron pocket. Pulling her

straw hat off a peg beside the back door she placed it securely on her head  and stepped out onto the back porch. 

The smell of June roses planted by the corner were fragrant.  Their red beauty climbed across the eve of the roof and down both sides of the steps. Dory stepped out of the cool shade of the porch onto the steps and into the white hot blaze of the sun . Adjusting her hat to shade her eyes , she walked down the steps and into the back yard. To her left was an old white picket fence running from the front of the house along the gravel driveway  and to the corner of the shop. Planted along the fence were hollyhocks in a myriad of colors. Bees buzzed busily diving in and out of the colorful blossoms. Dory resisted the urge to get her clippers and cut a bouquet. Instead she walked through the fence gate and into the shop to get her garden tools and  basket . Roland was all up in the guts of the tractor and he didn't see Dory come in. She quietly picked up her basket and slipped back out. In the garden she took out her transistor radio and  turned it on. She took out her earphone and plugged one end into the radio and plugged the other end into  her ear. She began to sing with the music as she started picking the row of snap beans.

~ In the past Anderson County, North Carolina had been primarily an agricultural community.  That changed after the civil war. Men whose homes and livelihood had been destroyed found work in the the factories of those who had made money from the  war. The largest factory was located a mile upriver from our farm. Built in 1900 by  Captain Sherman Bender it had passed down through the generations of Bender men and was now run by Buchanan Bender.

 He was a big, meaty fisted man who wore his brutal anger hidden behind a smiling face. No one called him by his given name he was known around town as Buzzard Bender and had been since he was twelve years old. Granny Harrell said that it was at that moment when the buzzard did what it did that Buchanan made his final choice. She said the buzzard was only marking for all to see on the outside what had happened on the inside, in Buchanan's soul. She said up until that moment it could've went either way. But when Buchanan made that choice there on the playground to choose to do evil and not good, that sealed the deal.

As for me I don't know if that's the way it works or not with the hardening of a heart. But what I do know for sure, is that  Buchanan Bender never  changed for the better. From that day forward he was known as Buzzard Bender and he pulled evil to him like he had it tied to his heart with wagon cords.~

                                                                 Cathy Hall Sharpe © 2014