Chapter VI (cont.)
* * *
Alabama, August 1863
Sonny brought the axe down swiftly and split the log in two with ease. This was work he had done before and he somewhat enjoyed the comfort of the memory. It had been five days since he had arrived at this house and Rose took very little time in getting Sonny to work. He did not mind. He wanted to pay for his keep in whatever way he could, and if they needed anything other than food right now, it was labor.
He wondered what this Lem did around the place. Rose had mentioned his name several times but he had yet to show. They had mentioned him going somewhere for salt but Sonny began to wonder if perhaps he had run out too as it was quite obvious that much of the rest of the slave population at this plantation had done so. But there had been little further conversation with Mrs. Butler since that night three days ago and he still did not have the entire story.
Mrs. Butler was a strange one to figure out. She had spent a good deal of time sleeping, so he gathered for he did not see her and mostly watched Rose take her up some small portion of food each afternoon. When she was up and around the house, he had been out in the yard doing work – caring for the two horses they had, one of which was his own, trying to make sure the chickens they still had left were fed and cared for, and splitting logs as he was doing now. There were no other animals to tend to, no cows or pigs. Not even a rooster, which suggested that there would be no further chickens either.
He wondered how they had survived this long. Perhaps it had been a recent situation. Perhaps the money just ran out. He wanted to know, but he would wait for Mrs. Butler to offer the information. He had no desire to press his good fortune at finding this place of kindness and respite. He put it out of his mind as he pushed the split logs off the chopping block and picked up another to feel the blade’s swift verdict.
Setting it up on end, he placed the axe blade calmly on the top of the log and then with practiced ease pulled it back around his head and back down starting a split. One more just like it and the log would be in half. He remembered the day when he was awed by how his father could split it with one quick chop. He still did not have the strength to match that. But he tried with yet another log.
As he brought the blade down on its next victim, he caught the sight of something moving just slightly on the back porch and looked up to see what it was in full. Mrs. Butler was standing there silently watching him, a very slight smile on her face but a vacant look in her eyes from what he could tell. He straightened his back and pulled the axe blade from the log still keeping her in his sights.
“Oh, do go on…please,” she said. “I had not realized that you had such strength back.”
“Must have been the work, I reckon,” he answered as he took another swipe at the log, this time splitting it. He dropped the axe and bent to stack the bit of wood that was already split as she gracefully descended the back stairs.
“It’s such a shame it is not already winter. Wouldn’t a fire be lovely? Perhaps you should put some of that in the parlor in the event it takes chill.”
“Yes’m,” Sonny answered making a mental note to do so after putting the rest outside the kitchen house.
“One thing we seem to have plenty of…wood,” she said slightly bemused.
“Yes’m,” Sonny repeated.
“Would that we were blessed with other such abundance,” she continued as she looked off in the distance surveying what must have been a place of plenty at one time.
Sonny took the chance to look at her finally in the daylight and realized that she was quite pretty, and much younger than he had supposed at the first encounters. Her hair was the dark brown he had thought he had noticed, and her cheekbones were high on her face. Her realized just how petite she was, standing a good foot under his own height that had grown to such that he really had no idea how tall he really was. She turned back to look at him with her emerald eyes just a moment before Sonny caught himself studying her and turned back to his work stacking the wood.
She stood watching him for a second before turning back towards the house and then suddenly stopped. Spinning back on him, she said with an embarrassed tone, “I must have lost all of my senses. I did come out to speak with ya for a reason. Our Lem has returned and has given us some good news and some bad news. I imagine you might have interest in it as well.”
“Yes ma’am?” Sonny enquired as he kept up with his work.
“Well, I should like to tell ya over supper if you are free,” she added the last bit with a small laugh.
“Nothin’ else to do tonight,” Sonny answered half playing along.
“Good…then it’s settled. I will have Rose lay out one of my husband’s suits for ya on your bed. I think it should fit ya fine.” She looked at him a bit more and he stood to watch her watching him.
Frowning slightly she said, “And you simply must do somethin’ about that facial hair. I understand you have been without a chance to care for it, but it really is frightful. I’ll make sure she sends up a shaving kit as well.”
Sonny ran his hand over his face and realized how long his beard had grown. He never had to shave before leaving the farm. When did it start growing, he wondered? Funny that he had missed it.
“Of course, ma’am,” he acquiesced. “I apologize.”
“There’s no need for that. It is simply good southern etiquette to look your best at the table.”
She turned and walked away leaving him there to ponder what this was all about. But the curiosity was piqued and he wasted no time in washing up and preparing himself for the evening. When he went to shave, he looked at his face in the mirror and realized that it had been the first time he had seen himself in two years. Not while he was in Memphis, nor Richmond. Not even as he was taking care of General Jackson at Harper’s Ferry.
The beard covered his face and had grown fairly thick; making it difficult to shave off but with some effort he washed his face and saw that it was gone. Where was the boy’s face that he left behind in Missouri? But that thought brought back quite a few others that he preferred to keep silenced so he turned to the bed and dressed in a clean suit that Rose had left him. It fit mostly, though a little short in the arms. But when he turned to survey the full transformation, he was almost overcome by how different he looked. When he walked downstairs and into the dining room, he would get much the same reaction from Mrs. Butler.
“My!” she exclaimed. “Is this the man that showed up at this house earlier? It does not appear so.”
“Thank ya, ma’am,” he responded as his face grew flush.
“And I thoughts you looked the gentleman before,” Rose interrupted as she walked in the dining room with plates in her hand and began to set the table.
His face grew hotter still.
“I do apologize for not having things ready,” Mrs. Butler said as she rushed around adjusting where Rose had put down the plates. “I have spent the afternoon restin’ and just got myself together not ten minutes ago. And here the lights dim outside. I am afraid we shall have to eat by candle light.”
“Ain’t no problem, ma’am.”
“Isn’t, James…isn’t,” she corrected as she continued about her business. When she was finished, she gestured for Sonny to be seated to her right and she took the place at the head of the table.
“I hope you will enjoy what we have prepared. That is the good news I have to share. Lem returned with some tenderloin from Miss Betty’s and I have had Rose prepare it for us to enjoy. And I hope ya will. It’s more than any of us have had for months.”
Sonny nodded his head and looked around the room realizing that only two places were set.
“Lem and Rose ain’t…won’t be eatin’ with us?” he asked.
“Well, of course not,” she answered without a beat. “What a silly thing to say.”
Not quite knowing how to respond, Sonny changed course, “Well…about the bad news…what is it?”
“Oh, let’s just us enjoy our meal first. We shall speak of it later, if ya please. It is simply too ghastly I am afraid.”
So they set about eating the tenderloin Rose had prepared. Some green beans were served with it, though not many. Mrs. Butler was quite silent throughout the meal, other than to exclaim how divine everything was. She was most enthused to open a bottle of wine that she claimed she had been saving for ‘just such an occasion’ as she put it. Sonny thought it tasted fine, though nothing special. He would have preferred something with a bit more bite.
At one point, Mrs. Butler had pointed to the china, “My grandmothers, of course. Terribly old. I simply could not part with it. I imagine it would fetch quite the price had we tried, but I just could not.”
“No’m. I guess family things is somethin’ to holt onto,” was all Sonny could think to say.
“Yes,” she replied as she stared out into the night through the window and went back to eating in silence.
Soon after they completed the meal, Rose had come in to clear the dishes and Mrs. Butler had asked about some coffee.
“I do think it would be lovely to help our digestion, Rose. And perhaps a little of the Colonel’s brandy? Is there any left?”
“I’ll check on it, Miss,” Rose answered not in the least put out.
“I do love somethin’ after the meal to warm me. Such a delightful feelin’, don’t ya think?”
“Don’t know…I spect,” Sonny answered getting a little nervous. He had only had one small taste of such finery in his life and he was just as nervous now as he had been at the time. But this time, there was no Jackson to save him.
To try and change the subject, he brought up the bad news again. “Do ya think you could mention it now? The bad news?”
Her face turned down slightly and she stood and walked over to the window. “Yes, I suppose I shall.” She remained silent however for a few seconds longer. Eventually she turned and took her seat once more.
“It appears that Texas has decided that they no longer wish to remain part of our Confederacy. Can you believe it? What cowards must live there,” she said with disgust.
“Not surprisin’, Miss. I understood them to be out a sorts for a while now. Matter a time, I spect.”
“Really? I had no idea,” she responded with shock. “And my husband said they were such good shots. Such a shame.”
She stayed quiet for a minute or so and Sonny could tell that there was more she wished to tell. Rose came back in with the coffee and brandy and set it on the table for Mrs. Butler to pour, saving her from having to mention the rest just yet. She went about her matronly duty and then sat once more sipping on the brandy as the coffee steamed away untouched.
“There is more…I shudder to think of it.”
“Yes ma’am?” Sonny tried to coax it out of her.
“Lem tells me that there are Union ships in the Gulf of Mexico. Miss Betty…that’s my cousin, of course…she says that the talk is all of where they will land. Do they plan on taking on Texas as well? Or will it be even worse and see them take New Orleans finally…or even Mobile!?” she said with genuine horror. “Oh, I couldn’t bear it.”
“Near time for it to happen, I guess,” Sonny said more to himself than to her. “I would a figured they might already a done it. Only a matter of time now.”
Mrs. Butler’s face seemed near tears at these words and she stood again to walk back to the window. Sonny took the moment to drink some of the brandy and enjoyed to warmth it gave him.
“Guess that means your husband will be comin’ home soon, though,” he mentioned both to ease her pain and remind him of the potential danger.
She did not move or turn to look at him but only answered with a soft, “Yes…yes, I suppose he will.”
“Ain’t that a good thing?”
“Isn’t, James…and of course it is,” she said changing moods and returning to her seat once more with enough speed that the candles flickered slightly with the breeze.
“My husband shall be home soon with enough money to surely return this land to a place of beauty. Yes, that is true.” She sounded almost as if she were trying to convince herself.
“It’s been so hard since he has been away. So many days wonderin’ what we might have left to eat. Tryin’ to convince the slaves to stay. That horrible overseer Mr. Crabtree just disappeared one day and there was simply no way to stop them after that.”
She was off in the distance again and Sonny was hesitant to push but tried, “What about Rose…and Lem?”
“Oh…well, they have always been with me. Ever since Montgomery. I dreaded the move but it was an awfully good match…” she stopped and looked past Sonny. He started to turn to see what she might be looking at but then she continued, “I simply could not bear to be without dear Rose. Practically raised me, she did. My mother was insistent that I have someone to look after me as well. After all, I was only twenty-one. I had never been away from home.”
Sonny was growing more curious as she let slip this personal information but remained silent and let her speak.
“Yes, those days are gone now. Grown far older than my years, I am afraid. Why, just look at me. My hands…my hair…oh, the days have been so very harsh.”
Sonny almost wanted to laugh. He wondered if she had any idea what it was like for the soldiers fighting this war. Would they spend so much time caring about such things? He certainly had not…not until today at least.
“And that was only five years ago!” she said, almost in tears before she caught herself and changed the subject. “Listen to me prattling on such…please forgive me, sir. I meant this to be a joyous evening and look how I have spoiled it.”
“It’s been right nice, Mrs. Butler,” Sonny countered even though he knew the bad news far outweighed the good.
“Yes?” she asked. “Yes, I suppose it has. But now I have grown weary once more. Please forgive me, James. I simply must lie down. I hope you won’t consider me too terribly rude.”
Not knowing what else to say he simply stood and nodded his head. “If you are tired, then please do. I dare not keep ya.”
“Oh – nothing of the sort, sir. I have enjoyed our little conversation. I wish that I could keep at it. Perhaps another time…yes, that would be nice. Though I dare not think we should have such good fortune as this again,” she said gesturing towards the table and the kitchen. “It is rare these days to find such savory foods. But one can hope…” she drifted off again and slowly moved towards the door.
“Please have a pleasant evening, James. I shall speak to ya again when I am more rested.”
She walked from the room taking one of the candles, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
What a strange night, was his first.
But the food was good, was his second. He thought about venturing out to the kitchen house to see if Rose needed any help but instead decided to go sit on the front porch. He made it halfway there before deciding that he too could use some rest. He had worked hard over the last couple of days and it caught up with him quickly at night. He was sure he would have time to figure out what caused such strangeness later. Tonight he just wanted to enjoy the good food and not think too much on the rest. He suspected much the same about Mrs. Butler.
To be continued...
