Leaving Gee's Bend (8 page)

Wasn’t the worst thing in the world being all covered up with water. It was cold but heavy. Like being in bed with three quilts covering me from head to toe. I liked the way my arms and legs was floating like they didn’t have no weight to ’em at all.

Trouble was, my head wasn’t popping up to the top the way a piece of cork does on a fishing line. I didn’t have no idea what to do.

Just then my chest started to ache on the inside. I reckon that’s what made my legs start kicking and my arms start waving.

Slowly my body began to rise toward daylight. I kicked harder as the water seemed to get thinner, and my dress started to float up around my middle. Just when I thought my chest was gonna explode, my head popped out of the water and my mouth opened wide so I could drag in some fresh air.

I pushed my shoulders back and lifted my chin above the water. The ferry was getting smaller and smaller as it kept on going down the river. Was Willie Joe ever gonna be mad at me when he found out about the ferry getting loose and floating away!

But wasn’t no use in thinking about that. My legs was getting real tired, like they wasn’t gonna go much longer. I pointed myself toward the riverbank and paddled with my arms as fast as they would go.

Little by little, I moved toward the shore. Wasn’t much farther to go now. Just had to keep my arms and legs moving a little while longer.

In front of me a fallen tree stretched out from the riverbank like an arm reaching to catch me. If I could just get to that tree! Then I could pull myself out of the cold water that was making my muscles burn and my skin shiver.

I gave two more powerful kicks and stretched my fingers as far as they could go. But before I could grab hold of the fallen tree, the water started pulling me under. It was like two giant hands latched onto my legs and yanked me down under that tree.

I sputtered as my mouth went underwater before I was ready. I was so close to the shore. Why couldn’t I get out of the water?

My mind went dark except for Mama’s face. My legs pumped hard against the current. The river wanted to pull me under, but I wouldn’t let it. I was gonna get to Camden. I was gonna find Doc Nelson, and he was gonna save Mama’s life. Wasn’t nothing gonna stop me from getting to the other side.

I CAN’T SAY HOW IT HAPPENED, BUT NEXT THING I knew I had my arms wrapped around a tree trunk, and arm over arm I was hauling myself up. As soon as I felt solid ground under my feet, I fell in a heap same way Mama did the day Rose was born. My heart was thumping like it was gonna come right out of my chest, and I was shaking so bad I wasn’t sure I would ever stop. And wasn’t no telling where I was.

But none of that mattered. What mattered was that I was alive, and I had crossed over to the other side.

I don’t know how long it was I stayed in that same spot. When I rolled over from my belly to my back, the sun was high and the clouds had all disappeared.

Where in the world was I? I sat in a little patch of light, but all I could see around me was pine trees. Pine trees that looked just like the ones in Gee’s Bend. Except I knew they wasn’t.

I eased up to a sitting position and smoothed my hands across the front of my dress. The sun felt warm on my back, but my whole dress was soaked through and sticking to my skin. The front was streaked with orange mud, and the seam of my pocket was torn. Ain’t no amount of scrubbing that’ll get them orange stains out. But miracle of miracles, my needle and scraps of cloth was still there.

Mama, if this here needle can make it across the Alabama River, you can make it too. You can stop coughing and get out of that bed and get back to stitching quilts in the evenings.

I squeezed the water from the cloth pieces and spread them out on the sunny patch of pine straw to dry. I held the needle between my finger and thumb, gentle enough so as not to draw blood. Such a tiny little thing. But just the touch of it made me feel better. Like right between my fingers I was holding a piece of home.

I reckon it just takes a bit of time for the water to all the way drain out of your ears before your mind can start working straight again. Or could be I was just so glad to be out of that river I wasn’t thinking no more about what a hurry I was in. Because instead of jumping up and running my way back the direction I came from, I took the wet thread and put it right through the needle. Didn’t even have to lick it.

Then I knotted the thread with my fingers and moved the needle in and out of them calico pieces from Mama’s apron. They was looking good in my quilt, just like I thought they would.

I’d need a plain piece of cloth next. Some solid color to set off the calico. Because my mama didn’t like no busy quilt. She liked there to be order enough to it so it didn’t hurt your eyes when you looked at it.

That’s when I remembered my torn pocket. I set the cloth I was working onto the ground beside me and started picking at the seam with my fingers. Had to be real careful not to rip a hole in the dress. I sure didn’t want to waste no thread patching a silly old hole.

Soon as the pocket was free, I held it up against the work I’d already done. Perfect! Wouldn’t take me long to stitch it in, neither. Soon as I was done, I’d be on my way.

What was Mama doing this very second? Was she having one of them coughing spells? What about baby Rose and Etta Mae? Had Ruben told any of ’em yet about me going to Camden?

I sat there stitching and thinking till the sun was straight up in the sky. My dress was starting to dry and I didn’t feel nearly so waterlogged as I had before. I rolled my head from side to side to loosen my neck, then I smoothed the quilt against my legs, checking each seam. The quilt was big enough now to cover my lap, like a real colorful napkin. I know Mama would be proud of how fast I was getting it done.

Would Mama like the colors I picked? I tucked the needle into a tight seam and held the quilt up in the air to get a look from a different angle. Would she be mad about me taking them pieces from her apron? I turned the quilt in the air, looking at it this way and that. Soon I would run out of thread. Wasn’t but a few inches hanging down like the tail of a kite.

I lay back in the grass, the sun warm on my face. I closed my eyes and got a picture of Rose in my mind. Rose when she was brand-new, before I knew how bad things was with Mama.

My eyelids got heavy and my breathing got regular. Just one more minute, I thought, just need to rest one more minute, then I’ll start walking back toward Camden.

One minute turned to two. Two minutes turned to three. After not sleeping none the whole night and then fighting the river, I reckon my body couldn’t handle it no more.

While Mama lay there coughing and shaking, I slept. I slept like a baby. I slept like Rose.

 

 

It was a squirrel that woke me. A little bush-tailed squirrel rooting around in the straw for stray nuts to stuff in its mouth and carry home to its nest.

I saw the squirrel first, then the sun. It was starting to come down already, and I knew what that meant. Wasn’t much daylight left.

I jerked up, smacking my tongue against the roof of my mouth. It was dry and pasty-feeling, like biscuits before you bake ’em.

I scrambled to my feet. How could I have fallen to sleep? Etta Mae wouldn’t have done that. Or Ruben. I reckon if one of them had come with me, I’d be in Camden already.

I smoothed down my dress. It was wrinkled now, but at least it was nearly dry. If only my legs didn’t feel so wobbly. It was like my mind was awake but the rest of me was still trying to catch up.

I scooped up my quilting things and ground my teeth together as the muscles in my back and legs complained. Wasn’t no time for that now. Not with night coming on so fast.

Why did the days have to be so short in November? And me so far down the river. Was it five miles? Ten? The way the river moved, I just couldn’t be sure. The only thing certain was that there wasn’t no way I was gonna get back to Gee’s Bend by nightfall. No way at all.

I pushed air out through my nose the way Delilah does when she’s looking for more feed but there ain’t none in the bucket.

Could I even get to Camden before nightfall? I rubbed my hands against my bare arms. I sure didn’t want to sleep the night on the riverbank the way Etta Mae did. Not with that cool breeze blowing.

Beside me the river flowed with no worries whatsoever. Just moseyed right along.

That’s when it came to me. If I just stayed close to the river, I’d wind up where I was supposed to be. All I had to do was walk back the way I’d come and I would find Camden. I would find Camden and get Doc Nelson and then I’d bring him back to Gee’s Bend to help Mama.

Wasn’t nothing else for me to do except put one foot in front of the other. I reckon I walked five or six miles, right along the river. Didn’t take all that long because I was used to walking. On account there wasn’t a single motorcar in Gee’s Bend. We’d hitch Delilah up to a wagon sometimes, but that was for hauling cotton mostly. Not for folks to ride in.

The pine trees swayed above me as night moved in and the air got cooler. My nose and ears was so cold, I knew they’d start going numb if I didn’t find cover soon. Wasn’t nothing but trees far as I could see. But I knew from living in Gee’s Bend that the trees had to stop someplace. I just had to keep going and then there would be a cotton field or maybe a row of cabins.

Whatever energy I’d gotten from sleeping soon disappeared and was replaced by a gnawing in my belly. After all I’d been through that day, I needed food. Hadn’t had a bite to eat since breakfast.

First I tried to forget about it by running. Trouble was, running made my knees and shoulders ache. After just a few minutes, my whole body was complaining. You’d think I was falling to pieces. Didn’t help none that I was alone in a place I ain’t never been before.

I kicked through a pile of leaves. Looked like hickory, the way they was half yellow, half brown. I bet they was real pretty in sunlight. Wasn’t no pine trees alongside this part of the river. Just oak and hickory and elm, their branches nearly bare of leaves. Wouldn’t Daddy love to have some of that wood to put on the fire. I bet it’d last all night long.

Goose bumps popped up on my arms. What I wouldn’t give to be in front of a fire right now. Or under a quilt.

That’s when I remembered the quilt in my hands. I real quick unfolded it and rubbed it against my arms. Right away them goose bumps disappeared.

Mama, are you getting any better? Or just worse? All day I’ve been working to get some help for you. I wish I’d done better. I wish I could just snap my fingers and things would be just the way I want them to be.

I crossed my arms against my chest. I had to get to Doc Nelson. I had to get Mama some help before it was too late.

I had other worries too. What if Daddy was mad about me going to Camden? What if he was mad at Ruben? I sure didn’t want Ruben to get in no trouble. And what about the ferry? Folks in Gee’s Bend wouldn’t have no idea what happened to it. Or to me.

What if they was all worried about me? What if I never did make it to Camden and never made it home neither? What if I died, and Mama died, and Daddy had to raise Rose all alone?

A chill came across me, but I couldn’t hardly shiver, my arms and legs was so worn out. Seemed like even the calluses on my feet was aching. All of a sudden a picture came in my head of them high-heeled shoes. They might be hard to walk in to start with, but I reckon they’d keep all them little acorns from digging into my feet. My belly grumbled, and I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to go on much longer.

Next time I looked up at the sky, the sun was nearly gone. An owl called, and another one answered. I felt my belly sink about as low as it could get.

Then in the far-off distance I saw a light. It flashed, then was gone.

Was it lightning? Please, Lord, don’t let it be lightning. Don’t need another storm.

When the flash turned into a steady light, I knew it wasn’t no storm.

I reckon that’s when I forgot all about my plan to follow the river. Because soon as I saw that light shining like that, I turned and started walking toward it.

Wasn’t too long before the forest thinned out and I could see the stubble of a cotton field that had already been picked clean. As I eased into a run, all my aches and pains, the hunger, the tight muscles, all of it was forgotten. The cool air that had once made me shiver now made me feel like I was more alive than ever. My mind seemed clear and nimble as I made my way through the cotton field. Not once did my sore feet come down on one of them sharp cotton stalks.

By the time I was halfway across, I could tell where the light was coming from. It was a metal gate shining silver in the setting sun. Attached to the gate was a fence.

I grinned and wiped the sweat from my forehead with a corner of the quilt. Where there was a fence, there was cows. And where there was cows, someplace close by there had to be a barn.

WHEN I GOT TO THE GATE, I COULDN’T BELIEVE how wide it was. I reckon when it was opened it was big enough to drive two wagons through, side by side. But it was shut tight and locked with a chain and padlock.

The fence turned out to be four lines of barbed wire. The wire was tight and not a bit rusty, and the wood posts was free of rot. Wasn’t no way I could stretch those wires enough to slip through, and it was too tall for me to get over. I only had one choice, and that was to crawl underneath.

Careful to keep my head below the wire, I lay on my belly and pushed off with my toes. I half slid, half wiggled, pushing the quilt forward with one hand and grabbing tufts of pasture grass with the other. Didn’t want them barbs snagging my hair or dress. No telling how long it might take me to get untangled.

Soon as I was all clear, I dusted myself off and set off walking again.