My Children Are More Precious Than Gold (20 page)

“
Those quail must have
flew clean away from here, dad burn it,” complained Don. “I had a
hankeren fer em fer dinner now that we’s been talken about
it.”

“
What are we gonen to do
fer Bess’s birthday dinner? We were suppose to bring home quail to
eat,” worried Tom.

“
We’ll have to dress a
couple of chickens. That’s all we can do,” Sid replied. “It don’t
take long to catch and clean em.”

“
That’s all right, but ya
know em girls is goen to tease the heck out of us when we come home
empty handed,” grumbled Don.

“
Wait a minute! See that
flock of birds in that ole, snaggled tree over yonder?” Lue pointed
at the dead tree that sat alone in the middle of the pasture. An
idea was forming while he watched the birds perched on the
branches.

“
Sure I see em,” Sid
confirmed. “They’s jest pesky ole crows. They’s so noisy who could
miss em. What about em?”

“
Think ya could pick some
of em off?” Lue asked, his eyes sparkling.

“
I kin try,” Sid said,
“but why waste the shells on em old crows?”

“
I figured we kin skin em
crows and take em back fer the girls to cook. They can’t tease us
about comen home empty handed.” Lue grinned at the boys, proud of
his plan.

“
Crows fer dinner? Ugh!”
Don made a face at Lue.

“
Sure thing. Didn’t the
girls say they could fry anythin we shot?” asked Lue.

“
Yep, they did, but I
don’t think they had crows in mind,” declared Sid.

“
Em sisters of ours won’t
know the difference between crows and quail if we clean the birds
afore we take em home,” Lue reasoned. “See if ya can hit some of
em, Sid.”

“
Go ahead and see if ya
can hit em crows,” Don egged beginning to take to Lou’s plan to
play a trick on the girls.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Six of the large, black crows tumbled
from the tree and the rest rose straight up, cawing loudly in
fright. High above the tree, the crows hovered flying in a circle,
hating to leave but sensing danger if they stayed.

“
Good shooten, Sid,” Lue
complimented as the boys ran under the tree to pick up the dead
birds. Watching the rest of the flock circle high overhead, Lue
said, “Boys, lets back up and see ifen em crows light in this ole
tree again. We don’t have enough here fer a mess yet. We want
enough crows to make it look like we had really good luck
hunten.”

The brothers sat down in the grass
within in rifle range but just far enough away that the frightened
crows would come back to the tree. They quietly watched. Finally,
the crows descended and lit in the tree.

“
All right, Sid, shoot
now!” Lue commanded softly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three more crows fell to the ground.
The rest of the birds protested loudly, rising up and circled once
over the tree, then they flew away.

“
Em birds is gone this
time fer good. Anyways its getten time to head fer home,” Lue said
as he looked at the position of the sun high overhead. “Let’s skin
the crows we got and get goen. Pap and the girls will be home from
church soon. Not a word mind ya that these birds are crows,” Lue
warned, looking hard at Dillard.

Understanding the meaning of Lue’s
look, Dillard made a face at him, and asked, “But are they’s good
to eat?”

“
I’ve heard tell of folks
eaten em,” Lue said to Dillard, hoping to ease his mind enough that
he wouldn’t get them in trouble when they got home. “They’s jest
not as tasty as quail is all. Anyways we’ll dress a couple fryers,
and we kin eat em instead of the crows. That suit ya,
Dillard?”

“
I reckon,” Dillard
nodded, satisfied that Lue knew what he was doing, and besides he
liked fried chicken so no need to worry about eating the
crows.

Jacob and the girls were coming back
from church when the boys came over the pasture hill. Jacob cupped
his hands around his mouth and yelled, “Have any luck?”

“
We got nine birds, but we
better dress a couple fryers soen there’s plenty,” Lue called
back.

Lue and Sid held the crows close to
their far side while they approached Jacob so he couldn’t get a
good look at them.

“
I’ll go catch the
chickens,” Jacob offered. “Ya boys get em quail in the house soens
the girls can start fryen em.”

By the time Jacob came into the
kitchen carrying two featherless, gutted, plump, yellow skinned
chickens, the girls had the frying pans full of flour coated small
birds sizzling in hot lard on the wood cookstove.

Jacob laid the chickens on the work
counter for the girls to wash and cut up then he joined his sons on
the porch to wait while the girls cooked dinner. Jacob had just sat
down on the edge of the porch and dangled his legs over the side
when Tom noticed a buggy coming down the lane toward
them.

“
Look, Pap. We got company
comen.”

“
Who would that be right
at mealtime?” growled Lue.

“
Now, now, younguns, don’t
get excited. It’s jest Preacher Irby and his misses. We invited em
fer dinner since it’s a special day for Bess and all.”

With his eyebrows arched,
Sid glared at Lue, elbowing him hard in the ribs. With clinched
teeth, Sid muttered, “What about the
quail
?”

Overhearing, Jacob answered, “Oh, the
girls are doen a tolerable job of cooken now. There will be plenty
of meat to go around with the fried chicken, too. Don’t ya all
worry none, boys. Ya’ll get yer share of the vitals.”

“
Sure, Pap,” Sid agreed
lightly while he glared at Lue. “Us boys could eat the
quail
soens the company
kin eat that good chicken the girls are frying up. Right,
Lue?”

Lue gave a slight nod in agreement.
When Pap wasn’t looking he mouthed the words to Sid, “It’ll be all
right.” But somehow the desperate look on Lou’s face as he ran his
fingers through his hair didn’t make Sid or the other boys feel any
better.

By the time, everyone made it through
the line to wash their hands, the girls had the bowls and platters
of steaming food on the table between the plates. The three young
cooks stood proudly waiting for everyone to get seated.

“
These young women are
taken after their maw with their cooken. Looks like a right good
feast, don’t it, Sara?” Preacher Irby boomed to his wife as he
hungerily surveyed the food. “Let’s say grace over this tasty
looken meal and dig in. I cain’t wait to sink my teeth into this
here platter of fresh quail sitten by me.”

Sid, Don, Tom and Dillard looked at
each other. Then all the brothers looked at Lue with helpless
expressions of dread before they all bowed their heads and joined
hands. Lue had to come up with a plan fast, but first he prayed for
one of Preacher Irby’s lengthy blessings.

Making sure all the rest
of the family had their heads bowed, he elbowed Sid, and with that
familiar glint in his eyes, he carefully slipped the platter
of
quail
off the
table and handed it to Sid who passed it to Don. Don pointed to a
spot by Bess then gave the platter to Tom who set it down beside
his sister’s plate. Lue pointed at the fried chicken and crooked
his finger at Tom. He picked the platter up and passed it back.
When it got to Lue, he gently set the platter down by the
preacher’s elbow, then grinned at the other boys, confident that he
had solved their problem. The girls would get the crow meat. Lue,
knowing the preacher’s appetite, figured he’d fill up on whatever
was close.

“
Amen!” Preacher Irby
boomed with gusto as he ended the blessing. He raised his head and
eyed the chicken platter with a look of confusion. “Ah, I thought I
had a platter of quail sitten beside me. I reckon I was mistaken.
This is fried chicken. As good as it looks, I believe I’ll pass
this here platter and wait fer the quail to get to me.” He picked
up the platter to hand it to Lue.

“
Oh, but sir, ya should go
ahead and try that good fried chicken,” Lue urged. “The girls did a
fine job of fryen it fer ya cause they knew it was yer
favorite.”

“
Right.” Don agreed,
continuing, “That chicken looks right good and from the looks of
things they overcooked the quail.”

“
What do ya mean ------,”
Veder bristled in defense of the girls, looking at Jacob for help
to defend their cooking. He shook his head vigorously to keep her
from arguing in front of company.

“
Well, it’s jest that I
had my mouth set on that fresh quail,” the preacher interrupted,
“Cause its been a good spell since I et quail. Thank ye anyway,
Lue, but I’ll wait fer the quail so pass this chicken on,
please.”

Jacob looked sternly at Lue. “Take the
chicken platter, Lue. Girls, pass the quail platter around. Company
should be served first. Enjoy yer meal, Preacher.”

Jacob saw the worried looks that
passed between the boys. He realized they must be up to something,
but he couldn’t figure out what it was. He accepted the quail
platter and handed it to Mrs. Irby who set it down by the preacher.
Forking two piece of quail onto his plate, the preacher munched on
one. Out of the corner of their eyes, the boys watched
apprehensively while they nibbled on pieces of fried
chicken.

“
Somethin I’m wonderen
about this here quail,” the preacher boomed, licking his
lips.

The boys stiffened in their
chairs.

“
What’s that, sir?”
squeaked Lue.

“
Seems like these quail
have awful puny breasts,” the preacher surmised, smacking his lips
while he inspected the piece of meat on his plate. “I’m wondering
if these birds were a late spring hatch by any chance?”

“
Yep, that’s right!” Lue
replied, relieved that the preacher had supplied his own
answer.

“
They’s a real late
hatch,” agreed Tom.

“
Yep, they must have
been,” Don added to seal the fact.

“
That’s what I figured.”
Content with his answer, the preacher continued to eat.

Jacob noticed the boys relax even more
as they watched everyone else busy eating. He wondered what they
were up to, but he knew from experience he shouldn’t ask anything
in front of company, especially the preacher. Preacher Irby was
known for carrying tales on to other members of his congregation.
Jacob made a mental note to talk to his sons later.

Daisy didn’t show up at milking time
that evening so Jacob walked up the pasture hill to find her while
the boys did the other chores. Not far from the snaggled tree,
Jacob walked over a large pile of blue-black feathers. Empty gold
shell casings glinted in the grass.

Caw! Caw! Upset at the man’s approach,
the nervous crows warned each other and fidgeted on the tree
branches. Jacob looked up at the noisy birds then down at the pile
of feathers on the ground. Then he knew what had taken place. No
wonder the boys had chicken on their plates for dinner, and they
didn’t want the preacher to eat any of the quail. Everyone but the
boys must have eaten crow thinking it was quail. Jacob couldn’t
help but grin at this boyish prank. He figured they didn’t want to
come home empty handed so they shot a few crows and cleaned them
right there.

Jacob smiled as he thought
about how the boys had squirmed at the table, afraid they were
going to get caught in the deception. It served them right for
trying to pass crows off as quail. It would be a shame to let those
ornery boys get away with what they did, but Nannie didn’t need to
be upset right then. If she knew what the boys did it would rile
her something furious to think the preacher had been fed crow at
her table. Not to mention that it would be hard to keep the girls
from giving the boys a good going over if anything was said around
them.
Some things are best left untold at
least for right now
, Jacob decided,
chuckling to himself.

Chapter 18

The Loss Of A
Baby

“
Nannie,” Jacob called
softly from the bedroom door. “Genon Mitts is here to see
ya.”

“
Come on in, Genon,”
Nannie greeted, struggling to sit up in the hole her body had
formed in the soft feather mattress.

“
Hey, Nannie,” Genon
answered. “Jest lay still. I’m maken my rounds. Thought I’d jest
stop and seed how yer feelen.” Genon removed her faded blue demin
jacket covered with patches of brightly colored material and tossed
it on the foot of the bed. She eased herself down beside
Nannie.

“
I feel like a bloated
cow. That’s how I feel,” Nannie grumbled, rubbing her stomach with
fingers that Genon noted were swollen.

“
Hee, hee. Always the
honest one, ain’t ya? Has Doc. Beanpole been here to see ya
lately?” Genon inquired, pushing her slouch hat back on her
head.

Nannie ignored Genon’s feigned sarcasm
about the doctor. “Nope, I figured ya could handle this birthen
jest as good as Doc. Jensen. No need to bother him,” Nannie
insisted with emphasis on the doctor’s name.