The Saints of Swallow Hill(63)

On her fourth morning at the Riddles, Rae Lynn offered her first words on her own. It felt good to use her natural voice.

“Kin you smell that?” she asked Cornelia.

Even to her ears, her tone sounded soft, not bearing the odd gruffness that was Ray Cobb.

Cornelia turned her head, sniffing the air. She immediately dragged the chamber pot out from under the bed to look at it. It was empty.

“I thought I forgot to empty it. It ain’t got nothing in it.”

“It’s . . . not that. It’s . . . different. Like what I smelled in the . . .”

Cornelia’s expression was bewildered. “I only smell them sausage biscuits we had for breakfast. Which you didn’t eat much of.”

Rae Lynn dropped her eyes, feeling her face grow warm. “I reckon it’s here.”

She pointed at her head.

Cornelia spoke with a soft voice. “Well, now. You don’t worry none. With all the bad you been through? It ain’t no wonder. You just wait. You gonna get better and all of that will be gone one of these days.”

She went out, and within minutes she was back with a couple vases filled with pale-yellow flowers clustered among shiny green leaves. She set one by the bed and the other on the windowsill, which stayed open, allowing in any breeze that might come.

“Smell that?”

Rae Lynn could.

“Honeysuckle’s one of my favorites.”

Cornelia said, “Mine too.”

Rae Lynn didn’t tell her the sweet aroma mingled with that other odor that seemed very real to her. She didn’t understand why it lingered so strong in her mind. The box held on to those who’d been there before her, the bits and pieces of them, their distress, their frantic will to live. She understood it, had felt it too. She was sure she’d left some part of herself there as well. Not just the blood from in between her legs, or the sweat that had poured off of her. Not just them physical things. Some other part of her had broke off and got left behind, even as she was lifted from out of it, saved by a man named Del Reese. This was punishment for what she’d done.

The fifth morning, Cornelia came in smiling, ready to start the day, but this time, she had him with her. Rae Lynn immediately pulled the sheet to her chin and stared toward the foot of the bed.

He said, “Morning.”

She felt at a disadvantage, still in bed and all. She dipped her head in greeting, barely.

He said, “I come up with this idea. Won’t take but a second.”

He went to work, fashioning a pull cord using some twine. He tied it first to her bedpost, and with him being so close made her lean the other way. He dropped the ball of twine out the window and went out. Rae Lynn next saw him holding the twine spool on his thumb letting it run out as he walked toward the commissary, where he set it on the window, a distance of about fifty feet. She leaned forward to watch, and in a few seconds he was inside the commissary and at the window, picking it up. He waved, and she sat back quick. She watched the string move, tighten a bit, and a minute later, Cornelia came into the room smiling.

She said, “He looped the other end over a hook and it’s got a bell hung off it. I’m going back over there, and when I wave to you out the window yonder, you pull on your end here.”

Rae Lynn said, “Okay.”

When Cornelia was at the window of the commissary waving like Del Reese had done, Rae Lynn reached up and gave the string a light tug. In the quiet of the morning, she could hear a faint tinny ding, ding. She watched Cornelia hurry back across the yard, and Otis stomping along right after her. Rae Lynn thought, Uh-oh.

Cornelia rushed into the room and said, “It worked perfect.”

Otis came barreling in seconds later.

He said, “What the hell’s that for?”

He pointed at the twine looped around the bedpost.

She said, “It’s in case she needs me.”

Otis said, “Woman. Is you crazy? You can’t be at her beck and call, answering to a damn bell while you’re working. You got to get your priorities straight.”

“Otis honey, it’s only if something urgent comes up.”

“Like what?”

Cornelia glanced at Rae Lynn, her face going pink.

“Woman things, Otis.”

“Aw, hell. I ain’t needin’ to hear about that.”

He went back out, but not before yelling at them. “Ain’t nothing more urgent than her getting out of bed and earning her keep. I’m keeping tabs on what she’s costing me.”

“She ain’t hardly had a chance to yet!”

“I don’t wanna hear no back talk!”

“Yes, honey.”

“She better get right, or she can get out.”

“Yes, honey.”

He went out, slamming the door behind him. Cornelia faced Rae Lynn, who sat in the bed looking like a child about to cry, rubbing on the little nub of finger, over and over. Cornelia sat with her and leaned forward, patting her hand.

“Aw, now, shug. Don’t you let him upset you. His bark’s always been worser’n his bite. He got it from his own daddy, who acted like a tetchy old mule most days.”

Rae Lynn reached out and lightly touched Cornelia’s arm, where three round, puckered scars were visible.

“That bite a his seems right ferocious to me.”