Strawberry Girl (8 page)

"I heard tell hit's unlucky not to buy one," admitted Mrs. Slater.

"Wal--read it then," said Boyer. "Hit says somethin' about lovin' your neighbor." He picked up the reins and drove off.

Things were pretty quiet for the rest of the winter.

"I wisht them cows would never come back," said Mrs. Boyer, "so we might could go on livin' peaceable."

"So do I, Ma," said Birdie.

But they were not to have their wish. The return of the cattle from Lake Weller in the spring stirred up immediate trouble.

Things began to happen fast. It began with the spotted heifer calf.

Buzz and the Slater boys, Gus, Joe and Shoestring, went on the cow hunt to bring the cattle back. They were gone ten days, rounding up the cows that had strayed. One of the Boyers' cows could not be found. After several days they located her several miles away from the others. She had a pretty spotted heifer calf.

When the boys got back, the Boyers all came out to see the calves.

"We got to brand 'em right away," Pa said, "before anybody gets their hands on 'em."

Pa felt good to see so many. He tossed Bunny up in the air.

"The spotted calf belongs to Bunny," he said. "Can’t start too young to make a cowman out of him. Time the boy's growed, he'll have a herd of his own."

Pa's brand was the double B brand: BE for Bihu Boyer. He created a new one For Bunny; the diamond B. The first time he went to town, he had a branding iron made at the blacksmith shop, with the new mark on it. On the day of the branding, he made a fire of lightwood knots in the barnyard, and put the branding irons in to heat.

Buzz and Dan had fenced the calves away from their mothers, in one of the cowpens. Now they brought them out one at a time. Joe Slater came over to help. Birdie and Dovey hung over the fence to watch.

The men took one calf at a time. Joe threw it to the ground, Buzz put his knee on the calf's neck, then Joe and Dan held its feet. Pa took the red hot iron from the fire and pressed it firmly on the calf's hip, just long enough to make the mark. The burned hair and flesh smoked and smelled, while the calf blatted piteously It made Birdie feel sick. She turned to go into the house. Then she heard Pa calling for the spotted calf, the one that was to be Bunny's. She waited to see what the new marking brand would look like.

Buzz and Dan had not seen the calf since they penned the others up. Joe Slater insisted he didn't even know they had a spotted heifer. Pa looked at Joe suspiciously and wondered why he was so sure about it.

Birdie and Dovey went to look for the calf- it was nor in the pen or the crib. They looked in the pasture and the fields. but could not find it anywhere. The mother cow set up a noisy bawling.

Buzz decided to go on a cow hunt. He got the horse out, and rode through the woods and scrub, hunting for the calf. He took the hunting dogs along to trail it, in case it had been carried off by some wild beast. It was late that night when he returned.

"I ain't seen hide nor hair of that calf," he said grimly. "It ain't been killed. Somebody's takened it. That's shore." Pa frowned.

The loss of a heifer calf was serious. "Remember what Joe said!" asked Buzz. "Said he didn't even know we had a spotted heifer!"

"Now lest why did Joe say that!" asked Pa.

It was Birdie who answered his question.

She came tearing home the next day, running as fast as the wind.

"What's after you, gal young un!" demanded Pa, smiling. "Bear! Wildcat! Alligator! Must be somethin' fierce to make you run so fast!"

"Pal Pa!" Birdie stopped to catch breath. "Pa, I saw the spotted heifer calf! Hit's got Slaters' markin' brand on it, the circle S!

Like this!" She leaned over and drew the mark in the sand with her finger: 0. "And Essie done told me their mother cow's got two calves. I seen 'em both, and they ain't twins. T'other calf's a head taller'n the spotted one."

Pa's lips closed in a tight line.

"Sugar, how did you happen to see all this!" he asked. All the family crowded round to hear Birdie's answer.

"Ma sent me over to the Slaters'," said she, "to ask could I bring back the clothespins Mrs. Slater borrowed. There warn't nobody in their house. They was all out back, where the men was brandin' calves. I didn't want to see no more brandin', so when I see the little girls playin' near the shelter back o' the house, I went over and asked 'em could I take back Ma's clothespins. They was still mad, count of you whopped Shoe- string, but they talked to me anyhow.

"Right there in the shelter, I see our spotted heifer calf and t’other one. Essie done role me the mother cow had got two calves. And Zephy explained. She said her I)a penned the first calf up and turned its mother loose for a few days. When the mother cow come back home, she had another calf with her--the spotted one. Now she's got two! And they both got Slaters'

markin' brand on 'em."

"What did you do then!" asked Pa.

"I found the clothespins on the back porch and I was jest startin' for home when Shoestring seen me. He ain't spoke to me since you whopped him, Pa. 'What you doin',' he says. 'Stealin' clothespins!' 'They're my Ma's,' says I, 'and my Ma said your Ma had kept 'em long enough and for me to go fetch 'em back.' He said, 'You jest better leave our clothespins alone! You're always meddlin' in other folkses' business.' I says, 'Well, I dent steal things like you Slaters do!'

"'What do we steal!' asks Shoestring and I says, 'Bunny's spotted heifer and you know it. You penned her own calf away from that mother cow so she'd go out and find another and she brung in our spotted heifer and your Pa branded it with your markin'

brand, but hit's our'n, hit's Bunny's!' I says. 'You stoled it!"'

Birdie stopped, flushed with anger.

"Sugar," said Pa quietly, "hit war a waste o' breath to say all that to the boy. What'd he answer!"

"He said the calf belonged to their cow and not to Bunny," said Birdie. "He called me a liar. He chunked pine knots at me all the way home."

"Honey, he might a hit ye and hurted ye," said Pa. "Hit don't pay to sass them Slater folks."

"I dent care noways at all," said Birdie. "That calf's Bunny's."

Pa looked very serious. He did not speak.

"Can he keep Bunny's calf," asked Birdie, "now he's put the Slater brand on it!"

"I reckon so," said Pa quietly. "Can't nobody go changin' brands without landin' in jail."

As if things were not bad enough already, the Slater hogs began to come round again. They were tame enough now. They came to the back door sniffing for slops and Birdie had to drag them away and put them outside the fence. Perhaps Shoestring had stopped feeding them and they had resumed their wild ways. They could get under any fence in the world and they began to root up crops in the Boyers' fields.

A night came when the air was filled with squealing and whacking. Birdie woke to hear it and shivered with dread. The hogs were inside the fence, and this time Pa was good and angry because of the loss of the heifer calf. This time, Birdie knew, Pa would do more than mark a hog's ears and send it home for a warning.

Birdie ducked under the covers to shut the sounds out. Even then she could hear, so she put her fingers in her ears. Silence came at last, and she fell asleep. In the morning, she woke early, thinking she heard footsteps on the porch. She came out in the early dawn.

There were Essie and Zephy Slater scuttling down the steps like scared rabbits and running towards the palmetto bushes.

"What you-all doin' here!" cried Birdie. She ran after them, and grabbed them by the arms. "What you been doin' on our porch so early in the mornin'? Why, it ain't even light yet!"

"We can't tell ..." wailed Essie.

"Hit's a secret," added Zephy.

Essie's eyes were red and Zephy began to cry.

"What you-all cryin' for!" repeated Birdie. "You-all come tell me." She dragged them back to the porch steps.

"Pa's fightin' mad at you-uns," said Essie.

"What for?" Birdie's heart began to pound.

"They're dead," said Zephy.

"What are?" asked Birdie patiently. "The two calves! The spotted heifer and t'other one!"

"No," said Essie. "Three hogs."

"They got our mark in the ears, so they're our’n,'' added Zephy.

"Pa found 'em dead on our front porch," said Essie, "when he got up this mornin'."

Birdie gasped. Now she knew how angry her father must have been last night. Pa had killed three of Slater's hogs, the way he said he would. All because of the spotted calf.

"There!" Essie pointed to a folded paper which she had tucked under the front door. "That's what we come for--Pa made us bring it."

Birdie picked it up with trembling fingers.

Like pale shadows, the little girls scuttled off and disappeared in the clump of palmetto bushes, which was the short cut between the two homes. Birdie looked down at the paper in her hand. She opened it. It was written in Gus's uncertain handwriting, but the meaning of the words was plain. The note said: Will git you yet iffen we got to burn you out! There was no name signed to it.

Another cowardly note. Sam Slater was afraid to face her father. Should she tear it to bits like the former one! No, this time she did not dare. Sam Slater was really angry this time. He would not let things slide as he did before. Her father must know.

She folded the note carefully. She found her father at the pump on the back porch. She waited till he dried his face and hands on the roller towel. She studied his face while he read the note, and she saw it turn grave.

"Pa . ." she began uncertainly, "do youest love a ruckus, like Ma said!"

"Now, sugar," he said, tipping up her chin, "don't you get worried, a weensy gal like you, no bigger'n a hummin' bird. Don't you know your Pa can take care of this!"

"He'll git his shotgun, Pa ..."

Pa laughed. "Want to go to town with me today!" he asked. "We mustn't forget our strawberries. And there's two to three barrels of oranges Buzz picked. Got to ship 'em to them Yankees up north."

"But you jest purely can't go away and leave things today, Pa," said Birdie. "Something might could happen."

"No harm in broad daylight," said Pa. "Cowards like him only work at night."

Birdie tried to feel comforted, but she could not get over her uneasiness. She was glad to have the chance to go to town.

There were not many strawberries to pick that morning, as the end of the season was at hand. The oranges had been packed the day before. Pa was in a hurry to start, so Birdie went just as she was--with her feet bare, and her sun- bonnet.

Pa said it was not worth taking half a crate of strawberries to the depot for shipping. So Birdie stood at the corner by the square and sold them to passers-by. When she saw Miss Liddy coming, she wished she had put on her shoes and stockings and worn her Sunday hat.

"Oh, here's the Strawberry Girl!" said Miss Liddy. She bought two quarts. "Where's your wagon and your bell? I thought you were going to ride around like old Janey Pokes!"

"Pa said standin' at the corner was better, ma'am." Birdie smiled. It was always nice to see Miss Liddy.

"Any more fence cutting out your way!" inquired Miss Liddy.

"No ma'am," said Birdie.

"Fighting never settles anything," said Miss Liddy.

"That's what Ma always says."

"I'm glad your father and Mr. Slater have come to their senses and are good friends again," said Miss Liddy.

"Yes ma'am," said Birdie.

"I felt sure a fine man like your father would be a good influence on poor Mr. Slater," said Miss Liddy.

"Yes ma'am," said Birdie.

Birdie wondered what Miss Liddy would think if she knew that Pa had killed three of Slater's hogs the night before. She wondered if Slater were in town, and if he and Pa would meet somewhere and fight again. She wondered if Slater would beat the starch out of Pa this time. No--Pa was bigger and stronger. But Miss Liddy was right--fighting never settled anything.

A woman stopped and Birdie had to think about straw- berries again. Other people passed and most of them bought. They all called her Strawberry Girl and said the berries were extra good for so late in the season.

Pa came just as she was selling the last quart. She did not have to wait for him. He did not have a black eye, so she guessed he had not been fighting. Slater must have stayed at home today. Had he made trouble there!

When they got home, the first thing they saw was that Ma had not plowed up the strawberry rows after all. She had said she would do the plowing and keep an eye on the place.

They went in the kitchen and supper was not ready. Dixie was just peeling the potatoes. There sat Ma on a chair doing nothing. She had her apron lifted up to her face and she was crying in it. Dovey and Bunny were crying too.

Birdie had never seen Ma cry before, so she knew something dreadful had happened. "What's the matter, wife!" Pa put his hand on her shoulder and spoke kindly.

"Let's go back home to Caroliny." sobbed Ma. "We cant never live peaceable here in Floridy, where there's sich goin’s on…."

"What happened?" asked Pa. "Has ...'·

"Semina's dead!" announced Ma.

"Now we ain't got nary mule," said Dovey.

"I found her lyin' dead out in the pasture," said Dan. "I poked her with a stick but she wouldn't move."

"Poor Seminal" said Pa. "Her balkin' days are over. Wal- she was bound to die sometime. Can't expect a mule to live forever.

"

Ma dropped her apron and stood up. "Slater done it," she said.

"You shore!" asked Pa, frowning.

"Dan and I went out to the pasture to git her for the plowin'," explained Ma, "and I found little piles of feed out there, covered with Paris green. Semina et some of it and hit killed her. She was poisoned. I saw Slater hangin' over the fence. He yelled out:

'Poison.' I thought he was talkin' about the flour I put on the strawberry plants that time to scare off his cows. I didn't know what he meant till I found Paris green all over pore Semina’s mouth."

"In broad daylight!" exclaimed Pa. "He's a worse skunk than I thought."

"Oh, why did you kill them hogs!" cried Ma. "As long as you go on payin' him back, we'll never be able to live peace- able. It will jest be one ruckus after another. He can always think of somethin' worse to do."