(THE LONESOME STRANGERS BIRTH)
THE SOUNDTRACK FOR THIS PART OF OUR TALE…
http://www.youtube.com/
He awakens to find himself lying in a field of flowers.
One of them is right in front of his eyes and he watches the ant that walks on the stem… sees his antennae move.
He pushes himself up and looks around and sees the bodies that dot the ground around him. They lie motionless and the air is quiet. He stands and wobbles a little bit and he puts his hand to the aching on his head and it comes away bloody.
He starts to walk and he sees a familiar pattern. He hurries to it and drops to his knees as he turns the form over and sees the smaller form under it.
He cradles her head and looks to the sky as he implores of his god. The sun blazes but to him it is as cold as winter. His heart pumps chilled blood.
He picks up the small lump and turns it over and his sons face is dirty and he brushes the dirt away and cradles his face in the babies neck to smell him. That is when the small child stirs. His eyes open and he smiles at the face of his father. The man is elated and his tears streak his face and that of the child. He looks around and sees the overturned wagon and he walks to it and grabs a shovel and ties his child to his back like he has seen his woman do time and time again.
He begins to dig and the sun traverses the sky as he digs deeper and deeper. He finishes and he carries her to the grave and he gets in first and gently he lies her in place. He climbs out and he brings his son to see his mother one last time. The baby cries and reaches out his hand but his father tells him to stop crying. There is no time for that. He covers her with dirt and turns and grabs a few things from the wagon. He uses sheets and blankets to make a tent and he climbs in and goes to sleep with the baby beside him.
The next morning he starts to walk back the way he came and he gives the baby water but the baby soon starts to cry he needs milk. When he has walked for about 7 hours he sees the town that they passed yesterday and he enters it and makes his way to the saloon where he saw the black woman yesterday.
He walks in and it is empty except for the man who owns the place and her. The man looks at him and he runs from behind the counter. “What do you want boy?” He asks as he looks around frantically. “I want to speak to her.” The man says as he slings his son from his back to his front. The black woman comes over and says “What do you want with me?” “Ma’am my wife was killed and my son needs milk. Do you know anyone who can help me?” The woman looks at him and she tells the white man to go and get the sheriff. He leaves and she pulls open her blouse and takes out her breast and it is full.
There is no time for him to question this because the doors swing open and the sheriff bursts in. He walks to where they are and when his books stop all that seems to be heard is the suckling of the hungry baby. He listens as the man tells his story. About how the people who he was going west with were all killed. He tells of the white men who robbed them and the white man seems concerned.
If they would rob niggers they would rob white folks. He asks the barman to find him somewhere to stay and the woman speaks up. He can stay with me. The two white men look at each other and there is something unsaid between them.
The dazed man walks with her to her house and she pumps water from the well and he takes off his clothes behind the hanging sheet and sits down in the water as his son sleeps on the other side of the makeshift curtain. The woman is cooking and as smells begin to fill the small house she tells him her tale. How she was headed west when her husband died suddenly and she was just married and pregnant.
She told him how she had had the baby and how it had gotten the fever and died just 5 months ago. She worked at the saloon cleaning the bar and the rooms. When the man eats he is sleepy and she makes him a pallet on the floor and he falls asleep she sits in the chair as she watches him. He thrashes in his sleep and she climbs under the covers with him and he sleeps soundly for the rest of the night.
The next morning he wakes and sees her beside him and he gets up and picks up his son and walks out on the porch and he sits in the rocking chair and rocks as he starts to think. Soon she awakes and walks out on the porch and takes the baby from his arms and feed him. She finishes and asks him “Will you be here when I get back. He nods his head yes and she leaves after cooking breakfast.
When she returns later to feed the baby he is still there.
IF YOU WANT THIS ONE FINISHED JUST LET ME KNOW…
JERALD HAMZAHFARUQ MURPHY
No comments:
Post a Comment