Black Water

Black Water by Bobby Norman

Book: Black Water by Bobby Norman Read Free Book Online
Authors: Bobby Norman
Ads: Link
black eyes made him nervous, not seein’ ’em made him even more so.
    Cob sucked on the pipe and waited him out. Finally he got flustered enough and said, “She’s struck by lightnin’ ’fore she ‘scaped th’womb ‘n she’s blind in one eye, but other’n ‘at, they ain’t a good…God… Dang…THING wrong with ‘er. She’s a good girl, but I don’t know where ‘at’s any o’ yer business!”
    The dog started to rise. Cob put out her hand, and it settled back with one last low, growly, frustrated threat.
    “Who’s th’chile’s muthah?” she asked. It sounded like a casual question but it was actually much, much more than idle curiosity.
    “Little albino girl, kilt by th’same lightnin’ strike. Why?”
    Cob’s heart pounded wildly but she hid it well, her face concealed under the hat brim. “If you ‘n I c’n strike a deal,” she told him, calmly, “you come back in two days ‘n I’ll give ya th’med’cine.”
    “I don’t know if th’wife’s got two days,” he said, picturing what Pearl’d looked like when he left.
    “If she ain’t got two days left in ‘er…even I cain’t hep ‘er.” Then she lifted her head just enough to make eye contact, “But, until she crosses ovah, there’s a chance….” She trailed off, shrugging her bony shoulders.
    “You’d give it to me?” he asked, suspiciously, noting the change in her tone, “‘n what kind o’ deal? I awready tolja, I ain’t got no money ‘n no whiskey ‘n no likely way t’get ’em.”
    “Come back in two days...’n bring the girl with ya.”
    “The girl? Why’d I do that?”
    “If you ain’t no mo’ int’rested in gettin’ th’med’cine’n t’make me yell alla way ‘cross th’yawd, you c’n leave. But…if yoah intrested in workin’ somethin’ out, praps somethin’ ben’ficial t’us both…praps…. come closah ‘n I’ll tell ya how.”
    Roach blinked, swallowed hard, and looked at the distorted lump at her feet.
    She noticed and jabbed the dog’s rear with her big toe. “Git!”
    With the deformed mouth, the cur always looked like it was snarling, and Roach was sure, because of the way the thing looked at him, that its having to go to the trouble of getting up was Roach’s fault, it’d remember the intrusion…and it had a long memory. The monster chomped on the bone, picked it up, and hop-stepped hop-stepped hop-stepped off what it musta felt was distance enough, and with a laborious whump, plopped back on the dusty ground.
    Warily, keepin’ his eye on the nasty lookin’ thing, Roach moved closer…
     
    …and the witch made him an offer.
     

 
CHAPTER 7
     
    After kickin’ around all the why-he-shoulds and why-he-shouldn’ts about going back to the witch, Roach drug hisself out of bed and, by the feeble light of the coal oil lamp, fixed a bite to eat. After washin’ it down he wished he hadn’t. He worried more about Pearl’s condition ever time he fixed his own eats. Ever time he had to put on the same dirty pants. Ever time he had to traipse to the crick for a bucket of water. He stepped to Lootie’s little cot, pinched her big toe pushing up from her one thin blanket, and shook it. “Lootie, get up, but keep quiet, don’t wake yer mama.”
    Lootie mumbled something, sat up, bed-headed and groggy, knuckled her sleepy eyes, and looked out the window. “It’s still dark!”
    “I know that. We gotta start early if we wanna beat th’heat.” He pushed her on the shoulder. “Get up. We got a long way t’go.”
    She yawned, dropped her chin to her chest for just a second….
    “Hey!” Roach snapped the back of his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t go back t’sleep!”
    The shack was cold. Lootie scratched her head, crawled off the cot, pulled her nightgown up over her head, tossed it on the cot, picked up her dress, and shivered while she pulled it over her head and down. She wheeled around and sat down with her eyes closed, still half asleep, and put her socks and

Similar Books

L.A. Rotten

Jeff Klima

A Face Like Glass

Frances Hardinge

The Best of Enemies

Jen Lancaster

Who Am I and If So How Many?

Richard David Precht

Wallflower

William Bayer