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  Dobey replied, “We’re on a scout. Heading for Tupelo. May have taken a wrong turn back over that hill. Don’t mean no trouble.”

  Jimmy stared at her, nodding agreement.

  She eased onto the porch but her right hand remained inside the door. She wasn’t pretty, nor was she ugly. Taller than average, full-bodied but not fat. Maybe forty-five, maybe even fifty years old. Clean. Wrinkled, but clean, with a nice smile. Maybe strained.

  Another woman came from behind the house, first wiping her hands on her apron, then shielding her eyes to stare at men with some obvious apprehension. “Thought I heard talkin’,” she smiled nervously.

  “Why’nt you come up on the porch, Bobby Sue?”

  Bobby Sue eased up the side steps onto the porch, into the shade. As she dropped her hands back to her apron, the men briefly studied her. Small, five foot–two, maybe forty years old. Tanned, wrinkled some too, but pretty.

  The older woman pulled a double-barreled cap-and-ball pistol from her apron, and handed it to Bobby Sue, then brought out an old single barrel ten-gauge fowler from inside the door.

  “Easy, now. Easy.” This from Jimmy.

  “We don’t mean to be rude, but we don’t have much left to share. Both sides been through here, taking whatever they wanted.”

  Dobey gave them his best smile, hands raised as if in surrender. “We’d appreciate not being shot at any more. War’s over, at least for us, and we’re just trying to get home. My momma needs help back there, with her store. Look, if you can’t share food, we can. Maybe y’all could cook it, and maybe we could clean up and let these clothes dry some.”

  Jimmy had hardly taken his eyes off the older woman, and she stared back. Now she made up her mind, and said, “Well, then. Welcome to Four Oaks. I’m Janey Green, and this here’s my sister-in-law, Roberta Susan Peterson.”

  Once the introductions were completed, Janey told them to unsaddle and rest the horses in the stable, out of the sun. Bobby Sue got them some grain, all the while cutting glances at Dobey. “What y’all got to share?” she quizzed him.

  “Well, how many we need to feed? Your men coming back for noon meal, or they already eaten?”

  “We got no men,” she said, her smile gone. “Mine was a colonel, in the artillery. Said it was safer. One of his guns blew up, over near Atlanta. Got him, and two cousins.”

  “Judas Priest. Him and two of his cousins, same blast?” Jimmy was truly sympathetic; one of his scars was from a burst twelve-pounder cannon, which he had just captured.

  “Not his cousins. They’s mine.” Still downcast, she continued in a monotone, “Anyhow, they brought him here, and he lived a week. He’s behind the barn there, in Janey’s plot. Our place was burned two years ago, and I moved here.”

  Gently, Jimmy asked, “An’ Janey’s husband?”

  “He was, or is, a colonel too. Cavalry. I don’t think he’s coming back either. We ain’t heard a thing in over six months, and he would’a sent word. He’s my only brother left.” She sobbed, “I hope.”

  “Sorry,” said Dobey. He paused a moment, then said, “Look, if you’ll take some of this in, y’all can start cooking while we finish with these horses and clean up some.”

  ***

  In the kitchen, Bobby Sue dropped her armful on the table. “My God, Janey, lookit this. Part of a ham, deer loin already cooked, taters, bacon, red peppers. There’s enough for two meals. I’ll get out some onions and corn.”

  Janey studied the offering, and turned back to the window. “Grown-up men, cleaning up and not told to. Wonders may never cease. An’ they weren’t as ripe as you might think, when they rode up.”

  “You think they’d stay a while?”

  “Not for long. Not them. But maybe for a while. I know they’re young but they’re grown up and hard, too. And I don’t feel afraid of ‘em. Kids won’t be back from Huntsville for three-four days. You go up and try to find some shirts and pants that might fit ‘em, in Byron’s trunk.” She grinned warmly now. “I’ll have a talk with ‘em, over dinner, and maybe they’ll stay for supper. And breakfast.”

  The men hung their wet shirts and jackets on the clothesline, then pulled two rags, soap, and two old damp shirts from the pack horse. Using the rain barrel, they quickly washed faces, necks, chests and underarms with the rags, hung them up, and donned the damp shirts. Dobey slipped his shoulder holster back on, and they knocked at the kitchen door.

  Janey called them in, asking if they felt better.

  Jimmy said, “Some better. But we’re still pretty rank. Maybe we should eat on that stump out there.”

  Janey shushed him. “Y’all are fine for the kitchen table. And all these vittles you brought will be ready in a few minutes. How ‘bout coffee now? It’s thrice brewed, but it’s ready.”

  As she poured the thin stuff, she went on. “Here’s my thoughts. Y’all look tired, and a bit scruffy.” Bobby Sue walked in with some clothes. “We can put our bathtub on the back porch. Rig a blanket screen around it, heat up some water in that laundry kettle, an’ y’all can get a real bath. Shave, if you like. These old clothes will do you for a few hours, and me and Bobby Sue, we’ll wash your clothes proper in exchange for the food, which is enough for dinner, and supper too.” She glanced at the younger woman, who nodded approval.

  Janey looked squarely at Jimmy, and continued, “And to be truthful it would be nice to have the company of two nice men for supper.”

  “Yes,” blushed Bobby Sue. “Two nice clean handsome young men.” She smiled at Dobey.

  “I can’t speak for the sergeant major, but I’d be honored. Jimmy, we in some hurry I don’t know about?”

  “Nossir, Cap’n.” Then, to Janey, “I can speak for both of us, that we ain’t had so nice an offer in years. I’ll help cook for tonight. Might surprise you-all what I have learned in the cavalry.”

  Janey winked. “Might not. Let’s eat, then get you out of them wet clothes.”

  None of them seemed too hungry. Plates were soon cleared, and the huge galvanized tub and two kitchen chairs were put near the left end of the back porch. Two blankets were tacked up, blocking the view of the rest of the porch and the backyard. The end looking up the valley road was left open.

  Jimmy walked to the stables and returned with his revolving shotgun, Dobey’s carbine, soap and the two rags. He leaned the guns on the wall near the open end, and tossed the soap and rags in the tub. Bobby Sue stoked up the fire under the kettle and began filling it with buckets of pump water.

  Janey brought out a large pan of soapy water and two stiff brushes. “You do your feet in that pan first. One of you help with the water, other one get started.”

  “You first, Cap’n. And hurry. These clothes got to dry.”

  Dobey stepped behind the curtain, and quickly handed out everything but his suspenders, gun belts and boots. “By God, I needed this,” he shouted, as he scrubbed his feet. Jimmy soon had the tub half full, and Dobey stepped in.

  Turning to Jimmy, Janey said, “Set them next two buckets of hot water on the porch for your bath, and start getting out of them clothes. As you said, we got to wash ‘em and get ‘em dry.”

  “You think that will happen by sundown?”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” She smiled. “I’ll bring y’all some towels.”

  She waited for his clothes, carried them to Bobby Sue for the kettle, and went inside to have a better look at the now naked men through the kitchen window. She called Bobby Sue to the kitchen door. “Hand them these towels, then come in here for a minute.”

  After an unhurried examination from behind the window curtain, Bobby Sue smiled and said, “My, my.”

  Janey said, “Yes, ma’am. I think we better have us a bath, too, after we do their clothes and ‘fore we take down those blankets. See if they’s smart enough to peek too.”

  They were.

  ***

  The uniforms were not dry by sunset, to no one’s surprise. They were brought in and put on folding racks, near the
Franklin stove.

  Janey insisted on having supper in the dining room. “Kitchen’s too hot, that stove going an’ all the cooking, and besides we’re all cleaned up. Get out the good stuff.”

  “What’s left of it,” giggled Bobby Sue.

  Dinner was a great success. They all learned a lot more about each other; they laughed a lot, and there was a fair amount of contact under the table. Sap and hope had been rising in both men all afternoon, especially since they had gone into the kitchen to get the ladies some towels, at Janey’s suggestion. “On the counter, by the dish pan,” she had said, from behind the blankets.

  They had looked, of course. When they did, Janey was sitting in a chair washing her feet; her ample breasts and hips overflowed it. Bobby Sue had been standing in the tub, back to them, washing under an upraised arm. Her small firm snow-white bottom was in stark contrast to her tanned face and neck. Then Janey stood, helped Bobby Sue step out, and stepped in herself.

  Great God almighty, thought Jimmy.

  Sweet Jesus, I cannot believe my eyes, thought Dobey.

  Now, three agonizing hours later, they fumbled to clear dishes.

  ***

  Finally, darkness was upon them. Jimmy went to the barn, and returned with brandy and some sugar. Stirred with water, it was the very last thing that any of them needed.

  Janey took Jimmy’s hand. “Bring your drink, and let’s have some cool air.”

  As they left, Dobey looked at Bobby Sue, his eyebrow up in question. “No, I think they’d like to be alone.” She smiled, “Maybe you’d help me restore that trunk upstairs, being as I wrecked it to find those clothes?”

  Leaving a lantern on the kitchen table, they lit a second one and went upstairs to Janey’s bedroom in the front of the house, where the trunk was kept. Dobey’s West Point training allowed them to repack the wreckage within fifteen minutes.

  “What now?” asked Dobey, hopefully.

  “Leave the light, and let’s go look out my windows and see can we see what they’re up to.” She giggled again, and led him to her room.

  Janey and Jimmy Melton were about 30 yards away, by the large stump. They didn’t seem to think that they were being watched.

  “What are they doing?” Bobby Sue snuggled against Dobey’s left side.

  He grinned down at her. “I think that’s something he learned from some Indian girls. Or maybe it’s something she learned out here on the farm?” He let his left hand slide down her back to rest on her firm butt, and was pleased to note that she wore nothing under her shift. He squeezed her and she turned her face up for a hungry kiss, then pushed him back onto her bed, and began unbuttoning his pants.

  “Indian girls ain’t the only ones that know how to please a man without getting pregnant.” They never did hear the other couple come in, or come upstairs. But when they went by Janey’s closed door an hour later to get another drink, it was obvious that the others had gotten tired of the hard surface of the stump table.

  It was a long, pleasant, occasionally noisy night.

  Dobey struggled out of bed long after daybreak, splashed water in his face, strapped on his shoulder holster and went downstairs. He found a pot of coffee on, real coffee, and took a mug of it out back. He found Jimmy leaning against the stump table having coffee and a cigar.

  Jimmy nodded toward the right side of the barn. “Privy is back there. Two-seater, if that don’t beat all.”

  When Dobey returned, he said, “Nice table. Good place for a bite to eat, on a cool evening.” He patted the smooth top.

  Jimmy looked at him sharply, then decided that there was no hidden jest there. “I ast Janey ‘bout that last night. It was one of the ‘Four Oaks’ that this place was named for, but after lightning killed it, her husband’s daddy had the darkies cut it off flat, and rub it smooth. Used it as a serving table, when they’d spit-cook a pig or such.” He chuckled, “Said she used to call the place ‘Three Oaks, One Stump and an Ol’ Holler Log’, but the log was used up for firewood over twenny year ago.”

  Sipping coffee, Dobey said innocently, “I ‘spect Janey still enjoys the table.”

  “Damn it, Cap’n, you did look,” Jimmy exploded. “Why din’t you just mind your own business? I believe y‘all had some fun your own selves, right loud I’d say, an’ we din’t come peek.”

  “Thank you, but what happened was, Bobby Sue asked me what y’all were doing, and when I first looked, you were laid back, relaxing on the table. But then, fifteen minutes later, it seemed Janey was on the table, staring up at the stars. I told Bobby Sue I thought you were teaching Janey some Indian tricks.”

  Jimmy blushed furiously, but finally grinned. “She knew her part just fine, but said ain’t nobody ever returned the favor before.”

  “`Turned the table’, so to speak.”

  “Yeah. Anyhow, how did you do? Janey’s too old, but she said Bobby Sue worries about getting pregnant—she’s only thirty-nine.”

  “Well, she had some ideas on that, and that was nice, but I also introduced her to the sheath.” The sheath was a sheep’s gut condom. Dobey kept the present from an Atlanta madam washed and ready, but almost never got to use it. “Didn’t you use the one I gave you?”

  “I showed it, but Janey said it was no need.”

  “Well, I ain’t sure I used mine, every time.”

  Breakfast was late and full of forced cheerfulness. No one wanted the men to leave, but all knew that they must. An hour before noon, they were repacked, saddled and ready.

  Dobey reached down to squeeze Bobby Sue’s hand. “I haven’t had so much fun since before the war, maybe ever.”

  She teared up. “You didn’t have to leave the money. I mean, we need it, but I didn’t expect it. You can’t think you was paying for our favors.”

  Janey squinted up at Jimmy and patted his leg. “All that goes double for me. Thought I was too old to have so much fun. You’re a generous young man, Jimmy Melton. Glad to have met you. Be safe.”

  Equipped with directions to put them back on the road to Tupelo, they rode on. Dobey looked over his shoulder, and said, “Whooee, I’m ‘bout worn out. What’d you think, old man?”

  Jimmy thought a moment. “They was more lonely than loose. I’m gonna miss ‘em.”

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  They experienced no trouble finding Captain Matthews’cousin outside of Tupelo. He told them the war was over, but he was still nervous about them being there. He sketched them a route to a landing on the Mississippi and didn’t encourage them to linger. Dobey gave him a dollar, and they slept in the woods that night.

  “How come you give that uncivil son of a bitch that money?” Jimmy finally asked.

  “Well, he’s Matthews’ cousin. He did help us, and I wouldn’t want Doc to pass here later and think we was uncivil. That man just didn’t want his house burned by vengeful Yankees.”

  “Matthews does come by here and gets treated that rude, or hears that we was, damn house is still likely to get burned.”

  Three days later, after skirting a large camp of Union cavalry, they met a farmer who had been selling corn whiskey to the Yankees. They overtook his wagon, heading away from the camp. He confirmed that the war had ended.

  “They’s stopped patrolling and all that,” he said. “Jes’ waiting to git paid, and hoping to be sent home.”

  “Good to hear. Guess nobody wants to be the last ones kilt,” said Jimmy, “specially when it’s s’posed to be over.”

  “Naw, sir. These boys ain’t thinking about killing, I can tell you that. Kinda hate to see ‘em leave, now they’s halfway friendly. An’ they pay good for likker, since they’s expecting pay any time. Said most of their officers had rid up to Corinth, so’s to see what’s to do, uh, do next.” He stammered the last bit, and began to shake, realizing he might just have signed his own death warrant.

  Sergeant Major Jimmy Melton saw the fear in him, looked at Dobey and said, “Cap’n, he’s heading our way. Whyn’t we ride a ways with him, see h
e don’t get bushwhacked?”

  Dobey nodded. “You’ve given us good information, sir. ‘Fore you make this run again you might bring some friends with guns. And don’t tell strangers you’re carrying cash.”

  “Yessir. Yessir. I din’t think y’all looked like no robbers nor raiders. But I weren’t smart, still, that’s fer sure. Mebbe I could give y’all a jug, once I’m safe home?”

  Delivering the old bootlegger back to his farm was done with much conversation, mostly one-sided, but without incident, and was not more than two hours out of their way. His wife fed them some ham, beans and cornbread, and he presented them with a half-gallon of his “best stuff.”

  Mounted again, horses fed, watered, and rested, Dobey leaned down to shake his hand. “Thanks for the grub and information.”

  “No sir. Thank you for the advice, and for not robbing me. Now, I know y’all have your own plan, but was I you, an’ trying to git to a river boat, I’d cut cross that field yonder. They’s a road in them trees. Go left on it, maybe twenny miles, you at Weather’s ferry. Ol’ man’s got a store there, too. ‘Nuther twenny-five miles, you at the river landing. I sell likker to ol’ man Weathers store, and to the people at the landing, for the boat crews. You won’t meet no Yankees on that road. Well, mebbe deserters, but why be a deserter, now the war’s over?”

  Two miles later, in the trees, Jimmy kept turning in the saddle and looking back.

  “Specting company, Sergeant Major?”

  Jimmy grinned. “Nope. Just afraid he’d follow us to talk some more.”

  ***

  An hour later with darkness approaching, a rain squall surprised them. When they kicked the horses into a run and loped into the barn of a burned out farm, they in turn surprised a group of around ten Negroes.

  Startled themselves, both Texans pulled revolvers to cover the Negroes before realizing that they were only women and children.

  “Sweet Jesus!” blurted Dobey.

  “Damn contraband!” said Jimmy, struggling to get his heart back down out of his throat.