The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,161

of johnny cake. When he’d asked Letty if she wanted to eat, he’d gotten a moan and a gag for an answer and took it for a no. He would have liked some coffee but that would have meant a trip back up the creek. He didn’t want to leave Letty alone, so he settled for a swig from one of the canteens and called it a night.

Letty had come awake only once in the night. She’d laid there for a moment trying to figure out what was wrong, but couldn’t focus her thoughts. At that moment she heard a whippoorwill call and wanted to cry. All her life, the whippoorwill had meant home and family—sitting with her mother out on the front porch as darkness fell and listening for the call of that small brown bird, then waiting to hear if there was an answering call from its mate.

She’d spent her entire adult life listening for the first call of the evening and wishing for a mate of her own. But it had never happened. Once she’d come close, but death had snatched him away and she was too hardened by failures to care to look again. Only now and then the call of a whippoorwill would remind her of what she’d lost, and she would suffer a moment of pain. But it never lasted long. Living was difficult enough without wishing for things that would never be and tonight was no exception.

Disgusted with her situation, she ignored the small bird and let her misery take her under as she slept the rest of the night away.

Letty came awake in increments, hearing first the shuffle and snort of their animals, then the scolding chatter of a squirrel in a tree somewhere overhead. The early morning sun had found a pathway through the leaves and was shining on her face. She knew because she could feel the warmth against her cheek.

Eulis was reciting the Twenty-third Psalm, and she could smell wood smoke, which meant breakfast was probably cooking. She started to roll over and sit up and then realized her eyes were swelled shut.

Shocked by her condition, she began running her hands all over her face and her hair. At that point the over-powering smell of skunk began to resonate all around her.

“Oh my God,” she moaned.

Eulis looked up. “Oh. You’re awake.”

“That smell,” Letty cried.

“It’s you,” Eulis said.

“I’m going to puke,” Letty moaned, and rolled over on her hands and knees.

Eulis rolled his eyes. “Not again… and not here. I’m a’cookin’ our breakfast.”

“Christ All Mighty,” Letty said, and then retched one for good measure. “Stop talkin’ about food.”

“Oh. Sorry,” Eulis said.

Letty stumbled to her feet then grabbed at her hair.

“What in hell happened to my hair?” She touched her breasts. “And my clothes… where are my clothes?”

Eulis frowned. Since her eyes were swelled shut, he should have felt safe enough to confess, but he still found himself taking a couple of steps back.

“I reckon there’s some dirt and grass in your hair. Course it will wash right out. I can’t say the same for the smell.”

Letty gritted her teeth to keep from screaming. “I can feel the dirt and grass. What I’m asking you is how did it get there?”

“Uh… what do you remember about last night?” Eulis asked.

Letty threw her hands up in the air and would have stomped away, but she couldn’t see where she was going.

“Going to get water. I was going to get water.”

“You did. I used some of it to cook su—” Eulis stopped. “Sorry. I forgot. We ain’t talkin’ about cooking, right?”

Letty’s stomach lurched, but to her relief, it was only a small spasm.

“Eulis. I swear to God when I can see again I will kill you with my bare hands if you don’t stop beating around the bush. What happened to me? Why am I covered in filth?”

“After you got skunked, I dragged you in the creek to help you stop pukin’, then you went and passed out on me, so I dragged you out of the creek and back to camp. I put you to bed all cozy like and there you stayed ’til now.”

Letty moaned. No wonder the backs of her legs and heels hurt.

“I need to pee,” she said.

“Okay,” Eulis said, then bent down and took the frying pan off the campfire and set it aside. Wouldn’t do to let their last piece of fat back burn.

Letty stood up, waiting for assistance. All she heard was Eulis puttering about. She