The Land(106)

We were all laughing now.

“Well, that sure made two of us,” I said.

Mitchell shook his head. “Ah, Lord, I thought that horse was gonna kill me, and he jus’ ’bout done it too! There we was flyin’ through the woods, and I’m gettin’ hit all upside the head with branches and leaves and whatever else was hangin’ from them trees, and all I was thinkin’ was tryin’ t’ get that horse t’ stop while Paul there was chasin’ way ’long behind us yellin’ for me to rein in Ghost Wind. Like I could!”

“Well, what finally happened?” Caroline asked.

“Yeah,” said Nathan, “how ya finally get him t’ stop?”

“Ain’t,” said Mitchell. “That ole stallion jus’ done got tired of me and throwed me off his back!”

The laughter grew louder. But right after, I noticed Mitchell sobered and I knew his thinking. I sobered too.

“Thing was,” Mitchell went on, “I ain’t knowed what I was doin’ and ain’t had no business on top of that horse in the first place. That stallion got bad cut, hurt his leg. Paul, he caught up wit’ us and we took that horse limpin’ back t’ the barn. My daddy, he done took one look at that horse and one look at me, and he done pulled out his whip.”

Nathan leaned forward. “So ya done got a whippin’, huh?”

“Well, seem like t’ me you mighty well deserved one,” observed Caroline. “Runnin’ that animal down like that.”

Mitchell looked at Caroline. “Woman, you sure are hard on me, ya know that? But the truth be told, that time I done deserved a whippin’.”

Nathan laughed. “I bet yo’ daddy done wore ya out, huh, Mitchell?”

Mitchell looked at the boy and shook his head. “Naw. Naw, he ain’t.”

“Well, how come he ain’t?”

Mitchell gave a nod toward me. “’Cause Paul there said he done it. He said he rode that horse.”

Caroline looked at me, and there was a soft expression on her face. “You done that?”

“How come?” questioned Nathan.

I shrugged. “Truth is, I questioned that myself. I’d always wanted Mitchell to get a good whipping because of his beating up on me so much.”

“He done it,” explained Mitchell, “’cause he ain’t wanted me to get a whippin’ ’bout ridin’ that horse. That’s what it was. Lord only knows why.”

“Wasn’t being noble,” I said. “Just guess I was feeling guilty because of my white daddy.”

Nathan glanced from Mitchell to me. “So you the one got the whippin’?”

I shook my head. “No, I didn’t get a whipping.”

“He got punished, though, just the same,” said Mitchell.

Nathan was curious. “And what was that?”

I was silent, letting Mitchell answer. “Paul, he couldn’t ride Ghost Wind no more.”

Caroline’s eyes were soft upon me. “And that was hard on you?”

I smiled somewhat sadly, remembering. “It was hard, all right. There was nothing like riding that horse, Caroline. Riding Ghost Wind was better even than riding Thunder. I’d rather have taken my daddy’s whipping.”

Mitchell snorted a laugh. “You wouldn’t’ve wanted t’ take that whippin’ so bad it had’ve been my daddy dishin’ it out!”

“Well, you sure took plenty.”

“Ain’t that the truth! That was the only one of two times my daddy ain’t wore on me when he had a mind, and he would’ve done it then if Paul’s white daddy hadn’t’ve told him not to, and my daddy wasn’t ’bout to disobey Paul’s daddy. Only other time he ain’t laid on me with that strap when he had a mind was when I was fifteen and I done grabbed that strap ’way from him and told him he wasn’t gonna beat on me no more. I was full growed by then with the same height I got now, near the same weight, and he ain’t argued wit’ me none. Jus’ done told me I could jus’ get then, and I went.”

Nathan was intrigued. “So that’s when you come here, you and Paul on that train?”

“Naw. I gone off for a few months, but then my mama sent my younger brother Jasper t’ beg me t’ come back. Jasper, he done had welts all over him, and he done said our daddy’d been puttin’ a strap regular t’ all the younguns and my mama too. Now, when I was home and my daddy got a mind t’ take out that strap of his when I was round, I’d jump in and take the beatin’. Ain’t mattered who he done pulled that strap out for, my mama or one of the younguns, I’d jump in and make him so mad, he’d beat me instead. But I got tired of him beatin’ on me. That’s how come I left. When I gone back, I told my daddy I was there for only one reason, and that was t’ keep him from raisin’ that strap one more time ’gainst my mama or the younguns. I told him he did, I was gonna kill him.”