Wish You Well(89)
of tired men. Cotton sat with his back against the rail fence, sipping his coffee, resting his
sore muscles, and watching with a broad smile as a barn began to emerge out of nothing
but the sweat and charity of good neighbors.
As Lou placed a platter of hot bread slathered with butter in front of the men, she said, "I
want to thank all of you for helping."
Buford Rose picked up a piece of the bread and took a savage, if near toothless, bite.
"Well, got to hep each other up here, 'cause ain't nobody else gonna. Ask my woman,
ain't b'lieve me. And Lord knows Louisa's done her share of hepping folks round here."
He looked over at Cotton, who tipped his cup of coffee to the man. "I knowed what I said
to you 'bout being all worked out, Cotton, but lotta folk got it badder'n me. My brother be
a dairy farmer down the Valley. Can't barely walk no more with all that setting on the
stool, fingers done curled like some crazy root. And folk say two things dairy farmer ain't
never gonna need they's whole lives: suit'a nice clothes and a place to sleep." He tore off
another bread chunk.
A young man said, "Hell, Ms. Louisa done borned me. My ma say I aint'a coming to this
world what she not there." Other men nodded and grinned at this remark. One of them
looked over to where Eugene was standing near the rising structure, chewing on a piece
of chicken and figuring out the next tasks to be done.
"And he done help me raise new barn two spring ago. Man good with hammer 'n saw.
Ain't no lie."
From under knotted plugs of eyebrows Buford Rose studied Lou's features. "I 'member
your daddy good, girl. You done take after him fine. That boy, all the time pestering folk
with questions. I had to tell him I done ain't got no more words in my head." He gave a
near toothless grin, and Lou smiled back.
The work continued. One group planked the roof and then laid out the roll of roofing
paper on top. Another team, headed up by Eugene, fashioned the double doors for both
ends, as well as the hayloft doors, while yet another group planked and daubed the
outside walls. When it got too dark to see what they were hitting and cutting, kerosene
lamps lit the night. The hammering and sawing got to be almost pleasing to hear. Almost.
None complained, though, when the final board had been laid, the last nail driven. It was
well into dark when the work was done and the wagons headed out.
Eugene, Cotton, and the children wearily herded the animals into their new home and laid
the floor with hay gathered from the fields and the corncrib. The hayloft, stalls, storage
bins, and such still needed to be built out, roll of roofing would eventually need to be
covered with proper wood shingles, but the animals were inside and warm. With a very
relieved smile, Eugene shut the barn doors tight.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
COTTON WAS DRIVING THE CHILDREN DOWN TO VISIT Louisa. Though they were well
into winter, heavy snow had not yet come, merely dustings of several inches, though it
would only be a matter of time before it fell hard and deep. They passed the coal
company town where Diamond had adorned the superintendent's new Chrysler Crown
Imperial with horse manure. The town was empty now, the housing abandoned, the store
vacant, the tipple sagging, the entrance to the mine boarded up, and the mine
superintendent's fancy, horse-shitted Chrysler long gone. "What happened?" said Lou.
"Shut down," answered Cotton grimly. "Fourth mine in as many months. Veins were
already petering out, but then they found out the coke they make here is too soft for steel
production, so America's fighting machine went looking elsewhere for its raw material.
Lot of folks here out of work. And the last lumber company moved on to Kentucky two
months ago. A double blow. Farmers on the mountain had a good year, but the people in
the towns are hurting bad. It's usually one or the other. Prosperity only seems to come in
halves up here." Cotton shook his head. "Indeed, the fine mayor of Dickens resigned his
post, sold out his stake at inflated prices before the crash, and headed to Pennsylvania to
seek a new fortune. I've often found the ones who talk the best game are the first ones to
run at the earliest sign of trouble."
Coming down the mountain, Lou noted that there were fewer coal trucks, and that many
of the mountainside tipples weren't even being operated. When they passed Tremont, she
saw that half the stores were boarded up, and there were few people on the streets, and
Lou sensed it wasn't just because of the chilly weather.
When they got to Dickens, Lou was shocked, for many stores were boarded up here as
well, including the one Diamond had opened an umbrella in. Bad luck had reigned there
after all, and it was no longer funny to Lou. Ill-clothed men sat on sidewalks and steps,