Wish You Well(90)

staring at nothing. There weren't many cars slant-parked, and shopkeepers stood, idle

hands on hips, nervous looks on faces, in the doorways of their empty stores. The men

and women walking the streets were very few in number, and their faces carried an

anxious pallor. Lou watched as a bus filled with folks slowly headed out of town. An

empty coal train symbolically crept behind the line of buildings and parallel to the main

road. The "Coal Is King" banner was no longer flying mighty and proud across the street,

and Miss Bituminous Coal of 1940 had probably fled as well, Lou imagined.

As they went along, Lou could see more than one group of people point at them and then

talk among themselves.

"Those people don't look very happy," said Oz nervously, as they climbed out of Cotton's

Oldsmobile and looked across the street at another collection of men who were watching

them closely. At the front of this mob was none other than George Davis.

"Come on, Oz," said Cotton. "We're here to see Louisa, that's all."

He led them into the hospital, where they learned from Travis Barnes that Louisa's

condition had not changed. Her eyes were wide open and glassy. Lou and Oz each held

one of her hands, but she clearly did not know them. Lou would have thought she had

already passed, except for her shallow breathing. She watched the rise and fall of that

chest with the deepest intensity, praying with all her soul for it to keep rising, until Cotton

told her it was time to go, and Lou was surprised to learn that an hour had passed.

When they walked back to the Oldsmobile, the men were waiting for them. George Davis

had his hand on the door of Cotton's car.

Cotton walked boldly up to them. "What can I do for you folks?" he inquired politely,

even as he firmly removed Davis's hand from the Olds.

"You get that fool woman in there sell her land, that what!" shouted Davis.

Cotton looked the men over. Other than Davis, they were all men from the town, not the

mountain. But he knew that didn't mean they were any less desperate than folks who

tethered their survival to dirt, seed, and the fickleness of rain. These folks had just tied

their hopes to coal. But coal was unlike corn; once plucked, coal didn't grow back.

"I've already been over this with you, George, and the answer hasn't changed. Now, if

you'll excuse me, I've got to get these children home."

"Whole town gone to hell," said another man.

"And you think that's Louisa's fault?" asked Cotton.

"She dying. She ain't need her land," said Davis.

"She's not dying!" said Oz.

"Cotton," said a well-dressed man about fifty years old who, Cotton knew, ran the

automobile dealership in Dickens. He had narrow shoulders, thin arms, and smooth palms

that clearly showed he had never hoisted a hay bale, swung a scythe, or plowed a field.

"I'm going to lose my business. I'm going to lose everything I've got if something doesn't

replace the coal. And I'm not the only one like that. Look around, we're hurting bad."

"What happens when the natural gas runs out?" countered Cotton. "Then what will you

be looking for to save you?"

"Ain't got to look that fer ahead. Take care of bizness now, and that bizness be gas," said

Davis in an angry voice. "We all git rich. I ain't got no problem selling my place, hep my

neighbor."

"Really?" said Lou. "I didn't see you at the barn raising, George. In fact you haven't been

back since Louisa ran you off. Unless you had something to do with our barn burning

down in the first place."

Davis spit, wiped his mouth, and hitched his britches, and would've no doubt throttled the

girl right there if Cotton hadn't been standing next to her.

"Lou," said Cotton firmly, "that's enough."

"Cotton," said the well-dressed man, "I can't believe you're abandoning us for some

stupid mountain woman.

Hell, you think you'll have any lawyering to do if the town dies?"

Cotton smiled. "Don't y'all worry about me. You'd be amazed at how little I can get by

on. And regarding Miss Cardinal, y'all listen up, because it's the last time I'm going to say

it. She does not want to sell her land to Southern Valley. That's her right, and y'all better

damn well respect it. Now, if you really and truly can't survive here without the gas folks,

then I suggest you leave. Because you see, Miss Cardinal doesn't have that problem.

Every lick of coal and gas could disappear from this earth tomorrow, and electricity and

phones too, and she'd be just fine." He stared pointedly at the well-dressed man. "Now

tell me, who's the stupid one?"

Cotton told the children to climb in the car, and he eased himself into the driver's seat,