Brave Enemies by Robert Morgan Read Free Book Online Page B

could smell tar. “We’re going to dress you up, granny,” the man with the pistol said.
    â€œYou’ll burn in hell,” the woman spat out.
    A man with a razor caught her head in the crook of his arm and started to shave her head. The gray hair came off in hanks and bunches. When all the hair was gone her scalp looked raw and was bloody in places. The man with the pistol took a gourd and dipped tar out of the bucket. With a rag he smeared hot tar on the woman’s face and head. The hot tar must have scalded her, for she screamed and kicked at him. He wiped tar all over her shoulders and back, over her breasts and thighs and legs.
    Another man opened a sack of feathers and shook feathers on the tar. Feathers fluttered across the clearing and men ran to pick them up. They covered the woman’s face and body until she looked more like a snowman than a person.
    â€œWe don’t want you to get cold,” the man with the pistol said, andthrew a handful of feathers in her face. As soon as she was covered they cut the woman loose and she fell to the ground. But then she picked herself up and started stumbling away. She limped and tripped, caught herself, and started running.
    â€œSquawk, squawk, squawk,” the men shouted, and flapped their arms like wings. They cackled and laughed as the old woman ran down the road shedding feathers like a broken pillow. Soon she was out of sight.
    â€œThis calls for a drink,” the man with the pistol said. Someone passed a jug to him and he hooked his thumb through the handle and took a long swig. The jug was passed from hand to hand and they all took a long drink.
    â€œI think we ought to go to McIver’s next,” one of the men said.
    â€œNo, we promised to settle with Brattle first,” another said.
    â€œWhy don’t we go to Brattle’s and then to McIver’s,” the man with the pistol said.
    â€œWhat if somebody warns them?” a man with spectacles said.
    â€œThat’s why we have to hurry,” the man with the pistol said.
    I wished they would leave so I could go to their fire and warm up. If I had fire I could have a light in the dark, and I could cook a fish if I caught one in the creek. The men didn’t seem to have anything to eat, but at least there was the fire. I held my breath and stayed still.
    They took their time and passed the jug around again. And then the man with the pistol took the bucket off the fire and opened his pants. He pissed on the smoldering sticks and when he finished there wasn’t even a wisp of smoke.
    They finally started walking down the road, and when they were out of sight I ran to the charred sticks and found only ashes and the smell of urine. Feathers were scattered all over the clearing and tar was dripped on the sand.
    I started walking again. I was so hungry I felt I was dreaming. I walked away from the road toward the west, away from the river. My legs and feet were numb. I kept thinking I heard somebody walking behindme, or to the side of me, but when I turned to look nobody was there. A hawk floated far overhead. A ground squirrel scurried away in the leaves. I hoped my mind wasn’t going strange the way Mama’s had.
    I walked all day through the woods, and near dark came to a little river. Without taking my shoes off I stepped across the rocks and shallow places. Then I climbed up the far bank and sat down to rest. I didn’t want to spend another night alone in the woods. I had to find something to eat, and I had to find shelter. I had to find somebody to help me. As the sun disappeared the air got colder. I couldn’t sit against a tree for another night. I looked around at the darkening woods.
    And then I saw a lantern way off up the hill between the trees. It was a weak light, but where there was a light must be people. I had to find people. I couldn’t stay by myself out in the cold woods any longer. I started walking faster toward the light,