Trail Angel by Derek Catron Read Free Book Online

in town, Caleb stole away to a fishing hole near camp. A bend in the river looked deep enough for catfish to lurk through the heat of the day. He would be happy there even if he didn’t catch anything.
    Fishing always brought him closer to Laurie. He thought of his late wife as he baited his line.
    Her family had lived in a dirty little shack not far from Caleb’s favorite fishing spot outside Charleston. They were about the poorest white people Caleb knew, even poorer than his family. Walking on the cart path that passed alongside their property, he often saw her seated on a crate in the afternoon shade.
    Most of the paint had peeled away from the old house, and the front porch leaned to one side despite stones piled up to bolster it. Laurie was the oldest of five children and spent most of her time looking after the rest. She shelled beans or mended clothes while the little ones wrestled or raced in the yard, screaming like savages. Caleb always waved a howdy-doo, and she rewarded him with a shy smile that seemed bright even in the shadow of the porch.
    Caleb felt sorry for the girl. Her father worked too hard and too long in the fields to be anything but mean. Her mother, whom Caleb never saw, had been made frail by birthing so many children.
    One day Caleb caught more redfish than he could eat on his own. He had tired of carrying them by the time he passed Laurie’s house, surprised to see her on the porch, deep in the evening shadow, when the children weren’t about.
    â€œYou’re just going to walk by without so much as a hello?”
    They were the most words she had spoken to him. She stood from her crate, her simple shift glowing in the gloom, revealing just enough curve to her hips and bust to put a gulp in Caleb’s throat. He mumbled something about his hands being full, going toward her as he spoke, unaware of moving his feet. Like being reeled in.
    Laurie took half his catch that day, and Caleb felt richer for it. After that, whenever Caleb got away to fish he stayed until he caught enough to give some to Laurie. Some days he waited, hidden among the trees near her house until he saw her. More than once when he caught little, he gave her what he had with an excuse that he was dining at the house of a friend or family member. These were inventions, for Caleb had no family left and no friends as close as that. In thanking him, Laurie made him feel more man than he was.
    One day Laurie said, “It sure is nice, you bringing me all these fish. But when are you going to teach me to catch them myself?”
    â€œTeach you?”
    â€œWhy, you think I can’t learn just because I’m a girl?” A hand moved to her hip, and her lip curled into as much of a pout as her little face could muster. He stammered an apology as she laughed, the sound so sweet he didn’t feel foolish for inspiring it.
    He never learned what she told the children when she came away with him. That first day he told her everything he knew about fishing, probably twice, and he worried that the next time they were alone he would have nothing to say. But it was easy talking to Laurie. He told her about his mama and pappy. He even told her about the brother who died from fever when Caleb was a boy. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d talked about that.
    They first kissed on a fishing outing. Other things happened, too, memories burned into Caleb’s mind like a brand that marked him as Laurie’s forever.
    â€œYou can have me if you want,” she told him that day, a breathy whisper that made her sound like a stranger.
    He pulled away. Confusion and hurt clouded her eyes, a question coming to her lips. He shook his head. “I want you, Laurie, more than I’ve wanted anything. But not like this.”
    Her face rose to meet his, another kiss coming to her lips, the last kiss, he knew, before he lost himself inside her. He waited for her eyes to meet his.
    â€œI will have you as