Whippoorwill (32 page)

Letty was still writhing in the floor at his feet as he leaned forward. Piercing each and every one of them with a watery stare, he pointed a finger slowly across the benches and shouted.

“REPENT, YE OF LITTLE FAITH!”

Someone moaned. He turned to look. It was Letty.

In fascinated horror, he watched as the straining buttons down the front of her rotting, store-bought dress began to pop. And as they did, several pounds of blossoming bosom began to escape from the cloth. In places she seemed to explode from the bodice. In others, her breasts simply rolled, rippling out from behind the blue-white fabric in soft abandon. It was hard to say who was more stunned, Eulis or his congregation.

But before anyone could react to the sight, Letty bolted to her feet, holding up her arms to the rafters, and shouting the same thing over and over.

“I repent! I repent!”

As if that wasn’t enough to stun the congregation, she began running up and down the aisle, her bare bosoms bouncing with every leap.

“I am saved! I am saved. Praise the Lord, I am saved!”

Women wept. Men turned away from her nudity. If she was turning over a new leaf, it was no longer seemly to be staring at her womanly charms.

Eulis was in shock as Letty paused at the front of the arbor and lifted her skirts, baring even more of herself to the stunned observers.

“See here! The marks of the Devil are upon my flesh. He was about to take me under and the Good Lord has driven him away. Tonight I am a new woman.”

Those nearest her spoke out in shock. “Yes, yes,” they shouted, passing the news down the line. “The scratches are there like she said. The blood is fresh and running. Praise God!”

Along with joy, several groans of regret could be heard. Her change of heart now left the single men of Lizard Flats with no whore to ease their manly pains. With Truly Fine gone more than a year now, and Letty changing before their very eyes, the last loose lady of Lizard Flats had turned herself into a sanctimonious saint.

“Preacher!”

Letty’s shout reverberated upon the hill, echoing beyond the lantern light and into the night. Eulis broke out in sweat anew. What if she was about to confess
all
of her sins? Some of them included him.

“Preacher, I want to be cleansed.”

Wild-eyed and on the verge of real panic, he couldn’t envision what it was she asking? Surely she wasn’t wanting that bath she was so fond of? Not now. Not when their lives were in jeopardy.

“She wants to be baptized!” someone shouted.

Another cried with joy. “Baptize the whore! Baptize the whore!”

The chant echoed beneath the roof until Eulis’s ears were ringing with the noise. In the midst of the fervor, he caught himself repeating it, too, then made himself stop. This was getting out of hand.

“Then so be it,” he shouted. “We’ll wash her in the blood of Christ and take away her sins.”

Anxious to get her energy channeled before she got them both arrested, he led the way down the aisle. On the way out of the arbor, he grabbed a lantern from a nearby pole and headed toward town with his head held high.

They wanted to baptize the whore, so by God, he’d baptize the whore.

While it was a shame there was no river in which to perform the deed, Eulis had fond memories of Pete Samuel’s watering trough. It had rid him of ants. It should do just fine on Letty Murphy’s sins.

WE SHALL GATHER AT THE RIVER
OR
A REASONABLE FACSIMILIE THEREOF

Eulis led the way down the hill with Letty right beside him. From the waist up, she was nearly naked, yet she didn’t seem to notice or care that with every bounce of her step, her right breast bobbed up while her left sort of tilted toward the center. Eulis thought it had something to do with the sway of her walk and tried not to stare.

Will the Bartender was well into the third chorus of Onward Christian Soldiers as the congregation turned the corner. Eulis felt like a general leading his army into battle. Out of the darkness, the stable suddenly came into view. He lifted his lantern higher, heading toward the watering trough with single-minded intent.

When they were there, Letty fell to her knees, trying to cover her bare breasts with her hands. She moaned. The Devil’s scratches on her legs were stinging something fierce. She looked up at Eulis with wild-glazed eyes.

“Bless me preacher for I have sinned.”

Eulis groaned.
She’s gonna say it! By God, she’s gonna confess what we’ve done and they’ll hang us both.

Panic struck him weak. He hung the lantern on the fence and turned toward the congregation. They were waiting for the miracle to be finished; watching with fire in their eyes and expectation on their faces.

Eulis shuddered. Last time he’d seen a crowd look like this it had been a lynch mob. When they started moving forward, he held up his hands.

“Brothers and Sisters.”

They inhaled as one and paused.

“Step back and give this sinner room to grow.”
Say! That sounded good, even to me
, Eulis thought.

They did as he bid, widening the space between themselves and the kneeling whore at the watering trough.

Eulis bent down. “Are you sure you know what you’re doin’?” he whispered.

Letty looked up, her sweat-glazed face glistening in the dim, yellow light. Her eyes were glassy, her lips sagged. When she didn’t answer, his stomach knotted. He’d lost her to the madness—and to the raccoon. Then she clutched at his pant legs.

“Have mercy on me, Preacher. Cleanse my soul.”

He leaned closer so that only she could hear. “I’m not a preacher, you fool. Don’t you remember nothin’?”

She buried her face in her arms and started to sob. Certain that it was only a matter of time before his identity started to unravel, his only hope was that a dip in the murky water of the trough might do her some good.

“She says she’s ready,” Eulis announced to the crowd, and sighed with relief at the pleased murmurs that he heard.

To the surprise of them all, Letty stood, then lifted her own skirts and stepped into the trough, lying back in the waters as if she were going to bed.

Bits of green moss scraped loose from the sides and floated to the top, sticking to her skin like a fungus. Her breasts, loose from their binding, moved with the ebb and flow of the water like two raw eggs in a pitcher of beer.

The congregation was behind him—waiting. Eulis didn’t know what to do. He’d seen people baptized before. He knew—sort of—what was supposed to occur, but he’d never heard the proper words being said.

“What the hell,” he mumbled beneath his breath. “I been playin’ by ear all day. What’s one more incident gonna hurt?”

He grabbed Letty’s hair and pushed her under.

“One for the money.”

He yanked her up.

“Two for the show.”

When he sent her back, green slime slid between the fingers of his hand.

“Three to make ready.”

This time Letty was gasping for air as he shoved her back down in the trough.

“And four to go!”

Just before she passed out and drowned, he yanked her up the last time.

“Hallelujah, she is saved!”

Letty staggered to her feet, spitting moss and gasping for air while water ran out of her hair and into her eyes. Her clothes were plastered to her body like wet paper on a drinking glass, but there was a light in her eyes that had never been there before.

The congregation seemed stunned by what he’d done, and for a moment Eulis feared the worst. It was Letty who saved the day.

“I am a new woman,” she announced, then bowed her head and covered her nudity with her hands.

A woman stepped out of the crowd and threw her shawl over Letty’s bosom. A sigh went up. The baptism might have been a little unorthodox, but the preacher
was
from back East. Maybe that’s the way they did it there. And the whore knew shame. That meant it took.

Will the Bartender began singing again.

Eulis wanted a drink.

It was over.

Jubilant, he turned to face the crowd, only vaguely aware that three people on horseback were coming toward the livery. If they’d come for the baptizing, they were too late. He waved to Will the Bartender.

“Take them back to the hill,” he said. “I’ll be along as soon as I see to Miss Murphy’s welfare.”

The congregation marched back toward the arbor with Will in the lead.

Eulis turned back to Letty. She was shivering. “Maybe you should put on some dry clothes.”

She stared at him, as if seeing him for the first time. Her chin was quivering, her eyes glassy with shock. Eulis couldn’t tell if it was from the chill, or from her emotional state.

“I’m a new woman… ain’t I, Preacher?”

Eulis rolled his eyes and then lowered his voice. “Snap out of it, Letty. I ain’t no preacher and you know it.”

Letty blinked, then looked down at her dress—and the lack thereof.

“What happened to my dress?”

“You come out of it like a pit poppin’ out of a rotten peach. One minute you was all buttoned up and the next thing we knew, you was spillin’ out all over.”

“Oh lord,” she groaned, and pulled the shawl tighter around her. “I’ll never be able to show my face in this town again.”

Eulis snorted softly. “Hell, Letty, most of those men in that congregation has seen a whole lot more of you than your bare bosoms.”

She frowned. “That was the old me. I’ve been born again and that’s a fact.”

Eulis sighed. He didn’t know how to talk to this Letty. In fact, the longer he thought about, the more convinced he became that he had liked the old Letty better.

***

They’d ridden at a gallop for miles. Their horses were lathered, their sides heaving, and Charity wondered if she’d ever walk normal again. The closer they’d come to Lizard Flats, the quieter they’d all become.

All of a sudden, Charity felt her shame anew. She was anxious about facing Randall Howe again. Would he laugh at her? Would he deny what he’d done? So many questions were running through her mind that she was surprised when Beau James suddenly reined up.

“I reckon that’ll be it,” he said, pointing to the small nest of buildings lit up in the distance.

Her stomach knotted. “Should we wait until morning?”

Mehitable snorted. “Not from where I’m sittin’,” she muttered. “He’s ruined plenty of my sleep. I vote for ruinin’ a little bit of his.”

Beau James’s expression hardened. “He ain’t gonna have a need for sleep… or anything else.”

Charity gave him a quick, nervous glance. “You have to promise me something, Beau James.”

He turned then, his eyes piercing the darkness to gaze upon her face. “If I can,” he said softly.

“Don’t do anything that will get you hung.”

He turned away, staring at the sprinkling of lights in the distance.

“Let’s ride,” he said suddenly, and nudged his horse in the flanks.

The two women followed his descent. The fact was not lost upon either of them that Beau had promised Charity nothing.

At the edge of town, they slowed down to a trot.

“Something is going on at the other end of town,” Charity said. “I see lanterns and people… a whole lot of people.”

Mehitable’s squint deepened. “Maybe we’re too late. Maybe they done hanged the bastard.”

Charity gasped. As badly as she wanted him to pay, she didn’t think she could bear to see a man hanged.

A hundred yards away, Beau suddenly stopped. “Wait here,” he said shortly, before riding on ahead.

Charity frowned. “What’s he doing?” she asked.

Mehitable sighed. Sometimes her sister could be terribly dense.

“Just do what he says, Sister.”

They sat silent in the saddle, watching Beau’s every move. A few moments later, the crowd at the livery began to disperse. Charity wished for more light. She needed to see. To make sure that Beau James didn’t get himself killed.

Suddenly, Mehitable gasped. Charity looked at her sister.

“What’s wrong?”

“Look there!” Mehitable said, pointing to the tall, portly man in the dark dandy’s suit.

In the darkness, in the distance, the small white band on the clerical collar of Randall Howe’s shirt shown like a star.

“It’s him!” Mehitable hissed. Her hand automatically went to her gun.

But Charity wasn’t as convinced. There was something different—something that didn’t ring true. The need to see his face moved her to ignore Beau James’s order. She urged her horse closer.

***

Letty was thinking real hard on going to change her clothes when she happened to look up. A trio of riders was coming in. At first, she didn’t pay them much mind. But then one separated himself from the group, and as he came closer, the skin on the back of her neck began to crawl. It was something about the stiff way he was sitting in the saddle. She’d seen enough men bent on vengeance before to know when to duck. She pointed.

“Uh… Preacher, I think…”

Eulis turned. More strangers. He sighed. Would this day never end?

The cowboy slid off his horse, letting the reins trail to the ground as he faced Eulis.

Eulis pointed toward the livery. “Pete Samuels is the owner, but he’s up on the hill. Just put your horses inside for the night. He won’t mind.”

The cowboy took another step forward.

Letty took a step back.

“I ain’t in need of a livery,” Beau James said. “I’m looking for a preacher by the name of Randall Howe.”

Eulis smiled. “That would be me. How can I help you, my son?”

Will James drew his gun. “By bleedin’ your sorry self out on this ground.”

Eulis staggered backward, bumping into the lantern he’d hung earlier. It began to sway upon impact. The light pitched and rolled through the darkness like a ship on the seas.

“You came to kill me? But why? I’ve done you no harm.”

Beau took aim. “It weren’t me that you harmed. It was Charity Doone.”

Letty screamed.

Eulis wanted to throw up.

Just when he thought his life was over, another rider suddenly came out of the darkness. A young woman leaped from her horse, shouting aloud as she ran.

“No, Beau, don’t shoot! For God’s sake, don’t shoot! That’s not the right preacher! That’s not Randall Howe!”