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Prologue
Somewhere in northern Arkansas
1858
“Get out of the way kid, unless you want to be filled with lead,” Lee hollered as the boy jumped down from the tree tops, the branches creaking as it swung away from him.
The bullet whizzed through the air like a locomotive gone wild, acrid smoke blazed the nostrils as the bullet blew the rope in two. Lee holstered his gun and the rope broke. The thud of the body hitting the ground seemed to startle the little boy kneeling, with crocodile tears rolling down his cheeks. Not more than five or six, with clothes too big for him, and a flop hat that covered his face from view, as he laid his head against the stillness of the body on the ground.
Silence sliced the air.
“Who is he?” Lee knew his voice was gravelly but in the pouring rain it didn’t seem to matter.
The boy barely moved, then glanced slowly over his shoulder at him, his frown set deep into his face.
“He’s my Pa, but why ask? You ain’t interested. You’re just a stranger passin’ by, a white man,” the boy cried, wiping his eyes. He rose and cast Lee an inquisitive look.
Lee’s jaw clenched and he doused his anger at the boy’s somber words. He stared silently as the boy stood gawking at him awkwardly. “I’m sorry, kid.” Lee said lowly. “Where’s the rest of your folks?”
Lee dismounted and stood over the boy.
“They’s all dead, I reckon. So…you gonna kill me?” The boy seemed to square his feet on the ground, ready for the inevitable.
“What?” Lee wasn’t sure he heard the boy right. Was the ungrateful boy trying to be rude?
“You heard me, are you gonna kill me?” The little boy faced him now bravely.
“What gave you that fool notion? I told you to move out the way, didn’t I? If I was gonna kill ya, do you think I would have warned you?” Lee grunted, angry that the boy would assume the worst of him. Considering the circumstances quickly, Lee took a different tack. But the boy interrupted his thoughts.
“You’re white; white men don’t like black men.”
“Who the hell told you that?” Lee grumbled as he bent to check the body. The man had been dead for several hours it seemed; his body was stiff and cold.
“Don’t matter, it’s the truth,” the boy cried then looked back at his pa.
Lee shook his head slowly and a slight smile lit his lips. The boy was scared stiff; he was silently shaking, but didn’t seem to realize it. “Well, in the first place you ain’t a man, and in the second…where’d you get a fool notion like that?”
