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“From my Pa…” he gestured to the body on the ground. “And it ain’t a fool notion, it’s the truth. And besides, they shot my brothers and hung my pa. I reckon I am the man of my family now.”
Lee silently studied the area, the tracks, the broken tree branch, and the boy’s clothes all added up to being here too long. He noted the silence of the wind and the drumming of the rain with impatience. “I reckon you are at that.”
The boy looked startled for a moment.
“Your Pa was wrong though about one thing. In the first place, you’re a little too young to qualify bein’ a man, even though you been orphaned. And in the second, I don’t care what color you are…you’re just a kid to me.” Lee shrugged.
The boy stared but didn’t say anything for a long moment, then threw back his shoulders. “You ain’t that much older than me.”
“Maybe, but I’m a man. So tell me…who did this?” Lee asked, seeing the pain register in the boy’s hooded glance.
“I don’t know. Some men rode up to our house down yonder, in the middle of the night. They drug my Pa out, pulled him up the hill and hung him.”
“What about your Ma?” Lee frowned down into the somber face.
“They took her with them…”
“Anything you can remember about them, anything at all?” Lee asked.
The boy looked at him again and stared as if thinking about the question. “…spurs…one had fancy silver spurs, won’t be forgettin’ that one. They jingled when he got off his horse.”
Lee nodded. “How many in your family? Got any…brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles…”
“I think they’s all dead, I didn’t hang around to find out. When they shot my two brothers in the back for tryin’ to run away, I decided I wasn’t gonna go down there. I followed them up here though, thinkin’ I could cut my Pa loose when they were through and he’d be alright…but he wasn’t,” the boy cried, as though remembering it. Silent tears streamed down his plump cheeks. “My knife was too dull, it wouldn’t cut the rope. I tried…I really did.” The boy burst into fresh tears. “Pa always told me to keep it sharp.”
Lee nodded once more. “He was right, but don’t fret so, boy, when it’s your time there ain’t nothing you can do to change it. How come they didn’t kill you?” Lee asked, his voice almost hoarse now.
“‘Cause I was hid out, down by the creek, fishin’ when they came…they never saw me…”
Lee sized the situation up in his mind and nodded.
He looked at the body on the ground, then up at the tree where they had hung him. “How long you been here boy?” Lee asked when he stared down at the body.
“Since last night I guess…”
“We best be diggin’ a grave then…?” Lee’s voice trailed off, not waiting to see if there would be more tears.
The boy nodded, wiping at his eyes
. Lee ignored the sorrow buried deep in his own heart for the boy. It wouldn’t do the boy any good to see how he felt about it, so he squashed his own emotions. At times like these, it was best to be firm. The best thing he could do was take care of the boy. He cleared his throat and glanced at the body once more.
He took the shovel from off the back of his horse and while it poured rain, he dug a grave, and put the dead man in it. The ground was soft as it had rained steady for a couple of days. Satisfied he’d done right by the boy’s pa, he piled rocks on top of the grave in a fashion and nodded.
“It ain’t the best grave I’ve ever dug, but it will do. Lord, we give him unto you…” Lee said looking up at the darkened sky.
“You believe in God?” the boy asked, his face screwed up in puzzlement.
“‘Course I do, I’m no heathen. Don’t you?”
The boy studied him long and hard. “Dunno, I prayed they wouldn’t kill him, but they did.”
Lee nodded. “It was his time, boy, nothin’ you could do about that.”
“You ain’t like what my Pa said white men were like…”
“I sure ain’t like the ones that did this…” Lee remarked under his breath.
The constant rain made a lonely sound, and Lee felt that familiar lonely feeling in his heart every time he looked at the sad little boy. He wished there was something he could say or do for the kid, but there simply was nothing to make him more comfortable.
