Malachi moon, p.2
Malachi Moon, page 2
Malachi looked down as his father’s intensified gaze bore into him. He was wringing his hands under the table to keep from becoming even more disrespectful. There were times when his father acted as if he was dimwitted or something. He hated when that happened.
“This land has promise. If you don’t own something in life, you work until you can own something. We work this land because in a few more years we’d be able to call it our own. Before you know it, your children will own it and their children after that. Nothing in life comes free. You remember that, boy. Everybody has to earn their way to get good things. If you’re lazy and shiftless, then nothing good is going to come your way,” Buford said.
Malachi nodded. He still hadn’t lifted his head out of respect.
Buford pushed his chair from the table. “Rose Ann, you finish eating, and then get this kitchen cleaned up. Where’s my corn liquor?”
Malachi and Rose Ann watched their father walk away as he headed toward the other side of the room. He reached into the small chest that was underneath the window and removed the dark brown bottle of corn liquor.
When he’d gone into his room, Malachi began gathering the plates as he stood up. “I don’t care what he says. I don’t see no logic in farming someone else’s land!” he said. He was angry. “We do the hard work, and others live high off the hog while we bust our butts to get this land right. And for what? So we can say it’s ours? If I ever own anything, it’s going to be mine from the start!”
Rose Ann took the plates Malachi had given her, and walked over to fireplace where a large, black pot was hung on an iron ring in the fireplace. She put the plates inside the hot water that was in the pot.
“Why we can’t be bankers and store clerks?” Malachi asked.
“Maybe because we ain’t got no education.”
“Hell, we don’t need no education to steal from people who don’t know any better than what they’re told. When Pa got this land ten years ago, Ma told him he was a fool for signing on the dotted line and taking on the responsibility of this place. She said that the land wasn’t fertile enough to bring in a profit. But your Pa—the man who knows everything—didn’t listen. What do we have out in that there field? Sure, we can include some potatoes, and a few rows of corn. Maybe even some tomatoes, but that’s about it.”
Rose Ann shrugged. “He’s your father, too.”
“We got two cows that are as thin as shoestrings. Stella,” Malachi threw his arms up. “A mule so damn stubborn that if I had my way, I’ll shoot her in the ass to put the ass out of her misery,” Malachi said. He made Rose Ann laugh. “Don’t laugh, Rose Ann. That damn mule is enough to drive a man crazy. One day she wants to work. The next day she doesn’t. The following day she won’t even come out of the barn.” Malachi shook his head. “I’m going out to check on the thin cows and the stubborn mule.”
Rose Ann laughed harder.
“Rose Ann! Rose Ann! Girl come and help your Pa take these damn boots off!”
Malachi glanced at his sister. “The poor king is calling,” he said, and rolled his eyes.
Rose Ann shook her head and smiled as she walked toward the back room of the cabin.
Buford was sitting in his old rocking chair in the far right corner of the room. He raised the large brown corn liquor bottle to his mouth, and gulped down its contents. He brought the bottle back down, and placed it on the floor. He watched his daughter walk into the room.
“Malachi is a good boy, Pa. He is trying to do the best he can,” Rose Ann said.
She walked over to her father. She turned her back to him as she sat half way on his right knee while he lifted his right big booted foot for her.
“Girl, you take up for that boy too much. The boy is lazy! Come back some so you can grip the boot, child!” Buford said. He grabbed Rose Ann’s hips and pulled her toward him. “You know I have trouble with these boots when it’s time to take them off.”
Rose Ann moved back a little further toward her father. She knew what was next as she gripped his boot by the heel and tried to pull it off.
“Girl, you really starting to fill out. You going to make a man mighty happy one of these days when you come of age,” Buford said, as he reached for the bottom of Rose Ann’s dress.
Rose Ann tensed as she felt her father’s hand on her calf.
“A good man when you find him, girl, is going to treat you right,” Buford said. He let his hand slowly travel a little farther up her leg.
She tensed her stomach. She felt a sense of nausea flood over her body, as she clenched her teeth tightly. She shivered as she felt her father’s hand slowly travel further up her leg. Closing her eyes, she concentrated. Expanding her lungs. She let go a bellowing fart while at the same time tugging hard on Buford’s boot as she opened her eyes.
The sound of the fart and the immediate horrendous smell that followed made Buford remove his hand.
“Damn it, girl! Don’t you know it’s not ladylike to be passing gas like that?” Buford asked. He wrinkled up his nose as the wretched smell of dead fish filled the room. He started fanning his hand in front of his face. “I’ll take off the other boot myself. You go see if you messed on yourself. Whew! Child, I hope nothing has crawl up in you and died. You stink!”
“You sure you don’t want me to get the other one, Pa?” Rose Ann asked as she turned around while getting away from her father.
Buford continued waving his hand in front of his face. “No. Go on and finished straightening up in the kitchen,” he said, as he stared at Rose Ann while reaching for his corn liquor.
Rose Ann smiled as she left the room.
That night, Malachi lay in his bed looking at the ceiling. He had his forearm across his head. He was naked underneath the gray wool horse blanket. His thoughts were far away.
“Malachi?”
He looked to the left of him at the worn blanket hanging up beside him. The blanket separated his sister and himself. Giving each some privacy. Since they both shared the same room. It made them both feel as if they had their own rooms. They’d been in the same room since Malachi had been seven and Rose Ann was four.
“Yeah, Rose Ann,” Malachi said.
“Are you decent?”
Malachi looked down at himself. He pulled his blanket up to his waist. “”Yeah,” he said.
Rose Ann pulled back the blanket. “Can’t sleep?”
“No. Thinking. Why?” Malachi asked.
“I can’t sleep either,” she said.
“We should try. Before long the rooster will be crowing and we’d be doing the chores again,” Malachi said.
Rose Ann looked at her brother. “You don’t like farming, do you?” she asked.
Malachi continued to stare at the ceiling. “I don’t know. I don’t see the purpose in it, Rose. I mean, I feel there’s something better in the world then shoveling cow shit, chasing chickens around to get some eggs, and plowing a ground with a stubborn mule that don’t give you nothing but headaches. Pa likes this way of life. His Pa and his Pa before him liked farming. Maybe I’m different in some way. I might be more like Ma. She said what was on her mind, and did what made her happy. You don’t remember Ma much. You were little when she...Well, Pa and her used to argue a lot about the farm, and where life was taking them. Ma had a mouth on her that made me cover my ears sometimes as she’d curse Pa.”
Rose Ann looked at her brother. “Was Ma pretty?”
“Pretty? I don’t know. Maybe. She always smelled like honeysuckle whenever she hugged me. Always smelling fresh. It could be the hottest or coldest day outside, and she always smelled fresh,” Malachi said.
“I don’t look like her, do I?” Rose Ann asked.
Malachi turned toward his sister. “You have her eyes. Those dark brown eyes that makes a person look at you more than once,” he said.
“Do you think I’m pretty, Malachi?”
Malachi rolled his eyes. “Nope. You’re as ugly as the butt of a squirrel,” he said.
“Malachi!”
“I don’t know, Rose Ann. What do you mean by pretty? Are you prettier than Stella? I don’t have any comparisons. You’re my sister. I guess you look okay.”
“Pa is always talking about how pretty I am, and how I’m going to make some man a good wife someday,” Rose Ann said. She pushed out her bottom lip in a childish manner. “What if I don’t want to get married, huh? I don’t need no man groping me, and trying to make me do things I don’t want to do. Worse, I don’t need a man in my life that is going to tell me what I can’t do and can do! A man can’t do nothing for me that I can’t do for myself!”
Malachi stared at his sister. “What are you talking about?” he asked.
Rose Ann looked at him. “Huh?” She lowered her brown eyes. “Oh...nothing. I just thought you might think I’m pretty,” she said.
“I don’t know. Well, you’re getting bigger. This time last year, you looked like a stringy boy. Now....”
Malachi let his eyes quickly glance at Rose Ann’s large breasts, and then back up.
“Oh. These,” Rose Ann said, as she followed Malachi’s quick glance. “They’re more a burden than anything else. I can’t swing the ax like I used to because they’re in the way. Then when I run, I have to hold them down because they’re bouncing all over the place. If you had them, you’d know what I mean.”
“I don’t want them,” Malachi said. He turned his attention back to the ceiling. “I like my flat chest just the way it is.”
Rose Ann pulled back the blanket separating them and curled up with her hands shielding her breasts while pulling her blanket up to her neck. The night had become cool and she felt a small chill run through her body. Maybe the chill had to do with the way she was feeling whenever her father touched her. She was young, but she knew there was something nasty in the way her father touched her and the way he looked at her. She was not comfortable with it.
“Sing me a song, Malachi,” Rose Ann said.
“Why? You just going to laugh at me.”
Rose Ann smiled. “Go ahead. I won’t laugh at your wolf howling,” she said.
“Wolf howling?” Malachi asked.
“Go ahead, Malachi. Please.”
Malachi smiled. He closed his eyes for a moment, and let the words form. When he opened his eyes, he was grinning.
“I was walking down a dirt road looking for a chicken-chick. I’d been walking three days, and four nights while licking my juicy lips. I didn’t see noth ...ing...noth...ing but darkness on the sweeeetttt...cold...cold... road. I heard the croak of a toad, and my eyes got as wide as a spring tide. My hands shivered, and I missed a step. I swallowed hard while stretching my longgg, longgg neck. I know that old chicken-chick is out there hiding in a hole. I am going to find me that chicken-chick and pluck its feathers. Skin it good and fry it lonnnnggg. That ole chicken-chick is going to keep me strrroonngg and keep my stomach full. Cause, I’m as hungry as a fool on a rainy, rainy daaayyy.”
Malachi stopped singing. He listened to the heavy breathing of Rose Ann. She had fallen to sleep. He smiled. Closing his eyes. He tried to sleep. He knew his day tomorrow would be a long one. A day full of chores and hard work on dirt that yielded nothing but blood and sweat.
Chapter Two
Malachi knew his day was going to be full of pain and suffering when he went to the barn to get Stella. It was still dark out. He yawned as he opened the barn doors and saw Stella staring at him. The mule bayed and turned her ass to him as she turned around as if she’d seen something she detested. Malachi took that as an insult as he closed the barn doors. Also, he knew it was Stella’s way of saying she wasn’t going to do any farming today.
Malachi went to Stella’s stable. He opened the stable door and walked in. He leaned on the doorframe and stared at the stubborn mule. “Look, Stella, I ain’t gonna take you acting like you running this here damn farm. I’ve been patient with you. I understand you being dumb and all, but it’s too early in the morning for you to be acting this way,” he said.
Stella turned her massive head slightly around to look at Malachi. She arched her eyebrows and shook her head as she returned her attention to the back of the barn wall.
“I don’t need you looking at me as if I’d lost my mind for asking you to come on out and do your chores, Stella,” Malachi said.
Stella whined but didn’t turn back to face Malachi. Her tail lightly swung out, and, purposely brushed it against Malachi’s face.
Malachi shook his head as he ran a hand across his face. “If I go get me one of those damn switches out yonder from the tree, and come back in here and take it to your hide I bet you’d listen to me then!” Malachi snapped.
Stella he-hawed.
“So now you think I’m a fool, huh? Stella, I’m telling you to come on out of there. Right now, doggone it!” Malachi shouted.
Malachi took a step further into the stable. When he did, Stella raised her hind legs, and kicked out. Her hoofs lightly hit Malachi in the stomach. It wasn’t as hard as it could’ve been, but the force of it did lift Malachi off his feet and out of the stable as the door of the stable slammed shut. He landed on a pitchfork that was partially hidden in straw. He let out a horrible scream as the pitchfork pierced his butt.
At that moment, Rose Ann came running into the barn. She’d been in the chicken coop gathering eggs near the barn. There was a basket in her hands. She was wearing the same dress from yesterday. The only difference was she was wearing a white handkerchief tied around her head. She looked from Malachi to Stella. She quickly assessed the situation in front of her. She started to laugh.
Malachi leaped up. His handsome face was twisted in anger as he rubbed his sore backside. His lips had pulled back into a snarl as he continued to rub his butt while staring at Stella.
“That’s it! I done had it with that damn jackass!” Malachi snapped. He turned around and snatched up the pitchfork. “I’m going to show you what’s it like to feel some pain.”
“Malachi!” Rose Ann shouted.
As Malachi took his first step toward the stable, Stella slowly turned around to face him. The mule walked the feet to the stable door. She used her head and pushed open the stable door. Malachi stopped. He watched Stella walk out. She headed to the barn door. Stella didn’t rush. She simply sass-shay out of the barn with grace. In her hurry to see what was going on, Rose Ann had left one of the barn doors open. Malachi stood there and watched Stella exit. The pitchfork was tightly gripped in his sweaty right hand.
Rose Ann watched the mule and her brother. She had to admit. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed it. She started laughing.
Malachi dropped the pitchfork, and stormed pass his laughing sister.
“Malachi, you get angry too quickly. Stella knows that and that’s why she does what she does,” Rose Ann said as she followed her brother out of the barn.
“If that stubborn mule wasn’t the only one on this farm, her ass would be wolf meat by now,” Malachi said. He continued walking.
Stella ears pricked up at the sound of Malachi’s harsh words. She stopped.
“Malachi,” Rose Ann said.
Malachi continued to walk toward Stella, but he slowed down his quicken pace as he neared the mule. He took three more steps before stopping a few feet from Stella.
“Well, I didn’t really mean it like that...” Malachi said.
“Malachi,” Rose Ann said as she came and stood beside her brother. “I think you made her mad.”
“She’s a damn mule, Rose Ann! What is she getting mad for? We feed her lazy ass after she works. If she don’t work, we shouldn’t have to feed her,” Malachi said.
Stella head abruptly turned toward Malachi. Her nose flared. She grunted and dropped her big rump on the ground defiantly all in one swift motion.
“Now you’ve done it, Malachi. Offer her some sugar.”
“I didn’t do a damn thing, Rose Ann! We treat this mule like it is human. The only sweets I’m going to give her is a sweet kick in her stubborn ass if she don’t get up and start working!” Malachi snapped.
Malachi walked around and stood in front of Stella. Stella followed his every step with her large brown eyes.
“If you don’t go on and get your lazy ass off that ground, you’re going to be in some real trouble, Stella,” Malachi said. His neck was bulging with veins as his anger grew.
Stella gave him a look of disdain. She didn’t move.
“Malachi!” Rose Ann shouted.
“I know what I’m doing, Rose Ann!” Malachi snapped. “Stella, I’m gonna tell you one more time.”
Stella replied by letting her forelegs collapse. Now she lay on the ground on her belly.
Malachi crossed his arms over his chest. He leaned in close to Stella’s hot breath. “I’m going to go get me a switch,” he said. He spun around and headed toward a large old tree several feet behind him.
Stella sat there and watched Malachi walk away. When Malachi was twenty feet away, Stella stood up. She gave a loud whine, and took off running toward Malachi at a full gallop.
“Malachi!” Rose Ann screamed. Her scream was ear shattering as she dropped the basket of eggs.
Malachi was determined to let Stella know who was the boss. He glanced over his shoulder when he heard his sister scream out to him. He did a double take as he saw Stella running toward him. He took off running.
“Run, Malachi, run!” Rose Ann shouted as she lifted her long dress that went down to her feet, and ran after them.
Malachi’s heart was racing. He’d never seen Stella move as fast as she was moving now in hopes of catching him.
“Keep running, Malachi!” Rose Ann shouted. “Keep running!”
Stella increased her speed as she tried to catch Malachi. The massive muscles in her powerful legs expanded each time they hit the ground.
