Page from a Tennessee Journal (AmazonEncore Edition)

remove the chop before it reached the child’s mouth.
    “Lottie Welles, you got mo’ manners than that. You turn yo’self around and thank Mr. McNaughton for his kindness. You, too, Doug and Henry.” As her mother delivered the message, the little girl turned and dropped a quick curtsy to Alex and mouthed a barely heard thank-you.
    The toddler finally succeeded in freeing himself from his mother’s arms and grinned his thanks.
    “Thank you, suh,” came from Doug, who sidled up to the table but waited until his mother started to fill the plates.
    The woman turned to Alex.
    “The hooks is in the wall on either side of the sleepin’ corner, and the line is hangin’ from the far one.” She spoke to his shirt pocket while her two youngest children shifted their eagerness from one foot to the other.
    Despite the obvious hunger of her children, the woman did not hurry her words. She waited until Alex gave her a nod before she returned to ladling food onto the plates.
    As the woman busied herself, Alex maneuvered his way around the porous floor. A fresh dropped cow pie shot its fragrance up to him through one of the openings as he neared the sleeping alcove. He didn’t remember the floorboards being this full of knots when he hurriedly built the tenant quarters four years ago. Of course, the wood had been salvage. Holding his breath, he spotted the thin wire clothesline hanging from one hook, its mass bunched up on the floor near the space the woman called the “sleepin’ corner.” Alex frowned when he looked at what passed for her bed space. Hadn’t he given his tenants a proper bed? This was an area barely six feet long and four feet wide. For his six-foot frame, this would be a tight fit. Worse, instead of a bed, a thin mattress lay on top of a built-in box of wood. The mattress was bare.
    “Where’s the sheets?” Alex spoke out quickly without remembering that the children were within earshot.
    He grimaced at his error as he glanced across the room to the opposite alcove and the woman’s oldest son.
    “Sorry, suh. I had to shred it up yesterday when my Cleveland fell from the rafters. I think his leg is broke. I used the sheet to tie the leg to the broomstick.” She pointed a filled food tin at Cleveland.
    Watching for more knotholes, Alex walked to the woman and took the tin from her. The quiet in the room felt steep. He handed the plate to the woman’s eldest while he stared at the broomstick-trussed leg. He ran a hand over the skinny extremity, careful not to increase the pain. He stopped at mid-shin, bent down, and placed his other hand behind the boy’s leg at mid-calf. With a quick jerk, he moved his hands in opposing directions.
    “Uhh.” The child yelped. Tears splashed his cheeks, the plate of food trembling in his hand.
    Before Alex could reach for one of the torn sheet strips, the woman was at her son’s side. The look of a mother tigress protecting her cub flashed out of her face. Alex spoke up as he retied the strips of cloth.
    “Break ain’t bad. Just had to set it proper. You did a good job tying it up. Have the boy eat his supper.” Alex moved to his feet, grazing his head on the low sloping roof.
    The woman lifted a hand to touch the forming lump, and just as fast, withdrew it.
    “I thank you kindly, suh.” It was the softest tone he’d heard from her yet.
     
     
    With the clothesline strung, Alex retrieved the dropped quilt and hung it across the wire to fashion a semi-private bedroom. He sat on the formless mattress and made another note to himself to find a better cast-off. Behind the makeshift screen, he heard the woman stack the tin plates and put away the extra food. Alex took off his boots and willed her to hurry.
    “Doug. You sleep with Cleveland tonight. Lottie will take yo’ place with Henry on the pallet.” As much as the woman’s arrangements signaled progress to Alex, the protests of her children foretold more delay.
    Behind the quilt, Alex unbuttoned his shirt.
    “Why cain’t I sleep with you like always, Momma?” It was the whine of little Lottie.
    “You’ll sleep where I tell you, and I don’t want another word about it. I need Doug to sleep with Cleveland in case he needs help in the night.”
    Behind the quilt, Alex heard the woman drop to her knees.
    “Shh. Henry’s already asleep. Momma will give you a goodnight kiss and you go on to sleep yo’self.”
    Alex strained his ears to catch the sound of the woman’s lips on flesh. He undid