Page from a Tennessee Journal (AmazonEncore Edition)

peacemaking, Alex went over his words again in his head.
    “Better not have meant nothin’ by it. Wiley George, just what are you good for? You can’t play cards, you can’t hold your liquor, and you can’t take decent care of my daughter. Just what the hell can you do?” The sound of Ben Roy’s rising voice brought Bobby Lee through the door and into the back room.
    “You boys need somethin’ else in here?” Bobby Lee walked over to the platter of chicken sitting on top of a barrel of crackers.
    Now was Alex’s chance.
    “Bobby Lee, you say you got another nigger lookin’ for hired-out work?” Alex glanced up at the proprietor but kept focus on Ben Roy. Alex swept the table with his cards once.
    Ben Roy laid another card face down in front of his brother-in-law.
    “I thought you was gonna be all right with the nigger you just got.” Bobby Lee came over with the chicken. The down county man took himself a thigh but the three Thorntons waved the proprietor off.
    “That’s just it. I don’t need no more hired men. Got too many as it is. That no good nigger John Welles come back today.” He said the name slow, but he held his voice steady like it didn’t really mean everything to him.
    Alex let his eyes slide to his left to catch a secret glimpse of Ben Roy who sat staring at his cards. Had his brother-in-law heard? “Place don’t need two hired men. ’Sides, that Welles is a no good nigger.” Alex picked up his fifth card and slipped the third queen in next to the other two. He had a full house. He knew not to make a move, not to make a big show of adding more money, nor to let a muscle twitch in his face. In this game of poker, when a man held a winning hand, he was the only one in the room who needed to know until the very last second. But the hand Alex most wanted to win wasn’t in any poker game. Nothing but besting John Welles would do, and Laura was the pot.
    “What’s no good ’bout this nigger?” The down county man asked as he scowled at his own cards. He swept the table twice, and Ben Roy delivered him two fresh replacements.
    “Left me right after plantin’ last year and ain’t showed his black ass back in these parts ’til today.” Alex slowly reached back into his overalls pocket and pulled out a second silver dollar. He slid it casually toward the pile of cash.
    Ben Roy caught the action.
    “How’d you come to know he was back in Lawnover?” Ben Roy let the words slip out of his mouth.
    Alex watched him discard a card, take a replacement, and pull out two greenbacks from his shirt pocket. Slowly, he shifted his eyes to Alex as he waved Bobby Lee and his chicken platter away. Bobby carried it into the main room. Alex’s mind was a whirlwind of concoctions.
    “Picked up my new hired man on the mid-forty tonight. Welles’s boy said his pa had been back around the place.” Alex held on to his cards, careful to avoid Ben Roy’s eyes.
    “The nigger’s back on the mid-forty? I thought for sure he was gone.” Wiley George spread all five of his cards face down on the table as he finished off the contents of his Mason jar.
    Alex didn’t answer.
    “You seein’?” Ben Roy jabbed a finger in the direction of his cousin, who laid out three tens. The self-appointed Thornton patriarch turned to his younger brother, who laid his own cards face down on the table. Ben Roy lifted his fisted cards to his chest and turned back to Alex.
    “That Welles nigger come back to look in on his wife and kids is all. He’s got a mad on ’cause his wife’s got a full belly.” Ben Roy shrugged his shoulders. He paid more attention to the down county farmer when the man laid his cards face down on the table than he did to Alex.
    Though the May evening was mild, Alex watched the sweat pop out across the hapless farmer’s forehead. Other than making for a tight summer, what did the man have to fret over? It was nothing compared with the danger to Laura.
    “Once he smacks her around a time or two, gets it out of his system, he’ll haul his ass out of Lawnover.” Ben Roy inclined his head toward Alex. “Take Bobby Lee’s new man to help you out.” Ben Roy made no move to show his cards.
    The thought of Welles laying a hand on Laura brought up the bile in Alex’s throat. “That ain’t likely. Not on his own. John Welles is an uppity nigger. His boy says he carryin’ ’round a pistol.” Alex let the words ease out of his mouth.
    Hettie reentered the room carrying the jug.