Chapter Seventeen
Dire Straits
The setting was shocking, for certain, but the way Cal was with these children reassured me that she hadn’t lost her warmth and kindness. She was giving it all to them and maybe didn’t have any left for the rest of us.
“You look after all them kids on your own?” Oscar asked, gazing about the place and trying not to show any kind of judgment in his expression.
Cal stood and reached for a soiled cloth, using it to wipe away some food that had spilled on the floor. “I’m their momma now.”
“Where’d your husband go?” I asked, curious about the state of the place and Cal’s obvious lack of help.
She didn’t look at me, only nodded. “Oh, he had to travel for some work is all. He sends us money when he can, and he’ll be back in a few weeks…hopefully.”
Cal didn’t look all that hopeful.
“Hmm. You got enough to eat?” Trick asked.
“Sure.”
At that moment, Lizzie came back with Peter, who looked about eleven or twelve, with a shock of shaggy black hair and a spatter of freckles on his cheeks. He gazed at the three of us with suspicion and alarm.
“Peter, these are my friends. I used to know them, back before I—I came here. Can you please get some water from the well so’s everyone can have a drink?”
“You got no pump in the house?” Oscar asked, and Cal’s eyes darkened.
“We got a good well. And I got a good boy who’ll go get me water when I need it, ain’t that right, Pete?”
Peter beamed at such praise and nodded, still eyeing us warily. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll go get some.”
“I’ll come, too,” Oscar said, “I need to use the privy.”
“I’ll show you where that is,” Peter said, as if glad to help with something else. And if anyone could win him o’er, it’d be Oscar.
Lizzie crossed her arms. “I can get water, too. I’m strong, and I like to help Momma!”
Trick smiled and crouched near the child. “You do look strong, Lizzie. I’m sure you help your momma out lots.”
Lizzie smiled as she looked Trick up and down. “You wear boys’ clothes.”
“Well,” Trick said, “these are my clothes, and I ain’t a boy. So they ain’t boys’ clothes a’tall.” She looked down at herself. “I reckon anyone can wear these, if they want.”
“I like dresses,” Lizzie said.
“Well, that’s fine. I wear dresses, too. But for riding a horse, trousers make more sense.”
“I suppose,” Lizzie muttered. “Only I ain’t got a horse.”
“That’s too bad. Did you want to ride mine? I can lead her around if you wanna try it.”
Lizzie’s head swiveled, and she gazed imploringly at Cal. “Can I, Momma? Please? Can I ride a horse?”
Cal gave Trick a look of resignation. “Sure. But be careful.”
“Cal, you know I won’t let her come to any harm,” Trick said.
“All right.”
Trick took Lizzie by the hand and led her out front to where the horses were hitched.
Little Samuel pulled at Cal’s skirts.
“Milk, Momma. I want milk,” he said, his face scrunched up.
Cal looked helpless as she stood by the dirty sink. “We ain’t got milk, Samuel. I told you.” Her voice was barely audible.
Samuel started crying as I tried to figure out what to do. ’Twas plain to see that Cal and these children were not in a good situation, but Cal was telling us that everything was fine. Did children this young need milk or was water good enough? Darned if I knew, but Miss June might.
“Here, Samuel, you want to play with my watch?” I said, pulling the trinket out of my pocket and handing it o’er. Sam wrapped his pudgy fingers around it as he grinned with delight.
“It’ll only go in his mouth, Jimmy,” Cal said in a resigned voice. “Give it to me, Sam.” She took the watch from the child and handed it back to me. Samuel started to cry, and Cal put a hand to her forehead.
“It’s real nice to see you,” she said, without any real conviction. “But I have a lot to do here, so I can’t sit around and visit. You best be on your way.”
I watched as she lifted the wailing child and shushed him.
“Cal. We…we want to help you.”
“I don’t need help, Jimmy. I told you. Albert sends money when he can. We’ll get more soon, I’m sure of it. But thank you for checking in.”
I knew it’d be pointless to argue. “All right. Sure.”
The children seemed bright and mostly healthy, even though their clothes had seen better days, and the house was a mess. Maybe Miss June could send some of the girls to help Cal out until her husband got back? If she’d even accept assistance. Somehow, I doubted it.
But I hated to see her in this situation.
She was in o’er her head, and she knew it.
So why wasn’t she more friendly? I supposed there was some pride involved—and not wanting to admit she’d made a mistake.
At least now we knew where she lived, and we could check in, even if it seemed Cal didn’t want us to.
And once we’d let Miss June know where she was, Oscar and I could think about going home.
We’d accomplished what we’d come to Telegraph Creek to do.
But this whole situation with Cal gave me an uneasy feeling, and I felt like we should hang around a bit longer.
Maybe Miss June could get through Cal’s defenses to find out more.
’Twas worth a try. I knew she’d want to pay Cal a visit once we told her everything we’d seen.
Cal sighed. “I know it don’t look like much, Jimmy, but ’tis my life now—and I don’t regret it.”
“That’s good,” I said. “I never pictured you with children, to be honest, but you got a way about you that’s very motherly.”
For the first time, Cal’s smile seemed genuine. “Thank you. These children mean more to me than”—her voice hitched, and something dark came o’er her face, but she got a hold of herself—“than anythin’. They’re my children, now, and I love them so much.”
“That’s plain to see,” I said, and I meant that.
“It ain’t easy. But ’tis better than—” Her gaze flashed to mine, and I wondered what she’d been going to say. “Well, anyhow, I’m tryin’ to do right by them.”
“I know you are. You’re a good woman, Caliope, and I’m pleased to know you.”
We heard a door creak and the scuff of bare feet and boots on the floor as Oscar and Peter came in through the kitchen. Peter put a pitcher of water on the counter and grabbed a tin cup.
“Not that one, Pete. Get a clean one out of the cupboard.”
“Have we got a clean one?” Peter asked, with some frustration. “I thought Lizzie was supposed to wash the dishes.”
“She was busy helping me with the clothes. You and I can do them after lunch.”
“Sure, okay.”
Cal let go of Sam, who’d settled down, and opened the cupboard door, then froze stock still. I wondered if they had any clean cups or dishes, which seemed doubtful, looking at the dirty ones piled on the counter.
“We’ll use this one,” she said finally, bringing out a large mug made of stoneware. ’Twas black with speckles on it, and for some reason Cal was looking at the mug with trepidation.
I glanced at Pete, who also had his gaze fixed on the mug.
“But that’s—” Pete started to say, in a very quiet and alarmed voice, as his gaze shifted to Cal.
“Don’t matter,” Cal said quickly. “Now be quiet and get our guests something to drink.”
The water from the well was cold and fresh, so at least they had that, even though they had to fetch it.
“You’ve got quite a bit of good land here,” Oscar said. “You got some help farmin’ it?”
“Albert was doing that, but it never amounted to much. So he’s…gone to find work. There’s jobs out there, if you can find ’em.”
“That’s true enough.”
“And I ain’t got the time, what with lookin’ after these three,” Cal said. “And we ain’t got any animals. We can’t afford to feed them, anyway.”
“There’s plenty of space for a chicken coop. Then at least you’d have fresh eggs.”
Cal gazed at Oscar like he was from another planet. “Whose gonna build a chicken coop?”
“We could,” Oscar said, glancing my way. “We built our own house in Port Essington—with some help, of course. But I reckon we could build a coop for you. We could even get you some chickens to start you off.”
Peter looked at Cal with hope in his eyes. “I could look after ’em, Momma. And Lizzie would help, I’m sure of it.”
Cal chewed her bottom lip. “I don’t know. I got my hands full already.”
“Come on, Jimmy,” Oscar said. “Let’s get these dishes cleaned. I’ll show you where the well is, and we can bring back a tub of water for washing.”
“Here,” Peter said. “This is what we use to get lots of water if we need it.”
He picked up a big pot from the floor beside the stove and passed it to me. ’Twas clean enough, thank goodness.
“Thank you,” Cal said, though she seemed awful anxious for someone who had some unexpected help she desperately needed.
’Twas so far from how I remembered her that it made me awful sad.
Her life should have been better now she was married and not charging strange men for the pleasure of her intimate company.
Sure, she had the children, but they came with a lot of problems of their own.
Oscar and I walked together to the well and filled up the big pot. We could see Trick leading Willow along with Lizzie perched on her back. The child clutched the horn of the saddle as she grinned with pure joy.
“This is bad, Jimmy,” Oscar said, as we walked to the well. “Cal ain’t telling us the truth. I ain’t so sure this husband of hers is comin’ back. And maybe they don’t want him back.”
I frowned. “We gotta take her at her word, I reckon. Maybe Miss June can come and get the truth out of her.”
“Maybe.” Oscar kicked at the dirt. “I suppose, for women, marriage ain’t all sunshine and roses.”
I nodded. “I reckon that’s true. Not always, anyhow.”
We filled the pot and brought it back to the house, then set it in the sink and washed all the dishes with Peter’s assistance. When Trick and Lizzie came back, they helped, too.
Cal looked on with resigned acceptance while she kept Samuel busy and fed him peanuts from a bowl.
“You got food in the house?” I asked, worried Cal wouldn’t like my question, but knowing I’d hate myself if I didn’t ask it. “Enough for you and the children?”
Cal sighed. “Yes. You can look in that cupboard and see what I got. There’s a bag of potatoes in the cellar and some apples. You can check if you want.”
I was hesitant to do that, but Trick came right over and opened the cupboard Cal had pointed to. There was a loaf of wheat bread, a block of cheese, what looked like strips of beef jerky and a jar of pickles. ’Twasn’t much, but at least ’twas something.
“All right,” I said. “We’re gonna be on our way then. But I reckon Miss June is gonna wanna come and see you and the children, now that we found you.”
“All right.” Cal seemed resigned to this, but she didn’t seem at all happy about it, which was another strange thing.
“When do you expect your husband back?” I asked.
Cal shook her head. “Don’t know. Maybe a week. Maybe a month. Ain’t much for him to do here, and he’s gotta get us some money. I expect he’ll wire some in a few days.”
Trick stared at Cal, and I figured she was trying to suss out if Cal was being straight with us.
“What’ll you do if he don’t?”
“He will. It’ll be fine.”
“All right.”
“Do you have to go?” Lizzie asked, pulling on Trick’s jacket. “I wanna ride Willow again!”
Trick knelt down and smiled at the little girl. “We’ll come back. Don’t you worry. It’s a good idea for you all to learn how to ride, I reckon, if your momma says it’s okay.”
Cal looked out of the window. Seemed she was done with us and wanted to be left alone.
“Bye, Cal,” Oscar said, gazing at his onetime friend with a sadness I could feel, since it echoed in my own heart.
“Bye,” Cal said, but she didn’t look at us as we took our leave—simply held little Samuel close and stroked his back as he gazed at us o’er her shoulder with droopy, sleepy eyes.