Chapter 4

earn something, they would be homeless. Maybelle helped, and she was the one directing me. She has a warehouse full of seed for this year’s planting. You notice I have some of the ground ready, and with the ten boys who came home with you, the seeds will soon be in the ground.”

“What are we planting?”

“Beets, carrots, onions, and turnips. We will plant acres and acres of beans, both red and white. We are switching from our sorghum canes for regular white sugar cane because a processing plant is going in not far down the state. Oh, we will grow enough sorghum for our own use and for the still that’s up in the cave. Corn has been planted, and we will be trying some wheat in a couple of years.”

“Wow, you have been busy.”

“Yes, and we will be busier in the coming years. The Yankees are coming in already. They will bring their factories and processing expertise. They don’t have the workers up north as we do here in the South, with the slaves being freed. Those of the blacks who are willing to work will make out okay. Those who don’t will turn to crime; their lives will be the poorer for it. This state is at an advantage here because we have the sea and its bounty, along with the land to provide living for us.”

“Muriel, where do these ideas you are spouting to me come from?”

“Maybelle, mostly. You can’t imagine how widespread her operation is. She goes down to the coast once or twice a month to gather information. She has Giffords Factors who work for her in just about every segment of what goes on in the state. She has the pulse of it all and plans.”

“Such as?”

“Cotton, for one thing. She started buying cotton bales when the sea lanes closed up during the first part of the war. It is stored in rented warehouses across the state. When commerce is freed up, she has two ships that will be headed for New England and the factories there with her cotton. She doesn’t own all this cotton outright, but with the dollars she has, she leveraged it into her control with promissory contracts. The time is coming soon for her to cash this in.”

“This is my sister you are speaking of?”

“It is.” Muriel and I were standing together. Far down, I could see the Plantation. people walking toward us.

“Ride down and have a wagon brought up. I’ll stay here near my brother’s body. People will believe that I am sad about my brother dying.”

“Are you? Sad, I mean.”

“Muriel, don’t ask.” I turned away, and Muriel mounted and rode down to the plantation buildings. I walked over to my brother’s body and started speaking. “You know, Brother, for years I admired you. You being older than me, I looked up to you. I used to watch you with the ease you had of always having a woman. Young or old, it didn’t matter to you at dances, and you always had one in your arms.

“Then the war came. I hadn’t realized it, but after Father passed, most of the work here on the Plantation was done by Maybelle and me. When you and I packed up to go to war, I saw what you really were. I was terribly embarrassed by your actions before the Army sent you home.

“I hoped you would do as you promised by keeping the Plantation producing to its full potential. You even fucked that up and left it to the two women whom I love to make enough of a living for those left on the Plantation. Sis is still making excuses for you. Muriel isn’t. She was so afraid of you that she always carried a gun to protect herself. She was ready to shoot me this morning when I stepped back into the bedroom after going out for a breath of air.

“So, Brother, here I am talking to something that was someone I looked up to at one time. Over there is the carcass of a horse. You just asked too much, and he died. It was you who killed him. I’ll remember him for what he was, but you, you I’ll try to forget.” I looked to see if a wagon was coming to put the remains of my brother in. Not yet. I lay down and watched the clouds skidding by.

Corporal Jack spoke, “Major, we are here. How do you want to handle this?”

“I see you brought a blanket. The best way is to roll him onto it, and four of us lift it into the wagon. I’ll hold his head because his neck is broken, and the head flops around.”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah, well, he wasn’t himself anyway. He was leaving today or tomorrow with Tante Marie. That was the plan.”

“Is she leaving? She isn’t well-liked in the quarters. Most of our people are afraid of her. They say she is voodoo.”

“Could be. Maybelle is the one who engaged her. I’ll ask Maybelle to make sure she goes.”

“That’s good.” We loaded Gaylord onto the wagon and headed for home. Maybelle, with Travers by her side, was riding in when we entered the yard.

“Muriel, you explain what happened while we put Gaylord in the back room and decide about his funeral.”

Tante Marie had come out and followed the wagon to the back of the house. When Gaylord was settled in the back room, she spoke with her hand lying on the blanket. “Poor man was tortured with many dark thoughts. He has found peace at last. If you don’t mind, I will sit with him.”

“Certainly.”

Corporal Jack stopped me for a minute to ask, “What do you want me to do with the horse’s carcass?”