Nicodemus
Tina Belcher
They rode as fast as the tired; sweating gasping horses they were on would allow them too. They had been in the saddle for days with the posse never far behind. They had some idea of the direction they were heading and it made both of them as uncomfortable as the posse behind them.
Finally they pulled up and stopped by a small
stream. Hannibal Heyes took off his hat
and ran his hand threw his hair. It was
sweaty in spite of the cold. His partner
and cousin jumped down from his saddle beside him.
“Heyes, I don’t like this.” He looked around at the countryside. The rolling hills and miles of brown prairie
grass. “Do you know where we are? I don’t want to go there.”
“I know.”
Heyes sighed. “But we may not
have a choice. They may force us across
the boarder and….well as long as we don’t go to far south it will be
okay.” He tried to sound like he
believed that himself. But he
didn’t. They were in the southern
In the distance they saw the dust rising from
the posse that was gaining on them again.
“Damn!”
Kid mumbled. “Don’t those guys
ever get tired.”
“Come on.” Heyes was back in the saddle and
headed out.
It wasn’t long before they crossed the line
and were heading deeper into
The town that loomed in the distance wasn’t
very big, but it gave the promise of some relief from the saddles they had been
glued to for days and hopefully some refuse from those that were chasing
them. They slowed the horses to a walk
as they entered. Soon they became aware
that they were being watched closely as they rode in, closely and with
suspicion. Soon they found their road
blocked by a group of men carrying shotgun.
“Whachew boys be
wantin here?”
Kid and Heyes looked at one another as they
realized they were the only two white faces on the street.
Heyes smiled at the men, “No need for the guns
friend. We are just passin threw.”
“Uh-huh.”
The man doing the talking didn’t sound convinced. “Get down offin them
horses.”
Slowly the boys began to dismount. Apparently too slowly to
satisfy the group of men. Two of them grabbed Heyes and pulled him off
the horse before he had a change to reach the ground on his own. “Easy, easy.” Heyes cautioned, “No need to get rough.”
Kid spoke this time. “Honestly all we were
lookin for was a chance to fill our canteens, maybe a
hot meal and then we would be on our way.”
From behind them someone came
riding in fast. Without thinking both
Kid and Heyes went for their guns and drew.
Mentally Heyes slapped himself on the head ‘damn! That was dumb. No matter who that is riding in, that was
dumb.’ He and Kid were grabbed from
behind by the men again and their guns ripped from their hands. This time the men didn’t release them as they
had when they pulled them from the horses.
A boy not more than 15 jumped from the horse that had skidded to a stop
a short distance away.
“Pa, there’s a bunch of men riding fast right
this way. Looks like maybe…” the boy
shrugged, “I don’t know a dozen or so.”
The leader of the group grabbed Heyes and spun
him around as the others from the group continued to hold both he and Kid. “Who you bringing to our
town? Klan?”
A look of horror crossed both Heyes and Kid’s
faces. And they both spoke at the same
time, “No!”
Heyes continued, “No sir. We would never do anything like that. I’m afraid those men are after us.”
“After you?!” The man repeated not sure that he believed
him, “What they after you for?”
“Ahumm.” Kid actually blushed, “That would be a posse
sir. They think we did something that we
actually didn’t. “
Mostly under his breath he added, ‘at least not this time.’
Heyes continued. “The railroad hired them. They seem to be under the impression that we
robbed a payroll shipment from one of their trains.”
“Well did ya?”
The man asked sternly
Suddenly both Heyes and Kid felt like they
were under the stern eye of Grandpa Curry, being questioned about some mischief
they had gotten into as children. In a
strange way it felt warm and comforting.
They looked at one another and Kid shrugged
that it was okay with him if Heyes answered the question. So Heyes continued, “honestly sir. We have done such things in the past, but for
the last almost year we have been trying to go straight. So no we did not rob this particular
payroll.” It shocked both he and Kid
that the truth came out so easily. Heyes
wasn’t sure why he had told this people the truth, when he’d opened his mouth;
it had just come out.
Somewhere from the back of the crowd someone
called, “Why should we believe anything a white man has to say.” Others in the crowd mumbled their agreement.
Heyes looked at the leader of the group, who
was regarding him thoughtfully, “Sir we have no reason to lie to you.”
The rest of the crowd wasn’t convinced and
began to mumble things about lynching and tar and feathers. Both Heyes and Kid were getting nervous. They realized that these people had no reason
to believe them and every reason in the world to be afraid of them. Simply because they were white. From far in the back of the crowd there came
the squeak of a rocking chair and the sound a wise old voice. “You bring them two fellers here sos I can
get a good look at them.”
“Now Momma Charlene, there ain’t no reason for
you to get involved in this here situation at all. We can handle it just fine.”
“Zeke Tanner!
I told you to bring them boys here sos I can
get a look at them. Don’t you make me
get off this here porch and walk over there. You do
like you done been told and bring them her to me.”
With a weary sigh, “Yes Ma’am.”
Heyes and Kid were bragged across the street
to the porch near one of the general stores on the main street of town, they
were practically tossed at the feet of an old woman. Both Heyes and Kid snatched the hats off
their heads and greeted the old woman with polite nods. Slowly she stood and took several steps
closer so that she could get a good look at them. She pointed at Kid; “You say something.”
Kid looked at Heyes who was just as puzzled at
he was. “What would
you like me to say Ma’am?”
She frowned at him, “Where you from boy?”
“
“Was you borned there?”
“Ah no.” Kid was a little uncomfortable now. “We, my cousin here and I were born in
“
The woman eyed him, “Lawrence you say.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Heyes and Kid looked at each other again. They were very confused.
“Your folks didn’t happen to have a farm just
a few miles outside of town and yours lived near by.”
Heyes and Kid exchanged shocked looks, “Ahmmm
yea they did.”
“Uhm.” The old woman nodded her head. She returned to her rocking chair and lowered
herself into it and began to rock as she thought back. “Ifin I’m remembering
correctly,” She pointed at kid, “Your momma had corn colored hair and blue eyes
just like you have. Your daddy was tall
and dark. Irish he was. You could hear it in his words.”
Kid was totally taken aback. “Yes ma’am.”
Then her gaze turned to Heyes. “Boy I can see
your father in you. Tall and dark just
like you are, with a touch of the English in his words. Your momma,” She stopped to think again, “Yes
I remember now. Your momma was his
daddy’s sister and she had dark hair and blue eyes.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Heyes confirmed, “and she had a touch of an
Irish accent just like his dad had.”
“And y’all had the orneriest granddaddy.” She
laughed as she remembered.
Again the boys exchanged looks. “Ma’am how do you know all of that?” Kid asked.
By now the posse was close enough that they
could hear the sounds of hoof pounding the ground. “I’ll tell ya all about it later. Right now Zeke
you and take these boys into this store here and hide them down in the root
seller. Somebody get them horses off the
street and unsaddled.”
“But Ms. Charlene…”
“NOW ZEKE!”
“Yes ma’am.”
He nodded the direction to the boys. “Lets go.”
“Now the rest of y’all when that
band of folks gets into town here you convince them that these two boys,
either moved on or were never here.”
“Now about we just tell them that we ran them
off cause we knew they was trouble.” Someone suggested.
“I don’t care how you do it. Just make sure that their posse goes on about
its business so that those two boys can get out of town safely.”
Heyes and Kid were practically dragged away
and threw the general store. They were
unceremoniously thrown into the root cellar at the back of the store. Getting up and dusting the dirt from them
selves, Kid turned to Heyes. “What the
hell is goin on here?”
“I’m not sure.” Heyes answered as he tried the door, “but
there is something about that old woman that rings a bell.” He turned and looked at his cousin. “Does she to you?”
At first Kid shook his head no, but then he
stood and looked at Heyes thoughtfully, “Ya know she kinda of does. How is it she knows so much about our folks.”
Heyes shrugged and shook his head as he spoke. “I’m not sure.” His eyes met Kids, “Unless it has to do with
the railroad stop.”
Heyes didn’t need to elaborate what he meant
by railroad stop. Kid knew he was
talking about the fact that their parent’s farms had been a stop on the
Underground Railroad used to move runaway slaves North. Kid stared off into space for a few
minutes. “I do seem to remember their
being an older woman who stayed with us for a long time.” He looked at Heyes. “You remember her. She was waiting for her family to catch up. They got separated or something like that.”
Heyes started to smile, “I remember her. She and Grandpa Curry were
quite a pair. Always
into some mischief and playing pranks on one another. I seem you remember you mother sayin that
they were as bad as we were.”
“Boy she could cook too.” Kid smiled, “Remember those cakes she used to
make on Sunday. Big
chocolate ones and pies.”
Heyes looked at him “figures you’d remember
that.” He turned thoughtful, “What was
her name?”
Then from outside they heard the unmistakable sounds of men searching. As they moved closer Heyes and Kid moved toward the back of the cellar. Behind some storage bins they found a panel that could be moved and behind it was a hole that they could both fit into. They hadn’t much more than pulled the panel closed when the root cellar door was ripped open and three men came in carrying torches and guns. Behind them was the storeowner.
“I already told you fools, there be nothin in here except supplies.”
“Appears he’s tellin the truth.” The lead man turned to follow the others back
out. “Nothin in here
except vegetables and supplies for the store.”
The boys could hear the sounds of the men as
they moved away to the next building.
Slowly the climbed out of the hole they had been hiding in and
cautiously moved toward the door and listened.
When they couldn’t hear anything, they decided to venture out and see
what was going on. Slowly they opened
the door. Seeing no one in the area they
quietly left the root cellar and slowly moved threw the store toward the
windows that faced the main street. Down
the street they could see the men as they moved from building to building
searching. Finally after what seemed
like forever the posse was satisfied and mounted up and rode out of town still
heading South.
“It’s alright now boys you can come on out the
store.” The old woman called to
them. As they approached her and she
smiled at them, “You boys figured out how I know so much about you yet.”
They looked at one another and Heyes spoke
first, “Well ma’am we think so. But we
aren’t sure.”
She laughed at them “I’d be surprised if you was sure. Neither one
of you was very big the last time I seen you.
Matter fact, ifin you,” She pointed at Heyes, “Didn’t sound so much like
you daddy when ya talk, and both of ya look so much like your folks, I’m not
sure I would have recognized you.”
“You spent a long time at the farm with us,
didn’t you?” Kid asked.
She nodded, “Yes son I did. I was there for
several months waiting for my family to catch up. We got separated on the trail. I was beginning to think that they had been
caught when they finally did show up.”
She steadied the boys closely, “I tired so hard after the raid to find
out what happened to you boys. I heard
that your folks had been lost, but no one seemed to know what happened to you
boys. Then I learned that you had been
sent to that home for orphans. I
considered trying to get you to raise myself.
But I knew they wouldn’t allow no colored family
to have you boys. So I didn’t try. I
didn’t see any point in breaking your hearts again by getting your hopes up for
having a family again and I didn’t think I could stand bein told I couldn’t
have you boys.”
Heyes and Kid looked at one another. Finally Heyes asked, “Granny Butcher?”
She started to laugh as tears sparkled in her
eyes. “I knewd you would remember
eventually.” They both got up and hugged
her hard. “I’m sorry you boys are in the
mess you are.” She looked at them hard,
“Is what you said about goin straight the truth?”
“Yes ma’am. “ Kid assured her, “We have been
working hard for it for almost a year now.”
“Governor promised us that all we needed to do
was stay out of trouble for a year and he would grant us unconditional
amnesty. It hasn’t been easy, that’s for
sure.” He looked at Kid, both of them
very glad that they had told the truth. “But yes ma’am we sure have done it and
we intend to keep at it.”
“Good! I’d seen them there wanted posters that
had your names on them. Bout broke my
heart to think that you boys had come to no good.” She looked at them with all the love that any
grandmother could have for a grandchild, “You was such good little boys. Both of ya was ornery as all get out,
especially you Hannibal Heyes. Always plannin some adventure or scheme. You two used to drive your momma’s crazy with
all those crazy plans and scheme’s you’d come up with.” She slapped the arm of her rocker with her
hand, “Now then. You boys have got to be
hungry.” She looked at Kid, “Especially
you Jedediah. If memory serves you never met a meal you didn’t like.”
Heyes started laughing, “He still hasn’t met
one he didn’t like.” Kid tried to look
wounded, but ended up laughing anyway.
They spent the rest of the night and most of the
next day visiting with Ms. Butcher, before they and she decided that they
should be on their way before the posse decided to give up and come back only
to discover that they had been lied to and fooled. All three realized that it
would be bad for everyone if that was to happen. The last thing the boys wanted was to cause
any more or more serious trouble for the folks of this little town. At dusk the next evening, reluctantly they
saddled up and rode out.
“Heyes, what do you suppose would have happened
to us the other day if our folks hadn’t been involved with the railroad way
back when.”
“I think we would probably be on our way to
prison about now.”
Kid looked back at the little town fading into
the distance, “Think we will ever see her again.”
“I hope so Kid, I sure hope so.”
History
In the year of
1877 the town of
And on a personal note, Charlene Butcher is the name of my friend who for a long time was out cook here at work. Affectionately known as “that crazy ole black woman”. She retired about four years ago and died shortly after.