Part 11 (2/2)
”It's worse.” Zach came closer. ”Hasn't my pa or Shakespeare talked to you? Don't be fooled. It's peaceful at the moment, but the peace never lasts. As surely as you're standing there, sooner or later something or someone will try to kill you.”
”Happens to you a lot, does it?” Randa teased.
A shadow seemed to pa.s.s over Zach's face. ”Sometimes it seems as if it happens every time I turn around.”
Randa made bold to ask, ”My pa says you've killed a lot of folks. Is that true? Are you a killer?”
”It's not anything I like to talk about.”
”Oh. Sorry,” Randa said quickly, and walked away along the gully rim, intending to go around and into the woods. To her surprise, Zach fell into step beside her.
”Where are you going?”
”Just walkin'.”
”I'll go with you. You shouldn't go anywhere unarmed.”
”There's really no need,” Randa said. ”Everyone is right over yonder. All I need to do is yell and they'll come on the run.”
”By the time they got here a bear could rip your head off or tear open your belly.”
”You sure think of nice things.”
”I think of real things.”
Randa puckered her mouth in displeasure. ”You're only sayin' that to scare me.”
”No, I'm saying it because it's true.” Zach touched her arm and she stopped. ”Listen to me, Randa, and listen good. If not for your sake then for your family's.” He gestured, encompa.s.sing the entire valley. ”Life here isn't like what you are used to. This isn't like back East. You can't take it for granted that you'll get through the day without something or someone trying to make worm food of you. Always stay alert. Every minute. Every second. The time you don't is the time you die.”
Randa still didn't think it could be as bad as he was saying, but she kept her peace. ”I'm grateful for the advice.”
Zach drew his Bowie and held it so the blade glistened in the sun. ”Out here life is like this knife.”
”How is that?”
”Beautiful but with a razor's edge. It can take your life as fast as you can blink.”
Randa had never thought of a knife as beautiful. ”You have a nice way with words.”
Frowning, Zach slid the Bowie into its sheath. ”If I do, it is news to me. But I hope I've made my point. I'd hate for anything to happen to you.”
”You would?”
”Of course. You and your family are our friends. We are-” Zach stopped and his eyes darted toward the gully. ”Did you see that?”
”What?” Randa looked but saw only the rocks and boulders that lined the gully's rim.
”I thought I saw a snake.” Zach stuck the tail of the dead rabbit under his belt. He leveled his rifle and thumbed back the hammer and went over, stepping carefully.
Randa followed. She was fascinated by him. He had an air. He moved so quick, too. She looked down into the gully but all she saw was more boulders and rocks. ”I don't see nothin'.”
”Me neither. But I'm sure I did.”
”What kind of snake was it?” Randa remembered the fuss everyone was making over rattlers.
”I can't rightly say.” Zach shrugged. ”Oh well. It's gone now.” He let down the hammer and jerked the rabbit from under his belt. ”Remember what I've told you. And don't stay out here by yourself.” He made for the cabin and the gathering.
Randa lingered, watching him. He sure was forceful. She liked that, too. She idly picked up a small stone and sent it skittering to the bottom of the gully. It clattered noisily when it hit. She went to follow Zach, and stopped. A strange sound had risen. Bending, she tilted her head to hear better. She'd never heard anything like it. It reminded her of the buzzing of a bunch of bees. Near as she could tell it came from the bottom of the gully. She started to go down to investigate.
”Are you coming?”
Randa turned. Zach King had stopped and was waiting for her. She hurried to catch up, saying, ”Sorry. I thought I heard something.”
”What?”
”I don't know. Maybe bees.”
”There are a lot of them hereabouts. Be careful you don't get stung.”
”Thank you for lookin' out for me,” Randa said quietly. She had never had a man do that except her pa and her brother, but she didn't think of Chickory as a man.
Zach shrugged. ”We're an island of people in a sea of savage. We need to watch out for each other.”
”Goodness, you really do have a way with words,” Randa praised him.
”No one has ever said that to me before,” Zach said. ”If I do, it probably comes from being around Shakespeare so much. His speech is as flowery as a rose garden.”
”There you go again.”
Zach smiled.
Randa liked his teeth. They were white and even. She liked his eyes, too. They were as green as gra.s.s and as deep as the lake. She envied Louisa King. Without thinking she said, ”Your wife sure is lucky to have you.”
”There are days when she doesn't think so,” Zach said. ”I tend to aggravate her now and then.”
”Doin' what?”
”Being male.”
”How is that an aggravation?”
Zach looked at her. ”According to her and my mother and Blue Water Woman and just about every married lady I've ever met, it comes naturally. Men can't help but rub women wrong, as my ma likes to say.”
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