Venom

Chapter Eleven

The cabin began to take shape.

All the logs were trimmed and cut. Those for the front and the back walls were fourteen feet long; those for the sides, twelve feet. All the notches were a foot from each end. Since the logs weren’t the same diameter, Nate and Shakespeare alternated those with slightly thicker ends. That way the walls were even.

Lifting the heavy logs went smoothly until the walls were about chest high. Then they had to resort to skids; smaller logs were braced against each wall, and the cabin logs were rolled up into position. When the walls were head high, they used ropes and the skids.

A fireplace was a necessity. Without it, the Worths would be hard-pressed to survive the bitterly harsh mountain winters. Accordingly, Nate cut slits in one of the upper logs on the wall where the fireplace would go so that when the cabin was done they could insert a saw and make an opening for the fireplace stones.

The roof logs were the longest of all, to allow for an overhang. Getting them up took coordinated effort, and once they were high enough they had to be carefully slid into place. It was a slow process, which was why the roof alone took four days to complete.

Nate and Shakespeare had also left slits in the walls for the door and the window. They cut the door opening down to the ground, and Emala mentioned that she would like it a bit wider.

“May I ask why?” Nate asked.

Emala put her hands on her wide hips and answered, “So I don’t get stuck. I’d rather not have to go in and out of my own house sideways.”

“I don’t blame you, madam,” Shakespeare said.

“It is a trial being plump,” Emala informed them.

Shakespeare grinned and gave a courtly bow and winked. “But you jiggle so nicely.”

“Why, Mr. McNair!” Emala exclaimed, and laughed heartily.

They made the window a foot and a half across, and Emala remarked that she would like it wider, too.

“I don’t advise that,” Nate said.

“I am a big woman,” Emala responded. “I’d like to have a window that all of me can stand in front of.”

“The wider it is, the more cold air it will let in,” Nate warned her. “Curtains and shutters won’t help much when it’s cold enough to freeze your breath.”

“I hope to get glass like Winona and you have.”

“Glass lets in the cold, too. Didn’t you notice that our windows are the same size as the windows I am making you?”

Emala reluctantly settled for a small window.

Every day they stopped work at noon to eat and rest. The women cooked food, coffee and tea were brewed, and everyone sat around talking and joking and having a friendly time.

It was during a noon break one day that Randa got up and strolled off with her hands clasped behind her slender back, admiring the splendid scenery. She loved the sweep of the high mountains. She loved the colors of the vegetation that covered the valley floor. She loved the lake with all the waterfowl cavorting about. In short, she loved everything about their new home.

Randa’s ambling brought her to the gully. She was standing watching a bald eagle soar high in the sky when Zach King came out of the trees with his rifle over his shoulder, carrying a rabbit. She remembered him going off earlier and had wondered where he got to. “More food for the pot?” She hadn’t heard a shot.

Zach nodded.

Randa had noticed he didn’t talk much. He wasn’t always gabbing like Chickory did. She liked that. She liked, too, how handsome he was. Not that she would ever let him know, him being married and all. “How is Louisa doin’?”

Zach stopped. “Fine,” he said. “She gets a little sick in the mornings, but she is eating like a horse.”

Randa grinned and said, “You shouldn’t ought to talk about your missus that way.”

“It’s the truth,” Zach said. “I can barely keep enough food in the pantry, she eats so much.”

“I hear ladies do that,” Randa admitted.

Zach stared at her waist.

“Is somethin’ the matter?” Randa asked, uncomfortable under his gaze. “Why are you lookin’ at me like that?”

“Where are your weapons?”

“Pardon?”

“You don’t even have a knife.”

“I do so have one, but I took it off to work,” Randa told him.

“No gun?”

“Not yet. My pa says he’s fixin’ to get me one just as soon as he can afford to,” Randa revealed.

“Come over to our cabin later,” Zach said. “I have a spare pistol you can have.”

“I couldn’t.” Randa’s mother had warned her about accepting gifts even from people she knew and liked.

“I wasn’t asking. You can’t traipse around out here unarmed, woman. You’re asking to be torn to bits or have your throat slit.”

Randa felt an odd sort of tingle when he called her “woman.” “It can’t be as bad as all that.”

“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 pass 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, encompassing 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 grass 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.”

“My ma would likely say the same,” Randa said. “She’s always naggin’ my pa about one thing or another. Do this or don’t do that and land sakes why can’t he ever listen to her.”

“There you have it,” Zach said.

Randa enjoyed talking to him; he was easy to talk to. She gazed into his eyes and then glanced away. “I hope I meet a fella like you one day. I wouldn’t think he was any aggravation at all.”

“There’s only ever one of us. And you might want someone who doesn’t have my flaws.”

“What would they be?”

At that juncture Emala came around the cabin and jabbed a thick finger at Randa. “There you are. I’ve been lookin’ all over for you. Where did you get to, youngun?”

“I went for a walk.”

“Well, don’t go waltzin’ off without you lettin’ us know. We’re not on the plantation anymore. It ain’t safe. Am I right, Mr. King, or am I right?”

“It’s Zach, and you’re absolutely right.” Zach held out the dead rabbit. “Would you do me a favor and give this to my mother?”

Emala curled up her thick lips in distaste. “There’s blood all over it and half the head is gone.”

Zach wiggled the limp body. “Don’t tell me you’ve never handled game?”

“I have, many a time,” Emala said. “But I’ve never liked blood and the butcherin’ can be mighty messy.” She used her thumb and the first finger of her left hand to take the rabbit by the tail. “It doesn’t have lice, does it? Some dead critters crawl with lice.”

“No more than any other animal.”

Emala beckoned and Randa joined her as she made for a shady spot where the other women were resting. “What were you talkin’ to him about?”

“This and that,” Randa answered. “Why?”

“I saw how you were smilin’ at him. I’ve never seen you smile at any man that a way. It better not be why I think it is.”

“He’s nice, is all.”

“The Kings are decent folks. They’re doin’ more for us than anyone ever has and we should be grateful.”

“I am.”

“Then don’t be walkin’ alone with Zach King. He’s a married man. It’s not proper.”

“All we did was talk. Don’t make more out of it than there was.”

“You don’t tell me what to do. I tell you. And I’m tellin’ you that we must be as nice to the Kings as they’ve been to us.”

“Talkin’ ain’t nice?”

“Don’t sass me, child.” Emala scowled. “You’re startin’ to worry me. You truly are. Until we’re settled in and they’ve accepted us more, you’re not to traipse anywhere with Zachary King. You hear me?”

“Accept us more?” Randa repeated.

“We’ve been with them a good long while, what with crossin’ that prairie and comin’ up into these mountains. But that ain’t the same as bein’ neighbors. Neighbors can talk to neighbors anytime.”

“How will I know when I can talk to him?”

“I’ll tell you.” Emala waddled off. “Mind me, you hear?”

Randa frowned. Her mother was always bossing her around. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like it one bit. Then a thought hit her so hard she was jarred to her marrow; her folks intended to live there the rest of their lives. Which was fine and dandy, but as Zach King had pointed out, there were precious few people around. And all the men save her brother and Dega were spoken for. Though from the way Evelyn and Dega were carrying on, he was spoken for, too.

What was she to do for a man of her own?