Tempest of Tennessee (Episode 1): Tempest of Tennessee Page 3

  It was getting close to noon and I had a lot to accomplish before Daddy came home. Usually we could depend on him coming through the door between five-thirty and six.

  The first thing was hook the smaller utility trailer to the four-wheeler that I’d driven back to the house after the emergency responders left with Billy’s body. Taking a hand truck with me, I went into the house.

  There were several items to remove and hide where no one could find them. I loaded the gun-safe first and then three ammo canisters full of rounds.

  Next was his collection of change. He used round, five-gallon clear plastic water bottles. One and a half bottles held nickels, dimes and quarters. With them were two full bottles of pennies and another he’d just started on.

  The gun safe was heavy, but five gallons of change was far heavier, heck, weighed more than me. It was hard enough to twist and turn one onto the hand truck, but once on and tilted back the weight was so much that the tires almost flattened and made it hard to pull. I was lucky he had concrete blocks for steps because I’m sure wooden ones would’ve broken.

  At the trailer, the ramps I used for the safe were too steep and short. I had to use the longer ones he used to load his tractor onto his huge trailer. It was still a strain to drag a bottle onto the trailer.

  After all the bottles of change, I sat on the back of the trailer and took a break. I remember Billy once joked there was probably a thousand dollars of shiny coins in full bottle. Sitting and staring at them, I upped his guess by three times. Between the two bottles, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were four thousand bucks or more.

  I rounded up his pistol and hunting rifle from the house and collected his hidden stash of ready cash from behind a dresser-drawer he’d refashioned, making it shorter to leave a space behind it. The Stoffer’s candy box had about four hundred in it, all ones and fives.

  Billy didn’t believe in banks. I went to his out-house for his moneyboxes. The seat was a two-foot by four-foot piece of plywood with a hole cut in it. Nobody would think to lift the entire piece of plywood. I did, holding my breath against the foul odor that wafted as I lifted, and slid the ammo boxes from their brackets at each end of the board. One was full of neatly stacked bills, tens, twenties, fifties and hundreds, the other was over half full.

  Billy, hair always messy, ragged scissor-cut beard, dressed in work clothing, greasy pants and shirt in warm weather, greasy coveralls in winter. Billy told me his check from the Army paid all his bills and then some. No one would dream how much money he made, but during the time I spent around him I saw weeks where he pulled in over a thousand just doing repairs. He made money on junk metal, bush-hogged and tilled garden plots for people with no tractor. Yep, Billy was a moneymaker, but not a money spender.

  I didn’t take time to count it, but I already knew that added with the change, Billy’s cash was much more than the land would bring at auction. Between the guns and so much money, I was feeling squirrelly about being right in front of Billy’s RV in plain view of anyone driving past. I cranked the four-wheeler and went to the Causley’s barn.

  At the barn, it only took a moment to decide that the best place to hide the valuables was to rearrange a stack of old hay bales to make a secret compartment. The barn was tight and the bales were dry, the hay so old and brittle that I got to sneezing and had to make a mask out of an old rag.

  The will Billy wrote had the combination to the gun safe. That’s where I stashed the paper money. By the time the safe and bottles were hidden it was nearly four. I decided I had enough time to bring over a load of tools before Daddy came home from work.

  I beat him home by a half-hour. Mama and my sisters were in the kitchen getting dinner ready. Mama heard me come in and shouted, “Come here, girl.”

  She took one look at me and said, “I’m not going to bother about why you’re late from town. Get your chores done, and hurry about it. Don’t come to the dinner table all dusty. Dang it Tempest, you hair’s full of straw. You look like you wallowed in a hay pile. Comb it out.”

  I was the last one at the dinner table. I came in just as Daddy told Ruby, my oldest sister that Tad Wilson was coming to court her after church on Sunday. Tad Wilson is just about the unhandsomest boy for miles around. That fact showed on Ruby’s face, but she didn’t backtalk Daddy. She knew better.

  I sat down and reached for the bowl holding mashed potatoes. Daddy said, “Ask, don’t reach. Heard tell you had a busy day in town, even got yourself a lawyer.”

  “The man at City Hall said I had to.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because Billy’s will said for the land to be auctioned and the money put in escrow until I’m eighteen.”

  “We’ll see about that. What about his belongings, his tractor and tools and such?”

  I wasn’t expecting him to ask questions so soon. I mumbled, “Oh yeah, give me a minute. I need to get you something.”

  In my room, suddenly scared of how mad Daddy was going to be, I counted three hundred from my savings and went back to the kitchen. I took my seat and handed the money to Grandma Sophia.

  “Would you pass this around to Daddy?”

  The money went from hand to hand to him. He took it from Mama and counted it.

  “What is this money?”

  “The Causley’s gave me a ride home. I sold all Billy’s stuff to them.”

  Daddy sometimes cussed me, and this was one of those times. He turned red and his face bulged. “You did what, you stupid little bitch. The tractor and his other vehicles and trailers are worth thousands. What do you mean you sold it to the Causley’s?”

  I’d never seen him so mad. I didn’t know what was coming. “I thought you’d be happy to get the money.”

  “Happy. I’ll tell you what would make me happy… snapping you skinny neck, that’s what.”

  I didn’t say anything back. Daddy sat and glared at me so hard that I thought he might reach over the table and “Snap my skinny neck”. He didn’t. After a minute of breath holding all around the table, he said, “I’ll be speaking to your ‘lawyer’ tomorrow. As for Bella and John Causley, I’ll see them after work on my way home.

  “Girl, I never figured you for an idiot, but I’ll straighten this up with those two. When you get off the school bus, wait at the corner. I want you there by the road when I stop tomorrow.”

  We went back to eating, but no one at the table spoke another word.

  I didn’t wait for him after I got off the school bus because I didn’t go to school. I spent the day moving, first the vehicles and then the more valuable of Billy’s tools and other belongings. Some of the items, things like his welder and his roll-around tool chest, were very heavy, but none as heavy as the money bottles from yesterday.

  Before getting started, I told the Causley’s what Daddy said during dinner. John asked to read the will. After he did, he said, “Here’s the way of it Tempest. Your father would probably have a case concerning a minor selling us Billy’s belongings, especially the vehicles and tools.”

  “I believe you’re right, John,” Bella said.

  John said, “Yep, but, reading Billy’s will, bad as it is, one thing strikes me. Tempest can keep the tools as long as she claims they will help her earn money when she comes of age.

  “Here’s the way of it. Tempest lied to Sam; lied about selling us the tools.” Then speaking directly to me, “Play it stupid, say you want to keep the tools and you only told him that you sold them so he wouldn’t be mad. You thought if you gave him some money he would be satisfied. Are you okay with that, Tempest?”

  “He’ll still be mad,”

  “The only way he won’t be mad is if he gets everything. Would you be okay with that?”

  I had to shake my head. “No, not even a single nail or screwdriver.

  John shrugged, “Then you’ll have to deal with his anger.”

  It came to me then that I didn’t give a damn if Daddy was angry or not. “I’ll play stupid like you said. I’ll su
ffer through his anger. I only have to last two more years in his house.”

  That afternoon, there by the road, I told Daddy that I lied about selling the tools, told him I was keeping them according to the will. I played it even stupider and asked for my three hundred back.

  Daddy never said so, and my lawyer never gave me a direct answer, but I think they talked. I think it because he said, “You are a selfish, worthless piece of shit. Sometimes I think your mama screwed around on me because there is no way you’re the get of my loins.

  “I’m stuck with you for two more years, but I won’t be finding you a husband. The day you’re eighteen, don’t bother packing a bag. You leave my house with nothing but the clothes on your back.”

  We didn’t go to the Causley’s, but he wasn’t finished. “Tell John he crossed the wrong man.”

  “They didn’t do anything, Daddy. All they did was let me store my inheritance in their barn because I asked.”

  “Then whatever comes of this, you caused it. You can walk home from here. Get to the house and do your chores. There’re going to be new rules concerning you. One of them is if you’re a minute late to the table, don’t bother sitting down.”

  *************

  I never had to suffer under Daddy’s new rules because the next morning was the day I decided to quit school. I knew college wasn’t in my cards and another year of classes wouldn’t make a difference in my future prospects.

  I made that decision just as I was stepping onto the stairs of the bus. I stepped back down and said to Miss Paula, the driver, “I won’t be going to school anymore. Tell em I quit.”

  It was too early to knock on the Causley’s door, so since I was already in front of his place, I walked up Billy’s drive to load the trailer with more of his tools. When I got there, I found my mind in a whirl. All of a sudden, I felt free.

  Instead of going straight to loading, I went into Billy’s big shop. Sitting in a recliner near his boxwood stove, the one Billy sat in on days when we’d just talk… the very one he sat in that day I paraded naked for him, it came to me that I wanted more freedom than just quitting school. I wanted to quit my family.

  I wasn’t positive, but from the talk of other teens at school, even though parents couldn’t kick out their kids until they were eighteen, a sixteen year old could legally leave.

  That really got me thinking. Got me thinking about Billy’s guns. Guns equal meat. My knowledge of nature, what plants I could eat equaled fruits, vegetables and roots. Billy’s tools represented the ability to till the ground and plant. Other tools gave me ways to earn money.

  All that thinking made me restless. I went outside to begin loading. Walking past the next biggest shed on the property, the one Billy used for his lawn-tractor and other yard and garden tools, I found myself stopping to stare at it.

  I helped Billy build it. We tore down the rickety shed it replaced and that summer I was with him every piece of lumber used. Billy didn’t use nails to build; he used deck screws because with screws if he screwed up, he could unscrew it.

  With that building on my mind, I loaded the trailer and went to the barn to unload it. By then, it was ten according to my cheap wristwatch; late enough that even old people should be awake.

  The Causley’s were up, must have been for some time. I could smell bacon. They’d finished breakfast, but Bella led me to the kitchen where John sat at a small square table with a red and white checkered plastic tablecloth. She waved to a chair.

  “Sit and keep us company while we have our coffee.”

  She took John’s empty cup from the table and asked me, “Do you want a cup?”

  “I don’t drink coffee. A glass of water would be good.”

  “I bet you are thirsty. We heard you down at the barn.”

  “Yes mam, I brought up another load.”

  John cleared his throat. “Why aren’t you in school?”

  “I decided to quit. I won’t be going to college, so what difference will another year make?”

  John smiled, Yep, reckon you’re right about that. You dad doesn’t believe in education for girls. Do you know why you all don’t have internet or cable? He keeps his women ignorant so he can control you.”

  Setting my water and his coffee on the table, Bella said, “John, it’s not right to voice what’s no more than an opinion. Tempest has to live with him.”

  “No mam, I’m not going to live with him.”

  That got their attention. I decided that was the right time to tell them about my talk with Daddy and his threat concerning them. I told them about other decisions I’d made.

  When I finished speaking, John was shaking his head, but he was smiling. “So you’re going to tear down a shed, rebuild it back on the WMA and rough it… Sister, bring Tempest a cup of coffee. Never mind, I’ll get it. If she’s doing that, then she needs to learn the comfort of a hot cup when things get rough.”

  He did. He went to the counter and poured me a cup of coffee. Setting it on the table, he said, “I’m not kidding. Coffee sees a body through the times when it seems nothing is right. Learn to love it.”

  I took a sip and burned my lips and tongue. Both of them chuckled. Bella said, “It takes practice. Let it cool a while and then blow across the top before you sip. You’ll get the hang of it.”

  We were silent for a few minutes. During that time, I managed a few sips of the bitter brew without scalding my mouth.

  John broke the pause. “October’s only three days off, too late in the year to think about planting winter greens. You’ll need to buy most of your food.”

  “I’m not planning on planting on the WMA. I’ll only be there until I turn eighteen and can legally buy property. I’m thinking I’ll take apart all of the sheds and buildings and store the lumber and plywood until then.”

  Bella said, “Girl, you barely outweigh a bag of feed. Do you really think you can do all that?”

  “No mam, I’m going to do it. The lawyer said I might have as long as sixty day before the land’s put up for auction. I plan to get everything as fast as I can, try for thirty days just in case it goes up for sell sooner.”

  John did his habitual throat clearing. “I hope this doesn’t offend you, but if it weren’t for my COPD I’d help you just to spite your father. I heard tell he’s planning to hitch your oldest sister to Tad Wilson. Tad’s father is head of planning and zoning for the county, but he has his eye on running for mayor.

  “His father’s position is the only thing Tad Wilson has going for him. Besides being the ugliest boy in all of Chester County, Paula Haines, your bus driver says he’s a bully. You might want to warn Ruby. He’ll probably be a wife beater like his father. That’s why Claire Wilson twice ended up in a battered women’s shelter before she skipped town without bothering with a divorce.”

  I agree with him. “Yeah, everybody knows he’s a bully, including Ruby. It won’t do any good to tell her what she already knows. She’ll do what Daddy tells her.”

  Bella said, “I don’t know how you managed not to be cow-whipped like the other two, but count yourself lucky.” She pointed to my cup. “Look there, brother, she drank it to the bottom.”

  I didn’t know I had, but sure enough, it was empty. Now that I noticed that, I also noticed I was feeling antsy and knew it was from the caffeine. Standing, I said, “I see what people mean about getting a buzz from it. I can’t sit still so I may as well go back to hauling. Thank you for helping me… especially with storing my stuff in the barn.”

  John waved my thanks aside. “Like we told you, it’s not costing us anything for you to use wasted space.”

  Bella stood and began collecting coffee cups. “As far as school goes, starting next year, along with many other new laws, ah la the FFDA, girls have to wear skirts that go three inches below the knees and no tank tops. Shirts and blouses have to button to their necks. Tempest, for the life of me, I can’t see you dressed like that. As tom-boyish as you are, sometimes Brother and I wonder if you’re a l
esbian.”

  I didn’t particularly care for boys, but cared as little for girls. “No mam, I’m not a lesbian. I don’t think about sex. All I want from people, boy, girls, grownups, is to be alone. What I want is to be in the forest with the animals and bugs and plants. That’s where I’m happy.”

  Setting the empty cups on the counter by the sink, Bella laughed. “Tempest Fuller, you’re the oddest child I ever knew.”

  “Nothing wrong with wanting to be in the forest,” John said. “You’d better get to hauling before your father finds a loophole in the law and lays claim to what’s left.”

  Bella chimed in, “That’s a fact. Another fact is we might not even be alive come tomorrow. The President’s blustering about the tariffs again. On the early bird news, he gave a speech giving the world notice that we may be down on the economic side, but our Nukes are as ready as ever. I really think he doesn’t care if he starts World-War-Three.”

  John stood to join Bella. “Hard to believe a Democrat will do what Trump threatened to do, but I’m with Bella. I don’t know who he’s planning to strike, but I think he’ll launch.”

  Going to their back door, I said, “I can’t do anything about what the president does, but I can get most of the tools over today. First thing I’m bringing over are the tractor attachments. After that I’ll bring the tools and anything else that has value.”

  Bella came to hug me. “Child, take care to stay out of your father’s way. We eat lunch at one. Come join us.”

  “Thank you, mam, but I’ll be over at my house saying my goodbyes to Mama and Grandma Sophia. Mama will probably feed me one last time.”

  Billy had a great number of tractor attachments, so many that instead of putting them inside the barn, I lined them up along the back wall on either side of the double doors. Hooking and unhooking the attachments from the three-point hitch consumed the rest of the morning.

  A quick wash up at the Causley’s outside faucet saw me on my way home. At the door, for some reason I felt compelled to knock. I realized then that in mind, I had already moved out.