BADLY TANGLED

 

 

            Penny and Jody had spent an enjoyable day with Buck and Mill-wheel, out surveying the flood damage resulting from the hurricane. They had built a cozy campfire, shared a good dinner, and now they sat keeping good company with lively conversation.

            A sudden nearby scuffling sound startled and interrupted them. From the dark, abruptly into the light, pitched a breathless, exhausted Oliver Hutto. He fell gracelessly, face-first, into the gap between Jody and Mill-wheel.

            "Ow! Musta got tangled up in a vine! Anyways, I need help!" he pleaded. "Penny, help me!" His eyes rose, fell on the two all-too-near Forresters, and with a gasping "Oh god!" he dropped his head into his folded arms. "Oh no, oh no!!!"

            The two aforementioned Forresters stared in disbelief at his prone form.

            For his part, Penny, exasperated, demanded, "Oliver, iffen you ain't got the worst timin' of anybody I ever...! What the hell are you doin' here??!"

            "I...I was goin' to your place...! I got news! But then they seed me! I been runnin' and hidin' ever since! They's chasin' me!"

            "Who seed you? Who's chasin' you?" But Penny had a sinking feeling that he could already guess the answer, and his guess was clear from his expression.

            Oliver nodded, as much to Buck and Mill-wheel as to Penny. "Lem...and the others...!"

            "Oh god!" Penny moaned, and put his face in his hands.

            Buck and Mill-wheel were amused and perplexed.

            Jody asked, "But Oliver, you said you had news: what news?"

            Oliver again mainly addressed the two unexpected Forresters, "Lem and me both lost! There was a third feller! Twink runned off with him! She's gone! Ain't no reason to fight no more! When Lem seed me, I tried to tell him! But he...!" The sailor ran out of breath, and lay panting.

            Buck guessed easily, "He'd not listen."

            Oliver shook his head in agreement. He begged, "Please he'p me tell him! I don't want to fight no more! Please don't...!!"

            Buck shook his head reluctantly. "That makes sense, but we cain't speak for Lem."

            Mill-wheel agreed, "We two'll not hurt you right now. But we ain't sidin' agin Lem, iffen he finds you here with us. It's his decision."

            "But please!!! I don't wanta...!! Somebody protect me! Somebody please he'p me!!" He was almost in tears.

            Penny hated to say it, but he had to do so. "Oliver, Jody and me cain't stop 'em. And we cain't keep rilin' 'em agin us, neither."

            "I know," he sniffed. "I jest want outta this...somehow! And I cain't run no more! I'm jest...so tired...!"

            Penny thought hard, and sudden inspiration hit. "Git over here betwixt Jody and me! Lay flat! Jody, gimme your jacket!" Penny was removing his own as he spoke. "I'll cover you with leaves and our jackets and try to hide you! Jody'll lay on top o' you, like he's jest loungin' on his beddin' for the night!"

            Oliver and Jody both scrambled hastily to obey.

            "Oliver!" Penny said, shaking his head, "You know I love you like as if you was my own son, but you sure do have a way o' makin' trouble for us lately."

            Buck and Mill-wheel raised their eyebrows at the first phrase, and smiled ruefully at the second.

            After Penny had Oliver covered, and Jody "relaxing" across him as if Oliver were a bed of boughs and leaves, Penny whispered harshly, urgently, "Now Oliver, for lord sake, iffen they come up on us here, you be quiet, no matter what you hear! 'Cause iffen they find you, Jody and me cain't stop 'em, and we daren't never agin try!"

            "I know," came the muffled reply. "I'm scairt!"

            "You ain't the only one," Penny muttered.

            Buck and Mill-wheel regarded Penny with unmistakable sympathy. Now that the two of them had saved him from the snakebite, they felt somewhat responsible for him, and protective of him. Plus, seeing his fear of their family gave them a conflicting reaction: they were both proud of their family's ability to strike fear in others, and ashamed that that fear was felt also by their vulnerable friend and protégée.

            Oliver suggested timidly, "Well, they'll not hurt you and Jody iffen you stay outen it."

            "I ain't too sure 'bout that. Lem'd jest love to clobber us agin. Now hush!" His eyes met those of Buck and Mill-wheel, and he sagged in his own exhaustion. Their returning expressions told him that they felt sorry for the position that he was in, but that they couldn't disagree with his assessment regarding Lem.

            Jody was plenty nervous as well, and it showed. "Pa, I'm jest gonna pretend to be sleepy. And stay right quiet myself."

            "That's fine."  

            Buck suggested quietly, "Penny, long's you really do stay outen it, like you said, we'll do our best to protect you and Jody."

            Mill-wheel nodded agreement. "And nobody but Lem'll move in on you without you provoke 'em."

            "Thank you," was Penny's heartfelt reply, which Jody softly echoed.

 

            It wasn't long before Lem arrived...and all three of the other Forrester men were with him.

            Penny tensed visibly, but smiled through it. "Well, howdy, fellers."

            Mill-wheel asked, "What brings the rest o' you out this way?"

            "Huntin'," Lem said brusquely.

            "What're you huntin'?" Buck wondered.

            Penny suppressed the thought, Or who?

            "Whatever we find," replied Arch. "We jest got restless, to-home."

            "You coulda come with us," reminded Buck.

            Gruffly, Lem retorted, "We felt like huntin', not lookin' at storm damage."

            Feeling obligated, Penny offered, "Well, join us." Cooperatively, Mill-wheel moved closer to the 'sleeping' Jody, and Buck slid over onto the other side of Penny. Lem, Arch, Pack, and Gabby planted themselves in the now-available space, and completed the circle. Penny was grateful for Buck's and Mill-wheel's very deliberate protective buffering of him, his son, and the terribly vulnerable, hidden Oliver.

            Pack indicated Jody, "That un out like a light a'ready?"

            "We've had a big day," Penny replied.

            "Penny," Buck urged, "tell Lem what you done told us earlier. You know, 'bout that tormented gal."

            Instantly, Lem's sharp black eyes were on him. Penny swallowed hard. "Ah, well," Penny began, taking over Oliver's role of telling the news, "seems that there Twink o' yourn was messin' with some third feller, also. And, she done runned off with him." He gathered his nerve. "So, I reckon, that fight was all for nothin', and you and Oliver both're outta luck."

            Lem stared harshly, his rage obviously rising, but whether at anyone other than Twink, was hard to say. Finally, he demanded, "How come you to know this?"

            Penny's heart was pounding. "Um, from...from Oliver." Now, all six Forresters' eyes were riveted on him, two in concern that he watch his wording, and four in suspicion.

            "When?" wondered Arch.

            "You've seed him since the fight?" demanded Lem.

            Penny nodded. "I've...seed him...since...." His eyes could no longer meet theirs, and he busied himself poking at the fire.

            For their part, Buck and Mill-wheel exchanged a quick, semi-amused look, impressed at Penny's intentionally vague use of the word 'since.' Their friend clearly had a talent for misdirecting, without ever actually lying.

            "So," said Pack, "that there fight that you-all had was pointless."

            Penny nodded somberly. "And stupid, and foolish. Jody and me, ...and Oliver..., was fools. Oliver was a hot-headed fool. And Jody and me was fools to even consider gittin' into it with you-all. Stupidest thing we ever done. And all three of us wish we ain't done it. Iffen we could go back and change it, we would. And we don't never wanta do it agin." He hadn't been meeting their eyes, but now, he glanced up quickly, and then back down again. "We three hope you-all'll forgive all three of us, and never git that riled at none of us, never agin. And we'll do our very damnedest to never rile you agin, nohow."

            No one spoke for a while, and then Lem shrewdly asked, "Oliver admitted to you, he feels this way, too?"

            "Yes." Penny's one word was heartfelt, and punctuated with a fervent nod. Now, he met Lem's eyes, and held them. "He hopes he kin walk safe in town, and visit us at Baxter's Island. And that, if you-all come up with him, he kin jest say 'Howdy' and go on. Peaceable."

            Lem stared back at him, his expression unreadable. All five of the other Forresters exchanged looks with each other.

            "Makes sense," Pack finally said.

            "Hit do," agreed Buck readily, although his opinion, and Mill-wheel's, were already a foregone conclusion, but not to the other Forresters, so Mill-wheel echoed his agreement.

            Gabby settled for a nod.

            "So, what d'you think, Lem?" prompted Arch.

            Lem made a show of thinking about it, and drawing out the suspense as long as he could, just to watch Penny squirm. He finally said, "I think we kin spare you three, long's you toe the line." As the relief washed visibly over Penny, Lem added almost as an afterthought, "And I think Jody should let Oliver outta there, before he smothers."

            Penny choked, Jody screamed, Oliver gasped noisily, and Buck and Mill-wheel guffawed at Lem's unexpected cleverness and humor.

            Lem gave them all an exaggeratedly patient look. "Nobody makes a bed that thick out in the woods for jest one night."

            Jody, trembling, slid off and into Mill-wheel's arms. Two jackets and a mess of leaves rose and showered off of a ghastly pale Oliver.

            Arch was amused. "So that's what you was tryin' to tell us today, before we scared hell outen you."

            Oliver could only nod wordlessly.

            Pack grinned. "You risked smotherin' to death under there all this time."

            Oliver's voice shook badly. "Better smothered to death than beat to death! I've had enough o' that, please!"

            "We've agreed," Lem reiterated without malice. "But now that third feller: what's his name?"

            "Believe me, iffen I knowed, I'd tell you! I'd love to sic you fellers on him! I'd like a crack at him myself, but I'd rather leave it to you-all to do it: do much more good!"

            All six Forresters chuckled, enjoying that.

            Oliver sagged in a peculiar mix of fear and relief. He leaned on Penny's shoulder, and his older friend cushioned his head and patted him reassuringly.

            Only scant moments later, Jody confessed to being genuinely sleepy. Perhaps in the exhaustion following tremendous relief, Oliver admitted to feeling the same. He put his arms around the boy where he lay.

            "It's a right brisk night. Let's put you betwixt me and the fire; that'll keep you warm."

            Jody nodded and yawned, and settled happily into Oliver's comforting embrace.

            With a "beggin' your pardon" to the Forresters, Penny curled up next to them. In short order, all three were fast asleep.

            "Now ain't this cute," Lem said somewhat sarcastically. "Here we are, 'watchin' over' our victims."

            "Former victims," Buck corrected. "But, I admit they do look a mite like they looked the day o' the fight, layin' so still in the Volusia dust that day."

            "Oh?" Arch grinned. "You had 'em all three laid out to oncet like that?"

            Pack was grinning even more broadly. "Most o' the time, I'll bet."

            Just then, Oliver let out a soft snore.

            Mill-wheel stifled a laugh. "But I don't recollect Oliver snorin' none that day!"

            The six Forresters tried not to guffaw too loudly.

 

            Oliver and his mother were in Boyles' Store buying material for her new dress when the six Forresters entered. Oliver's back was turned to the door, but Mrs. Hutto saw them immediately. She grasped her son's wrist and gasped softly. Oliver turned, stiffened slightly, and then steeled himself for the promised benign encounter.

            "Howdy, fellers," he greeted them evenly.

            "Hey, Oliver," several of them responded pleasantly enough.

            Lem approached deliberately, and Mrs. Hutto's grip on her son's arm tightened.

            "About that third feller...," Lem began.

            "Yes." Oliver was eager to be helpful. "I found out his name. It's...."

            Lem waved it away. "We found out, too. And better yet, we found him."

            "Where?"

            "St. Augustine."

            "And what did you...?"

            "Put it this way: he'll not be troublin' none of us, never agin."

            Oliver glanced quickly around at the smug grins of all six Forresters. He felt his mother shudder beside him. He swallowed involuntarily. He asked, "Was...she...with him?"

            "Yeah," Lem confirmed. "And we gave her a choice. After we finished with him, I offered to take her back. She refused. I even asked her iffen she wanted to be back with you."

            Oliver's brows rose in surprise. "Thank you."

            "Figgered you'd like that. But she said no. So, she ended up stayin' with him. Permanent."

            "Oh." Oliver's gaze dropped. He knew that that meant that the Forresters had killed her, too. He decided that he didn't want to know the details. He stammered slightly, "Well..., thank you for tellin' me. It's...good to know how it come out."

            "Well," Mrs. Hutto said. "I'm done my shoppin'. We best be goin'. Iffen we kin pass...?"

            The several Forresters who blocked the way to the door sauntered aside, smirking.

            The Huttos departed, almost without unseemly haste.

            Outside, his mother whispered to him harshly, "They was tryin' to scare you! With all them smug smirks!"

            "No," Oliver assured her. "They was jest teasin'. Believe me, iffen they'd been tryin' to scare me, you'da knowed it, for sure; you'da seed the diff'rence."

            "Well, I was scared! Not for myself; for you!"

            "I was a mite nervous, too. But it's all right, Ma. They kept their word. No violence, long's I stay peaceful."

            "But how long kin you keep that up?"

            "Forever! I'm done tanglin' with them, iffen I kin he'p it!"

 

            The next encounter was at the Christmas doin's in Volusia. Oliver was dancing with his mother, Olivia. Penny Baxter was dancing with Ory. Jody was watching and beaming at the interesting, rather rare spectacle. The six Forrester men entered, and stood grinning at the sight. Penny, Jody, and Oliver nodded and greeted the men. Ory and Olivia exchanged a nervous look, and clung tighter to their partners.

            With exaggerated courtesy, Buck approached and bowed to Ory, and inquired politely, "Kin I cut in?"

            Ory was uncomfortable, but since Buck had been so kind and helpful during Penny's snakebite recovery, she could hardly refuse him. Penny relinquished her willingly.

            Meanwhile, a broadly grinning Mill-wheel bowed similarly to Olivia, and asked, "Kin I have this dance?"

            Pale, but eager to keep his attention off of Oliver, she submitted, but was stiff in his embrace. He seemed not to notice, or to take offense.

            Lem approached Oliver. The blond smiled faintly, and joked, "Now, I know you ain't gonna wanta dance with me."

            Lem pulled a brief grimace, and then said, "We been thinkin'. Our ma and pa's gittin' right lonely for comp'ny closer to their own age. Maybe one day soon, you and your ma and the Baxters kin come to our place. We kin leave the old folks to visit, and us younger fellers kin go huntin'. What you think o' that?"

            "Sounds interestin'," he said carefully. "But I ain't goed huntin' in a long whiles. I don't know kin I remember how to use a rifle."

            "We'll he'p you."

            "Oh, well, all right."

            The dancers were easily close enough to hear. Olivia said cautiously, "You-all might not know, but your ma and me didn't git on good, years ago, when she usedta come to the doin's."

            "That was years ago," Buck agreed over his shoulder. "I reckon you'd have a heap more in common by now."

            "And old quarrels'd be left behind long since," added Mill-wheel, who then dipped Olivia smoothly at the end of the dance, startling her.

            The Forresters chuckled at her wide-eyed expression.

            Slightly shaken, both by the unexpected dip-maneuver and the unimagined suggestion, she replied, "Reckon wouldn't do no harm."

 

            A week later, at Baxter's Island, Ory and Olivia were quite reluctant to go to Forresters' Island, as promised, but realized that they really had no choice, if comfortable relations with the dangerous Forresters were to continue.

            "Try not to fret, Ma," Oliver said. "I'll be right keerful not to rile 'em no-ways."

            "Jest be keerful you and they don't shoot each other, accidental."

            Ory complained, "I never knowed what to say to that feisty old woman."

            "She's mellowed a heap with age," Penny reassured his wife. "You want I should stay with you and Olivia, 'stead o' huntin' with the men?"

            "Oh no!" Olivia pleaded. "Don't leave Oliver and Jody go alone with them wild men! Worse thing'll happen to us, is it'll be awkward, but we'll be all right!"

            Oliver tried to reassure her, "We'll be all right, too, Ma." But he couldn't deny being uneasy.

            Olivia persisted, "You got a heap better chance o' that, with Ezra to he'p keep the peace."

            Penny said, "I know you don't really wanta do this at all, Olivia. You want we should beg off goin'?"

            "We cain't." She shook her head sharply. "And they know it. They's usin' us for whatever they want, and they know we cain't say no, 'cause we're beholdin' to 'em for sparin' Oliver."

            "It ain't that bad, is it, Ma?" Oliver wondered. He looked slightly wounded.

            She quickly reassured him, "Oh, Honey, I ain't blamin' you! I'm blamin' them devils what use fear to make others do their biddin'. But ain't none o' this your fault! Jest come back to me alive, that's all!"

 

            True to their promise, the Forresters treated Oliver gently, and did their best to instruct him in the use of a rifle. The trouble was that they weren't, by nature, intuitive. With Mill-wheel on his left, and Buck on his right, and both of them close in, they unknowingly rattled and intimidated him. Especially since he could see Lem more or less forward of him, only a few feet away. Oliver's trembling alerted them to a problem, and they asked why he couldn't hold the rifle steady for even an instant.

            "I'm sorry," Oliver said sincerely. "I'm tryin' to relax and act normal with you-all, but I keep seein' it over agin...the fight...with you two close in on me, and Lem right over there."

            "I figgered that was what was upsettin' you," Penny said sympathetically. "I could see you was havin' a hard time keepin' your mind on your aim."

            Oliver nodded breathlessly at Penny's explanation.

            "Me, too, Oliver," Jody confessed. "My mind keeps goin' back on that awful day, seein' 'em all around you like that, even on the same sides o' you as they was then."

            "Oh my," said Buck contritely. "We ain't tryin' to scare you."

            "I know! I know you ain't! It jest...!" Oliver stammered.

            Mill-wheel admitted, "I reckon we do look like we got you surrounded the same way agin."

            "Ain't your fault! It's all my fault! I jest keep seein'...!"

            "I reckon Oliver's nerves'll be shot, afore any dumb creature kin be!" joked Arch.

            Pack shot him an irked look. "And I reckon you and Gabby and me ain't no he'p neither, remindin' him of the night we was he'pin' Lem chase after him, all over the blasted scrub."

            "I need to set down a minute," Oliver declared, hastily relinquishing the rifle to Buck, and lowering himself with a flop. "Sorry, fellers. I'm...tryin'...."

            "We know, Oliver. It's all right. Take your time," Buck said soothingly.

            "Jest relax," Mill-wheel encouraged, squatting next to him, and patting his back.

            The tall blond was clearly sheepish, and his embarrassment made him harshly honest even at the expense of his own pride. He said, "It's...fear.... Plain and simple."

            "We ain't gonna hurt you," Lem said plainly, but patiently, in a rare show of compassion.

            "I'm even a mite dizzy." Oliver dropped his head into his hands.

            Buck sank down on the other side of Oliver and helped to steady him.

            It took a while, but eventually, even Oliver mostly relaxed, and some successful hunting got done.

 

            The men returned to Forresters' Island satisfied, and with several carcasses slung over the backs of Forrester horses. They all tramped into the large, rough cabin.

            Instantly, upon their arrival, Olivia Hutto turned in her chair, saw Oliver standing straight and tall and uninjured, gave a cry of joy, and launched herself into his embrace. But she staggered in doing so, and her words to the Forrester men were slurred, as she said, "Thank you for not killin' my boy!!!"

            Oliver caught her to him in concern. "Ma...? You're drunk?!"

            Mrs. Forrester was grinning broadly. "We all are. And we done had a right nice visit."

            "Ory?" Penny stared at his wife, and especially at her bleary, unfocused return gaze.

            "Ma?" said Jody in confusion.

            "But, Ory," said Penny. "You never drink. Nor Olivia. What...?" He stared back and forth between the two usually prim and proper women.

            A grinning Mr. Forrester declared, as Penny had often heard him say before, "Why, I were weaned on it." Then, he added, "Your womenfolk was a mite nervous 'bout the men huntin', so we figgered we'd relax 'em. We done a good job, uh?"

            Buck looked at Oliver. "Pity we ain't thought to take a jug along, ourselves. Mighta he'ped smooth things easier for Oliver."

            "I'll be blasted," Penny said, shaking his head, but without rancor. "You two ol' jaybirds got our womenfolk drunk!"