DESPERATION REVELATION

 

 

            Penny reluctantly drove Olivia where she'd requested: to Forresters' Island, to plead with them on Oliver's behalf. Penny was dismayed by this project. What if the Forresters were potentially violent even toward old women? He'd cautioned her to curb her sassiness and feistiness, but who knew if even that would be sufficient? What if the Forresters blamed and punished Penny for this awkward, uncomfortable event? Granted, he'd been beaten by them before, goodness knows, but he had no desire to repeat the experience. What if her pleas made things worse, aroused their sadism and cruelty, instead of their pity, and made them only more determined to further abuse the hapless sailor? Hesitant as he was, however, his fondness for Olivia allowed him to refuse her nothing.

            Through a haze of nervous numbness, Penny observed their arrival, the Forresters' sullen, stunned amazement, Buck stiffly helping Oliver's mother down from the wagon, and the unexpected pair being perfunctorily invited inside the cabin.

            Now, Penny sat by Olivia, uncomfortably bathed in the Forresters' cold stares.

            "I've come to beg for the life o' my son," Olivia said without preliminary. She tried to keep her eyes on the dreaded burly males, and off of their hardened mother, who came to stand, straight-backed, with arms folded, and with a disarmingly, penetratingly curious stare that unnerved the more refined woman.

            Buck asked gruffly, "What makes you figger we might kill him?"

            "Folks in town say it. Folks say...Lem...said so." She hesitated minutely at the dreaded name. Lem smirked unpleasantly in response. Mrs. Hutto avoided his eyes; she well knew which one he was.

            Buck nodded slowly but noncommittally, in mere acceptance of her words, but not in confirmation of the rumor nor its accuracy.

            She went on, "'Sides, iffen you beat him agin, you might kill him, even accidental." She was diplomatically giving the Forresters the benefit of the doubt. Inwardly, she believed that if the bullies killed Oliver, they would not do so accidentally.

            Mill-wheel was smug. "Why? Did we come close?" He obviously referred to the original fight that had triggered this multi-month living nightmare.

            "Yes," she admitted without shame.

            Lem smirked, enjoying this immensely.

            "I'm afraid o' what you'll do to my baby!" She was clearly anguished.

            Buck grinned wryly. "Mis' Hutto, I hate to break it to you, but Oliver gave up bein' a baby a long time ago."

            Lem uttered a rude, amused noise, which she ignored.

            "He'll allus be my baby!" She was near tears. "Don't kill him! Oh, don't hurt him!!" She especially directed her plea toward Buck and Mill-wheel, in accordance with what Penny had told her about those two being the kindest, despite their having also been the other two who had beaten Oliver. She cried for her son's pain, sobbing without shame, letting them see her own pain, her emotional agony at what her precious boy had suffered.

            "Whew!" said Gabby. "This here is gittin' a mite hard to take."

            Olivia automatically looked toward him in shocked resentment of his apparent callousness. Fortunately, he did not see, nor was he being callous; he had already risen from his chair, and, with his back to her, had ambled over to retrieve a demijohn. He simply wanted liquor to ease the strained mood. Gabby uncorked the jug, drank briefly of the home-brewed whiskey, and then of course passed it. Buck handed it to Penny without hesitation or comment. Penny didn't wish to shock Olivia, that he drank whiskey from the Forresters' still, but he found it most welcome; his nerves were greatly in need of calming. He managed a quick smile of thanks to Buck, who crooked a half-smile back, fully aware of how all of this tension had to be affecting his smaller friend.

            Mrs. Forrester spoke for the first time, requesting that some be poured for her, in her cup. Then, she raised an eyebrow toward the other old woman. "I'll fetch a clean cup for...our guest."

            Frightened, intimidated, awkwardly put on the spot, Olivia Hutto turned to Penny for guidance.

            He shrugged at her. "Seems to me, you need it."

            She accepted self-consciously, and nodded shy thanks to her hostess and erstwhile adversary.

            For a while, everyone found it easier to just drink quietly, not knowing what else to say to each other. That meant repeated passing of the jug, including presently the retrieval of a second jug after the emptying of the first. Thus, the euphoric, relaxed state hit all of them relatively quickly.

            "You-all oughta do this with Oliver, 'stead o' hurtin' him," Olivia said abruptly, startling everyone, shattering the quiet like the crash of breaking glass.

            "Your boy a drinkin' man?" Buck inquired, after a moment's surprise.

            "Oh yeah!" she said carelessly. "You know what they say 'bout drunken sailors!"

            A few Forresters chuckled, breaking some additional, figurative ice.

            "Why, I've seed my boy so drunk, he...." She stopped and blushed, suddenly ashamed to be telling Oliver's private business to his enemies.

            It was Mrs. Forrester who urged her, "That's all right, go on. He what?" She even gave the other woman a slight smile of encouragement.

            At that, Mrs. Hutto figured that she would be doing more good than harm, to tell it. "He...walked into the house so dizzy, he couldn't find his own bedroom. He...fell down...and spent the night on the livin' room floor." She couldn't suppress a giggle.

            The Forresters guffawed, but good-naturedly, relating to Oliver, not putting him down this time.

            Meaning it kindly, Mill-wheel joked, "So, 't'ain't allus 'cause of us, he falls down."

            Olivia took no offense. "No. 'T'ain't."

            Buck concluded, "So, you oughta be used to him takin' a spill." He reminisced, "But I 'member how hell-bent-agin-it you was, when we wanted to swing him and throw him, when he was leetle." He said it without rancor. Mrs. Forrester smiled wryly; she remembered it, too, including how she'd quarreled with the other mother about it. Buck finished, "You figgered we'd drop him, 'stead o' ketchin' him." He was playfully amused.

            She nodded. "I was so 'fraid you'd hurt him...." Suddenly, her faint smile faded as her words reminded her all too vividly of her mission here. Her eyes misted over again.

            Buck cast her a sympathetic look. "Have a drink," he coaxed. Olivia no longer needed much urging; she readily complied.

            Olivia wasn't the only woman who was loosening up; conciliatorily, Mrs. Forrester said, "I reckon I kin figger how you feel. I was jest thinkin' how I'd feel iffen I only had one young un, and he was bein' threatened by...." She looked over her sons. "...a bunch like mine."

            "Thank you!" Mrs. Hutto gushed fervently to her, and then turned hopeful eyes back to the dangerous men.

            They were hardly about to make any revolutionary promises yet.

            Buck changed the subject. "You know, though, Oliver enjoyed that there swingin' him, we done. He was gigglin' a heap."

            "I know." She sighed. "I shouldn'ta stopped you."

            They were surprised and impressed. Mill-wheel observed, "'Twas right big o' you to admit that."

            "Thank you," she whispered. "Iffen I hadn't stopped you, you mighta stayed friends with my boy. Mighta changed ever'thin'." Her eyes closed in regret. Then, she confessed, "Hit's right hard not to be overprotective when you only got one. And that's what I was bein' when I stopped you from swingin' him." She suddenly realized something else, and blurted, "And I'm bein' the same, right now! But...." Her tears renewed. "I don't know what else to do! I cain't lose him! Please, please, don't do that to me; don't take my baby away!!!"

            The Forresters were again uncomfortable. This time, it was Mill-wheel who advised her, "Have a drink."

            As she complied, Gabby was uneasily up and out of his chair again, and this time returned with an armload of musical instruments. He handed them out very precisely: a specific instrument to each of his brothers. They began to play.

            Mrs. Hutto was first surprised, then went on to charmed, and finally progressed to delighted. She loved fiddle music, and the Forresters were good.

            Steadily watching her reactions, as she swayed to the rhythm, and then tapped her foot in time, Buck grinned broader and broader. Then, laying down his instrument, he jumped up from his seat, reached for her small, soft hands, and pulled her up to dance with him.

            Penny looked nothing less than alarmed when he saw his sedate, feminine friend yanked from her seat beside him, and enveloped by Buck's powerful, big arms. But as the two dancers whirled, he caught sight of her face, and was flabbergasted to see the joyous, carefree, young-girl expression. He relaxed abruptly, almost collapsing into his chair. Mill-wheel's eyes were twinkling merrily, and he hopped up and cut in on Buck. He swung Olivia and twirled her, and had her laughing like a teenager. Meanwhile, Buck, suddenly without a partner, grabbed his mother and spun her about the room. Whereupon, she, in turn, cut in on Olivia, taking her turn with Mill-wheel. Suddenly freed, Olivia seized Penny's hand, and dragged the stunned man up and to her.

            "Olivia...??"

            "Come on, Ezra, I ain't no killjoy like Ory; let's dance!"

            Buck and Mill-wheel turned amazed, amused eyes quickly to Penny, to see if he would take offense at her remark. He didn't, but he blinked at her, speechless. However, he still danced cooperatively with her, and seemed to enjoy it.

            Olivia continued, "Now, Ezra, I know an ol' fuddy-duddy when I see one, and you married one! I'll swear, how you put up with sich a ol' fuss-budget, or why, I cain't guess! You deserve somebody fun! You shoulda married me, Ezra, like I done told you a long time ago! I love you! I've allus loved you!"

            By now, the musical instruments had stopped, one by one, as the Forrester men had dropped out to listen. Their faces revealed their extreme amazement and amusement at everything, from her insistence on calling him by his proper name, Ezra, instead of Penny, to her wildly inappropriate and public declaration of love.

            Penny's feet had long since stopped working, and Olivia nearly pulled him off-balance, trying to still dance.

            "Now, don't you be a stick-in-the-mud! You never used to be! Divorce that ol' biddy! Marry me, and it'll never be dull!"

            Silence hung in the cabin like a shroud. Penny's face reinvented every shade of red in nature. The Forresters struggled desperately not to guffaw. Their eyes were as wide as Penny's.

            Finally, without anger, Lem muttered ruefully, "That'd make Penny Oliver's daddy."

            "He a'ready is," Olivia tossed off nonchalantly.

            "What??!!" bellowed Penny. He shook his head vigorously, and addressed the Forresters, "Don't pay no attention to her, fellers; that's the liquor talkin'!"

            Arch said wisely, "Liquor often speaks the truth."

            "But I ain't Oliver's pa!"

            Olivia eyed him revealingly. "Yes you are." She was serious now in demeanor, sincere, and even seemed a little bit sober, at least for the moment. "You are Oliver's pa. I jest let folks think ol' Clyde wa'n't impotent, but he was. Owen Clyde Hutto. Why he goed by 'Clyde' when he had sich a fine name as Owen, is a secret he takened to his grave." Her eyes again glazing with her intoxication, she glanced saucily at the Forresters, not one bit embarrassed. "You-all make fine whiskey! That's what it takened, to make me finally tell it after all these years. Thank you. I feel better."

            Penny swayed from shock, as well as from his own drunkenness. "But I...! But he...! But we...!! But...!!!"

            The Forresters chuckled at him, barely suppressing violent guffaws, in the shock that they shared with him.

            Mill-wheel chided him, "Whatsamatter, Penny? Cain't remember how it's done?!"  He and his brothers snickered rudely at that.

            Penny was still shaking his head. "But only...! But we only...!"

            Olivia regarded him wisely. "Hit only takes once. I love you. He's yourn."

            "But why didn't you tell me?! Then!!"

            She shrugged. "Ain't told nobody. 'Til now." She gazed around ruefully at the Forresters, just starting to realize, through her drunken haze, that she'd certainly chosen an outrageous place and audience, in which to let the cat out of the bag. She shrugged again. "Shoulda got ol' bag Clyde together with stiff ol' Ory, and you and me shoulda married each other."

            "I s'pose," Penny admitted slowly. "but then, Jody'd not exist." Then, a thought hit him. "Do Oliver know??"

            Olivia shook her head solemnly.

            "Did Clyde...ever know??"

            "That he was cuckolded? Nope. Died at sea. Never even knowed I was pregnant."

            Penny sat down heavily.

            Attempting to lighten the mood, Pack asked shrewdly, "Hey, Penny? How'd you have a young un, is so tall?"

            Buck snapped his fingers. "Yeah! Oliver's a'most as tall as us!"

            Penny just shook his head, considering that detail to be immaterial.

            But Olivia grinned. "Ezra was younger then."

            "Had more...oomph?" Mill-wheel guessed, also grinning.

            The Forresters laughed.

            Arch speculated, "Jody'll allus be short like you, Penny. I reckon you gave all your height to Oliver."

            "And kept none for yourself!" Pack quipped.

            "Sorry, Ezra," Olivia apologized sincerely. "But you'da jest fretted, iffen I'd told you then. And what was done, was done. Anyways, that's how I figgered then."

            Penny sighed a long, world-weary sigh. He attempted a feeble joke. "Never figgered I'd become a father agin at my age."

            "Never too old, I reckon," Buck agreed gently. He was still watching Penny as he said, "So, Mis' Hutto, you was comin' to beg not only for your son, but for Penny's, too."

            Penny wiped at his eyes, still in shock.

            Mill-wheel said generously, "You know, I admire you, Mis' Hutto. It takened guts for you to come to us like this."

            She nodded her thanks.

            Penny leaned his head back tiredly in his chair. "Olivia, we should soon be goin'. I'm plum wore out."

            She cast her eyes around at all of the burly Forresters. "Iffen Oliver could see me now!" she murmured wistfully.

            "You know what?" Mrs. Forrester addressed her slyly. "I got me an idea...."

 

            When Olivia returned home to Oliver, she astounded him with her evident remaining drunkenness. But that was as nothing, when she said jovially, "Guess what?! We're invited to a party! And, my boy, you'll jest have a shit-fit when you find out where!"