Blackwater I: The Flood by Michael McDowell

Author:Michael McDowell
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6 Oscar’s Retaliation

Winters were mild in Perdido, but there was almost always a cold snap that lasted about a week late in January. Invariably some old colored woman in the country whose ramshackle house had walls made mostly of layers of newspaper would succumb and be found dead by her great-grandchildren who had come to gather her last pecans. The wives and daughters of the millowners would have a few days in which to show off their fur coats. Pipes burst everywhere, and everyone would sit in the kitchen by the stove. But with this single week as,.an exception, it was possible to sit out on the front porch all year long. And the weather was never so cold that Miss Elinor did not row Bray’s little green boat to school. It was a common remark that Miss Elinor didn’t feel the cold of that river anymore than did the fish that swam in it. During that winter of 1920, Elinor’s first in Perdido, the pact between Mary-Love and Oscar became known all over town; and it was a bargain that was seen in its true light. In exchange for Oscar’s postponing the wedding for a year (during which time Mary-Love doubtless hoped that the engagement would be severed), she would build her son a fine house next door to her own. Supposing she got her wish and Miss Elinor went back to wherever it was that Miss Elinor came from, Mary-Love would retain her unmarried son, and her only problem would be what to do with the house. But perhaps, it was conjectured by those who liked to think about contingencies, she would move into it herself. What Miss Elinor thought of the agreement no one ever learned. Elinor did not complain, though Christmas passed, and the new year came on, and nothing whatever had been done. There were no plans to be looked at. There wasn’t a post in the ground or a building permit to tack upon that nonexistent post or contractors’ agreements or strings pegged into the sandy earth. Mary-Love dallied throughout the winter, and whenever Oscar brought the subject up, she would cry, “Oh, Oscar, it’s gone be the prettiest house in town!” and then in the next breath propound some excuse that took her out of the room. In the spring of 1920 again came the rains, but they weren’t as severe as the year before. Everyone was nervous, and looked askance at the rivers every time they came within sight of them-which, considering the geography of Perdido, was frequently enough-and it became a habit to ask Miss Elinor what she thought about the matter. After all, she paddled down the Perdido every day. Even on Saturday and Sunday, when she didn’t have to teach, she’d row to church, with Oscar sitting idly and very much contented in the front of the boat. If someone in his Sunday school class twitted him on his allowing Miss Elinor to do all that work, he’d

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