Boone's Lick by Larry McMurtry

Author:Larry McMurtry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2000-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

1

I EXPECT one reason most boatmen are stumpy little fellows is that there’s no great amount of room on a boat. There were four boatmen on our boat, besides ourselves; when all was fine and fair, everybody lolled around on deck, fishing or playing cards or doing whatever they wanted to do. But it was not always fine and fair—we’d not been gone from Glasgow two hours when some clouds came scudding in, almost as low as a flight of ducks—big raindrops began to splatter down. There was a little shed of sorts, at one end of the boat, which was where we all huddled when the downpour came. The only travelers who didn’t seek cover were Father Villy and Charlie Seven Days. Charlie stood on the edge of the deck with his shirt off—to him the rain was just a refreshing bath.

“I hope you have a better opinion of Mr. Seven Days now,” Ma said, watching the rain splatter down. I believe she was bored by the lagging conversation, the result of the fact that Uncle Seth and Aunt Rosie had had a late night.

“I have no opinion of anything or anybody,” Uncle Seth replied.

“Being surly is no way to start a trip, Seth,” Ma said. She herself seemed to be in first-rate spirits.

“Well, I didn’t expect it to cloud up so quick,” Uncle Seth said.

“It’s just a shower,” Aunt Rosie said.

“Yes, but fish don’t bite when it’s this wet,” one of the boatmen said, the skinny one who liked to play the Jew’s harp. His name was Joe.

“Joe, that’s erroneous,” Uncle Seth said. “It’s wet all the time for a fish, remember?”

“Go to hell, this ain’t your boat!” Joe said. He was a testy little fellow.

While we all watched, Father Villy walked to the edge of the boat, stripped off his robe, stood there naked for a minute, and then dove in the water. Before we knew it he had swum all the way to the east bank.

“I guess a priest can just go naked when he wants to,” Aunt Rosie said, a little shocked.

“Villy was always that way,” Granpa said. “He shucks off when he feels like it.”

“Do you like him, Seth?” Ma asked.

“Well, he’s large—that could be useful if there’s a fight,” Uncle Seth said. “Another advantage is that he can marry people. On a long expedition like this somebody might get the itch to be hitched.”

“It won’t be me, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Aunt Rosie said.

“A man Seth’s age who has never been married doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Ma said.

Ma and Uncle Seth went on joshing and bickering, just as they would have if we’d been at home. Charlie Seven Days had just eased his canoe into the water—I walked over to watch.

“I am just going to look for snags and sandbars,” he said. “You’re welcome to come if you’re not busy.”

The problem of snags and sandbars is one boatmen have to deal with every day of their lives, if they happen to be on the Missouri River.

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