The Catbird Seat by Rebecca Hollingsworth

Author:Rebecca Hollingsworth [Hollingsworth, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Published: 2022-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

10

Rocky, hard going, lost

May 11, 1857

AFTER WALKING OUT OF NEWNAN and camping for the night, Medlin woke up ready to get on to Mobile. The day dawned bright. They had slept pretty well after enjoying supper, the campfire, and the brightly colored store candy the night before. They set out walking along the train bed, but late in the afternoon they climbed away from the track to try to find a road again, after Medlin realized that to board the train they had better get into a town by the road.

Always in the back of his mind was the farm, and his obligations that were being neglected. It had been almost four weeks since the first day of the season when he had started plowing the field. After that was done, he had rented slave hands as usual from the McLeod place for a couple of days to help him put in the seed. He knew a successful yield would not come without constant attention. He could picture the weeds already strangling the fledgling plants. Easily, the balance could tip when neglect took over. He had seen it happen when a neighboring farmer went through a sick spell and everything turned to ruin. A timetable began to play over and over in his head. If they got on a train to Mobile as Tom had suggested and everything ran smoothly from then on, there might be time—just barely time—to find success at the auction and get back home to the crop.

As soon as they had left Newnan on foot the day before, things had gone surprisingly easy. Considering all that was necessary to keep four people moving along—preparing meals and other necessities—Medlin was amazed to conclude that no matter the circumstances, all things could quickly become routine. The food preparation fell to Medlin and Celia. Almost immediately out of Newnan, without one word of direction, they had fallen into a pattern of individual responsibilities, silently determined.

Late in the evening they had filled the water bladders and canteen from the river so that next morning there would be water for coffee. Medlin set out rations of ground coffee that night for Celia to ready the pot for the fresh fire she would make in the morning.

When they first started to make camp, Jama watched Medlin hunt dry material for the campfire and took on the chore for herself. At the first sign of morning light the next day, the young girl began her scour for dry twigs shed from surrounding trees. A tangle of dry, stringlike fibers from underbrush was ideal to get a fire started quickly, but it was also a favorite of birds building nests. Medlin complimented Jama when she beat out her feathered competitors over the wispy fire starter.

In dealing with Hutto, Medlin kept the Colt in his left hand as he freed Hutto’s wrists from the one set of shackles and then placed them on his ankles for the short walk away from camp into the cover of brush to relieve himself.

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