Body and Bread by Cuba Nan

Author:Cuba, Nan [Cuba, Nan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781938126079
Publisher: Engine Books
Published: 2013-04-19T04:00:00+00:00

CALEY CREEK BATTLEFIELD

Named in Honor Of

CAPTAIN HOGARTH CALEY

Who Lost His Life Here

May 26, 1839

With Only 34 Texas Rangers

He Met 240 Indians At This Point,

And Routed Them.

“I never knew this was here,” I said. “Not much to look at, is it?”

“A mile up is a cave and 32 Bluffs.”

“What’s that?”

“Jaime, Wade, and me used to climb the bluffs, exactly thirty-two. So that’s what we called it.” He picked up a rock then turned it, chips sparkling. “Once when he was near the top, Wade put his hand out and there was a rattlesnake.” He threw the rock. “When he fell, his ear almost got cut off.”

“Gross,” I said, picturing a hole in the side of Wade’s head. “He doesn’t have an ear?”

“It was hanging. The doctor sewed it back on.” Sam looked up. “But you’ve been to the bluffs before. We caught that crawdad with string and bacon, remember?”

I nodded, feeling its pinchers, the pressure of the jumping after he’d placed it in my hands. “Did you ever go inside the cave?”

“We tried, but somebody would’ve had to dig a bigger tunnel.”

“Did you take a flashlight? Could you see inside?”

“Sure.”

“What?”

“Springs must’ve been in there.” A car started; a plane rumbled overhead. “It was dark, damp. Smelled like mildew.”

How could I not have heard what happened here? “What tribes?”

“You mean in the battle? Caddoes, Kickapoo, Comanche. Their leader, Chief Buffalo Hump, got his head stuck on a pole somewhere out there.”

I reread the plaque. “’Routed them.’ What does that mean?”

“I wonder,” he said, refusing to tell. But I thought I knew.

“I was trying to do what you told me,” I said, not looking at him, but hoping he’d say where he thought I’d made my mistake. If the best night of his life was when he’d gotten beaten up in a freezing Mexican jail, our little ceremony couldn’t be so bad. Then again, Mary Jo and Diane were in the hospital, and I could have gone to jail. “Sam?” He squatted next to the water, rolling a branch down the bank. “Sam?” I called. He turned then walked me back to the car before I could say anything else.

On the drive home, I tried again. “When you told me not to be afraid to look, what was it I was supposed to see?” I refused to give up ‘til I got an answer.

“Did I say that?” He slapped the side of the car in time to the radio’s “I can’t get no, sa-tis-fac-tion.”

“When you gave me the mask.” He’d imitated an animal that, in turn, disguised him. “You told me to be my true self, remember?” As usual, he wasn’t going to make this easy.

“No. But sounds right. Absolutely,” he said, bouncing his head to the music’s rhythms.

“What does it mean?” I said, clutching the armrest. What if I never found out where I belonged? “Are you saying it’s a good thing to get in trouble? Mom said she thought life was hard enough, even if I was careful. Are you saying she’s wrong?”

“What do you think?” he said, drumming the steering wheel.

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