Gap Creek by Robert Morgan

Author:Robert Morgan [Morgan, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9780743225359
Publisher: San Val
Published: 1999-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

IT WAS THE first time Lou and me had ever cooked together. We had sawed wood together and we had hoed corn together and pulled fodder. But it was always Mama or Rosie that was busy in the kitchen at home. It felt good to have Lou in my kitchen.

“Now you just set down while I fix supper,” Lou said.

“I will not,” I said.

“You’ve been on your feet long enough,” Lou said.

“How would you know?” I said and we both busted out laughing.

I was so glad I had bought the sugar and coffee, for my cupboard was bare, and there was only what was left of the canned stuff in the basement. But there was the ham Mama had sent, and that would give us a feast for two or three days. I put the ham in a pan and basted it with brown sugar and molasses. It was just like Mama to send a ham. I bet she had sent the best piece of meat left in the smokehouse.

“You could put a little mustard or vinegar in that sauce,” Lou said.

“I want this ham to be all sweet,” I said. After sliding the ham in the oven I got more wood from the back porch for the stove. Garland and Hank and Carolyn was standing out by the bee-gums, watching something above the trees. I shaded my eyes and seen a wedge of geese going over. They sounded like a pack of beagles running after a rabbit. The geese was high enough to go right over the ridge. They was flying south, and by dark they would be far out of the mountains.

“Who has done the work at home since I left?” I said.

“Most of the outside work has fell to me,” Lou said.

“I figured that would happen,” I said.

“We sure have missed you, Julie,” Lou said.

“Missed my wood chopping and hog killing,” I said.

“Missed your complaining,” Lou said, and we both laughed.

“Who is going to do the work now we’re both gone?” I said.

“Mama and Rosie will have to take turns,” Lou said. “And Carolyn is going to have to learn to do her share.”

“Why did Mama want Carolyn to come with you?” I said as I mixed batter for cornbread.

“It was not so much Mama wanting her to come as Carolyn begging to come,” Lou said.

“She wants to see new places,” I said.

“That girl is so spoiled I could smack her sometimes,” Lou said.

“We have all spoiled her,” I said, “after Masenier died.”

“I wouldn’t have minded some spoiling myself,” Lou said.

“Maybe it won’t hurt her,” I said. “She just turned fourteen.”

“What does a fourteen-year-old girl know?” Lou said.

“About as much as a seventeen-year-old girl,” I said. We both laughed. I opened a can of green beans into a pan and placed them on the stove. I wished I had got some sweet taters to bake, but I hadn’t.

“Was you scared when you got married?” Lou said. “I mean on your wedding night.”

“I guess everybody’s a little scared at first,” I said.

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