Zeely Page 5

  Through it all, Geeder had watched silently. She felt sick when the animals were hit so hard and sorry when they were forced to run down Leadback Road. And now, she was left with a sour taste on her tongue.

  “Goodness knows, animals shouldn’t be hurt by anyone,” she whispered to herself.

  She felt like not going into town, fearing to see the animals beaten again. Then, Zeely passed by the tree. She did not seem to be a part of what had happened, nor to be aware of the press of smelling, dirty animals around her. Geeder whistled so Zeely would look up and see her.

  Once she sees me, Geeder thought, I know she’ll want me to help.

  Zeely Tayber paused. But then she went on, as silent and serene as ever. Toeboy and Geeder watched her disappear into the mist.

  Geeder guessed Zeely hadn’t heard her. “Maybe when she gets into town and sees me there. . .,” she whispered, not quite able to finish the wish, even to herself. She and Toeboy climbed down the tree and raced for the catalpa trees. There was a shorter route through the forest to town.

  They were more than halfway along, running fast, when Toeboy thought about seeing Zeely Tayber.

  “I saw Miss Zeely last night,” he began. “And Geeder, it was very late, I know it was because I was so sleepy. She looked just as funny, like she didn’t have any arms or anything. That was because the night was so dark.”

  Geeder stopped dead in her tracks. She was panting hard and her eyes were too wide, as though she hadn’t enough light to see. “What did you say?” she whispered.

  “I just said that Miss Zeely came down the road last night,” Toeboy said, catching his breath.

  Geeder stared at him and slowly nodded her head. “The other part,” she said softly, “how did you say she looked?”

  “She looked funny, that’s all,” Toeboy said. He fidgeted uncomfortably under Geeder’s gaze. “See, she had on that long dress she was wearing today and it made her seem to glide. I couldn’t see her face. And that bucket she carried floated with her.” He laughed. “That was because I couldn’t see her arms.”

  “Bucket?” Geeder said. Her voice made hardly a sound.

  “The feed pail,” Toeboy said. “I guess she was coming from feeding the hogs. Geeder, what’s the matter?”

  Geeder sat down, hard, on the ground. “Oh, Toeboy!” she said. She covered her face with her hands and rocked back and forth. “Oh, my goodness, Toeboy! That wasn’t Zeely Tayber you saw. That was the night traveller!”

  As soon as she said the words, Geeder had a clear vision of the night traveller, the time she had seen it. It had had no arms or legs, no head. It was a thing that moved right on the air and Toeboy had seen it. A shiver ran up her spine.

  “Toeboy!” she said, “You saw a night traveller and no one is ever supposed to see one!”

  Geeder looked so terrified that all of a sudden Toeboy was aware of the wet, misty trees surrounding them. The catalpas were so dense they could have been a solid wall. Anything could hide within them, just there, where it was as dark as night. He felt his back grow cold.

  “I thought it was just Zeely Tayber,” he said.

  “No,” Geeder said.

  “It stopped right by the path to the house,” Toeboy said.

  “Toeboy, did it do anything?” Geeder asked.

  Toeboy nodded, watching the trees. He crouched next to Geeder and his voice began to tremble as he spoke. “I thought it was going to say something,” he said. “I was sitting right out in front of the lilac bush and it was looking at me. And you know what it did, Geeder?”

  “What?” she said. She put one hand on his shoulder, pulling him closer.

  “It moved real funny,” he said, “and I got the feeling it didn’t want me to say anything. I guess it didn’t like noise.”

  “Oh, Toeboy!” Geeder said. “Can you just think what it would have done if you had made a sound!”

  Toeboy tried to swallow but he couldn’t. He remembered he had said good evening to what he thought was Miss Zeely Tayber. “What do you think it would have done?” he asked.

  “Why, it would come back some night,” Geeder said. “It would wait until you were asleep!”

  An awful fear welled inside Toeboy. The night traveller was sure to get him because he had talked to it. He wanted to get away from the old trees around him and Geeder. He wanted to be as close to Uncle Ross as he could get.

  All at once, Geeder jumped to her feet and started to run. Toeboy fell flat on the ground and covered his head with his arms. His eyes were closed tight and Geeder, seeing him, had to laugh.

  “Silly!” she called. “Nothing’s going to get you in broad daylight. It’s the hog drive—did you forget?”

  Toeboy lifted his head.

  “There’s Zeely to see,” Geeder said. “And don’t you worry about the night traveller. You just stay close to me.”

  11

  “JUST LOOK AT ALL the people!” Geeder had not thought so many folks could fit on the main street. The mood was right for a parade. The children were all there, the ones who had been at the bonfire the night before and still others who had heard the story of Zeely.

  “Let’s get closer!” Geeder grabbed Toeboy by the arm and pushed her way through the children at the curbs until she was right in front. Now she could see all the folks talking in small groups at the corners. They would glance curiously at the children and then quickly away.

  “They don’t want us to know why they’re here,” she said, “but I know why. They’ve come to see Zeely just like we have!”

  Before Nat Tayber reached the center of the village, the air held the smell of hogs. The scent caught in the mist not yet evaporated by the sun. Wild, piercing squeals cut through the musky odor as Nat and his boys used their poles. Geeder shivered and crossed her fingers so the animals would not get hurt badly. People poured forth from stores and shops, taking up positions on both sides of the street. There were women in bonnets against the mist, with loaded shopping bags and baskets. There were farm people in their coveralls and wide-brim hats. There were all kinds of people there—townspeople, country folk and hordes of near-hysterical boys and girls, unable to speak for fear they might spoil what was to come.

  “Geeder, I’m going,” Toeboy said. “I want to go back to Uncle Ross.”

  “Toeboy, what’s wrong with you?” Geeder said. She couldn’t believe she had heard him right.

  “I don’t like it here,” he said, “and I don’t want to see those animals hurt.” He was thinking about the night traveller and wondering what it would do when it caught up with him.

  “Oh, don’t be dumb, Toeboy! They won’t get hurt,” Geeder said. “Zeely won’t let them get hurt. You stay right where you are.”

  “How will she keep them from getting hurt?” Toeboy asked.

  “She won’t let them, that’s all,” Geeder said. “Don’t you worry.”

  “Let me go,” Toeboy pleaded. “I don’t want to see the hogs run any more.”

  Geeder ignored him, holding on to him tightly as the hogs came on in a mass.

  “There’s the mist over everything,” she whispered to herself. “It makes the street all wet and shining. Look how the sun comes through in patches. There’s not a thing to say about it, it’s a special day to the stars. Zeely Tayber is the brightest star of all!”

  The hogs looked as if they were half crazed from fear. Many of them frothed at the mouth and staggered blindly in circles. Nat Tayber and his boys managed to get in front of them to slow the lead animals down. It was a wonder the boys and Nat didn’t get bitten, for the hogs snapped at and fought anything that got in their path.

  All the time, Toeboy struggled to free himself, but Geeder grimly held him. The odor and sight of the frightened, exhausted animals sickened her.

  “They’ll be all right,” she said softly to Toeboy. “You’ll see, nobody will hurt them.”

  Through the street passed Zeely Tayber, her long smock brilliant in the mist. She moved straight and tall. O
ften, a fresh gust of breeze billowed the smock, causing her to appear to rise above the animals. She was taller than any of the men along the curbs and taller than the young trees lining the street. Through all the terrific noise and brutal movement, she made no sudden motion, nor did her face change from its serenity.

  “Oh, she’s just wonderful!” Geeder whispered. “She’s just the most beautiful lady!”

  And so Zeely was. She was beautiful and tall and unlike anyone else in the whole town.

  Suddenly an enormous sow fell. She frothed at the mouth and grunted, as though something hurt her. Other hogs trampled her and still she was unable to move.

  “That’s awful!” Geeder said. “Oh, somebody do something!”

  Toeboy jerked free from Geeder and instantly disappeared back in the crowd.

  “Well, you just go home then,” Geeder muttered.

  Someone was shouting, “A sow’s fallen! A sow’s fallen!” The injured sow still lay grunting in the street. Other folks began shouting the same thing, and in a while, Nat Tayber raced back through the animals.

  Something happened to Geeder when she saw Nat heading for the sow. Her face grew burning hot and her arms felt cold. She was in the street before she knew it. She was going away from Nat toward Zeely, who was still at the rear of the line of animals.

  Geeder could hear people shouting at her to get out of the way before she was trampled. Once, somebody reached for her. She felt the sharp prick of fingernails as she pulled away. All of them, the people shouting and the one person who had tried to hold her back, seemed far away. She didn’t think about anything except hurrying.

  She was running. She got in the way of a hog. Some animals snapped at her, knocking into her; she was crying a little, from somewhere in her throat. There was pain in her left foot where a big boar had stepped on her. The stench of the animals made her legs weak. She almost fell, but then Zeely was just ahead. Geeder had to step between two sows to get to her. She placed her hand as lightly as she could on the back of one animal in order to get around it. The heat of the hog shot up her arm and she gasped in terror.

  The crowd roared in Geeder’s mind. She couldn’t think what they were saying because the sound ebbed and rose, like many voices over the radio when there is too much static.

  Miss Zeely was standing still. Miss Zeely was staring at her.

  Zeely Tayber moved to shield Geeder from the hogs. She didn’t touch Geeder, but leaned over her. Geeder started talking before Zeely had a chance to warn her out of the way of the hogs.

  “It’s a sow,” Geeder said. She rested one hand on her knee, trying to catch her breath. “It’s all sick in the street, just lying down. Nat . . . your father. He’s got his pole!”

  Geeder straightened up too quickly. There was a stitch in her side that took her breath away. She had to bend down and come up slowly before the pain eased. Then, Zeely had Geeder by the arm.

  Zeely was walking fast. She leaned forward like a young tree bent in a storm. She walked as though she had made a path through the animals and not one animal touched her, nor Geeder, either. Not more than a half minute had passed since the time Geeder had begun to run and Zeely had started back with her through the hogs. In no time, they saw Nat Tayber prodding the stricken sow hard with his pole. Zeely stopped a few feet from Nat. She let go of Geeder, gently, one finger at a time. Geeder watched Zeely’s eyes empty of strain and fill with something that glinted and flared.

  The sow lay grunting under Nat’s prodding. She could not move. Then, his face frozen in an awful grimace, Nat Tayber raised the prodding pole high above his head. Before he could bring it down on the sow, Zeely was there beside him.

  Zeely grabbed Nat’s wrist. The pole stood poised and trembling in the air and mist. Zeely looked long and hard at Nat. Her lips moved as she spoke softly to him. Nat twisted the pole. It jerked toward Zeely’s head and then, slowly, came down to rest at Nat’s side. In a second, Nat had turned on his heel. He was gone to lead the animals, not once glancing at the crowd.

  The crowd hushed. At once, the stench of the hogs was overpowering. Geeder felt sick and dizzy. She dug her nails in her palms and breathed in short, quick gasps.

  Zeely Tayber bent down beside the stricken sow. As if on a string, the people lining the street bent down at the same moment. Up and down the sidewalks, people were squatting or kneeling. They could have been praying there, they were so quiet, watching Zeely.

  Geeder knelt down beside Zeely. She took Zeely’s feed pail on her lap and held it at an angle so Zeely could reach into it. Geeder forgot the hog smell and all the people watching, so close was she to Zeely Tayber.

  Zeely took a bit of feed from the pail and held it in her hand out to the sow. The sow feebly lifted her head and ate from Zeely’s hand.

  A soft murmur passed along the street. It reached Geeder and went through her, in and out of her, draining her of her strength. She felt weak.

  Now, the sow struggled to get up. Soon, it was able to walk. Zeely took the feed pail from Geeder without a word. She did so carefully, graciously, and walked away.

  “It’s all right,” Geeder murmured, as if Zeely had thanked her. “I thought you might need me to help.”

  The sow followed along at Zeely’s heels like a pet of some kind. Zeely no longer needed to hold out her hand with the feed. She simply lowered the pail, allowing the sow to eat. All the way to Red Barn, the sow tagged along behind Zeely. She waited while Zeely got other hogs up and moving, for many more had fallen. She stumbled close behind when Zeely moved quickly along.

  The people watching couldn’t believe what they saw happen in front of their eyes. Geeder stood among them, listening to what was said and watching Zeely and the hogs move out of sight.

  “That Tayber girl has bewitched the sow,” some people said.

  “It is because she is animal, like those hogs.” People snickered and laughed.

  Many voices caught and whirled in Geeder’s mind. She grew angry and pushed her way out of the crowd.

  Geeder trotted, limping, to Uncle Ross’ farm. She was still weak, bruised and slightly sick to her stomach. But the air had cleared. The mist, thick as smoke, had risen and gone. By the time she passed through the catalpa trees, the smell and danger of hogs had left her. Zeely Tayber was with her still, deep in her thoughts.

  “I helped her,” Geeder whispered. “I knew she’d want me to.”

  12

  GEEDER AND TOEBOY BURST into the house to tell Uncle Ross what they had heard in town. It was Tuesday, three days after Nat Tayber’s hog run down Leadback Road.

  “All the folks say Nat didn’t get a good price for his animals,” Geeder said.

  “Because they were beaten and run so hard to market,” Toeboy added.

  “Is that so?” Uncle Ross said. “Well, Nat should have known better than to treat prize hogs the way he did.”

  “Will you still get your share?” asked Geeder.

  “Maybe I won’t take my share,” Uncle Ross said. “I never use that west field for anything.”

  Nat Tayber was a proud man. He told everyone he had made a good profit from the sale of his hogs, and perhaps he had. Later that day, he came by the farm and left the money with Geeder when Uncle Ross was in town.

  Now, only Nat came down the road to the west field to care for what animals remained. Geeder found no great joy in watching him each morning. She was pressed to find things to do. She decided to tell Nat about the photograph she had discovered and what she had come to believe about Zeely.

  Geeder leaned on the west-field fence, watching Nat feed baby pigs and brute hogs. “What if he laughs?” she wondered. “Worse, still, what if he turns on me—he can get mean with people.” It was no use. She could not work up the courage to talk to Nat about Zeely.

  She heard a car come down Leadback Road and turned from the field in time to see a green coupe stop in front of the farmhouse. Uncle Ross went out to the car. In a little while, the car drove off the way it had come.
Geeder guessed that it was just some gentleman to see Uncle Ross. She didn’t even mention the car to Toeboy when he returned from playing at Bennie Green’s and came into her room.

  “We’re building a tree house at Bennie Green’s,” he said.

  Geeder made no comment about it.

  “I can take you to see it after we eat,” he said, but still Geeder showed no interest.

  “Geeder, what’s wrong with you?”

  “Toeboy, I’m thinking,” she told him, “and I’ll thank you not to bother me.”

  He left her alone, somewhat hurt by the change in her. He thought of writing a letter to his father about Geeder. She didn’t seem like Geeder at all. She was more like Elizabeth Perry, who she was, really. He hadn’t thought of her as Elizabeth all summer. Since Saturday, the day Nat Tayber sold his hogs, Toeboy had had to find others to play with from morning until night. All that Tuesday Geeder just stayed in her room. She never suggested that they sleep outside any more. He was glad of that. He wouldn’t sleep out of doors again and chance seeing the night traveller a second time for anything in the world. Something told him the night traveller would never come in the house to get him; but, of course, he couldn’t be sure. Still, it was funny that Geeder didn’t want to sleep out.

  No, since Saturday, she hadn’t been like Geeder at all. In fact, she was just like any other girl.

  He was thinking again about the night traveller and how he could protect himself from it when he found Uncle Ross in the dining room. Uncle Ross was seated, waxing the dining-room table with a white cloth. His arm moved in long, circular sweeps. He had the dining-room light on. The light hung from a single chain from the ceiling, just above Uncle Ross’ head. Its shade was shaped like a bell and was made of pretty colored glass which reflected in nice patterns on Uncle Ross’ arm. Toeboy sat down at the table to watch, careful not to touch the fresh wax.