Professor next Door Page 19

  “Oh Zebadiah Rasnake. Good to have you home son. What can I get you?” The woman behind the counter said.

  “A coffee please for now. I’ll pick up a few things to take back in a while if that’s okay?” Zebadiah replied.

  “You take all the time you like dear, I’ll get your coffee.” Came the reply.

  The coffee was good and Zebadiah took the chance to swallow down another of his pain pills as he savored the hot liquid. The drugs were good but they did make him groggy. Hopefully the coffee would give him enough of a kick to allow him to buy a few supplies.

  He looked around the shelves from his little corner of the shop. Sat at a small table with two seats, the shop was never intended to be a diner. He decided on some peanut butter, chocolate bars and a few other things he thought might liven up their diet at the house. He selected his shopping and placed it on the counter with his money.

  The woman took the money and he loaded the groceries into his rucksack.

  “How you coping up there young Zebadiah in your condition? You need to move down into town and get some lady to look after you after all you’ve been through. What on earth makes you stay up in those hills?”

  Zebadiah couldn’t decide if the grogginess from the pills were slowing his thoughts or if the woman was actually talking nonsense.

  “We’re managing just fine thanks and Mary takes real good care of me. She's the only woman I’ll ever need.” Zebadiah replied making his way out of the store as quickly as his crippled leg would allow him. He took a glance back at the woman as he left. She looked white as a sheet and was trying to mouth some sort of a reply. She held her hand up to her mouth as she muttered.

  “Of course Zebadiah, you poor man. Of course she does.”

  He staggered out of the store into the street. The pain was taking its toll and he needed to make his way home. The way he was feeling, that might take him a lot longer than he had planned.

  Making his way out of town and back up the track to home was a struggle. Every step cut deep. The sun was high in the sky and he could feel the sweat forming on his body. He could feel the salt burning into his scars and winced. He lowered himself to the ground to rest. He lay back on the edge of the track using the rucksack as a pillow and pulled out the moonshine. As the smooth liquid eased into his system he felt a calm overcome him and he lay back, allowing his eyelids to close against the sun's rays. He snapped them open as he heard a helicopter crossing the sky above him. He looked and could pick out clearly the gunner hanging by the door. Then another chopper and another. They flew low and he could see they were grouping over a patch of jungle. All three began to open fire into the trees. The jungle exploded in front of him as he watched in horror as two planes flew ahead and sprayed napalm over the already burning trees. He screamed. The scream woke him from his nightmare and he lay shaking and trembling. He only had a mile to go he thought. He should pull it together now. Get himself up the hill to Mary and Joshua and home. This wasn’t Vietnam. This was West Virginia. He was safe.

  As he stood, he noticed a large copperhead snake staring at him. It sat some three feet away from him as he had his nightmare flashback. Now it was curled in a tight ball gazing blankly at him. Zebadiah smiled and shrugged. “You scare me less than Charlie ever did fella. He’d turn you into a belt and eat you. Get gone before I do the same.” Zebadiah stepped up the track away from the snake who, looking totally bemused at the whole affair, slithered into the undergrowth by the track.

  As he made his way to the gate Zebadiah felt his pains easing and his head clearing. The moonshine had eventually started working on the pills he thought, smiling to himself. He smiled broader still when he saw Mary at the door with Joshua, waiting for him. He staggered into the house and sat himself down at the kitchen table.

  “Well that was a strange day.” He said. “People seem to have gone a little bit crazy down there or were they always like that?”

  “The only people that would choose to stay in Charles Station have to be crazy Zebadiah. We always knew that.” Mary laughed.

  Chapter 7

  As the days passed, Zebadiah could feel his wounds recovering from the trip to town. Mary insisted on waiting on him hand and foot, cooking up superb dinners and doting on him at every opportunity. She begged him not to go back to town and risk his health again.

  It had been almost a week since Zebadiah had gone into town and it came as a shock to hear a car making its way up the overgrown track. Zebadiah made his way to the front door from the kitchen to investigate the mystery visitor. He soon recognized the old Dodge of Reverend Halcomb shuddering its way to the house on the ruts and potholes. The Reverend pulled up outside and Zebadiah began to make his way from the front door to the car as the Reverend began to open the door and step out. The Reverend stood wiping his brow as he looked towards the approaching Zebadiah. He was smiling as Zebadiah approached and in an instant Zebadiah watched as the Reverend’s face turned white as a sheet and his eyes bulged in terror. Zebadiah turned to see what could have caused such a fright only to see Mary emerging from the house with baby Joshua in her arms.

  Without a word the Reverend leaped back into the driver’s seat and started the engine as he continued to stare in horror at Mary. Without thinking to close the driver’s door, he heaved the car around in a dust spewing circle before racing off down the hill from the house.

  Zebadiah stood gazing blankly at the disappearing car before turning back to Mary.

  “What in hell’s name was that all about? He looked like he just seen a ghost or something worse. Crazy guy.” Zebadiah muttered.

  “Perhaps we need to talk?” Mary replied.

  “About? Do you have any clue what spooked him like that?” Zebadiah asked.

  “We’ll chat later. No I don’t know why he had to leave so suddenly Zebadiah. Maybe he forgot he had to be somewhere else.” Mary replied.

  “Wherever it was it sure wasn’t here.” Zebadiah added as he returned to the front door and followed Mary back into the house.

  That afternoon Zebadiah shouted out to Mary. “I think it’s hot enough for a dip in the creek baby. We’ve not been for a swim since I got home. Get your stuff and we’ll go have a splash around for a while.”

  “No I don’t think so Zeb.” Came the reply from upstairs. “It’s still too cold and it won’t do your wounds any favors honey. Come up here awhile and we can cuddle on the bed.”

  Zebadiah had expected a negative and had already decided he was going anyway. With or without Mary. He almost vaulted over the garden gate as he made a limping run of glee down to the creek. A hundred feet from the creek he was already stripping and was down to his boxer shorts as he plunged into the icy cold pool. His heart almost stopped when the freezing water engulfed his body. He exploded to the surface gasping for air with a huge scream of jubilation. He felt good. Not looking back he dived again. The bottom of the creek, at the middle, was about ten feet and he could feel his lungs stretching to the limit as he clung to the weeds at the bottom to hold himself down. He was ecstatic at the challenge and the cold on his body. His scars were feeling the burning cold too though and much as he wanted to fight back they forced him to let go and drift to the surface. His head broke the water and he turned to the house to wave at Mary, wherever she might be.

  The house had gone. All he could see was a smoldering ruin of where the house had once been. The beautiful garden that surrounded it was now torn up mud and weeds among the wrecked and burned timbers. In the air he could smell the old scent of a burned down house that might have been. He almost gagged as he tried to clear his eyes and shook his head. This was madness. His madness, he felt as he slapped the side of his head hard. He could feel his whole body starting to fade into shock and despair as he gazed upon the ruin. He couldn’t have done this could he? He didn’t leave something near the stove? A cigarette fallen out of an ashtray? Maybe Mary had had an accident and had been screaming for him and he never heard down at the bottom of the pool?
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br />   He swam around to a large tree a few hundred yards up the creek. There, he saw two graves. Not new and partly covered in the fallen leaves from the tree. Not new but not old either. Certainly not graves that Zebadiah ever remembered being there under that tree and he knew this mountain like the back of his hand. His confusion and the shock had hit him deep. He realized he was now floundering in water out of his depth. He needed to get back to the shore. He needed to get dressed. He needed to find Mary and Joshua. He needed to know what the hell was going on.

  He felt the wound in his arm chewing at him and unbalancing him. His leg too began to tear itself at the large gash that had been opened in the explosion. The pain was making him struggle hard. Fighting with his one good arm and one good leg to keep himself afloat he began to go round in a circle as he tried to get control and stop himself sinking into the pool. With the house behind him now he could feel tears welling up as he realized he was drowning. They were tears of sadness though not fear or panic. No home and no Mary meant there was no reason for him not to drown anyway. This might be the blessing he needed.

  His body slowly turned back towards the house. It now stood there in all its glory. The garden looking colorful and food laden. The shingles on the roof glistened back at him in the warm afternoon sun. He crashed his way through the water back to the shore.

  Reaching the safety of the shore he hobbled to gather his clothes. He looked over to where the tree was. No graves were there now. Just a rambling and twisted rose bush that had taken the opportunity of the fine weather to flourish for the year.

  Zebadiah shook his head and tapped his ears to release the water in them. It had to be insanity. The pain. The pills. The war. All more than his head could handle surely. The house was there and he knew Mary and Joshua were safe inside it. Slowly he made his way to the gate and the front door. As he reached to open it, Mary was at the other side waiting for him. She scowled sternly.

  “You mustn’t ever do that again Zebadiah Rasnake. You are an injured man. You could have drowned. Come into the kitchen and I shall make you a hot cocoa.”

  Zebadiah lowered his head as he made his way to a seat at the kitchen table. He looked around, confused and dazed. Yes the house was here and the house was as beautiful as Mary had made it. He on the other hand was obviously insane.

  “We need to talk Mary. We need to talk real bad.” Zebadiah said.

  “Of course we do honey. You really need to stop pushing yourself. You’re making yourself ill.” Mary replied.

  “No! Sit down please and listen. I think I’m going crazy. I think that bullet to the head did more damage than folk realize. I was in the creek. I saw the house burned down. I saw graves under the sycamore tree. I’m seeing crazy stuff girl. I’m going insane. The stuff I saw was as real as you sitting right there right now." Zebadiah sighed and lowered his head into his hands. He could feel his body was shaking all over and he could feel his wounds. They bit at him like a hungry dog gnawing on a bone.

  “You are trying too hard and expecting too much Zeb. I will be with you forever. You have nothing to prove. I just want you to relax and enjoy what we have baby. Now go upstairs and rest.” Mary said.

  Zebadiah eased himself from the chair and made his way up the stairs with Mary following close behind. He pulled off his clothes and lowered himself onto the bed. Within a few minutes he was in a deep sleep.

  As he slept he dreamed of the burned out house. Of Mary decomposing in front of him as he tried to hold her together. Joshua was slipping from her grasp as her hands dried up and turned to dust. Zebadiah was reaching for both and both were disappearing before his eyes. He screamed out and woke himself up. Mary was sat beside the bed, cooing and stroking his cheek. Joshua nestled in her arms.

  “Just a dream sweetheart. Just a dream is all.” Mary said.

  Zebadiah fell back into a fitful sleep. He tossed and turned as he flashed back to the explosion in Vietnam and his vision of the burned down house. It was dark when he next woke to find Mary lying beside him. Her arm rested gently across his chest. He gazed at her soft and delicate face lit only by the moonlight. He smiled as he stroked her cheek and saw a gentle smile on her face.

  Her face changed. It began to dry and crack. He looked on in anguish as her arm began to decompose across his chest.

  He could feel his heart begin to race and his breath quicken as he watched in horror as her skeleton was all that remained in the bed before disappearing completely.

  He turned sharply over and reached for his jacket on the chair by the bed. With shaking hands he took out a couple of painkillers and swallowed them dry. Gagging he reached under the bed for the jar of moonshine he had placed there. He took a deep draught and dropped back onto the bed gasping.

  The bedroom door opened and Mary stepped into the room. She looked at him with the moonshine jar in his hand and tutted.

  “I don’t think that will be curing anything Zebadiah Rasnake. Do you?” She said.

  “Sometimes a man needs a drink Mary. It don’t need any questioning, it just is.” Zebadiah replied lowering the jar back under the bed.

  He woke the next morning to the warm scent of Mary cooking breakfast downstairs. His head was thumping but as he felt around his body, he smiled. At least everything was still attached, and again, here in the house he was feeling stronger and healthier. He got dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen.

  “Sorry about yesterday baby. I guess I overdid it.” Zebadiah said.

  “Sit yourself down honey. Bacon, eggs and biscuits. That’ll make anyone’s nightmares leave, right?” Mary replied.

  “Yeah, just nightmares is all. I’m starving.” Zebadiah said as he accepted the heavily laden plate of breakfast.

  It took Zebadiah a couple of days before he would venture out of the house. When he did he was fearful to look at it. Scared to see what he’d seen from the creek. Looking over to the large sycamore tree there was again no trace of the graves he’d seen. Slowly he began to help around the garden. Following Mary around like a child as he held the basket as she filled it with the vegetables from the garden. He was staggered at how much she had managed to grow. His mother had always been an expert gardener as far as he could remember, but Mary was growing foods his mother wouldn’t even attempt.

  “This is good soil Zebadiah” He remembered his mother saying. “Best growing soil in the country. We is blessed. But some things just weren’t meant to grow in these parts so no sense in tryin’.”

  Mary obviously hadn’t had the same lecture.

  They would pick what they needed for the winter and spend a few weeks pickling and canning it all. The food they would store in the cellar would see them through the harshest of winters and this part of West Virginia certainly knew about hard winters.

  As Zebadiah gained his strength he started splitting the wood they would need for winter too. A huge pile of sectioned trees were all ready to be split down into bite sized pieces for the stove in the kitchen and the huge roaring fire in the middle of the house. Cutting the wood and stacking it now in the summer would ensure it was good and dried through.

  “I’m thinking of going back to town tomorrow Mary.” Zebadiah said over breakfast one morning.

  “What on earth for? You don’t need that pain again. Wait until I can leave you with Joshua alone for a few hours and I’ll go for anything we might need. Not that I can think of anything we might need mind. You don’t need to be going back down there darling. That I do know.” Mary replied.

  “I want to go and see the Reverend. That was all some strange stuff going on with that man. I need to talk to him is all. And I’ll take my pills and cane. And I’ll take my damn time too this time.” Zebadiah replied.

  “He’s crazy as a box of frogs. Just like most of the folk in that town. No you don’t need to see him. If it’s important he’ll come back won’t he? Yes, sure he will. If he needs Zebadiah Rasnake he knows where to find him. Fella got himself a fancy car. He doesn’t need to hobble round th
e countryside on a walking cane like you do.” Mary said angrily.

  Zebadiah sighed.

  “Maybe you’re right. We’ll see how it goes. I think perhaps we could use some old car like that for ourselves. I got enough money for something as long as it’s got four wheels. Would make life a bit easier for us right?”

  “Life is just perfect darling. So you go and buy a truck to sit outside and rust? We don’t have anywhere to be but here and nobody we need to see but ourselves. If folk kept their business to themselves this would be a much better place of a world I think.” Mary replied.

  “Perhaps. But if I get one it means going into town to find one. They don’t hang around in trees waiting to drop on a buyer. And I can get the still working. Pa used to make a bit of money from the moonshine. Nothing fancy, just to the locals we know. Wouldn’t be much but it would help when Joshua grows and needs a new set of pants.”

  “We’ll talk about it another time baby. For now, Joshua has all he needs and we’re doing just fine. Save it all for another time please darling.” Mary replied.

  Zebadiah sagged in his chair and grunted. He carried on eating breakfast in silence feeling Mary’s eyes on him. He knew there was little point in arguing. He also knew that the last trip to town was a lot more than he’d bargained for. But yes he needed to understand why the Reverend sped off like he did. He at least needed to know that. He’d save it for another day.