Randa followed. She was fascinated by him. He had an air. He moved so quick, too. She looked down into the gully but all she saw was more boulders and rocks. “I don’t see nothin’.”
“Me neither. But I’m sure I did.”
“What kind of snake was it?” Randa remembered the fuss everyone was making over rattlers.
“I can’t rightly say.” Zach shrugged. “Oh well. It’s gone now.” He let down the hammer and jerked the rabbit from under his belt. “Remember what I’ve told you. And don’t stay out here by yourself.” He made for the cabin and the gathering.
Randa lingered, watching him. He sure was forceful. She liked that, too. She idly picked up a small stone and sent it skittering to the bottom of the gully. It clattered noisily when it hit. She went to follow Zach, and stopped. A strange sound had risen. Bending, she tilted her head to hear better. She’d never heard anything like it. It reminded her of the buzzing of a bunch of bees. Near as she could tell it came from the bottom of the gully. She started to go down to investigate.
“Are you coming?”
Randa turned. Zach King had stopped and was waiting for her. She hurried to catch up, saying, “Sorry. I thought I heard something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. Maybe bees.”
“There are a lot of them hereabouts. Be careful you don’t get stung.”
“Thank you for lookin’ out for me,” Randa said quietly. She had never had a man do that except her pa and her brother, but she didn’t think of Chickory as a man.
Zach shrugged. “We’re an island of people in a sea of savage. We need to watch out for each other.”
“Goodness, you really
“No one has ever said that to me before,” Zach said. “If I do, it probably comes from being around Shakespeare so much. His speech is as flowery as a rose garden.”
“There you go again.”
Zach smiled.
Randa liked his teeth. They were white and even. She liked his eyes, too. They were as green as grass and as deep as the lake. She envied Louisa King. Without thinking she said, “Your wife sure is lucky to have you.”
“There are days when she doesn’t think so,” Zach said. “I tend to aggravate her now and then.”
“Doin’ what?”
“Being male.”
“How is that an aggravation?”
Zach looked at her. “According to her and my mother and Blue Water Woman and just about every married lady I’ve ever met, it comes naturally. Men can’t help but rub women wrong, as my ma likes to say.”
“My ma would likely say the same,” Randa said. “She’s always naggin’ my pa about one thing or another. Do this or don’t do that and land sakes why can’t he ever listen to her.”
“There you have it,” Zach said.
Randa enjoyed talking to him; he was easy to talk to. She gazed into his eyes and then glanced away. “I hope I meet a fella like you one day. I wouldn’t think he was any aggravation at all.”
“There’s only ever one of us. And you might want someone who doesn’t have my flaws.”
“What would they be?”
At that juncture Emala came around the cabin and jabbed a thick finger at Randa. “There you are. I’ve been lookin’ all over for you. Where did you get to, youngun?”
“I went for a walk.”
“Well, don’t go waltzin’ off without you lettin’ us know. We’re not on the plantation anymore. It ain’t safe. Am I right, Mr. King, or am I right?”
“It’s Zach, and you’re absolutely right.” Zach held out the dead rabbit. “Would you do me a favor and give this to my mother?”
Emala curled up her thick lips in distaste. “There’s blood all over it and half the head is gone.”
Zach wiggled the limp body. “Don’t tell me you’ve never handled game?”
“I have, many a time,” Emala said. “But I’ve never liked blood and the butcherin’ can be mighty messy.” She used her thumb and the first finger of her left hand to take the rabbit by the tail. “It doesn’t have lice, does it? Some dead critters crawl with lice.”
“No more than any other animal.”
Emala beckoned and Randa joined her as she made for a shady spot where the other women were resting. “What were you talkin’ to him about?”
“This and that,” Randa answered. “Why?”
“I saw how you were smilin’ at him. I’ve never seen you smile at any man that a way. It better not be why I think it is.”
“He’s nice, is all.”
“The Kings are decent folks. They’re doin’ more for us than anyone ever has and we should be grateful.”
“I am.”
“Then don’t be walkin’ alone with Zach King. He’s a married man. It’s not proper.”
“All we did was talk. Don’t make more out of it than there was.”
“You don’t tell me what to do. I tell you. And I’m tellin’ you that we must be as nice to the Kings as they’ve been to us.”
“Talkin’ ain’t nice?”
“Don’t sass me, child.” Emala scowled. “You’re startin’ to worry me. You truly are. Until we’re settled in and they’ve accepted us more, you’re not to traipse anywhere with Zachary King. You hear me?”
“Accept us more?” Randa repeated.
“We’ve been with them a good long while, what with crossin’ that prairie and comin’ up into these mountains. But that ain’t the same as bein’ neighbors. Neighbors can talk to neighbors anytime.”
“How will I know when I can talk to him?”
“I’ll tell you.” Emala waddled off. “Mind me, you hear?”
Randa frowned. Her mother was always bossing her around. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like it one bit. Then a thought hit her so hard she was jarred to her marrow; her folks intended to live there the rest of their lives. Which was fine and dandy, but as Zach King had pointed out, there were precious few people around. And all the men save her brother and Dega were spoken for. Though from the way Evelyn and Dega were carrying on, he was spoken for, too.
What was she to do for a man of her own?
The fireplace took some doing.
They inserted the saw into the slits they had cut and sawed until they had the shape. Samuel did most of the sawing. He asked to. It was his cabin and he didn’t think it fair or right that Nate and Shakespeare and Zach were doing most of the work.
Nate smiled and handed him the saw.
While this was going on, the women and the Nansusequas and Chickory went off to gather stones to use in the construction. Evelyn and Dega went one way, Waku and his wife and daughters another, Winona and Blue Water Woman and Emala and Randa yet another.
That left Chickory. He didn’t want to go with the women. He especially didn’t want to go with his mother. He loved her dearly, but she was always telling him what to do and then complaining that he didn’t do it right. He didn’t know the Indians well enough to feel comfortable going with them, and he sensed that Evelyn and Dega wanted to be by themselves. That was fine with him. He went off alone, northwest past the gully and into the trees.
A few days ago he had done some exploring and came across a low hill covered with stones that might
