Read Big Stone Gap for Free Online

manage a Thermos of coffee and a few fresh ham biscuits for the boys.
    “Time for a break, gentlemen,” I say as I crawl toward them.
    “Miss Ave, you afraid of heights?”
    “Uh-huh.” I try not to look down as I answer.
    Worley extends his hand to me. “Don’t be. We won’t let you fall. Anyhow, the ground is soft. I fell off the post office when we was fixin’ an exhaust fan. Landed on my head. It weren’t so bad.”
    “That’s a lie,” Otto says. “I caught you.”
    “How bad is my roof, boys?”
    “I seen worse,” Otto decides.
    “I let everything around here go to hell when Mama was sick.”
    “It happens.” Worley shrugs.
    “I should be able to keep y’all busy through the winter.”
    “We need the work. We’ll do a good job for ye,” Otto promises.
    There is a long silence. I’ve never been on my roof. I can see pretty far. Fall has definitely moved in. The treetops look like orange and red feathers to the edge of town. I wish I had brought Mama out here. She would have loved being able to see so far. I check the pocket of my overalls for her letter. I manage to carry it everywhere with me, even though I don’t need to. (I’ve read it so many times that I’ve memorized it.) I wish she had left instructions. Why did she tell me this story? Did she want me to try and find Mario da Schilpario? Or did she just want me to know so I would understand Fred Mulligan? So much to think about.
    “If I had a roof like this, I’d set up here all the day,” Worley announces.
    “My brother don’t like workin’.”
    “Naw, I don’t. I like sleepin’ and eatin’. Workin’ wears me out. Wind up all tarred and ferget how I spent the day.”
    “That’s how I feel after a day of counting pills.”
    “Ye ought to git murried, Miss Ave. Womens ain’t supposed to work like ’at.”
    “Otto, I ain’t husband hunting. And I like my job. Okay?” I say this flatly; inquiries regarding my marital status are an everyday thing for me. Folks always want to let me know—even though I’m not married—that I’m okay, certainly nice enough to have a husband.
    “Ye oughtn’t wait too long to git murried. Git set in your ways and then nobody’ll want you.”
    “What if they like my set ways?”
    “She’s done got a point there, Otto,” his brother says.
    “You ever been in love, Worley?”
    “No, ma’am.”
    “How about you, Otto?”
    Otto doesn’t answer.
    “Otto was sweet on a girl once. You was, brother. You was!”
    “Keeping secrets from me, Otto?”
    “No, ma’am.”
    “Do tell, then.”
    “I done had me a true love, but it was many, many years ago. Well, it was summer. I was ’bout fifteen. Mama done made me go to town fer jars. She was canning her some chow chow. Walkin’ down, I passed a trailer. Lot of kids runnin’ around. Their people, I could just tell, was Melungeon. They had that dark color, and that look of them. There was a girl there. She had her some black hair, shiny and straight in braids. I ’member thinkin’ that the braids look like them garlands over the bank door. They was that long. And she had her some black eyes like coal. And she was small. Tiny, like a matchbox? Reminded me of that storybook about the fairy girl.”
    “Thumbelina?”
    “Yeah. Thumbelina.”
    “What was your girl’s name?”
    “Destry.” Otto looks away at the mention of her name. “Best name I ever heard,” he says quietly.
    “So what happened?”
    “The summer passed. And pert near every day she walked with me. I grew to like ’at and look forward to it. One day she couldn’t go with me, and I missed her bad. I knew then that I loved her. Turned out her pappy moved their trailer over to Stonega. I walked over there about five miles. I done had something to give her. My mama had a little silver ring with a red stone in it. And I loved Destry so much, I stole it and give it to her.”
    “How do you like ’at!” Worley said, laughing.
    “You must have loved her very much