Read Boswell's Luck for Free Online

care much ’bout warm water anyway.”
    â€œGive a lot o’ boys baths, do you?” Mitch asked, grinning.
    â€œWell, I scrub my brother Busby regular. Or near to regular anyway.”
    â€œHe’s just seven,” Erastus pointed out. “I’m twice as old.”
    â€œTwice the bother, too,” she observed. “We had bigger men’n you in jail here, you know. I get ’em washed.”
    â€œWell, you ain’t washin’ me,” Erastus insisted. “Mitch can bring you my clothes. We’ll fetch the water. You give me the soap now.”
    â€œPa says I’m to see you wash,” the girl argued.
    â€œWell, you cain’t do that without seein’ a whole lot more, and ain’t that goin’ to happen, hear?” Erastus barked. “Now git.”
    â€œHe means it,” Mitch added, opening the door and prying the soap from her hand. “Becky, ain’t any winnin’ arguments from Rat Hadley, either. He’s stubborn as a bottomland mule. I’ll bring you his rags in a bit.”
    â€œAll right. I’ll be by later on, though,” she said, turning toward the door. “If I don’t smell somethin’ better’n ole cow dung, I’ll just keep the clothes and leave you to soak.”
    â€œI’ll bet she will, too,” Mitch said after closing the door on her. “She’s sure to ride herd on some poor fellow one o’ these days. Lord help the fool.”
    â€œYeah?” Erastus asked. “I always thought she was kind o’ pretty.”
    â€œFallin’ in love, eh?” Mitch asked, laughing as he turned his attentions to the pump. “Well, there’s fresh trouble for you. Sheriff finds out you’re messin’ with Becky, he’s sure to turn you back over to Plank.”
    â€œJust might,” Erastus said, forcing a smile onto his face in spite of the wave of pain such a thought brought. He then dragged the tub into the back room and began carrying the filled buckets of water there. In short order the tub was half full. Erastus then shed his clothes and hopped into the tub. The water was cold, but it felt refreshing in the hot, stuffy store-room. And as he washed away the accumulated grit, it seemed he was also ridding himself of pain and grief.
    It was hard to believe one boy could carry so much filth on his body. When Erastus abandoned the tub and wrapped himself in a linen sheet Mitch had set on a chair, the water remaining in the tub was little more than a muddy swill. As for Erastus, scrubbed pink he looked thinner and more wretched than ever.
    â€œLord, didn’t they feed you at all, Rat?” Mitch exclaimed. “Ain’t anything to you.”
    â€œGive me a few o’ Miz Cathcart’s chops. I’ll fatten up.”
    â€œBe a time doin’ it. I tell you, Rat, I close to found me a rifle the day that ole man fired off his scatter-gun. I was of a mind to shoot him if the sheriff hadn’t come.”
    â€œLike as not you saved my life, Mitch. I won’t be forgettin’ that.”
    â€œGood. Ma says I’m sure to need friends, what with my habit o’ findin’ trouble.”
    â€œYeah? I got the same talent.”
    They shared a laugh. Then Mitch handed over a wrinkled old shirt and a pair of patched trousers.
    â€œNot too good a fit, eh?” Mitch asked as Erastus draped the shirt over his bony shoulders. “Were mine till I started this last batch o’ growin’. I’ll ride out and see if maybe Tommy Newton might have some things he don’t altogether need. Be tomorrow, though.”
    â€œCut me a length o’ rope for a belt, and they’ll do,” Erastus suggested. “Later on maybe you can find me some drawers, though. These britches itch some thin’ awful.”
    â€œYeah, Ma uses a heavy dose o’ lye when she washes. I generally give my things a rinse off under the pump ’fore I