Post by Chris Hedges on Oct 27, 2010 16:28:17 GMT -6
THE SCARECROW
by Kurt Newton
by Kurt Newton
Titus always wanted to be more than just a collection of old attic clothes stuffed with straw. Though his creators were kind enough to supply him with a wide-brimmed hat, a pair of worn-out garden gloves and two mismatched work boots, it still wasn't enough.
From the first day of planting, all day, all night, all season long, Titus sat perched upon his stake --which was more like a cross--sunlight baking his dried husk of a head, rain pelting his back and shoulders, soaking his out-stretched arms; wind stealing his loose ends with ragged gusts that left his neck, wrists and ankles always thinner. After all these years of service, he looked almost skeletal. But he served his purpose, and served it well. The sparrows and bluejays bypassed this particular field. The crows were merely wary. But all it took was a slight breeze--the tilt of the head, the twist of a hand--and they too would take to the air.
But this summer would be different. Titus knew it as soon as he saw young Jim-Jacob McBride walking toward him through the waist-high corn.
* * *
Jim-Jacob had looked out across the field, saw the scarecrow jutting out of all that corn and decided what better thinking place. When he reached the scarecrow he sat himself down onto the soft rich earth and leaned his back against the rough shaft that supported the scarecrow overhead. A pair of heavy stones sat on either side of the shaft for added support and these Jim-Jacob thought suitable as elbow-rests for his tired arms. (He'd been helping his father clean and repair the corn silo in preparation for this year's harvest.) He plucked a blade of grass from the ground, and after several long contemplative minutes, looked up at the sun and let out an exasperation of air.
"God be damned," he said aloud, tossing the grass angrily aside. "If Lucy Daniels was mine, why I'd treat her like the princess that she is. Instead she accepts the courting hand of that good for nothing sow-brain, Buck Willingham. Just doesn't seem right."
He plucked another stem of grass from the ground and stuck it in his mouth. "It's because he's the mayor's son is why. And all the ladies in town say he's such a tall, handsome young beau like his father. Well, so what if he's a couple hands taller than I am. Height ain't nothing but big bones. And so what if he's handsomer. Looks ain't nothing but baby skin and hair like a woman. And none of that should matter compared to what's true in a person's heart... Oh, Lucy, if only I could get you to get to know me--Jim-Jacob McBride, the one who loves you like the eagle loves the sky...like this corn loves the sun--why, I know we'd be just as right as rain together..."
"Jim-Jacob?" A voice came bellowing across the field. It was Jim-Jacob's father calling him back to help with the rest of the day's chores.
"Comin', Pa!" Jim-Jacob shouted.
He sat a minute more, letting the frustration drain out of his love-tortured heart. "There's just got to be a way," he said, and left it at that, for now.
He got up and wiped the dirt from the seat of his pants, then turned to the old scarecrow that stood four feet above him staring blank-eyed across the field. "Thanks for listening," he said to it, looking up into its dry, featureless face. The scarecrow stood silent. "Gotta go now, Pa's awaitin'. Keep up the good work. Not a crow in sight." He patted the scarecrow on the pantleg and aimed himself in the direction of the barn.
Titus watched the young man stride away, feeling a pleasant warmth at the place where the young man had touched him, thinking, yes, this could be the one.
* * *
For the next three weeks, Jim-Jacob spent his afternoon break sitting out at the feet of the old scarecrow. The conversations they had were almost solely about Lucy Daniels and her unrelenting beauty, and that son-of-a-milking-goat Buck Willingham, and how Jim-Jacob deserved Lucy better. And it was on one of these occasions that Jim-Jacob looked up at the old scarecrow and decided that if he was going to be spending all this time talking to him it was only proper that he give him a proper name. He thought for a moment, looking the scarecrow over good and thorough. "Titus," he said suddenly, as if pulling the name from the sky. "Titus the Scarecrow. Howdy, Titus, pleased to meet you."
If Titus had had lips, Jim-Jacob would have seen the widest smile that could have lit up a face made of husks of corn and baling twine.
* * *
Spring turned to summer, cool rainy days in exchange for hot dry ones. The corn grew, green and full.
* * *
"I don't know, Titus, I don't think my heart's able to stand this much longer."
Again, the sun was high, Jim-Jacob sat in the cool shade of the now shoulder-high corn stalks. He sat cross-legged, facing the scarecrow as one might when in the company of a friend.
"I don't know what else to do. I've tried talking to her. But when I get close, those two thickwits--Ethan Stark and Todd Burgess--seem to always get in the way. And I've overheard what those two talk about. Saying that Lucy has let Buck touch her in places a woman shouldn't be touched until she's married. Boy, when I heard that, it lit a fire in me something fierce. I told Ethan to take it back. It was just a big old lie, I told him, and Buck was a big old liar for saying it. They started pushing me around some then. Got my church pants all muddied. But when Pastor Simms came by they straightened up proper. 'Wait till we tell Buck,' they yelled to me as I was leaving. I just rolled my eyes, like I wasn't afraid of what Buck might do to me....But, just in case, Titus, I might stay out here a little longer than usual today, if that's all right with you."
Titus nodded, but it was most likely the touch of a breeze that leaned his head forward then back again.
"I just keep seeing Lucy's face in my eyes. She has the most beautiful mouth, Titus. Funny how you notice things like that. Eyes like blue marbles. And I'm not wrong in believing it could be us rather than she and Buck, for I caught her looking at me today in church. She had a curious look in her eyes like she was wondering why I'd even try to talk to her. Like I had no right, but she was maybe flattered just the same. But I can see how she might be torn, like a young filly with the corral gate left open. Should she stay where it's safe? Or should she take her chances and go galloping out into the wide open? I know the answer to that one, Titus. But I guess Lucy can't bring herself to make that kind of decision. So I guess I've got to make it for her.
"I've been thinking all day about this. About ways of getting Lucy out of Buck's arms and into mine. There's this old woman in town, Titus--a Miss Adelaid. She's a witch most folks claim. She can cast spells and mix up potions. I'm going to pay her a visit tonight. I've got to settle this thing once and for all."
Titus listened to his friend talk. Titus knew all about hope and desperation and could sympathize with the young Jim-Jacob. But Titus also knew patience, the patience of days and months and seasons; years of patience tied up tight as a body made of straw and twine. If there was one thing Titus knew, it was patience.
He also knew a bad omen when he saw one. For if Jim-Jacob were to look toward the western sky he would have seen what Titus saw coming. Dark clouds. A storm front moving in.
Titus shuttered. He hoped the wind wouldn't be too strong tonight. Oh, how he hated the wind.
* * *
That night a storm blew across Harlington County, belching out thunder and lightning, and spitting down mouthfuls of cold, icy rain. Days went by before Jim-Jacob returned to his thinking place beneath the shadow of the scarecrow. When he did finally arrive, preceding him was the distant chime of church bells tolling at the noon hour.
"It's done, Titus," said Jim-Jacob, sitting himself down in his usual spot. His eyes were slightly downcast and his manner lacked the nervous energy Titus had grown accustomed to. "I went to see Miss Adelaid like I said I would." Jim-Jacob's voice was solemn. "She sold me a potion. Called it a shape-shifter. Said it would change whoever drank it into the form of their true nature. It only cost me two chickens and a smoked ham. The chickens were easy to come by. But that ham...I know I'll have hell to pay when Pa finds out that ham's missing.
"Anyways, in case you didn't know it, last night was our Annual Fourth of July square dance over at Olsen's barn. It was there I decided to give Buck the potion. I slipped it into his rootbeer. He didn't suspect a thing. In fact, he even forgave me earlier for calling him a liar that day. Said I wasn't worth the skin off his knuckles. That was mighty nice of him, wouldn't you say, Titus?"
Titus didn't move.
"Anyways, after Buck and Lucy had danced up a storm, Buck marched over to where his rootbeer was sitting and drank it down in three big gulps. He wiped his mouth then, belched real loud and, at first, there was nothing. I was watching him real good, you know, 'cause I wanted to see. I wanted Lucy to see, most of all. Well, no sooner had the music begun again and he and Lucy were doesy-doeing, Buck just stopped. Stopped plain dead in the middle of the dance floor. He grabbed his stomach like he'd been shot and looked around at everyone with these wild eyes. It was kind of scary in a way. Then he bolted right out of the barn door, almost knocking down old Judge Crater and his wife as they were coming in.
"Well, as you can imagine, everyone was kinda stunned at first. But then someone shouted, 'Too much apple cider,' and everyone took to laughing. But it was no laughing matter in the morning." Jim-Jacob looked up into Titus' face. "That's because Buck's dead. Buckshot to death by his own father's hand--the mayor. Mayor Willingham said he could have sworn he saw a wild boar rooting in his vegetable garden. Now, I don't know how you can mistake a tall, young, handsome beau like Buck for a wild boar, can you, Titus?"
Titus didn't respond.
"No, I didn't think so. So that could mean only one thing. Miss Adelaid's potion worked. A might too well, I suppose."
Jim-Jacob watched an ant crawl up over his boot and down again. He picked a pebble up out of the dirt and tossed it into the corn.
"Lucy's all broken up about it, of course. But in time she'll get over it. In time, she'll forget all about Buck Willingham. She will if I've got any say in the matter."
* * *
Lucy didn't forget about Buck Willingham, but she did find comfort in the gentle, adoring eyes of Jim-Jacob McBride. From bandshell afternoons on the town green, to picnics down by the river, Titus heard all the intimate details of their courtship. Titus was not only Jim-Jacob's friend but he was also his confessor. And with each story told, each sin spoken upon the earthen altar at Titus's feet, a bond was forming. A bond as tightly wound and intertwined as Titus's wrists were to the cross-pole that ran through his dry, sun-beaten back.
* * *
On the night of the Harvest Festival, the full moon rose high and bright overhead. Titus was resting peacefully when he heard the rustle of footsteps and the low murmur of voices approaching through the soon-to-be-leveled cornstalks. As the cornstalks parted Titus saw the familiar shape of Jim-Jacob. But someone was with him. A girl. She had moonglow in her hair, and she wore a dressing gown, long and papery, that rustled in the stillness of the night.
"This is the place," said Jim-Jacob. "I come here any time I need to get away and have a moment to myself--well, almost to myself. This here is Titus. Titus, meet Lucy Daniels, the prettiest girl in Harlington County."
"Jim-Jacob, you are a strange one. Is this all you brought me out here to see?" Lucy Daniels was as pretty as Jim-Jacob had claimed her to be. Titus could see this even in the smudgy light of the moon.
"Well, yeah. Here, sit down." Jim-Jacob sat and patted the ground next to him.
"But my dress will get all dirty."
"Well, here then. There's a rock over here for you to sit on."
Lucy consented, reluctantly. Her dress rustled like the corn when she moved. She sat down beside Jim-Jacob and neither said a word for what seemed like a long while.
"Do you hear that?" Jim-Jacob said suddenly, his voice just a whisper in the still night.
"I can't hear a thing," Lucy said, a slight whine in her voice.
"Oh, I can. It's here, beating in my chest. It's my heart, Lucy, beating like a big 'ol bass drum because you're sitting so near to me."
"Jim-Jacob, if I didn't know any better, I'd be thinking you brought me all the way out here to have your way with me," said Lucy with a coy giggle.
"Don't talk like that, Lucy. It's not proper."
"Proper? Since when are farm boys proper? Come on over here, silly..." Lucy reached out for Jim-Jacob.
"Lucy, no."
"But what's the matter? You don't like me all the sudden?"
"It's not that, Lucy. You know I like you. It's just..."
"Just what?"
"Well, it's just that I'm not like Buck."
She reached out for him again. "I never said you were."
"No, I mean it....Lucy, listen, Buck never respected you. He talked behind your back about you and him, saying you let him...well, you know, take advantage of you and all. But I never for a minute put any truth in it. I know you wouldn't do that. Buck was just a..." Jim-Jacob suddenly ran out of words.
"A what? Say it, Jim-Jacob. Go ahead, say it! A pig? Is that what you were going to say? You know, I'm pretty tired of hearing all these insinuations and accusations, now that Buck is in the grave. Buck was this and Buck was that. Buck was a nasty boy. Well, they're wrong. You're all wrong. So what if Buck liked to brag a little. He did it because he loved me. If that was his only failing then he was a better person than either you or me or anybody."
"Lucy, I didn't mean --"
"I loved him, Jim-Jacob. I loved him with all my heart, and it kills me a little bit each day knowing he's up there in Heaven looking down at me, just waiting for me to live out the rest of my miserable days just so I can come join him." Lucy's eyes glistened with moonlit tears.
"Lucy, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I didn't mean for it to happen that way. I just wanted you to see..."
"See what? What are you talking about?" Her voice rose with sudden alarm. "What did you do to him, Jim-Jacob? I want to know what you did. What did you do?" Lucy grabbed him as if she was going to shake the truth out of him. And, looking at her, Jim-Jacob couldn't tell a lie. Not to one as lovely as she.
"I went to Miss Adelaid, all right? I got this stupid potion. It was supposed to make you see what Buck was really like on the inside. It wasn't meant to hurt him."
Silence descended upon the tiny clearing. The moonlight illuminated Lucy's face. Her expression twisted into a horrified look of rage.
"Lucy, I did it because I love you."
"Don't touch me!" she yelled. "Don't you ever touch me. You are an evil person Jim-Jacob McBride. You are going to pay for what you've done. You are going to pay for this, you hear me?"
Lucy ran headlong into the corn, fighting off the stalks as they got in her way. Helpless, Jim-Jacob watched her go, hearing her cries trail off into the distance. "I love you, Lucy," he whispered after her. He turned to face to Titus. "Titus, what have I done? What have I done? I've lost her...."
He fell sobbing at Titus's feet; it was as if the world had fallen in upon him. He just wanted to close his eyes and make believe this day had never happened. He rolled himself up into a ball under the shadow of the scarecrow. And as the moon arced across the sky, Jim-Jacob fell into fitful sleep...
* * *
...the sound of footsteps, heavy rustlings through the dry, crackling corn...the chitter of voices whispering back and forth...
"There he is...lover boy..."
Jim-Jacob's eyes fluttered open--"Lucy?"--but it was too late, they were already upon him. Ethan Stark and Todd Burgess. They dragged him to his feet.
"Lucy tells us you put the spell on Buck that got him killed."
"Please, just leave me alone," Jim-Jacob pleaded, but the first blow struck him before he could say anything further. "Here, hold him," he heard Ethan say and Todd grabbed him from behind. Todd's arms looped around his and straightened him up to face Ethan's maniacal grin.
"This is for Buck," Ethan said.
"But wait! You don't understand," Jim-Jacob managed before his mouth was closed by a roundhouse punch. Stars glittered in the night, accompanied by a ringing in his ears. Two more punches followed in quick succession, one splitting his lip and loosening his teeth, the other a thunderclap against the side of his temple. Then he was falling...falling so slowly it felt as if the ground had opened up and he was falling down a long dark empty well...and he was calling out a name--Titus, Tiiiiiituuuuus...and when he hit the ground, the world resounded with a heavy thud like the dropping of a ripe pumpkin on a hard flat surface. And then came the distant voices of Ethan Stark and Todd Burgess, floating into his ears, as if in a dream.
Ethan, I think you did it this time...
Shut up!...Is he still breathing...?
Yeah, but his head, it hit that rock mighty hard...
Come on, let's go...
But Ethan...
Come on! He'll be all right...Goodbye, McBride, just stay away from Lucy, if you know what's good for you...
Laughter echoed in the night. Jim-Jacob heard footsteps fade away into the corn, felt his heart beat slower, then slower, then finally stop.
Lucy...
* * *
Jim-Jacob?
Jim-Jacob?
Titus could feel his friend receding, feel the life in him emptying out into the soft black earth beneath his feet. Could feel that life tickle his own dry toes.
After all these years, Titus was like a dry sponge; he absorbed the fresh nourishment like a summer shower. Soon he felt the rush of air enter his mouse-nest lungs, felt the blood course through his beetle-burrowed veins. His friend, they killed his only friend...the one who named him, the one who gave him life...
Among other things, Titus could now feel pain and sadness. He could also feel anger--a dry, burning rage.
The cross-pole snapped, cracking like a gun shot in the still October night, and Titus reached down to undo his bindings. Titus will do what Titus does best, he thought. Titus will scare them. Titus will scare them good.
* * *
Under the bright shine of the harvest moon, a shadow moved across the field, headed towards town.
