Bootleggers' Legacy

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

Ada and Patty made their way down the leaf-strewn trail to the Simmons house. Patty had bundled up little Eli, and Ada lashed him to Patty's chest with strong strips of burlap held in place by hatpins. Patty walked ahead of Ada and Eli, brushing away the occasional spiderweb across the path.

When they came within sight of George and Lispeth's ramshackle house, they could hear the commotion from within. As they walked past the front window, a plate came sailing out it and shattered on the ground just past Patty's feet. She gave Ada wide eyes, but Ada only rolled hers and briskly knocked on the door. A torrent of vituperation preceded Lispeth's daughter-in-law to the door.

"If that's that rat snake of a worthless Jim Folson, Emma, you just go on 'head and shoot 'im!"

Emma cautiously opened the door a crack and peeked out. Seeing Ada, Patty, and the baby standing there, relief flooded her face.

"Y'all come on in. Maybe you can talk some sense into her, Miz Ada. She's hoppin' mad and I can't get her to see reason."

Ada strode through the door past Emma, then stopped short. At first it was hard to tell what was the result of Lispeth's tantrum and what was just what happened when a woman tried her best to keep up after a man like George. But as her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, she saw the shattered dishes and smashed jars, and she smelled the pickled contents of several jars mingling into a pool on the floor.

Lispeth herself stood in the middle of the mess, chest heaving, eyes wide and red-rimmed, hair looking as if a family of rats had nested in it and invited over all their disreputable cousins.

"Now, Lispeth, you know there's no sense in acting like this." Ada's voice managed to be both stern and comforting at the same time. She went straight to the smaller woman and wrapped her arms around her. Lispeth stiffened, then melted against Ada's broad bosom.

"They took my man, Ada, they took 'im and I don't know when I'll see 'im again!" Sobs racked Lispeth's thin body, and for several seconds she couldn't seem to form words. The next words tore from her in almost a scream: "And that GODDAMN Jim Folson is to blame for it!"

Emma and Patty both gasped at the profanity. but Ada just patted Lispeth's back and murmured soothing nothings at her as she let Lispeth cry in her arms. At last, Lispeth's breathing settled into its regular rhythm, and she drew back and looked at Ada. She took a deep, shuddering breath, and, voice raw, asked, "What am I gonna do?"

Ada reached up and smoothed the flyaway hair around Lispeth's face. "Elisha and Omer are on their way to Arcadia with Junior. They'll figure out something to do. Meanwhile, we got ourselves two stills to run."

Lispeth actually chuckled. "They still think we don't know, don't they?"

They turned to the two younger women, who had started cleaning up the mess in the living room, but had stopped to stare when Ada mentioned the stills. There was silence for a moment, filled only by Eli's gurgles of irritation at being unable to get his mother's top open.

Emma spoke first. "What is it they think you don't know, Miz Ada?"

"Sit down, girls. We'll clean all this up in a little bit, but first, we gotta talk."

Emma cleared a spot on the bench by the window for Ada, and tucked Patty and Eli into George's old chair. Patty absently unbuttoned her blouse and Eli settled in for a snack, making contented little noises. When everyone was situated, Ada said, "Now, I'm sure y'all have noticed new things here and there, these last few months? Lispeth got that nice set of new 'namel pots, and Emma, that's a pretty new dress you're wearing." She paused, waiting to see if the light of realization would shine in either Emma's or Patty's eyes.

Patty was first. "I know, Maw Ada. I mean, I don't know what, 'zactly, but I know the menfolks is tied up in something secret that's makin' money."

Lispeth sniffled and started to speak, but Ada cut in. "They's runnin' liquor. Got a coupla' stills up in the woods where Elisha and George had their old fort."

Emma gasped, and her face looked like a fish for a moment. "But, if that's what they been doin', it musta been them revenuers what got Mr. George!"

Ada nodded. "Twas. And now 'Lisha and Omer and Junior are gone to take care of tryna get George out of jail. But in the meantime, we gotta be sure them fires keep burnin' and don't nothin' go wrong up there in the woods. They's gonna be comin' to look for the stills, too, so we gotta hide the turn off the path as best we can. The menfolk, they think we don't know, and if we knew, we'd blab it at every quiltin' bee, 'cause they think that's how all women are. But we ain't, are we, girls? We gon' keep this right here, and not peep a word of it to anybody else, y'all hear me?"

After the briefest hesitation, Emma and Patty nodded and spoke in unison. "Yes ma'am."

"Now, if them revenuers come knockin', we're just as empty-headed as they think we are. We offer 'em tea, and smile real gracious-like, and we don't know nothin' about no liquor. 'Why, ain't they got that prohibition on, Mr. Tax Man? That liquor's right illegal, and we don't hold with no lawbreakers round these parts.'" She made an innocent face, then glared sternly at the younger women. "That's how it goes, alright?"

"Yes ma'am."

By the time the Model A pulled up back outside the Harrison house, Ada, Patty, and little Eli were settled in as if they'd never left. Junior declined Ada's offer of supper, saying he'd better mosey on through the woods back to Emma.

After supper, when Omer and his little family had struck out for their own cabin, Ada cleaned up, made Elisha a cup of tea, and came to stand in front of him.

"'Lisha, we need to talk."