A Drink with the Deacon

"In that case how about I go get us some coffee. Is there a cafe‚ around here?" I asked it pretty sure there would be one somewhere. I figured, if the place could support a jail, it would surely be able to support a cafe.

"No need I got a pot on the stove in the back. Course if you need food, there is the Dixie on the next street over."

"Truth is I have had enough of the baloney I bought a while back. I could sure use some real food."

"Then just turn right at the next corner. You can't miss the Dixie it has a big confederate flag in the window."

"Can I get you anything deputy?" I asked it trying to act like I didn't mind. A quarter worth of food would be a fair trade for a bed that didn't belong to him.

"Well captain they do have mighty good pie there. You don't have to mind you, but I wouldn't mind a piece of their pecan pie."

"You got it deputy." I tossed my bed roll and bag into one of the cells before I headed off to the Dixie. I had been in the truck all day so I walked to the cafe.

"Howdy Soldier boy, what can I get for you?" It was a truly red redhead who asked. The menu was all over the walls in small signs advertising this and that.

"How about your stew?" I asked it as I looked to the wall behind the counter.

"All sold out honey, it is kind of late you know." She maintained that smile of hers.

"Okay, so what do you have left?" I thought it a reasonable question.

"Most everything," she replied.

"Miss," I started to remind her of the stew but decided not to bother. Do you have any beans and franks?"

"Afraid not," she said. She looked about to go on but I stopped her.

I held up my hand. "I know sold out, it is late." I gave her a great big smile to let her know I was kidding. "Tell you what why don't you just surprise me. I can eat almost anything."

"Don't want to do that honey." She was serious I could tell.

"Okay, any soup?" I asked.

"Bean with bacon,": she advised me.

"Good, how about that with a couple of biscuits?"

"Comes with crackers hon," she said as she turned to the rear of the counter. Through the hole she said in a loud voice. "One soup."

"I got some pretty good bacon you want a sandwich?" She asked that as she stood starring down at me.

"I think that would be a bit too much bacon,' I replied. The soup was thick. It was also in some kind of red sauce. The crackers turned out to be very thin biscuit dough cooked crisp. It was quite a good combination. I was almost finished when the waitress took my bowl away. I was about to complain until I noticed her pass it back through the window. "More Horace," she demanded.

She turned to me with the bowl. "Gettin' late nobody else gonna be in here tonight."

I smiled up as I went about eating the soup with the thick soft crackers. When I finished the second bowl I asked, "Could I get a piece of pecan pie to go? It is for the Deputy."

"Oh?" It was obviously a question.

"Yes, I am spending the night in jail." I grinned at her.

"Too bad, you could have gotten a better offer I am sure. You are a good looking guy in that uniform and all."

"Me, good looking." I laughed as I placed the twenty cents on the counter."Is that enough?" I asked it because there were no prices on the walls just names of dishes served.

"Yes it is, and enough for a tip too."

"Good, I wouldn't want to go without leaving a tip."

I left the cafe for the short walk to the jail. I didn't pass another person during the walk. When I arrived at the jail, I asked the deputy. "Where is everybody? The town is empty."

"Home I expect Captain. Ain't no reason for anyone to be here. Only thing open is the cafe and it will be closed in about half an hour. They just stay open for the occasionally traveler like you. Won't hardly be nobody on the roads this late."

"Well, I think I will follow their lead. Enjoy your pie, I am going to read myself to sleep."

"You do that. I am going to go on up stairs I think. I will lock the front door before I go. The bolt is on the inside in case you need to get out." He must have had the same thought I did. I wanted a way out in case of fire.

He took his pie along with a cup of the jail house coffee with him. I knew for a fact that the fire would go out early. He hadn't bothered to bank it. That meant I was going to need the bed roll. I opened it on the small cot in the back of the cell. I placed a shoe in the cell door. Just to make sure it didn't accidentally swing shut on me.

After I was pretty well set, I began reading the Deacon's journal. Five hours later I had finished it. I was absolutely amazed that Deacon had done so many things. I knew he was a fierce old man, but I had no idea he had been a killer. I was more than a little surprised to find that he had written those things down during is lifetime. I didn't suppose, with his daughter holding the book, there was any chance it would ever see the light of day.

I fell into a troubled sleep around two in the morning. I awoke at five when the deputy entered the room. At the time I was wrapped in the quilt, great coat, and canvas cloth.

"Damn Captain it is cold in here. I would have thought you would keep the fire going last night."

"Sorry Deputy, I thought there might be a fuel ration, so I just wrapped up good."

"Don't matter none it will be warm soon enough." He said it as he worked on the stove. He shoveled out the cold ashes, then added new wood to the fire. He didn't bother with kindling, instead he went to a small can of kerosene. He poured a few ounces in a tin can, once used for beans I expected. After he had emptied the can onto the split logs, he threw in a match.

"Wont be long Captain." He was smiling when he said it. The door opened for a man in the same uniform but with the badge of a sheriff.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked of me.

"Name is Burke Sheriff, your deputy let me camp in the cell over night."

The sheriff looked to the deputy who nodded. "Okay Burke, it is morning now. The cafe is open so go on down and get breakfast. You from around here?"

"No Sheriff, I am headed back to Fort Dix. Was down to Blackwater Virginia for a funeral, I am just passing through."

"Is that your old truck outside?"

"It is," I replied. I was getting tired of him already.

"Well Captain, I don't think you can make it to New Jersey in that thing." He smiled as if he had told me a joke.

"You could be right. If it breaks down, it will belong to somebody else."

"Well like I said, the cafe is open. Me, and Deputy Sykes got things to do this morning, have a good trip Captain."

"Thanks for the Cot." I said it disguising my anger. They both nodded as I left the jail.

I didn't stop for breakfast until I was out of that county. I didn't want the sheriff to come looking for me. I had a feeling something was not quite right with him. I found a cafe in the downtown section of a small place a few miles away. The cafe was not any better than the one from the night before.

At lunch I again stopped at a small grocery for a chunk of processed meat. I hated corned beef ever since the war, but it was easy to find in the small grocery stores. I got lucky, in that store there was also a jar of pickled eggs.

The afternoon drive was long and boring punctuated only by the need to buy gasoline. The last stop of the day was for Gasoline. When I returned to the T, I was just too tired to go on. I went back inside the store.

"Mister, I need a safe place to park the truck for the night. Do you know anywhere around here?"

"I think, if I wanted to park somewhere safe, I would park in the church parking lot. The first Baptist Church is right down the street about two blocks on the left." The old man didn't seem to be very interested in where I slept. He looked at a newspaper as he spoke. I felt he should have at least have looked up.

I took a quick tour of the town before I parked beside the church. The town consisted of a half dozen brick building plus a few houses. It was a small town, the name of which I didn't bother to take note.

The church was frame and might seat fifty or so people. I parked beside it so as to be visible from the road. I didn't want anyone to think I had anything to hide. I would have enjoyed a nice fire inside a nice building for the night. I had slept in many worse places though. I unrolled the quilt and canvas bed roll. The rear bed of the T was not smooth. I was expecting a very uncomfortable night's sleep.

The two days of travel had exhausted me enough so that I slept surprisingly well. I found a small cafe for breakfast then was on my way again.

I arrived in Fort Dix at 2:10 P.M. After making my presence known to the company's first sergeant I walked to the dining hall. I was late for lunch but I hoped the cook might get past his hatred of officers. He did to the extent of a corned beef sandwich. It, and the hot coffee were more than enough to win him a couple of points in heaven.

After lunch I began the arduous paperwork required to resign my commission. Leaving the safety of the Army was a bit frightening, but I had no desire to remain.

The Army had made several hints about my future should I stay. They all seemed to be similar. If I chose to stay until my term of enlistment ended, I would most likely not be allowed to re-enlist. Too many battlefield commissions of younger men frightened the older career officers.

The young officers, up from the ranks, were not part of the good old boy network. We had no one to help us. The trenches of France just couldn't compare to West Point somehow. It really didn't matter, I was eager to seek my fortune somewhere else.

I had the complete day off since almost all the men of my command were in the field. Hell, they didn't need me to sleep in the cold with them. Besides, the Sergeant ran the platoon anyway, all I did was to pass down the orders. The platoon leaders were even more junior officers passing down orders. It was the Sergeants who led the men into battle. They were the ones whom the men trusted anyway.

I knocked on the door of the company commander. Might as well get it over with. "Come in," the voice of Major Phillips replied.

I saluted like a good little tin soldier.

"Good morning Burke, I see you made it back."

"Yes I did major. Sir, I have been thinking about the word going around." No sense beating around the bush.

"Which word would that be Captain?" The disdain for me and my breed of officers was in his voice. Phillips was a Point man.

"The one concerning the future of the remaining mustang officers." Might as well get it out in the open, I thought. He didn't even try to deny that it was a serious rumor.

"And what exactly brings you here?" Phillips was being his usual abrupt self that morning.

"I came to being in the paperwork to resign my commission." I said it without a hint of regret.

"Very well, thank you for telling me before you began the process Burke. A lot you didn't bother. If there is nothing else, it is a busy morning around here."

"No sir, that pretty much does it." I saluted again, turned, then walked out the door.

"First Sergeant, I need the forms to resign my commission," I said after I had left the Major's office.

"Captain, are you sure you want to do this. The men tell me you are a damned good officer."

"Yes Top, I am sure." I wasn't sure at that moment at all. I had very little money and no job. It might yet prove to have been a mistake to burn all my bridges.

I had the papers completed before the men returned from the field. I called a meeting of the squad leaders to inform them of my actions. It was lucky they made it in on that third day since I was my last one in the Army.

Even though I was going to be a civilian at midnight, I planned to sleep on post, and in my own cot that night. I would be leaving the next morning at first light anyway. It was the way things were done even in 1920.

I ate in the dining hall with my men for the last time. I didn't sit at the officer's table I sat with the men who had fought along side me. I am sure the Major was pissed since he insisted on no fraternization. I frankly did not give a damn.

The T held my two duffel bags and bed roll as I left the base. Inside the duffel bags in addition to my army gear rested several souvenir weapons. If worse came to worst, I could sell them for a few bucks. I might have been an officer, but I was not above taking a few things which had once belonged to the enemy, or even the army. Hell, at times the Army was the enemy.

I stopped at the post office just outside the base to mail Grandpa's book back to Aunt Ruth. I had no idea where I was headed next. I gave New York City some thought then decided against it. I had mentioned a friend in Ohio to my family and friends. I could go try to find Jim. Even if I didn't find him, one place was as good as another. I sure didn't want to start my new life in New York.

The drive toward the small town outside of Cincinnati was a nightmare. It began to snow shortly after I left Fort Dix. I drove for seven hours just to make it one hundred miles.The snow varied from mile to mile thank god. There were enough places with only a few inches to make the places with several inches bearable. When the T got stranded just outside a small town I muscled it off the road. I hooked the duffel bags one on each shoulder then went looking for help. I walked down the closest farm road.

When I reached the mostly unpainted farm house, I was worn out and more than a little frozen. It hurt to even knock on the door. The woman who came to the door must have been forty but she looked sixty. It appeared that farm life in Pennsylvania was hard on women.

"Ma'am, I am sorry to bother you but my car ran off the road a couple of miles from here. I was headed for Ohio. I am just about froze up. Could I come in and warm myself by your fire?"

"Well Mister, you can't come in my man is off to town. You can use the barn to get out of the snow though. I think there is a barrel up there, my husband builds a fire in it now and again. You can use it, if you find it."

I was not happy but it beat sleeping in the open back of the T with no heat at all. "Thank you ma'am I appreciate it." I tried to sound grateful. I really was but the warm air coming out the door made me envious.

I was surprised to find no animals in the barn. Surely they were not in the fields in the dead of winter, I thought. Since it was none of my business, I began looking for the barrel. I found a tank which had been cut in half. One of the halves contained ashes from a previous fire.

I took a look at the size of the barn and the size of the barrel. "The fire is going to be almost useless three fee away from the barrel." I said it aloud.

I was too cold to think about a real fire so I built a quick fire from the old straw on the floor. I knew it wouldn't last long. I hoped I would at least get my fingers thawed before it died. As I warmed my fingers I looked about the place. I noted with some interest that the hay loft was empty. Since there were no animals in the barn and no food for any I guessed that the farm wasn't really being worked. The next guess was that the husband had taken a job in town. He had probably been snowed in for a while, I thought. I could imagine that he would be along soon but traveling on foot.

I checked out the wood pile and found it small. There would not be much more than the house would burn during the snow. The man of the place would need to cut more upon his return.

I was still far too cold to be of much use to anyone at all. I looked about trying to decide what my next move should be. I needed firewood for the barrel there was no doubt of it. My best chance seemed to be a small patch of woods across a small field.

It was going to be a bitch to carry wood across that snow-covered field by hand. Even so I knew that I had no other choice.

The work gathering the wood actually warmed me. My hands were taking a beating, but the rest of me was fairly warm since the great coat contained the heat.

My first load was an arm load of tried branches. They would not burn long but should be enough to get my hands thawed at least. The fire burned for several minutes with just the first small filling of the tub. Even though the smoke was bad, it warmed my fingers. There was some pain as they began to re heat but it wasn't too bad since I had worn my gloves. I had obviously not gotten frostbite. I knew what that was like I had seen it in France.

I made several trips to the woods that afternoon. I increased my wood reserve with every load. It was almost dark when I decided I might have enough to last the night. I knew for a fact I did not want to walk to the woods in the dark. If I stepped in a hole, I doubted the woman in the house would help me. She seemed to be a bit afraid of me, and it didn't matter to me that much. If she had been more attractive, it might have.

The duffel bag contained cigarettes and the remains of the day's bread and cheese. I wouldn't starve but it was not my idea of supper either. I had no water. Even if I did, I would have had no way to drink it. I hadn't stolen my field gear.

The lack of water wasn't really a problem as there was snow everywhere. The problem was going to be in finding a container to melt it. Eating it as snow was a good way to get the cold sickness. I had seen men go into shock from the cold. Once they passed out it was less than fifty-fifty that they would come back.

It wasn't quite dark when I saw the old woman leave the house. She walked toward the barn with a bundle in her hand. I knew that she had to be coming to the barn so I went to meet her. I helped her to battle the wind until we were both inside.

"Oh Lord, I had forgotten how bad this place leaked air. I am sorry mister, but it really is the best I can do. My man would have a fit if you slept in the house."

"I understand," I said it even though I didn't really.

"Look I brought you some things. Maybe they will make it a little better for you up here."

I opened the bundle she handed me. Inside I found some bread and cheese. I would have laughed if I hadn't recognized it as a friendship gesture. The one thing she brought that I could use was a metal cup. It wasn't very large but it would do for melting the snow.

"I thank you for the food, but you should keep it. I have a little with me. But I do need the cup badly." She didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave so I went outside to pack it with snow.

The snow melted quickly as the cup sat by the fire. I drank the water before it got too warm. It was so good, I repeated the whole thing as the woman watched in silence. She wasn't much of a talker, I decided. She simply stood by the fire watching me.

"I hope it stops snowing tomorrow," she said. It seemed to be her attempt to start a conversation.

"Even if it stops, I am not sure that the roads will be passable. You could be cut off here a few more days." I didn't have any idea why I said it.

"I suppose so, will you be able to get your car out?" She didn't really seem interested. She just seemed to want to pass the time.

"I don't have any idea. I suppose I will try, if the snow stops." I got it off the road so it won't be blocking anything that can make it through."

"I am surprised you had trouble, the snow isn't axle deep, is it?" she asked.

"No I was still rolling as I slid into the ditch. Once I backed up far enough I got her out then onto the entrance of a farmer's field wagon road. The road went into a field, so I don't expect to be in anybody's way."

"No I expect you are fine. Only a complete fool would be out in this." She smiled at me. Her worn wrinkled face softened some.

"Well, I had no idea it was coming. Even if I had, I probably would have tried it."

"Makes no difference why, you are here now." She stood close to the fire for a few more moments the added. "My name is Judith." She kept her eyes on the fire.