Read Online Southern Discomfort by Rachel Burns - Free Book Online Page A

baby, like she had been because of
her spanking yesterday? They had made her stay in bed all morning.
First when her breakfast and lunch had stayed had Nathaniel let her
get up.
    Should she grab
for it like she had as a child in their garden? Their neighbor boy
had dared her to pick up a garter snake. He had teased her something
terrible and called her a baby.
    When she couldn't
take the teasing anymore she reached out and grabbed it. He had been
very impressed with her, so he told everyone about what she could do.
She had to repeat the task many times in the next couple of years
until her father found out about it. He had put his foot down and
said, no, to her touching snakes.
    But didn't they
eat snakes around here? Emily didn't care to try it, but she didn't
want to just stand there and wait for it to bite her either. She
quickly bent down and grabbed it just behind its head. She had
learned that that was the best way to do that as a child. The tail
was going wild, but she held fast. Snakes out here got a lot madder
than the ones back home did.
    She walked back
to the kitchen door, holding the snake away from her body, but still
tight in her hand. She knocked on the door with the toe of her shoe.
Bessie opened the door and shrieked at the sight of the snake.
    Katie had her
wits about her. She took the bowl of beans from Emily and set it on
the table. Emily had moved in towards the stove with the angry animal
whose tail kept rattling and flying in Emily's direction. Emily was
reaching for a knife when Katie had a better idea. She held a cutting
board over the head.
    “Bessie, take
the knife and cut its head off but make sure you don't let it fall.
It sure is mad.”
    The three women
killed the snake. When they were finished Emily had to sit down,
despite her sore bottom. This life was so much harder than she
thought it would be. She watched Katie skin it and chop it into
pieces. The sight of that was making her feel sick again.
    Bessie was also
in shock. She scolded Emily asking her what she had been thinking.
Bessie didn't want to lose her friend to stupidity.
    “Emily?”
Katie asked, “Did the snake bite you?”
    Emily shook her
head and went out to finish filling the bowl with beans. The
rattlesnake stew was well under way when she came back in. She
quietly set the table. She had a feeling like a goose walked over her
grave.
    Emily cut the
bread and did as she was told but she was even quieter than she
usually was. The men came in and smelled the stew. They all commented
on how good it smelt. They sat at the table and the women placed the
stew in front of them.
    “What kind of
stew are we having tonight?” Edward asked Katie who was in charge
of the meals.
    “Rattlesnake,”
she answered.
    He thought about
that for a bit. When she joined them at the table he said, “Odd we
didn't hear a gunshot.”
    “We didn't need
the gun.” Katie avoided his eyes as she took a piece of bread.
    “And pray tell
why not?” he asked her.
    “It got
caught.”
    “Katie, I don't
like the way you are answering my questions. Did you catch it?” He
stood as he asked his question.
    She shook her
head. Edward sat down and Charles looked at his wife. “Bessie,
explain how this snake got into our pot.”
    “We sent Emily
out to pick beans. She came back with the snake and the beans. We
killed it by chopping its head off.”
    “How did you
catch the snake?” Nathaniel's tone told Emily that he was
displeased with her.
    “I – ” she
hung her head. “I grabbed it behind its head.”
    Nathaniel sat
still for a while as he thought about that. “How were you able to
pick it up while it attacked you?”
    “It wasn't
attacking me – yet.”
    He let the
meaning of her words sink in. The whole table was staring at her.
They all thought she had done something wrong.
    “Emily, go up
to our room. I will join you shortly,” He had a terrible picture in
his head of her trying to do that, and not succeeding. He pulled
himself together.