Read Online The Old Buzzard Had It Coming by Donis Casey - Free Book Online

“Watch where you step, sugar,” she said offhandedly to Phoebe.
    A well-appointed buggy stood incongruously in front of the the house, the horse hitched to a porch railing. “Looks like Miz Day already has some visitors,” Phoebe observed.
    Several children stood on the porch and watched them as they halted the shay in front of the house and climbed out. The eldest child, an ephemeral brown girl, stepped toward them. “Good morning, Miz Tucker,” she greeted with an adult solemnity that startled Alafair enough to make her look at the girl more closely.
    She was a small girl for her age, which Alafair judged to be early teens. She looked stringy and malnourished, even wrapped in a coat two sizes too big for her. Her Chickasaw ancestry showed in her high cheekbones and broad forehead, and her dark coloring. She bore a striking resemblance to John Lee. She had the body and face of a young fairy maiden, but the black eyes that scrutinized Alafair were the eyes of a forty year old woman who had not led a particularly pleasant life.
    “You must be Naomi,” Alafair acknowledged. “Will you please tell your mama that she has some callers?”
    The girl smiled a weary smile. “Yes, ma’am. We’ve had a passel of callers today. Won’t you ladies please come on in?”
    “Why, thank you,” Alafair responded, careful to accord this girl the respect that any civilized woman would show to another.
    Naomi nodded, and her gaze shifted to Phoebe as they walked up the steps. “Hello, Phoebe,” she said. “I’m glad you come.”
    “I didn’t know you two were so well acquainted,” Alafair said.
    “We have spoke,” Naomi informed her, as she led them inside. The knot of urchins followed silently.
    Mrs. Day met them just inside the door, and Naomi took her place at her mother’s side. “Y’all come into the parlor and look at how Harley turned out,” Mrs. Day invited, “then have some tea with us in the kitchen. Naomi, take that there dish from Miss Phoebe and put it on the table with the others.”
    Alafair removed her coat and handed it to one of Mrs. Day’s other minions, a boy of about ten, who appeared at her elbow. “You’ve been getting a bunch of callers, I hear,” she observed.
    “Yes, ma’am,” Mrs. Day assured her. “I can’t remember when we had so much food in the house.” She led them into the parlor. The room had been cleaned and the beds removed, and Harley had been decently laid out in a plain pine box perched on two sawhorses in the middle of the floor. Alafair stepped up to the coffin and examined Harley’s body, lying so inoffensively boxed. Well, Harley, she thought, look at you now. In all your pathetic life, somebody must have loved you sometime. “He looks right peaceful,” she said.
    “Don’t he, though,” Mrs. Day agreed. “Come on into the kitchen for some tea and cake, won’t you? I’d like for you to meet some of our kin that’s come to visit with us.”
    When they entered the kitchen, a tall, leathery man with graying hair stood up from a chair at the table. His companion, a pretty, black-haired woman, remained seated, but gave them a sweet smile. She had the most striking blue-green eyes Alafair had ever seen.
    “Miz Tucker,” Mrs. Day introduced, “this here is Harley’s sister, Zorah Millar, and her husband, J.D. Zorah and J.D., meet Miz Tucker and her daughter Phoebe, my neighbors from over across the road.”
    J.D. muttered a greeting, and Zorah half stood and offered her hand to Alafair from across the table. “Yes, we’ve heard how your family has been so helpful since my brother met his end,” she said. She looked at Phoebe with interest. “You must be John Lee’s friend, Phoebe,” she added.
    Phoebe blushed charmingly, but responded with dignity. “Yes, ma’am. I hope I’m a friend to all John Lee’s family.”
    Alafair studied the woman who was studying Phoebe. Zorah Millar may have been Harley’s sister, but she resembled Mrs. Day in her size