The Cat of the Cane-Brake - Frederick Stuart Grenne

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Cat of the Cane Brake by Frederick Stuart Green Sally, Oh, Sallie,
I'm a goin now, Jim Gant pushed back the limp
brim of his rusty felt hat and turned colorless eyes
toward the cabin. A young woman came from around the
corner of the house. From each hand dangled a bunch

(00:20):
of squawking chickens. She did not speak until she had
reached the wagon. Now, Jim, you ain't a goin to
let them fellers down in ANDELOUSI get ye in ter
no blind tiger, are ye? The question came out in
a hopeless drawl. Hopeless too her look into the man's
sallow face. I ain't touched a drop in more'n three months,

(00:41):
has I. Jim's answer was in a sullen key. Now, Jim,
you've been doin right well lately. She tossed the chickens
into the wagon, thoughtless of the hurt to their tied
and twisted legs. They're worth two bits apiece that comes
to two dollars, Jim. Don't you take an nichol less
than that? Jim gave a listless pull at the cotton

(01:02):
rope that served as reins. Get up the oar mule,
he called, and the wagon creaked off on wobbling wheels
down the hot, dusty road. The woman looked scornfully at
the man's humped over back for a full minute, turned
and walked to the house, a hard smile at her mouth.
Sally Gant gave no heed to her drab surroundings as

(01:24):
she crossed the short stretch from road to cabin. All
her twenty two years had been spent in this far
end of Alabama, where one dreary, unkempt clearing in the
pine woods is as dismal as the next. Comparisons which
might add their fuel to her smoldering discontent, were spared her.
Yet unconsciously, this bare, grassless country, with its flat miles

(01:49):
of monotonous pine forests, its flatter miles of rank canebrake,
served to distill a bitter gall, poisoning all her thoughts.
The double cabin of Jim Gant, its two rooms separated
by a dog trot an open porch cut through the
center of the structure, was counted a thing of luxury

(02:09):
by his scattered neighbors. Gant had built it four years before,
when he took up the land as his homestead and
Sally for his wife. The labor of building this cabin
had apparently drained his stock of energy to the dregs.
Beyond the necessary toil of planting a small patch of corn,
a smaller one of sweet potatoes, and fishing in the

(02:32):
sluggish waters of Pigeon Creek, he now did nothing. Sally
tended the chickens, their one source of money, and gave
intermittent attention to the half dozen razorback hogs, which, with
the scrubby mule, comprised their toll of livestock. As the
woman mounted the hewn log that served as a step

(02:52):
to the dog trot, she stopped to listen. From the
kitchen came a faint noise, a sound of crunching. Sally
went on silent feet to the door. On the table
littered with unwashed dishes, a cat was gnawing at a
fishhead a gaunt beast, its lean flanks covered with wiry
fur except where ragged scars left exposed the bare hide.

(03:16):
Its strong jaws crushed through the thick skull bone of
the fish as if it were an empty bird's egg.
Sally sprang to the stove and seized a pine knot
dug gone your yowler, hide, She screamed, get out of here.
The cat wheeled with a start and faced the woman,
its evil eyes glittering. Get you, yell a devil. The

(03:38):
woman screamed again. The cat sprang sidewise to the floor.
Sally sent the jagged piece of wood spinning through the air.
It crashed against the far wall, missing the beast by
an inch. The animal arched its huge body and held
its ground. You varmin, I'll get you this time. Sally

(04:00):
paped for another piece of wood. The cat darted through
the door ahead of the flying missile. I'll kill you, yit,
Sally shouted after it. And he can't hinder me neither.
She sat down heavily and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
It was several minutes before the woman rose from the
chair and crossed the dog trot to the sleeping room,

(04:22):
Throwing her faded sunbonnet into a corner. She loosened her
hair and began to brush it. Sally Gant was neither
pretty nor handsome, but in a country peopled solely by
Pinewood's crackers. Her black hair and eyes, clear skin and
white teeth made her stand out. She was a woman
and young to a man also young, who for two

(04:45):
years had seen no face unpainted with the sallow hue
of chills and fever, No eyes except faded blue ones
framed by white straggling lashes, no sound teeth, and the
unsound ones stained always by the snuffs. She might easily
appear alluring with a feminine deafness. Sally recoiled her hair.

(05:07):
She took from a wooden peg a blue calico dress,
its printed pattern as yet unbleached by the fierce suns.
It gave to her slender figure some touch of grace.
From beneath the bed, she drew a pair of heavy brogans,
a shoe fashioned doubtless to match the listless nature of

(05:27):
the people who most use them, slipping on or off
without hindrance from lace or buckle. As a final touch,
she fastened about her head a piece of blue ribbon,
the band of cheap silk, making the flash in her
black eyes the brighter. Sally left the house and started
across the rubbish littered yard. A short distance from the cabin.

(05:49):
She stopped to look about her I'm dog tired of
it all, she said, fiercely. I hate the house, I
hates the whole place, and worn all, I hates Jim.
She turned, scowling and walked between the rows of growing
corn that reached to the edge of the clearing. Here
began the pine woods, the one saving touch nature has

(06:11):
given to this land. Beneath the grateful shade, she hastened
her steps. The trees stood in endless, disordered ranks, rising
straight in bare of branch until high aloft their spreading
tops caught the sunlight. A quarter of a mile brought
her to the lowland. She went down the slight decline

(06:31):
and stepped within the cane brake. Here gloom closed about her.
The thickly growing cane reached to twice her height. Above
the cane, the cypress spread, its branches, draped with the
sad gray moss of the south. No sun's ray struggled
through the rank foliage to lighten the sodden earth beneath.

(06:53):
Sally picked her way slowly through the swamp, peering cautiously
beyond each fallen log before venturing a further step up.
Crawfish scuttled backward from her path to slip down the
mud chimneys of their homes. The black earth and decaying
plants filled the hot, still air with noisome odors. Thousands
of hidden insects sounded through the dank stretches, their grating calls.

(07:17):
Slimy water oozed from beneath the heavy soles of her brogans.
Green and purple bubbles were left in each footprint, bubbles
with iridescent oily skins. As she went around a sharp turn,
she was caught up and lifted clear from the ground
in the arms of a young man, a boy of
about twenty or thereabout. Oh, Bob, you scart me. You

(07:40):
certainly are rough. Without words, he kissed her again and again. Now, Bob,
you quit. Ain't you had enough? Could I ever have enough? Ah? Sally,
I love you so? The words trembled from the boy.
You certainly ain't like none of 'em round here, Bob.
There was some pride in Sally's drawling voice. I never

(08:02):
see none of the men folks act with gals like
you does. There's no other girl like you to make them. Then,
holding her from him, he went on fiercely. You don't
let any of them try it, do you? Sally smiled
up into his glowing eyes. Ye, knows. I don't, they'd
be a feared to Jim. The blood rushed to the

(08:22):
boy's cheeks. His arms dropped to his side. He stood sobered, sally,
we can't go on this way any longer. That's why
I asked you to come to the river today. What's
it gonna stop us? A frightened look crossed the woman's face.
I'm going away, she made a quick step toward him.

(08:43):
You ain't lost your job on the new railroad. No,
come down to the boat where we can talk. The
sober he helped her down the bank of the creek
to a flat bottomed skiff and seated her in the
stern with a touch of courtesy, before taking the cross
seat facing her. No, no, I haven't lost my job, he
began earnestly. But my section of the road is about finished.

(09:06):
They'll move me to another residency further up the line
in about a week. She sat silent a moment, her
black eyes wide with question. He searched them for some
sign of sorrow. What can I do after you're gone?
There was a hopeless note in her voice. It pleased
the boy. That's the point. Instead of letting them move me,

(09:27):
I'm going to move myself. He paused that she might
get the full meaning of his coming words. I'm going
away from here tonight, and I'm going to take you
with me. No, no, I dasn't. She shrank before his
steady gaze. He moved swiftly across to her, throwing his
arms around her. He poured out his words, Yes, you will,

(09:49):
you must? You love me, don't you? Sally nodded in
helpless assent. Better than anything in this world. Again, Sally nodded,
Then listen tonight, at twelve you come to the river.
I'll be waiting for you at the edge of the swamp.
We'll row down to Bruton. We can easily catch the
six twenty de mobile and once there we'll begin to live.

(10:13):
He finished grandly. But I can't, Are you crazy? How
can I get away? And Jim right in the house?
I thought of all that. You just let him see this.
He drew a bottle from beneath the seat. You know
what he'll do to this. It's the strongest corn whiskey
I could find. Oh, Bob, I'm a scared two. Don't

(10:35):
you love me? His young eyes looked reproach. Sally threw
both arms about the boy's neck and drew his head
down to her lips. Then she pushed him from her. Bob,
is it so what the men folks all say that
the railroad gives you a hundred dollars every month? He laughed, Yes, you,

(10:56):
dear girl, I'm more. I get a hundred and a quarter,
and I've been getting it for two years in this
god forsaken country and nothing to spend it on. I've
got over a thousand dollars saved up. The woman's eyes widened.
She kissed the boy on the mouth. They loughs, how
you're the smartest engineer on the road. The boy's head

(11:17):
was held high. Sally made some mental calculations before she
spoke again. Oh, Bob, I just can't. I'm scared too,
he caught her. To him, a man of longer experience
might have noted the sham and her reluctance. My darling,
what are you afraid of? He cried? What are we

(11:38):
going to do after we gets to Mobile? No, I
thought of everything. They're building a new line down in Texas.
We'll go there. I'll get another job as resident engineer.
I have my profession, he ended proudly. YE might get
tired and want to get shit in me, Bob. He
smothered her words under fierce kisses. His young heart beat

(11:59):
at bursting pressure. In bright colors, he pictured the glory
of mobile New Orleans and all the world that lay
before them to love each other in. When Sally left
the boat, she had promised to come where the pine
trees meet the cane brake. He would be waiting for
her at midnight. At the top of the bank. She
turned to wave, wait, wait, called the boy. He rushed

(12:23):
up the slope, quit, Bob, yer heartin me. She tore
herself from his arms and hastened back along the slimy path.
When she reached the pine wood, she paused. More'n a
thousand dollars, she murmured, and a slow, satisfied smile crossed
over her shrewd face. The sun, now directly over the

(12:45):
tops of the trees, shot its scorching rays through the foliage.
They struck the earth in vertical shafts, heating it to
the burning point. Not a breath stirred the glistening pine
needles on the towering branches. It was one of those
noontimes which, in the moisture charged air of southern Alabama
makes life a steaming hell to all living things save

(13:08):
reptiles and lovers. Reaching the cabin, Sally went first to
the kitchen room. She opened a cupboard, and taking the
cork from the bottle, placed the whiskey on the top shelf,
and closed the wooden door. She crossed the dog trot
to the sleeping room. A spitting snarl greeted her entrance.

(13:28):
In the center of the bed crouched the yellow cat,
its eyes gleaming every muscle over its bony frame drawn
taut ready for the spring. The woman startled, drew back.
The cat moved on stiff legs nearer unflinchingly. They glared
into each other's eyes. Get out of here before I

(13:49):
kill you, ye yeller, devil, Sally's voice rang hard as steel.
The cat stood poised at the edge of the bed,
its glistening teeth showing in its way. Without an instant's
shift of her defiant stare, Sally wrenched a shoe from
her foot. The animal, with spread claws, sprang straight for

(14:10):
the woman's throat. The cat and the heavy broken crashed
together in mid air. Together they fell to the floor.
The cat landed lightly, silently, and bounded through the open door.
Sallie fell back against the log wall of the cabin,
feeling the skin at her throat with trembling fingers. Jim, Oh, Jim,

(14:33):
Sally called from the cabin, Come on in, your supper's ready.
He ain't took nothing to drink today. She thought, it's
not three months now, he'll be most crazy. The man
took a few sticks of wood from the ground and
came on, dragging feet through the gloom. As Sally watched
his listless approach, she felt in full force the oppressive

(14:54):
melancholy of her dismal surroundings, awakened by the boy's enthusiastic
play imagination stirred within her. In the distance, a girdled
pine stood clear cut against the horizon. It's bark peeled
and fallen left the dead naked trunk, the color of
dried bones near the stunted top. One bare limbs stretched out,

(15:17):
unnoticed a thousand times before to the woman, it looked tonight,
A ghostly gibbet against the black sky. Sally shuddered and
went into the lighted kitchen. I just killed a rattler
down by the woodpile. Jim threw down his load and
drew a splint bottomed chair to the table. Ground rattler
Jim nasaraie a hell bend in big diamond back. Did

(15:42):
you hurt the skin, Sally asked quickly. Na I chopped
his neck clean short to the head, and I'd done it, sir,
darn quick. His fangs is a sticking out, yet, I reckon.
Did he strike at you? Yes, sir ee? And the
pison came out of his mouth just like a fog
ay fool in me. Nah, I ain't neither. I heard

(16:03):
tell of it, but I never seed it before. The
ground was kind of black werry lit. And just as
I brought the axe down on him, there I see
it a little puff like same as white steam in
front of his mouth. How big was he? Jim Levin
rattles on a button. Did you skin him? Nah? It
was too darn dark. But I hung him high up

(16:24):
so the hogs won't get at him. His skin will
futch faux bits down at andaluschi ax um six Jim,
Then Biggins is getting kind of scarce. Jim finished his
supper in silence. The killing of the snake had provided
more conversation than was usual during three meals. Among Pinewood's people.

(16:44):
As Sally was clearing away the dishes, the yellow cat
came through the door. Slinking close to the wall. It
avoided the woman and sprang upon the knees of its master.
Jim grinned into the eyes of the beast and began
stroking its coarse hair. The cat set up a grating purr.
Sally looked at the two for a moment in silence. Jim,

(17:06):
you gotta kill that cat. Jim's grin widened, showing his
tobacco stained teeth. Jim, I'm telling you you gotta kill
that cat, and I'm telling you I won't. Jim, it
sprung at me today, and would it hurt me something
terrible if I hadn't hit it over the head with
my shoe. Well, you must have done something to make him.

(17:27):
You leave him alone and he won't pester you. The
woman hesitated. She looked at the man as yet undecided.
After a moment, she spoke again, Jim, Gant, I'm asking
you for the last time, which does you think warn
of me or that snarling varmint. Now you don't snarl
at me as much as you does, The man answered doggedly. Anyway,

(17:50):
I ain't a going to kill him, and you gotta
leave him alone too. You just mind your own business.
Go toe the mattress out on the trot. It's two
turned hot to sleep in the house. The woman passed
behind him to the cupboard, reached up, opened wide the
wooden door, and went out of the room. Jim stroked
the cat, its grating purr growing louder in the stillness.

(18:13):
A minute passed into the dull eyes of the man.
A glitter came and grew slowly. He lifted his head
farther and farther. His chin drew up until the cords
beneath the red skin of his neck stood out in ridges.
The nostrils of his bony nose quivered. He sniffed the
hot air like a dog, straining to catch a distant scent.

(18:37):
His tongue protruded and moved from side to side across
his lips. Standing in the darkness without the woman smiled grimly. Abruptly,
the man rose. The forgotten cat fell, twisted in the air,
and laid it on its feet. Jim wheeled and strode
to the cupboard. As his hand closed about the bottle,

(18:59):
the gleam in his eyes became burning flames. He jerked
the bottle from the shelf, threw his head far back.
The fiery liquor ran down his throat. He returned to
his seat. The cat rubbed its ribbed flank against his leg.
He stooped and lifted it to the table. Waving the
bottle in front of the yellow beast. He laughed, here's

(19:21):
to yar and tah yer, and swallowed half a tumblerful
of the colorless liquid. Sally dragged the shuck mattress to
the dog trot. Fully dressed, she lay waiting for midnight.
An hour went by before Jim shivered the empty bottle
against the log wall of the kitchen. Pressing both hands

(19:43):
hard upon the table, he heaved himself to his feet,
upsetting the candle in the effort. He leered at the
flame and slapped his bare palm down on it. The hot,
melted wax oozed up unheeded between his fingers. Clinging to
the tab, he turned himself toward the open door, steadied

(20:04):
his swaying body for an instant, then lurched forward. His
shoulder crashed against the doorpost. His body spun half way round.
The man fell flat upon his back, missing the mattress
by a yard. The back of his head struck hard
on the rough boards of the porch floor. He lay motionless,

(20:25):
his feet sticking straight up on the door sill. The
yellow cat sprang lightly over the fallen body and went
out into the night. Wide eyed. The woman lay watching.
After moments of tense listening, the sound of faint breathing
came to her from the prone figure. Sally frowned. He's

(20:46):
tuned no count to get killed, she said aloud, and
turned on her side. She judged from the stars it
was not yet eleven. Drowsiness came. She fell into uneasy slumber.
Out in the yellow cat was prowling. It stopped near
the woodpile with extended paw. It touched lightly something that

(21:08):
lay on the ground. Its long teeth fastened upon it.
The cat slunk off toward the house without sound. It
sprang to the floor of the dog trot stealthily, its
body crouched low. It started to cross through the open way.
As it passed the woman, she muttered and struck out
in her sleep. The cat flattened to the floor near

(21:32):
the moving arm. The thing it carried fell from its teeth.
The beast scurried out across the opening. The night marched
on to the sound of a million voices calling shrilly
through the gloom. The woman awoke. The stars glowed pale
from a cloudy midnight sky. She reached out her right hand,

(21:53):
palm down to raise herself from the bed, throwing her
full weight upon it. Two needle points pierced her wrist.
A smothered cry was wrung from her lips. She reached
with her left hand to pluck at the hurt place.
It touched something cold, something hard and clammy, some dead thing.

(22:15):
She jerked back the hand. A scream shivered through the
still air. Pains becoming instantly acute unbearable, darted through her
arm again. She tried to pull away the torturing needle points.
Her quivering hand groped aimlessly in the darkness. She could
not force herself a second time to touch the dead,

(22:36):
clinging thing at her wrist. Screaming, she dragged herself to
the man. Jim, I'm hurt, help me, help me. The
man did not move. Jim, wake up, help me, she
wailed uselessly to the inert man. The terrifying pain spurted
from wrist to shoulder. With her clenched left hand, she

(22:59):
beat against the man's upturned face. You drunken fool, help
me take this thing away. The man lay torpid beneath
her pounding fist. Along the path to Pigeon Creek, where
the pine woods run into the cane break, a boy waited,
waited until the eastern sky grew from black to gray. Then,

(23:21):
with cautious tread, he began to move. His face turned
toward the cabin. As he neared the clearing, the gray
in the east changed to red. He left the woods
and entered the field of corn. His footfalls made no
sound on the earth between the furrows. At the cabin,
he drew close against the wall and listened. A man's

(23:43):
heavy breathing reached his straining ears. Slowly, he moved toward
the opening in the middle of the house. Above the breathing,
he heard a grating noise. Between the deep drawn breaths
and the grating, another sound came to him, a harsh,
rhythmic scratching. The edge of the sun rose abruptly above

(24:03):
the flat earth, sending light within the opening. The boy
thrust his head around the angle. A yellow cat was
sitting at the foot of the mattress. From its throat,
grating purrs came in regular measure. Between each purr, the
beasts spread, claws, clutched, and released the stiff ticking beyond

(24:24):
lay the man. Between the cat and the man, stretched
across the shuck bed was the woman, her glassy eyes
staring up into the grinning face of the cat. From
her shoulder, reaching out toward the boy, was a vivid,
turgid thing, A hand and arm puffed beyond all human shape.

(24:45):
From the swollen wrist, its poisoned fangs sunk deep into
an artery, hung the mangled head of a snake. The
swaying corn blades whipped against the boy's white face as
he fled between the rose end of the cat. Of
the cane Brake by Frederick Stewart Greene