the building.
“Let the ax do the work, James,” John was saying. “It’ll kill your back if you don’t.”
With a hard swing, James struck the piece of wood near its center splitting it in half. “How about that, John?”
Stopping for a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow and looking at the large stack piled to the side, he exclaimed, “Don’t you think we’ve got enough for the rest of the winter?”
John, sitting on the ground resting, replied, “You can tell you don’t know nothing about roughing it down here in the South. That pile might last a month if’n we’re lucky.”
As James was placing another piece of wood on the splitting block, he noticed Suzanne gently easing up behind John. She motioned for him to be quiet. As she placed her hands over John’s eyes, he swirled around, pulling her down into his lap.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she laughed.
John began to chuckle. “Who do you think you’re fooling with? I heard you ride up and I’ve been watching you out of the corner of my eye as you attacked me.”
“I was just having some fun. Let me up before I call your mother on you.”
John held her tightly, “You sure you want me to let you go?”
Pretending to be angry she replied, “I was just teasing you and what did you do? You just pulled me down like some common woman. Isn’t that right, James?”
Amused, James went back to work. “When you two get through playing, we might get this job done.”
Suzanne then pulled herself up and began brushing the grass from her riding skirt. “You didn’t see me Mister Smarty Pants. How’d you know I was there?”
John, still sitting on the ground casually answered, “I’ve hunted all my life and I heard every step you took and I could smell your perfume.”
Standing in front of him she sighed, “You didn’t say anything about my new riding outfit. Don’t you think it becomes me?”
John sat there for a moment and then replied, “You got a new one every time I see you and they all look fine to me.”
Disgusted, she turned to James, pulled back her shoulders displaying her full figure and asked, “Do I look fine to you, James?”
James blushed and looked away. “Yes Ma’am, you look just fine. Just fine.”
“Now Suzanne, leave James out of it,” John said. “You rode a far piece. What do you want?”
“What do I want!” she said reaching down and pulling him to his feet. “That’s certainly not a gentleman’s response to a lady’s visit. You could have said, ‘I’m glad to see you or what a pleasant surprise to see you,’ but the only thing that crossed your mind was, ‘What do you want?’”
John smiled. “You just startled me. I wasn’t expecting you, and you do look striking in that outfit.”
Taking her by the hand, he said, “Come on. Let’s go down and see the horses.”
Occasionally James could hear them laugh at something down at the corral, and before long they returned hand in hand.
Realizing that it was getting late, Suzanne said, “John, remember, Saturday week. We have a surprise for you and we want your parents there too.”
As she rode off she called back, “You better be there. I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Ain’t promising you!”
Watching in wonder, James muttered, “What was that all about?”
John, reaching for his coat, replied, “Some kind of a danged dinner they say they’re planning. A surprise. They even want Mama and Papa there. That’ll be the day when Mister Lott Wilson sets foot on Olliver property. You’ve heard of hell freezing over, ain’t ya? Get your coat, we’re calling it a day.”
Walking back toward the house James said, “John, that woman’s got her eye on you. When you had her on the ground, I think you could have done anything you wanted to her, and I’ll tell you something else, when she was standing there with those shoulders back, some wayward thoughts went through my mind. Not many men could keep turning her down like you do.”
John smiled, reached over and placed his arm on James’ shoulder. “I hope my sister don’t hear you talking like that. You might be sleeping out on the porch with them hounds of yours.”
James pushed his arm away. “Well, brother-in-law, what I’m saying is that you’d be a fool not to pursue a relationship with that woman.”
“You may have hit the nail on the head,” John replied, laughing. “But I’m gonna have to think a little more about that dinner. Let’s just put it like this, if’n my parents will set foot in the Olliver house, then I might just tag along too.”
John reined his horse to a stop and gently patted him on the neck. The horse shook his head and snorted. It was barely dusk, and a full moon was bringing light to what could be a dark winter night. A light breeze shuffled the fallen leaves about on the ground, and John noticed small puffs of clouds dancing across the sky. The chill of the night caused him to button the top of his jacket and adjust his wrap snugly around his neck. Up ahead, he saw a long straight road bordered with large oak trees which, during summer, created a green lush canopy overhead, but now appeared as large skeletons with thin arms reaching out to grasp and devour wanderers invading their territory. Accepting the challenge, John kicked his horse in the flank and galloped up the road, dodging the bare oak limbs overhead.
Located on the crest of a large hill overlooking a creek bottom that had produced some of the finest cotton in the county, the Olliver’s large lighted two-story mansion dominated the skies. The four massive brick columns supporting the roof looked like sentinels standing guard.
John reined in his horse and thought back to the time when as a youngster he had enjoyed many visits to the Olliver’s. They were full of fun and foolishment as he and Frank created new adventures. All the hunting trips, camping, horse racing or playing hide and seek in the spacious barn seemed to melt away the exhaustion from the daily toil and labor which occupied his every waking moment at his father’s farm.
To John this was his home away from home, but that was years ago. In a way, he still had the same warm feeling about the place, but the relationship with Frank had changed through the years. The Frank Olliver he had known as a boy no longer existed.
A shuffling sound on the porch caught John’s attention, and looking closer, he saw the figure of a man rising from a chair behind one of the columns. At the same time he was aware of the sound of people inside the house enjoying the evening.
As the man made his way to the front steps, he stopped and peered into the darkness. “Who’s out there?”
“It’s John, John Wilson.”
“’Bout time you got here. You by yoreself? Where’s yore folks?”
“They
