The Devil's Backbone

Chapter 5: The Kansas Line

        Violet sat out on the veranda in an old white rocking chair. The strange ebbing and flowing sound of cicadas was all around. She took a sip of her uncle's whiskey that she'd managed to steal and sighed. The wind whipped her hair about her face. It was pinned up neatly except for a few whisps that wouldn't stay up. She almost looked like a lady in her dark green dress if it weren't for the fact that she was smoking and drinking whiskey.

        She looked around the front of the house... down the drive that Mattie had left on... at the stables and the fields. She was so lonely and tired of this life... just waiting. Waiting for what? When was she going to take her life into her own hands..? Or was she just expected to wait?

        "Come all you jolly cowmen, don't you want to go way up on the Kansas line? Where you whoop up the cattle from morning till night all out in the midnight rain. The cowboy's life is a dreadful life, he's driven through heat and cold; I'm almost froze with the water on my clothes, A-ridin' through heat and cold. I've been where the lightnin', the lightnin' tangled in my eyes, The cattle I could scarcely hold; Think I heard my boss man say: "I want all brave-hearted men who ain't afraid to die to whoop up the cattle from morning till night, way up on the Kansas line." She sang softly, not noticing that someone had come outside and was standing behind her.

        "What a lovely voice. Why don't you sing in the church choir, darlin'?" She heard John ask. Violet flushed and kept her face turned from him. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd made her blush.

        "The pastor wouldn't rightly allow someone like me sing in the choir... I'm devilspawn." Violet whispered, taking another sip of whiskey. She hadn't talked to John since she told him off those few days ago. But when she looked at him he seemed to be in deep thought. About what she'd said, she hoped; but it was always hard to tell what he was thinking about.

        "I don't think I ever met a woman quite like you, darlin'." He said, sitting down in the chair next to her.

        Violet crossed her legs and smirked a bit. Her aunt would always cane her and comment that a true lady should never cross her legs like so. She'd do it all the time just to spite her.

        "Damn right... And you never will again..." Things were quiet for a long while. John lit up a cigarette and smoked with her as they looked out into the trees and the sunset.

        "Teach me how to shoot." He finally said after awhile. Violet's eyebrows rose. He didn't know how? That was quite surprising to her. Maybe it was the difference in the way they grew up. Violet grew up in a much more... relaxed environment than John. The lavish lifestyle that she had been more or less forced into was nothing like the way she'd grown up. The expensive dresses and meals prepared specially by a chef were replaced by things made by her mother. They were closer as a family and were happy even though they lived not knowing if they'd see the next day. That was a life Violet dreamed of returning to...

        "You... want me to teach you how to shoot a gun? I don't shoot shotguns... You're outta luck if that's what you're wantin'." She looked over at him. But he didn't seem to care.

        "Why do you even want to learn?" She asked, out of curiosity.

        "Well, darlin', after I get my license to practice dentistry, I plan on heading west... to Kansas perhaps to start my practice."

        Violet froze. Kansas... Was all she ever dreamed of... She set down her whiskey and took a deep breath.

        "I'll teach you on one condition.." She looked over at him with a solemn and serious look on her face.

        "What might that be, darlin'?" He asked, not looking at her.

        "Take me with you..." She whispered, barely audible. Several moments passed and Violet got worried. Maybe he didn't hear her or he didn't want to have her with him.

        "All I want is to leave this place and move west. I'll leave and you won't ever see me again once we get there if you so desire. But if you want to learn how to shoot then you have to give me your word that you'll hold up your end of the bargain."

        John sat there, he seemed to be thinking deeply about something. He shifted in his chair and nodded.

        "Alright, darlin' I will take you with me. You have my word. I may not be the gentlest of gentlemen but a man if my word, I am."

        "Then we'll start tomorrow..."