SILENCE FOR A PRICE
CHOP…CHOP…CHOP… the familiar sound of an axe could be heard in the distance. Jasper’s face skewed in confusion as he made his way further down the path. The Walker homestead was large consisting of many acres, acres adjacent to the Salmon-Challis National Forest. He made his way down the dirt path as wilting weeds and white flowers were sporadically scattered over the landscape.
Small gnats seemed to jump from branch to leafy branch. Jasper’s ponytail now drenched with sweat stuck to the back of his NASCAR shirt. “Hoss, Hoss…hey Hoss you down here little bro?” Jasper hopped off a rock habitually before coming around the small bend to find his younger brother Hoss.
In a small clearing littered with wooden fragments and pieces rotting underneath the towering Hoss. Hoss certainly lived up to his nickname of “Big Hoss”. The size of a defensive linebacker with broad shoulders and a droopy complexation. His lopsided face gaped into a toothless smile as his chin wobbled underneath him. He shouldered the axe behind him with one mighty swing. The axe was easily dwarfed not only by his size but by his massive tree trunk like arms and hands.
Jasper nearly froze in place realizing that Hoss was not alone. A bushy and tangled bed of coal black hair waved like caught in a violent wind. A familiar man that he never seemed to grow accustomed to stood patiently waiting against the nearest tree. “Move Hoss…move,” Jasper crossed his arms as he approached the man. Watching his cousin Colt make his way towards him straightening his coke bottle sized black glasses. “You know if you weren’t kin Colt Hoss would have put that axe in your back a long time ago.” “That dumb old gorilla acts like he never recognizes me. He can’t speak
worth a lick! He just stands there and makes that dumb ol’ throat sound of his every time I come up that path! More like a guard dog than actual kin, defiantly the simpler side of your brood.” “That’s my brood their kin, and that makes him Kinfolk…remember that!”
“Kin or not I asked him to go up and get Uncle Remy because I was no longer allowed on the homestead. And that dumb bastard comes back alone and motions for me to just wait…just wait like I ain’t got anything better to do! I tell you Jasper, your brother is too stupid to know that we kin anyway! I have to remind him EVERY damn time I come up that stupid path between our properties.”
Trying to remain polite, Colt flicked the buttons on his overall. It gave a soft, TINK. “This one’s new what’s this one mean, They / Them? Personally, it sounds like city talk to me.” “Why are you here this time Colt? What do you and Uncle Virgil want?”
Appearing to have reached the purpose for his trip to the property. “The Kinfolk are summoning a Gathering tonight…” “A Gathering…tonight?” Colt nodded at Jasper’s protest. “Colt have you and your brood been paying attention to the weather? Have Uncle Virgil and Beau agreed to summoning a Gathering…summoning a Gathering in this oncoming weather?” Colt snorting at the indignity of his question. “You know the rules of the Kinfolk. The rules and laws laid down by our forefathers who left the homeland of Appalachia to settle this land. Settle this land and become the largest potato farmers in the region. The South will rise in the North.” Jasper waved his hands with a tired, “yeah, yeah spare me the whole speech Colt! We all know the Walker motto. And we ain’t potato farmers anymore, ok? Now, I know that we are kin and all. However, you and your brood can’t just summon a Gathering, especially on a night like this. Uncle Virgil and Beau wouldn’t have agreed to a Gathering tonight.”
Colt began shaking his head which silenced Jasper’s words. “Rain or shine if two of the three Clans call for a Gathering. The third clan is obligated to be in attendance. The entire Kinfolk must be represented. And after all, it’s family time! You should want to spend time with your family. You’re
all we got and we’re all you got.” Jasper snorted, “your family time is more like contract negotiations and business dealings.” Colt shrugged, “ah well we are a different kind of family than the rest of society, right?” Jasper sighed, “well we are conducting business in Clint. And with the weather coming in we wouldn’t be able to make the Gathering either way. Pa would have to go and if you want to walk your ass up to the house be my guest.”
Colt paused as a loud CLUNK… CLUNK… CLUNK… THUD could be heard behind Jasper. It didn’t take much investigation to realize that Big Hoss had resumed chopping more wood. They both ignored Hoss’s tedious choir, “same time, same place ok my kin?” Eyes narrowed at his cousin, “Colt what are you not understanding? Cephus and I will not be able to make a Gathering. As I have already stated we have business to conduct in town. Business will always take place over…” Colt cut him off,
“it is THAT EXACT business that needs to be discussed and addressed at tonight’s Gathering!”
This was something that Jasper had not expected to hear. His face seemed frozen mid-sentence as his eyes searched his cousins. Jasper had hoped that his family’s morning exploits would have remained unknown to the rest of the Kinfolk. Jasper tried to straighten his face under his cousin’s increasingly penetrating stare. His eyes seemed magnified behind his thick lenses. “Well, we will try to make it depending on the weather, time, and exchange. In our brood, money always comes before…” Jasper’s voice was cut off as Colt interjected again, “you know the punishment of not attending a Gathering when summoned by a majority of the Kinfolk.” Jasper felt his teeth grind together in building anger. “You’re lucky we’re kin Colt…real lucky! Coming around here barking orders and telling us when and where we need to be. Always sticking your nose in other people’s business around the Kinfolk and in Clint. You’re always knowing too much for your own good!
Cephus and I are not slaves to your Patriarchal demands. You never answered my question, Colt.
Does Uncle Virgil and Uncle Beau know you’re doing this…calling a Gathering? Do you have their blessing?” “You think that you can lie to Uncle Beau about the Moonshine that you got from him?
You think that you can USE that Moonshine to poach and steal an animal from OUR land! And we wouldn’t know anything about it? That I wouldn’t find out about it!”
Jasper gave a guilty shrug of his shoulders unable to hide the secret anymore. “I don’t know where you get your sources from nor how you get all your information but…” Colt held up his hand,
“save it cousin don’t ever forget we kin. Walker Kinfolk always look out for kin around here. When I first heard the news, I said to myself ‘no not Cephus and Jasper. They both would know better.
Especially Jasper since I had just spoken to him just last week…’” “Not him…”
Colt’s berating had come to an abrupt halt as his mouth stopped mid-sentence. “Excuse me…”
He said as Jasper continued, “well you said him and that’s not correct. You are not using my preferred pronouns.” Clearly taken aback by this Colt stood up straighter, “I don’t understand?” “You just used a pronoun that I don’t identify as and as my cousin I just corrected you. I would expect being kin you would respect that.” Colt’s shaking shaggy hair seemed to have nothing to do with the wind. “What the hell you talking about…pronoun…identify as?” Jasper rolled his head as if he was explaining common knowledge to a toddler. “You used the word him when referring to me. I am saying that is incorrect when you speak to me or about me. I am asking that you please use the THEY pronoun when referring to me or talking about me. I don’t identify as male, nor do I identify as a female.”
The seconds seemed to drift by as Colt had exhibited a loss of connection between his mouth and brain. Colt’s shaggy beard and weathered face began to laugh. The mounds of wavy black hair shook like an overgrown bush caught in an increasing windstorm. Colt jabbed at Jasper’s button pinned on the front of his overalls. “So that’s what the new button means huh? You still reading them city books! Virgil always said Pa’s brood were the crazies of the family. One thing you’ll have to realize cousin is that city books ain’t got NO say out here! Law ain’t got no say out here! Walker Kinfolk makes the rules out here…makes the laws. And those laws will be obeyed or else!” “I know the laws, Colt! You never answered my question! Does Uncle Beau and Virgil know you’re calling a
Gathering?” Colt paused for a moment before replying “well then, I guess that remains to be seen. It is such a burden sometimes knowing what I know. It becomes even more difficult when it comes to Kinfolk. After all, I don’t NEED to spill the beans on your little side dealings. I don’t need to get Uncle Beau and Virgil to summon a Gathering to address this issue. I can’t have any secrets between my brood and kin.”
There came a silent pause as Colt and Jasper seemed to size each other up. “What do you want Colt?” He smirked at Jasper before rolling his eyes like he had just thought of an idea. “Well, some of Remy’s product might help keep my lips sealed.” “Might help or will help…” “Will…” Colt said, smirking at his cousin, realizing that he had Jasper’s full attention. Waving his hand, “say oh…about two bricks and we can let this situation become water under the bridge. What do you say?”
Jasper gazed at his cousin for several seconds unable to respond. Colt smiled seemingly recognizing the silence as confirmation. “Great,” he said with a confident little smirk. “I’ll come by later to your homestead and pick it up. You can just leave it on your porch.” Jasper was only able to mumble a response as his cousin gave a final smile of a mutually understood agreement. He gave one final look of disgruntled dissension as Colt turned back to the path leading back to his own homestead.
Without acknowledging his other cousin, Colt walked past him as Hoss gave a disapproving, “ga…ga!”
Minutes later Jasper appeared from the path with Hoss in toe. “What in God’s name took you so long Jasper?” Cephus said giving a loud disgruntled groan latching the bear cub’s cage onto the back of the Razor. The cub’s once injured leg was now wrapped up to its chest and fitted with a black sling around its body. It struggled to keep its balance, learning how to stay upright on its remaining three legs. It whimpered in protest with watery eyes watching Jasper approach his brother. Jasper motioned towards the path that Hoss and him had just come from. “You’ll never guess who I found waiting with Big Hoss.” Cephus rolled his eyes as he removed a tin of tobacco from his back pocket.
He placed a wad of the brown contents in his cheek before asking “Who’d Uncle Virgil send?” Jasper smiled, “I think you know.” “Colt…” Cephus replied without thinking twice nor looking back at his twin for confirmation. “What does that old Grizzly Adams shit kicker want now? Motherfucker got his ear in every little conversation and dealing inside the entire Kinfolk and Clint.” Jasper frowned, “I don’t care much for him either, but he kin Cephus. That’s awfully micro-aggressive of you?” “Micro what now…” Cephus replied with a dumbfounded look on his face. His arms resting on the cage with an attitude that matched his words. “And would you mind telling me what in the hell does that mean?”
“You called him Grizzly Adams…” “Motherfucker LOOKS like Grizzly Adams and that no good cousin of ours got a nose that sticks too far into other people’s business.” His face fell as a sudden realization came over him. “He knows, doesn’t he?” Seeing his brother’s face Cephus grumbled angrily, “What that nosey Grizzly Adams want?” The bear cub whined struggling to stay balanced on its three legs. Pa had wrapped its leg in medical tap and slinged the leg up to its chest with what appeared to be a torn piece of bed sheet. The whining of the still frightened bear cub did not detour the conversation nor the inquisitive stare from his brother. Jasper seemed to fumble with himself before responding to his brother’s growing impatience.
“He says he wants to call a Gathering…” “A Gathering…tonight?” Cephus’s skeptical look seemed to twist the words out of him. “He can’t just CALL a Gathering just like that! Uncle Virgil or Beau would skin him…” “That’s just it. He hasn’t exactly said anything to them. He wants…”
Cephus spit his tobacco out on the ground with a frustrated little grumble. Jasper seemed to sense his brother’s rising anger. Hesitating for a minute before he continued, “He wants some of Pa’s product to keep him quiet. He wants to come by later to pick it up.” Cephus stared at Jasper wordlessly as if computing Colt’s request to Jasper. “He’s got some nerve! If he weren’t kin, I would teach that grizzled motherfucker a lesson! He’s always coming around here up that little path that they created to get to us. I don’t know how he knows what he knows or finds out what he knows. We should have
known that Virgil’s brood, especially Colt, would find out. He knows too much for his own good.
And one day, mark my words Jasper one day he’ll get what’s coming to him. And I’ll say good riddance!”
Jasper listened to his brother complain for several uninterrupted seconds. His angry rant ended with a, “How much of Pa’s product does he want for his silence?” Jasper hesitated again before replying, “two.” “Two…” Cephus repeated with a disbelieving scowl. “Two bricks,” Jasper said softly hoping the muffled tone of his voice would have less of an impact on his brother’s mood.
Cephus’s face turned red, “two bricks! He’s got some nerve blackmailing us like that!” “Well, we did break Kinfolk law poaching on their land.” Cephus’s eyes turned to his brother in utter befuddlement.
“Whose side are you on Jasper?” “I think Colt is being totally unreasonable, but I don’t want to trample on his…” “Don’t start Jasper, don’t even start with that city talk again! He is blackmailing this family…blackmailing his own kin! We are the Walker Kinfolk, and we are supposed to work together. I should go straight to Uncle Virgil and tell him about what Colt is doing.”
Jasper shook his head, “do you realize how much trouble we would get into? How much trouble Pa would get into?” Cephus groaned as the argument seemed to be growing more heated. “So, what do you want to do? You want to pay him? You want to just give into his demands? First, it’s two bricks, then it will be three, then four! Need I remind you that the reason we took the bear cub in the first place is because Pa’s cooking will not last forever. We need more outlets for cash. Clint is dying and it is only a matter of time before it becomes a ghost town! If Pa and the rest of y’all want to cling to that motto be my guest. Whether you recognize their way or not. Government will come for us when the bills are due and unpaid.” Jasper shrugged, “I guess you’re right. So, what do you want to do?”
The bear cub seemed to have found a comfortable spot in the cage. Curled up into a ball of dark brown fur, Cephus stared at it for a moment before shrugging. “I guess we don’t have a choice in
the matter. We need Pa to cook up another small batch.” “A free batch…” Cephus inquired with a concerned look as Cephus shrugged back in response. “I guess so. I don’t see that we have any other choice. But mark my words Colt is not going to want to run into me anytime soon!” Jasper gave a nervous little chortle, “How you going to get Pa to cook up another batch after he JUST finished this one?”
The screen door to the front of their house slammed with a rattling, WACK, WACK, WACK!
Walking stick in hand, Pa wobbled slightly to his favorite seat. A rickety white and faded red lawn chair covered in a weathered Stars and Bars fleece blanket. “Well now’s your chance to ask him Cephus. I certainly can’t ask him.”
The cane hit the floor with a loud SMACK as if Pa was trying to get their attention. His penetrating stare fell on both of them. His graying beard draped over his thimble legs, “What are you two jabbering milksops over there gossiping about?” Cephus walked around the bear cub’s cage,
“Pa…” He began as Jasper chuckled in amusement. Smiling at the pathetic and wimpish approach the large aggressive linebacker sized man took towards his near frail father. “Oh, here comes the zounderkite,” Pa began as his eyes watched his second largest son approach him. “Hat in hand thinking I won’t know when he wants or needs something. Boy, I raised you since the day your mother crapped you two out! Then again you were always as sharp as a sack of boiled potatoes. Now, what got you coming up here looking like a DAMN fool?”
Cephus had evidently lost some of his momentum as Pa stared him down. “Pa…well, we...we…” “Oh, spit it out boy Jesus Christ! I hear a lot of jabbering, but no words coming out!”
“Colt showed up and spoke to Jasper while he was down with Big Hoss…” “Jesus boy you’re like a history book of Clint telling me something I already know from the past.” “No Pa, Colt showed up and knows about us poaching on Uncle Virgil’s land.” Pa stood motionless as he muttered, “Well, that's your fault there boy! I warned you about going up against and breaking Kinfolk code. You boys will
have to address all that at the next Gathering.” Cephus shook his head, “No Pa that’s just it! He hasn’t told Uncle Virgil or the rest of his brood yet.” Pa’s slack jawed mouth seemed to tighten as Cephus continued. “Colt said he wants two bricks for him to keep his silence. He is coming by a little later to pick them up.” “Do you know how to count? We don’t HAVE two bricks. I cooked the usual three for Virgil and just enough for Sydney…or that Rafael punk to deliver to the Outlawz.”
Cephus hesitated as Pa’s insults seemed to kick him in the stomach. “You asking me to cook up a small batch just for him?” Cephus’s silence seemed to confirm Pa’s suspicion. His hand ran through his beard, “That boy Colt got a hell of a Borzoi nose on him! Always sticking it in places that it doesn’t belong!” Jasper snorted behind Cephus as he continued, “I ain’t cooking up any more today or the rest of the week boy. So, you can save yourself the trouble!” “Pa…” Pa raised his walking stick and began jabbing it into Cephus’s shoulder, “don’t be Pa’ing me boy! Now, you need to get into town before the storm begins. I’m starting to feel droplets on me.” “What about Colt? How are we going to handle him?” He protested spitting a large wad of pulp from his tobacco. “He’s coming here to…”
WACK… Pa’s walking stick struck Cephus on the arm. “I thought I told you to git…go on and git out of here! I’ll deal with Colt when he comes.”