The Devil's Sinkhole Read online

  Everything exists, everything is true, and the earth is only a little dust under our feet.

  —W. B. YEATS

  BILL WITTLIFF

  The Devil’s Sinkhole

  Illustrated by JOE CIARDIELLO

  University of Texas Press, Austin

  THE PUBLICATION OF THIS BOOK WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY A GENEROUS CONTRIBUTION FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS ADVISORY COUNCIL.

  Copyright © 2016 by Bill Wittliff

  Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Joe Ciardiello

  All rights reserved

  First edition, 2016

  Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to:

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  University of Texas Press

  P.O. Box 7819

  Austin, TX 78713-7819

  http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/rp-form

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Names: Wittliff, William D., author. | Ciardiello, Joseph, illustrator.

  Title: The Devil’s Sinkhole / Bill Wittliff ; illustrated by Joe Ciardiello.

  Description: First edition. | Austin : University of Texas Press, 2016.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016006693

  ISBN 978-1-4773-0974-2 (cloth : alk. paper)

  ISBN 978-1-4773-0975-9 (library e-book)

  ISBN 978-1-4773-0976-6 (non-library e-book)

  Subjects: LCSH: Families—Texas—Fiction. | Texas—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PS3573.I933 D44 2016 | DDC 813/.54—dc23

  LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016006693

  doi:10.7560/309742

  For My Grandfather

  EMIL SACHTLEBEN

  January 27, 1881–February 7, 1969

  And For

  J. FRANK DOBIE

  September 26, 1888–September 18, 1964

  WHO’S O’PELO BLANCO, Papa said, I ain’t never heared a’him in my Life. O’Pelo Blanco, Calley said, o’White Hair. You tell him the Story Miz Choat, he said. I don’t know I want this Boy to even hear it it’s so Bad, Miz Choat said. If o’Pelo Blanco’s a’coming he’s gonna hear it soon enough any how I reckon, Mister Choat said. Yes course you are just Right as Rain bout that Mister Choat, Miz Choat said. Well it’s said some thirty forty odd years ago they was this Mexkin Man and his Little Son went to stealing Horses all up and down the Country round here and one night this Bunch a’Cow Boys come up on em with they pistols out and put em to digging they own Grave for they Crime then put a Noose round they neck and set each one a’em up on a Horse to hang from a Limb but the Daddy went to Crying and a’Hollering and a’Begging for his Little Son’s Life cause he said his Little Son didn’t never do nothing Bad in his Life but just only what he the Daddy told him to do and all the Cow Boys cep one said Okay we gonna let the little Fella go if you was the One put him up to stealing these Horses here and the Mexkin Daddy said Oh Si Senyor I was the One then made the Sign a’the Holy Cross over his self and said Gracias for my Little Son’s Life and all the Cow Boys cep one said Well we’re sorry it come to this Senyor but here it is and you just gonna have to Live with it now and then that one Cow Boy said I bet you’d like to give your Little Son here a Hug and a Kiss Goodbye fore you go wouldn’t you and the Daddy said Oh Si Si Si Senyor Gracias so the Cow Boy lifted the Little Son up and set him in his Daddy’s lap and the Daddy put his arms round him and they was both just a’Crying and a’Carrying on and Oh it was Sad Sad Sad and then the Daddy give his Little Son a tight Hug and a Last Kiss Goodbye and when he did Why that Cow Boy of a sudden let out a Big Whoop and give the Horse a Slap with his Quirt and the Horse reared up and took off a’running and that poor o’Daddy went to kicking the air but he was still a’Hugging and a’Kissing his Little Son at the same time he was a’jumping on the end a’that rope and couldn’t let go for nothing and it went on like that til at last the Daddy was Hanged Dead Dead Dead but his Little Son kep a’hanging on to his Daddy cause he loved him so much and knowed they was never gonna be no more Hugging and Kissing after this and they say that Little Son hanged on til his Hair turned total White on him then when he couldn’t hang on no more he dropped to the ground but by then all them Cow Boys done already rode on off so the Little Son buried his Daddy in the Hole but first he pulled the Noose off from round his Daddy’s neck and put it round his own neck and then soons he growed up Big and Strong he went to hunting down and Hanging ever one a’them Cow Boys One by One with that same xact Noose and not only them but ever Blood Kin Man born to em all up and down the line back to o’Adam his self. They Fathers and they Sons and they Grandaddys and they Brothers and they Uncles and they Cousins and he Hanged em ever one. Yes Sir, Calley said, Hanged em ever one deadern a god dam Fence Post. All cep one, he said. I don’t know what this got to do with me, Papa said, I ain’t never Hanged nobody. No, Miz Choat said, but your Daddy did. Old Karl was the One quirted that Horse out from under that poor o’Daddy and his Little Son. But Old Karl is dead, Papa said. Yes Sir I know it, Calley said, but you ain’t.

  . . . give your Little Son here a Hug and a Kiss Goodbye . . .

  I GOTTA GO WARN HERMAN, Papa said, If o’Pelo Blanco’s coming to get me he’s a’coming to get him too ain’t he. Ain’t nobody gonna get you, Calley said, you don’t have to worry bout that. I’ll ride down there and warn Herman bout it my self, Mister Choat said, See if maybe he don’t wanna move in over here with us a’while so he got him some Help if o’Pelo comes a’knocking. Miz Choat was bout to cry, Papa said, and come over and give me a hug. Seems like Old Karl just won’t leave you alone will he, she said, don’t matter he’s a’Live or Dead neither one. Yes Ma’am I know it, Papa said. A Son shouldn’t oughta have to pay for the Sins a’the Father, Miz Choat said, it’s writ in the Bible. Yes Ma’am and it’s writ here in my Bible too, Calley said then give his big Pistola a little pet like you might o’Fritz or some other friendly Dog. Where you reckon you and this Boy gonna go, Mister Choat said. Why to find o’Pelo Blanco that’s where, Calley said. Oh good Lord I was fraid you didn’t have no Good Sense when I first seen you, Miz Choat said, and now I know it. You want this Boy hiding back behind a Rock all his Life, Calley said, You want him jumping up under the Bed ever time somebody comes a’riding up the Road on a Horse or something. Yes Sir that’d suit me fine, Miz Choat said, long as he’s safe from Harm. They’s all kinds a’Harm out there Ma’am, Calley said, and it’s been my xperience the first place it looks when it comes a’looking for you is up under the Bed. He’s right, Mister Choat said. Yes I know he is, Miz Choat said, but I don’t wanna hear it. How you even gonna find o’Pelo Blanco any how, Mister Choat said, They say he got the knack to take his self clean outta View anytime he wants to and don’t nobody see him til he’s already there bout to Murder you. Yes Sir, Calley said, and they say he got Horns on him like some o’Pokey Dot Billy Goat too and a long Pointy Tail to boot but I don’t reckon he can outrun a Lead Bullet if I was to send one out my o’Pistola here to go a’chasing him do you. You don’t have Good Sense, Miz Choat said, and now you a’getting Uppity too ain’t you. Now Hattie, Mister Choat said, you don’t wanna lose your Sweet Manners here do you. No I don’t, Miz Choat said, I take it all back. You don’t have to, Calley said, I know you didn’t mean it. I said I take it back, Miz Choat said, I never said I didn’t mean it. You ain’t gone Stupid on me now too have you Mister Pearsall. Bird wants to say something, Marcellus said, and we all looked over there to see Bird a’holding Marcellus’s Finger and his eyes just a’working back and forth back behind his Lids. Sometimes Bird grabs a’holt a’Marcellus’s Finger like that and then Marcellus knows what he’s a’thinking, Miz Choat said. What’s he a’thinking Marcellus, Mister Choat said. Bird’s a’thinking they’s only one
way to find o’Pelo Blanco fore he finds you, Marcellus said. Yes Sir and how’s that, Calley said. Well Sir, Marcellus said, Bird says Just foller the Buzzerds which ever way they fly but don’t never dare to go looking up at em when you do.

  THAT NIGHT I went a’walking in my Dream, Papa said, and here fore long I come up on this Dark Cave went way back in there somewheres and Why setting right there in the Door just a’Shimmering away wadn’t nobody in the World but my o’three legged Coyote Friend Mister Pegleg. Oh Mister Pegleg I said, Papa said, Oh Mister Pegleg I am so glad to see you even if you are Dead and Gone and I run over there and give him a Hug and he give me a Lick back and Oh we just set there a’while being so Happy to see one another like that and then, he said, I follered Mister Pegleg on in that Dark Cave and they was Caves went off from this one in ever which direction and Oh they was neckid People in ever one of em and they was all a’Crying and a’Moaning and a’Hollering and a’Pulling they Hair out and a’Bugging they Eyes like it was the End of the World and I tell you I never seen Nobody no saddern this Bunch here in all my Life. Oh so Sad, Papa said, but Mister Pegleg went a’hobbling on pass em fast as he could go and I had to trot to keep up and Deeper Deeper Deeper we went on down in that Cave til here in a minute we come round this corner to the Bottom and Oh they was a Man a’setting there all by his self on a Flat Rock with bout a thousand Black Dominoes piled up all round his Feet and maybe two three White Ones and this Man, Papa said, had his Head way down in his Hands and Oh he was just a’Bawling like some poor Little Baby done lost his Momma and the Tears come a’pouring out tween his fingers like the River Jordan and then of a sudden Oh No I seen it was Old Karl my own Daddy was who it was a’setting there on that Flat Rock a’crying and he looked up at me and I never seen such a look a’Lostness and a’Loneness in all my Life and I said, Papa said, Daddy how come you a’feeling so Sad like this today. And then, he said, my mean o’Daddy raised up both his Hands and went to grabbing at the Air like he was trying to grab a fly or something Lost to him but No Sir it just wadn’t there for him to grab no more and Oh then he just went to Crying some more and Grabbing Grabbing Grabbing at the Air and then he scrunched up his Face and he hollered LIFE. LIFE was what he hollered, Papa said. LIFE LIFE LIFE LIFE. That’s what Old Karl hollered, he said, and he hollered it Over and Over and Over again LIFE LIFE LIFE LIFE LIFE. Oh LIFE LIFE LIFE he hollered and I knowed what he meant was Oncet he had him a Life but No Sir not no more and now he was gonna be down here a’setting on that Flat Rock at the Bottom a’Hell For Ever More. Oh For Ever More, Papa said, but then I seen they was somebody a’coming up back behind him out a’the Dark and they was reaching out they hand to give Old Karl a pet and Oh then I seen Why it was my very own Momma was who it was and when she put her hand out to pet him Why Old Karl jumped back like somebody just pitched a bucket a’wet Rattlesnakes at him and he started a’mouthing NO NO NO but no Sound come out Just his Mouth a’going NO NO NO NO NO and then he covered his Eyes up with his Hands cause he didn’t wanna see Momma standing there but ever time he peeked tween his fingers Why she was still standing right there a’looking back at him but not with No Hate or nothing like that for Murdering her in the First Place but Just a’standing there a’looking at him cause she was Sorry for him but Oh that was bout to drive him Loonie but they wadn’t nothing he could do to get her outta his View so he took him two big Hand Fulls a’Dirt off the floor and went to pushing it in his Eyes with his Fingers til he couldn’t see Her no more or Nothing Else in the World neither one and Oh he did Holler Holler Holler it hurt so bad and then Oh he went to Crying some more but all that come out his Eyes now and run down his Face was Mud but least I reckon he was glad he couldn’t see Momma no more. And then I waked up, Papa said, and Oh Boy Hidy I was glad I did but the Thing surprised me most bout Hell was I didn’t see no Devil down there like they say they’s gonna be but was just Old Karl a’setting there on that Flat Rock a’doing all them terrible things to his self for all the Bad Things he done to Momma and all them Other People when he was up here in his Life and then it come to me, he said, that Old Karl was his own Devil and maybe Ever Body else down there is they own Devil too and that’s how it works.

  SO I THROWED MY MOMMA’S MEXKIN SADDLE on o’Edward that o’Plow Horse Mister Choat give me to ride on and me and Calley went a’riding on off early next morning, Papa said, and it wadn’t no easy thing to do what with Miz Choat a’hugging on me for bout a year and Bird not wanting to let go a’my Finger neither and Marcellus bout to cry cause he was so scared for me to go out there in the World where o’Pelo Blanco might get me. O’Fritz didn’t wanna go neither, he said, and took his self over behind a tree to where he figgured I couldn’t see him but then he jumped right up on Edward that o’Plow Horse Mister Choat give me to ride on soon as I give him my heels to go. Them bout the nicest People I ever been round in my Life, Calley said, you know it. I said Yes Sir I do know it, Papa said, but I was off in that Dream I had last night. You ever think bout Hell Mister Pearsall, I said. Think about it, he said, Why listen here Amigo I live it ever day a’my Life a’being here with you. I ain’t teasing, Papa said. Well Hell ain’t something I dwell on, Calley said, I figgur I already got me a First Class Blue Ribbon Ticket to there as it is. I believe you’d sooner Tease then you would Eat and Drink wouldn’t you Mister Pearsall, Papa said. I’m sorry, Calley said, I’ll try not to do it again. Least for a second or two he said then laughed at his new Joke, Papa said, and Fritz did too with a little Heh Heh Heh and Calley reached over and give him a little knock on his head and said Fritz if I had another hunderd or two like you to where I could make a living off it Why I’d go on the Stage and have you a’laughing all the day long. Whatta you reckon Hell is, Papa said. Well they’s a big Fire down there and they won’t give you a Drink a’Water to wet your Whistle, he said, That’s what it is. I went down there in my Dream last night, Papa said, and they wadn’t no Fire nowheres I could see. What they was, he said, was Old Karl a’setting there on a Flat Rock a’crying cause he done all them Bad Things in his Life but now he’s trapped down there in this Cave and can’t come back up here to patch any of em up no matter how much he wants to. So Old Karl just gonna have to set on that Flat Rock down there and cry bout it til Kingdom Come huh, Calley said. Yes Sir I reckon, Papa said, and maybe even after that. You sure that was Old Karl, Calley said, I never heard a’the Old Karl I know being Sorry for even one god dam Bad Thing he ever done in his Life and he got a lot to choose from too don’t he. Well he was a’crying his eyes out bout something, Papa said. Calley run the whole thing over in his mine then said Yes Sir I reckon that would be about the worstest Hell they ever could be. To wanna Right a Wrong you done and not never get the Chance to do it for all Time to come Why that’d dam sure Break a Man’s Heart and Stomp on it wouldn’t it. Did Old Karl’s I reckon, Papa said, from what I seen. Well we just gonna have to send o’Pelo Blanco down there to keep him company on that Flat Rock then ain’t we, Calley said, Maybe that’ll cheer the o’SonofaBitch up. From what I know bout it, he said, they like two Peas in a Pod any how ain’t they.

  HOW WE GONNA DO THAT, Papa said. Well, o’Calley said, First Thing we gotta do is Catch him then kick his fuzzy o’Butt for hanging all them People then give him over to some body for his own Hanging and blow him a Kiss Adios Pendejo. Course, he said, I wouldn’t put it pass us to go on and Hang him our self just to teach him a lesson you know it. I ain’t gonna Hang no body, Papa said. You ain’t huh, Calley said. No Sir, Papa said, not less they Hanged me first. You ain’t gonna be in no shape to Hang some body if you already been Hanged you self you ever think about that Mister. I just don’t wanna Hang nobody that’s all, Papa said, I wouldn’t feel right bout it. No me neither, Calley said. I reckon maybe we oughta just shoot him in sted huh. You teasing me again ain’t you Mister Pearsall I said, Papa said. Maybe I am and Maybe I ain’t, o’Calley said. You just gonna have to wait and see oncet we catch that o’Crimnal. Then he reached down and give his Spur a little
Ching e Ching e ChingChingChing like he some time did when he was a’thinking bout some thing. Truth is, he said, I don’t know I’m a’teasing or not my self. Then Fritz went Heh Heh Heh again and o’Calley reached over and give him another little knock on his head. You always got some thing to say bout it too ain’t you Fritz, he said. I don’t know what we’d do for Conversation round here if you wadn’t long on the Trip.

  It was bout that time, Papa said, we started seeing this big Bunch a’Buzzerds a’circling us up there in the Sky and they was still there when we went to sleep that Night and they was there when we come a’wake the next Morning too and they was still there all that whole Day long and the whole next Day too. What you reckon them Birds is a’doing up there any how Mister Pearsall I said, Papa said, and o’Calley said I reckon they up there to keep a Eye on you for o’Pelo. That’s what I reckon he said. How’d he ever get em to do that, Papa said. You sure you wanna know, Calley said. Be sure now. Yes Sir I do, Papa said. The Way I heared it, Calley said, o’Pelo always leaves a little some thing Dead on the Tree for em to eat ever time he hangs Some Body and them Buzzerds been a’follering him round like Dogs ever since. Oh, Papa said, I wish you hadn’t a’told me that.

  SO WE FOLLERED THEM BUZZERDS FOR DAYS, Papa said, For Days and Days and for Weeks and Weeks and I reckon maybe even for Months and Months too but we never not even oncet seen o’Pelo Blanco nor a sign a’him neither one that we could read. Maybe he Up and Died on us and we just don’t know it, I said. Yes Sir, Calley said, and maybe that’s just Wishful Thinking too. You don’t mind I’m gonna take me a little Snooze here a minute. Watching them Buzzerds up there gone and made me Sleepy, he said. I looked, Papa said, and sure enough they was still that Big Circle a’Buzzerds up there in the Sky but now they was more or less coming our way outta the Setting Sun and I squinted my eyes near shut to keep a good watch on em. Mister Pearsall, Papa said, that’s the most Buzzerds I ever seen all together in one Bunch in my Life but he was just a’Snoring a’way over there on Firefoot and didn’t hear not one word I said and then here in a minute or two o’Fritz went to Snoring too like he almost always done any how when he wadn’t a’Licking on his Hiney and then next thing I was a’Snoozing a’way my self same as them and I reckon we sounded like a Little Freight Train a’going through the Country and Oh, Papa said, it was so nice and peaceful riding long like that Not a Care in the World but I didn’t know all them Buzzerds was right then just a’Circling Down Down Down on us and didn’t even feel nothing when they went to lighting all over me but then, he said, o’Fritz let out a little Woof and I waked up but Oh I couldn’t hardly see nothing I was so covered up with Black Buzzerds. Oh Buzzerds just everwheres you looked, he said, and More and More and More a’coming down outta the Sky and lighting on me to where I couldn’t even see my Hand in front a’my Face. Just nothing but Buzzerds and I went to shoo em off but Oh my Hands was a’tied up tight back behind my Back and I didn’t even know it til then. Mister Pearsall I hollered, Papa said, I got Buzzerds all over me and my Hands is tied up tight back behind my Back. Yes Sir and I am in the same god dam Fix my self, Calley said, I thought you was Keeping Watch on them Buzzerds. Well I was Keeping Watch on them Buzzerds, Papa said, but I reckon it was that Keeping Watch on them Buzzerds that took me off to sleep. Then they was this big Squawk come outta one a’them o’Buzzerds a’setting on Calley and the other ones went a’flying up off a’us in a big Flap. What was that, Papa said. One a’them dam Birds put his stinky o’Foot up on my face, Calley said, and I had to bite it to get him off me. Then he said Uh Oh lookee there and I looked just when the last Buzzerd went a’flying off me, Papa said, and Oh I bout jumped out my Pants like they was on Fire cause standing right there in front a’us a’holding our Horses was this o’White Haired Man with a rotten Hang Man Noose a’hanging round his neck. Well Sir, Calley said, I reckon you are o’Pelo Blanco his self ain’t you. Yes I am Pelo Blanco, o’Pelo said, and that Boy there, he said and give me a Mean Ugly Look, is on my Lista. Then, Papa said, o’Pelo led us on off in the Mesquites Thicket with all them hunderds and hunderds a’squawking Buzzerds just a’marching long behind like they was some a’Genral Lee’s rowdy o’Soldier Boys a’going off to have they Suppers.