Julie Dawson: Water is Thicker than Blood

“Just the same, you let him know I said he doing God’s work.”

They approached Rue’s house to find Hank on the front step drunk.

“Where you been, woman?”

“Hank, get inside and go to bed. What wrong with you drinking in public like a fool?”

“I ain’t drinking in public. I’m on my own porch.”

“Mr. Hank, the public can see you, sir. Might do well to go sleep some.”

“Shut your mouth, Devil boy!”

“Hank! That’s about enough! Get inside. Folks around don’t need to hear your bellowing.”

Hank stumbled off the front step toward Joseph. “You think you man enough to take me, Devil boy? You trying to come between me and my lawful wife?”

“Oh Lawd!”

“Hank, stop being a mule’s butt,” said Lula.

“I ain’t got no want to fight with you, Mr. Hank,” said Joseph. “You and Ms. Rue always been good to me and mama. I just showing proper respect is all.”

“Respect? Taking a man’s wife out on the town is showing respect? That what they teach you up at that Devil tower?”

“Hank, that is enough. Get inside. Carrying on like you ain’t got no sense.”

“I’m about tired of your mouth!” Hank pulled back a fist.

Joseph stepped in from of Rue and stared Hank in the eyes. “Ego te impediendum motum.” Hank froze in place mid-swing. The only thing that moved on Hank were his eyes. They were wide in horror and moving rapidly back and forth. Tears started streaming down his cheeks.

“Lawd, what did you do to him?” asked Rue.

“He’s fine, Ms. Rue. I didn’t hurt him. Just gave him time to calm himself before he done something he’d regret. It’s a little thing I learned at the Circle for those times want to end a confrontation peaceful.”

“Sweet Jesus,” whispered Lula.

“Mr. Hank,” said Joseph as he looked into Hank’s eyes. “You are a good man. You been on some hard times and you under stress. Ain’t no shame in feeling like you do. But Ms. Rue don’t deserve what you were thinking of doing. I ain’t gonna fight with you. But I ain’t gonna stand aside while you strike a woman, either.”

Joseph waved a hand at Hank, who almost collapsed to his knees before finding his footing. He stagged backwards away from Joseph. His entire body was shaking. He pointed at Joseph and his mouth moved, but no words came out. He then turned and fled into the house.

“I’m sorry you had to see that, mama,” said Joseph. “And I am sorry it came to that, Ms. Rue.”

“It’s alright, child,” said Rue. She managed a weak smile. “Something tells me if you were a bad man, you could have done worse things to him.”

Hank no longer slept in the same room as Rue. Sometimes, he didn’t even sleep in the house. His body was covered with mosquito bites from sleeping outside in a hammock. Rue would try to put an ointment on the bites to keep them from getting infected, but he would push her hands away. She’d try to warn him about the recent cases of malaria and how the mosquitos spread it, but he would just shrug.

He ate, but never at the table with her. He’d take his meal out on the porch or the back stoop. If Rue came outside, he would go back inside. Rue would wake up each morning to yet another empty liquor bottle either on the front step or next to the sofa in the living room. Hank hadn’t done any more scavving since Paul died. Rue wondered where the money was coming from to buy liquor. Then she woke up one morning to find their broken water purifier missing. She didn’t ask Hank what happened to it. She already knew.

Rue took to hiding the water Joseph brought her. She had come in from gardening one day to find Hank pouring it down the sink. When she asked him why he did it, he just stared at her with the eyes of a dead man.

She returned hom from visiting with Lula one day to find the dress she had worn to the courthouse torn into pieces and left on the bedroom floor. Hank stood in the hallway and watched her gather up the pieces. She didn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She walked passed him and out the front door. Lula cried with her.

Other items started to disappear from the house to pay for Hank’s drinking. Twelve years of marriage sold off bit by bit in exchange for liquor. Rue took to hiding her most precious things at Lula’s house.

Rue couldn’t stand being in the house anymore. She expected to wake up one morning to find Hank taking the roof apart to sell the planks. She took a job at the bookbinder’s shop cleaning and fixing meals for him while he made paper and worked on his book restorations. Since he was a mute, they didn’t talk. Which suited Rue fine. It was only a few hours a day, but it gave her some money to stash away in the event Hank finally left her for good.

She left the shop one evening to find Joseph heading inside.

“Good evening, Ms. Rue. Didn’t expect to find you here.”

“Oh, I been helping Mr. Max around his shop.”

“That a fact? Mama said you found a job, but didn’t tell me you were working for old Maximillian. He been treating you fair?”

“Oh yes. Been real fair. I even learned a little of how to prepare the pulp for his paper.”

“Now ain’t that something? You get good at it, you just might eventually be able to get work with the Historical Society. Now that is where some money is. Archmage said he heard some big plans about starting public schooling again in a few years. Gonna need plenty of paper for that!”

“Well, it be a while ‘fore I think Mr. Horton be interested in my skills.”

“Don’t doubt yourself, Ms. Rue.” Joseph pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the back of his neck. “Ms. Rue, you in a hurry to get home?” Rue shook her head. “I’m just picking up a blank grimoire for my studies. Would you mind waiting a spell? I’d like to talk to you a bit.”

Rue waited for Joseph, who made quick work of picking up his grimoire. He waited until they hit a stretch of the road with nothing but swamp water on either side before speaking. “Ms. Rue, my mama been real worried about you.”

“I told your mama not to be telling you stuff.”

“No, no. She ain’t betrayed your confidence. But I know my mama. And you don’t need to be no mage to see what has been going on with Mr. Hank. It wounds me deeply to have to stand by and watch what he is doing to you.”

“Well, ain’t no reason for you to be wounded, child. Ain’t nothing you can do about him.”

“Ms. Rue, that is not entirely true.”

Rue stopped walking and turned to face Joseph. “What foolishness you talking? You got powers enough to change a man’s mind for him?”

“Well, there do be powers that exist like that. But no, that is not what I mean. Ms. Rue, you remember how Baron Samedi was talking about people making sacrifices and doing without to help their neighbors?”

“I do. I most certainly do.”

“Folks in Bywater are suffering.” He waved a hand toward the pools of stagnant water on either side of the road. “All around us is water, but none of it is life-bringing. All this water and can’t drink it. It just attracts bugs and rot and sickness. You heard tell about those two babies caught malaria?”

“Yes, those poor little angels. I can’t even imagine what their mamas are feeling.”

“Malaria carried by mosquitos. And Mosquitos attracted to all this stagnant water. And we can’t do nothing about it ‘cause it’s everywhere and ain’t nowhere to route it. But if we can clean it, then maybe no more babies be dying like that.”

“Oh child. I’d give anything to help make that happen. But I don’t have no magic like you do.”

“You don’t need no magic. I just need you recognize the need for sacrifices. Do you know the story of Jephthah?”