Hexe Hunt
By
Chyna Yue
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination, or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events. is purely coincidental.
Cover Illustration Copyright © 2014 by Chyna Yue
Cover design by Chyna Yue.
All rights are reserved to the author. No part of this e-book may be used or reproduced in any manner
Be sure to check out my other (free) story, Who'd Have Know, There'd be Somewhere Only We Know.
A young woman is sitting on a green bench. It's placed in front of a café named Johnny Cakes. It's the local favorite, because it's the only place in town. It's a charming little wooden building, with a porch on the front.
She is puffing away on her cigarette, enjoying the moment of peace. Her curly red hair is piled on top of her head in a ponytail. The clothes she wears are simple, a white T-shirt and bell bottom jeans. A black apron full of straws, pens, and napkins, is tied around her waist. Her name is Rose Winter, and she is 19 years old.
A large white truck pulls into the parking space in front of her. A tall handsome older man (32), with sandy blonde hair steps out. A huge smile crosses her face, it's Bane Hawthorn! He joins Rose on the bench. "Can I borrow your lighter?" he asks. Rose pulls out a book of matches, and hands them to him.
"I can make this work." he replies.
"What time you getting off?" Bane asks.
"Two"
"Would you like to go fishing with me this afternoon?"
"Only if you promise to take my fish off the hook for me"
"Oh Rose, your Pop Pop has spoiled you."
"At least I ain't rotten", she laughs.
They sit in silence for a while, just watching traffic go by. A slender young man with messy brown hair is walking down the street. He's wearing a green army jacket with a peace sign drawn on it, probably a felt tip-pen. He seems off in his own little world, oblivious to everything and everyone.
Rose shakes her head and sighs, "Poor guy, he ain't been right since he got back from Nam. That's why we need to pull out of there. We're destroying our own, over some country most people can't even find on a map!"
"Don't you say things like that, Rose Winter! America is the greatest country on earth. It's our responsibility to spread democracy to heathen nations."
"Haven't you seen the news, we're not doing a very good."
"I think it's a good thing." Bane huffs.
"Then maybe you should enlist, if it's so damn great! When you comeback, you can be like that guy!"
Bane rolls his eyes, "Rose, you're such a dirty hippie!"
Rose laughs and kisses his cheek, "I don't think that's a bad thing."
Bane throws his cigarette down to the ground. He rises to his feet and makes his way towards his truck. He turns back around to Rose and tells her, "I'll come pick you up after work today."
Rose gives him a wave goodbye, "Sounds fine, I'll call my MeeMaw and let her know." Bane hops in his truck, and takes off down the road.
Inside, Rose is carrying around a large black circular tray, filled with food and drinks. She's bringing it to a table full of men; they're on a lunch break. It's filled to the brim with the same familiar faces every day, not much change around here. It's just like every other day for Rose as she hustles from table to table. The only other waitress working today is Rose's good friend Raquel. She's a tall pretty slender brunette, with soft blue eyes. People in this town didn't care for her, simply because she had said, "That she thought segregation was a bad thing."
Everyone could still remember a time, when the colored people had to go to separate schools, bathrooms, and restaurants. Truth be told, even though the courts had said everyone was equal, and the colored signs had been taken down. The people still segregated themselves voluntarily. There were no black people in this place. The town of Braxton was located in the Deep South, and was resistant to change.
After delivering the food, Rose returns behind the counter. She is busy rolling up silverware, when a squat older woman, with short blonde hair walks up to the counter. Her face seems to always have a permanent scowl on it, she doesn’t seem pleasant. Her name is Cynthia Slate. "Rose Winter?" the woman asks.
Rose looks up from her work and answers, "Yes." With her nose stuck high in the air, she confronts Rose, "I saw you talking to Bane Hawthorn. Rose looks a little confused," Yeah, So what about it?"
Cynthia's brow furrows," I know all about you Rose Winter. You and you're whole family, nothing but trash! Somebody should stand y'all up against a wall, along with all the blacks, and let the firing squad take care of you! I don't think anyone would miss you!"
"Look, I don't know what your problem is with me, but you need to watch your mouth." Rose interjects.
"Bane Hawthorn is a good boy, from a nice family! You one the other hand are the daughter of a convicted murderer, and your mom was a whore! She must have known how terrible you'd turn out, that's why she left you on your grandparent's doorstep! She could have at least left you with decent people. Bane doesn’t need some orphan! I remember your Grandma putting you in all those beauty pageants, waste of time and money if you ask me. It's not like you were going to win, you don't know the right people. You couldn’t even afford a nice dress!" she hisses.
Rose rolls her eyes, and comebacks with," So you're admitting that everything's rigged, just as I suspected!"
"That's not what I said"
"Well that's what it sounded like to me!"
"So what, Even if you did say something; who's gonna believe trash like you! I hate you're kind, you need Jesus in your life!"
"Why, So I can be a fine "Christian" woman like you, who goes around talking about shooting people in the face, and denying folks their basic civil liberties, I think I'll pass!"
"Good, nobody would want you in the church house anyhow! Once saved always saved, I could shoot a baby in the face, and Jesus would still let me into Heaven!" Cynthia get's right in Rose's face and whispers, "You can get away with murder in this town, as long as you know the right people, and have enough cash."
Rose knew exactly what the psycho lady was talking about. A few years ago Cynthia had ran over Sarah Tate's small child. Everyone suspected that she had done it on purpose, she hated Sarah. Apparently, Sarah had slept with Cynthia's husband, and it was rumored to be his child. Cynthia Slate should have won an award, for the show she put on. She pretended to cry, and acted like it was an accident. Rose had always heard that she failed a lie detector test, and it had taken a pretty penny to change those results, guess it wasn’t a nasty rumor after all. Cynthia Slate was a wolf dressed up in the most expensive sheep's clothing.
"Church is for the sinners, not the self righteous, and I don't think God meant for that to turn into a loop hole for psychopaths!"
"I'm surprised that you even own a bible. Does it burn your hands when you pick it up?"
"I've read the whole thing, by myself. I don't need a third party to translate, I have a brain!"
"Well you should use it then. I want you to think about how you'll corrupt Bane's good blood. He may have sex with you, but don't think for a minute that he'll ever marry a girl like you. He needs somebody nice, like my niece Eleanor!"
"Oh I know Eleanor, she fucked half the football team our junior year, shining example of humanity!"
"Listen here you little wench. I've always had money and the right kind of friends, and always will.", while poking Rose in the chest, "I'll make sure your gold digging ass never have a chance in this town!"
"I hope all of this has made you feel bett
er, but I need to check on my tables."
"I think you should learn to listen to your betters! You ain't nothing but bad news, they should sterilize your kind. You better not go reproducing. Let me get my hands on one of your kids! I'll drop it on its head, or run over him while he's playing in the yard, accidents happen every day! I swear to the dear Lord, I'm gonna make your life hell. I never want to see you happy!"
Rose looks her dead in the eyes and says, "You want to know what I think?"
"Not really, but go ahead."
"I think you're a hateful cunt, with too much time on her hands!" Rose scowls, as she pushes her way past Cynthia, and checks on her tables.
Rose and Bane are sitting on the river bank drinking some beer. Their fishing poles are sitting beside them, with the lines in the water. A small battery powered radio is leaned against a tree playing The Zombies-She's Not There, through its small speaker.
The autumn leaves are blowing in the breeze. A few have fallen into the river and the current risks them away. Rose is rolling a joint on the tackle box. Bane likes the way Rose licks the paper, he thinks her lips are sexy.
She leans back in to his strong arms. They make her feel safe; nobody can hurt her, not now, not with him. "I wish this moment would last a lifetime." Rose thinks to herself.
Bane gives her the book of matches and she lights up the joint. They sit in tranquility, just smoking. After a while, Bane breaks the silence, "You working tomorrow?"
"Naw, I'm off. I was thinking about heading over to the library in Maeville, my books past due."
"Oh yeah, what you been reading?"
She takes a drag and replies, "This book called Tobacco Road"
"Never heard of it."
"It's pretty good, about sharecroppers in the south during the depression. It really makes you look at that whole system in a different way."
"How so?", Bane asks.
"I was reading the newspaper the other day, when I came across this article. This guy was talking about how share cropping was a legal form of slavery, which took advantage of the poor. I can kind of see his point."
Bane seems offended, "My great granddaddy owned some tenant farms, are you saying he was one of those people? That's how he made his money!"
"Yeah probably, you know the old saying, "No such thing as an honest fortune." she laughs.
Banes isn’t finding any of this amusing, "So tell me, how was it so bad?"
"Okay, the tenants were forced to buy all their seed and fertilizer on credit, from a store that was owned by the farmer, everything was overpriced! Then they more than likely rented their equipment from the same guy. During this time, they would be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep on the equipment. On top of all that they still had to pay rent on the land. If the crops failed, then they would be in debt to the farmers and, wouldn't be allowed to leave the land until everything was paid off, which could take years on that vicious cycle."
"I don't like how that sounds, maybe they were just dumb or too lazy to grow decent crops! The people with the money have it for a reason, we're smarter!"
"I don't care how smart you are, nobody can control the weather Bane Hawthorn, and besides it was the depression! People were dying of hunger all over, they were desperate. My Great Uncle worked for yours, and you wanna know something he said," That it was a hard life; he wouldn’t wish it on anyone!"
Bane looks at the ground, "I guess I can see your point but, you better not say nothing like that around my Daddy!"
Rose laughs and kisses his nose;" I promise I'll be good, I know how to behave, sometimes."
Bane embraces her face and gives her a deep kiss. He lays Rose down on the grass, and rubs every inch of her body with his strong hands. Poor Rose's head is spinning, "How can something wrong, feel so wonderful?" she thinks.
Her MeeMaw had warned her about guys like Bane Hawthorn, she said, "Rose don't you get all caught up on this boy. He's from a rich family; they don't marry girls like you. He probably just trying to get one thing!"
In the back of her mid Rose was so afraid, that she was right. Why would he be after a girl like her? Half the time they seemed to bicker anyways. It wasn’t that they hated each other; they just came from two completely different backgrounds. He didn't understand why she didn't strive to have the best of everything. She couldn’t understand why he killed himself, trying to keep up with the Jones. It was a never ending battle of misunderstandings.
Bane breaks off the kiss and gets up," This beer's getting to me, gotta pee." He disappears into the tree line. Rose takes another puff off the joint. All of a sudden, she feels something hit her head. She looks up into the tree. A big fat squirrel is sitting on a skinny branch, with an acorn in his paws. The squirrel hurls the acorn at Rose. She retaliates by throwing a small rock at it.
Bane is laughing when he rejoins her, "What's got you so worked up?"
"This damn squirrel is throwing acorns at me!", she retorts. He takes his seat beside her and picks up his fishing pole, "Any bites while I was gone?"
"No, just me and this damn squirrel!
Bane looks up at the blue sky and remarks,"Sun'll be setting soon. We should make our way back towards the truck."
Rose gives him a little smile and says," You're right, don't want MeeMaw to start worrying."
Bane picks up the fishing poles and winds up the line then, he fastens the hook into the metal loop. He leans them over his shoulder. Rose stands and grabs the radio with one hand, and Bane's hand with the other. Rose follows his lead.
While walking in the woods, Rose is lost in her thoughts. Bane takes notice and asks her "What's on your mind?"
"Do you know a woman named Cynthia Slate?" Rose asks.
"Yeah, I know her husband, from good stock."
"I don't think she's so good. She was going crazy on me today at work. Told me my family was white trash, then went on to talk about shooting a baby in the face, psycho!"
"That doesn’t sound like her, she's a good woman, and they have money."
Rose rolls her eyes, "I don't care if she has all the money in the world, I won't call her nice."
Bane stops walking, and turns to Rose" Are you sure your just not saying this because, she's calling you out about flirting with that Derrick boy?
Rose's mouth hangs open" Derrick Crate?
"Yeah, Derrick Crate, you know him?
"Of course, he comes into Johnny's, and then again everyone does."
"So you were flirting with him?"
"NO, I did not!" Rose interjects "He comes in orders and I bring him food, that's the extent of our relationship!"
"That's not what I heard, I was told you two were laughing a talking, and you wrote down your number on his ticket. Hell that poor boy had to propose to his girlfriend, just so she wouldn’t leave him, because of you!"
"I wasn’t flirting with that boy!"
"Well Cynthia's niece Abigail said otherwise, you better not try and compete with her, you'll lose. She is better than you, comes from two rich families!"
"Good for her, but that boy still wasn’t flirting with me, and I wasn’t flirting with him!"
"Might well save your breath, even if it's true, who's ever gonna believe you, your family ain't nothing."
They continue to walk, after what seems like forever, a confused look crosses Bane's face as he says, "Rose, I hate to admit this but, I think we're lost."
Rose tightens her grip on his hand, while asking, "Do you kind of know where we might be?" Bane shakes his head no, and says, "Come on Rose, let's walk a little further, I might recognize something."
Eventually, they come upon an old abandoned wooden house, deep in the woods. The windows have been busted out, and the door is kicked in, no road seems to lead to it. Bane stops dead in his tracks when he sees the house. Rose can feel his skin turn as cold as ice. She takes a look at his panic stricken face and asks, "What is it Bane?"
He just shrugs his sh
oulders and frees himself from Rose's grasp, "it's nothing." he stammers, "Come on, I think I know where we are."
Rose giggles as she pulls him in to her arms, "If you're not sure, we could always hide out in that old house."
"No!", he shouts, "I mean, I don't want people to come looking for us, that's all."
Rose is stunned; He's never raised his voice to her. "What's so bad about that house Bane?" she asks. "It's nothing, come on." he commands, as he grabs her hand, and drags her in the opposite direction of the house.
Rose refuses to budge, "Why are you lying to me, I can always tell!" Bane slowly turns around to face Rose. Anxiety has taken over his face, as he looks into her eyes, "You really don't know, do you?" Rose is puzzled, as she shakes her head no.
"That was your Momma's house." he replies.
Rose never knew her mother, or much about her. It's like she just disappeared from people's minds the day she left this town. "What do you know about my mother?" she pleads.
"I can't say any of its good. Emerald Tiller was a whore, who played with the devil!"
Rose slaps his face, "Lies!" she screams.
Bane looks her dead in the eyes, "How would you know, you were too young, when she left you on your grandparents porch!" he shouts back.
Rose kicks some leaves around with her foot, "I wonder what happened to her", and she sighs.
"You'd probably be the only one, nobody was sad to see her go." he says, while taking Rose's hand and leading her away. Rose is taken back by the whole situation, but does not push it.
They walk for a while, before finding the road and the truck. Bane grabs her face, and kisses her passionately. She returns the kiss with the same vigor, all is forgiving between them
A huge smile is spread across her face, as she opens her eyes and tells him, "I think you maybe the best kisser in the world" He laughs at this, "Have you kissed everybody in the world?" She slaps his arm playfully, and replies"No."
Bane throws the fishing poles in the truck bed. He gets in on the driver's side, and then unlocks the door for Rose. She climbs in and puts her cold beer between her legs. He starts up the truck, and they make their way down the dirt road.