May Contain Bones

Will:

There’s a pit of flies in back of the barn.

Big hole full of flies buzzing around.

What’s in that hole? What’s at the bottom?

Pa’s mad. Says I won’t work. The Jones kid can swing an axe good as a man. But I’m lazy.

I’m not lazy. Got to watch that hole.

My world is a winter world. It’s all white things and black things.

Pa:

My world is a red damn world.

And when that cow died, when that baby hollers, when the wife nags, when that useless kid won’t work, hell, that’s when the red comes down, blazes back of my eyes, and I swear to God I can’t see nothing but red red red. Dairy cow’s a dud. Red! Scrap of a baby hollers all night. Red! And that boy of mine. Useless as moon juice, red red red red red!

The red burns hot this morn. I reach for a belt.

Will:

The bones are out of the ground. They’re walking about.

I see bones. Can Ma and Pa see them? I don’t think so.

But I see the cow’s bones. Like a white cage walking.

The field is cold. There’s ice in the black tree.

There’s a crow in the high tree top. It moves its black head. Its cold eye sees me.

Ha ha ha, says the crow. Ha ha ha.

Ma:

My world is a grey world. When did my world go grey?

Here on this sleet-riven farm, miles from anywhere. Stalked by grey fogs. Here in this house washed of color. Grey light streaks through splintered glass. Grey earthenware on grey pine, dull knives. 

What kind of life is this? Married to Cal Willems these nine years. Cal Willems, terror of me, terror of my poor boy. Poor Will. Your Pa would make a man of you but that man is so crooked, what hope have you to become a man? 

Doesn’t anything in this world care what happens to a person? World, you old, cold ball of snow. I think you laugh when we suffer.

And now the baby goes off. Crabbed and colicky, my tiny hell-ball howling. 

What Cal says he’ll do if the baby doesn’t quiet itself, what he says he’ll do…

Will:

Hiding from Pa.

Hiding in the straw pile.  Hear Pa’s footsteps coming. Maybe he won’t see me in the straw.

But now the dog’s sniffing at my straw pile. Sniffs and whines. Wants me to love it.

Go away!

Shut up, dog! I’m hiding. Pa will know I’m here.

Pa goes past. He didn’t see me. He didn’t see the dog.

I forgot. Pa can’t see the dog. Only I can see the dog.

Pa put the dog in the ground. He put the poor dog in the ground because it barked. But the dog won’t stay. It comes out when it’s lonely. It's white bones, just like the cow. It whines in the night.

I hear the crow in the tree. Ha ha ha.

Ma:

Cal thinks he’s a farmer. He hasn’t the patience. Borrowed money to buy a dairy cow. Didn’t feed it, didn’t care for it. What happened, well, what do you think? The poor beast stopped giving milk. Cal flew into fits. Stomped out to the barn with his rifle. 

Bad farmer. No milk. Dead cow.

Cal thinks he’s a husband, too. Thinks he’s a father. Will and I have the bruises to show for it.

I can’t school you properly, Will. I can’t feed you right. I can barely keep your Pa’s fist at bay. Poor boy, you go about so old-eyed and so silent. Like you see all the suffering men try to keep buried under earth. 

And you, my misborn baby girl, what will we do with you? How can you live if you can’t be silent? Hush, child! Hush, or that man will hear you.

Will:

It’s a terrible night. The bones rattle in the field. Suffering under the earth, Ma calls it.

All night the baby’s crying. Pa’s yelling. Ma runs up the stairs and back down the stairs.

Then it gets quiet. The baby’s not yelling. Only Ma is.

Pa:

Goddamn kid. Little bastard. Where’s he hidin’? Hide from me? Got me seein’ red. I’ll strip the bark off you, boy. I got a chore needs doing.

Need a hole dug.

I see the cow in the field. It’s watching the house. 

Oh God Calvin Willems what did you do. What did you do?

Shut up woman, shut up I got enough to deal with.

Calvin what did you what did you what did you 

Red red red red red red red red red.

The dog is whining.

Oh god oh god oh god oh god 

The cow is watching.

 Will:

There’s a pit of flies back of the barn.

What’s in that hole? What’s in the bottom?

The thing at the bottom is coming out. The flies boil up.

It’s making a terrible noise. It hurts my head.

It’s little and it’s all bones. It’s all white bones and it won’t stop yelling.

I’m running to the field. I’m running to the black tree.

The sky is white and cold. Snow is on the earth.

Ha ha ha, says the crow. Ha ha ha.