Children of Cain

"I was up about three, four years ago, but we didn't stop in. Coby Bledsoe and I were headed up to Wolfpen to see Mr. Cornett," I said. "You know Coby, don't you? We stopped by to see where his grandfather lived." "Yeah, I know Coby. Writes books, don't he?" she replied. "His folks lived over on Dead Mare Branch. They built the vocational school on his grandaddy's homeplace." "Yep, bulldozed it right out after they got the coal," I said. "Anyway, we didn't have time to stop here, and we went home another way." "What brings you back tonight?" she asked. I sensed that she was looking at my coat and tie. Tm goin' on up to Major," I said. "One of my former students was hit by a car. I'm going up to the funeral home to see his folks.' "I read about that in the paper," she said. "Too bad. I hear he was a nice boy." ' Yeah. Always smiling, always cheerful . It's a shame," I said. "You know how to get to Woolum's Funeral Home in Major?" She gave me directions: "Go back down to the highway, turn left, go on through town and bear right. Just past Jack, turn right and keep on goin' up the road. It's a fur piece." I paid the bill. As I was leaving I asked, "How late you open? I might have to stop back for a cup of coffee and another piece of pie. I'll have another couple hours of driving before I get home." "We'll be here 'til ten or ten-thirty," Ma said. I did stop back, about nine-thirty. "Where's Ma Colley?" I asked Corrie. "She went home early with Mr. Colley ," she said. "You want some coffee?" ''Yeah. Black. You got any pie left?" "Only coconut cream." "That's just what I wanted." I finished the pie and a second cup of coffee. "Well, I gotta get on the road," I said. "You come back and see us, hear?" Corrie called as I went out the door. "Sure thing," I said. "I won't wait so long next time." That was the last time I was in Colley's. Two months later, a short item in the State Journal reported Mr. Colley's death. Ma Colley retired and turned the place over to Corrie and the others. A year passed. Someone told me last week that they had closed. Too bad. They had the best pie in the world. Children of Cain The land is ours no matter the roll of the clouds or the rain draped in its strange coming and goings. We understand the earth with meadows wild in Queen Anne's Lace, with hills burning in dying days, with snow blanketing the family gone, with pastures bejewled in dandelions and violets donned in the shade of God's own eyes. -L. Bradley Law 17 ...