Free Book Excerpts

Edney is unique in mystery, humor and lots of tears. The story begins in post Civil War Tennessee with the rape of Edney by a renegade soldier, which changes her life forever. Doing all in her power to make a life for herself and her children, Edney often chose the most destructive paths, yet she always came out a survivor.
Written with the eloquence of the hill folk, Edney paints a rare portrait of survival and intimately examines many rituals of Appalachia as well as some of the now defunct Tennessee laws of that time period. Hopefully, Edney will be the beginning of a series.

Excerpt

She had done this many times before.  Low trees surrounded the area giving complete privacy as she removed her clothes. This was so much easier then drawing water from the well and heating it in the fireplace.  Looking down at her small ripe body, she was amazed at how she was filling out. Someday soon she would be old enough to marry Cal.  Cal Lawson has been around since she was knee high to a grasshopper, and they both looked forward to when they could marry. Daddy thought fifteen was too young to have a suitor without being watched all the time.  Daddy really has his blinders on, she thought.  He acted like she was still a little girl, and here she was nigh on sixteen.  His reply to her protests was that she was still his little girl, and always would be.
Edney knew that if she got into the water slowly it would take forever to get the nerve up, so she dove in all at once.  The coldness almost took her breath, but it was refreshing.  Edney realized that this would likely be her last dunk of the season.
Then she heard the rustling of leaves nearby.  Continuing to enjoy the water, her body had adjusted well to the temperature.  Thinking it was probably only a squirrel she tried to ignore the fear creeping up.  Still her senses became acutely aware that maybe someone was there. Prickles of worry ran across her mind. Hurrying out of the water she began to dress.  Suddenly a man jumped out from behind the nearest oak tree.  He smelled like a sack full of granddaddies, and he looked like he hadn’t bathed or eaten in a month of Sundays.  He was enough to make you puke a buzzard, but the worse thing about him was that look in his eyes.  It was the same look she had seen many times before, and it was a look that gave her the willies, especially from someone as scary as this.
As she tried quickly to get dressed, he grabbed her arm and slung her to the ground.   Wild rose thorns scratched her face.  The nerve of him, no one had ever laid a hand on her before.  Vehemence rose up in her like bile as she began to fight him off.  She scratched, clawed at his face and kicked, but he was stronger.  He held her down with one hand on her throat so tightly she could hardly breathe.  Using his other hand he fumbled with his trousers.  Then there was hot pain, so bad that Edney screamed to the top of her lungs.  The scream was welcomed with a fist in her nose, making it bleed profusely.  But the pain of the blow was nothing compared to the pain this awful man was inflicting upon her.  She felt like she was being torn apart and pain enveloped her entire being.  Mercifully she passed out.  The man thinking she was dead got his enjoyment, climbed off her and slunk away into the woods.
When Edney didn’t return home after a decent period of time, her brothers went out to look for her. They knew where she was supposed to be at and it wasn’t hard to find her.  With rifles in hand, the three young men approached her, still laying beside the river.  She wore only her chemise, her bottom lay in a pool of blood.  Edney’s dress was hanging on a nearby tree, but her bloomers were in tatters.
Jewell, the youngest brother was the first to break the silence.  “Looks like she got in a fight with a mountain lion.”
“T’werent no mountain lion,” Jesse said as he came closer to take a look.
“She’s even got bruises on her neck.”
“Somebody’s gonna pay for this,” Pete spoke in anger.
The three boys were only half brothers to Edney, but they loved and protected their baby sister. She was such a tiny little thing, and always too trusting.  It seemed to them that she had always been rode hard and put away wet.  Her own mother acted like she didn’t even have a daughter despite the protests from their father every single day of the week.  True, Louisa was a good stepmother, but her conduct toward her own child was lacking.  All Edney had needed from any of the family was to be loved and accepted, and seeing her like this really got their dander up.
“Pears to me she needs a hot bath and some motherly comfort.  We need to get her home now.”
“Well, Pete, why don’t you tote her on home?  Me an Jesse, we got some hunting to do.”
Pete had always been kind of slow, seemed everyone took to watching out for him as much as for the women folk, even though he was the oldest of the Bradley brothers.  To look at this fine strapping boy with his carrot colored hair and bright green eyes, you would never have guessed it.  Pete knew exactly what kind of hunting and he wanted to go as well, but Edney needed to be home. Picking her up, Jesse threw her dress across her like a blanket.  Pete proceeded to take her home. She couldn’t have weighed over ninety pounds, hardly any burden for a big strapping boy like Pete.
Meanwhile, rifles ready, Jewell and Jesse started looking for some clue as to who might have done this. They didn’t have to search for long because they were both avid hunters.  Noting broken branches, and high grass trampled, the place where the man was staying was simple enough to locate. Right there, beside the creek was a campsite set up. Not much you could call a campsite, only a few burned out pieces of wood and an old pan that Jewell recognized immediately as the one his stepma was missing a few days back.  Jesse wanted to keep looking till they come across the varmint who had hurt his sister, but Jewell told him to wait.  “Best we hide out here near by, he’ll be back soon enough.”  Jewell planned to at least question the man, knowing that this had to be him because of the stolen pan. It looked like this person had been watching Edney and lying in wait just to get her.  The boys quietly sat back behind some bushes and waited.
Jewell wanted to shoot the man right off, but Jesse said he needed to suffer somewhat.  Regardless, they were still combined in the thought that it was time for this man to pay the piper and they reached a compromise.  They would beat him senseless, then cut off his manhood.  After a short wait the man returned to his camp unaware that he was fixing to pass to the other side.
Jesse came out from his hiding place and approached the man. Even though the man was ragged, Jesse saw that he had on good Union issued shoes.  Obviously he was a renegade left behind.  Somewhere, the man had gotten hold of some type of drug or bad shine.  He appeared to be disoriented.  When Jesse approached him, the man asked him if he had come to return him to his unit.  This was even better then the boys had hoped.  Confederate sympathizers were ambushing Union soldiers almost every week.
“No sir”, Jesse replied, “I’m looking for the man who raped a young girl about a mile back at the river.”
A smug look crossed the man’s face. “You mean that stupid little hillbilly girl? I done her a favor, she was asking for it all along running naked in the woods.”
Jesse clenched his fists to keep from hitting the man.  This had to look like an ambush.  It would be easy enough to do but only if the man carried no signs of a beating.  “You son of a bitch,” was about all he could say. Though that mean Bradley blood made all of the children high tempered, Jewell had always been the most volatile.  Jumping out from behind a bush, Jewell shot him over and over and over again, stopping only to reload and fire again. The boys then left the site, taking nothing, touching nothing, and leaving nothing.  Vigilance had been done.

Copyright 2008 Clara Olmstead. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.