He sits at the table, cloudlight of March
One tone with his hair, gray-silver on silver.
Midday fare in Vermont is basic enough.
In West Newbury, eggs and toast will do
Though our doctor’ s had his sips of wine as well.
“Just don’ t be fooled. They’ re not as nice as you
Think they are. Live here a few more winters,
You’ ll get to know them clearer, and vice-versa.”
Three years now, and we’ re still finding our way;
Newcomers need a guide to show them the ropes,
And he has been explaining township and county
Almost from the sunstruck day we met him
That very first July in this old house.
“I’ ll cite an instance of community
Spirit at work, North Country justice
A case I just happened to be involved in.
No, pleaseall right, if you are having one.”
He holds his glass aloft and then lets fall
A silence that has grown familiar to us
From other stories told on other days,
The will to recount building its head of steam.
“Well, now, you have to know about the victim.
His name was Charlie Deudon, no doubt Canuck
Stock some generations back, but he
Nor no one else could tell youif they cared.
Deudons had been dirt farmers here as long
As anybody knew. They never starved
But never had a dime to spare, either.
Charlie resolved to change the Deudon luck.
And that’ s just what he did. Or almost did....
He’ d graduated two classes ahead of mine;
We knew each other, naturally, but not
On terms of friendship. Fact is, he had no friends,
And only one girlfriend, whom he married
Day after Commencement, June of ‘32.
And then he set to work and never stopped
Again, until they made him stop for good.”
A wisp of a smile, half irony, half
Bereavement plays about his guileless face
Red cheeks, blue eyes, a beardless Santa Claus;
Whose bag contains (apart from instruments
Of healing) stories, parables and proverbs,
Painkillers, too, for when all else fails.
“What kind of work had all that hard work been?”
“Oh, farming, like his elders, only better.
All the modern improvements, fancy feed
And fertilizers, plus machinery
He was the first in these parts to milk
His herd in any way but as ‘twas done
Since Adam’ s boys first broke ground with a plow.
And anything machines couldn’ t handle,
Charlie did himself, from dawn to midnight.
He never wasted a word or spilled a drop
Of milk or drank a drop of beer or liquor.
He was unnatural. And he made that farm
Into a showplace, a kind of 4-H model.
He made good money, yes, but not a dollar
Would he spend unnecessarily.
Do you get the picture? They hated him,
The boys that hung around the package store.
The most they ever got from tightfist Charlie
Deudon was a nod out from under his cap.
(His trademarka baseball cap striped white and red.)
They envied him for getting his hay in first;
And there was more. A boy that he had hired,
By the name of Carroll Giddens, was their buddy.
Likeable fellow, regulation issue,
The sort that knocks back a pint or a fifth
In half a shake and tells off-color stories
Till he’ s got them choked to death with laughing.
‘Course the wisecracks they loved best were those
About poor Charlie and his gold-plated farm....
Just one more case of what’ s been often said
By commentators on democracy
How it helps everyone keep modest.”
Teasing mischief has crept into his voice.
A self-taught anthropologist as well
As teller of tales, he has other frames
Of reference to place around events
Local or international. He knows
That things can stand for more than what they are;
Indeed, says standing for things is why we’ re here,
And quotes chapter and verse to prove his point.
“Think of the worldwide scapegoat ritual.
In halfway civilized societies
An animal’ s the one relieved from life
Duty, am I right? A fellow tribesman
Will do in a pinch, if animals are lacking,
Or if communal fears get screwed too tight....
Anyhow, it was clear that something more
Than common envy stirred up the lynch law.
Their own failure’ s what they wanted dead.”
Seconds pass in silence as he stares
At somethingperhaps a knothole in the pine
Floorboard. He looks up, eyebrows raised,
And twirls the glass stem between stubby fingers.
A coil of rope hung on the wall, we see,
Has made him pause and heave experienced sighs.
“Here. Have another. So: was Charlie punished?”
“I’ m going to tell youbetter me than others.
You see, I was involvedno, no, no,
Not in the deed, Lord, no, just as a witness.
It happened this wayhope you’ re not squeamish.
Charlie had this boy to help with chores,
The one named Carroll. Married, two kids, I think.
Not too reliable. But so few are;
Nor could you call his wages generous.
His buddies must have stood him drinks, is all
I can say. He’ d a skinful half the time
Was certainly drunk that Christmas Eve morning.
No reason to doubt what Charlie told his wife.
Charlie’ d been up to help at six with the milking,
And Carroll, drunk as a fiddler’ s bitch, was there
Loading a pair of milk cans into the barrow.
He took a slip and the whole business spilled.
Wooden handle clipped him in the side,
And he fell, too, right in the puddle of milk.
And started laughing. Charlie, you can guess,
Didn’ t join in; he told him to get on home.
‘What about the milk?’ ‘Go home,’ he said,
‘You’ re drunk.’ ‘But what about the milk?’ asks Carroll.
‘Comes out of next week’ s paycheck,’ Charlie says.
And then the trouble starts, with Carroll swearing
And yelping, till Charlie gives him a little tap
And goes indoors. By then Carroll could tell
The barrow handle had cracked a rib or two.
He drove into town to see his doctorthat
Wasn’ t meand word went out that Charlie
Had roughed up his innocent assistant.
That’ s all they needed, Carroll’ s friends. About
Time that stuck-up bastard got his due,
He’ s gone too far this time, but we’ ll show him,
Et cetera.... As it was Christmas Eve,
They had the leisure, the liquor, and the rope.”
“They hanged him?” “No, that’ s not our way up here.
The honored custom’ s to dump them in the river.
You see, the river’ s New Hampshire all the way
Over to the Vermont side, and thus,
If the victim’ s still alive when he hits the water,
New Hampshire law enforcement and legal justice
Steps in. It tends to confuse the issue, see?
In wintertime, the river freezes over,
And you can’ t hope to fish the bodies out
Till the month of March at the earliest.
By then, who knows which state the victim died in?
A trick they’ ve played a hundred years and more
Up in Woodsville, where the bridge is. That’ s where
The loggers used to go to spend their money
On booze and hookerswho’ d arrange for them
To get knocked in the head at the right moment,
And pitched off the bridge into the water.
A famous local industry, but rather
Fallen on hard days by the early fifties,
Just like others more legitimate....
Well, our local rowdies knew the routine,
And, when time came to follow up their threats,
They laid their plans according to tradition.
They knew that Charlie’ d have to do the milking
Christmas morning same as every day.
And when he came into the barn to do it,
They’ d be waiting for him. And that’ s what happened.”
We strain forward to hear him tell the rest;
The narrative spell is on him, and on us.
His voice weaves through fine-tuned nuances,
With sudden leaps in volume and skittish phrases
That somehow help flesh out what he describes.
We see the sprawling barn across the highway
From the white-columned porch of the old house.
See the barn closed up tight against the cold,
And the blue-gray light of December dawn
As Charlie crosses the road to do his chores.
The roosters shriek their morning alarm, the big
Doors creak open on the darknessa darkness
Slit with tight-strung wires of light knifing
Through cracks between the boards of the east wall.
Tufts of hay spill from cribs on both sides.
The waiting cattle stir and low as daylight
Breaks in on the darkness. Their master strides
In past the parked pickup truck, his pail,
A battered Rath Blackhawk lard can swinging
At his side, a whistled “Jingle Bells”
His fight song for the working holiday.
He hears the verses harnessed to his whistling,
The tune drawing its text along march tempo:
... it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh-ay!
And then all changes. Smash of the blackjack
Against his skull, exploding carnival
Of fire-veined shock that flies to the far corners
Of night. Four assailants leap from the back
Of the truck and lift him partly erect, the quicker
To bind his arms behind and truss them to
His half-bent legs, as you might rope a steer
Or sheep you meant to brand or slaughter.
They take him out to where the car is waiting
And throw him in the trunk like a sack of feed.
Another car drives past but doesn’ t slow.
The bandits duck and climb inside their own.
Tires screech, the driver slams onto the highway,
A smile and wink all round as they drive north
To Woodsville. The sun is coming up when they
Reach the bridge and stop the car. The lid
Of the trunk’ s sprung open, its cargo discharged.
He is dragged to the railing, lifted, then heaved over.
The body falls, seeming almost to pause
In air before it hits the water and slides
Below the surface of the floating ice....
Five miles back along the highway, the dark
Barn, the herd, a crushed tin pail, and signs
Of struggle in the dirt wait for someone’ s
Startled face, back-lit in the doorway,
To see them, then whip aside with a shout of terror.
“He wasn’ t found until spring thaw; he washed
Ashore just south of Bradford, still tied up
And looking like they’ d tarred and feathered him
Partly decomposed, but not his clothes.
First thing was an autopsy to test if he
Had died by drowning or was dead before
Going under. Conclusion was, he’ d died
On land, so as I said, his death belonged
To the Green Mountain State’ s criminal justice.”
“And what about the killerswere they caught?”
“Several suspects found themselves in jail
And that’ s where I come in: as star witness.
It happened I was on the road that morning.
Real early. See... I’ d promised my house guest
Of the nightyoung Marine on leaveI’ d drive
Him back to Lebanon to grab his bus.
I always keep my word, especially
When given in the night hours. Nice boy
He’ s been a good friend ever since. We’ d said
Good-bye until the next three-day pass.
Well, I was driving home like Merry Christmas.
Into the headlights comes the Deudon farm:
And then I noticed the car. A two-toned Kaiser,
Side of the road, beneath a maple tree.
Didn’ t know whose it was or why it was there.
I saw one face, Calvin Renfrew’ s, that’ s all.
He didn’ t have wheels so far as I knew.
Occurred to me right then that something might
Be fishy; but locals never meddle till
Till it’ s too late, sometimes. I should have stopped.
They might have banged me on the head, but then.
Well, even as it is they got revenge.
I’ m still alive, however, and mean to stay so.”
He laughs a low laugh that would chill the devil...
Then takes up the threadhow when he heard the news
About Charlie’ s disappearance, he drove down
To tell the state trooper what he’ d seen.
“That was the very next day after Christmas.
By nightfall Calvin Renfrew and Norbert Joiner,
The owner of the car (the Kaiser), and two
Associates were in custody. But not
For long. Someone bailed them out, someone
Rich, it had to be, an enemy
Or rival of Charlie’ s. That’ s often our way,
You know, to let others fix the person
We secretly hate, then give them secret help
When they get their paws burned in the process.
A lot of people coveted that farm,
However much disparaged it was in public.
When Charlie’ s widow put it up for auction,
Don’ t imagine nobody came to bid.
I still see things of his on others’ farms.
What didn’ t surprise me either’ s how the town,
Lord help me, the whole county took the side
Of those arrested against the murdered man.
They said old Charlie had it coming to him,
Treating his employee that way. Meanwhile,
Carroll had quietly slipped across the border
To Canada; no way to prove that he’ d
Hardly been hurt at all. So rumor flew.
If words could put you under ground, why Carroll
Was dead and buried six times over, a martyr
Hounded to his grave by a maniac
Who should have been taken care of years ago.
These are churchgoing people, too, but they
Figure they have a special insight as
To what the Boy Upstairs considers right.
Man is born for sorrow, so we’ re told,
And some try to make sure he gets a close
Acquaintance with the sorrow that’ s his due.
Meanwhile, if you can say the things people
Want to hear, then you may lynch at will.”
He folds his hands and brings them to his chin.
“The rest of the story you can figure out
Yourself. Their lawyer asked the jury be
Directed by the judge to return a verdict
Of Not Guilty. Motion grantedas never
Before for a capital offense in this state.
They’ d do it again, don’ t worry, if the case
Was dear to their concerns. Sounds cynical,
I grant you.... But then, you see, they started next
On me for fingering the guilty parties.
State trooper drops by to ask some questions.
Why was I on the highway that time of morning?
Oh? And who exactly was this friend?
Oh, really? Stayed the night, did he? I see....
A doubt or two’ d been raised before already,
Given that I had never married, and
Was locally famous for my special hobby.
I’ m sure I’ ve told you: I play a little pipe
Organ at church sometimesI even travel
To play it elsewhere. I know organists
All over New England, and the town gazette
Used always to mention when I went to play
At musicales in other towns and states.
Nobody thought it mattered much beforehand,
But once the tale about the serviceman
Got out, my friends, well, you can just imagine.
Overnight young Dr. Stephens was
As ‘musical’ as you can be and not
Get tarred and feathered. My patients, some of them,
Began to melt away like ice cream. Stephens,
A local name, respected in these parts,
Became a byword for things we don’ t discuss.
I wondered whether I should move, of course;
Some rowdy threw a can of paint at the house;
I still get unsigned letters from time to time.
Things must be better where you two come from.
But this is where I’ ve always lived, it’ s what
I know. If I had had the sense to pitch
Someone unpopular from off a bridge
Instead of enjoying music, chances are
I’ d be a favorite son. In point of fact,
I’ ve given up the organ, seldom play it
Nowadays. I’ ve got a different hobby
Your health, gentlemen! No more today, though.
Another call to make this afternoon.
But listen, now: if you’ ll come up to me
Next week, I’ ll play some pump organ for you.
I can still do a rousing ‘Hornpipe’the one
By Handel. Tourist attraction hereabouts.
I am fairly confident you won’ t
Ever have heard it played my way before.”
He stands to go, consenting to be ushered
Out under the black trees of late March, down
To where his battered station wagon sits.
Thunder of engines takes him off.... But his words
Stay lodged in us like arrows, arrows aimed
As carefully as acupuncture and meant
Somehow to warn or counsel. Not that warnings
In the abstract often help stave off
Particular misfortunes, inevitably
The body of most stories drawn from life.
Misfortunes are the hinges life turns on?
Reprieves as wellalong with persons, places,
Passions. A fluent paradox, the realm
Normally termed external, I mean its way
Of overhearing thought and mustering
Fresh evidence.... Today, for instance, how
New green on branches and a liquid birdcall
Suffice to announce the chaste approach of spring.