Chapter 10, the Tates

Willie sat down heavily on the chair and felt the air escape from the foam cushions as he slowly sank into the seat. The upholstery was worn and faded, exposing the bare threads beneath what used to be a brown floral pattern upon the cloth. The edges where also threadbare and the foam padding that seperated the wood from the upholstry cloth was exposed along the edges. The exposed threads felt rough upon his fingers as he drummed them absently upon the arms of the chair. Ed Tate was upstairs and Willie waited impatiently for him in Tate's living room. The fire was nice and warm and the house was quiet. Tate's oldest son, Ed Jr. was also there waiting. Edward Jr. rolled a toothpick around with his tongue and twirled it around with this fingers.

"What's going on Mr. Shank," Edward Jr. asked after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Not much, just wanted ta talk to you an' your daddy 'bout stuff going on around here. How'd you do with that police academy thing in Charleston?" Willie asked.

"Failed it, so came back here. Daddy can always use more hep here, so I'm back fer a bit."

"Why you want to be in law enforcement anyhow?" Willie asked and looked Edward up and down. He had his daddy's broad forehead and large nose and mischievious glint in his eyes at times. Taller than Ed senior, Edward was also more slender and didn't cut the same swath was his father would when it came to first impressions. Though shorter, Ed senior was stocky and bold and often the center of attention if he chose to take it.

Ed Jr. shrugged, "Don't like farming that much."

"Seems farming at least somewhat more honerable a profession than policing," Willie added.

"Dun like the hard work," Ed Jr. said with a grin.

"That's why hard work likes you, boy," Ed Sr. said as he cleared the last step of the stairs and walked into the living room. "Hard work is what you most need then, aint it."

"Fer now," Ed. Jr. said as his grin drained away.

"So Willie, what's on yer mind?" Ed Sr. asked as he took to his easy chair and popped the lever to swing out the foot rest.

"Well, I need to know where you stand on this encorporation thing coming up. They's gonna ask everyone to vote on it soon and I want to know if you stand against it or not," Willie said and looked at Ed. Sr.

"When's they doin' that?" Edward Jr. asked.

"Tuesday night is the meetin' at the county school," Willie replied.

"I take it you dun like it," Ed Sr. asked Willie.

"Nope, not one bit, don't like all the new comers here either but I can't do nuthin' 'bout them, if they own or rent the land they aint nuthin' I can do about it, but I can have a say in if we encorporate or not," Willie replied.

A silence followed Willie's words and the room was still but for the creaking of Edward Jr.'s chair as he rocked it backwards slightly. The house smelled of mustiness and mildew as often happens around window sills during the winter as the condensation from the inside drips down on the window frames and sops into the wood. There was also the smell of sweat and dirt that not even the fire could cover. A widower, Ed Tate Sr. had raised his boys on his own and with a firm hand in farm work and discipline. The house showed the decided lack of a woman's touch in decorating and in cleaning as evidenced by the odor. There was a certain mystique to the Tate's place, where one could go and not have to worry about offending the sensibilities of a woman. It was the place to paly poker and smoke freely and the odor of cigars underlay everything else.

"Alright, you want my support then for barring this then?" Ed Sr. asked.

"Yep."

"Why you against it?" Ed Jr. asked, a confused look upon his face. The toothpick in his mouth slowed in its gyrations over his lips.

"Just never mind, boy, why ole Willie Shank is fer or agin anything," Ed Sr. scolded.

"Because it's gonna bring more people and less control to those of us who've been here fer generations. We already have some problems with them new people an that only going to get worse. I think they also want to grab more land from us, and most of us is already at a place where every acre counts at harvest," Willie replied.

"You think they's gonna take power outta your hands an' put it into the hands of people you don't even know, is that it?" Ed. Sr. asked, a smirk curling the corners of his mouth.

"That's exactly what it'll mean. We've gotten along and by for years without some group of people telling us what to do. We've gotten together every now and then to decide somethin' that effected all of us in the valley an' have conducted our buisness like that just fine without something else meddling in how we carry on. They bring this forward, then we can expect to have that taken from us."

"Agreed, that don' sound too appealin'. How you gonna stop it?"

"We jus needs enough o the farmers ta vote agin it when the time comes. The encorporation can't go without enough of us givin' up more acerage and consent fer it," Willie stated.

"What else you gonna do?" Ed Jr. asked.

"Don't know," Willie said.

"Gotta do more than jus talks with the farmers, Willie," Ed. Sr. said. "What else you prepared to do?"

"Nothin', really. Just need ta persuade enough folks is all." Willie said and looked at Ed. Sr.

Ed. Sr. nodded slowly and that glint appeared in his eyes which made Willie shiver. "What if ya don't persuade enough farmers? They's plenty o folks up the hill who's prolly waitin' ta vote fer it, for theys the ones ta benefit the most from it."

"Sure, you'll get a few to come aroun' if ya talks it up enough with 'em. You might even get a few more when they see that I'm fer it, which by the way I haven't decided yet one way or ta'other. How ya gonna make up the difference?" Ed. Sr. said and looked hard into Willie's eyes.

"Uh, I don't rightly know." Willie felt the nervousness well in his stomach. Ed Sr. had always been the one man Willie had always dredded running into when they were both children. The Tate's as a whole had always been strongmen in the valley from years back and if anyone wanted to get something done, they usually enlisted the moral suasion of the Tate family to pull people together to see it through. Given the way the farmers liked to run thier affairs like that of some parliment with shifting alliances and coalitions for rule, the Tate's always seemed to be in the middle of the local politics. Though they had no charter or other form of legal organization prior to the State15 road project, the locals often stumped for this or that pet project or need for decision making by enlisting the buy in from a certain few of the local farmer heavy hitters. The Tate's had become one of those few that anyone would need to visit first.

The death of Ed's wife, Priscilla instead of diminishing his already over large stature had in fact increased his powers of persuasion. He only needed to speak for or against something in the valley meetings to pull enough weight over or against something. On the other hand, his son Ed. Jr. seemed to lack all of what made his old man such a force. While Willie always hated to be around Ed. Sr. and even more to be in a position to need something from him, Ed Jr. was something of a comic opposite. The old saying that the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree didn't take into account Ed. Jr.'s lack of moral anything. Perhaps it was this that made Ed Sr. such a force to be reckoned with, he never re-married and was a staunch believer in a certain moral code. Although that code tended to be bent and broken according to Ed Sr. own will and desires, he still projected a personality that automatically drew people to him.

Edward Tate Jr. on the other hand had been chased out of more bedrooms in the middle of the night than anyone wished to count. HIs appitites didn't just stop with the daughters of Happy Valley, but on occasion had run to the forbidden chambers of the mothers of those chaste daughters. It was rumored that the emberassment of her eldest son drove Priscilla into a sorrow that ended in her illness and death. It had been a final straw in his senior year of highschool that had driven Ed. Jr. out of Happy Valley and into Charleston where he worked as a clerk for a dry goods wharehouse, then as a stockmen for the new Kroger Grocery store, then as a mechanic for a garage, then as a service station attendant, and finally back to the valley after a two year absence. He didn't have his father's power and influence, but he had something in his eyes and face that purported to speak of trust and a genuiness that belied the immoral interrior. Of him, it had been said that if he didn't have the devil in him, he at least had the devil right beside him.

With Ed. Jr. smiling like a cheshire cat and Ed. Sr. looking at him with power hungry eyes, Willie suddenly felt that whatever was going to be asked of him might not be worth all of his grousing and efforts against the encorporation.

"Well, uhm, what would you do?" Willie finally blurted out when he had given up trying to think on the spot.

"Well, a few folks is going to need to be talked to of course, you know, the ole alliance buildin' from the days past. Then some folks is gonna need to be more than persuaded, you know, brought over to your way of thinkin'. I'll do my part by just throwin' in with you on this at the meetin' on Tuesday. But them others is gonna have ta be made ta see it yor way before then. Yor gonna have ta get yer hands a little dirty makin' 'em see the light as it where." Ed Sr. looked at Willie and cocked his head a little.

"You mean I need ta do certain things to certain people an' make it look like others did it?" Willie asked and wringed his hands. That jitter in his stomach was not full fleged acrobatics. He hadn't counted on any of this and was shocked that he was being told he'd need to go beyond mere words to get what he wanted. It hadn't occured to him prior that Ed Jr. was a repobate not by chance but by reason of his father, though cut from different cloth where the two, they were also family.

"Well, that was my jist, yes. You seem a little hesitant, Willie. Don't you want this?" Ed Sr. asked, that smug expression still beaming at Willie.

"Uh, yeah I wants it, but what yer tellin' me is more than I want ta pay fer it. I don't want this stuff ta happen, but I don't know about goin' about doin' anything about it neither." Wille sputtered. The odor of the house, the carrion foul like leering from Ed Jr. and the strange goading by Ed Sr. to a level of mischief that ran counter to his grain, Willie got the urge to end the conversation and leave but couldn't bring himself to do so. Despite his rough exterior and coarse ways, he wasn't a petty criminal nor a sneaky bastard as he would call it. Willie could picture Jr. doing this without a moments thought or Pembrook lowering himself to set fire to an outbuilding and make it look like no good teen punks from the outsiders.

"You don't have much time, Willie, if'n yor gonna do this right. You've only got a few days ta prepare the right folks fer bringing over ta yor side. You'd better make up yer mind what ya want. Ya want yer way or do ya want ta lose control o the valley?" Sr. asked and folded his hands under his chin.

"But what about you? Don'tcha want ta keep control of the valley too? Lets say I don't do nuthin' but talks ta folks an' they vote ta encorporate, what you gonna do?" Willie countered quickly.

"I'll get by, don't really care a lick if'n they want ta form a new state outta this area, I'll adapt an' get by. Hell, I mights even vote fer it an see what comes down the pike. Might be kinda fun, a whole new level of things to wet my beak in, know what I mean?" Sr. chirped.

"But what aminute pops, you jus' said you'd vote agin' it a moment ago." Jr. chimend in, a confused expression lighting his face.

"Shut up boy," Sr. snapped.

Willie and Ed Jr. both jumped and Jr. hung his head, the anger barely disguised. Willie could no longer contain his desire to get up and run out the door.

"I gotta get goin'," Willie mumbled as he stood from the chair and made for the coat hooks on the wall by the front door. The evening was fast approaching the valley and the shadows had become long.

"So, do we have deal?" Sr. clucked.

"Uh, deal? What deal?" Willie froze.

"My support fer your desires of course. My support fer yer background work. You dun expect me ta support sumthin' that might be a losin' proposition, do you?" Sr. cooed.

"Wha? You expect me ta go around and do a bunch of stuff before you'll support me? I only came to get yer support in a vote, not get all dirty doin' it!" Willie huffed.

"Suit yerself, but my support's never come free, you know that. I dun back but the winning horses and aint about to start backin' a losin' one now. Besides, from the size of it, you prolly dun stand a chance in a vote right now, all them folks up the hill is gonna vote fer it as a matter of course and the other farmers'll follow ole Hilcock's lead 'less you tip the scales an' all." Sr. looked over at Jr. "Aint that right boy?"

"Yeah, right."

"Tell ya what. You jus' give me the word that yer willin' ta go over the top with me on this, an' jus because I can see some other benefit fer me an' mine outta keepin' the folks on the hill controlled as it where, I'll loan ya Jr. here fer the dirty work, but you gotta do the plannin'. I got a name ta keep so I won't have any more ta do wid' it." Sr. said with that glint in his eye that made Willie shiver again.

"Hey, I aint fer hire, I ..." Jr. squawked.

"Shut up boy, you'll do as I say!"

"So, how 'bout it?" Sr. asked Willie.

"Lemme think on it," Willie hedged.

"You gotta tell me yay or nay right now, times runnin' out an' if you an' Jr. here don't get started right now, I won't back ya. You gotta ask yerself right now what it is ya want an' if in' ya want it bad enough." Sr. said.

Willie's face burned and became flushed and despite standing next to the outside wall that radiated the cold of the evening he felt uncomfortable in his jacket and chaffed at the collar from the sudden sweat. He clenched his fists and tried to do a days worth of pondering in a few seconds time. The living room fire was dying so that the only lights in the room were the floor lamps whose clouded and dusty bulbs cast a pallor of yellow upon the drab and dirty surfaces of the other objects in the room. Ed Sr. and Jr. began to look like shadow cast gargoyles looking down upon him with malice and eagerness to begin feeding upon his flesh should he lose his resolve and run.

"Ok, ok, I'll do it," Willie muttered.

"What's that?" Sr. asked with a wry smile knowing that he had heard clearly.

"I'll do it!" Willie snapped.

"Good, now doesn't it feel better to have that out of the way? Now, come back over here, you an' Jr. got some plannin ta do an' I'll even hep you a bit, but I won't do all the work fer you, that isn't good charity, you know, show a man how ta fish an all?" Sr. chuckled.

Willie warily walked back to the chair and sat down heavily. As soon as he said it, he regreted it but less than a nanosecond later, the words barely off his lips when the regret set in. Yet it was done and he could do nothing to stop its course now but to go along with it as if by fiat. He got the strong sensation that he had just sold himself. Sold himself not only to his own desires but to the Tate's. That alone was enough to make his opposition to the encorporation pall in comparison with what the price was amounting to be for it. He felt like he was cheating on his wife and that, like an addiction once induldged upon, it would only take once to ensnare him forever after. Suddenly the homily bad company corrupts good morals came to mind, but a bit too late.

"So, you need to figure out who you need to go an' talk to first, an not just go up an' down the road neither. You need to target those farmers who are most likely to be on the fence 'bout it and bring them over. Jr., go get a pen and paper an' make a list." Sr. said.

"How 'bout the Hostetters? They's always on the fence 'bout everthing," Willie offered.

"Good, see now yor thinkin'. Yes, the Hostetters would be my first visit, an if ole Paul dun slide yer way, you need ta do somethin' about it. He has his land closest ta the Hilcock's an' that chem plant, seems like a good accident or some vandelisim from someone from the plant would be 'nough ta swing him over. Gettin' the drift?"

Willie looked up at Sr. and his eyes widened. It wasn't the surprise of what he was being manouverd into doing something that he found repugnant but the enormity of the what he was going to have to do to get his way became encompassed in that one little act. He would cross over from the age of innsence and into the age of the rascall as if he were growing up all over again. That turn a person takes from abiding by thier parents teachings of the golden rule and the respect for property and the general being a good neighbor to the any price for any means to satisfy the self like a teenager bent upon self indulgence and wildness. Willie gulped and sheepishly stared at Sr. as if to look for one last chance to back out of the sale of his soul.

"You look surprised, Willie. Isn't this what you want?" Like a salesmen badgering their mark to purchase the obvious lemon on thier car lot, Sr. knew how to sway and play a person.

"Uhm, sorry just didn't expect that is all." Willie stammered.

"Come now, Willie, if you want stuff to be done around here you have to be prepared to go all the way fer it. No half measures any more, it's all or nuthin'." Sr. crowed.

Willie wrung his hands together and stared at the floor.

"Ok, who else?" Sr. asked and smiled that salesmen smile.

Willie sat glued to the chiar more now from a fear of what might happen to him if he abruptly left than from any stomach for the buisness as he wracked his brain to come up with a list of people to harrass for being nothing more than themselves and possibly standing in his way. But, as the evening wore on he got the distinct feeling that it was no longer what he wanted but what Tate wanted out of him.