Lou was about to protest, when she received the shock of her life. Oz handed the jar back to Diamond.

"No, thanks," he said quietly and looked away.

"You sure?" asked Diamond. Oz said he was real sure, and so Diamond tipped the bottle over and poured out the blessed water. Lou and Oz exchanged a glance, and the sad look on his face stunned her again. Lou looked to the sky, because she figured if Oz had given up hope, the end of the world must not be far behind. She turned her back to them all and pretended to be admiring the sweep of mountains.

It was late afternoon. Cotton had just finished reading to Amanda and it was apparent that he was experiencing a growing sense of frustration.

At the window, Lou watched, standing on an overturned lard bucket.

Cotton looked at the woman. "Amanda, now I just know you can hear me. You have two children who need you badly. You have have to get out of that bed. For them if for no other reason." He paused, seeming to select his words with care. "Please, Amanda. I would give all I will ever have if you would get up right now." An anxious few moments went by, and Lou held her breath, yet the woman didn't budge. Cotton finally bowed his head in despair. to get out of that bed. For them if for no other reason." He paused, seeming to select his words with care. "Please, Amanda. I would give all I will ever have if you would get up right now." An anxious few moments went by, and Lou held her breath, yet the woman didn't budge. Cotton finally bowed his head in despair.

When Cotton came out of the house later and got in his Olds to leave, Lou hurried up carrying a basket of food.

"Reading probably gives a man an appet.i.te."

"Well, thank you, Lou."

He put the basket of food in the seat next to him. "Louisa tells me you're a writer. What do you want to write about?"

Lou stood on the roadster's running board. "My dad wrote about this place, but nothing's really coming to me."

Cotton looked out over the mountains. "Your daddy was actually one of the reasons I came here. When I was in law school at the University of Virginia, I read his very first novel and was struck by both its power and beauty. And then I saw a story in the newspaper about him. He talked about how the mountains had inspired him so. I thought coming here would do the same for me. I walked all over these parts with my pad and pencil, waiting for beautiful phrases to seep into my head so I could put them down on the paper." He smiled wistfully. "Didn't exactly work that way."

Lou said quietly, "Maybe not for me either."

"Well, people seem to spend most of their lives chasing something. Maybe that's part of what makes us human." Cotton pointed down the road. "You see that old shack down there?" Lou looked at a mud-c.h.i.n.ked, falling-down log cabin they no longer used. "Louisa told me about a story your father wrote when he was a little boy. It was about a family that survived one winter up here in that little house. Without wood, or food."

"How'd they do it?"

"They believed in things."

"Like what? Wishing wells?" she said with scorn.

"No, they believed in each other. And created something of a miracle. Some say truth is stranger than fiction. I think that means that whatever a person can imagine really does exist, somewhere. Isn't that a wonderful possibility?"

"I don't know if my imagination is that good, Cotton. In fact, I don't even know if I'm much of a writer. The things I put down on paper don't seem to have much life to them."

"Keep at it, you might surprise yourself. And rest a.s.sured, Lou, miracles do do happen. You and Oz coming here and getting to know Louisa being one of them." happen. You and Oz coming here and getting to know Louisa being one of them."

Lou sat on her bed later that night, looking at her mother's letters. When Oz came in, Lou hurriedly stuffed them under her pillow.

"Can I sleep with you?" asked Oz. "Kind'a scary in my room. Pretty sure I saw a troll in the corner."

Lou said, "Get up here." Oz climbed next to her.

Oz suddenly looked troubled. "When you get married, who am I going to come get in bed with when I'm scared, Lou?"

"One day you're gonna get bigger than me, then I'm going to be running to you when / get scared."

"How do you know that?"

"Because that's the deal G.o.d makes between big sisters and their little brothers."

"Me bigger than you? Really?"

"Look at those clodhoppers of yours. You grow into those feet all the way, you'll be bigger than Eugene."

Oz snuggled in, happy now. Then he saw the letters under the pillow.

"What are those?"

"Just some old letters Mom wrote," Lou said quickly.

"What did she say?"

"I don't know, I haven't read them."

"Will you read them to me?"

"Oz, it's late and I'm tired."

"Please, Lou. Please."

He looked so pitiful Lou took out a single letter and turned up the wick on the kerosene lamp that sat on the table next to her bed.

"All right, but just one."

Oz settled down as Lou began to read.

"Dear Louisa, I hope you are doing well. We all are. Oz is over the croup and is sleeping through the night."

Oz jumped up. "That's me! Mom wrote about me!" He paused and looked confused. "What's croup?"

"You don't want to know. Now, do you want me to read it or not?" Oz lay back down while his sister commenced reading again. "Lou won first place in both the spelling bee and the fifty-yard dash at May Day. The latter included the boys! She's something, Louisa. I've seen a picture of you that Jack had, and the resemblance is remarkable. They're both growing up so fast. So very fast it scares me. Lou is so much like her father. Her mind is so quick, I'm afraid she finds me a little boring. That thought keeps me up nights. I love her so much. I try to do so much with her. And yet, well, you know, a father and his daughter.... More next time. And pictures too. Love to you. Amanda. P.S. My dream is to bring the children to the mountain, so that we can finally meet you. I hope that dream comes true one day."

Oz said, "That was a good letter. Night, Lou."

As Oz drifted off to sleep, Lou slowly reached for another letter.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE.

LOU AND OZ WERE FOLLOWING DIAMOND AND JEB through the woods on a glorious day in early fall, the dappled sunlight in their faces, a cool breeze tracking them along with the fading scents of summer's honeysuckle and wild rose. through the woods on a glorious day in early fall, the dappled sunlight in their faces, a cool breeze tracking them along with the fading scents of summer's honeysuckle and wild rose.

"Where are we going?" asked Lou.

Diamond would only say mysteriously, "You see."

They went up a little incline and stopped. Fifty feet away and on the path was Eugene, carrying an empty coal bucket and a lantern. In his pocket was a stick of dynamite.

Diamond said, "Eugene headed to the coal mine. Gonna fill up that bucket. Afore winter come, he'll take a drag down there with the mules and get out a big load'a coal."

"Gee, that's about as exciting as watching somebody sleep," was Lou's considered opinion.

"Huh! Wait till that dynamite blows," countered Diamond.

"Dynamite!" Oz said.

Diamond nodded. "Coal deep in that rock. Pick can't git to it. Gotta blast it out."

"Is it dangerous?" asked Lou.

"Naw. He knowed what he doing. Done it myself."

As they watched from a distance, Eugene pulled the dynamite out of his pocket and attached a long fuse to it. Then he lit his lantern and went inside the mine. Diamond sat back against a redbud, took out an apple, and cut it up. He flicked a piece to Jeb, who was messing around some underbrush. Diamond noted the worried looks on me faces of Lou and Oz.

"That fuse slow-burning. Walk to the moon and back afore it go off."

A while later Eugene came out of the mine and sat down on a rock near the entrance.

"Shouldn't he get away from there?"

"Naw. Don't use that much dynamite for a bucketful. After it blow and the dust settles, I show you round in there."

"What's to see in some old mine?" asked Lou.

Diamond suddenly hunched forward. "I tell you what. I seed some fellers down here late one night poking round. 'Member Miss Louisa told me to keep my eyes open? Well, I done that. They had lanterns and carrying boxes into the mine. We go in and see what they's up to."

"But what if they're in the mine now?"

"Naw. I come by just a bit ago, looked round, threw a rock inside. And they's fresh footprints in the dirt heading out. 'Sides, Eugene would'a seed 'em." He had a sudden idea. "Hey, mebbe they running shine, using the mine to store the still and corn and such."

"More likely they're just hobos using the mine to keep dry at night," said Lou.

"Ain't never heard tell of no hobos up here."

"So why didn't you tell Louisa?" Lou challenged him.

"She got enough to worry 'bout. Check it out first. What a man do."

Jeb flushed out a squirrel and chased it around a tree while they all watched and waited for the explosion.

Lou said, "Why don't you come live with us?"

Diamond stared at her, clearly troubled by this question. He turned to his hound. "Cut it out, Jeb. That squirrel ain't doing nuthin' to you."

Lou added, "I mean, we could use the help. Another strong man around. And Jeb too."

"Naw. I a feller what needs his freedom."

"Hey, Diamond," said Oz, "you could be my big brother. Then Lou wouldn't have to beat up everybody by herself."

Lou and Diamond smiled at each other.

"Maybe you should think about it," said Lou.

"Mebbe I will." He looked at the mine. "Ain't be long now."

They sat back and waited. Then the squirrel broke free from the woods and flashed right into the mine. Jeb plunged in after it.

Diamond leapt to his feet. "Jeb! Jeb! Git back here!" The boy charged out of the woods. Eugene made a grab for him, but Diamond dodged him and ran into the mine.

Lou screamed, "Diamond! Don't!"

She ran for the mine entrance.

Oz shouted, "Lou, no! Come back!"

Before she could reach the entrance, Eugene grabbed her. "Wait here. I git him, Miss Lou."

Eugene fast-limped into the mine, screaming, "Diamond! Diamond!"

Lou and Oz looked at each other, terrified. Time ticked by. Lou paced in nervous circles near the entrance. "Please, please. Hurry." She went to the entrance, heard something coming. "Diamond! Eugene!"

But it was Jeb that came racing out of the mine after the squirrel. Lou grabbed at the dog, and then the con-cussive force of the explosion knocked Lou off her feet. Dust and dirt poured out of the mine, and Lou coughed and gagged in this maelstrom. Oz raced to help her while Jeb barked and jumped.

Lou got her bearings and her breath and stumbled to the entrance. "Eugene! Diamond!"

Finally, she could hear footsteps coming. They drew closer and closer, and they seemed unsteady. Lou said a silent prayer. It seemed to take forever, but then Eugene appeared, dazed, covered with dirt, bleeding. He looked at them, tears on his face.

"d.a.m.n, Miss Lou."

Lou took one step back, then another, and then another. Then she turned and ran down the trail as fast as she could, her wails covering them all.

Some men carried the covered body of Diamond to a wagon. They had had to wait for a while to let the smoke clear out, and to make certain that the mine would not collapse on them. Cotton watched the men take Diamond away, and then went over to Eugene, who sat on a large rock, holding a wet cloth to his bloodied head.

"Eugene, sure you don't need anything else?"

Eugene looked at the mine like he expected to see Diamond walk out with his stuck-up hair and silly smile. "All I need, Mr. Cotton, is this be a bad dream I wake myself up from."

Cotton patted his big shoulder and then glanced at Lou sitting on a little hump of dirt, her back to the mine. He went to her and sat down.

Lou's eyes were raw from crying, her cheeks stained with tears. She was hunched over in a little ball, like every part of her was in wrenching pain.