The Sweetness of Water

The Sunday morning had started like any other until George found Landry’s severely beaten body. He had been discussing livestock with Prentiss when he heard the dreadful cries from the forest. At first George did not know what he saw, thinking it was finally the slain beast he had been chasing for years. When he sees Prentiss try to awaken the lifeless body, he knows it is Landry. Prentiss tells Landry he is the strong one and needs to wake because they have a lot of good plans. George sees Caleb crouching at the end of the woods and asks him what happened. Caleb is speechless. While he does not tell George what happened, he gazes off through the woods. George assumes that Landry’s attack was at the hand of Landry’s former enslaver Ted Morton. George takes off at a run toward Majesty’s Palace.

When George finds Morton, he accuses him of murdering Landry. He admits to beating Landry when in his possession but denies any involvement in murdering him. George, who several times lunges at Morton, finally realizes that Morton was not involved in the attack. He apologizes to Morton and leaves Majesty’s Palace. As he scales the fence, his intense anger turns to profound sadness.

As Prentiss sits looking at Landry’s body, he feels as if Landry committed a selfish act by being killed and being set free. He stands up and looks at Caleb, examining his hands to be sure they did not show any sign of blood. Caleb tries to get away to go home, but Prentiss stops him and makes him stay. Caleb is nearly inconsolable, and Prentiss tells him that he needs his help in finding who was responsible for Landry’s attack. Caleb calls for his mother in between sobs, saying that she would know what to do. Prentiss is moved by the act and reflects on how much he, too, wished he could have his mother to help him in this situation. He daydreams about his mother and father being together and embracing him and Landry and preparing to set out on their land. He believed that working hard in the fields and complaining so little would eventually be enough for his father to return.

Prentiss recalls once when at the Morton’s farm how he had worked hard in the field and was washing up at the end of the day. He told another boy about his age that if he worked hard his father would return. The boy told Prentiss that he heard his father was dead, having had a dizzy spell in the field at the end of a long day’s work. Prentiss never listened to the boy and did not realize until he was older that the boy spoke the truth. Prentiss often wonders who was more like his father—he or Landy—and who like his mother. The brother’s mother was furious at the mother of the child for putting wild ideas in her son’s mind.

Prentiss’s daydream is interrupted by Caleb trying to stand and leave for the house. He tells Prentiss he will make it right. Soon, George returns and Prentiss comes to terms with the idea that all that remains of his brother is a corpse, a word he had been avoiding. He drops to his knees and holds his brother one last time.

George brings Caleb home and explains to Isabelle that Landry has been murdered. George prepares to ride into to town to alert the sheriff of what has happened. George is taken aback when at each stop along his way, his neighbors ignore his presence. Finally, feeling emotional and barely able to speak, a young kid that resembles Landry asks him if he needs help. He offers the boy a dollar and asks him to quickly locate the sheriff, who George believes is a fair and just man, to explain the situation. When George returns to the woods, Prentiss is laying on the ground with the back of his head on Landry’s chest. Prentiss believes that Caleb knows who murdered Landry, and while George cannot disprove the idea, he tells Prentiss that Caleb may be more inclined to share information with his father. Prentiss agrees and tells George to take care of his son while he carries Landry back to the barn. On his way back to the house, George notices the lush peanut plants and contemplates the bounty that lies below the ground. He finds his walk through the field comforting, even though it may be his last time farming the land.

When he returns to his cabin, he finds Caleb sitting with Isabelle just as he had left him hours prior. He asks Caleb to follow him to his upstairs study, to which Caleb obliges. George asks Caleb what he was doing in the woods. Caleb, upset, accuses his father of never taking an interest in him, failing him and his mother through his half-hearted attempts at cabinetmaking, making moonshine, and befriending Prentiss and Landry. When George asks again what Caleb was doing in the woods, he tells George that he never asks him how he is, and George realizes that he has not so much as hugged Caleb since returning from the war. He stands behind Caleb and puts his arm around his chest and asks one more time why he was in the woods. Caleb, crying like a child, tells George what August murdered Landry.

George asks Isabelle to keep an eye out for any movement outside—whether it is the sheriff, Prentiss leaving the barn, or Caleb emerging from his room—while he takes a bath. He tells her they will need a coffin for Landry. Isabelle suggests one made of birch because it has aromas of wintergreen and peppermint. She tells George of a time when her uncle was dying, and her aunt had purchased a birch coffin that she kept in the cellar. Isabelle asks George if he will tell Prentiss of Caleb’s confession. Unsure, he asks Isabelle for her advice, surprising her as it has been a long time since he has asked for her opinion an important matter. They agree that they must tell him, but they worry he will seek revenge. They agree to give Prentiss a day for his anger to subside.

Isabelle asks what Caleb was doing in the woods with August, to which George does not know. He suggests maybe trust, suffering, or love. Many times, he would see Caleb come home cursing his friend only to be peering out the window to see if he was coming to the cabin. Isabelle finds some relief in Caleb’s friendship with August as she tries to understand why he seems to be just a shell of himself, not the child she remembers. Realizing they were always there to support Caleb in his childhood, Isabelle moves her chair closer to George and runs her finger down his face and chin. They agree to suggest the birch coffin to Prentiss for Landry.

The next morning Isabelle sees Prentiss walking toward the field. As Prentiss weeds the field Isabelle tells him that George would not expect him to work given what has happened to Landry. She invites him to return to the house with her to have coffee and breakfast. Prentiss continues pulling weeds and tells her that he is where he belongs, caring for the plants that he and Landry had spent so much time nurturing. Isabelle offers Prentiss the socks Landry made for her as a keepsake, but he tells her to keep them. When Isabelle starts to leave, Prentiss tells her that he thinks Landry would like to be laid to rest in the woods. When Isabelle returns to the house, George is making breakfast. The sheriff, Osborne Clay, whom the Walkers have been expecting, arrives. Isabelle has only seen Clay once before from a distance and does not fully recognize him as the man she had seen in town. The narrator tells us that the man is not Osborne Clay.

George’s plan to include Sheriff Clay in the investigation of Landry’s murder backfires. The new sheriff, Lamar Hackstedde, who had arrived at the Walker’s, was known to be an inept slave patroller. George thinks Hackstedde would be an equally inept sheriff. Hackstedde tells George that government officials would be arriving to examine the body. George worries that if he accuses August of murder, it would fuel a much more severe backlash from the townspeople, who are already against the Walkers.

In the barn, Hackstedde and his assistant Tim examine Landry’s body. George escorts Prentiss out of the barn and promises him that he will make sure that Landry receives a proper burial. When the Sheriff concludes his examination, he tells George that it appears the death was either from an accidental fall or a run-in with a bear. He confirms that the woods are a dangerous place for an unskilled boy and that a kid his size likely fell. George knows that dismissing the death as an accident would bring the least amount of tension. As Hackstedde and Tim prepare to leave, Caleb emerges and tells them that he wishes to make a confession, and although George gestures to him not to say anything, Caleb shares the details of the murder with Hackstedde.

George travels into Old Ox to pick up a coffin for Landry’s burial. Upon his arrival he sees a line of townspeople waiting to see General Glass. George attempts to cut to the front of the line, demanding to see Glass with an urgent matter. George tells Glass about Landry’s murder, and Glass tells George that he knows about the murder and has turned the matter over to the Sheriff and Mr. Webler. George is outraged that Glass would allow the father of the accused to serve in the case and tells him he cannot believe he has sided with the likes of Mr. Webler. Glass tells George that he too serves a community where people would rather see him gone but that he must do what is right for the town. Glass points out that Webler was always hospitable to him when he arrived in town and has never asked anything of him.

Later that afternoon, George, Isabelle, Caleb, and Prentiss bury Landry in a clearing in the woods. Isabelle places a stick on his grave and pulls a knitted sock from her bag. She tells Prentiss that she was knitting socks for Landry for when they moved North. She places the sock over the stick as a marker. She pulls the matching sock from her bag and gives it to Prentiss as a keepsake by which to remember Landry. Prentiss asks to be alone with his brother while the Walkers return to their cabin. George watches for Prentiss to return and tells Isabelle about his memories of Taffy and how his mother explained that such relationships needed to be severed quickly. He tells Isabelle that Prentiss must leave immediately to protect his and the family’s safety. Isabelle convinces George to allow Prentiss to stay until morning.

Prentiss reflects on the reality of his life. He feels isolated and alone and thinks of how he had wished to ask George to keep Landry’s body in the barn. He has given up hope of finding his mother alive. After a restless sleep, the next morning Prentiss wakes to the sounds of a group of men on horses arriving at George’s cabin. Seeing the men, Prentiss runs to the Walker’s cabin to alert George. When George and Caleb emerge from their sleep, they see Wade Webler, Ted Morton, Gail Cooley, and August among others standing outside the house. Wade tells George that it is August’s wedding day, but before they can celebrate, they need to put to rest the rumor that Caleb has been spreading that August is responsible for murdering Landry. August defends himself by saying that Caleb was still feeling the effects of the war and that he did not know what he was saying.

As the men banter, Prentiss steps forward and spits in Wade Webler’s face. Wade grabs Prentiss and chokes him to the ground. George pleads with Webler to stop, pointing out how the government agents coming to investigate Landry’s murder would react to another dead body in town. Finally, when Wade releases Prentiss, Hackstedde places the boy in handcuffs and prepares to transport him into town. Wade asks that a judge be sent immediately to try Prentiss for the attack offering money to have the judge come as soon as possible. Wade says that anything less than a hanging would be a travesty. George looks on in disappointment and asks Prentiss why he would do this when he was so close to being gone. Hackstedde tells George that Prentiss will be in the town jail and that no visitors would be permitted. George promises Prentiss that he will figure something out.