He Will Restore
by Helen
Chapman
If you are interested in the history behind this story, check out the
following historical documents: The Brassell Hangings by Donald E. Spurlock, The Brassell Hangings,
The Rockport Journal 4 April 1878, and
The Fort Wayne Daily Sentinel 27 April
1878.
Description
Government
corruption. Police brutality. Child abuse.
Ripped from the
headlines of Tennessee newspapers from 1875 to 1878.
He Will Restore is a fictionalized retelling of the real adventures of Joe and Teek
Brassell, two brothers who gave everything to save their sisters by any means,
fair or foul.
Like most people in
the area, the family were subsistence farmers, making what little cash money
they could from the manufacture of illicit spirits. They were fairly typical,
hard working people, with the exception of Egbert, their patriarch, who drank
much, worked little, and had a predilection for his young daughters.
Excerpt
Amanda busied herself putting a quick supper on the table for her
brothers. Anything to keep from going to bed. She took some sausage from the
warming oven, along with some corn bread wrapped in a damp towel. It wasn't
much of a supper, but this year's harvest had been on the lean side. It was too
early for hog killing, and her mother had put by everything they could manage
for winter. Normally, there would still be roasting ears clean up until
Christmas. This year, they were lucky to have enough for their stock and for
grinding to make meal.
Joe retrieved a pitcher of buttermilk from the cold box by the back door.
A sausage from last year that had been preserved in a crock of lard and some
corn bread didn't seem all that appetizing to him. He figured the icy
buttermilk, clabbered on the back of the stove after his sister Tennessee had
churned, would be a nice addition.
Both Joe and Teek avoided thoughts of their oldest sister. She was the
one people said "wasn't right", or was "teched in the head".
Tennessee was three years older than their brother Jim. Joe didn’t remember her
any other way, but Jim told him once that Tennessee used to be a happy little
girl, who liked nothing better than playing in the creek that ran beside their
house. It wasn’t until after the family had to leave Kingston Springs that she
became strange. A year or so before Amanda was born, Tennessee quit
talking. She withdrew into herself, into
her own little world. The only sound she made was when she would scream during
the night.
Joe remembered the screams most of all. They were horrible, gut wrenching
cries of an animal in pain. To hear that sound coming from his eight year old
sister, who otherwise was perfectly mute, was terrifying to the young boy.
Later, after the family had moved from Kingston Springs, and Joe was about ten
years old, he put two and two together, and realized the screams stopped when
Egbert left his daughter’s room.
He looked at his sister Amanda as she busied herself getting their supper
together. She was a pretty girl: blond hair with some red in it, green eyes,
very petite and lady-like for a farm girl. She didn’t look anything like their
older sister. Maybe that was what saved her from their father.
Recently, though, Egbert had been looking at Amanda the way he used to
look at Tennessee. Their father was never an easy man to live with. He was
quick to temper, quicker to strike out. He wanted supreme control over those in
his household, and it scared him when he saw his children reaching adulthood.
Egbert had even been happy when Joe's wife had died of pneumonia last year, and
Joe had to come back home with his little boy.
It was about that time that Egbert starting avoiding his eldest, too. No
one mentioned it. But Tennessee had started making a mad dash to the outhouse
every morning, holding her hand over her mouth. Her waistline started to
thicken a little. But just as quickly as it started, it stopped. Joe had tried
to deny what he knew by then had to be true. Tennessee, the girl who never left
the house, who was always with family, the girl whose only sound screams in the
night, was in a family way.
Egbert had brought that old granny woman up from Cookeville then. She had
spent hours gathering things around the farm, and returned at least three times
with a basket filled with peculiar flowers and plants. Then she had begun to
pound and boil and mix. Finally, the old witch had produced some noxious
smelling poultice. She had told Joe to take the baby outside then, because just
smelling the stuff could harm him. He had been glad to go.
Joe didn't want to think about what the old woman had done. But as he sat
outside with Teek and his baby boy, James, he remembered wiping way his own
tears every time he heard his sister scream from inside that room.
It was the next day when Egbert started looking at Amanda.
Review
By KittyM
This work is deeply engrossing. It is one of those books you just can't put down because the action keeps rolling like a dramatic thriller movie. The author presents the characters such that you get to know and care about them, and even though you ultimately know their fate as it is based on a true story, you keep hoping that there will be a surprise twist that saves the day. If you need something to read that will entertain you, then this is your book. If you've ever been fascinated by true history not mentioned in traditional history books, this is your book. You will feel like you were right there, a fly on the wall, during the entire thing. You can almost smell the moonshine, hear the cries, and taste the good cooking of Miss Lizzie. Ms. Chapman, you have truly captivated me.
This work is deeply engrossing. It is one of those books you just can't put down because the action keeps rolling like a dramatic thriller movie. The author presents the characters such that you get to know and care about them, and even though you ultimately know their fate as it is based on a true story, you keep hoping that there will be a surprise twist that saves the day. If you need something to read that will entertain you, then this is your book. If you've ever been fascinated by true history not mentioned in traditional history books, this is your book. You will feel like you were right there, a fly on the wall, during the entire thing. You can almost smell the moonshine, hear the cries, and taste the good cooking of Miss Lizzie. Ms. Chapman, you have truly captivated me.
About the Author
Helen's work is also appearing in a compendium of short stories in An Honest Lie Volume 3:
Justifiable Hypocrisy.
When she is not writing, Helen rescues cats, and works for a busy divorce
attorney.
Links
