Harington - The Cockroaches of Stay More

The Cockroaches of Stay More

By the Author

The Cherry Pit (1965)

Lightning Bug (1970)

Some Other Place. The Right Place. (1972)

The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks (1975)

Let Us Build Us a City (1986)

The Cockroaches of Stay More (1989)

The Choiring of the Trees (1991)

Ekaterina (1993)

Butterfly Weed (1996)

When Angels Rest (1998)

Thirteen Albatrosses (or, Falling Off the Mountain) (2002)

With (2004)

Donald Harington

The Cockroaches of Stay More

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious.
Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Text copyright 1989 Donald Harington
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by AmazonEncore
P.O. Box 400818
Las Vegas, NV 89140

ISBN: 978-1-61218-124-0

For my daughters: Jennifer, Calico, and Katy, and
my stepson Mickel, who never
heard a bedtime story like this one.

Contents

INSTAR THE FIRST:

The Maiden

Chapter one

O ne time not too long ago on a beginning of night in the latter part of May, a middle-aged gent was walking homeward along the forest path from Roamin Road to the village of Carlott, behind Holy House in the valley of Stainmoor or Stay More. The six gitalongs that carried him were rickety, and there was a meandering to his gait that gave a whole new meaning to the word Periplaneta . This wanderer gave a smart nod, as if in agreement to a command, though no one had spoken to him yet. His wings were not folded neatly across his back and were neither tidy nor black but flowzy and brownish. Presently he was met by a plump parson whose wings were very black and long and trim like the tails of a coat, and who was humming a hymn, The Old Shiny Pin.

Morsel, Reverend, said the flowzy gent, and spat, marking his space.

Good morsel to ye, Squire John, said the pudgy parson, and spat too.

Now sir, beggin yore pardon, the wanderer said, spitting again, but we bumped inter one another last Sattidy on this path about this same time, and I said, Morsel, same as now, and you answered me, Good morsel to ye, Squire John, same as now, didnt ye?

Moren likely I did, said the parson, and spat.

And seems like once before that, maybe Friday.

I mightve, now ye mention it.

Wal, Reverend, then how come ye called me Squar John, please tell me, when Im plain ole Jack Dingletoon, as everbody knows?

The fat parson strode six steps or twelve nearer. Their spaces intermingled and overlapped.

I jist had a urr to do it, he said. The ministers huge eyes twinkled and his voice had an impish seriousness. Dont ye know, Ive been researchin and studyin folkses pedigrees all over Stay More, if the day comes when Man shall ask of me to call the roll and account fer ever blessit one of youuns. Ive crope inter ever crook and nanny of town and talked to everbody about their foreparents as fur back as they can recollect. And itll surprise ye to learn, Squire, that you aint a Dingletoon atter all. Nossir, Dingle-toon is jist the way that one of yore ancestors long ago got in the way of mispronouncin Ingledew.

Jack Dingletoon pondered this. Naw! he remarked. You dont mean to tell me!

Shore as Im astandin here, said the parson, and requested, Tilt up yore jaws thataway, Squire, and let me look at yore face. Yes, thats the Ingledew touchers and sniffwhips, Id bet on em, a little adulterated, ye might say, no harm meant, please sir. Why, youre descended from ole Squire Jacob Ingledew hisself, the first rooster-roach to set gitalong in this valley.

Sos everbody else, aint they? Jack observed.

Wal, not edzackly, declared Brother Tichborne, for that was his name, and he was no descendant of Jacob Ingledew himself, but of relative newcomers generations later, who were Manfearing Crustians without any record of incest. As fur as I kin figger, the Dingletoons was a branch what broke off from the Ingledews way back afore the time of Joshua Crust Hisself. You know, the Lord Joshua werent no kin of the Ingledews, and matter of fack He prophesied the Ingledews would wester off from the face of the earth, jist lak they been a-westerin. Not on account of the sin of incest, though, but on account of the sin of pride.

Jack Dingletoon chuckled. Wal, we couldnt be no kin of the Ingledews nohow. We aint never had nothin to be proud of.

Brother Tichborne smiled in agreement. You shore aint. But maybe the Dingletoons has got jist as much right as the Ingledews to dwell in Partheeny.

Jack snorted, but all six of his gitalongs tingled. Haw! Thatd be the day, us a-movin inter Partheeny, or even Holy House. That would be the day! He moved closer and lowered his voice, although no one was eavesdropping except a quartet of crooning katydids and some grazing roly-polies. Preacher, how long has this news about me been knowed? Have the Ingledew squars been told Im their kin?

Nossir, said the parson, nary a soul but me and you knows it. He explained that he had come across the information while interviewing old Granny Stapleton, virtually deaf, deprived of both her sniff-whips and near west from arthritis but still possessed of exceptional memory. Brother Tichborne had a great talent for separating history from legend and tall tale, and had been able to determine from Grannys information that the Dingletoons were indeed long-ago scions of the Ingledews. At first when I heared it, I tole myself, wouldnt be no sense in passin it along to ye, nohow, said the parson. The knowin of it aint got the power of itself to rain down morsels upon ye. But I figgered it wont do ye no harm neither to know it. Maybe it could uplift yore spirit and take the hump outen yore back.

Jack Dingletoon involuntarily straightened his pronotum, elevating his shoulders and even his head. His large kidney-shaped eyes seemed to moisten, and the tips of his wings trembled. Preacher, he declared solemnly, that is the best news ever I learned in all my born days. Jist wait till I tell Josie! Wont her eyes pop outen her skull! But first, lets us me and you go celebrate with a little drap of brew. Reckon theyd let me inter the cookroom if they knowed I was a Ingledew?

Thanks jist the same, Squire John, but I reckon Id better not, declined the minister, not from any scruples against intoxicants but from a reluctance to mingle with the frequenters of the cookrooms beer cans, scarcely a Crustian among them. Id best be gittin on back to the Frock.

Dont ye reckon theyd let me jine em in the beer can if I was to tell em Im a Ingledew? Jack Dingletoon repeated with less confidence.

You could try, Brother Tichborne allowed. But moren likely they wouldnt believe you. Best not let yore knowin of yore own name git ye inter lordliness. Have you ever tried to enter Holy House afore?

Course not, Jack declared. But if you was to go with me

Not tonight, thank ye, Squire John, said Brother Tichborne, and turned to resume his journey. Say hidy to Josie for me. And a long good night to ye. The obese parson hitched up his gitalongs and skittered off into the darkness.

Jack walked on, six, nine or eighteen steps in a profound reverie before lowering himself down upon the substratum, beneath some towering grasses silhouetted against the moon, and gave himself over to consideration of the significance of being an Ingledew, not a mere Dingletoon. The whole world was changed. The night was twelve shades of blue now, and thirteen shades of ultraviolet, and the air was beginning to fill with lightning bugs. Within range of Jacks sniffwhips and eyes a lady lightning bug was perched upon the end of a blade of grass, testing and fine-tuning her lantern. Jack paid her no mind although his ocelli twitched at each neon flash of her summons. Choral groups of katydids were serenading in four-part harmony; here and there a cricket could be heard warming up his instrument of challenge, and in the distance sounded a background of countless Hylae peeping and piping.