Jagged Scar

Jagged Scar

When my Grandma Flora was 3 years old
She climbed from her crib in the afternoon and walked out the open door
While her mother was busy with the baby who had a fever and a cough
And no one saw Flora wander off

She was barefoot and wearing a little sleeping shift
It was fall and there was frost in the air
My grandmother remembered the farm dog, Annie
Stayed with her for awhile, then she charged off through the brush
Later they all said Annie must have chased a bear
And credited the dog with saving the child

Little Flora found her way down the trail that led to the Little Dove
We know this because when the Rowan brothers searched for her at dusk
They saw her footprints in the muck along the bank and feared her drowned
But by then she was safely home,
Carried in the arms of a man that nobody had ever seen around
My grandmother remembered the dark, smoky smell of him
And how he sang to her all the way back to the cabin
She remembered the odd cant to his teeth, the round cup of his ear
And along his jaw, a jagged scar

Of course there was a flurry when the child was found safe
She was fussed over and the search was called
And the stranger who had brought her home vanished like smoke
Before he could be asked a single question
And everyone praised the dog Annie for her bravery
And gave her the bone they had saved to make soup

A few years later, on a trip into Butterfield
My grandmother who must have been six by then
Saw a photo of a face of a man on a poster on a wall of the post office lobby
And recognized him by his jagged scar
Look, she said, that’s who brought me home
Of course she didn’t understand at the time
Why her mother went silent and pale
Or why his name was whispered for weeks afterwards,
at home, at church and on the street
Whenever two grownups would meet and clutch their hearts

My grandmother Flora told me this story, and with a sort of pride and incredulous awe
Said the man who carried her safely home was Kid Curry, the outlaw