One Foot in Eden

The narrative flashes back to Billy’s perspective before the murder. Billy remembers how he found out that Amy was pregnant with another man’s child. He had suspicions about Amy and Holland, but he tried not to think about it because he was afraid of losing her. Now, when Billy asks Amy whose child she carries, Amy tells him that it can be their child if he wants it to be. Amy promises Billy that she will not leave him for Holland because she is Billy’s wife. She also promises that she will never see Holland again.

That night, Billy thinks about the time when he had polio as a child. Doctor Griffin treated him at home and told Billy’s parents to watch his breathing night and day. After he recovered, his right leg never fully healed, causing him to walk with a limp for the rest of his life. Billy loves how Amy never makes him feel self-conscious about his leg. He remembers how humiliated he felt when Amy told the valley that he could not get her pregnant. He knows that his infertility is yet another symptom of the polio, even though the doctor never admitted this aloud.

In the morning, Billy goes out to the fields. He thinks about Holland’s disruptive nature when he was growing up. Billy knows that Holland will not let Amy go without a fight. Later that morning, Billy sees Holland talking with Amy in the yard. She pushes Holland away, but he keeps coming towards her. Billy picks up his shotgun and walks to the house. He does not know if he has the stomach to hurt Holland; unlike Holland, he has never fought in a war. Billy fires the gun in the air, and Holland approaches him. Billy tells Holland to leave them alone, but Holland refuses, citing the baby as a reason. Holland grabs the end of the barrel of the gun and pushes it into his own chest. Holland does not think that Billy will shoot him, but Billy pulls the trigger. Billy knows that he cannot bury Holland because of the dry earth. He knows that the best thing to do would be to put the body in the river, but he cannot swim well. Billy tells Amy that they must lie about seeing Holland. They get their stories straight, and then Billy tells her that after this day, they will never speak about what just happened.

Billy ties Holland’s body to Sam and takes a roll of barbed wire down to the river. When Billy gets to the river, he sees the Widow standing on the bank and worries that she can see Holland, so he goes to speak with her. The Widow asks how Amy is doing with her pregnancy and tells Billy that they can come to her for tonics if she needs them. Billy tells the Widow not to go downriver because he saw a large rattlesnake, which is why he has his shotgun. The Widow thanks him and starts walking away. Suddenly, she turns around and tells Billy that she hopes that he killed him. Billy feels alarmed, but then the Widow clarifies that she hopes that he killed the rattlesnake. Billy waits until the Widow is out of sight before he goes back to Sam and the body.

Billy leads Sam to an area of the river near a white oak with a low-hanging branch. He unloads the body and climbs up to the top branch, tying the rope there. He makes a large knot on the other end and drops it to the ground. Billy ties a rope around Holland’s body places the barbed wire at the base of Holland’s neck. He uses Sam to pull the rope and lift the body until it reaches the large limb at the top. Billy climbs the tree again and lays Holland’s body lengthwise, using the barbed wire to secure it to the limb. The barbed wire cuts into Holland’s skin in a way that makes Billy feel sick. Billy sits in the tree and practices out loud what he will say to Sheriff Alexander. From his viewpoint, Billy sees Mrs. Winchester come out of her house. He can tell that she is looking for Holland. When Billy climbs down, he shoots Sam in the head and breaks the horse’s leg.

When Billy gets back to the farm, he worries that the police will discover Holland’s body. He lets the sheriff search his property because he knows that Will suspects him of murder. That night, Billy has sex with Amy, and for the first time, he feels like the baby is his. The next day, Billy works the field while Will and Bobby search for the body. He sees buzzards in the distance and feels nervous. The men use dynamite to search the river, but Billy knows that they will not find anything. Billy tells Will that the buzzards are picking at his horse, and when they get to Sam, Billy hopes that he is the only one who notices the large number of buzzards in the white oak. No one looks up at the tree, so Billy thinks that he is in the clear. When the sheriff and deputy leave, Billy relaxes until he sees their car return. The sheriff tells him that they need to see the horse again, so Billy walks with them to the river. Will wants to move the horse’s body. Billy prays that they will not look up into the tree, but Will seems disappointed when he finds the ground undisturbed. After that night, Billy feels more confidant that Will and Bobby will not find the body.

A few months later, Billy takes a sack and a shovel to the river. He climbs the white oak; Holland’s body is just a skeleton now. He cuts the wire and lets the bones fall, putting them into the sack. He buries Holland’s bones deep in the woods, under an ash tree. He recalls when the sheriff told him that he got away with murder, and although the law did not catch him, he knows that he will have to pay for his crime in some other way.

When Amy goes into labor, Billy gets so sick that he hallucinates that Holland is standing in the room, staring at him. When Billy recovers, he finally meets Isaac. When Isaac opens his eyes, Billy sees Holland’s brown eyes staring back at him. He realizes that his punishment will be to live with the eyes of the man he murdered.