A Painted House (24 page)

“It’s a deal.”

She handed me a dollar bill. We agreed that I would check back in an hour or so. I found Dewayne again, and we decided it was time to investigate the girlie show. We darted through the throng along the midway and slowed near the gypsies’ trailers. It was much darker back there. In front of the tent were some men smoking cigarettes, and in the door was a young woman in a skimpy costume swinging her hips and dancing in a naughty way.

As Baptists, we knew that all manner of dancing was not only inherently evil but downright sinful. It was right up there with drinking and cussing on the list of major transgressions.

The dancer was not as attractive as Delilah, nor did she reveal as much or move as gracefully. Of course, Delilah had years of experience and had traveled the world.

We sneaked along the shadows, advancing slowly until a strange voice from nowhere said, “That’s far enough. You boys get outta here.” We froze and looked around, and about that time we heard a familiar voice yell from behind us, “Repent, ye workers of iniquity! Repent!”

It was the Reverend Akers, standing tall with his Bible in one hand while a long, crooked finger pointed out from the fist of the other.

“You brood of vipers!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

I don’t know if the young lady stopped dancing or if the men scattered. I didn’t bother to look. Dewayne and I hit the ground on all fours and crawled like hunted prey through the maze of trailers and trucks until we saw light between two of the booths on the midway. We emerged and got lost in the crowd.

“You think he saw us?” Dewayne asked when we were safe.

“I don’t know. I doubt it.”

We circled around and wandered back to a safe spot near the gypsies’ trailers. Brother Akers was in fine form. He’d moved to within thirty feet of the tent and was casting out demons at the top of his
voice. And he was having success. The dancer was gone, as were the men who’d been hanging around smoking. He’d killed the show, although I suspected they were all inside, hunkering down and waiting him out.

But Delilah was back, wearing yet another costume. It was made of leopard skin and barely covered the essentials, and I knew Brother Akers would have something to say about it the next morning. He loved the carnival because it gave him so much material for the pulpit.

A regular mob crowded around the wrestling ring, gawking at Delilah and waiting for Samson. Again, she introduced him with the lines we’d already heard. He finally jumped into the ring, and he, too, had chosen leopard skin. Tight shorts, no shirt, shiny black leather boots. He strutted and posed and tried to get us to boo him.

My friend Jackie Moon crawled into the ring first, and like most victims, engaged the strategy of dodging. He darted around effectively for twenty seconds until Samson had had enough. A Guillotine, then a Turkish Roll-Down, as Delilah explained, and Jackie was on the grass not far from where I was standing. He laughed. “That wasn’t so bad.”

Samson wasn’t about to hurt anybody; it would harm his business. But as his final exhibition wore on, he became much cockier and yelled at us constantly, “Is there a man among you?” His accent was of some exotic variety; his voice was deep and frightening. “Are there no warriors in Black Oak, Arkansas?”

I wished I were seven feet tall. Then I’d hop up there and attack ol’ Samson while the crowd went
wild. I’d whip him good, send him flying, and become the biggest hero in Black Oak. But, for now, I could only boo him.

Hank Spruill entered the picture. He walked along the edge of the ring between bouts, and stopped long enough to get Samson’s attention. The crowd was silent as the two glared at each other. Samson walked to the edge of the ring and said, “Come on in, little one.”

Hank, of course, just sneered. Then he walked over to Delilah and took money from his pocket.

“Ooh la la, Samson,” she said, taking his cash. “Twenty-five dollars!”

Everyone seemed to be mumbling in disbelief. “Twenty-five bucks!” said a man from behind. “That’s a week’s work.”

“Yeah, but he might win two hundred fifty,” said another man.

As the crowd squeezed together, Dewayne and I moved to the front so we could see through the grown-ups.

“What’s your name?” Delilah asked, shoving the microphone up.

“Hank Spruill,” he growled. “You still payin’ ten-to-one?”

“That’s the deal, big boy. Are you sure you want to bet twenty-five dollars?”

“Yep. And all I gotta do is stay in the ring for one minute?”

“Yes, sixty seconds. You know Samson hasn’t lost a fight in five years. Last time he lost was in Russia, and they cheated him.”

“Don’t care ’bout Russia,” Hank said, taking off his shirt. “Any other rules?”

“No.” She turned to the crowd, and with as much drama as she could muster, she yelled, “Ladies and gentlemen. The great Samson has been challenged to his biggest fight of all time. Mr. Hank Spruill has put up twenty-five dollars for a ten-to-one fight. Never before in history has someone made so large a challenge.”

Samson was posturing around the ring, shaking his sizable locks and looking forward to the skirmish with great anticipation.

“Lemme see the money,” Hank growled at Delilah.

“Here it is,” she said, using the microphone.

“No, I wanna see the two-fifty.”

“We won’t be needing it,” she said with a laugh, a chuckle with just a trace of nervousness. But she lowered the microphone, and they haggled over the details. Bo and Dale appeared from the crowd, and Hank made them stand next to the small table where Delilah kept the money. When he was convinced the money was in place, he stepped into the ring, where the great Samson stood with his massive arms folded over his chest.

“Ain’t he the one who killed that Sisco boy?” someone asked from behind us.

“That’s him,” was the reply.

“He’s almost as big as Samson.”

He was a few inches shorter, and not as thick in the chest, but Hank seemed oblivious to any danger. Samson started dancing around on one side of the ring while Hank watched him and stretched his arms.

“Are you ready?” Delilah wailed into the microphone, and the crowd pressed forward. She hit the bell. Both fighters eyed each other fiercely. Hank stayed in his corner, though. The clock was on his side. After a few seconds, Samson, whom I suspected knew he had his hands full, waded in, dancing and juking and bobbing like a real wrestler is supposed to do. Hank was still.

“Come on out, boy!” Samson boomed from five feet away, but Hank kept to his corner.

“Forty-five seconds,” Delilah said.

Samson’s mistake was to assume that it was a wrestling match, instead of a brawl. He came in low, in an effort to apply one of his many grips or holds, and for a split second left his face open. Hank struck like a rattler. His right hand shot forward with a punch that was almost too quick to be seen, and it landed flush on the mighty Samson’s jaw.

Samson’s head jerked sharply, his handsome hair slung in all directions. The impact caused a cracking sound. Stan Musial could not have hit a baseball any harder.

Samson’s eyes rolled back in his gigantic head. Because of its size, it took Samson’s body a second to realize that its head had been crippled. One leg went woozy and bent at the knee. Then the other leg collapsed, and the World’s Greatest Wrestler, Direct from Egypt, landed on his back with a thud. The small ring bounced and its ropes shook. Samson appeared to be dead.

Hank relaxed in his corner by placing his arms on the top ropes. He was in no hurry. Poor Delilah was
speechless. She tried to say something to assure us that this was just part of the exhibition, but at the same time she wanted to jump into the ring and tend to Samson. The crowd was stunned.

In the center of the ring, Samson began groaning and trying to get to his feet. He made it to his hands and knees, and rocked back and forth a few times before he managed to pull a foot forward. With one great lurch he tried to stand, but his feet weren’t with him. He lunged toward the ropes and managed to catch them to break his fall. He was looking directly at us, but the poor guy saw nothing. His eyes were red and wild, and he seemed to have no idea where he was. He hung on the ropes, tottering, trying to regain his senses, still searching for his feet.

Mr. Horsefly Walker ran up to the ring and yelled to Hank, “Kill the sonofabitch! Go ahead, finish him off!”

But Hank didn’t move. Instead, he just yelled, “Time!” but Delilah had forgotten about the clock.

There were a few cheers and jeers from the crowd, but for the most part, it was subdued. The spectators were shocked at the sight of Samson floundering, his senses knocked out of him.

Samson turned and tried to focus his eyes on Hank. Clutching the ropes for support, he stumbled a couple of steps, then made one last, desperate lunge. Hank simply ducked out of the way, and Samson landed hard on the corner pole. The ropes strained with his weight and the other three poles seemed ready to break. Samson was groaning and thrashing about like a bear who’d been shot. He pulled his feet under him and steadied himself enough to turn around. He
should’ve stayed on the mat. Hank darted in and threw an overhand right, a punch that began in the center of the ring and landed exactly where the first one did. Since his target was defenseless, he reloaded and landed a third and final blow. Samson went down in a heap. Delilah screamed and scrambled into the ring. Hank relaxed in his corner, arms on the top ropes, grinning, no concern whatsoever for his opponent.

I wasn’t sure what to do, and most of the other spectators were quiet, too. On the one hand, it was good to see an Arkansas boy so thoroughly crush this Egyptian giant. But on the other hand, it was Hank Spruill, and he’d used his fists. His victory was tainted, not that it mattered to him. All of us would’ve felt better if a local boy had battled Samson evenly.

When Hank was certain that time had expired, he stepped through the ropes and jumped to the ground. Bo and Dale had the money, and the three of them disappeared.

“He done killed Samson,” someone behind me said. The World’s Greatest Wrestler was flat on his back, arms and legs spread wide, his woman crouched over him, trying to wake him. I felt sorry for them. They were wonderfully colorful, an act we wouldn’t see again for a long time, if ever. In fact, I doubted if Samson and Delilah would ever return to Black Oak, Arkansas.

When he sat up, we relaxed. A handful of good folks clapped softly for him, then the crowd began to break up.

Why couldn’t Hank join the carnival? He could get
paid for beating up people, and it would get him off our farm. I decided to mention it to Tally.

Poor Samson had worked hard all day in the heat, and in a split second had lost the day’s wages. What a way to make a living. I’d finally seen a worse job than picking cotton.

Chapter 19

In the spring and winter, Sunday afternoons were often used as a time for visiting. We’d finish lunch and take our naps, then load into the pickup and drive to Lake City or Paragould and drop in completely unannounced on some relatives or old friends, who’d always be delighted to see us. Or perhaps they’d drop in on us. “Y’all come see us” was the common phrase, and folks took it literally. No arrangements or forewarnings were necessary, or even possible. We didn’t have a telephone and neither did our relatives or friends.

But visiting was not a priority in the late summer and fall because the work was heavier and the afternoons were so hot. We forgot about aunts and uncles for a time, but we knew we’d catch up later.

I was sitting on the front porch, listening to the Cardinals and watching my mother and Gran shell peas and butter beans, when I saw a cloud of dust coming from the bridge. “Car’s comin’,” I said, and they looked in that direction.

Traffic on our road was rare. It was almost always one of the Jeters from across the way or one of the Tollivers east of us. Occasionally a strange car or truck would pass, and we’d watch it without a word until the dust had settled, then we’d talk about it over dinner
and speculate as to who it was and what they were doing in our part of Craighead County. Pappy and my father would mention it at the Co-op, and my mother and Gran would tell all the ladies before Sunday school, and sooner or later they’d find someone else who’d seen the strange vehicle. Usually the mystery was solved, but occasionally one passed through and we never found out where it came from.

This car moved slowly. I saw a hint of red that grew bigger and brighter, and before too long a shiny two-door sedan was turning into our driveway. The three of us were now standing on the porch, too surprised to move. The driver parked behind our pickup. From the front yard the Spruills were gawking, too.

The driver opened his door and got out. Gran said, “Well, it’s Jimmy Dale.”

“It certainly is,” my mother said, losing some of her anticipation.

“Luke, run and get Pappy and your father,” Gran said. I sprinted through the house yelling for the men, but they’d heard the door slam and were coming from the backyard.

We all met in front of the car, which was new and clean and undoubtedly the most beautiful vehicle I’d ever seen. Everybody hugged and shook hands and exchanged greetings, then Jimmy Dale introduced his new wife, a thin little thing who looked younger than Tally. Her name was Stacy. She was from Michigan, and when she spoke her words came through her nose. She clipped them quickly and efficiently, and within seconds she made my skin crawl.

“Why does she talk like that?” I whispered to my mother as the group moved to the porch.

“She’s a Yankee” was the simple explanation.

Jimmy Dale’s father was Ernest Chandler, Pappy’s older brother. Ernest had farmed in Leachville until a heart attack killed him a few years earlier. I did not personally remember Ernest, or Jimmy Dale, though I’d heard plenty of stories about them. I knew that Jimmy Dale had fled the farm and migrated to Michigan, where he found a job in a Buick factory making three dollars an hour, an unbelievable wage by Black Oak standards. He’d helped other local boys get good jobs up there. Two years earlier, after another bad crop, my father had spent a miserable winter in Flint, putting windshields into new Buicks. He’d brought home a thousand dollars and had spent it all on outstanding farm debts.