Billy (20 page)
B I L L
y
I
81
didn't make no sense. Lucy Mae sits with her mother
, s
he
'
d slumped down in her sittin chair still whimpering.
Jackson Bivens sits on his porch, his wife, Tammy, stand
s
in the doorway holding her youngest child; the others she ha
s
forced to bed and silence. Tammy is not an old woman
,
ju
s
t turned twenty-three, and has taken to Patch wa
y
s, taken well to her husband's ways, but now she quarrels with him, want
s
him to take them buckshot shells out that shotgun and put that shotgun up where it belongs. He keeps it under his sittin chair.
Della Robinson has told everybody what she saw Sheriff do to Shorty, how Shorty went to flyin through the room, how the sheriff said that little girl was dead. She was still talkin about it to Wesley Hall, but she was whispering now. Wesle
y
Hall was the twenty-year-old field-pickin bo
y
that lived next door to Della and was sitting with her in that back sl
ee
pin room of hers. She'd told him she wasn't goin down LeRoy's, wasn
'
t goin out of her house no more this da
y, s
he wasn't wantin nothin to do with all this shit, these folk
s
done turned pu r
e
damn crazy.
"Aw, come on, now, Della, ain't nothin gonna happen,
"
Wesley Hall whispers with a smile on his face.
"Ya crazy? Ah ain't goin outta here, what's wrong wit ya
?"
"Aw, come on, Ah can gits somethin for us."
"What can ya get? Ya ain't got no money."
"Yeah, Ah do too. What ya talkin bout? Ah k
e
ep
s
m
e
some."
"Let me see what ya got, how much
y
a got, huh?"
"Ah got a nuff, got me nuff for ta sip all night if Ah w
a
nt
s
ta. Now, come on, now, let's go down. W
e
ain't gotta sta
y,
ju
s
t git us somethin and take it ta wh
e
r
e
it's qui
e
t, wh
e
r
e a
in
'
t n
o
body botherin us at."
82 I Alfwrt French
' A h ain't gom down LeRoy's.
Ah done told ya
that,
Ah
ain't goin."'
"Aw, come,
now,
ya
knows
ya
have a nice time."
"Ya
better
get out
of here wit that,
Ah
done told
ya."
Wesley
scoo
ts up
to
her, rubs his hand
on
her leg, tries to
get
it up
under
her
skirt,
and watches her dimly lit face
for a
sm
ile.
"
Ya better get outta here wit that shit
, ya
ain't gettin none
of
this tonight. Ah don't know what the fu
c
k wrong wit
ya,
trying to pull this shit wit me.
Ya
ain't
got the sense
ya
had
yesterday,
nigger."
Wesley's hand moves
fmiher.
"S
top it, Ah
said."
Wesley moves awa
y s
milin, the
sweat glistens
on his face as he decides to
pl ay
h i s last hand ,
the one
he k nows wi ll win.
"Um
goin
on
down LeR
oy's,
gits
me a
whole
bottle,
ya
want
me la bring
some
ba
ck
for ya?
We
can just
drinks it her
e
.
"
"Yea
h.''
Shmiy
has that
s
mile ba
c
k
on
hi
s
face, had a big
bu
s
ted
lip
with
dry
blood
sti ll stuck on i t,
bu t h
e
was sti l l
tal k i n down th
e
r
e
with LeRoy and
Big Jak
e
.
Le Roy figured wasn't
nobod
y
comin
out tonight
and
has fixed hisself. Bi
g
Jake.
and Short
y
something lo eat,
then
maybe
th
ey'
d
pla
y
a
little
cards and see
if
he
c
ould
get
that
little
bit
of mone
y
Shmiy
had left. Bi
g
Jak
e
was almost as
big
as
L
e
Ho
y,
but
had that hi
g
h-
ye
llow
skin and
low-tal k in
ways.
H
e'
d b
ee
n
picki n
s
in
ce
he was seven,
that was
fifty-one
ye
ars
ago.
had
a wife and six
kid
s
and
eighteen grandchildren. Folks say
haf
e
them children
in
th
e
Patch
belong
to Bi
g
J ake
one way or the other.
Everybod
y
k nows Big Jak
e,
k nows him for them
pickin songs
he b
e
smg
m
and them mul
es
he
cou
ld
talk into movi n.
and if
he
B I L L
y
I
83
couldn't get them to move he just pick them up and throw them.
Big Jake could pick him some guitar too, pick that thing till them strings turn fire-red. Big Jake ain't payin no mind to Shorty and LeRoy's talk, and ain't thinkin about Sheriff Tom. He's feelin good, got him something to eat and
some of
that good bourbon LeRoy pulled out for the sheriff. Big Jake ain't mindin this quiet night one bit as he picks at that guitar
of
his, hits them strings a few times, leans back in his
chair
and sips some more, hits them strings again, and
waits
till that sound curls into music and its
echoes
into
a beat.
He takes one more sip, then pulls that guitar up in his lap, takes his tongue and wipes his lips
with
it, and he ain't thinkin of nothin but that "Chitlin-Wigglin Girl" he be
sing
ing about.
Got me a little
chitlin-wigglin
girl Wiggle her butt like a piggy's tail, Ah hah
. . .
ah hah
. . .
ah hah
. . .
Got me a little
chitlin-wigglin
girl Got eyes that
sparkle
jus like a pearl, Ah hah
. . .
ah hah
. . .
ah hah
. . .
When
she call
me by my name This old man he ain't the same
Ah hah
. . .
ah hah
. . .
ah hah
. .
.
Woke up one mornin, she was gone, Wiggled her butt on into town,
Ah hah
. . .
ah hah
. . .
ah hah
. . .
84 I Albert Fre11ch
Ain't been back since that day, Folks say
she
be
gone
ta stay,
Ah hah
.
.
.
ah
hah
. . .
ah huh
. . .
Chit/in
,
Chitlin, wigglin,
wigglin girl,
Come back here and bring
ya wigglin
tail,
Ah hah
. . .
ah hah
. . .
ah hah
. . .
ah
hah . . .
Shorty still talkin, but LeRoy looks away and staits tappin his foot to Big Jake's
singing,
then
stops, flinches,
and
l
ooks
towards the door.
"What ya
ain't
thinkin
Ah'd see no body out here tonight. Ya come down ta
get ya
a
taste
an
y
how?" LeRoy grin ned and shouted
over to Wesley
Hall
coming
through the door. Wesley
glanced over and gave
Big Jake a
smile,
then
gave Shorty a
nod
and shouted back to
LeRoy, "Shit, Ah though
ya
might
be closed and be sleepin
out back wit that
shotgun,
though
Ah have
ta
git ya
up
till Ah sees ya
lights, thens
Ah
hear Jake
and Ah knows ya up."
"Ah ain't closin nothin tills
Ah
feel
like
it,
come on and
gits
ya somethin,"
LeRoy
grinned and shouted back.
"Gots
ta
git me somethin, can'ts be
s
ittin
witout nothin." "Yeah,
Ah thought ain't nobody
comin
down
tanight.
and
here
ya comes," LeRoy said as he got behind his counter.
H
e
poured Wesley
a glass of some of that
good
bourbon and
said
with
a
grin, "Here,
ya
gonna
lik
e
this."
Wesley took
a
qui
ck
sip, and i n a moment
sa
id
with a
laugh,
"Yeah, folks be
up there
sittin in the dark
like th
ey"s
the night theyselve
s."
LeRoy laughed ba
c
k, then want
e
d to
know, '·What's
Lu
cy
Mae cloin?"
Wesley took
another sip before
say
ing,
"
Last
A h seen
her.
B I L L
y
I
85
she sittin up there wit her mama. Ain't nobody seen Cinder
,
she up there in the house, ain't comes out since the sheriff knocked her ass off the porch. Lucy Mae
'
s boy say that Bill
y
Lee was bein up theres. Ah thought the sheriff be draggin him too, but he come out of ther
e
wit nothin but some mean on his face. That sheriff gots ta be thinkin Billy Lee done runs off someplace."
LeRoy shook his head and said, "Shit, where he gonna run ta? Cinder got that boy somewhere, yeah, that's what Ah thinkin. That woman got that boy somewhere. It's a won der she ain't stuck a blade in that sheriff. Ya member that night she down here? Ya know how she gets, take her a little sip, might dance
,
gets ta movin all slow and twistin her ass all around, lookin good. She do look good. Ah remember she out there, got her ass up, everybody watchin. Then that boy Aldon
,
ya know how he gits, he don't mean nothin, but he tip up behind her while she dancin and goes to grind her in the ass. Well, shit, Ah mean, that bit
c
h turn around and just give that motherfu
c
ker a look Ah ain
'
t never seen nobod
y
give. Ah mean, that bitch look like kin ta the devil. Mo
s
t bitches just laugh that shit off or grind on back, specially when they done pu t their ass out in the fir
s
t place, but, shit, not that bitch. She stared that boy down. Ah thought sh
e
be gettin ready to pull
s
omethin out and
c
ut the shit outta that boy. Didn't have to, though. Ah gues
s
he thought he done tried to fuck the devil up the as
s
. Got away from h
e
r real quick." LeRoy was givin a little laugh, then sighed and
s
aid, "Yeah, that boy of hers ain't but, what, t
e
n, twelve al th
e
most."
Wesley Hall laughed and told LeRo
y s
omethin he alr
e
ad
y
knew. "Shit, that ain't loo you ng for them ta take
s
a ni
g
g
e
r
,
theys tak
e
s a nigger any size.
"
86 I Albert Fre11cli
LeRoy
gri1111ed
and
shook
his head until the
grin
fell off his
face,
then
said,
"Ah tells
ya,
theys
come
down here, Ah
got somethi11
for
em."