Billy (27 page)

7

When Deputy Hill
came
into the jail, he found Sheriff Tom still sitting at his desk scribbling.

"Momin, Sheriff," Deputy Hill shouted with a grin on his face. Sheriff Tom remained silent.

"That boy quiet down after I left?" Deputy Hill asked.

Sheriff Tom nodded his head, then said,
"He
was hollerin again a while ago."

"Ya want me ta stand by while ya get
some
breakfast?" Deputy Hill asked.

Sheriff Tom kept scribbling and was
silent
for a moment before saying, "No, just go on over and get somethin to feed them boys. I want ta get that little one up here fore long."

There had been silence in the cellblock below, any moment seemed to linger. Billy sat in the far
corner
of his
cell
,
his

115

l 16 I Albert
f're11cli

head was down and he just
stared
at the floor.
A
faint whisper
comes,
"Billy, Billy,
ya
be in there?"

Gumpy had whispered out to Billy, and now they whisper back and forth through the
shaded cellblock.

"Hey, Gumpy, Gumpy."

"Huh,
huh?" Gumpy's whisper is
so
faint that Billy
can't
hear and turns away from the bars and
walks
back to the end of his cell, then quickly turns around and
scampers
up to the bars again and yells, "Hey, Gumpy, Gumpy."

"Huh, Billy?" "What ya doin?" "Nothin."

"Ah hear em walkin. Ya hears me?" Billy whispers now.

Gumpy is quiet and tries to look out the
cell
bars to see if he can see Billy, then whispers, "They's
comin
ta git us, Ah hear em."

"Ya hear em, Gumpy,
ya
hear
em comin?"

Gumpy does not answer, he is still and
listening
to
every
sound he hears. He
shakes
when he hears the
clanging sound
of the key going into the big steel door
at
the top of the
steps.

Billy jumps back into the
corner of
his
cell,
his heart pounds with each heavy clumping
footstep
he hears.

Deputy Hill has his instructions on how to
feed
his
prison
ers, he is not to say anything to them,
but make sure
they
do
not feel free to talk
amongst
theirselves. He
puts
the plates
of
food down, then
slowly
walks the length
of
the wal kway in front of the
cells, stopping and staring
at both Billy
and
Gumpy.

Then
he
shouts,
"If
I hear one
goddamn sound comin out
of your mouths, I'm
gonna
take my belt off and whip
your
black asses, ya hear me? A nswer me when I'm talkin to
ya,
ya hear me?"

B I L L Y
I 117

His words thunder through the cellblock, then he takes the plates of food and opens each cell and says,
"Ya
eat this, and ya eat it now. I be back down here in a minute and ya better have it gone." Then he leaves and goes back up the steps and clangs the big heavy door to.

Billy and Gumpy gulp their food down and sit quietly in their cells.

Sheriff Tom glances at his watch and mumbles over to Dep uty Hill, "Get that little skinny nigger up here."

In a moment, Deputy Hill has Billy by the arm and drags him over to Sheriff Tom.

"Where ya want him, Sheriff ?"

"Sit
his ass down in the chair," Sheriff Tom mu mbles
with
out looking up from his desk pad.

Deputy Hill flings Billy into the chair and stands behind him. It is silent. Billy sits hunched over in the back of the
chair,

his feet stick straight out, they cannot reach the floor.

Sheriff Tom does not look up but begins to mumble softl
y
. "What's ya name, boy, what they call
ya?"

"Billy,
Billy Lee," Billy whispers but keeps his eyes down and stares at the floorboards.

"Billy Lee, huh. Your name Billy Lee Turner?" the
sheriff
ask and looks up over his desk at Billy and keeps his eyes on his face.

Billy nods his head
yes
and squirms in the big chair. "Where you live at, Billy Lee?"

"Wit my mama and Aunt Katey." "What ya mama
called?"

"My mama's Cinder
,"
Billy whispers
and
begins to look up.
"How
old
you,
bo
y?"

"Ah tens, but Ah be !even," Billy blu rts out. "When
ya
he
eleven?"

1 18
I Albert Fre11cli

"Ah
be leven
when its be Febueries. Ah
be leven then." Bi ll y begins to look
around.

"What ya
do
yesterday,
boy, what'd
ya
do, huh?" Sheriff
Tom's voice
rises
and
Billy lowers his
eyes
and looks back
down al
t he Aoor.

'·Nothin, Ah ain't
dids nothin. Ah wants ta
go
home."
"You ain't goi n
home, boy, I promise
ya
that," the
sheriff

mumbles,
then tries to grab his words back and starts again
with
his questions.

"Where ya and
Gumpy
go yesterday'?" "We
goes across wheres
the
train
comes."

"What
ya do then, huh? Where
ya go
then?"
"We
ain't dids nothin."

"Did
ya go up to that pond?"

Billy is silent, he lowers his head
so
low that Sheriff Tom
can only see
the top of it.

"You
can
tell
Sheriff
Tom, Billy Lee,
y
ou can
tell
Sheriff
Tom. Come on, boy, tell me what happened. What
ya
do up there? Ya bother anybody?"

"Ah
ain't did nothin. We just
be
theres,
me and Gumpy be
lookin for redbacks. We just
doin
that." Billy rushing his words, his
eyes
have lifted
and
he
quickly looks at
the
sher
iffs face, then
looks down
again but
keeps
his words
goin, "We's
ain't did nothin
.
Theys
come and
tries ta
git
us. The
y
big. Theys
git
me
down and
tries ta beat
me
up. Theys tries
ta
keeps
me
down, but Ah
gi ts
up
,
Ah gits
up."

"W hat ya do
then, Billy Lee?"
the sheriff asks quickly, and glances
up at Deputy Hill.

"She come and tries ta gits me again.
She
tries ta
gits me
down again. She
gonna
tries and beats me up. Then Ah . .
.
"
Billy stops his words
and squirms
in his
chair.

"What
ya
do then, huh?
What ya
do, Billy Lee?"

B I L L Y
I 119

"Ah,
Ah tells her ta leave me be." "Did she leave ya be?"

"She
tries and gits me again, Ah
stuck
her." Billy pout
s.
"You
stick her once, just one time, huh?"

Billy shakes his head
yes,
then begins to
glance
up
at
the wall.

"Where ya stick her at, boy?" the
sheriff
asks quickly.

"She
comes and tries ta gits me."
"Where ya
stick her at?"

"Ah stucks her
where
her titty be.
"

"ls this
your
knife? This
your
knife
here?"
The
s
heriff'
s
voice rises to a harsh whisper, as he takes the knife
off
hi
s
desk and holds it up.

Billy does not look up, but sinks further down in his
chair.
"God damn it, boy, look up here. Look up here
at
thi
s

knife you used to
stab
in that girl
's
heart, damn it, look up here, you hear me?" Sheriff Tom shouts and bangs his
fist
down on the top of his desk.

Billy's eyes fill with tears, he begins to
quiver.

"Look
up here, boy, damn it. This
ain't
no plaything her
e
.

Damn,
ya
done killed a girl. Look up here."

Billy keeps his head down, but flashes his
eyes
up at th
e
knife, then shakes his head
yes.

Sheriff Tom glances
up
at Depu ty Hill
and
mumbles,
"We
got it. Take his ass back down and keep him quiet."

Billy is back in his
cell
now,
and
just
s
i ts
staring at
t h
e
light comi ng through the high wi ndows,
but
the
big whi te
face of the sheriff is
still
in his mind. Th
e
moments
go
slow
and only jump ahead
when
he hears the thumpi ng footste11
s
from above, then he jerks
and
looks
out
through the th i
ck
black bars.

Gumpy
sits
with his hands
s
que
eze
d tigh t l
y
bet w
ee
n hi
s

120 I Albert f'rcucli

legs. He wants to
yell
to Billy, ask h im what they did to him, but he
remains silent
and only
squeezes
bis hands tighter with bis legs.

Sheriff
Tom bas left the office, told Deputy Hill that be
be
back in a
couple
hours, that he's
goin
home to
get some
brea kfast. Deputy Hill
sits
with his
feet
up
on
the
desk
play ing with a pencil
as
Harvey Jakes and Helen Marks
come
in. Deputy Hill smiles and gets to his
feet
for Helen Marks, then looks at Harvey Jakes and
says, "Sheriff
ain't here,
Mis

ter Jakes. Can I help
you with somethin?"

"Well,
I was hoping to talk to the
sheriff,"
Harvey Jakes
says. "I
guess you know we have the
biggest story
in the
state
here now. Folks are
going
to want to
know
how
you caught
them, and what's
going
to happen to them."

"Sheriff
ain't here
now,
Mister Jakes. H
e
ought ta
be
back about
noon. He just
went on
home to
get some breakfast,"
Deputy Hill
says with a smile for
Helen
Marks.

"You
got
them
right downstairs here
?"
Helen
Marks asks
with an
excited
look
on
her
face.

"Yes
ma
'
am, right
downstai rs, got both of
th
em
there."
"
What do they look lik
e,
the
y
mea n-looki n?"

"Nope,
just two little niggers," D
eputy
Hill
says
with a gnn.

"Can I
look
at them, would
you
tak
e
me down?
I wouldn
't
want
to
just
go
b
y
myself, can
yo
u
take me down? Would
th
a
t be all
right?"
Hel
e
n
asks wit h the
bigg
est
smile
s
h
e
ha
s.

Deputy
Hill
is
s
i l
e
nt
for a moment. Ha rvey
Jak
es says
quickly,
"
l
thi nk
it
would
be
all right. I'd like
to
see
th
em
myself,
see what
th
ey
look like
so
I
can describe
them
better
in the paper. Miss Marks is my
assistant.
I think it
should be
all right."