Billy (32 page)
Patch children went
screaming
to their mamas when they saw Shorty coming up the road. They told their mamas, "Mister Shorty all beats up, gots bloods all on him." Patch mamas got to calling them
children.
Folks inside them
shacks
got to coming out to see what was going on. Shorty wasn't talking to nobody. Folks seeing him from a distance would have thought he was drunk, done had too much of that
stuff
LeRoy got, but him coming the wrong way and not having a smile on his face told folks that staggering walk was a hurtin walk.
Reverend Sims' God said to him, "Go git Big Jake and gits Shorty off that road."
Della Robinson had heard all that fussing and came out
on
her sittin porch. When she saw Reverend
Sims
and Big Jake
141
142 I A/but
Frm1c/1
holrling
Shorty
u p
and all
that blood on
Shorty, she shook
h
er
h
ea
d
and
went on
back
i n the house.
Reverend
Sims and
Big Jake
got Shorty
u p in that
shack of
h is,
and
Big Jake
got Shorty
to talki ng
some. Shorty
told Big Jake
what
Big Jake alread y k new, he told Big Jake,
"Ah wasn't
doin nothi n. They
come
and heals me.
Ah
wasn't doin nothin to nobody." Reverend Sims got to praying Lo his God
and asking
Him for
some
understanding he was needing.
Sho1iy's words
couldn't
get too far before they turned into moans. Big Jake
shook
his head
and
left. Reverend
Sims
got
Shorty
cleaned up and told him, "Ah be back in a bit. Ah bring ya some soup Lo
sip
on."
Patch children sat
on
their sittin porches. Their mama
s
told them, "Ya's
stay
up here, don'ts be
goin
no fmiher." They watched Reverend Sims
come down
from Mister Shorty, then some watched when Reverend Sims
stopped,
looked
over
to the pile of bu rnt
wood
where Gumpy used to live, then they watched him look up to where Bill
y
Lee be livin, then they k new to look away when Reverend
Sims got
to just
shak
ing his head.
A Patch mama
called
out,
"How
he be
doin,
Rev
ere
nd?" Reverend Sims looked her
way
and
sa
id,
"
They beats him bad, but it don't look likes they break
anything.
He be fine
in some
Lime."
Reverend
Sims
kept walking
as
the Patch mamas
followed
him.
"It
ain't
right, Reverend, it
ain't right what
t he
y's
Sims
was
still
looking
around for
that u nder
standing
he had asked his God for.
Big Jake went
on down
LeRoy's,
had
to
get on oul of
Sho11y's shack.
"Whal
ya
say?''
LeRoy
asked.
Big Jake had
sat
down al LeRoy's
counter
and had his head
B I L L Y
/
143
lowered as he said,
"Ah
ain't seen nothin
like
it, the ways theys went on and beats that man."
Quickly LeRoy asked, "What he do up
there?"
Big Jake just kept lookin down in that dirty countertop
of
LeRoy's and
saying, "Ah ain't seen
nothin like it. Shorty looked like somethin the dogs got
at.
Ah had to come
on out
of there."
"What
he do?" LeRoy asked again.
Big Jake said, "Ya know Shorty don't be botherin folks. He up there doin their doings and theys just did him like thats." LeRoy poured a drink and drunk it real fast, then
said, "Folks
ought ta
stay
out of there. Let them white folks
sim
mer down. Next thing
ya
know, theys
git
that hangin on
theys
mind. Git ta wants ta kills them a nigger. Ah knows one thing, it ain't
goin
ta be me. Ah blows the first one's head
off
that
come
back up in here."
Big Jake wasn't saying
anything
for a
while.
LeRoy had poured him a drink, but Big Jake wasn't drinking
either.
LeRoy got quiet too.
Big Jake
sighed
and finally said what he was thinki ng about.
"That Cinder's
boy ain't nothi n but a
child, can't be
twelve yet. Miss Katey
sayin
he ain't but ten."
LeRoy gave a quick laugh, then said,
"That
ain't makin no nevermind ta them. A nigger a nigger.
Shorty
always be down here wit that talk about them good folks up there. He did nothin but
be a
nigger. Ya
sees
what he
gits."
Big Jake kept his head down. LeRoy
was
quiet for
a
wh il
e,
then
said,
"Ah tells
ya, Ah
kills
some of
thems if they t ri
es
and comes back up in here."
Big Jake told LeRoy he was
goin on
home, he'd
see
h im later.
Patch folks was wishing the
sun
would
stay. Some
of th
em
144 I Albert Frenclt
got
to looking both ways, watching the sun going one way and that rlark
coming
the other. Reverend Sims had gone back up to Shorty's and sat
with
him for a while until night came.
B
e
fore he left Shorty, he asked if Shorty wanted that lantern of his on. Shorty
said
no
.
Katey sat with Cinder, but she sat alone with her thoughts. Her face was buried in her hands, her eyes
were
closed to the night. She had put her hands to
the
sky, tried to touch a rea son for days gone by. She had stopped reaching now, the
:;:-ea
son she sought will not
come
to her and she cannot reach any further beyond herself. Cinder will not let her come any closer to her. She had
whispered
to Cinder,
"Child,
ya gots to sleep. Jesus is goin ta bring that boy home," but her words had only faded into the dark.
Cinder was no longer Cinder, only a
soul
seeking death, dying, then being yanked alive by white hands in the night snatching her baby.
Patch dogs lay still, but did not sleep
.
The dirt is still
soft
on Lori's
grave.
Flower petals glisten
with
early-morning dew. First light peeped through the window at Ginger Pasko; she
sat
alone in her emptiness. Days gone by have not left her yet, taunting habits won't
go away.
An inno cent thought is lingering, it leaves a faint
smile on
Ginger's face. Lori is
crying and
tugging at her dress. Ginger
can
pick her up and hold her. Lori's tears will go away.
Red Pasko is awake, he lays
staring
into the early light. He is
thinking
of days he has never spoken of. Days when men
screamed
as they died, the sounds of the guns never
stopped.
He
could hear the
screams
and guns again. His peace and jo
y
are
shattered.
Banes
streets were filling up with
sun
light
and
people.
B I L L
y
I 145
Some folks were getting their morning
coffee
in the Rase
y
Gray and looking at them pictures Harvey Jakes put in
his
newspaper. "Oh, look-there's me."
Carmella
Dean
was
pointing to herself in the picture. Clyde Bruce was pointing and saying, "Ah almost had that
one
there." Other fingers pointed and poked at the pictures of Billy and Gumpy being dragged through the jeering crowd.
Sheriff Tom had not
seen
the paper; he had slept at the jail and now sat waiting for Deputy Hill to come. When the door opened he did not look up, he knew the
sound of
the
foot
steps were Cecil Hill's
.
"Momin, Sheriff."
Sheriff Tom nodded his head.
"
Ya see the paper, Sheriff ?
It
got
a big picture
right
on the
front page. Got ya and me right in there too."
Sheriff Tom shook his head no and mumbled
something
,
that Deputy Hill did not hear.
"Ah got us one."
The sheriff looked up.
"Everybody talkin about it, Sheriff."
Sheriff Tom took the paper and looked at the pi
c
ture,
said
nothing, then gave the paper back to Deputy Hill.
"What
ya think, Sheriff ?"
Sheriff Tom shrugged his shoulders
and
looked away.
Billy slept and played with his dreams,
but
his dreams ran away and hid. He was
awake
and just
staring at
th
e
gray
walls of his
cell.
He had heard the footsteps above
and
cringed with every
sound.
Slowly he
eased
himself to th
e
edge of his cell and
whispered
through th
e
bars.
"Hey, Gumpy, hey, Gumpy,
ya's
be
woke,
huh?"
Gumpy was
sitting
quietly
on
the far
end of
his
cot.
H
e
had wanted to
call
for Billy bu t he
was fea1fol of
h i
s
own
146 I
Albert f're11c/1
sound.
Billy's whisper
came again,
and
Gu mpy slowly
rose from h is
cot and
Liplo
e
cl lo the bars
and whispered,
"Billy,
ya's
woke loo.''
Billy
whispered back, "What's ya
Gumpy stood silentl y,
hut his
eyes
flashed about the
emp
t
y wal k way
in
front of
his
cell.
Billy
called again, "What's
ya
h ain't doin nothin," Gumpy answered.
"Ya
hearim walki n too?" Billy asked.
Gumpy
was
silent,
then whispered quickly,
"Ah
hearim.
They's
comin."
Billy's eyes widened; he
stood silently
until he heard the big clank of the u pper door, then he scooted back to the
cor
ner
of
his cell. Heavy footsteps slowly
descended
the
steps,
then Depu ty Hill's
voice shattered
the
stillness. "Ya all better
be u p
and standin
front and
center
when
A h get
down there."
Billy
stood still
and
Gumpy's eyes fell Lo
the floor.
"Ah
told
ya, ya
better be standin front
and center
when
Ah come down
here," Deputy Hill
shouted
a
s
he reached
the bot
tom
of
the
steps and
did not
see
his two prisoners.
Billy
stood
in the
corner of
his
cell
and lowered his head when Deputy Hill
came and stood
in
front of
his bars.
"Git
over here," Deputy Hill
shouted.
Billy
slowly
looked
up.
Deputy Hill shouted,
"Ya
hear me
comin
down these
steps, Ah
want
ya slandin
right up front here,
where Ah can see ya.
Ya hear me? When
Ah
come down here Ah want ta
see ya.
Now, git over here
right
now."
Billy moved slowly towards
th
e
big man.
Deputy Hill
shouted
again,
"Boy, ya
better learn
how
ta move, now git over here."