Billy (7 page)
B I L L Y
I
13
one of them boxes out behind Mister Banner's store. Billy could get that knife out real quick, even
when
he and Gumpy were just playin.
Billy Lee and Gumpy had their own paths, own roads, never took the Patch Road, had thei r own by ways over fences, through tall grass. To the crows'
eyes,
shadowy
dark
bodies zigzagged across open green fields, sometimes runnin and leapin, sometimes barely walkin through the moments
of
their time.
"Hey,
Gumpy, Gumpy-look." Billy
shoutin
and pointin. Gumpy's
eyes
widen, his lips quickly curl
into
a
smile.
Billy still points and yells,
"Ya
see it? See it? Look, Gumpy,
see
it?" Gumpy is smilin now and lookin far beyond Billy's pointin finger, lookin to where the far greens of the field touch the far blues of the sky. He too
sees
the faint puffs of
curly
smoke floatin against the far
sky.
"That's comin real fast," Gumpy is
yelling. "Bet
that's the Memphis Flyer comin, ain't be no old freight."
The crows see them run, field mice hear them comin. They run through thick bushes, splash through the waterlands,
slip
and slide in its mud, but they do not stop or
slow,
just
yell
to one another, "Come on. Come on. This
way.
Ah ain't goin thats way. Come on,
come
on, Gumpy, it's be
comin."
Bushe
s
thicken, Billy scoots through, Gumpy follows, but jerks from
sticky
thorns, and then they are there. The rusty rails
with
the
shiny
tops glisten as far as the
eye can see.
Billy
standin
on the tracks holding his hands over his
eyes
to
shield
the morning sun rays. He's running again, yelling over his
shoul
der, "Come on, Gumpy." Gumpy yells ahead, "Let's
stays
here. We can sees it here." Billy's yells come trailing back, "Come on, Gumpy, let's
sees
it down there. Come
on,
we
cans
git across the trestle, sees it there."
I
'
'
·
I All>ert Fre11cli
Through t he
sweat rol ling
eyes
he
can see
th
e
d istant puffs
of white steamy smoke bellowing and
the
blu rry
rou nd blackn
ess
beneath
its
wiggling. "I t's comin, it's comin. A h sees
it.
See it?"
he
yells back over
his
shoulder.
H is leg
s
are
movi ng
faster and faster. Gumpy
is
yelling, "It's
co
min
faster. Look,
bet i t's
comin
a hundred."
"Up
here,
Gumpy.
Let's git up here,
we
ca
n
sees
it up her
e
good, come
on." Bill
y
darts from the tracks and into the
bushes,
then
climbs
up through the tick
weeds
and
stands on
the top
of
a little grassy hill looking
out over
the murk
y
grays and greenish
blues of the waterland. The
old
brown log trestle
stretching
across
shimmers
in
the sunlight.
Billy
can
hear th
e
train
coming,
the distant sneezing
of
its
engine
teases
the air
.
Billy's
eyes
widen,
Gumpy comes
to his
side with
breath
still
panting, he
yells, "Bet
i t
comin faster
than
a bird can fly.
Bet nothi n
can stop
it,
bets it
be in Memphi
s
fore a
minut
e
."
The old log trestle
begins
to
shake and sway.
The
black round
face of the
engine snorts across
the
trembling
trestl
e.
Billy's
and
Gumpy's
ye
lls become
smothered by the
thund
er
ous
sound of
the
co
ming t rain. All their hearts
can
feel is
th
e
pounding
of
the
world beneath
th
eir
feet.
The big
black-faced engine is passing, a burni ng wind is sizzling
the
air.
Qui
ck
flashes
of
train
men are seen, t heir gray
train
caps on, red and blue handkerchiefs around
th
eir
necks, white r
eddish
faces,
ride throu
gh
m isty
thick
s
team
.
The riding
cars are passi ng, dark reds with
lon
g st
ripe
s
of yellow
l
e
tters
on them
s
tr
ea
k
by with
shaded
white faces
look ing out their
wi ndows, seeing
the
easy flow of the swamp
lands with i ts
satin-sti ll waters, seeing a quick blu r of a grassy
hillside wher
e
two
l ittle nigger
bo
y
s
sta
nd.
The train is
gone but
the
ground sti
II
quivers, the air's still
hot
and
s
teamy from
the fiery
e
ngin
e,
only
its trailin
g smoke
B I L L Y
I
15
can
be seen. Billy and Gumpy
can
hear themselves again, they had to yell as the train sped by, but now they can hear themselves. "Bet it's in town." "Bet it's past town." "Bet it be ta Memphis fore we
can
counts ta ten."
Billy leaping down from the
grassy
mound and into the thick bushes. Gumpy
still stands
on the little
grassy
hill and lazily calls out, "Where's ya goin now? Hey, Billy, where's
ya
goin, huh?" It is quiet on top of the little grassy hill,
the
echoes of the train melted into the silence of the greens and browns and satins of the waterlands. Gumpy waits in the
si
lence, then yells again,
"Where's
ya
goin,
Billy Lee? Where's
ya
goin? Ah stayin here, ain't crossin
that.
Ah ain't goin over that. Ah ain't crossin that train bridge
wit ya."
Billy moves quickly, takes quick steps, but carefully places
each
foot down
on
the railroad ties
of
the tracks. His steps are
swift,
but his
stare
is
steady
and
slow,
he watches
each
step, peers down through the deep browns of the rail ties, sees the mucky waters far below. He stills his quick steps, centers his balance, shouts over his
shoulder,
"Gumpy, come on, let's
go
over. Come on, hurry fore one of them
old
freights be
comin.
Come on, Gumpy. Ya
scared?
Ya
scared of
everything."
Gumpy stands in the stillness, watches Billy get further and further across the trestle, higher and higher above the
swampy
water where the water snakes live. Finally he moves and the tracks
come
before him.
Gumpy's steps slow;
he places his foot
on
the deep-brown rail ties,
sees
the mucky waters beneath,
another
step follows
slowly.
''Come
on,
Gumpy. Hurry up. Come on fore a freight be
comin."
Gump
y
hears Billy's calls,
and
tries to quicken his
steps,
then
slops,
stills his balance, turns
slowly,
looks back. He has not
come
that far, but far enough to feel the quivers in his
chest.
He
16 I Albert Fre11ch
turns again
slowly,
looks afar to where Billy quickly
steps above
the water-snak
e
waters,
then moves
slowly
again. Billy
stops,
turns around
on
the tracks, and
yells
again, "Hurry up, Gumpy. Hurry up fore
a
train come."
Gumpy's
steps
quicken; without looking back, he
c
an
see
the big black face of a freight train
coming,
feel it bearing down on him, see its big iron wheels rolling over him,
cutting
him in hafe. He can
see
hisself falling
into
the waters below,
see
all them water snakes curling, wiggling, then
coming to
get him. He turns his head,
glances
over his
shoulder, sees
the long quiet tracks behind him, but in his mind it's that big black ugly face of the train is
coming,
he turns and quicken
s
his steps.
The crows had flew, the waters had
rippled,
the
water
snakes might have
wiggled,
but time had
stilled for Gumpy.
And then it was alive
again. "Hey,
Billy,
wait
up,
wai t
up
,"
he yells ahead. Billy
slows
his
stride and
the
y
both
walk
side
by
side
along the tra
cks
that are
far b
eyond
the trestle.
The
miles and hours pass
slowly, the moving
s
un
is
high,
making
their
shadows shrink
beneath their
feet. The
tr
ees
along the
tracks have
thickened into forest, the air
i
s coole
r,
and
th
e
songbirds
s
ing,
but
alwa
ys
at a distance.
"Hey, Gumpy, let's
go
down
there."
Billy stills his
walk and points to
th
e shadowy
path that
leads from the
tracks and
into the
shade
of the
tree
s.
Gumpy
watches Billy
dart down
th
e
path,
th
en
he follows. The path curves
th rough th
e
tree
s
,
so
m
e
time
s
Bill
y ca
n
be
seen,
th
en
sometimes
he
vanishes
as
th
e
path twists and turns
throu
gh
th
e
shade
of the tr
ees. "
He
y,
Gumpy, look over
ther
e.
See? See
it?" Gumpy's
eyes widen as
he look
s
through
th
e
tr
ees
and
bushes.
The distan t pondwater
spa
rkle
s
through th
e s
il
e
nt
s
had
e
of
B I L L Y
I
17
the trees. Gumpy shouts, "Ah ain't goin down there, Bill
y
Lee. Ah ain't goin down there. We can'ts go down there, that
's
where them redhead boys be, we can'ts be goin down there
.
They chase us, they's big. Ah ain't goin down there. Ya know
s
what theys do before
,
ya remembers. They almost git us. Theys can beat us up bad if theys git us.
"
Billy sighs, but still looks through the trees and bushes to the quiet waters o
f
the pond. He turns and whispers to Gump
y
, "Theys ain't be down there. Theys ain
'
t goin ta see us. Come on, Gumpy, let
's
go. Ah ain't scared. Ah goes first. Come on wit me." Bill
y
keeps his eyes on Gumpy's eyes, but they don't mo
v
e. Gump
y
just stares at the pond. Billy quickly whispers,
"
Ya scared. Ya be scared of everythings, ya more scared than an old lady be
.
Ya scared all the time of everything."