Standing at the Scratch Line (87 page)

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The day Sheriff Dalton came to town, Serena received a letter from her Aunt Ida telling her that her youngest sister, Tini, had gotten married. Most of the letter was about the wedding and how beautiful Tini had looked in her white wedding dress, but the last part of the letter was about her little brother, Amos, and the conflicts he was having with his father. It took Serena several readings before she finished the letter, because a blinding anger rose within her, blurring her aunt’s looping scrawl. Serena’s feelings about Charles Baddeaux were still raw and unresolved. What she felt bordered on hate. From the letter it appeared that her father had returned to his pompous, tyrannical approach in dealing with his children, and Serena read between the lines that her father was in part the reason for Tini’s marriage as well.

It was the last two paragraphs that made Serena decide that she had to go and get her fifteen-year-old brother and rescue him from his father.

    
Rena, girl, you know I don’t put a lot time in thinking bad thoughts, but after your father done horsewhipped Amos for going to see Sally Love one evening after he finished his chores, I was wishing evil would befall the man. Everybody know Amos been sweet on Sally for near two years and Amos is a good boy. He do his chores. He don’t sass. He respectful and polite and knows more Bible than most boys his age. Wasn’t no reason to beat the boy. Nobody in his right mind beat his own family with a whip. I tried to stop him, but your father was too filled with his own self-righteousness to listen. Now Amos done run off and is staying with Reverend Small and his family. He swear he ain’t ever going back to the farm while his father is alive. Your father been to Reverend Small’s twice to get him, but the reverend say no. The reverend is a good man, but his family can’t feed an extra mouth. Even though Amos work hard to help around the Smalls’ place, he can’t carry his weight. If you could see your way to send the Smalls some money, it sure would help things.
    
As for me, now that Della and Tini is married and Amos is gone, I’m going back to my little lonely patch of land in Texas. I can’t stay in this house no longer. I remember when there was laughter here, but your father’s meanness done drove all the good feeling away. If you need me, I’ll always be there for you. Just send a telegram to Taterville, Texas. Everybody knows me there and I’ll come to you,

Your loving Aunt Ida

When Serena finally finished the letter, she exhaled slowly. It didn’t seem fair that people like her father should live while others with good hearts and kindness like her mother should die.

King entered the sitting room and saw Serena’s sad face and the letter in her hands. He sat down opposite her. “Bad news from home?”

“Charles, my father, beat my fifteen-year-old brother with a horsewhip.”

“A horse whip? Sounds like we got to send for the boy,” King observed. “You want me to go get him?”

Serena looked back at King and realized how lucky she was to have him as her partner. When it came to friends or family, he was always there: steady as a rock. There was no question of whether her brother was welcome in his mind. The only question was how the boy was going to get to Bodie Wells.

Ida Hoskins knocked on the door. “Deputy Witherspoon is in the store askin’ for you, King. He say Marshal Boothe need to see you right away.”

“Thanks, Ida,” King said standing up. “He say what this is about?”

“No, sir, just that the marshal need to see you.”

“Tell him I’ll be right there,” King said as he walked over to Serena. “You sure you alright?”

Serena grabbed his hand and held it to her cheek. Tears of gratitude rolled down her face. “I’m alright,” she said. “You’re a good man, King Tremain. You’re a good man. Go on and find out what the marshal wants.”

King nodded and went out the door. When he entered the marshal’s office Mace Edwards, Deputy Cordel Witherspoon, and Octavius Boothe were waiting for him. “What’s this all about?” King asked.

“I got a call from Skip Dalton, the new sheriff of Clairborne,” Octavius said. “He say he got some news for me and the people of Bodie Wells. He say he gon’ stop by here on his way from Atoka.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Mace commented. “Dalton has never had a fondness for colored folk. It’s too bad his undersheriff, Larry Dogget, didn’t run against him. Dogget is a levelheaded man who believes in fair play. We could deal with Dogget a whole lot better than Dalton.”

“Yeah, well life ain’t about who colored folk deal with better, is it?” King asked.

“What could Dalton want to talk about?” Cordell wondered out loud.

“You think maybe Big Daddy could’ve worked somethin’ out with Oklahoma Pacific to build a depot in Clairborne after all?” Octavius asked. “ ’Cause that decision to bypass Clairborne done doomed them and us into bein’ just hick, backwater towns. Without a railroad stop closer’n thirty miles, ain’t no way we gon’ ever be real cities. All because of them damned embezzlers! I tell you one thing, I didn’t feel no pity when them vigilantes broke into the jail and strung Hitchcock up!”

Mace disagreed. “Lynching is wrong no matter who does it or who gets lynched! It certainly isn’t justice! It’s just mob anger being taken out on some helpless fool who may or may not be guilty. We’re lucky they couldn’t find a colored man to blame it on!”

“You’s right,” Octavius affirmed. “It’s just that without a railroad stop, it makes it even easier to steal water from us, ’cause we nobodies. We ain’t even on most maps! That railroad depot would’ve at least put Clairborne on the map.”

“I thought Big Daddy was at the capitol, tryin’ to negotiate somethin’ about water rights.”

The door opened and Skip Dalton walked into the office, followed by one of his deputies. Dalton was a tall, lean man with cold, gray eyes. His flicked around the room. He turned to Octavius and said in a supercilious tone, “I thought I told you to have the town leaders here. Where are the pastors?”

Octavius smiled and said calmly, “All you told me was that you had some news to tell me. You didn’t say nothin’ else.”

Dalton took off his hat and smacked Cordel on the head with it. “Go get the pastors, boy!”

“Stay seated, Cordel!” Mace said as he stood up. “I’m the mayor of Bodie Wells. Say what you have to say and I’ll be sure that your information will get to everyone.”

Dalton laughed and brushed back a lock of gray-streaked hair out of his eyes before he put his hat back on. “I was hopin’ to see you!” he said with a sneer. “Yo’ days of bein’ an uppity nigger are over! Big Daddy ain’t gon’ protect you no mo’! It’s gon’ be a new day for you, nigger, and this whole nigger town! I ain’t forgot that time we came in here with a couple boys just to investigate a crime. My nephew was missin’ and you niggers had the gall to pull guns on us! We was the law and you gon’ stand up to us like you is equal to us! Ain’t a nigger within a hundred miles of Clairborne gon’ do that and live while I’m sheriff!”

“Won’t Mayor Bolton have something to say about that?” Mace asked.

“There ain’t no mo’ Mayor Bolton! He was shot and kilt outside of Oklahoma City two days ago!” Dalton waited for the significance of his words to settle in before he continued. “Truth be told, I was sorry at seein’ him pass. He was a hard man, but a good man, and he was more’n fair with me. ’Course him and me always saw it different on the nigger question. And since he ain’t no longer with us, his opinion don’t count for much no mo’! Get what I mean?”

“You have something to say, say it,” Mace said without emotion.

“The Klan is gon’ be ridin’ through here again! If I hear of one white man shot, I’m gon’ come down on you like Stonewall Jackson on a line of bluecoats!”

Octavius was smiling even more broadly. “Ain’t he one of the generals that lost the war?” Before someone could answer, he continued. “As marshal of an incorporated town I got the duty and responsibility to arrest and apprehend them that violate the laws of this town! Now, I ain’t gon’ be negligent to my duty and my responsibility! Ain’t nobody comin’ through this here town to ride roughshod over folks! Night riders beware! We gon’ fight back!”

“You niggers been spoilt!” Dalton spat. “Ain’t hardly nothin’ worse than a spoilt nigger! Y’all don’t know yo’ place! You gon’ have to learn the hard way!”

“I’m tired of this!” King said, standing up. He walked to the window and looked out. Then he turned and snarled, “If we got to learn, why don’t you teach us somethin’ now? I’d sho’ like to know what you crackers can teach!”

The deputy came over to King to backhand him, but he wasn’t ready for the quickness of King’s reaction. King slammed a fist into the deputy’s stomach, causing the man to lose his breath and tilt forward. King grabbed his opponent by his chin and the back of his head and twisted sharply. There was snap and the man fell forward, banging his head loudly on the wooden floor.

Mace called out, “King, what have you done?”

Dalton was aghast. “Nigger, you just killed a white man in front of me!” He reached to unholster his gun, but he stopped when he heard the hammer being pulled back on Octavius’s service revolver just behind him.

King walked over and disarmed Dalton. He took his gun and checked him for a second gun or weapon. After he was sure that Dalton didn’t have any other weapons, King said, “I really hate that word
nigger
and you used it a lot!”

“Nigger, I’ll say nigger whenever I fe—”

King grabbed Dalton’s throat in a tight grip with his thumb on Dalton’s Adam’s apple and squeezed sharply, then let go.

Dalton staggered backward wheezing and squeaking, grabbing at his throat.

“That’s mo’ like it,” King said with a shake of his head. “You sound like the rat you is now!”

Mace shouted angrily, “Goddamn it, King! You’ve jeopardized the whole town! You’ve let your blood lust put us all in danger! What the hell are you thinking about, man? You’re a goddamn fool!”

“I don’t suffer to be called a fool but once,” King said with an evil smile. “You just used up yo’ one time. You want to come again?”

Mace was astounded. “You’re threatening me? For what I said?”

“Ten times double, jackass rubber! You damn straight, I’m threatenin’ you! A man’s got to mind his tongue!”

“What about his actions?” Mace demanded. “Or doesn’t that matter?”

“Maybe you ought to ask me what I’m doin’ befo’ you let yo’ white blood talk!”

“Whoa! Whoa!” Octavius jumped up. “Is we gon’ start fightin’ ’mongst ourselves? Then the cracker wins no matter what happens!”

The blood had drained from Mace’s face as he looked at King. “I’m not afraid of you and I won’t be intimidated!”

“A man don’t have to be scared to mind his tongue and be careful of what he say,” King said easily.

“Let’s get back to the problem we got in front of us!” Octavius demanded. “What is we gon’ do now?”

“Dalton and his deputy either gon’ disappear, or be found in a car wreck, don’t really matter which,” King answered. “Personally, I’d like to have him disappear, ’cause then I’d take him out to a place I know and find out everythin’ he knows befo’ I kill him!”

Dalton broke for the door, but King hit him on the side of the head, knocking him to the floor. He followed up his attack with a hard kick to the man’s stomach. Dalton gurgled and wheezed on the floor.

“This white man wasn’t plannin’ on givin’ us no chance!” King announced. “Is there somebody in this room who think he was jokin’ when he say he gon’ let the Klan ride on us?” There was no answer. King turned to Mace. “He was probably gon’ kill you and ’Tavius first! Then he’d go down a list! What type of life you think folks in this town gon’ have if he lives? We ain’t got no choice. We got to take him out!” King turned to Mace. “Didn’t you say we could deal with Dogget?”

“We could’ve negotiated with him,” Mace declared. “We don’t know who the next mayor was going to be! He could have been a man like Dogget!”

“Who here think that Dalton, as sheriff, wasn’t gon’ have his way!” King demanded. “Who think this man could be trusted if we negotiated with him?” King turned to Mace again. “You think you could trust this slime?”