A Death On The Wolf (34 page)

“
Frankie swallowed some pills. We need to make him throw up.”

A flash of understanding swept my aunt’s face, though I’m sure she thought I meant Frankie had intentionally taken some pills. She went to the spice cabinet and pulled out the canister of table salt. She grabbed a glass from the dish drainer and filled it half full of salt. She filled the glass the rest of the way with hot water from the tap and stirred it until most of the salt had dissolved. “Where is he?” she asked.

“
In the bathroom,” I said, and motioned for her to follow me.

When we got to the bathroom, Daddy was sitting on the edge of the tub holding Frankie. It was clear my best friend was rapidly drifting out of consciousness. “Make sure he’s awake, Lem, or he’ll choke on this,” Aunt Charity said.

“
What is it?” Daddy asked.

“
It’s hot salt water. It’ll make him vomit, so be ready. But he’s got to be alert before we try to make him drink it.”

“
Frankie!” Daddy said loudly. He shook him and slapped his face a couple of times until he opened his eyes.

“
Don’t hit his nose,” I said.

“
Frankie, tell me my name,” Daddy demanded. He shook Frankie again. “Tell me my name.”

“
Mr. Lem…” Frankie said in a whisper.

“
Good, son,” Daddy said. “I need you to drink this.” Daddy took the glass of thick steaming salt water from my aunt and held it to Frankie’s lips. “Drink it right down.”

Frankie nodded his head and said, “Okay.”

Daddy turned the glass up and Frankie gulped the mixture down until all that was left in the glass was a glob of salt goo in the bottom. Frankie’s face was all twisted up from the foul taste. As soon as Daddy saw him start to gag, he moved Frankie over to the toilet and they just made it before Frankie let go with projectile vomit into the bowl.

Daddy and I left the bathroom with Aunt Charity running a hot bath for Frankie, who was sitting on the toilet lid like a little boy as Aunt Charity pulled his tee shirt off of him. I knew he was really out of it if he was going to sit there and let my aunt undress him and get him in the bathtub.

“
Daddy, we need to call the sheriff,” I said to my father as we walked down the hall.

“
Why?”

“
Let’s go in the living room,” I said and pointed to the doorway off from the hall.

The living room was dark because of the boarded up windows so Daddy switched on the lamp on one of the end tables. My hearing had recovered to the point I could hear the rain beating down on the roof. After Daddy and I sat down on the sofa, in a strangely calm manner, I recited to him what had transpired over the past forty minutes. When I finished, he looked confused.

“
Wait a minute,” he said, scratching his brow, “you shot Peter Bong down at the river?”

“
Yes, Daddy. He tried to kill me. I had to shoot him.”

“
Where did you get a gun?”

“
I had your Colt Detective Special. I’d put it in your old Marine Corps bag…” I realized I still had the bag hanging off my shoulder so I held it up. “I’d put it in the bag when I was over at the house looking for Frankie. I still had the bag with me when I rode down to the river to get him.”

“
And that’s blood all over your shirt?” He pointed to me.

“
Yes, sir.”

“
You’re right. We need to call the sheriff.” Daddy got up and headed to the kitchen and I went to the bathroom to check on Frankie.

I found him in a steaming hot bath full of sudsy foam from Aunt Charity’s perfumed bubble bath. He was more alert now and nearly back to his old self. “Hey,” he said as I sat down on the toilet lid.

“
You feeling better?” I asked.

“
Yeah.”

“
Do you remember what happened?”

“
Yeah. What did you do to Peter Bong? I remember seeing him on the beach.”

“
I shot him. I think I killed him. Daddy’s calling the sheriff right now, so I guess I’m going to jail.”

Frankie’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you have to go to jail? You were saving me. He was gonna kill me.”

“
I was saving me too,” I said. “When I opened the cabin door and he saw me, he came after me with that knife. If I hadn’t shot him he would have killed me.”

“
It’s good you thought to bring a gun with you.”

“
I didn’t. That was providence.”

“
Is that his blood on your shirt?”

I looked down at the front of my tee shirt. “Yes. I’m going and take a shower in Aunt Charity’s bathroom.” I got up and headed for the door.

“
Nels?” Frankie called to me. I turned and looked back at him. “I didn’t let him do anything to me this time.”

“
I know,” I said.

Normally, I could be in and out of the shower in fifteen minutes. My shower that evening took a half-hour. I knew when I got out I’d be facing Sheriff Posey. I’d killed a man and I was not a little surprised at how I was reacting to it. Maybe the shock and remorse were still to come, but so far I had no regrets. The man I killed had done unspeakable things to my best friend and was no doubt intent on killing him this time around. And he would have, without any doubt, killed me there on the beach beside that Black Shadow motorcycle. These were not rationalizing thoughts racing around in my head. These were cold hard facts supporting the justified killing of an evil man.

Aunt Charity’s bedroom was quite large, and she had a big roll-top desk over in one corner. When I came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around me, Daddy was sitting in the desk chair waiting for me.

“
Is Sheriff Posey going to arrest me?” I asked.

“
No…at least not tonight. He’s not even coming out here. He said he’s got bigger problems with this hurricane than dealing with you shooting a pervert who deserved it.”

“
He said that?”

“
That’s pretty much a direct quote.”

“
He’s not even going down to the river to see if he’s dead, or call an ambulance or anything?”

“
I don’t think so.”

I went over and sat down on the edge of my aunt’s bed and ran my hand through my damp hair. Now a tinge of remorse was setting in. If I’d killed Peter Bong, that was one thing. But if I hadn’t, that meant he was lying on that beach suffering. I looked up at my father and said, “What if I didn’t kill him?”

“
I know what you’re thinking, son. Whether you killed him or not, Peter Bong put himself where he is right now. If he’s dead, he’s dead. If he’s on that beach bleeding to death, then so be it. He’s got no one to blame but himself. If we didn’t have this hurricane about to hit us, I’m sure Joe would be heading down there right now with medics. It’s his choice not to and you don’t have any control over that.”

“
I know, but…”

Daddy got up from the chair and walked over to me. He motioned for me to stand up and when I did he embraced me. As soon as I felt his strong arms around me, I began to cry. I put my arms around him and squeezed as hard as I could. All the emotion that I’d managed to keep at bay, from the moment I saw Peter Bong’s motorcycle there on the beach until just now, came welling up as I sobbed into Daddy’s shoulder.

Aunt Charity went all out for dinner, even after having cooked a full meal for lunch. She’d fixed a pot roast with potatoes, carrots, and onions, and a big pot of string beans. When we sat down to eat in her dining room, it was a little after six o’clock and the wind was now blowing hard enough that we could hear it in the trees outside.

“
How hard do you think it’s blowing?” I said as I carved my first bite of roast from the slab on my plate.

“
Forty miles an hour, at least,” Daddy replied. I could see from his expression he didn’t want to talk about the storm, probably to keep from scaring my sister.

Sachet was still eyeing me warily. I had hurt her feelings deeply when I yelled at her earlier. As aggravating as she could be at times, I had never raised my voice in anger to my sister and that’s why my words had cut her to the quick. After my cry in Daddy’s arms earlier, I’d done my best to make amends with her, but my sister, even at the tender age of five and half, was a master at nursing a grudge.

Mary Alice was her usual composed self, calmly sitting there eating her dinner as the wind and rain raged outside. I had yet to tell her the full story of what had happened with Frankie down at the river. She just knew he wasn’t feeling well and had been sick to his stomach.

Frankie looked pale and I could tell he was forcing himself to eat, largely at Aunt Charity’s urging. She’d said he needed food in his system to help counteract what was left of those pills he’d been forced to swallow. Taking one last bite of roast, Frankie looked at Aunt Charity and said, “I’d really like to go lay down.”

My aunt excused herself and got up from the table. “Come on Francis,” she said, “let’s get you to bed.” Aunt Charity’s house had four bedrooms, so Frankie and I would be sharing one of her guest rooms, the one that had two twin beds. Daddy and Sachet would be in the one that had a full-size bed. Mary Alice had been using the other room, which had a single twin bed, all summer.

After dinner, I went out to the garage to check on Bear. He didn’t like being cooped up, but at least he had room to move around since Aunt Charity’s Cadillac was in the back yard with all our other vehicles—except the Honda, which was sitting over by the door with a big puddle of water under it, still dripping from the ride home in the rain. So far there were no puddles on the floor from Bear. I refilled his water bowl and put a couple of scoops of dog food in his food bowl, which he commenced to devouring. I walked over and looked out the narrow rectangular windows in the garage door. The rain was coming down so hard I could barely see all the way to the road and the wind was whipping it around in sheets. There were a few limbs down in the front yard, but so far things didn’t look too bad.

— — —

BULLETIN 7 PM CDT SUNDAY AUGUST 17, 1969

…CAMILLE…EXTREMELY DANGEROUS…CENTER SKIRTED MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER…TAKES AIM ON THE MISSISSIPPI ALABAMA COAST…

HURRICANE WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT FROM NEW ORLEANS AND GRAND ISLE LOUISIANA EASTWARD ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI…ALABAMA…AND NORTH WEST FLORIDA COAST TO APALACHICOLA. GALE WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT FROM MORGAN CITY TO GRAND ISLE. PREPARATIONS AGAINST THIS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE SHOULD BE COMPLETE IMMEDIATELY.

WINDS ARE INCREASING AND TIDES ARE RISING ALONG THE NORTHERN GULF COAST FROM GRAND ISLE EASTWARD. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ARE NOW OCCURRING AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. GALES IN SQUALLS ARE SPREADING INLAND OVER THE WARNING AREA AND WINDS WILL REACH HURRICANE FORCE OVER MUCH OF THE AREA FROM SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA ACROSS COASTAL MISSISSIPPI…COASTAL ALABAMA…AND INTO EXTREME NORTHWEST FLORIDA EARLY TONIGHT. THE FOLLOWING TIDES ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT AS CAMILLE MOVES INLAND…MISSISSIPPI COAST GULFPORT TO PASCAGOULA 15 TO 20 FEET…PASCAGOULA TO MOBILE 10 TO 15 FEET…EAST OF MOBILE TO PENSACOLA 6 TO 10 FEET. ELSEWHERE IN THE AREA OF HURRICANE WARNING EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 5 TO 8 FEET. IMMEDIATE EVACUATION OF AREAS THAT WILL BE AFFECTED BY THESE TIDES IS URGED.

THE CENTER OF CAMILLE IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INLAND ON THE MISSISSIPPI COAST NEAR GULFPORT EARLY TONIGHT.

SEVERAL TORNADOES ARE LIKELY OVER EXTREME SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA EASTWARD TO FORT WALTON FLORIDA AND UP TO 100 MILES INLAND THROUGH TONIGHT.

HEAVY RAINS WITH LOCAL AMOUNTS 8 TO 10 INCHES WILL SPREAD INTO SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI…SOUTHWEST ALABAMA…AND THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE TONIGHT. AND FLOOD STATEMENTS NEEDED WILL BE ISSUED BY THE LOCAL WEATHER BUREAU OFFICES.

ALL INTERESTS ALONG THE NORTHEASTERN GULF COAST ARE URGED TO LISTEN FOR LATER RELEASES AND CONTINUE ALL NECESSARY HURRICANE PRECAUTIONS.

AT 7 PM CDT…THE CENTER OF HURRICANE CAMILLE WAS LOCATED BY NEW ORLEANS AND OTHER LAND BASED RADARS NEAR LATITUDE 29.5 NORTH…LONGITUDE 89.1 WEST…OR ABOUT 70 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF NEW ORLEANS AND 60 MILES SOUTH OF GULFPORT MISSISSIPPI. CAMILLE WAS MOVING NORTH NORTHWEST ABOUT 15 MPH.

HIGHEST WINDS ARE ESTIMATED 190 MPH NEAR THE CENTER. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD 60 MILES AND GALES EXTEND OUTWARD 180 MILES FROM THE CENTER. THE AIR FORCE RECON FLIGHT INTO CAMILLE THIS AFTERNOON REPORTED A CENTRAL PRESSURE OF 26.61 INCHES.

WIND GUSTING TO NEAR 80 MPH AT BOOTHVILLE AND TO NEAR 60 MPH AT NEW ORLEANS WEATHER BUREAU OFFICE AT 6 PM.

REPEATING THE 7PM POSITION…29.5 NORTH…89.1 WEST.

THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NEW ORLEANS WEATHER BUREAU AT 11 PM AND A BULLETIN AT 9 PM CDT.