Alabama Moon (12 page)

“I saw a sign that said Talladega National Forest. I think it's next.”

“Let's just go there, then. That sounds like a good place.”

“What about the rifle?”

“We can make it without a gun for a while. I can rig just about any kind of trap there is. Weapons, too.”

Hal nodded. “Whatever. You better know what you're talkin' about. I'm sure as hell gonna be pissed about starvin' out in the forest with a bunch of crybabies.”

The headlights of an approaching car came into view, and Hal straightened and gripped the wheel tightly. The car whooshed by and Hal sank back into the seat.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the fastener I'd taken from the Ping-Pong table. “Open that door, Hal. I'm gonna make a knife for us.”

Hal looked over at me and quickly back at the road ahead. “What you doin' now?”

“I can sharpen it on the road.”

Hal shrugged and pulled on the handle that opened the folding doors. “If you fall out it's not my fault,” he said.

I went down the steps and lay on the landing where the road rushed by my face. I looked up and saw Kit watching me nervously. “Gonna need a knife, Kit,” I reassured him.

“Might have been easier takin' one from the kitchen,” Hal said.

“We can make this work.”

“His butt's gonna fall out, Kit.”

“No it's not,” Kit said.

I took the piece of metal and held it to the road. Orange sparks flew as I sharpened the edges and tip. In about five minutes I had a knife that would do to skin an animal. I came back up the steps with my new knife and showed it to Kit. “Here,” I said. “You hold on to this. We'll need it later.”

Kit took the knife like he'd never held one before. He felt the newly sharpened edges and studied it. I turned back to watch the road with Hal.

After an hour passed, the bus grew quiet. Some of the boys had gone to sleep in their seats and others had spread their blanket and pillows on the floor and slept there. I helped Hal watch for signs that told us where Talladega National Forest was. Sometimes I'd look over at Kit, and he'd straighten up and smile at me like he wasn't tired.

Eventually we passed a sign that told us we were entering the National Forest area.

“Where you wanna go from here?” Hal asked.

“Any road that goes into the forest is fine with me,” I said.

Before long we came to a sign for Payne Lake that pointed up a paved road to our left. Hal glanced at me and I told him to take it. I turned around to announce that we were almost there, but everyone was still asleep. I looked down at Kit, and he was rubbing his eyes. “Don't go to sleep, Kit.”

He sat up in his seat and looked out the window.

“Headed to a lake,” I said. “Gonna set out from there.”

Kit nodded, covered his mouth, and yawned.

We drove about a quarter of a mile until we came to a chain across the road. Hanging from the chain was a sign that said
THIS ROAD CLOSED AFTER DARK
.

Hal stopped the bus. “What now?”

“We'll have to walk the rest of the way.”

“I'm tired,” Hal said.

“You can't be tired! We've got food to trap and a shelter to build. We haven't even found a good place to live yet.” I turned to Kit. “You're not tired, are you, Kit?” Kit shook his head. “Kit's not tired.” I faced the back of the bus. “Hey, everybody!” I yelled. “We're here. It's all the forest you can get everywhere around us. Come on!”

Some of the boys moved about on the floor and sat up in their seats. One of the eight-year-olds began to cry. “I'm cold,” he whimpered.

“I wanna go back,” another boy said. “I don't wanna bust out anymore.”

“Yeah, Hal,” one of the older boys said. “Mr. Carter's gonna be all over us for this.”

“But we can live in the forest without the government and get our own food and build our own shelter with nobody to tell us what to do!” I said.

Another boy began to cry, and someone from the back said he was scared. I held up my hands. “I thought everybody wanted to go.”

“Johnny's right,” another one of the older boys said. “We'll get in too much trouble.”

“I'll whip up on anybody that tries to catch us.”

“Let 'em stay if they want,” Hal said. “I don't wanna listen to 'em.”

I looked at Hal and then back at the others. “All right, anybody that wants to go back can stay here on the bus. The law'll prob'ly come for you when it gets daylight in a couple
of hours. Anybody that wants to go with me and Kit and Hal can come. But you can't cry. Hal doesn't like crybabies. We've gotta get goin' because we don't have much time.” I grabbed my blanket, opened the door to the bus, and walked onto the road. When I turned around, Hal and Kit had their blankets and pillows and were following behind me.

“Better leave those pillows,” I said. “Just gonna get hung up on briars.”

“What are we gonna use?”

“We can use our jackets or marsh grass.”

Hal frowned doubtfully and threw his pillow back into the bus. Kit put his back, too.

“Let's go,” I said.

“You sure we're gonna find some food before long?” Hal asked.

I nodded. “We've got some hikin' to do first, but I'll find somethin' for us right after daylight.” I turned to Kit. “You okay?”

Kit nodded.

“I don't know what's wrong with everybody,” I said. “I thought they were ready to go with us.”

“I sure don't have anything to lose,” Hal said. “They're gonna send me to Hellenweiler soon anyway.”

“Hellenweiler's not good,” Kit said. “They tell stories about that place.”

“Well, y'all don't have to worry about Hellenweiler or Pinson or any of those places anymore. Come on.”

 

The waking birds told me that daylight was less than an hour away. Hal and Kit fell behind as I made my way up a small hill that was matted in pine needles. The smell of sap and rotten logs came to my nose like warm soup in the chilly air, and I wanted to lie down and sleep and breathe it. But I knew that getting some distance between us and the bus was the most important thing. Afterwards, I would figure out how to get food.

At the top of the hill I came to a rusted fire tower. I waited until Hal and Kit came tromping up the hill, and then I told them my plan.

“Hal, you think you can get up that tower?”

Hal sat down and shrugged his shoulders.

“Then you climb it while Kit and I go find some food. You can keep watch. I'll bet you can see the bus from up there. But we won't be able to stay here for long because we've still gotta make some more distance.”

Hal yawned. “Let's get some sleep first.”

“We can't sleep yet. We'll have plenty of time to sleep later. The law's gonna be after us soon and we've gotta keep goin'.”

Hal stood up slowly. “All right,” he said. He turned and stared up at the tower. “You crazy?”

“You can do it.”

Hal moaned and spit.

“We'll be back after a while,” I said.

Kit and I continued down the other side of the hill, and we heard Hal panging around on the fire tower behind us. We hadn't gone far when the forest opened up into a hardwood bottom. A short distance beyond that we found a patch of foggy swamp with cattails. I took the knife from Kit, stripped to my underwear, and waded into the icy water. Kit watched me while I cut and gathered cattail roots.

After about thirty minutes I had enough for breakfast. The sun was just showing through the trees, and I zipped back into my uniform and we set out for the fire tower again. When we stood beneath it, I yelled up at Hal. “What do you see up there, Hal?”

There was no answer. “Hal!” After a second, I saw his face peer down at me. “Can you see the bus? What's everybody doin'?” I asked him.

Hal rubbed his eyes and looked out towards the bus and then back at me. “Just sittin' around.”

I started up the tower ladder. As I moved upwards, the forest spread out below me with patches of chilled fog still caught between the small hills. The sun felt good on my back and the fresh air slipped through my teeth.

In a few minutes, I crawled into the tower box with Hal. I could see some of the boys playing in the road and others lying in the grass at the edge of the ditch. “Have you seen the law yet?”

Hal shook his head.

“You've been nappin', haven't you?”

“Maybe. What the hell?”

“That's all right. We got some food.”

Hal's eyes grew wide. “What you got?”

“Cattails.”

“What's that?”

“Come on down and try some. You'll like 'em. Taste like potatoes.”

The three of us sat around the base of the tower and ate the cattail roots as the sun burned off the fog. Hal and Kit agreed the plant tasted better than they thought it would, although not as good as a Pinson breakfast.

“But there's no school today,” I reminded them. “I figure we'll stay and watch that bus for a while. You two can nap while I go back up and keep a lookout. Once I see the law, we can get movin' again. That way, you two'll be rested and can keep up with me.”

“What're we gonna eat for lunch?” Hal asked me.

“We'll take some of these roots with us, and I reckon I can find some yucca plants on the high ground. Maybe some thistle and acorns.”

“What about meat?” Hal asked.

“We don't have time for meat yet. Once we make camp, we can get some meat. It's gonna be tough goin' on you two for a while.”

Hal sat up. “I'm okay,” he said. “Long as you can get us somethin' to eat.”

“Yeah,” Kit said. “We're fine.”

“All right, then. Y'all take a nap and I'll keep an eye out for the law.”

 

I sat in the fire tower and watched the jays complain and dart about the treetops below. I was eye level with two buzzards that glided by occasionally and got so close I could make out their wrinkled faces. From where the bus was, I followed the blacktop road with my eyes, back the way we had come until it joined the main highway.

I reasoned by looking at the sun that it was close to eight o'clock when I saw the green truck turn off the highway and head towards the bus. I watched it move slowly around the curves like whoever was in it was taking his time and looking out into the forest. When it came around the last bend and the bus was about fifty yards in front of it, the truck stopped. The boys lying in the grass stood up and watched it. Some of the others who had been playing in the road began to walk towards it. After a moment, the truck moved again until it was next to the bus. I waited until I saw a man in a brown uniform step out and begin to talk with them before I started down the tower.

On the ground, I shook Hal and Kit awake. “We'd best get goin'. The law's gotten here.”

“Let's sleep a little longer,” Hal said.

“You can't, they're gonna come lookin' for us and we've gotta get far away from here. You ready, Kit?”

Kit nodded. “I'm ready.”

We went down the other side of the hill and circled
around the bottom where Kit and I had gathered the cattail roots earlier. The walking was easy as we strolled beneath giant pine trees that cast so much shade the forest floor lay free of brush. The skies were blue and the day was growing warmer.

After a while, the trees thinned and we came to a thicket. Our blankets were caught and pulled by the briars. I showed them how to stuff them inside their Pinson jackets so that we looked like three fat boys.

We fought and picked through the briar thicket until we came to a clear, gravel-bottom creek. We found a tree that lay all the way over the water, and I began to walk across it.

“Do we still have to be fat?” Kit called to me.

I shook my head. “Just fat in the stickers.”

“Good,” Hal said. “We're hot.”

“Take off your jackets and tie 'em around your waist. You'll have to carry those blankets again.”

We all took off our jackets and tied them. I draped my blanket around my neck and they did the same. Then I held my arms out to keep my balance and moved slowly across the log to the other side. When we were all across, we got on our stomachs and drank from the clear water. Afterwards, we lay back against a giant live oak to rest for a few minutes. I looked at my bright orange uniform and then at their white ones. “We've got to make some new clothes. We stand out like deer tails in these things.”

“Out of animal skins, right?” Kit said.

“That's right.”

“That's when I get my hat?” Kit asked.

“Yep,” I said.

“How much farther?” Hal asked.

I was about to tell Hal I didn't know, when I thought I heard something. I told them to get quiet while I stood up and turned my ear back down our trail. I held my breath and listened. After a second, I heard it again. “Dogs are after us already,” I said.

Kit's eyes grew wide. Both of them jumped up from where they were sitting. “Dogs!” Kit said.

I was still listening. I nodded. “Just one, but he's comin' fast up our trail. He's still a mile or so back.”

“What the hell we gonna do about that?” Hal said.

“I don't know yet.”

Hal started to say something but didn't. A worried look spread across Kit's face. “What's it going to do when it gets to us, Moon?”

“You two don't worry about it. Gimme that knife, Kit. If its tail's not waggin', then I'll fight it.”

“That's crap,” Hal said. “You can't fight a dog off with a crappy old knife. Especially that one.”

“We'll see,” I replied.

“Perfect,” Hal mumbled.

Kit gave me the knife and I started walking ahead. After a few seconds they ran to catch up with me. Pap had always told me that if you get in a fight with an animal, you have to get meaner than you ever thought you could. He said that if you have a knife, it's like a big tooth, and if your tooth is bigger than the animal's, you might have a chance. But I knew that chance was slim and I was scared.