Billy (14 page)

Billy skips off the tracks and comes squeezing into the

bushes shouting, "Gumpy, Gumpy, where's ya at? Ah can
'
t
s
see ya, where's ya at, huh?"

"Over here," Gumpy whispers. "What's ya

"Theys git ya? Theys jump ya?"

"Theys gits me down, but Ah's git up." "Theys come git ya again?"

"Theys can'ts git me
,
Gumpy, they's girl
s
." "Ya gots blood on ya face, they's got
y
a."

"Ah hit em back, Ah hit em good. Ah got em ba
c
k
,
Gumpy."

"They's got ya good, Billy, they's got ya good in the fac
e."
"Ah got them Gump
y
, theys can'ts keep me down."

"They were bigger, they could beat
y
a.
"
"Naw, they ain't, Ah gits up and gits them." "Billy, theys beat ya, ya just ain't sayin so."

"Ah got em, Gumpy. She come gits me agam, Ah stu
c
k her."

"
Ya ain't stuck her, she bigger."

"Did so. Ah stuck her. Ah stuck her in her titty." "She bleed? Ya ain't stuck her."

"She hollered, then she fell down. Ah seen her." "Ya ain't did that
, y
a ain't stuck her none." "Yeah, Ah did, look
.
See? Look at m
y
k nife."

Billy pulls the knife from his pocket and pulls it
s
bl
a
d
e
out, then holds it up for Gumpy to look at.

"See, see? It still got blood stickin on it. S
ee
?
"

50 I Albert
Frenclt

"Ya stick
her? Ya
stick
her deep, huh, Billy? She fall?"
"She come,
tries and gits me again. Ah stuck her fast."
"Where
ya stick her at? She fall down?"

"Ah
tells ya, Ah stuck her titty and gits her ann too."
"She
fall down? She gits back up? She still bein alive?"
"Ah
tells ya she falls down. Ah ain't
tellin
ya no more."
"Ya
kills her?"

"Ah
tells her Ah kills
her,
she come botherin me again."
"She
killed, they's goin
ta
chase us, Billy. Theys
try
and

gits us."

"Ya scared, Gumpy, ya scared. They can'ts find us."
"Ah
bet they's comin ta git us. They comin
ta
git us."

"Theys ain't chasin nobody. Theys ain't comin, Ah watched. Ah ain't seen em. Ya scared."

"Theys go and tells theys mama on us. Ah bets theys did." "Gumpy, theys can'ts find us, they ain't knowin where we's

live."

"They can come ta the Patch, look for us there, tell
our
mamas."

"We can hide. Theys can'ts find us, we can hide good."
"Where's
we goin ta hide?"

"We can
hides down by the Catfish, hides by
that
tree."
"What
tree ya talkin about?"

"That tree,
that big tree be fallin down, where them
big
cats be."

"Theys
find us there, theys
come see
us there."

"Theys
can'ts
see us there, Gumpy,
can't
nobody
see
us there."

"Yeah,
they
can."

"Ya scared. Theys
can'
t
git us, we
can
git on a train,
gits
away."

"Theys
go
too
fast. Ah ain't jumpin no train."

B 1 L L
y
I
51

"Uh
huh. We can jump on one
of
them old
freights.
The
ys
go slow."

Gumpy is silent, he looks away from Bill
y
and lets his
eyes
peek down through the bushes and settle
on
the rusty-colored tracks. He stays quiet, but his
eyes
twitch and look up the tracks as far as he
can see from
his hiding place.

"We's can gits on one of em old freights,
go
ta Chicago,
go
ta Memphis, we can go
everywhere,
just
ya and
me. They's
got
picture shows all over
,
real big buildins,
ya
can look up and
can'ts
see where they
end.
Ah
see em
in my mama
's
lookin books," Billy
shouts,
excitedly, then nudges
at Gumpy's
back for him to tum around. But Gumpy won't look at Billy.

"Ah
wants ta go home," Gumpy whimpers.

Patch dogs were scrawny-lookin dogs, most
of
them
didn't
have enough skin to
cover
their ribs
good.
Not
all of
them had names, some of them didn't belong to nobody, but the
y
hang around just the
same.
Seem to know when to
come
around, sit till somebody throws them
chicken
bones out
,
or
that chicken head. They seemed to know
when somebody was
about to kick at them, get tired
of
having
them and
their fleas hangin around, throw
something
at them, try
and
hit them
,
chase them away. Patch dogs had their
ways
too.
If
th
ere
wasn't nothin to eat, they sleep their da
ys
away, find
some
shade up under
somebody's
sittin porch,
or
them ones
that
didn't belong to nobody would
get
up under them
road bushes
and just lay.

"And
after him was Semma the
son
of
Age of Arari. And
the Philistines were
gathered
together in
a
troop: for
there
was a field full of lentils. And then the people fled
. . . ."
R
ev
erend Sims flinched, lifted his
eyes
from the Second Book
of
Kings, 23:II, when he heard th
e
barking
of
th
e
Pat
c
h do
gs.

52
I
Albert French

He closed his slavin Bible when he
saw
the red dust spiraling above
the
low
trees
and bushes that lined the distant Patch Road. He knew, as the dogs k new, somethin that wasn't belongin around here was
comin.

Patch dogs started runnin down to the road, barkin and
howlin
on their way. Them dogs already down at the roadside was out in the road
,
barkin and growlin. Patch children stopped their play and just stood watchin the road. Porch sittin mamas got up on their feet, moved out to the edge of their porch, stood watchin the road. Reverend Sims'
wife,
Netty, came to the door, then out
onto
the porch.

Sheriff Tom's big black Ford with that
red
dust stuck all on
it
comes rolling down the road with them dogs already chasin it.

"What he doin down here?" the Reverend's
wife
utters.
"Get
in the house, woman." The Reverend
snaps
h is

words, then stands and
comes
to the
edge of the
porch.

The black Ford has
slowed,
the dogs and
some
of the
chil
dren run alongside of it. It stops,
then slowly
moves on again, until it disappears down at the end
of
the Patch Road,
where
the
bushes rise again.

Rever
end
Sims does not move, his
eyes stay on
the
green
thick
bushes where they last
saw
the
dust
y
car.
Patch mamas started callin them
children, each child
s
eem
to have its
own
sound callin for it. The dogs
are
returning to their places
in
the
shade, but the Reverend is
still.
He knows the Patch Road doesn't
go
that
far and
there's
onl
y
one way out of
the Patch by car, and that's the
same
as the
road in.

Shorty just a
smilin and
rockin, that
whiskey
just
a rollin
around
in his
head,
got
his mouth
sayin everything.
Big Jake ain't listenin, sillin over there
sleep
with
his
whiskey. LeRo
y
is just hafe listenin to
Shorty. Shorty sayin
the
same
thing

B I L L
y
I 53

anyway. Della Robinson is down LeRoy's too, she come down, heard Shorty down there with some money in his pocket
,
spendin it early. She ha
s
been tryin to get Shorty out of there
,
get him out back, and get some of that money before he spend it all on hisself. LeRoy knows what she's tryin to do
,
but he don't care, if the money don't come from Shorty's hand now, it will come from hers later.

"Hey, Shorty, baby, what's ya gonna do for Della, huh? Ya got somethin for me? Ya ain't hidin nothin, huh? Ya ain
'
t hidin from me, are ya?" Della is cooing, and the more she does the more Shorty rocks and grins.
"
Come on ta me
,
Shorty baby. Why don't ya come on and goes wit me, Ah let you see some things ya like to look at. Ya like that, ya know ya likes to see some things Ah got for
y
a.
"

Shorty's eyes are dancing in his head. Della keeps cooing and giving Shorty some good long looks. She knows he so drunk now, she can take him out back in the bushes, let him put his face in her breast, show him a nipple, and have what he got left in his pocket. She got him now, got him sniffin right behind her and just about to get through the door when Sheriff Tom come bustin in.

Shorty starts smilin up in the sheriff 's face and slobberin his words. "Afternoon, Sheriff Tom, fine afternoon, Sheriff.
"

Sheriff Tom pushes Shorty out his wa
y
and walks up to th
e
counter.

LeRoy ha
s
stood, leaned over
,
and put his elbows down on the counter, looks at the sh
e
riff, and sa
y
s, "Ah got some bourbon here, ya want a little taste for this here heat?"

"Ya musta know I was comin."

"Figured ya might just stop down here."

"Ya knows why I'm here, then. I take it this little old bo
y
here with that grin all over his face and that rotgut ya
s
old

5./.
I Albert f'rl'll('h

him, told ya about Reel Pasko's li t tle girl. Did
he tells
you about
that?
I'll take
some
bourbon."

Sheriff Tom made a little grunt as
he
stoppetalkin,
took
his hand, and rubbed it across the back of his neck while LeRoy pou red him a drink. Then he turned around and looked at Big Jake
sittin
and noddin, saw Della
stand
ing in
the door way with Shorty, trying to ease him out quietly, but Shorty ain't goin nowhere now, he wants to give Sheriff Tom some more talk. Sheriff turned back to LeRoy, picked his drink up, and, with one quick gulp, the bourbon was down, then he put the glass back down and
said, "Gimme
another one here."

LeRoy poured another drink for the sheriff and poured his
self
one too.

The sheriff took
a sip
and wiped the
back of
his neck again and just stood quietly for a moment. LeRoy tilted his
glass
up, drank his bourbon down, poured hisself another drink, and filled the sheriff 's
glass
back up.

"LeRoy,
I got
somet hin
ugly here
,
real
u gly,"
Sheriff
started talkin real slow, almost mumbling.

"Yeah,
Ah hear, Sheriff. Shorty
comes
down and tells me
somebody
hurts a little
girl,"
LeRoy
says. Sheriff
twist his
thick
neck around and looks
at
Shorty's
smilin
face.

"Yes
sir, Sheriff Tom,
good
afternoon,
Sheriff
Tom."
Shor
ty's words slur as he bounces his
way over
to the
sheriff.

"Yes sir, Sheriff
Tom, Ah hear it first,
yes sir,
Ah hear it down Mister Han uer's
cuttin shop, yes sir,
hear it there. Hear
tha t
l ittle
child gi ts
hurt, ancl hear i t
some of
t h
em
driftin
col
oreds that done it,
yes sir,
that's what
Ah hea rs."
Shorty fin ished talking but kept
smiling
up in the
sheriff 's
face.