Billy (4 page)

m
ay be reproduced.
stored
in
or
introduced into

a
r
e
tr
ieval
system,
or transmitted. in any form

o
r b
y
a
ny means
(electronic,
mechanical, pho
t
ocopyi
n
g, recording or
otherwise),
without the

pri
o
r
written per
m
ission of both
tlw
copyr
i
gh
t

o
w
ner and the
alio\
e publisher
of
this boo
k
.

To my mother and father
Martha
and
Harry

to my sisters

Cheryl
and
Stacie

gentle hearts that always sailed to me in my storms

and to my cousin

John

and his wife,
Judy

who always kept their light on

".
. .
through many
dangers, toils
and snares
. . .
"

-
JoH
N
NEWTO
N

"Amazing Grace"
1750?

Thanks to

Sarah
Chalfant

who
always saw
the light
when
I had closed my
eyes.

Barry
and
Myrna Paris

for
your
help in the night.

And then to

Dawn Seferian

who took the dream out
of
the night and pu t it in the
sunlight.

B I L L Y

1

Out there by Til Hatcher's farm,
especially in
them
pickin
fields, it was hot.
If
it ain't rained it
got dusty
too. Them
wag
ons comin back from them pickin fields
be
that
dusty
color,
same color
of that red dirty
road
they be
rollin on. Big
Jak
e
be lookin sorta funny
sometimes,
he
be sittin
high up in th
e
back of that wagon just
a sweatin so much
that road
dust
b
e
turnin to mud as soon
as
it be hittin his
face.
Miss
Cinder be
the
same
way, except
she
be hafe tryin to
get
undress
ed, she
be havin her dress all loose and hafe unbutton
ed
l ik
e
she
tryin to get
some
air on her to
dry
up
some of
that
pick i u
sweat, but she be
gittin
that road dust
stuck on
her
too. Cin
der always thinkin and actin like
she
too
good,
too pr
e
tt
y
to
be out in them fields. She knows folk
s
a looki11
at
her
,
h
er

.l

2
I
Al /Je,.t
French

dress hafe off and all. but she don't care and if
she
does
she
ain't
showin
it.

Most of the time Big Jake be singin, sometimes everybody in the wagon be
singin cep
t
Cinder, pickin time be over, and
that
can
be worth
sing
in
about. Mister Pete
,
he
us
ed
to be the one
singin
all the time,
s
ingin
and
chantin
them pickin song
s.
That's one thing that
old
man could do
was
sing all day,
be singin
more than he be pickin. He was
old,
rememberin
a
lot of things, always talkin about when them Yankee
soldiers come
ridin through. He
said
he
seen em,
he
said
he was down by the Catfish Creek, he
and
his brother
be
down there
,
he
said
he had a brother, he
said
he
seen them soldiers just
a
co
min on them big
brown
horses
wit all that dust a
traili n em. He
say
he ran up
in
them trees
by Missy
Jane's
and
them
so
ldier
s
just
ride on by, ain't paid
him no mind. He's
dead
now,
wasn't nothin
bu t
sk
in
and bone. didn't even
k now
how
old he was, found him
sittin
up ther
e
in that old chair he sit
at, he
was
just as dead as
anything could be.
Big Jake
sorta
be doin the
singin
now. but
he
don·t
sing all
the
time.

Nighttime be hot too.
but different than the days. pickin
tim
e
be
over,
eve
r
ybody
be
s
itt i n
o
ut
s
id
e
. to
o
hot
to
be in:;ide
th
em shacks,
bu
gs
h
e
just
a bitin. Some fol ks
h
e si
lli n.
heari n
all t hat music
com i n from down
LeRo
y's
place,
t hat musi
c
be
just a jumpin.
You be
ove
r
LeRoy's place
you
be
seein
e\
·
ery
thing. Luc
y
Ma
e. s
h
e
be dancin.
s
he
be movi n
h
er
bu tt a ll
u p
in
Shorty. Shorty
lw happy.
just a
smi
lin
and da11ci n
too.
Sweat be
so
thick
on folks
i t
be look in l ike sl ime.
h
e
shini
n
too.