Billy (9 page)

"He ain't nothin
but a skinny
mama's
boy, that's
all he
is,"
Lori yells back.
''He
ain't
cute.
You think he's so
cute,
then you get him,
you can
nurse h im too."
Lori smiles
before
say
ing, "You probably like n ursin him, anyway:' Jenny
starts
fussin. ''Nathan's
just as cute as
Jimmy Tignor. He's just
as cute."
Lori
starts shaking
her head and flinging her hands
at
Jenny. "Jimmy Tignor, Jimmy Tignor,"
she's shouting, "Jimmy
Tignor this,
and
Jimmy Tignor t hat. That's
all you
talk about,
J immy
Tignor, J immy
Tignor.
A i n't
a
boy around here wort horse.
Jimm
y
Tignor
can
kiss my
ass
too."

Jimmy
Tignor
came
and went,
so
did
Nathan
Brad ley
and
talk of
M
emphis,
bu t the
shade
and the
secret
world beneath the big oak tree
stayed.
Lori laid down in the
tall
grass,
while
J
enny
l
ea
ned
back against the fat
oak's
belly. They were both

B I L L
y
I 23

comfortable in their sil
e
nc
e
until Jenny asked,
"
You think David is going to marry Kathy? You think he's asked her yet
?
She probably wants him to."

Lori reached and got another cigarette and lit it, then watched the smoke float up through the tall grass and make its own little clouds above her head. She thinks of her brother David, can see his image
·
coming into the
s
moke, can see his rough ways, his cussin all the time, Mama
y
ellin at him, and that Kathy Weaver with them wimpy wa
y
s always big-e
y
ein him, looking like she's ready to cry all the time. "He ain't marryi n her. She's too ugly for David to be marryin.
"
Lori shouts, then pouts, "She is seventeen already and her boob
s
ain't as big as mine
y
et. She goin to be flat-chested just lik
e
some old bare wall. Besides, David'd drive her crazy. He ain
'
t ready for no wife, especially her. Havin kids lookin lik
e
comic-book pictures. He
'
s just ,
probably. I s
e
e him sneakin out, goin that way, then sneakin back like he ain't been nowhere."

Jenny was a pretty girl. Although a year
y
ounger than Lori
,
she was a little taller, had slender ways about her, had a wa
y
of smiling wi th her eyes as she did when she heard Lori say ing, "Jenny, if I tell you something, you
s
wear not to tell nobody, ever?" Jenny sits up, scoots closer to Lori, and whi
s
pers, "What, Lori?" "You got to swear first. You got to sw
e
a
r
before I tell you," Lori demands. Jenn
y
whispers, "I ain
'
t goin to tell nobody. I won't tell, I promise." Th
e
n sh
e
j
e
rk
s
her head and looks away.

"Lori, Lori," Jenny whispers sharply, tug
s
at Lori's leg, and whispers again, "Lori
,
Lori, look down at the pond. Look, someone coming. Look
,
see?" Lori sits up and brushes th
e
hair from her eyes, then looks down through th
e
tall gra
ss
to where she can see the bluish-gr
ee
n waters of th
e
pond.
S
h
e

24 I Albert French

looks for a moment, then
says
to Jenny,
"Girl,
ain't nobody
over
there."

"Them
niggers." Jenny's whisper almost burst into a
yell, she
poi nts, lowers her
voice,
saying,
"See, see comin
in them
bushes, see em?
See
em
now, see
em?"
Lori's eyes widen, she
can see
the
shadowy colored
heads and
arms
wiggli ng through the green bushes on the other
side
of the pond. She blurts out, "Shit, what they doin down there?," then stills her
self
and watches the dark figures come
into
the clearing of the pond.

"Them
just two little boys," Jenny
says, sighing.
Lori's face tightens, she whispers harshly, "I don't
want
them around here. That's my pond and I don't want
their
nigger asses in it." Jenny smiles and whispers to Lori,
"Ya
want to
c
hase em?" Lori has a bigger
smile on
her face as
she
leans towards Jenny and whispers in her
ear, "Let's sneak
up
and catch
em, you want to do that?
We can sneak around and get in
them trees, then
come in
the bushes behi nd
em,
then
we
can
get
em."

Lori had hunted
with
her
brothers, snuck around and chased
rabbits their way,
followed
them after
coon and fox,
kept up with them too.
She could sit as still as a stone, just
wai ting till that
squirrel'd stick
his head
around
that tre
e
trunk
.
She
tiptoes through the bushes
and
small
trees. From time to time,
she stops and
listens lo the
sounds
coming from
the pond, then
sneaks on.
Jenny
follows, but
not as quiet. "Shish,
shish. You want
to
sca
r
e
em away? Shish,"
Lori
whis
per
s
. The
splashing sounds and
boyish
shouts are
louder now. Lori is
crouched and peering
through
the
bushes. Jenn
y
creeps up behind her.
"What ya gonna
do
with em
when
we ca
t
ch
em?"
she ask.
"
Hush," Lori whispers
over
her
shoul-

B I L L
y
I 25

der, then hisses, "Look at em, look at em. Got their nigger asses in my pond. Just wait till I catch em
."

Billy had darted from the bushes and ran towards the pond
.

"Come on, Gumpy, come on. Ya still scared? Ain't nobod
y's
here, see. What ya scared for? Theys come, theys can'ts catch us. We can runs back the ways we came. Ya chicken, ya still be afraid." Billy yells back to Gumpy, then scampers up to the water's edge. The pondwaters ripple gently, although the
y
seem still, not moving at all in the center. The thick bushes and low-hanging branches of trees reflect their vibrant colors in the still waters.

Gumpy sneaks out of the bushes, takes a few steps, and looks around, then walks slowly up to where Billy stand
s
peering into the water. "Ya see anything in there, see any redbacks?" Gumpy ask at a near whi
s
per
.
"Naw, not
ye
t
,"
Billy shouts, "but Ah bet there be some in there. Ah bet there be some big ones just a layin in there. Theys might be out there in the middles, be out there under them lilies
."
Billy picks up a stick and starts poking into the water. Gumpy lifts his head and lets his eyes roll around the bushes on the far side of the pond.

"What ya doin?" Gumpy blurts out. Bill
y'
s rolling up his pants leg and yells back to Gumpy, "Its ain't deep. See, ya can see the bottom. See, its ain't deep. Ah goin in somes
."
Billy steps into the pond, the mud squishes between his toes, he takes more mushy steps. He pokes his stick into the depths of the pond, watches the muddy bottom of the pond ooze into a murky mist, then yells back over his should
e
r
,
"Hey, Gumpy, come on
.
It ain't deep, se
e,
Ah tells ya, it ain
'
t deep. Come on."

Gumpy wades into the pond, stops and looks arou ne
n

26 I Albert Fre11ch

wades further into the water. His head jerks around, he
shouts
back
over
his
shoulder,
"Billy, Billy, Ah hear somin.
Ya
hear it? Somin
co
min." Billy turns, looks around, then
yells
back to
Gumpy,
"
Ya
ain't
hears nothin. Ain't nothin be there. Ya
still scared."
Gumpy jerks his head around again. Billy jerks too
and yells, "Run, Gumpy,
run, Gumpy."

The waters of the pond splash and surge
,
ripples are thrust into waves. Billy and Gumpy dash through the water.

"Ya
niggers get out of there. Get out
of
there. Ya hear me? God damn
ya,"
Lori
shouts. She'd stalked
like a
cal,
almost
crawled
through the bushes,
but now she
has
sprung,
moves
with
leaps along the
water's edge, yelling,
"
I'm gain lo kick the
shit
out of
ya
all."

Billy's
eyes widen,
jerk
back and forth from
the
redheaded
white faces running at him to the mudd
y
bank of
the far
end
of the pond that he's
racing to.
He must
get
there
before
that
screaming
white
girl;
he runs,
falls
into
the
mucky
water, gets
back up. His feet
slip and slide,
he
falls again,
and
again, but
gets back up. He
can see
the fiery
hai
r
and sneering face coming at
him, reaching
for him.

Jenny follows Lori's leaps and
ye
ll
s,
watches
th
e
two
l ittle niggers
sl
ipping
and splashing frantically
throu
g
h th
e
water,
watches Lori
reaching for the skinny
one
that's jerking away from
her reach
,
then
she
sees Lori
yank
the nigger and pull
him
down
under her
and climb on
hi
s
back while
he
s
till
tries
to
crawl away.

"Ya
littl
e
black-ass
son
of a bitch," Lori
ye
lls
as
s
h
e
rides
Billy back
down
into the mud.

Billy's fa
ce
is shoved
down in the
mud, but
he
is jerking

and squirming like a
ca
tfish
out of water. Sharp
nails dig
and claw
at his back
and arms.
He
jerks
upwards,
but
Lori rid
es

B I L L
y
I
27

him back down to his knees, then crushes him down to the ground.

"Ge
t
that one, get
em,"
Lori yells to Jenny as she pushe
s

Billy further beneath her.

Jenny turns and sees the other nigger rushing for the bank
.
She runs towards him, grabs at his arms.
"Come
mere,
come
mere, ya asshole," she
yells
as
she
reaches for Gumpy.

Gumpy's eyes glare white with fear
,
his arm is being
yanked
at, clawed at. He turns and twists until he is free
.
Jenny yells, "Ya asshole, asshole." Then he is
grabbed
again. Both of Jenny's hands are
pulling
and
yanking
at his arms, jerking him around. He swings around,
smashes
his fist into Jenny's face, then springs into the bushes.

"Lay still. Ya hear me, I said lay
still,
nigger," Lori
shouts
and smacks the back of Billy's neck.
"Shit," she yells
as Billy lunges and squirms beneath her. She climbs higher
on
his back and grabs at his outstretched arms.
"Shit, ya son
of a bitch," she yells again and smashes her butt down
onto
Billy's
skinny back.