Creepers (8 page)

“What about the police?” Evvie argued.

“No police,” Precious replied emphatically, “we can’t call the cops.  And we can’t tell anyone what happened to me, or they might call the police.  Please just take me home tonight, and I promise I will go to the doctor tomorrow.”

“Why not now?” Evvie protested.

“I need to take a shower Mama,” Precious pleaded, “I need to wash them off of me.”

“Them?” her mother thought, “that poor child.”  Finally, Evvie said, “And then to the doctor first thing in the morning?”

“Yes Mama,” Precious replied, “first thing.” 

Precious turned to stare out the window, and Evvie knew the conversation was finished.  She pulled out onto the main road to make a U-turn in her old Chevy Caprice.  Headed back to her house, she kept glancing at her baby girl, curled up in the passenger seat.  She looked so tiny in the big seat of the Caprice that it tugged at Evvie, and her heart sank even deeper.  “Tomorrow,” she thought to herself and shortly after pulled up in front of her house.

Precious sat in the bottom of the shower crying.  She let the warm water pelt her skin and wash away their filth.  The water stung on several of the abrasions as it hit them.  Precious only bit her lip and continued to let the water dance across her body.  After some time, her tears ebbed and the water began to cool.  When it became too cold to take any longer, Precious shut off the water and stood on wobbly legs.  She toweled off and quickly dressed in her night clothes.  All the while, Evvie had maintained a vigil outside the bathroom door.

Eventually, Precious exited the bathroom and headed to her room.  Her mother followed close behind.  Precious climbed into bed and pulled the covers up tight around her face.  She breathed deeply in the comforting scent of the bed linens.  The familiar smell of laundry soap and fabric softener always made Precious happy.  It was home, and it was her Mama.  It was safe.

Evvie tucked Precious into bed and stared at her badly beaten face.  The swelling of the side of her face and around one eye was so bad she looked deformed.  Bruising was already showing, but the gash at her left temple had stopped oozing.  Every time that Evvie tucked in a sheet or moved a blanket Precious would moan in pain.  Evvie could not bear to look at her daughter like this and found she was turning away.  She looked at the wall, a lamp, a window, everywhere but at her daughter’s ruined face.

“Do you know who done this?” Evvie finally asked.

“I think so,” Precious replied, “but I can’t say.”

“Why not child?” Evvie asked.

“They said they would come back and hurt us both,” Precious explained.  “They said if I talked to anyone they would come back and string us up.  Mama, I’m afraid.”

“Do you think they would?” Evvie asked concerned, “Comeback here?”

“Yes,” Precious said flatly.  “And they said it would get worse until Ricky Dixon returned.  Whatever ‘it’ is, I think it has just started.”

“Who was it?” Evvie asked again.

“I think it was Toby and Tom Unger,” Precious finally said.  “But you can’t tell anyone,” she begged, “you can’t tell the police.  Promise me Mama.”

“I promise I won’t go to the police baby,” Evvie comforted her.  “Tomorrow we will go to the hospital and get you checked out.  But tonight you get some rest.”

Precious rolled over in her bed and whispered, “I love you Mama.”

“I love you too baby girl,” Evvie replied.  Evvie stood and walked to the door.  She turned off the light as she left the room, and half closed the door.  Evvie would keep her promise about the police, but she had already decided that she would talk to Reverend Johns in the morning.  With her mind made up, Evvie checked the doors and then headed to her room to try and get some sleep as well.

Evvie knew that sleep would not be easy tonight.  The doors were locked, but windows had to be left open, or the house would become an oven.  Typically, Evvie did not believe in taking a life, but tonight was different.  Someone had hurt her Precious.  Someone would pay; Evvie decided.  Not just if they decided to come to her house either.

In her bedroom, Evvie rifled around in the top of her closet until she found an old shoebox that had been hidden there.  She pulled it from the top shelf and gingerly opened it up.  Inside was an old revolver.  Evvie picked it up cautiously and turned it over in her hands.  She opened up the cylinder and confirmed that it was loaded, then snapped it shut in a singular hand motion.  Evvie pulled the gun to her chest and held it in both hands.

The house and its belongings had been the only things she had left from her mother and father.  In particular, the gun was about the only thing she had left of her father.  The gun itself was from a time that Evvie thought had passed, a time when the Ku Klux Klan had terrorized the community.  It was from a time that her father and mother had only shared with her in stories.  They had seen firsthand what the Klan could do; they had experienced significant loss at their hands.  The Klan had killed Evvie’s grandparents, long before Evvie had even been born.  They had been hanged in the large walnut tree that stood in the front yard, and as a child, her father had been forced to watch.

All her life, Evvie could remember her folks being almost subservient to the white folks.  Mostly they just kept a low profile around town and were never confrontational and even as a child Evvie could remember having to “be careful” at times.  You never looked them in the eye.  You never got in front of them in a line.  You never questioned what they said or did.  It was just how you lived as a black in Lusaoka.  It was also why her daddy had got the gun for protection.

Evvie had thought that time was long gone, but tonight’s ordeal had brought all of those memories crashing back.  She could recall her daddy’s fear, and that soon became her fear.  Evvie looked at the gun again, and then held it back to her bosom.  Her tired, dark eyes welled with tears.  She sat down on her bed, still clutching the gun to her chest.

“Lord forgive me for what I may have to do,” Evvie prayed, “for what I am going to do.”

***

Driving down the nearly deserted main street of Lusaoka, Toby pulled his truck into the parking lot behind the drug store.  There was a large dumpster there, and he needed to dispose of a few things.  Toby pulled up beside the dumpster and had his brother toss a wad of clothes in as they drove by it.  Toby did this at several other businesses as well. 

A baseball bat ended up behind the Tastee Freeze.  An almost empty roll of duct tape was tossed in a bin behind the Food Mart.  Some bits of rope found a home in a can in an alley near the barber shop.  Finally, a white pillow case with eye holes cut in it was thrown in the dumpster next to the Qwik Wash Laundromat.  All of these stops were made without a single word being said.

The drive home had been a silent one for Tom and Toby.  Neither one of them was in the mood for talking.  Toby had been replaying current events in his mind, and Tom was sullen.  Toby parked the truck inside their garage, and both men sat in the front seat for a while.  After an awkward time, both men climbed out of the truck and met up near the rear bumper.  Toby looked inside the bed of the truck to make sure there were no remnants of clothing or anything that could tie them to what they had just done.

Looking in the bed of the truck now, Toby was just checking on the job that Tom had done.  Toby was worried about Tom; his heart just didn’t seem to be in this.  Tom had argued with Toby while they were waiting for that black whore, then he had argued again during her lesson.  It wasn’t like Tom to argue with Toby, not like this anyway.  He wondered then if his brother was becoming a liability. Toby glanced at Tom and saw that he was fiddling with the pillow case he had been wearing.

“Why’d you go and do that?” Tom asked finally.

“Do what exactly?” Toby asked as he grabbed the pillowcase away from his brother.

“You know,” Tom mumbled, “what you done to that girl.  We were just supposed to rough her up.  You said we were just going to teach her a lesson.”

“What WE done,” Toby corrected, “what we done to that girl.  Don’t you forget that, Tom.  We both raped her.”

“I didn’t want to,” Tom protested, “you made me.”

“Yeah,” Toby replied, “but you did it.  That makes you just as guilty as me.  And why are you getting all broken up over some black chick?  She was just an animal that’s all.  They’re all just animals.”

“I didn’t want to rape her,” Tom repeated, “you made me.”

“Listen little brother,” Toby said, “This is a war.  In war, there are casualties.  That bitch was just a casualty.  You knew we were going to have to do stuff.  We needed to teach those blacks a lesson.  And if that wasn’t enough, we may need to do more.”

“I know,” Tom said as he kicked at the ground, “I just wasn’t ready for that.  And what else would we have to do that was worse than that?”  Even as he asked it, Tom was afraid he knew the answer.

“I wasn’t lying when I said we would string her up,” Toby replied flatly.

“I don’t know if I can do this Toby,” Tom said.

“You have to,” Toby said, “you’re in too deep now to back out.  Besides,” he said as he put one arm around his brother’s shoulders, “you’re my brother, and I need you with me.”

Tom looked at Toby with doleful eyes and said, “It’s just; she was so pretty…”

“Damn straight she was pretty,” Toby said with a smile.  “Do you think I would fuck some ugly chick?”  He added, “Man, she was a good fuck.  Best pussy I’ve had in a long time.”

“She was pretty,” Tom repeated.

“Hell,” Toby said, “we may have to go and fuck her again, just for the hell of it.  That was one tight piece of ass too; you could tell she ain’t had no black dick in her.”  Toby laughed at that.

Tom shook his head and said, “I can’t Tom.  Please don’t make me.”

“I wouldn’t little brother,” Toby replied, “I want that little piece of ass all to myself.  But I want you to promise me you’ll be with me on whatever else it is we need to do.”

“I guess,” Tom mumbled.

“What?” Toby barked.

“I guess,” Tom repeated, louder.

“There ain’t no ‘I guess’ about it Tommy,” Toby said, “I need you with me on this.”

“Okay Toby,” Tom said, “I’m with you.”

“And no more arguing?” Toby asked.

“I won’t argue no more,” Tom agreed.  He gave Toby a wan smile then added, “You can count on me.”

“Damn straight,” Toby said with a smile.  He took his arm from around his brother and started walking to the house.  Toby was exhilarated, and he knew it would be some time before he would be able to sleep.  Tonight had been some of the best fun he’d had in a long time.  He thought about the events and smiled again as he walked to the rear of the house.  On the way there, he nonchalantly dropped the pillowcase into a fifty-five gallon drum they used to burn trash.

Tom liked it when Toby was happy with him.  He followed his brother into the house and barely noticed when Toby tossed his mask into the garbage barrel.  He felt a little better about things.  His brother needed him, and that’s what mattered.  Tom wondered then what Yancy might think about it all.  He wondered if Yancy would have had any problem with the lesson they had taught that black girl.  He also wondered if Yancy would be proud of him.

***

Yancy couldn’t sleep.  For a couple of hours, he just lay on his bed staring at the ceiling.  So much had happened since Friday night.  It felt like that was a lifetime ago.  He thought about what had happened with Toby, and it saddened him.  Yes, he wanted to get away from them, but he still considered them friends.  Perhaps some part of him even hoped they would want to get away from this town too.

Yancy was also worried about Tom.  He was such a follower that Toby could easily get him into trouble.  Tom longed for Toby’s approval and would do most anything for him.  Yancy wondered then just how far Toby would go, and how far Tom would follow him.  That thought saddened Yancy too.  He could see Toby dragging Tom down into a mire so thick there would be no way out.  Tom would get lost, or he would lose himself. 

To Yancy it seemed that with Ricky gone, things were worse than they ever had been.  Even so, Yancy was happy that Ricky was gone and hoped he never came back.  Whether Yancy was living in Lusaoka or not, he just felt the world would be a better place without Ricky in it.  No matter what the Ungers did, it couldn’t hold a candle to the evil that was Ricky Dixon.  Thinking about him, Yancy wondered how on earth he could have a sister like Terri.

Terri was a miracle; Yancy decided.  She was everything that Yancy wished he could be, but deep down knew he never would be.  Terri was strong and forceful, yet kind and tender.  She was a loving person and passionate about her beliefs.  Terri was driven and had a strong sense of right and wrong.  Much to the chagrin of her family, Yancy thought.  Terri couldn’t be bullied by her old man.  She was no follower, she was a leader. 

Terri was also beautiful.  Since the seventh grade Yancy had marveled at her beauty, and it had only grown as she had grown.  Her slight frame, dirty blond hair, and aquiline features belied the nature of her strength.  Her eyes were a soft hazel that Yancy found difficult from which to look away.  Whenever Terri caught him staring at her, those eyes would twinkle and she would gift Yancy with a smile.  Yancy had lived for those smiles.  They made him feel like a better person than he was.  Yancy realized then that he would do anything for Terri.  With thoughts of Terri bouncing around his skull, Yancy finally drifted off to sleep.  He was happy.

***

Evvie was also struggling to sleep.  Her mind was racing, and she was reacting to every sound the house made.  Creaks and moans that she had known for decades were now foreboding.  Leaves of the vines clinging to the side of the house ticked and scratched against its side in a gentle breeze.  Evvie had always enjoyed the sound of the leaves, but not tonight.  Tonight it made her think that someone was creeping around outside.

For Evvie, sleep did not come easy this night but it came none the less.  In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Evvie finally drifted off to sleep.  In her hands, she still clutched the gun, but it did little to calm her sleep or her dreams.  For the first time in forever, Evvie dreamed of the stories her daddy had told her.  Evvie dreamed of the lynching of her grandparents.