“I assume this young man knows about it?”
“As well as others.”
“If everyone knows, why should it matter to me?”
“Not everyone knows. Me and a few others.”
“Adults?”
“Yes. I told enough people so I’d have backup. I want my family left alone.”
“Your father put you up to this?”
“No. If my father wanted to do something about this, he’d come over and beat you and throw you down the stairs and drag you through the street and set you on fire. He doesn’t know about it.”
Stilwind’s face moved, tried to find an expression, settled on a sneer.
“How do I know you have the original?”
“How do you think I made this copy? Think I’d give you the only copy?”
“How did you come by it?”
“That’s my business.”
“You know the chief?”
“Never met him, never heard of him until recently.”
“He isn’t in on this?”
“No.”
“You want money, of course. Money for your silence.”
“No. I want you to leave my family alone. No made-up safety problems for the police or the fire department to inspect out at our drive-in. No problems from you of any kind.”
“I can’t be responsible for anything you think might be my fault.”
“That’s your problem.”
“You sound awfully grown-up for a kid. Awful mean.”
I did sound grown-up, and I was proud of it.
“I’m not mean. You made a threat to my family. This is a way of keeping things where they belong. The only thing left is your son, James. He better never come within fifty feet of any of my family.”
“And what about this boy?”
“You don’t need to know who he is, but he counts too. You stay away from him.”
“Gladly. Is that all, you little worm?”
“Yes, sir. That’s it. The Worm has spoken.”
———
OUT ON THE STREET, in the hot sunshine, I was ecstatic. What I had done had been Buster’s idea, not mine, of course, but I was proud of myself. I liked the way I had talked, the sound of my voice. Richard was very impressed, and told me so.
“Man, you had him by the short hairs.”
“The short hairs? What’s that mean?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I’ve heard it. You were really good in there.”
“Thanks.”
As we walked past Harriman’s Feed and Seed, Mr. Chapman came out. He was wearing a sweat-stained brown hat and was carrying a large bag of fertilizer. He didn’t see us at first. We froze. He eased down the steps to the curb and dumped the bag into the back of his old rickety black pickup, made it companion to a half dozen other bags there.
When he looked up, he saw us. There was something about his face that I can’t describe. A kind of blankness as far as his features went, but his eyes, they were as dark and nasty-looking as a dying animal’s.
“You,” he said to Richard. “You had a punishment.”
“I ain’t gonna take no more of that,” Richard said.
“Say you ain’t?” Chapman said. “Say you ain’t?”
“No, sir, I ain’t.”
Beside me, I could feel Richard tense.
Chapman glared at me. “And you and your high and mighty daddy, and that little Jezebel of a sister—”
“Shut your mouth,” I said. “I’ll tell Daddy if you lay one hand on me or Richard. And he’ll come to your house and beat you like a dirty rug.”
“He will, will he?” Chapman said.
“He sure did the other day,” I said, “and he wasn’t even trying.”
“I ought to whip your proud butt with my belt,” Chapman said.
“You ain’t gonna whip either our asses,” Richard said. “You laid your last hand on me, old man.”
Chapman glared. “By the Lord Jesus Christ, you ain’t no son of mine. Not no more.”
“I never was,” Richard said.
Chapman cackled like some kind of creature out of a storybook, turned, got in his truck, and drove away.
I peeked over at Richard. His chin was nearly on his chest, his shoulders slumped. He looked as if he were being held up by an invisible noose around his neck.
I took him by the elbow. “Let’s go home.”
22
THAT NIGHT, as Richard lay on his pallet on the floor, I heard him whimpering, and now and then he would sob. Nub, lying beside me, sat up, looked at him.
I rose up and took a look. I called Richard’s name softly, but he didn’t answer.
I pulled Nub close to me and went back to sleep.
———
SUNDAY, Drew came by, asked if Callie could go for a drive. Daddy studied Drew for a moment. He looked very different from Chester. He was neat, with a white sports coat, tan slacks, and a dark shirt and white shoes.
Dad said, “She can go, if you take Stanley and Richard.”
Drew tried not to show it, but his face fell like a cake.
“Daddy,” Callie said, “I don’t want them to go.”
“Be that as it may, I want them to.”
This, of course, was just Daddy’s way of messing with Drew, making sure that Callie and Drew were not alone all the time. It was a losing battle, but one caring fathers all over the world participate in.
Still, this deal had to have our cooperation. “You boys want to go for a ride?” Daddy asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I think I’d like to just stay here and play chess with Richard. I’m going to teach him how.”
“Richard?” Daddy said.
“Yes, sir. I think I’d like to play chess. I mean, a ride would be okay, but I don’t know.”
“Looks like it’s the couch and television,” Daddy said.
Drew knew a bribe was in order. “I’ll treat us all to a sundae at the Dairy Queen. Then we’ll just ride around awhile.”
Richard and I looked at one another. I said, “Sure.”
“I don’t want Callie in too late,” Daddy said. “Tomorrow’s school.”
“Yes, sir,” Drew said. “I thought we might go to the movie downtown.”
Before Daddy could answer, Callie said, “I don’t believe I’ll be going there anymore.”
“Why is that?” Drew asked.
“I’ll tell you sometime,” Callie said. “Just not right now.”
“All right,” Drew said. “We’ll just have a soda and drive around.”
“And you know to respect my daughter, of course?” Daddy said.
“Yes, sir.”
In the car, Callie sat on her side, but when we drove up from the drive-in, made the corner into town, she slid over beside him.
I looked at Richard and we snickered.
Callie looked over the seat at us. “You won’t think it’s so funny when you start dating.”
“I hope that isn’t any time soon,” I said.
“Well,” Callie said, “in your case it may be never.”
We stopped at the soda shop and had sodas. Tim wasn’t working. A fellow with pimples was. I kept thinking one of them might have popped in my malt, and the idea of it sort of put me off the drink.
When we finished, we drove through town a couple of times, then on out to the lake. The sun went down and up came a beautiful night with the moon hanging high. The light of it spilled all over the streets and woods like milk froth.
Callie and Drew were sitting very close now, what Daddy called the two-headed monster when he saw kids in cars pass us sitting close together.
After a while, I said, “You know, at the top of the hill where you live, that old house? They say the old lady comes back there.”
“How’s that?” Drew asked.
“They say Mrs. Stilwind comes back,” I said. “She lost her mind and comes back. Her daughter died in a fire right behind where the drive-in is now. But Mrs. Stilwind saw her ghost in the house on the hill. Guess she comes there hoping to see her again. She leaves the old folks home when she wants and goes there. We could drive over and see if she comes home. There’s a hill behind the house, and some woods. If there’s a road—”