Billy (16 page)

"Mama,
A h just fall i n them
bushes,
them
ones
down by the
Catfish,
them
real sticky
ones," Billy
says
again.

"You
been in town, did
you
get in a
fight
in town? I told
you
not to
go
in town. Were
you
in that town?" Cinder
ask
quickly.

"No,
Mama, Ah ain'ts
go
in the town, Ah
ain't goes
there."

B I L L
y
I
61

"Where
were you, then? Answer me,
where
were
you,
Billy Lee?"

"Lord,
what's goin on outs there?" Katey shouts and runs to the door and peeks out, then jerks the door open and runs out onto the
sittin
porch. Cinder and Billy Lee follow.

"Have mercy, Jesus, have mercy. What's that man that's
Gumpy he got draggin, that's Gumpy he gots." Sheriff Tom is dragging Gumpy down to the Patch Road, and Lucy Mae is cryin and
screamin
behind them.

Cinder stares bu t does not blink. Quickly she grabs Billy's arm and jerks him into the house. Her whispers are hurried, "Billy Lee, look at me. What happened,
what
did
you
and Gumpy do? Answer me, now."

"Some
girl, she beat me up, she chase me, gots me down. She beats me up, she bigger too, she won'ts lets me
go. Ah
stuck her. Ah stuck her for her to lets me
go,
then
Ah
runs." Billy's voice is quivering, tears burst from his
eyes.
"Mama, is the sheriff gits me, huh? Mama, don'ts let him gits me."

Cinder
cringes
and pulls Billy close to her, but quickly looks towards the door. Everything has its
own sound
now: Billy's tears, the pounding beneath her breast, the
squeaks of
the floorboards under her feet, the stillness of the hot
sticky
air, the fly on the window buzzing to
get out,
the fly
on
the screen door buzzing to get in. But it's the
sound
of Katey's screams that
come
crashing into her mind.

"Lord, Jesus, Jesus, he
comin
up here. He throws
Gumpy
in thats car and he's
comin
up here.
Cinder,
Cinder, he'
s
comin up here," Katey
screams.

Cinder firmly grips Billy's
shoulders
anout
from
h
er,
then quick!
y
leans down
and
looks into his
eyes.
She whispers, a piercing whisper that must
get
through his

62 I
Albert
FrN rrh

tears, must gel i nto his mi nd, must get into his hemt, must
get
to hi m as quickly as it leaves her.

''Billy Lee, listen to Mama, and do just as I say. Get out
of
tha t window beh ind Mama's bed, ru n across that field, and
get
in them bushes where the Catfish
tu rn
s.
You
stay
there. Don't
you come out
till you hear me
call,
just me, you hear Mama?"

"Mama,
Sheriff gits me? He comes and gits me too?"
"No,
you hide till night. Mama
come, you
h ide
till
Mama

come
get
you.
Here, take this blanket, and take this to
eat. Now
go, rnn, baby." Cinder has given a blanket, food from the
cookin
table, bu t has not been able to hold him
tight.
She pushes Billy through the window and
shou
ts
behind him,
"Ru n,
Billy Lee, run."

She watches him
start
across the field, then
she
turns and rushes for the door as Katey
comes
running in.

"He's
comin up here
.
He's
comin
for Billy, Ah's knows it, he's
comin
here. Lord help us. Cinder, he's
goin
ta git Billy.
What we's
goin ta do?" Katey's muffled
shouts fill
the room, but
Cin
der is
silent.
She moves through the room
with
the
swiftness of a cal,
her dark
eyes
become dark
e
r, like
burning
wood before it begins to
glow.

"God have mercy,
child,
what
ya doin?
Don't
goes out
there. What
ya
doin,
Cinder? Cinder, oh
Je
s
us," Katey
shouts
as Cinder
swishes
past her.

Sheriff Tom
comes
rumbli ng through the d i rt
ya rd and stomps
up t he porch
steps.
The
shack
door
opens slowly and
Cinder steps out
onto
the porch.

"Ge
t
out my
godda mn
way, where's
that
nigger at?"
"W
hat
do
you want
h
ere?
What do
yo
u wan t?'' Cinder's

eyes
glow
red, she stares
into t he
sheriff's eyes, and
her words hiss through the heal.
"What
do
you
want?''

B J L L
y
I 63

Sheriff Tom pushes her aside and
storms
into the hou
se
yelling,
"Where's that little nigger at? Where's that boy at,
ya
got that Billy Lee in here? Billy Lee. Bill
y
Lee. I know
ya
here."

Katey
comes
run ning
out of the
house and into the dirt
yard.
Patch folks peek
out
their doors and
windows
and flinch at every crashing sound and
yell coming from
Cinder's hous
e.
The sheriff 's face is twisted, his teeth
are gritting,
his
eyes
flash back and forth as he jerks his large head from
side
to side. Everything in the house has
been turned over, sleeping
beds turned upside down and their feather
mattresses
kicked across the room.
Life
magazines are
strewed
over the floor
.

Pictures of people in long evening gowns
,
black tuxedos, big
smiles
on their faces
,
lay
scattered over
the floor.

The sheriff
comes stomping
back
out
onto the
porch,
his lips are pulled back from his tobacco-stained teeth, h
e
spits
out his words. "Where's that boy at,
where's
he at? I
want
that nigger and I want his little knifin
ass
right now. You
his
mama? Answer me."

"Naw
sir, Ah ain't his mama," Katey whimpers up from the
yard.

The
sheriff
turns quickly
and
looks at the
woman who stands
glaring up at him.

"You
his mama, that boy
yours?" Silence.

"A nswer
me when I'm talkin to
you.
You that
boy's
mama?"

Silence.

"Where's
that boy
at?
Ya his mama?
Ya better answer
m
e."
Silence.

"You
that boy's mama?" Th
e
sheriff
lowers hi
s
voice and slowly walks
over Lo
Cinder.

64
I
Albert French

She does not turn from his snarling face, she does not flinch from his flexing muscles. She
can smell
the liquor
on
his breath, smell the
scent
of his sweat, but she is
silent
and only
stares
up into his eyes.

"Where
he at?" The sheriff 's
eyes come
to Cinder's. lt is
silent.

"Goddamn
you, bitch," the sheriff mumbles. His hand
comes
smacking across Cinder's face, knocking it to the
side,
but she jerks it back and
throw
s
her
eyes
back into his. Again his hand
comes
smacking
across
her
face
with the grunt of "Ya snake-eyed bitch."

Cinder is flung from the porch, lands,
and
skids on her
side
in the dirt. She lays with her face
nestled
in the
ground.
Katey screams, prays, pleads,
"God, leave
her
be.
Don
't
hurt that
child,
please, don't hurts her. Good
Lord
Jesus
,

please don't hurt that
child
no
more."

Sheriff Tom
comes to
the
edge of
the
porch, watches
the older woman run to the
side of
the
woman he just
knocked
off
the
porch.
Then he
comes
down
the steps and slowly walks
to where Cinder la
ys,
then
stops and just stares. Cinder pushes
herself up, pushes Katey
away, and
throws
her
eyes
back into
the
sheriff's
face. Her
hair
hangs
over
h
er c
heeks. blood
seeps
from her lip
and nose,
the
skin on her cheekbone is scraped
raw, but
s
h
e s
till
stares.