Catching Moondrops (7 page)

Well, he was right, I'm sure, like Daddy mostly was. But I wasn't of any mind to keep from trying to convince somebody they were stupid when I got the chance. I'd been that way from the time I could put words together into sentences, and all the years that had passed didn't do much to change that except I'd learned a whole lot more words to use in my arguments. After all, if a man's a fool, I figure he ought to know about it.

Which is why I stood toe-to-toe with Delmar Custis and Sheriff Clancy that Wednesday afternoon, telling them just what I thought about Klansmen and their plans for backhanded dealings in Cole Mundy's barn.

“You ain't the sheriff in these here parts, Jessilyn Lassiter. Seems you still ain't figured that out.”

“I don't need no badge to know evil when I see it.”

Miss Cleta had sent me into town in Mr. Stokes's taxi to fetch some groceries for her, and one of the bags started slipping from my hands. Neither man moved to help me; they just watched me use my hip to bump it back up into my arm.

“Sheriff, I didn't call you over to listen to this man run off at the mouth. I called you over here because he was threatenin' me.”

Delmar huffed and tobacco juices shot out of his mouth. “I ain't done nothin' to this girl.”

“Except step in my way so I couldn't pass.”

He swept his hand to the side like he was putting the whole town on display for me. “This here's a pretty big space for me to take up all by my lonesome. Seems to me I'd be mighty hard-pressed to block your way.”

“The way I see it, if a lady's walkin' down the sidewalk and a man sidles up in front of her and doesn't budge, he's goin' out of his way to be threatenin'. And that's just what you done.”

“Anybody say you got the right-of-way?”

“Most times what we call
manners
says I have the right-of-way, but then what am I thinkin'? I ain't talkin' to someone who was raised on such things. Men who go around beatin' their womenfolk ain't too likely to be chivalrous.”

Delmar drew his hand back like he was planning to whack me with it just like I figured he'd done to his wife a time or ten. I gripped the bags in my arms extra hard like I had some strange notion they would protect me against Delmar's beefy hand, but Sheriff Clancy put his arm in front of Delmar like a barricade.

“Now that's enough of this nonsense,” he said. “Jessilyn, I ain't got no reason to arrest Delmar. We best just let this all go now, you hear?”

“I ain't askin' you to arrest the man, Sheriff. I just figured maybe you could let him know he don't own the sidewalk, so he should let a woman pass if she sees fit to.”

Delmar shook his head with an expression that implied I was the dumbest woman he ever laid eyes on. “You just can't shut your mouth, can you? I'm tellin' you now, girl, you better back off.”

“All right, that's enough.” Sheriff Clancy stepped in between us and gave Delmar a little shove. “Everybody needs to move on and let this lie.”

I had cold food to get back to Miss Cleta's, and for her sake I might have done just what Sheriff Clancy ordered if things hadn't taken the turn they did. I hiked up my bags, gave Delmar Custis one last look that told him I thought he was less than worthless, and turned to walk away.

Sheriff Clancy lit up a cigarette and sauntered back to the jailhouse, but Delmar stood right where he was. “You best keep an eye out for yourself, girl,” I heard him say from behind me. “I don't take too kindly to people talkin' against me.”

I stopped and swung around to look at him, but he only gave me a sordid grin.

“You threatenin' me?” I asked.

“Just a friendly warnin'.” He glanced at the post office, where a group of young men stood around, apparently having nothing better to do than talk nonsense all day. “Bobby Ray!” Delmar called to his son. “You seen Jessilyn here?”

Bobby Ray flicked his cigarette into the bushes and stood up straight. “Hey there, Jessilyn.” His eyes made their way from my head to my shoes in a way that made me feel dirty. “Ain't seen you in a while.”

“Best keep an eye on her,” Delmar said. “Seems she's gettin' on the wrong side of some folks hereabouts.”

Bobby Ray pulled another cigarette from his pocket, lit up, and watched me, squinty-eyed, through the smoke. “Yes'r. Reckon I won't mind keepin' an eye on her at all.”

Being around one Custis was enough for any girl to stomach, but being around two got the butterflies working inside me. Delmar smiled at me and winked, then climbed into his truck and drove off. Bobby Ray still stared at me through that veil of cigarette smoke, and I figured I'd best get back to Mr. Stokes's taxi while I could.

That was until I saw Noah Jarvis coming down the street, his head lowered like he wasn't looking for a bit of trouble but expected it anyway. No doubt he'd seen those boys there on the steps and hoped he'd get by without a problem, but I didn't bet on them keeping their peace. They watched Noah the whole way down the street, whispering to each other like they hoped beyond all hope he was heading their direction.

I made my way to meet up with Noah, but he put his head back down the second he saw me. “Best not come over here, Jessie,” he said loud enough that only I could hear. “They won't like it much.”

“I don't care what they like.”

He looked up at me with an uncharacteristic fire in his eyes. “Maybe you don't, but it ain't you they'll pick a fight with.”

I got his meaning good and quick and stopped right there. A car horn alerted me that I was standing in the middle of the road, and I scurried to the sidewalk, watching Noah but not approaching him, knowing with dismay how right he was. Those boys were just waiting for a reason to light into any colored man no matter how peaceful he may be. But I couldn't just walk away, so I made up some reason in my head why I would need to go into the post office and walked right up the steps, Bobby Ray Custis and all.

When I got three steps up, Bobby Ray tipped his filthy hat at me and eyed me like I was on the menu for supper. “Jessilyn, you're lookin' fine today.”

“I ain't asked for your opinion, Bobby Ray.” He was leaning against a post, his feet out in front so they blocked my path. “You reckon you can get your giant boots out of my way?”

“Not so fast.” He leaned forward and flashed a smile that showed teeth I figured hadn't ever met a toothbrush. “I ain't seen you in a while. You and me, we got some catchin' up to do.”

He reached out to grab my arm, but a hand shot around me to catch his instead. I looked over my shoulder to see Luke standing there with a death grip on Bobby Ray's arm. Bobby Ray's face turned bright purple, like the blood had all been pushed up to his cheeks, and he stopped breathing for a second. When Luke let go of his arm, Bobby Ray sucked in so much air, I wasn't sure there'd be any left for the rest of us.

Luke leaned close enough to Bobby Ray that their hat brims touched. “I reckon you're caught up now.” Then he took my arm and escorted me into the post office.

I looked back at Bobby Ray with pure satisfaction.

“I swear it ain't safe for women to walk around this town in broad daylight no more,” Luke muttered. He took his hat off and whacked at the front as if he needed to clean the stench of Bobby Ray off of it. “Those boys do anythin' to you before I got there?”

“Just bein' ornery, is all.”

“You're all right, then?”

“Sure, I'm all right.” Of course I was. I was perfect. It isn't every day the love of your life comes in and manhandles a lout on your behalf. I set the bags down and tucked my arm through his. “I'm glad you came along, though.”

He looked around the post office. “Well, what'd you need in here? I'll wait for you and walk you back out. I was drivin' by when I saw you, so I can drive you home.”

“I didn't need anythin'. I just came up the steps to distract those boys while Noah walked by. They looked rarin' for a fight, and I didn't want him gettin' picked on for it.”

“Noah?” Luke walked over to the window and peered outside. He smacked his hat against his thigh and then shoved it back onto his head.

“What?” I rushed over next to him to see Malachi's brown face sticking out from a crowd of white ones. “What's he doin' here?”

“He was with me, helpin' me get a load of lumber. No doubt those boys said somethin' to Noah and he just couldn't help himself.”

Heat crept up my neck into my cheeks in two seconds flat. “He's only stickin' up for his brother.”

“Only stickin' up for your brother when you're colored means riskin' your life.” Luke pulled his gun from his waistband and handed it to me. “If there's a scuffle, I don't want to risk one of them boys gettin' hold of it.”

I took it from him reluctantly. “Be careful.”

“I'll be fine.” He flung the door open but turned back to point at me. “You stay here!”

Once upon a time those words would have whooshed past my ears and I would have barged on out as I pleased, but I'd done my momma proud in some ways and learned to take heed of good advice when I heard it.

At least sometimes, anyway.

But today I listened, even though I was a nervous wreck, and I watched the brewing riot from that open post office window as though I were watching the first blows of the Civil War.

Dolly Gooch worked there. I could smell that dead roses perfume of hers as she crept up behind me, peering over my shoulder like I was a fence post or something. I'd known Dolly since we were small, and I didn't much like the idea of being in a bad situation with her and her dramatics.

“You reckon there's somethin' brewin'?” she asked with a quiver in her voice. “I'm in charge here, you know, and I don't want to get in no trouble for somethin' happenin' to the buildin'.”

I dropped my shoulder so her chin slipped off it. “I ain't rightly concerned about any damage to the buildin' just now, Dolly. Lest you can't tell, men's well-bein' is at stake, and I reckon that's a little more important.”

She tried to lay her chin on my shoulder again, but I pulled away and stepped closer to the window.

At first there was so much chatter and shoving and pushing outside that I couldn't make heads nor tails out of any of it, and the chaotic feeling of it all made my nerves so raw I could barely stand still. Malachi was right in the thick of things, his cockeyed, arrogant grin the perfect fuel for the fire, and poor Noah stood at the bottom of the steps wringing his hands and calling for Malachi to let it all alone.

But Malachi and I had one thing in common—stubbornness—and he wasn't about to even think of backing down. I was sure of it.

Bobby Ray let out a shout that got everyone's attention on him and then pushed his way front and center. Luke had wedged in between Bobby Ray and Malachi, but being a good head shorter than Luke, Bobby Ray slipped under his arm like a weasel and stood so close to Malachi, I was surprised he didn't fog up his face. “Boy, you best go on back where you came from before you ain't got legs to carry you there, you hear? You're messin' with the wrong men now.”

“Men,” I muttered. “Can't believe that boy has the audacity to call himself a man.”

Malachi didn't respond to Bobby Ray at first, only grinned that grin that I was sure would be pasted on his face the day he died at a white man's hand, and Bobby Ray gave him a good poke in the chest. “You hear me, boy?”

He'd have to be deaf not to, and Malachi only stood taller on his toes and pumped a fist against his chest like an ape. “You want to see what a real man can do? You just come on and find out.”

Luke grabbed a handful of Bobby Ray's shirt and threw him to the side, then stepped up close to Malachi. “I'm tellin' you now, get back in the truck,” he said through clenched teeth. “You're startin' a fight we can't finish.”

The cocky smile slipped from Malachi's face for the first time. “Who's
we
? I didn't say you had to be involved in this. This ain't your fight.”

“Don't be stupid. I ain't likely to stand by and watch you get the stuffin' beat out of you, now am I?” He nodded toward the street. “You go on and take your brother home. It ain't right for him to be watchin' this.”

Malachi took a look behind him at Noah, giving Bobby Ray the perfect opportunity to lay a punch square in his middle. The blow took the air out of Malachi and bent him at the waist, but it took him only a few seconds to recover enough to come up and land his fist under Bobby Ray's chin.

Dolly screamed in my ear and ran for the telephone. “I'm callin' the sheriff.”

“Yeah, I'm sure he'll be a big help savin' a colored man.”

“Colored man or not, the sheriff's bound by duty to protect this post office, so he'll do it or I'll let my daddy know, and my daddy's good friends with the mayor.”

The way I figured it, Malachi Jarvis had walked himself into the licking he was getting on purpose, and Bobby Ray Custis didn't have enough brains in his head for anyone to notice if he got them beaten out of him. But the second I saw someone's fist take a shot at Luke's jaw, I was fit for battle. Without even waiting to see Luke's reaction, I settled my finger on the trigger of his pistol and threw the front door open. I sounded one shot into the air and then leveled the gun in the direction of Bobby Ray's head.

He flinched, either at the sight of the gun or at the pain in his jaw—I wasn't sure which—and put a hand out as if to steady me. “Now, Jessie, there ain't no need for guns. We're just having a fair fight here.”

“I was in school with you, Bobby Ray, so I know for a fact you at least know how to count to ten. The way I see it, it's six against two, and in my book that ain't no fair fight.” I cocked my head to the side. “Now y'all get on.”