Forrest Gump (29 page)

Mama is bawlin an dawbin at her eyes with a handkerchief an say, “Oh, Forrest, now I done lost my job!”

“Don’t worry none, Mama,” I tole her, “everthin gonna be okay, cause I have got a plan.”

“How you gonna have a plan, Forrest?” she say. “You is a idiot. How is a po idiot gonna have a plan?”

“Jus wait an see,” I says. Anyhow, I am glad to have got off on the right foot my first day home.

We got outta there, an started walkin towards the roomin house where Mama stayin. I had done introduced her to Sue an she say she was pleased that at least I have got
some
kinda friend—even if he is a ape.

Anyhow, Mama an me ate supper at the roomin house an she got Sue a orange from the kitchen, an afterwards, me an Sue went down to the bus station an got the bus to Bayou La Batre, where Bubba’s folks lived. Sure as rain, last thing I saw of Mama she was standin on the porch of the roomin house
wipin her eyes an sobbin as we lef. But I had give her haf the five thousan dollars to sort of tide her over an pay her rent an all till I could get mysef established, so I didn’t feel so bad.

Anyhow, when the bus get to Bayou La Batre we didn’t have no trouble findin Bubba’s place. It’s about eight o’clock at night an I knocked on the door an after a wile an ole feller appears an axed what I want. I tole him who I was an that I knowed Bubba from playin football an from the Army, an he got kinda nervous but he invited me inside. I had tole ole Sue to stay out in the yard an kinda keep outta sight since they probly hasn’t seen nothin look like him down here.

Anyhow, it was Bubba’s daddy, an he got me a glass of iced tea an started axin me a lot of questions. Wanted to know bout Bubba, bout how he got kilt an all, an I tole him the best I could.

Finally, he say, “There’s somethin I been wonderin all these years, Forrest—what do you think Bubba died for?”

“Cause he got shot,” I says, but he say, “No, that ain’t what I mean. What I mean is, why? Why was we over there?”

I thought for a minute, an say, “Well, we was tryin to do the right thing, I guess. We was jus doin what we was tole.”

An he say, “Well, do you think it was worth it? What we did? All them boys gettin kilt that way?”

An I says, “Look, I am jus a idiot, see. But if you want my real opinion, I think it was a bunch of shit.”

Bubba’s daddy nod his head. “That’s what I figgered,” he say.

Anyhow, I tole him why I had come there. Tole him bout me an Bubba’s plan to open up a little srimp bidness, an how I had met the ole gook when I was in the hospital an he showed me how to grow srimp, an he was gettin real interested an axin a lot of questions, when all of a sudden they is a tremendous squawkin set up out in the yard.

“Somethin’s after my chickens!” Bubba’s daddy shout, an
he went an got a gun from behin the door an go out on the porch.

“They is somethin I got to tell you,” I says, an I tole him bout Sue bein there, cept we don’t see hide nor hair of him.

Bubba’s daddy go back in the house an get a flashlight an shine it aroun in the yard. He shine it under a big tree an down at the bottom is a goat—big ole billy goat, standin there pawin the groun. He shine it up in the tree an there is po Sue, settin on a limb, scared haf to death.

“That goat’ll do it ever time,” say Bubba’s daddy. “Git on away from there!” he shout, an he thow a stick at the goat. After the goat was gone, Sue come down from the tree an we let him inside the house.

“What is that thing?” Bubba’s daddy axed.

“He is a orangutang,” I says.

“Looks kinda like a gorilla, don’t he?”

“A little bit,” I says, “but he ain’t.”

Anyway, Bubba’s daddy say we can sleep there that night, an in the mornin, he will go aroun with us an see if we can find some place to start the srimp bidness. They was a nice breeze blowin off the bayou an you coud hear frawgs an crickets an even the soun of a fish jumpin ever once in a wile. It was a nice, peaceful place, an I made up my mind then an there that I was not gonna get into no trouble here.

Nex mornin brite an early we get up an Bubba’s daddy done fixed a big breakfast with homemade sausage an fresh yard eggs an biscuits an molasses, an then he take me an Sue in a little boat an pole us down the Bayou. It is calm an they is a bit of mist on the water. Ever once in a wile a big ole bird would take off outta the marsh.

“Now,” say Bubba’s daddy, “here is where the salt tide comes in,” an he point to a slew that runs up in the marsh. “There’s some pretty big ponds up in there, an if I was gonna do what you plannin to do, that’s where I’d do it.”

He pole us up into the slew. “Now you see there,” he say, “that is a little piece of high groun an you can jus see the roof of a little shack in there.”

“It used to be lived in by ole Tom LeFarge, but he been dead four or five years now. Ain’t nobody own it. You wanted, you could fix it up a little an stay there. Last time I looked, he had a couple of ole rowboats pulled up on the bank. Probly ain’t worth a damn, but you caulk em up, they’d probly float.”

He pole us in further, an say, “Ole Tom used to have some duckboards runnin thru the marsh down to the ponds. Used to fish an shoot ducks in there. You could probly fix em up. It’d be a way of gettin aroun in there.”

Well, let me tell you, it looked ideal. Bubba’s daddy say they get seed srimp up in them slews an bayou’s all the time, an it wouldn’t be no trouble to net a bunch of em to start off the bidness with. Another thing he say is that in his experience, a srimp will eat cottonseed meal, which is good on account of it is cheap.

The main thing we got to do is block off them ponds with mesh nets an get the little cabin fixed up to live in an get some supplies like peanut butter an jelly an bread an all that kind of shit. Then we be ready to start growin our srimp.

So we got started that very day. Bubba’s daddy took me back to the house an we gone into town an begun buyin supplies. He say we can use his boat till we get ours fixed up, an that night me an Sue stayed in the little fishin shack for the first time. It rained some an the roof leaked like crazy, but I didn’t mind. Nex mornin I jus went out an fixed it up.

It took almost a month to get things goin—makin the shack nice an fixin up the rowboats an the duckboards in the marsh an layin the mesh nets aroun one of them ponds. Finally the day come when we is ready to put in some srimp. I have bought a srimp net an me an Sue went on out in the rowboat an dragged it aroun for most of the day. By that night, we
had probly fifty pounds of srimp in the bait well an we rowed up an dumped em into the pond. They be crackin an swimmin aroun an dancin on top of the water. My, my, it was a lovely site.

Nex mornin we got us five hundrit pounds of cottonseed meal an thowed a hundrit pounds of it in the pond for the srimp to eat an the nex afternoon we set about nettin-in another pond. We done that all summer an all fall an all winter an all spring an by that time we has got four ponds operatin an everthin is lookin rosy. At night I would set out on the porch of the shack an play my harmonica an on Saturday night I would go into town an buy a six-pack of beer an me an Sue would get drunk. I finally feel like I belong someplace, an am doin a honest day’s work, an I figger that when we get the first srimp harvested an sold, maybe then it will be all right to try to find Jenny again, an see if she is still mad at me.

It was a very nice day in June when we figgered it was time to start our first srimp harvest. Me an Sue got up with the sun an went down to the pond an dragged a net acrost it till it got stuck on somethin. Sue tried to pull it loose first, then I tried, then we tried together till we finally figgered out the net wadn’t stuck—it was jus so full of srimp we couldn’t move it!

By that evenin we had pulled in about three hundrit pouns of srimp, an we spent the night sortin em out in various sizes. Nex mornin we put the srimp in baskets an took em down to our little rowboat. They weighed so much we damn near tumped over on the way up to Bayou La Batre.

They was a seafood packin house there an Sue an me hauled the srimp from the dock to the weighin room. After everthin is toted up, we got ourselfs a check for eight hundrit, sixty-five dollars! It is about the first honest money I ever made since I played harmonica for The Cracked Eggs.

Ever day for nearly two weeks Sue an me harvested srimp an brought em in to the packin house. When it was finally
over, we had made a total of nine thousand, seven hundrit dollars an twenty-six cents. The srimp bidness was a success!

Well, let me tell you—it were a happy occasion. We took up a bushel basket of srimp to Bubba’s daddy an he was real happy an say he is proud of us an that he wished Bubba were there too. Then me an Sue caught the bus up to Mobile to celebrate. First thing I done was gone to see my mama at the roomin house, an when I tole her about the money an all, sure enough, she be cloudin up again. “Oh, Forrest,” she say, “I am so proud of you—doin so good an all for bein retarded.”

Anyhow, I tole Mama about my plan, which was that nex year we was gonna have three times as many srimp ponds, an that we needed somebody to watch over the money an look after our expenses an all, an I axed if she would do that.

“You mean I gotta move all the way down to Bayou La Batre?” Mama say. “Ain’t nothin goin on down there. What am I gonna do with mysef?”

“Count money,” I says.

After that, me an Sue went downtown an got ourselfs a big meal. I gone down to the docks an bought Sue a big bunch of bananas, an then went an got mysef the biggest steak dinner I could find, with mashed potatoes an green peas an everthin. Then I decided to go drink me a beer someplace an jus as I am walkin by this dark ole saloon near the waterfront, I hear all this loud cussin an shoutin an even after all these years, I knowed that voice. I stuck my head in the door, an sure enough, it were ole Curtis from the University!

Curtis were very happy to see me, callin me a asshole an a cocksucker an a motherfucker an everthin else nice he could think of. As it turns out, Curtis had gone on to play pro football with the Washington Redskins after he lef the University, an then he done got put on waivers after bitin the team owner’s wife on the ass at a party. He played for a couple of other teams for a few years, but after that he got
hissef a job on the docks as a longshoreman which, he say, was suitable for the amount of education he got at the University.

Anyway, Curtis bought me a couple of beers an we talked about ole times. The Snake, he say, had played quarterback for the Green Bay Packers till he got caught drinkin a entire quart of Polish vodka durin halftime in the Minnesota Vikings game. Then Snake went an played for the New Yawk Giants till he called a Statue-of-Liberty play in the third quarter of the Rams game. The Giants’ coach say ain’t nobody used a Statue-of-Liberty play in pro ball since nineteen hundrit thirty-one, an that Snake ain’t got no bidness callin one now. But actually, Curtis say, it wadn’t no Statue-of-Liberty play at all. The truth, accordin to Curtis, was that Snake was so spaced out on dope that when he faded back for a pass he done completely forgot to thow the ball, an the lef end jus happen to see what is goin on, an run aroun behin him an take the ball away. Anyhow, Curtis say the Snake is now assistant coach for a tinymight team someplace in Georgia.