In Memory of Junior (23 page)

“Well, of course after Mr. and Mrs. Bales died, first it looked like Glenn's boys and Miss Laura's daughter would
get the farm because it was only normal with that joint ownership thing, and without a will it would go straight to the children. And of all things, nobody thought to look at the deed. Nobody had give that a thought, and then when they were about to split everything up, there it was. The
deed.
Where Glenn's papa had said in some kind of something clause that if any of his children were alive when Glenn died, then that land would have to be sold straight to the oldest for one dollar, and so on down the line till the last one. It just shocked everybody. Nobody had seen it, tucked away in the deed.

“Well, Glenn had two sisters left, Bette and Ansie. Bette's the oldest, and she managed to shake up a dollar, and they both moved right in—her and Ansie—cause it's bigger and nicer than both those little houses over on Tully Drive where they were living, and now there they are, doing just fine.

“Of course you probably know they've put in for Gloria for when you . . . get to feeling better, Miss Ivy. I'm glad you've got her for now, though. Gloria was so good about everything when Glenn and Evelyn died.”

“Laura, not Evelyn,” says Harold.

“That's right. I got so I can't remember nothing, Miss Ivy. I guess I had Evelyn on my mind, leaving that baby that was still at her breast like she did. I wish I knew what she had, but I guess some things will have to just remain a mystery. I guess we ought to be thankful for mysteries. But it is hard to believe somebody would leave a baby that was at her very breast.

“You know my little brother, Fred, was so long breastfeeding that my mama finally told him that if he'd just stop, for gracious sakes, she'd let him start smoking.

“Harold, where are you going? Get that little box of . . . get that little pretty we brought Miss Ivy out of the truck. We forgot.

“That Harold is a something. By the way, Miss Ivy, would you be interested in buying a bird?”

Published by
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Post Office Box 2225
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225
a division of
Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
225 Varick Street
New York, New York 10014

© 1992 by Clyde Edgerton. All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary
perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names,
characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's
imagination or are used fictitiously. No reference to any real person
is intended or should be inferred.

Thanks to O. Vic Miller, Phil Schlechty, W. C. Martin, Betty Foster,
Clyde Yancey, and Harriett Purves.

Parts of this book originally appeared in slightly different form in
Frank, North Carolina Humanities,
and
Southern Exposure.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for a previous edition of this work.

E-book ISBN 978-1-61620-211-8

Also by CLYDE EDGERTON

Raney
Walking Across Egypt
The Floatplane Notebooks
Killer Diller
Redeye
Where Trouble Sleeps
Lunch at the Piccadilly
Solo: My Adventures in the Air