That Night at the Palace (28 page)

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ELZA, TEXAS

Saturday August 8, 1936

Jesse and Cliff were walking along Main Street behind Cliff’s parents and his little sisters, Rachel and Amy. At the end of Main Street, in the large lot just past the domino hall, the carnival had set up camp. The family could hear the music all the way back to Cliff’s house. Carnivals have sounds that are all their own. There was always music, but there was also the faint echo of a barker calling visitors into the sideshows. And above all else rang out the screams of young girls on the roller coaster and Ferris wheel.

The two boys and Jewel spent all afternoon sitting on a curb across Main Street, watching the workers set up the tents and rides. It seemed impossible that so much could come out of a handful of trucks. Such days were purely magical for three kids in a lazy little farm town where the biggest excitement was Herbert Morehead claiming that he lost a cow to a mountain lion. The whole town had gotten in a stir over that one. The thought of a lion of any kind roaming the woods around Elza had mothers locking their little ones inside for days at a time. Cliff, naturally, hadn’t bought a word of it. Once the story began to circulate, he asked Toad Lowery if he’d ever seen a mountain lion, and sure enough Toad had never seen so much as a mountain lion track. The cow had probably fallen into a creek and couldn’t get out and had gotten eaten up by coyotes or even possibly by a wolf, though that was unlikely because Toad and Hunker hadn’t seen a wolf in those parts since they were boys.

So naturally, with the absence of any entertainment, save an alleged mountain lion, the kids could barely contain themselves as they watched the traveling show emerge from the caravan of brightly painted vehicles. The afternoon seemed like the longest of their lives. Late in the day the colored lights began to glow on the Ferris wheel, and the Merry-Go-Round began to turn to the tempo of a pipe organ. The three kids all had to go to their homes where they were forced to endure their typical routines of chores and dinner as if that was a normal Saturday and not the most magical night of the year.

Jesse, of course, had almost no chores, with the notable exception of taking out the trash. That night he had dinner sitting across the table from Garvis. Murdock had driven all the way over to Natchitoches, Louisiana to handle some business with an oil leaseholder and wasn’t expected back until late. Garvis, of course, had no interest in going to the little traveling carnival and, quite frankly, couldn’t understand why Jesse was so excited about it. Some three or four years before they had taken him to the State Fair in Dallas, which was a far larger and much more entertaining show. The thought of spending a hot summer evening walking around that vacant lot with the foul stench of cow manure emanating from all those dirt farmers disgusted her. But if Jesse insisted on going, she wouldn’t stop him. So after dinner Garvis gave her son two dollars, and Jesse went over to the Tidwells, who were more than happy to have the boy join them.

As they walked along Main Street, Cliff repeatedly looked to his right at Jesse and shook his head in disgust. Jesse, whose normal attire, like Cliff’s, amounted to a white t-shirt and a pair of well worn blue jeans, opted that particular night to put on his Sunday pants and a pressed, button-down, short-sleeved shirt. Worse still he had his hair slicked back like Humphrey Bogart. Cliff, of course, was all too familiar with the reason for Jesse’s sudden concern about personal appearance.

“Why didn’t you put on your suit and tie?” Cliff asked with a hint of laughter.

Jesse ignored his friend, having spotted Cherokee-One-Leg sitting on the tailgate of his old Ford across the street from the domino hall. Jesse elbowed Cliff, who was too fixated on the happenings at the carnival ahead to notice the old black man. The two boys glanced at each other, and then Cliff began crossing the street.

“Mom, we’re goin’ to go talk to Cherokee a minute. We’ll catch up to y’all.”

“You two shouldn’t bother that old man,” Susie Tidwell argued, knowing that there was no stopping Cliff once he had made up his mind to talk to someone.

“It’s okay, mom. He’s our friend,” Cliff assured her as he and Jesse headed across the street.

“It’s really okay, Mrs. Tidwell. Cherokee’s our friend,” Jesse added.

Ned, not saying a word, which was his way, glanced across at the one-legged old man sitting next to a bushel of tomatoes with his peg on the tailgate and the other leg swinging. Ned then nodded his head at Cherokee who nodded in return in what was a mutually respectful way of not only acknowledging one another but also showing that the old Indian fighter welcomed a visit from the two boys.

Susie was watching the boys with concern when her husband took her by the arm and said, “It’s okay. Cherokee doesn’t mind.”

“Hi, Cherokee,” Cliff said as the boys approached the old man.

“There’s a good crowd in town tonight.”

“You think that you’re gonna sell a lot of tomatoes?” Cliff asked, knowing the real reason the old man was in town.

“Most folks in these parts grow their own tomatoes, but I might get rid of a few,” the old man replied.

“You think there’s goin’ to be some trouble tonight?” Jesse asked.

The old man never glanced down at the boy, but instead he had his focus fixed across the street. “Don’t know, but the night’s sure got the potential for it.”

Jesse looked across in the direction Cherokee was looking. Peterson and Anna-Ruth Crawford were walking toward the carnival from the dress shop with their two daughters and a man Jesse didn’t recognize behind them. At the same time, Irwin Stoker pulled his pickup to a stop in front of the domino hall and he, Sarah, and Jewel started climbing out.

Cliff replied jovially, “How could anything go wrong on a night like this, Cherokee?”

Jesse nudged his friend, who looked across at the Crawfords, who were walking toward the Stoker family. As Sarah stepped out of the truck, she looked up at the Crawfords and immediately looked away.

“Is that the Stoker woman?” Cherokee asked.

“Yeah,” Jesse replied.

“She knows those two men, and she doesn’t want her husband to know it.”

“How can you tell that, Cherokee?” Cliff asked.

“She won’t look directly at the men, but both are looking at her.”

Jesse and Cliff watched as Anna-Ruth Crawford went to Sarah Stoker and hugged her. Sarah was obviously uncomfortable and was trying to keep from making eye contact with the men. The two women exchanged some words and then, smiling, Mrs. Crawford rejoined her family and went into the carnival.

“Wow, you’re right,” Jesse added.

As the Crawford family walked into the carnival, Peterson looked back over his shoulder at Sarah. When she glanced in his direction, she again quickly looked away.

Irwin Stoker saw the exchange, and he made some comments that upset her, even though she tried to conceal her emotions. Jewel was standing between her parents, obviously embarrassed by their behavior. She looked at the boys and Cherokee but immediately looked down as if not to notice them.

“Those two fight a lot,” Cherokee observed. “Your friend is accustomed to it, but it still makes her uncomfortable.”

The two boys nodded in agreement but were saddened as well. Jewel was no longer an outsider or a tag-along. The three had become their own little family. When one felt pain, the other two couldn’t help but feel it.

“I know the feeling,” Jesse confessed.

Cliff looked at him with surprise. “Your parents fight?”

“Not in public,” he answered softly and with emotion.

“Did you fight with your wife, Cherokee?” Cliff asked.

The old man looked down at Cliff. “It happened some. Marriage is not easy. But what you just saw was not a normal fight. The husband knows that there is some connection between her and Crawford. What he said to her was for the purpose of hurting her. He’s not interested in knowing why she knows Crawford, and he has no interest in protecting her. Whatever he said was intended to hurt her. He’s not a good husband.” The old warrior paused and then added, “He’s not a good man. That woman is tortured, by Crawford and by her husband.”

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As Jesse and Cliff walked into the carnival they forgot all about Jewel’s parents. They were two young boys filled with excitement from all the sights and sounds. They started the night with a ride on the Tilt-a-Whirl. They actually rode it twice and still had a roller coaster and Ferris wheel to look forward to.

Almost everyone in Elza could be found on the midway. Even Able McCormack was there, though not particularly happy, having had to shut down the Palace for the night. There were even a lot of people from the neighboring towns, with the notable exceptions of the folks from the shantytown and Pleasant Grove.

Jesse, to Cliff’s dismay, had yet to really enjoy himself. He was way too occupied with finding Gemma Crawford, but because of the crowd he’d lost sight of her early on.

As the boys were walking through the midway, Jewel and her parents came off the Ferris wheel. Jewel saw the boys and said to her mother, “I’m gonna go talk to the guys for a minute. I’ll catch up with y’all.”

“Okay, honey,” Sarah replied.

Irwin was still in an obviously unpleasant mood and grumbled as the girl walked away.

“She’ll be fine,” Sarah assured him.

Looking along the games, Jesse spotted Gemma. He then got his first good look at the man with her father. It was then that he recognized that man. He had been with Crawford at the lynching.

“Look,” Jesse said, motioning toward the Crawford family.

Cliff looked down along the games, spotted Gemma, and shrugged. “So what? You’re too chicken to talk to her.”

“Not her. The guy next to her dad.”

“What about him?”

“He was there when they lynched Bucky.”

Cliff looked closely at the man and recognized him. “He was standing with Mr. Crawford, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Jesse said as he watched the two men playing a game, with Gemma, Jettie, and Anna-Ruth behind, watching them.

Just past the games, Cliff spotted Jefferson, looking angry and leaning against a light post while munching from a bag of popcorn. Cliff and Jesse immediately headed his direction.

“What’s the matter, Jefferson?” Cliff asked jovially. “You don’t look like you’re havin’ any fun at all.”

Jewel walked up between the two boys and nudged Jesse with her shoulder.

“This ain’t a lot of fun for me. I gotta stand here all night and keep an eye on the carnies runnin’ the games. I already had to shut down the duck shoot,” the Chief explained.

Jesse, Jewel, and Cliff looked at the row of games. “What’d they do?” Jesse asked.

“Toad and Hunker were over there, and after missing two shots Hunker pulled that Swiss knife out of his pocket and fixed the sights on the rifle they gave ‘im. The next thing you know he was cleanin’ them out. The carnie runnin’ it came close to punchin’ Hunker out and wanted me to arrest him. We settled it by shuttin’ down the game. Other-wise Hunker would have gone home with everything they’ve got.”

As the chief was talking, Jesse spotted the Crawfords at one of the games where Peterson and the other man were tossing baseballs at the milk-bottles. Jewel also saw them.

“Have you caught the girlie show yet?” Cliff asked.

“No. And I better not find out the two of you’ve been in there. I already had to send a couple of Reklaw boys home,” Jefferson told them. “Their parents were none too happy about it neither.”

“Oh, Jefferson,” Cliff replied. “You know we wouldn’t try somethin’ like that.”

The chief glared down at Cliff.

“Well, we wouldn’t try it here. Everybody knows us. If we got seen, somebody would tell my pa and we’d end up hoein’ fields ‘til school starts.”

“Don’t worry, Chief,” Jewel interjected. “If they try to get in that tent, I’ll let you know.”

Cliff glared at her, but Jewel just smiled.

Jesse no longer heard anything of the conversation. His focus was on Gemma as her family.

“Don’t waste your money on the snake man, either,” Jefferson added. I saw him while they were settin’ up. He’s a fellow with no arms or legs.”

“No arms or legs?” Cliff asked. “How’s he get around?”

“When I saw ‘im, he was in a wagon being pulled around by the bearded lady,” Jefferson replied, realizing that he had just encouraged the boys rather than deterred them.

“Did she really have a beard?” Cliff asked excitedly.

Jewel, who was standing between the two boys, noticed Jesse’s attention was on Gemma.

Jewel gave Jesse a shove with her shoulder. “Go,” she whispered.

Jesse just looked at her, and she said, “Go over there and ask her to ride the Ferris-wheel or I’m gonna do it for ya.”

He hesitantly walked over to where Gemma was standing with her parents, all the while glancing over his shoulder at Jewel.

Gemma’s father and the other man had begun to play another game where they tossed little rubber rings onto Dr Pepper and RC Cola bottles. Jesse and Cliff had tried that one earlier in the evening and come to the conclusion that the rings were too little to fit on a soda-pop bottle.

Jesse walked up to Gemma who had her back to him, watching her father play the game. “Hi Gemma.”

She turned to look at him and replied, “Hi,” with almost a hint of a smile.

Jettie giggled, causing Gemma to elbow her in the ribs. If Jesse noticed the exchange between the sisters there was no evidence of it on his face.

“Enjoyin’ the carnival?”

She looked at him and nodded.

“Have you seen the bearded lady?”

Gemma looked at him and shook her head.

“We were just talkin’ about her. Cliff wants to go in there.”

For several moments Jesse just stood there looking around trying to think of something to say. Finally he noticed the Ferris wheel over his shoulder.

“Have you ridden the Ferris wheel yet?”

Gemma shook her head.

“Are you goin’ to?”

Gemma looked directly at him. “Jesse, are you trying to ask me if I want to ride the Ferris wheel with you?”

Jesse’s eyes widened, and he froze at the bluntness of her question. He searched his mind for an answer but could find nothing. Finally he just nodded and uttered, “Uh-huh.”