Chapter 5. The Calm (Part 2)
I'm not sure how many are following this, but I'll post some more for those who are. Some feedback would be nice! For the record, I would like to get rid of the email requirement with the comment box, but I can't seem to figure out how. Actually, I never even see the email addresses because your comment is unmonitored and goes straight online. Anyway, ask questions, make suggestions, do something to let me know that you're alive. As usual, if you want to go to the last entry, click Chapter 5. The Calm. If you want to start at the beginning, click
Chapter 1. How Things Came to Be
It was dark now and we could see headlights every now and then through the trees up ahead. I figured it must be about nine o’clock and I was pretty sure Mama and Daddy would be some kinda mad about me not showing up yet. We kept walking and came up on the main road at the bridge over Gunner’s creek. The Phillips 66 was just across the it about a hundred feet inside the city limits. Luckily I had a dime in my pocket so we went to the pay phone and I called the house. Daddy answered the phone, which was completely unexpected.
“Where are you boy? Why didn’t Johnny bring you home?”
“Oh, me and Woody had something to do and we, uh, we’re at the Phillips 66. Can you come get us?”
“Yeah, I can come get you. I don’t understand why you didn’t just get Johnny to bring you home.”
“Okay, thanks. We’ll see you in a little bit.” I hung up the phone and looked at Woody. “You know I’ve got to come up with something good to explain why we’re here, don’t you?”
“Tell him we went to look at Billy Jenkins’ new litter of fiest puppies.”
“Has Billy Jenkins got a litter of puppies for real?”
“Yep, he called me the other day and told me I could buy one if I wanted it. Me and Daddy been lookin’ to get a squirrel dog.”
“Sounds believable. Let’s just hope nobody talks to Billy before we can go look at his dogs.”
We moved back into the shadows beside the building so nobody would see us. We sat down on a couple of milk crates and Woody was feeling around in his back pocket for his pack of cigarettes.
“Dad gum cigarettes is smashed flat. Coy, Jr. loan me thirty cents so I can get a fresh pack.”
“I ain’t got thirty cents. I spent my last dime on that phone call. Besides you don’t need to be going inside where someone can see you. With our luck, Fiveacre or Hannon will show up just as you walked into the light. But I tell you what, I’m so hungry right now, if I had some money I might risk it to get a pack of nabs or something.”
“Now see, if I had a pistol, we could waltz right in there and get anything we wanted and not worry about Hannon or no Fiveacre.” Woody started laughing as he lit a flat, broken cigarette while holding it together.
“Woody, if you had a pistol we could get them to bring us something out here.” We sat there about ten or fifteen more minutes before Daddy finally showed up. When he pulled in, we stood in the dark waiting for him to come over, but he must not of seen us. He stopped by the pumps, got out and started putting some gas in the truck. He was looking around, apparently for us when he saw us standing over by the building.
“You boys come get in this truck. What’s the matter with you standing over there like a couple of idiots.”
We ran over and jumped into the truck. Both of us slumped down in the seat so that nobody could see us.
“I’m gonna go pay...what are you doing? What have y’all done?” Daddy was extremely suspicious of our bad posture.
“We ain’t done nothing. Let’s go, we’re tired,” I hoped I didn’t sound too demanding, but I was never good at lying to Daddy. He walked off and went inside for what seemed an eternity. I looked up and he was leaning against the counter talking to Melvin inside.
“Geez, what is he doing!” This was no time for Daddy to be shooting the breeze.
“Duck! It’s a cop car!” Woody banged his head against the door as he hunkered down. I kept my head up enough to see it was a city cop and not a sheriff’s car.
“False alarm! It’s a Rainer cop, not a Sheriff’s deputy,” I informed Woody.
“Why are you boys hiding?” Daddy had slipped up on us from behind.
“Y’all done something you shouldn’t have done?”
“Naw, naw, naw...we’re just tired! Been paintin’ all day...wears on your back.” Woody was thinking fast for a change.
“Yeah, I was considering getting in the back of the truck and laying down,” I added.
“You look like you’re hiding from somebody.”
“Let’s just get home. I’m about to starve to death.”
“Well, your Mama ain’t home yet.”
“Where’d she go?” I was a little surprised because Mama is usually home by dark no matter what.
“She and Mama Pope had some business to tend to. They been gone all day I reckon.”
“Well what are we supposed to do for food?”
“Root hog or die,” Daddy didn’t sound too enthusiastic about it himself. I figured we’d probably end up eating sandwiches again.
I was lying in the bed thinking about how horrible my life had been going the past few months. Except for a couple of bright spots when we found out we had a good case against Hannon and when Ilene asked me out, not much else made life worth living. I guess the only thing that kept me going was the old saying about it being darkest before the dawn, and my life was like a cave. The only way it could get any darker was if somebody gouged my eyes out. Unfortunately, I knew of several people that would volunteer to do it.
The next morning I got up and went out to meet Johnny at our usual time. I intended to quit so that I wouldn’t end up getting killed. I hated to leave him with no help, but I didn’t want to go out to the gin and risk those hoodlums coming back. Woody didn’t show up and neither did Johnny. I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to Johnny. I went back inside and had a cup of the coffee Mama had just made. I wasn’t really hungry, so all I ate was a stale donut.
“What were you and Mama Pope doing yesterday?”
“We had some business to tend to.”
“See the lawyer?”
“Don’t you mind what we were doing, why aren’t you going to work?”
“Johnny didn’t show up.”
“Probably laid up drunk somewhere. You didn’t think he was dependable, did you?”
“I don’t understand why you hate Johnny so much. He is as nice as anybody has ever been to me. He has never once been rude or said an unkind word.”
“Drunks are all the same...the only goal they have in life is to be high as a kite.”
“Well, I like Johnny and that’s about enough talk of his being a drunk.” Mama looked at me like she was about to explode. She walked over to me and stood there staring at me.
“What did you say to me?” She was standing right over me as I pushed my chair away from the table.
“Mama, Johnny is a nice guy and I don’t like you calling him a drunk.” I stood up and stepped to the other side of my chair. Mama reached over and grabbed a handful of my hair with her left hand and started slapping my face with her right. I backed up and she hung on tight. She must have slapped me a dozen times before I got away from her.
“What are you doing?” I leaned against the sink, rubbing my burning face.
“I’m sick of your smart mouth! You think you run the show around here, but you don’t. Do you hear me? You don’t run this house!”
“Why’d you do that?” I headed toward the back door.
“If you ever want to amount to anything, you better start listening to what I say, mister!”
I looked at her one more time and stepped out the door. I had no idea why she was so upset with me. I thought the Johnny Cooper issue had been straightened out last week, but apparently not. My mouth had gotten me into trouble most of my life and mostly with Mama. It’s ironic, seeing how I inherited it from her and those hot headed Popes.
As I walked toward Woody’s house, my eye was really starting to ache. Mama must have poked her finger in it when she was slapping me. I saw Woody out along the fence row behind their house smoking a cigarette and eating blackberries.
“Dad gum it Coy, Jr., what in tarnation happened to your eye?”
“Mama slapped me.”
“I’ll say she did! Whew-ee that is gonna be ugly.”
“It feels like she stuck her fingernail in it.”
“It’s red as fire and your cheek looks like your gonna have a heck of a shiner. It’s already purple. What did she hit you for?”
“I guess I was sassing her.”
“Coy, Jr. don’t you know by now your Mama is a mean little woman? Don’t get me wrong, she’s my aunt and all, but heck fire man...SHE’S MEAN! You don’t talk back to her!”
“You know Woody, normally I’d get mad and yell at you for saying that, but I think you’re right. She is mean. And she flew off the handle this morning for absolutely nothing.”
“Well, I don’t know if it was for nothing or not...”
“What do you mean? I didn’t say anything bad enough for her to hit me like this.”
“What I’m saying is that maybe she’s in a bad mood about something else.”
“We’ve all got a lot on our minds these days, now don’t we?”
“Yeah, but I heard Mama and Daddy talking last night and she said that your Mama and Mama Pope had gone and bought a truck yesterday.”
“Do what?”
“They went and bought a truck. I figure it must be for running moonshine like Hannon told Mama Pope to do the other day.”
“Aw naw...he must have been back over there since the wreck.”
“I got to thinking that might be why them fellers was after us yesterday. You know if Mama Pope went and told Hannon what we done, he’ll be gunnin’ for us.”
“You don’t really think she’d tell him do you?”
“Did you see how she acted when he hit her? She froze up like an ol’ possum. Yeah, I think she’d tell him.”
“Yeah, she’d tell him.” I had to agree. For some reason, I kind of think Mama Pope might do whatever was necessary to save her skin. Even at the cost of her family.
“Coy, Jr., that eye’s lookin’ mighty bad. You need to go put some ice on it. It looks like it’s gonna swell shut.”
“It’s burning like wild fire. She must have scratched my eyeball or something.”
“Let’s go in the house and get you some ice.”
“Think it’s okay if I stay over here today? I don’t think Johnny is gonna be showing up and I know I don’t want to go home.”
“Sure. You can spend the night if you want. If you go home, your Mama might poke out your good eye!”
We went into the house and Aunt Ida was watching The Price is Right, so she didn’t even know we existed. I got some ice out of the freezer, wrapped it in a dish rag and put it on my eye. Walking back to Woody’s room, I stepped into the bathroom and took a look in the mirror. It looked like I had been snake bit on the face. My cheek was all puffed up and turning black and my eye was open just about a quarter inch. I went on back to Woody’s room and we spent the rest of the morning sitting around and discussing how bad we had it these days.
About lunch time the phone rang and Aunt Ida answered it. We slipped out into the hall and stood by the kitchen door listening to one side of the conversation. It was hard to tell what was going on, but somebody was in the hospital and somebody was going to Okaluka. A few minutes later we heard her say my Mama’s name so we figured she must be talking to her. Then she said “Honey you know you don’t need to be doing this...Coy will skin you alive if he finds out...Be careful...okay, bye-bye.”
Woody and I looked at each other and Aunt Ida came busting through the door where we were standing. “LORD GOD! You scared me to death! What in the world are you boys doing in here. I thought y’all were working. Oh baby what have you done to your eye.”
“I, oh...uh...,” my mind went blank. “
He stepped on a hoe and it popped him in the eye...just like the Three Stooges,” Woody volunteered as I stood there looking at Aunt Ida with my one good eye. “
A hoe? It sure is looking bad. You better go let your Mama take care of that for you.”
“Aw, he’s alright. He’s pretty tough for a weenie,” Woody laughed as he headed back to his room. I followed like a puppy, not saying a word, just faking a laugh like I was amused.
It was hot in Woody’s room and it smelled like dirty feet. I raked some clothes out of a chair and into the floor so that I could sit down. Woody lay on his back across the bed, propping himself up on his elbows.
“Wonder what happened to Johnny?” I asked.
“He might still be laid out in the driveway at the gin.”
“Wonder if we ought to go and check on him?”
“Coy, Jr., how do you think we’re gonna get there? Walk?”
“I ain’t walking, I was just wondering if he was okay.”
“Has he got a phone at his place?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know where his place is.”
“I think he lives out by Harold Gilmore.”
“Way out there? I thought he lived in town.”
“Well his Mama lives out there, but she ain’t a Cooper no more. Let me ask Mama what her name is...maybe we can call her and find out something. HEY, MAMA! ... MAMA! WHAT’S JOHNNY COOPER’S MAMA’S NAME?” Woody looked up at the ceiling as he waited for an answer. At my house I’d be getting a good talking to for yelling out at my mama.
“CHRISTINE!”
“NAW...I MEAN HER LAST NAME!”
“WHITEHEAD! WHY?” Aunt Ida yelled back at Woody from the kitchen.
“JUST ASKING! Coy, Jr. there’s a phone book on the floor beside you...look up her number and we’ll call her.”
“I’m not calling her! What if he’s dead or something?”
“He ain’t dead. They didn’t hit him but one lick.”
I looked up the number. There was only one Whitehead listed so I gave the book to Woody and pointed to it. We went to the kitchen and eased in the door. Aunt Ida was standing in front of the sink looking out the window with one hand on her hip and raising a cigarette to her lips with the other. Woody picked up the receiver and dialed the number, then we slipped back out into the hall.
“Uh, is Johnny there? ......no ma’am...this here’s Woody Povine...me and my cousin work for him.........Aw naw.....your kiddin’! ...how is he? Oh, that sounds rough.....Okay, we was just wondering what happened to him seein’ how he didn’t show up and all this mornin’. Well, you tell him we’ll be thinking about him. Yes ma’am...bye-bye.”
Chapter 1. How Things Came to Be
It was dark now and we could see headlights every now and then through the trees up ahead. I figured it must be about nine o’clock and I was pretty sure Mama and Daddy would be some kinda mad about me not showing up yet. We kept walking and came up on the main road at the bridge over Gunner’s creek. The Phillips 66 was just across the it about a hundred feet inside the city limits. Luckily I had a dime in my pocket so we went to the pay phone and I called the house. Daddy answered the phone, which was completely unexpected.
“Where are you boy? Why didn’t Johnny bring you home?”
“Oh, me and Woody had something to do and we, uh, we’re at the Phillips 66. Can you come get us?”
“Yeah, I can come get you. I don’t understand why you didn’t just get Johnny to bring you home.”
“Okay, thanks. We’ll see you in a little bit.” I hung up the phone and looked at Woody. “You know I’ve got to come up with something good to explain why we’re here, don’t you?”
“Tell him we went to look at Billy Jenkins’ new litter of fiest puppies.”
“Has Billy Jenkins got a litter of puppies for real?”
“Yep, he called me the other day and told me I could buy one if I wanted it. Me and Daddy been lookin’ to get a squirrel dog.”
“Sounds believable. Let’s just hope nobody talks to Billy before we can go look at his dogs.”
We moved back into the shadows beside the building so nobody would see us. We sat down on a couple of milk crates and Woody was feeling around in his back pocket for his pack of cigarettes.
“Dad gum cigarettes is smashed flat. Coy, Jr. loan me thirty cents so I can get a fresh pack.”
“I ain’t got thirty cents. I spent my last dime on that phone call. Besides you don’t need to be going inside where someone can see you. With our luck, Fiveacre or Hannon will show up just as you walked into the light. But I tell you what, I’m so hungry right now, if I had some money I might risk it to get a pack of nabs or something.”
“Now see, if I had a pistol, we could waltz right in there and get anything we wanted and not worry about Hannon or no Fiveacre.” Woody started laughing as he lit a flat, broken cigarette while holding it together.
“Woody, if you had a pistol we could get them to bring us something out here.” We sat there about ten or fifteen more minutes before Daddy finally showed up. When he pulled in, we stood in the dark waiting for him to come over, but he must not of seen us. He stopped by the pumps, got out and started putting some gas in the truck. He was looking around, apparently for us when he saw us standing over by the building.
“You boys come get in this truck. What’s the matter with you standing over there like a couple of idiots.”
We ran over and jumped into the truck. Both of us slumped down in the seat so that nobody could see us.
“I’m gonna go pay...what are you doing? What have y’all done?” Daddy was extremely suspicious of our bad posture.
“We ain’t done nothing. Let’s go, we’re tired,” I hoped I didn’t sound too demanding, but I was never good at lying to Daddy. He walked off and went inside for what seemed an eternity. I looked up and he was leaning against the counter talking to Melvin inside.
“Geez, what is he doing!” This was no time for Daddy to be shooting the breeze.
“Duck! It’s a cop car!” Woody banged his head against the door as he hunkered down. I kept my head up enough to see it was a city cop and not a sheriff’s car.
“False alarm! It’s a Rainer cop, not a Sheriff’s deputy,” I informed Woody.
“Why are you boys hiding?” Daddy had slipped up on us from behind.
“Y’all done something you shouldn’t have done?”
“Naw, naw, naw...we’re just tired! Been paintin’ all day...wears on your back.” Woody was thinking fast for a change.
“Yeah, I was considering getting in the back of the truck and laying down,” I added.
“You look like you’re hiding from somebody.”
“Let’s just get home. I’m about to starve to death.”
“Well, your Mama ain’t home yet.”
“Where’d she go?” I was a little surprised because Mama is usually home by dark no matter what.
“She and Mama Pope had some business to tend to. They been gone all day I reckon.”
“Well what are we supposed to do for food?”
“Root hog or die,” Daddy didn’t sound too enthusiastic about it himself. I figured we’d probably end up eating sandwiches again.
I was lying in the bed thinking about how horrible my life had been going the past few months. Except for a couple of bright spots when we found out we had a good case against Hannon and when Ilene asked me out, not much else made life worth living. I guess the only thing that kept me going was the old saying about it being darkest before the dawn, and my life was like a cave. The only way it could get any darker was if somebody gouged my eyes out. Unfortunately, I knew of several people that would volunteer to do it.
The next morning I got up and went out to meet Johnny at our usual time. I intended to quit so that I wouldn’t end up getting killed. I hated to leave him with no help, but I didn’t want to go out to the gin and risk those hoodlums coming back. Woody didn’t show up and neither did Johnny. I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to Johnny. I went back inside and had a cup of the coffee Mama had just made. I wasn’t really hungry, so all I ate was a stale donut.
“What were you and Mama Pope doing yesterday?”
“We had some business to tend to.”
“See the lawyer?”
“Don’t you mind what we were doing, why aren’t you going to work?”
“Johnny didn’t show up.”
“Probably laid up drunk somewhere. You didn’t think he was dependable, did you?”
“I don’t understand why you hate Johnny so much. He is as nice as anybody has ever been to me. He has never once been rude or said an unkind word.”
“Drunks are all the same...the only goal they have in life is to be high as a kite.”
“Well, I like Johnny and that’s about enough talk of his being a drunk.” Mama looked at me like she was about to explode. She walked over to me and stood there staring at me.
“What did you say to me?” She was standing right over me as I pushed my chair away from the table.
“Mama, Johnny is a nice guy and I don’t like you calling him a drunk.” I stood up and stepped to the other side of my chair. Mama reached over and grabbed a handful of my hair with her left hand and started slapping my face with her right. I backed up and she hung on tight. She must have slapped me a dozen times before I got away from her.
“What are you doing?” I leaned against the sink, rubbing my burning face.
“I’m sick of your smart mouth! You think you run the show around here, but you don’t. Do you hear me? You don’t run this house!”
“Why’d you do that?” I headed toward the back door.
“If you ever want to amount to anything, you better start listening to what I say, mister!”
I looked at her one more time and stepped out the door. I had no idea why she was so upset with me. I thought the Johnny Cooper issue had been straightened out last week, but apparently not. My mouth had gotten me into trouble most of my life and mostly with Mama. It’s ironic, seeing how I inherited it from her and those hot headed Popes.
As I walked toward Woody’s house, my eye was really starting to ache. Mama must have poked her finger in it when she was slapping me. I saw Woody out along the fence row behind their house smoking a cigarette and eating blackberries.
“Dad gum it Coy, Jr., what in tarnation happened to your eye?”
“Mama slapped me.”
“I’ll say she did! Whew-ee that is gonna be ugly.”
“It feels like she stuck her fingernail in it.”
“It’s red as fire and your cheek looks like your gonna have a heck of a shiner. It’s already purple. What did she hit you for?”
“I guess I was sassing her.”
“Coy, Jr. don’t you know by now your Mama is a mean little woman? Don’t get me wrong, she’s my aunt and all, but heck fire man...SHE’S MEAN! You don’t talk back to her!”
“You know Woody, normally I’d get mad and yell at you for saying that, but I think you’re right. She is mean. And she flew off the handle this morning for absolutely nothing.”
“Well, I don’t know if it was for nothing or not...”
“What do you mean? I didn’t say anything bad enough for her to hit me like this.”
“What I’m saying is that maybe she’s in a bad mood about something else.”
“We’ve all got a lot on our minds these days, now don’t we?”
“Yeah, but I heard Mama and Daddy talking last night and she said that your Mama and Mama Pope had gone and bought a truck yesterday.”
“Do what?”
“They went and bought a truck. I figure it must be for running moonshine like Hannon told Mama Pope to do the other day.”
“Aw naw...he must have been back over there since the wreck.”
“I got to thinking that might be why them fellers was after us yesterday. You know if Mama Pope went and told Hannon what we done, he’ll be gunnin’ for us.”
“You don’t really think she’d tell him do you?”
“Did you see how she acted when he hit her? She froze up like an ol’ possum. Yeah, I think she’d tell him.”
“Yeah, she’d tell him.” I had to agree. For some reason, I kind of think Mama Pope might do whatever was necessary to save her skin. Even at the cost of her family.
“Coy, Jr., that eye’s lookin’ mighty bad. You need to go put some ice on it. It looks like it’s gonna swell shut.”
“It’s burning like wild fire. She must have scratched my eyeball or something.”
“Let’s go in the house and get you some ice.”
“Think it’s okay if I stay over here today? I don’t think Johnny is gonna be showing up and I know I don’t want to go home.”
“Sure. You can spend the night if you want. If you go home, your Mama might poke out your good eye!”
We went into the house and Aunt Ida was watching The Price is Right, so she didn’t even know we existed. I got some ice out of the freezer, wrapped it in a dish rag and put it on my eye. Walking back to Woody’s room, I stepped into the bathroom and took a look in the mirror. It looked like I had been snake bit on the face. My cheek was all puffed up and turning black and my eye was open just about a quarter inch. I went on back to Woody’s room and we spent the rest of the morning sitting around and discussing how bad we had it these days.
About lunch time the phone rang and Aunt Ida answered it. We slipped out into the hall and stood by the kitchen door listening to one side of the conversation. It was hard to tell what was going on, but somebody was in the hospital and somebody was going to Okaluka. A few minutes later we heard her say my Mama’s name so we figured she must be talking to her. Then she said “Honey you know you don’t need to be doing this...Coy will skin you alive if he finds out...Be careful...okay, bye-bye.”
Woody and I looked at each other and Aunt Ida came busting through the door where we were standing. “LORD GOD! You scared me to death! What in the world are you boys doing in here. I thought y’all were working. Oh baby what have you done to your eye.”
“I, oh...uh...,” my mind went blank. “
He stepped on a hoe and it popped him in the eye...just like the Three Stooges,” Woody volunteered as I stood there looking at Aunt Ida with my one good eye. “
A hoe? It sure is looking bad. You better go let your Mama take care of that for you.”
“Aw, he’s alright. He’s pretty tough for a weenie,” Woody laughed as he headed back to his room. I followed like a puppy, not saying a word, just faking a laugh like I was amused.
It was hot in Woody’s room and it smelled like dirty feet. I raked some clothes out of a chair and into the floor so that I could sit down. Woody lay on his back across the bed, propping himself up on his elbows.
“Wonder what happened to Johnny?” I asked.
“He might still be laid out in the driveway at the gin.”
“Wonder if we ought to go and check on him?”
“Coy, Jr., how do you think we’re gonna get there? Walk?”
“I ain’t walking, I was just wondering if he was okay.”
“Has he got a phone at his place?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know where his place is.”
“I think he lives out by Harold Gilmore.”
“Way out there? I thought he lived in town.”
“Well his Mama lives out there, but she ain’t a Cooper no more. Let me ask Mama what her name is...maybe we can call her and find out something. HEY, MAMA! ... MAMA! WHAT’S JOHNNY COOPER’S MAMA’S NAME?” Woody looked up at the ceiling as he waited for an answer. At my house I’d be getting a good talking to for yelling out at my mama.
“CHRISTINE!”
“NAW...I MEAN HER LAST NAME!”
“WHITEHEAD! WHY?” Aunt Ida yelled back at Woody from the kitchen.
“JUST ASKING! Coy, Jr. there’s a phone book on the floor beside you...look up her number and we’ll call her.”
“I’m not calling her! What if he’s dead or something?”
“He ain’t dead. They didn’t hit him but one lick.”
I looked up the number. There was only one Whitehead listed so I gave the book to Woody and pointed to it. We went to the kitchen and eased in the door. Aunt Ida was standing in front of the sink looking out the window with one hand on her hip and raising a cigarette to her lips with the other. Woody picked up the receiver and dialed the number, then we slipped back out into the hall.
“Uh, is Johnny there? ......no ma’am...this here’s Woody Povine...me and my cousin work for him.........Aw naw.....your kiddin’! ...how is he? Oh, that sounds rough.....Okay, we was just wondering what happened to him seein’ how he didn’t show up and all this mornin’. Well, you tell him we’ll be thinking about him. Yes ma’am...bye-bye.”
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