Billy (19 page)

"Brother
Red.
Sister Ginger. Children,"
Elson Pittman speak
s
.

"Brother Elson,
thank
yo
u
for comin,"
Red
Pasko
murmurs.
"I've been sent
by the Lord, it
is
Hi
s
will."

Red Pasko
sighs and Ginger grabs
his
hand,
they both rise and
step
towards Elson Pittman, then their heads
seem
to bow and they
stand silent.

"The eyes of
the
Lord are
upon this hou
se
. He
is
her
e
with

B I L L y
I
77

ya, He knows the sorrow ya bear here today. He knows. He sees. He hears. Where does the child lie?" Elson Pittman asks, then follows Red and Ginger Pasko into the house and back bedroom where Lori lays covered. They stand at the door as the tall man goes into the room, stands silently at the side of the bed. Ginger Pasko clutches her husband's hand and continues to squeeze it as Elson Pittman bends over and gently pulls the cover from Lori's face. Onl
y
her hair has the color of life.

The shades had been drawn in the room where Lori lies
,
the late-afternoon sunlight coming through the window is weakened and lets the darkness cuddle up in the comer
s
.

Elson Pittman stands erect, then tilts his he
.
ad upwards. Gin

ger and Red Pasko remain standing in the doorway, but bow their heads as Elson Pittman begins:

"Lord, here lays this child, this beloved child. Let us not grieve for her taking, but rejoice that she is in Your kingdom now.

"Let us rejoice that she is in her Father's house. Let u
s
cast our grief and grasp our exultation that the Lord Almighty God has called, that His hand has come so clos
e
, that His fingers have chosen so carefully.

"And she saw two angels in white, sitting one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been laid.
"
Let us not forget the stones that have been cast away. L
e
t

us not forget all powers are in Thy hands. All will
s
ar
e
Th
y
desires. She is with You now, Lord. Let us pray."

Red and Ginger Pasko returned to the porch and sat qu
i
etly again. Ginger's thoughts became stilled, she just star
e
d
.
The sun was giving up on the day, the far skies glowed r
e
d. Mary Curran, Ginger's sister-in-law, was here now. Sh
e'
d
e
m
braced Ginger, then went to the younger childr
e
n, gath
e
r
e
d

78
I
Albert French

them,
and
now
sits with
them. Herman Pasko, Red's brother, has
come
with his wife,
Susan,
they're doing the things that must be done.

Roy, Lori's
youngest
brother, who
will
turn five
soon,
is looking for the
angels
to
come
to take Lori for a ride,
ride
her up into the
sky
like Aunt Mary has told him. He sits looking to the red
glowing
corner of the sky.
In
his mind he
can
see the pretty white wings of angels flutteri ng amidst the clouds, but
only
Marcus Warden comes.

5

Saturday night is a
good sittin
night
in
the
Patch. Folks
have their
own
style of sittin. Old folks
set
back, might be rockin in
a swayin
chair, might have some kind
of
fan they
done
made, keep it
on
their
sittin chair
till they
get
to
sittin.
Them folks that ain't that old, maybe too old to
go down
LeRoy
'
s place
and be shakin all over, twistin their butts
and
jumping to that music, but ain't too old to get that
sittin-porch
hollerin done, keep
it
goin for a long time. These
folks
have their
wa
y
of
sittin
too, might be on the
steps,
might be
even standin too,
but them
shouts
be
goin
back
and
forth, talkin
about
the
same
thing, just tellin
it
different ways. Young Patch
folks
too
young
to be down LeRoy's, and them that
ain't snuck
down there and hid in the bushes to watch
all
that
goin
on, th
ey

79

80 I A
l
bert F
r
ench

runnin back and forth up and down them Patch paths, tryin to catch each other or a firefly.

But this night is qui
e
t. Field birds have settled, Patch dogs lay quietly, night lanterns are dim if lit at all. Saturda
y
, August 21, is fad ing.

The night silence in the Patch has its own sound, it is like a hum that you can't tell where it come
s
from, don't k no
w
what it is. Not listening for it, you don
'
t hear it. You don
'
t think about it until it is shattered by a c
ry,
a quick bark
o
f a dog, a bullfrog
'
s belch
.
Then y
o
u
w
ait for it to
c
om
e
ba
c
k
,
shiver until it does, shake, thinking it might go a
w
a
y
again. Reverend Sims sit
s
quietly on his p
o
r
c
h. He sits in the dark, has told his wife not to light th
e
lantern. He think
s
about tomorrow and the sermon he will
gi
ve
,
what he will have to say, then he worries about Gump
y
and Bill
y
L
ee
. H
e
thinks of th
e
fa
c
eless white chil
d
that is de
ad,
h
e c
ur
ses
Bill
y
Lee and Gumpy. H
e
thin
k
s of Cinder and
s
h
a
k
e
s hi
s
h
e
ad
,
then think
s
of Sheriff Tom and look
s o
ut
in
to th
e
ni
g
ht and

just
s
tares.

Lu
c
y Mae had
sc
ream
e
d all da
y, c
ri
e
d and thr
e
w h
e
r
se
lf t
o
th
e
ground
,
had to b
e
pi
c
k
e
d up
a
nd
ca
rri
ed
b
ac
k
i
n th
e
house. Other wom
e
n had
c
om
e
to h
e
r, tri
e
d t
o
t
e
ll h
e
r Gump
y
would be all right
,
Sh
e
riff Tom would
br
i
ng
him
rig
ht
bac
k
,
Gumpy didn
'
t know
w
hat h
e
wa
s
talkin a
bou
t
, c
hildren m
a
k
e
thing
s
up. But Lu
cy
Ma
e s
till
sc
r
e
am
e
d
.
R
eve
r
e
nd Sim
s
h
a
d come to h
e
r
a
nd pra
ye
d ab
ove
h
e
r
c
ri
es,
l
e
t hi
s voice
b
e
th
e
word of hi
s G
od. O
t
h
er
Pat
c
h folk
s we
nt
o
n ba
c
k
o
n th
e
ir porch
e
s, whispered ba
c
k and forth,
s
aid th
ey
w
e
ren
'
t
s
u
r
prised that bo
y
got in trouble,
s
aid
i
f Lu
cy
M
ae
paid him
so
m
e
mind stead of runnin down L
e
Ro
y's
all
t
h
e
tim
e
it wouldn
'
t have happen
e
d
,
said
s
he ain
'
t
c
ared about Gurnp
y
non
e s
in
ce
the da
y
he wa
s
born and now
s
h
e
d
o
in all that
ca
rrym on,