Billy (36 page)
"Ah
gots
ya,
Gumpy!"
"Ya
ain't wins, Billy.''
"A
h gots
ya."
"Ya can't
move there."
"Can so."
"Ya can'ts,
Billy.'
'
"Ah
wins.
Ah gots
y
a
agin." "Ah quit,
Billy."
"Let's play
agins."
"No,
Billy.
Ah
ain'ts playin wits
y
a.''
A day passed, and
another
night.
It
was
morning. Deput
y
Hill
had already
fed
his prisoners. Billy and Gumpy had the checkers
set
out
when the
big door
clanked. "They's comin,"'
B I L L Y
I 161
Gumpy hissed a whisper. Deputy Hill rushed down the
steps
and came to the front of the cell where Billy and Gump
y
stood. He spoke quickly as he unlocked the
cell
door.
"Come
on, boy, ya got ya hearin taday." Gumpy's eyes flashed
with
fear. Billy watched as the big man led Gumpy from the
cell
and up the steps.
The morning was
slow
without Gumpy, but before its hours passed the big door cranked, and Billy's
eyes
smiled as Dep uty Hill brought Gumpy back down the
steps.
"Wheres theys take ya?" Billy quickly asked as soon as Deputy Hill
went
away.
"Theys
takes me over there agins." "Theys beat ya ups?"
"No.
Theys ain't came, theys leave me be." "Whats they do?"
''Theys
says Um gains ta a
camps
wits other boys. Ah
goes
,
theres tomorrows. Theys comin and gits me then."
"Theys
say Um goin wit ya?"
"No,
they ain't says that. They say my mama can
comes
and sees me at the camps."
Billy was silent for a moment, then asked, "How
comes
Ah can'ts go wit ya and my mama comes see me at the camps?"
"Theys
says Ah runs and ain'ts kill that girl. They
says
y
a makes her die. They
says
Ah was goods.
Ah
runs away,
so Ah
can goes ta the camps and my mama
can sees
me."
Gumpy wanted to play
checkers,
but Billy did not want to. Gumpy wanted to talk all day, but Billy just looked
away.
Th
e
black hours came; Gumpy
slept.
Billy
called
for dreams,
but
they did not come.
Deputy Hill came before the noon
hour.
Billy heard him coming as Gumpy jumped up
saying, "Theys come gits
m
e
162 I Albert French
now.'" Deputy Hi ll u nlocked the
cell
door and took Gump
y
out.
Bi lly
said, "Ah
sees
ya,
Gumpy."
"Ah sees ya,
Bill
y."
Deputy Hill took Gumpy up the
steps.
Billy watched him
go away,
but
Gumpy
did not look back.
Wilbur Braxton had
come
to tell Cinder of Judge Harper's ruling. He had told her he'd done his best to keep Billy's trial in the
children's court,
but the judge
said
no.
Cinder was
silent
for a long time. Wilbur Braxton
waited patiently
for her to
speak.
Patch folks stood watching from their sittin porches. They
could
see the white man standing in the yard and had watched him lower his head. They could
see
Cinder standing with her head held high, but she
stood
s
i lently. Only Wilbur Braxton heard her
say, "They
want ta kill him, don't they?" He answered quickly, bu t his words stum bled
and
fell.
"Oh
no, Mrs. Turn
e
r, they . . .
well,
it's
going
to be a trial by jury. They will see that Bill
y
is just a
child
and did not intend to hurt the Pasko girl."
Cinder had looked into his
eyes as she
listened to the sound of his words, and when he finished
speaking
it
was
only the pounding of her heart
she could
hear.
"Mrs.
Turner, this is
nineteen
thirty-seven
.
There are rights
that will protect Billy
from an
unfair trial. The jury will
see
he is
just
a
child and
ce
rtainly did not
mean
to harm an
yo
ne. We have a
good case
to
show
that Billy
was
beat up
and was only
afraid. He
did
not int
e
nd
to
hu rt that
girl."
Katey had
stood
on the porch listeni ng.
She could
not hear all the words Wilbur Braxton was
saying,
but the far
skies seemed
to darken with every word
she could
hear.
Patch dogs barked and
chased
Wilbur Braxton's car as he drove away. Reverend Sims walked up the path to where Cin der stood, but Cinder turned from him and wen t away. Kate
y
B I L L
y
I 163
stood
still.
Reverend Sims asked,
"What
Katey shook her head and shrugged her
shoulders
as
she
started to talk. "Lord, Ah don'ts knows. They's ta tries Bill
y.
They's goin ta puts him up there likes a man."
Patch folks
could
feel the
feelings
and got words from them. Patch mamas
shook
their heads and told one another, "Somethin's wrong."
Big Jake told LeRoy. LeRoy poured
a
drink and started talking about different things and then he
started
telling Big Jake, "Ya knows Ah don'ts wants
a
lot.
A h
knows they ain't a lot ta gits anyway. Ah just
wants
me a little
space
likes Ah have. Ya knows them folks gots it all,
gots
all of Mississi ppi
ya can
see, gots this
whole
country too. Theys gots all the
say-so.
Cots the last
words, can
do
what
theys want. The
ys
gots it all and wants ta keep on takin. Ah makes up m
y
minds a long time ago. Ah ain't give em nothin
else.
That'
s
-
why Ah stays down here, Ah ain't givin
em
none of me."
Big Jake stayed down LeRoy's all day and into the night. When he left, the moon was showing its full face; the
shacks
and shanties of the Patch
stood
stark in the bright night. Big Jake turned from the Patch Road and
started
up the weaving paths. When he looked up, his steps
slowed,
and he lowered his head and walked in a reverence of
silence.
Cinder was on her porch; she stood leaning against th
e
porch post with her head down. She did not
see
Big Jake.
