11
Mississippi's summer of nineteen thirty-seven
faded.
Days cooled
as
long nights
chilled.
The lights
of
the Patch flick ered again, fires would burn soon. Patch
children
played in the day. Patch mamas talked in the night, but the
stillness
that had come in the
summer
lingered. Patch
folks would only
whisper about Billy Lee. Their whispers
asked
questions
of
days nearing.
Cinder
could be seen
.
Patch
folks would watch
her,
bu t did
not
stare,
and never looked
into
her passing
eyes. She
had become frail
with
days
gone
by. Reverend
Sims
would
go
to her. Sometimes
she
let him near
and
listened to his
words
,
some
days Reverend
Sims
knew to leave her be. He'd tell Katey,
"Ya
just tell her
she gots
ta believe."
November's first day
came
on
a
Monday. Harvey Jakes
put
165
166 I
AllHâ˘rt /?re11c/1
out
an
ext ra
paper; i ts head line read
"130Y
K I LLER COM ES
TO
TRIA L." Monday's
sun
had not risen
yet.
The courthouse was dark and
empty;
just the
sound
of its night coul d be heard, t he
sh ift ing
or i ts wood, the
scratching
of its mice.
Sheri
ff
Tom and Depu t y H i ll led their prisoner through the dark,
ch i lli ng street.
Bi l l y was shivering and flinched from
every
dog's bark.
First light was first to
come.
County
clerks
of habit fol lowed; they wiggled their keys in
courthouse
doors. Fo
l
ks from afar who had heard the news had traveled in the night. Banes folks who lived arou nd the corner began ma k ing their way.
Patch folks, just a few, were coming on the broken Patch Road. Cinder walked through the shadows the night had left on the road, Katey was by her side. Reverend Sims followed: he had his
slavin
Bible. His God had told him,
"Walk with
Cinder this day." Big Jake was coming too, he had told LeRoy, "Ah gots ta
go."
Comtroom A was ready, and its bench
seats
were filling up. Qu ick whispers burst through the hu m of restless
chatter:
"There he is." "That's him." Sheriff Tom was bri ngi ng Billy through the
side
door. Fingers still pointed at Billy as he slouched down in the big hard
chair
next to Wilbur Braxton.
In
the far rear of the
courtroom,
where
coloreds can sit,
Cin der
sits
high i n her
seat,
but
she cannot see
her
child.
J udge Harper
called
his
court
to
order,
then to
l
d Ma tt
h
ew
Brad y to
seat
the jury. Twel ve faces
of
men filed in to thei r seats. Cinder
coul d
see them;
she
tried to
see
into their eyes, but the faces were loo far away.
Billy kept his head down as Ely Hampton tol d the jury, "Ah represen t the
Stale
of Mississippi. Ah represent
you,
the people of Mississippi. Together we represent Lori Pasko here
B I L L Y
f
167
today." Then his words began to whip and snap at the air:
"A
knife in the hand of that vicious Nigra boy slashed the life away from Lori. She
was
just fifteen. . . .
"
Billy
cringed from the wind of the
shouting
man's
words.
Cinder looked straight into the
storm
of
sounds,
tried to
see
where her child be.
Reverend Sims watched Wilbur Braxton rise and try to turn
a wind gone wild. Big Jake listened and nodded his head
yes
as Wilbur Braxton told Banes folks,
"Billy
Lee Turner is just ten
years
old, just a
child.
A frightened
child.
What hap pened at that pond was a tragedy. A tragedy. Not a vicious crime."
Red Pasko's eyes burned red with
fire.
Silence was a witness as Wilbur Braxton's words stilled and he took his
seat.
Banes folks
saw
Sheriff Tom take the
witness seat
and
heard him
tell
Ely Hampton, "Ah found that little girl layin in her mama's bed. She was dead when
Ah
got there."
Cinder saw the man that keeps her
child
from her; she did not listen to what he had to say.
Jenny
Curran shook when Ely Hampton
called
her name. She has on her light-blue dress, the one
she
only wears to church and wore to Lori's funeral. Her long red hair is tied in a pony tail and gently hangs down on her back. Her hand is trem bling on Matthew Brady's Bible. Her words
are faint
when she
says, "Ah
do."
Banes folks leaned up in their
seats as
Jenny took her time and told them about the day at the pond
when
Lori died. Bil1y kept his head down, but looked up when he heard the red haired girl crying out,
"That's
him. That's him right there. That's the
nigg
er
that
stuck
Lori. That's him. He killed
L:ni
A h saw
him. He
stuck
her and made her die.
A h
hate
ya,
nigger:"
168 I Albert French
Ginger Pasko sat quietly; tears seeped from her silence.
Banes folks watched Ely Hampton
strut
and peck before the jury until the noon hour came. Judge Harper looked at his watch, cleared his throat, then announced,
"We
goin ta take a recess here. We will
convene
at one-fifteen." The Rosey Gray filled up quickly, but most folks had brought their lunch and just found them a
spot
in front of the
courthouse
to eat. Deputy Hill took Billy back down to Courtroom C and locked the door. Sheriff Tom stood in the hallway talking
with
Red and Ginger Pasko until
he saw
Ginger's
eyes
jerk and stare beyond his shoulder. He turned around and quickly shouted, "Where
ya
all think ya goin?" Cinder and Katey
stopped.
Cinder's
eyes stilled
and just
stared
at Sheriff Tom
.
Katey replied, "Theys
say
Billy be down there in a room.
We
thinkin maybe theys
let
us
see him
.
Maybe
we
be allows
ta
sits wit him."
Sheriff Tom shouted,
"Ya
all git
out of here.
Ya hear me?
Git on outside."
Cinder
stood still. She
gave
a
quick
glance
to
the
red haired woman
standing
behind
the sheriff. She saw
her red eyes and dropped her
own. Sheriff
Tom
shouted again, "Go
on, now.
Git out of
here."
Cinder
stood still.
Ginger Pasko
reached for Sheriff Tom
'
s arm, tugged at it
until he
turned around, then she just looked at
him. He
turned
back
to Cinder
,
looked at her, and said
,
"
A
11 right. Down there.
Last
door.
Ya
tell Deputy Hill
that Sheriff
Tom says it's all right."
As Cinder passed, she glanced
at Ginger
Pasko
again and
their eyes met.
Deputy Hill opened the door when he heard the tapping knock, then let
Cinder and
Katey in
aft er he
looked up
the
hall
and
got
Sheriff Tom's
signal.
B I L L
y
I
169
Billy jumped up from his
chair
and ran to his mother, then they sat in the room's noon shadow; the two figures became one shaded sketch. Cinder has Billy in her arms. She has brought him so close that he is her. Billy is snifflin, quiverin, as he says, "Ah wants ta goes home. Mama, they says Ah can't." Katey wiped the tears from her eyes and Deputy Hill looked away.
Cinder whispers,
"Mama's
here, Mama's here, baby."
Billy pleads again,
"Mama,
Ah wants ta go home. Ah don't wants ta be in that jail no more."
Cinder sighs as Billy cries and tries to talk through his tearful gasps. "Ah wants ta go home. Ah won't go ta that pond agin, Mama."
Cinder closes her eyes, but the dark does not come, just a faint speck of the color green, then the high green grass of green
years
ago, and Billy can play again, blue is in the sky, Mister Pete singin that old goin-home song, folks let her and her baby be. She kisses Billy, and the breath that carries his words and cries wisps across her lips.
"They
say Ah go wit ya? They say that? Ah don't wants ta be in a trial." Cinder is silent, but the dark comes, white face come into the night. Mister Pete's dead, been dead, ain't no
sky,
ain't no blues, greens die too.
Banes folks watched clocks tick away. The noon hou r finally filled with minutes and moments. The
courtroom
swelled
with chatter
until Judge Harper
called
for order.
Billy jumped and looked around when he heard Gumpy's name being called. He heard Gumpy tellin the shoutin man, "He showed me his knife, its have blood on it. He
say
he stuck her in the Litty. He say that too."
Ely Hampton kept pecking
at Gumpy: "Where
did Billy Lee keep his knife?"
170 I Albert Fre11cli
Billy pu t his head back down and stared at the shades of t he table before him. He
can
hear Gumpy
calling,
but
it is
in a different time.
"Hey,
Billy, can ya's come out? Hey,
Billy
,
ya wants ta go down ta the Catfish wit me?" He can hear the
sound of
Gumpy's voice, but it is only the sound of his words. Gumpy is telli ng Ely Hampton, "It's be in his pocket. Cept
if
he wants ta cuts sumpin.
If
he gits mad at
ya,
he chase ya wit it. But he can't catch me. He can't runs
like
me."
Ely Hampton told Judge Harper, "The State rests its case, Your Honor."
Murmurs sizzled, necks twisted and turned, folks edged far up in their seats. Reverend Sims can see
Billy
as he jerks
away
from the sudden outstretched hand
with
the Bible
in
it. Then he sees him slowly touch the Bible with
the
coaxing and whisperi ng of Matthew Brady.
Ginger Pasko shakes her head before turning away. Cinder's heart pounds a thunderous
sound.
Wilbur Braxton nears Billy on the witness stand and whis pers
something
to him. Billy nods his head
yes,
but does not look up. "Tell the people what your name
is,
Billy," Wilbur Braxton says.
Billy remains silent.
Wilbur
Braxton is
patient,
he repeats,
"Billy,
tell the peo- ple what your name is."
Billy's lips move, but no
sound comes
from his mouth.
"Are you afraid,
Billy?"
Billy shakes his head no,
squirms
in
th
e
big
chair,
then nods his head yes.
"Come
on, son, I told
you
there was nothing to be afraid
of.
Tell the people
your
name. You can do that." "Billy Lee my name."
"Now,
Billy, tell the people
how
old
yo
u
are."
B I L L Y /
171
"Ah ten."
"Now,
Billy, tell the people why you are here today."
"Ah
don't knows. They says it's a trial."
"What's a trial, Billy? Tell the people what a trial is." "Ah don't know."
"Billy, what happen to
you
at the pond? What happen, son?"
Billy is silent.
Red Pasko waits for an answer. "What happen, Billy?"