Gone Fishin' (10 page)

William’s
teeth were pure white.

‘Yeah,
that Mouse don’t be foolin’. But you know folks is
diffrent from country than they is in the city.’ He was rocking
back and forth to the rhythm. ‘In the city they all wear the
same clothes and they get t’be like each other ‘cause
they live so close together. It’s like trees; when they real
close they all grow straight up to get they li’l bit’a
sun. But out here you got room t’spread out. They ain’t
no two trees in a field look the same way. Maybe one is in the wind
an’ it grow on a slant or another one be next to a hill so one
side is kinda shriveled from the afternoon shade.’ Then he
began to hum a tune in a strained high voice that sent shivers down
my backbone.

After a
while he started talking again. ‘It’s like my music; I
ain’t so good at it. Once Blind Lemon Jefferson played here, it
was more’n fifteen years ago but I remember how good he played
like it was last week. An’ you know if ole Lemon lived round
here I wouldn’t never even look at a guitar. Why would I bother
when I could hear him?

‘But
I can play out here an’ be who I wanna be ‘cause it’s
only me who does it. Uh-huh, uh,’ and he started his wordless
song again. I could see where Mouse learned a lot from William. He
was a smooth character from his slicked-back hair to his way of
talking in song.

When he
stopped again he asked me to come listen down in the store. ‘It
ain’t Houston but we get pretty wild on a Friday night.
Uh-huh.’

They had
cleared out the tables from the centre of the store and a dozen or
more people were there drinking and talking. The cardplayers had
moved their table into a corner. William went to his chair and
started playing as soon as we walked in. Miss Alexander came over to
give me a tumbler full of moonshine.

‘You feelin’ better, honey?’ she asked.

I lied and said I was.

‘How you like it out here so far?’

‘It’s pretty nice, ma’am. I’m not used to all
this fresh air though.’

She knew
that I meant more than I was saying. She laughed and took me by the
arm and introduced me to various folks.

‘…this
is Nathaniel Peters,’ she said when we came up to a stout
farmer with hamlike hands. ‘Our best farmer and minister. This
here is Easy, reverend.’

‘Please t’meetcha, son. I hope we see y’all on
Sunday.’

‘If I’m still here, sir.’

‘Well… you know the Lord wants to see ya.’

‘Then
I want you to meet a girlfriend’a mine, Theresa.’ Miss
Alexander turned and waved to a woman across the room. ‘Com’on
over, honey, an’ meet Easy.’

‘You
from Houston, huh?’ the skinny black girl said. She was missing
one of her front teeth. ‘My cou’in Charlene live down
there, on Avenue B.’

‘What’s her last name?’ I asked.

‘Walker.’

‘Yeah, I think I know her. She like to dance?’

‘That’s Charlene,’ she laughed. ‘She love
t’dance.’

We lied
like that and drank and danced to William’s songs for the rest
of the night. She told me all about her dreams and her plans and her
family but I forgot everything she said; I was just being friendly.
The only thing I remembered was that she told me how to get out to
her house - which wasn’t too very far away.

I don’t
remember passing out.

I woke up
in the bed out back, alone and hungover.

By the
time I had the heart to get out of bed it was noon. Miss Alexander
was sitting at the counter in the back and the cardplayers were still
at their table in the corner; Sweet William had joined them. He waved
at me and I smiled, or at least I tried to.

‘How
you sleep, Easy?’ he asked.

‘Like
a corpse,’ I groaned. ‘Woke up like one too. But when I
looked in the closet I saw some clothes there… I din’t mean
t’kick you outta yo’ room.’

‘They’s
lotsa beds in Pariah.’ He winked at me and for a second I felt
like I was talking to Mouse.

I could
see that Miss Alexander was waiting for me at her counter. I felt
like a whole flock of wayward sheep; like I needed a herder to set me
straight.

‘You
don’t look so good, Easy,’ Miss Alexander said.

She was
wearing a red dress that was so bright I had to look away.

‘No,
I just look bad right when I wake up,’ I said. I was sick but,
like a fool, I didn’t want to tell her because I was afraid
that she’d keep me from leaving. ‘I be ready t’leave
tomorrah mornin’.’

‘Ain’t
you gonna go t’church wit’ us tomorrah?’

‘I
gotta be gittin’ back.’

‘Even
a sinner got a little time fo’the Lord, Easy.’

‘Well,
maybe… What time is the service?’

‘Reverend’s
a farmer too, so he start early; us’ally ‘bout eight.’
Then she smiled. ‘Theresa wasn’t too happy ‘bout
you last night.’

I felt my
face flush.

‘I
think she likes you,’ Miss Alexander went on. ‘An’
there you was laid out just like a pile’a dead wood.’

She
laughed and I did too.

‘Why’ont
you go over wit’ the men an’ I get you some food.’

I sat in a
chair against the wall and listened to the men talk while they
played. Miss Alexander brought me a plate of dirty rice and greens
but I didn’t have any stomach for it. I put the plate on the
floor and a dog climbed out from under the table and wolfed it down.
It looked like one of Reese’s dogs; hungry, near death.

The men
talked about everything: gardens and women and white people. It felt
good to listen to them laugh and trade lies. It’s good to be a
man with no worries, among friends. I remember every story they told
but, for the most part, they didn’t have anything to do with
me.

One of the
men was called Buck. He was older, maybe sixty, and he had a high
strained laugh.

‘Hit
me!’ he said to William, then he flung down three cards. He was
a sly card player. You could tell he was tricky because every time
he’d take some cards he’d try to keep the others’
attention distracted by bringing up some shocking news.

‘Reese
Corn is dyin’,’ Buck said as he shuffled his cards.

I don’t
know how she could tell from across the room but Miss Alexander
strolled over as soon as they started to talk about Reese.

‘What?’
That was a young man, tall and skinny, name of Murphy. I never did
get his last name.

‘It’s
true.’ Buck was studying his new cards. ‘My boy’s
girl was down there yestiday an’ she said he looked bad.’
He looked up from his cards and smiled. ‘I raise ya five,’
and he pushed a nickel to the pot.

‘What
you talkin’ ‘bout, Buck?’ Miss Alexander said.

‘That’s
what Yolanda said.’ He hunched his shoulders.

‘What’s
Yolanda doin’ out to there anyway?’

‘She
do piecework. Ole Reese ain’t bought a new shirt in thirty
years but he cain’t sew fo’shit neither. So Yolanda go
out there every two months or so an’ patch him up.’

‘I
see ya,’ Murphy said.

‘I’ll
take that an’ I go up five.’ William threw two buffalo
heads in the game.

‘But
the weird thing is his do’,’ Buck said and then waited
for one of the men to ask. No one took the bait, because they knew he
was just trying to break their concentration.

But Miss Alexander didn’t care about the game.

‘What about his door?’ she asked.

‘It was painted black; jet black with doves of garlic hangin’
from it.’

‘Yeah?’
Miss Alexander opened her eyes wide. ‘Maybe my sister come back
t’haunt his evil soul.’

‘I
meet ya, William, what you got?’ Buck nodded. ‘I don’t
know what’s happenin’ wit’im, ma’am, but
sumpin’ got him scared; scared to death, almost.’

Miss
Alexander shook her wide mane. ‘Evil calls on itself.’

‘Amen,’
William said. Tair’a red queens.’

I could
still see that doll hanging from the tree.

Later on
in the game Murphy told William that he had been down to Jenkins the
week before.

‘Oh
yeah?’ William grinned. ‘You down at the saloon when Big
Jim got there?’

‘Mmmm-hm,
you better believe it! He come in wit’ that badge stuck in his
hat an’ that nightstick in his hand an’ yell, “You
fellahs better duck,” an’ he pult out that longsnout
pistol he got.’ Murphy laughed. ‘Man, we was kissin’
the boards like it was true love.’

They all
laughed. Jim was the colored deputy for the county. He was tough and
mean and it seemed that he was pretty well liked in the district.

The
gambling and talk went on that way. I leaned against the wall and
faded in and out of sleep until a long time later.

Clifton
came through the door in the late afternoon. He looked worse than I
felt. His clothes were soiled and so wrinkled that it was clear that
he had been sleeping outside. His jaw was set so that he looked like
he couldn’t ever talk again. When I called to him he jumped and
his hands started shaking. Then he turned, headed for the door. He
would have run out if two men hadn’t been walking in right
then. He turned back to the room, then around to the door, but the
men, just two old sharecroppers, were looking at him and he backed
away. I got to him before he could run.

‘What’s wrong, Clifton? Someone after you?’

‘Shut up!’

The look
he gave me was the look of a hunted man; I’d seen it in my own
father’s face, and I respected it even in a fool like Clifton.
I told him that I had a room in back and he was happy to go there. I
sent him on, then I went over to Miss Alexander. She had watched the
whole scene very closely.

‘What’s
wrong wit’ yo’ friend, Easy?’ she asked.

‘I
don’t know yet but I’m fixin’ t’find out when
I get back there.’ Then I hesitated a minute. ‘You been
pretty good t’me, ma’am, but I have to tell ya that I
ain’t got no money right now, t’pay ya. I mean Mouse
‘posed t’give me a little change but…’

‘Don’t
you worry, Easy. Raymond sent a few dollars over wit’ Dom the
day ‘fore you got here. I thought you knew.’

‘Uh-uh.’

‘Yeah! You want sumpin’ fo’ your friend?’

‘Maybe some food and a little whiskey.’

‘Sure thing.’

She went
out to the kitchen and came back with a tray full of food and a
half-f whiskey bottle. There was only one glass.

‘Glass
is fo’ yo’ friend, Easy. I don’t think you need any
more.’

Clifton
was standing in the corner of the room with his fists at his side,
clenched just as tight as his mouth. He looked past me to see if
anyone else was coming.

‘Take
it easy, Cliff.’

When I
handed him the tray he hunkered down on that crate, eating like a
hungry animal.

He started
in with the chicken and didn’t even stop when he licked the
plate clean. He took the chicken bones, cracked them open with his
teeth, and sucked the marrow out from every one.

I went
over to the bed to wait for him to finish; when I laid back I felt
all the strength go out of me.

‘What’s
your problem, Clifton?’ I asked when he was through.

‘What
you mean?’

‘Com’on,
man, you know what I mean. What you doin’ here shakin’
like that and so hungry you eatin’ bones?’

Clifton
downed a whole glass of whiskey and doubled up trying to keep it
down. I was sure he was going to vomit but he just put his hands on
his knees and made snorting noises until he could straighten out.

‘Yo’
friend come out to the witch’s house night before last.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Uh-huh,
an’ he said that the word come down to a deputy out here called
Jim, an’ Jim is on my trail.’

‘He
said that?’

‘Then
he say that I gots ta run ‘cause Jim is a quarter injun an’
he always find what he looks fo’. He say I’m a sittin’
duck out at the witch house so I better run.’

‘What
Jo say?’

‘Witch
don’t say nuthin’. She just ask yo’ friend if it’s
true an’ he say yeah.’ Clifton took another big drink and
went through the same pain.

After he
was sitting up again I asked, ‘Where’s Ernestine?’

‘He
say that I cain’t run wit’ no girl so I should go alone.
But I tole him that I ain’t gonna listen t’that shit an’
Ernestine comin’ ‘long wit’ me!’ Clifton
yelled the last words and I could imagine Mouse smiling right then;
it gave me goose flesh. ‘But Ernestine tole me t’go. She
said she don’t wanna run from the law an’ she said that I
gotta take this on myself.’ Clifton wept and took another
drink. ‘When I seen she ain’t gonna come I said I be back
but she said don’t even bother wit’ that.’

He put his
head to his knees and cried.

I was too
weak to comfort him but I knew what was right. I knew that I should
tell him everything I knew about Mouse; what a rotten man he was and
how he messed with other people’s lives. Even if Clifton didn’t
believe me I should have told him and then my conscience would’ve
been clean. I should have taken that boy in the car and gone back
home to Houston, but I was sick and tired. Even when he told me
Mouse’s plan I stayed quiet.

‘Yo’
friend tole me t’meet him t’night. He showed me a place
in the woods where I could sleep an’ then he said I should meet
him t’night an’ he gotta plan fo me t’get away. I
axed why he doin’ all that for me an’ he said he doin’
it fo’ Ernestine so the law don’t get on her. So what can
I do?’

I wake up
nights remembering Clifton sitting there with his hands stretched
out. I had the answers but I didn’t give them to him because
Mouse was my friend and you don’t cross your friends.

Or maybe I
just didn’t care. Maybe that’s what was wrong with us
back then. Life was so hard that we were too tired from just living
to lend a hand.

Clifton
left after a while and I didn’t even think about going with
him. He knew that Mouse was up to no good but he needed someone else
to say it so that he could change his mind.