Billy (11 page)

B I L L
y
I 33

cheek, then whispers, "Baby, baby, Mama
'
s here, you
'
r
e
gonna be just fine, honey. . . ."

Lori's eyes twitch, her lips are quivering, she's trying to talk, but can only gasp, "Mommy, it hurts . . . it hurts. . .
."
Time is no friend, it has turned its back and will not help, will not move anything, will not slow things down that are moving.
It
will not stop the blood seeping from Lori's side, it will not bring Doctor Grey up the road.
It
will not be intim idated by the curses hissed at it, nor will it show mercy for Ginger Pasko's pleads that beg it to give, pray for it not to take. Where it has given hours, days, years, it will not yield moments. Where it has given moments so freely and with

abundances, it now gives eternity.

Lori is dead.

Doctor Henry
P.
Grey hurries out of his car, grabs his black leather bag, wipes the sweat from the back of his ne
c
k
,
and rushes up the steps. He looks at the faces of the children sit ting on the porch as he hurries by them and into the hou
se
, then into the room where Ginger Pasko sits holding the limp body of her daughter in her arms. He sighs, then slows his steps towards her.

"She's just sleepin, she's just asleep, she was tired," Gin ger Pasko whispers up to Doc Grey.

"I know, Ginger, I know, I know," Doc Grey whispers, th
e
n gently says, "Let me take her now, Ginger. Let Doc Gre
y
ha
v
e Lori now. Let me see her, Ginger. Let m
e
take
c
ar
e
of h
e
r now. You go on out on the porch and see to them childr
e
n. I'll take care of Lori now." He takes Lori into hi
s
arms and g
e
ntl
y
lays her back down on the bed, then wait
s
u ntil her moth
e
r walks slowly out of the room, then clo
s
es the door.

Sheriff Tom's dusty black Ford
c
om
e
s flying u p th
e
road
,
h
e
jumps out the car and runs up the porch, look
s
around al t h
e

34
I Albert French

still
faces, mumbles, "Doc Grey inside here?," then goes bar reling into the house. He taps on the closed door, whispers harshly, "Doc Grey, Sheriff Tom here,"
then
goes into the room. He looks at the blood-covered bed, the lifeless face, then lowers his head and slowly shakes it back and forth. "My God, Henry, what done happened to this child here?"

Doc Grey turns towards the sheriff,
sighs,
and
lets
his words drift out slowly.
"By
the time I got out here, she was gone. Don't think I could have done much anyway, from
ihe
looks of things. Someone shoved a blade right up between her ribs, just far enough to nip at her heart. That's about all I can tell now. Of course, I'll be making a report and all. I'm just trying to get her a little
presentable,
get her cleaned up some for her kin. She got another slash on her arm. Looks like she may have tried to fight it
off some,
then
looks
like that
second
stab just got in at the right
spot.
We ain't had nothin like this in a long while."

The sheriff walks
closer
to the bed, looks quickly at
Lori
from head to
toe,
then ask Doc Grey,
"Henry,
was
she
both ered any?"

"I
don't think she's been
bothered,
Tom. I haven't
checked
thoroughly
yet, bu t
her
coveralls were bu ttoned
up
prett
y
tight, don't look
like nobody was yankin on
them. Of
course,
I
can
let you
know for sure.
The
only
thing I noticed,
on
her right arm, right up
from
her
wrist a bit
,
looks like
some
bite marks, looks
like she pu t
up
a
pretty
good
fight." Doc
Grey
let his words
drift off,
then
went back
to
getting
the
blood off
Lori.

Sheriff
Tom went
out and stood
on the
porch,
but kept his distance for a moment. David had his mother in his
arms,
both of them
sa
t
trembling. The
younger
boys
still sat
beside Jenny, the tears were
still falling
from all thei r
eyes. Sheriff

B l L L
y
I 35

Tom made a grunting sound, cleared his throat, then seemed to twist his thick neck a little and walked over to David and his mother and knelt down, cleared his throat again, and whispered the best he could, "David, I got to know what hap pened here
.
You think you can tell me?"

"Nigger did it, Sheriff, nigger did it down at the pond. We were up here. Jenny come runnin across the field, just a screamin." David's words are becoming slurred, but he blurt
s
out clearly, "My sister's dead, and that nigger goin to pa
y
for it."

The sheriff stood, took a little tim
e
to wipe the sweat from the back of his neck, looked down at Da
v
id and his mother
,
and mumbled, "Son,
y
ou just take care of
y
our mama now. I promise you, I'll have this nigger fore that sun goes down.
"

Sheriff Tom walks over to Jenny, looks down at her
,
looks at the other children. The youngest boy looks up with a small smile on his face, but stays quiet. The sheriff reaches down and pats the boy's head, then kneels in front of Jenny's blank stare. Her eyes blink, then she lifts her head and stares o
v
er Sheriff Tom's shoulder.

"You're Jenny, arn't ya?" the sheriff ask
,
sighs, and waits for Jenny to look at him. She doesn't. Sheriff Tom takes a deep breath, then says
,
"Jenny, I'm goin to tell you som
e
thing, and I'm goin to want you to listen to Sheriff Tom her
e,
and then you and me, we're goin to walk over to that barn fence, and just me and you goin to talk for a whil
e,
nobod
y
else, just you and me, honey. But first I want you to listen to what I'm goin to tell you: Ain't nobody goin to hurt ya
ever
again. Sheriff Tom here tellin ya that. Now I want you to tak
e
your hand and put it in mine, come now, just Jet Sheriff Tom take your hand. That's it, sugar, that's a girl. Come on t
o
Sh
er
iff Tom, that's a girl."

36 I Allwrt French

Th
e
sh
e
riff stands. Jenny has h is hand and slowly begi ns to ri
se
. When sh
e
do
es,
he pulls her clos
e
to hi m and puts his arm over h
e
r should
e
r. She l
e
ans against him as they wal k to
wards the barn fence
a
nd then the bench by the barn door. They
s
it
,
but Jenn
y
still leans against him. He doesn't say anything, just sits and pats her shoulder. Jenny begins to cry again. The sheriff is quiet, just pats her
s
houlder and ro
c
k
s
and sways with her.

The dogs have quieted, quit their barking and howling
,
but they whine. The birds soar gracefully over the fields
,
some landing, picking at things
,
then just flying away again. Sheriff Tom did not see the birds, the blur of Lori's blood was still in his eyes. He sighs as he keeps patting Jenny's shoulder
,
then softly ask, "Honey, who put them scratches on
y
ou
r
face? Tell Sh
e
riff Tom who did that to
yo
u
.
Was it that ni
g
ger that hurt Lori
?
"

Jenny shakes her head no.

"
Who did that to
y
ou, then?" th
e s
h
e
riff asks. "That other one
,"
J
e
nny answer
s
.

"Two of em
, yo
u
s
a
y
tw
o o
f
e
m
c
am
e
d
o
wn th
e
r
e
?
" "
That'
s
all Ah
s
e
e
n
."

"You ever s
ee
n th
ese
ni
g
g
e
r
s
b
efo
r
e?" "
Ah ain't n
e
v
e
r
see
n
e
m
a
round h
e
r
e
.
"

"That on
e
that
sc
rat
c
h
e
d
y
ou
,
did that t
o y
our fac
e, w
h
a
t he look like
?"

"
Ah ain't n
eve
r
see
n him
befo
r
e.
H
e
wa
s
on
e o
f th
e
m dark kind
,
ain
'
t had
n
o hai
r
.
"

"You mean h
e w
a
s
old
,
had a b
a
ld h
e
a
d?" "
No, h
e
was
j
u
s
t a bo
y,
h
e
w
a
sn'
t rea
l
o
ld.
" "
You say he w
as
ju
s
t a bo
y
?"

"
H
e
wa
s
bigger tha n th
e o
th
e
r on
e,
but h
e w
a
s
n
'
t old
.'' "
That on
e
that hurt Lori, wa
s
h
e
ju
s
t a bo
y?'
'

B I L L Y
I 37

"He was a little skinny nigger." "How old you think they might be?"

"Ah don't know, Ah don't know. Ah ain't sure."

"You thinkin they might be fifteen . . . sixteen . . . maybe even twenty?"

"They wern't that old yet, they were little niggers."

"You thinkin they maybe . . . twelve . . . thirteen . . . about that?"

"Maybe."

"You think you might know em if you see em again?" "That one that knifed Lori, I'd know him for sure." "What they have on, you remember? What were the
y

wearin?"

"Ah don't know, just shirts and pants, Ah guess." "That one that hurt you, what did he do to you?" "Ah was chasin him, and he hit me in the face." "You chased him, did he have a knife?"

"I chased him, he ran all up in them bushes, then he hit me and ran away."

"Did he have a knife too?" "Ah ain't seen one."

"Did the other one beat on Lori?"

"No, she beat him up, then let him go." "She beat him up
,
you say?"

"She got him good. He started cryin and all, she let him up."

"What happen then, tell Sheriff Tom, what happen
e
d then?"

"He . . ."

"Is that when he got that knife out and hurt Lori?" "Uh huh."

The dogs started barking and howling again. The old bat-

38 I Albert f?rN1ch

terec
k
came
roaring u p the dirt path,
l
eav
ing that red d i rt trailing behind it like a
dirty
red wind. Gin
ger
Pasko pushes
away
from David's
arms
and
starts
runni ng to the truck. The truck
stops and slides
t hrough the dirt, its
door
fli
es
open, and
Red Pasko
sc
rambles
out,
dragging his limp leg. Quickly he
stills
hisself, looks
around,
pu hes his
wife aside
as
she
reaches for him.

"Where
is she, where's Lori?" Red Pasko shouts, hops up t he porch steps,
yan ks
t he
screen door open,
and
burst
through the doorway, his wife's
screams
trail behind him.

Doctor Henry P. Grey had
cleaned
most
of
the
blood
off Lori, taken the bloody
sheets
and put them
in
a corner, made
sure
they were out
of sight.
Then he'd
removed
her
shirt, folded
it up tightly
,
and
put it
into
his
bag.
He found
one of
Ginger's blouses that buttoned up the back and put Lori's limp arms through the
sleeves,
th
e
n folded her hands
beneath
her breast. He looked at her babylike
face, shook his
head
,
then reached out
with
his hand,
gently
c
lo
se
d her
eyes, and
pulled the blanket
over
her head. He
would sit with
her,
that
he
could
do
for
h
er
.