Billy (30 page)

"Whatcha
got for me, Tom?" Ely Hampton asks quickl
y
and without look ing up from his deskwork.

"Got
two
confessions, one wi tness,
murd
e
r
weapon,"
th
e
sheriff is saying.

"What's
the motive?" Ely Hampton int
err
upts Sheriff Tom.
"Trespassin,
lookin
for
trouble, lookin
to
bother folks,
"
the

sheriff says and takes a
seat.

"They
bother the
girls any?
That
other girl, was
s
h
e
both
ered?" Ely asks b
efo
re the
sheriff even set
good
.

"Don't
think
so.
Don't
see
it,
got some
bite marks
and scra
tch
es
on the Pa
s
ko
girl,
hu t don't
see she
was bothered." "Let's get them arraigned
on
first
degree."
Ely
Hampton spoke qui
c
kly
,
then look
e
d
out
t h
e
window for an
in
s
tant
and
turned back
to
the
sheriff saying, ;;What's
t h
e
ages of
those

boys, Tom?"

"The
one did th
e
knifin, ten. That
other
boy
says
h
e's
twelv
e,"
the
sheriff
grunted,
then rubbed
th
e
back
of his
neck.

B I L L Y
f
131

"Uh huh," Ely Hampton says, "let's get them over here and get them arraigned. Let's say one o'clock on the nose."

Banes had not said much to Shorty, hadn't even asked him about his busted lip, just had him doin his chores like al ways. Norma Purvis been
calling
him for an hour or so, had sent for him, needed
some
packages picked up on Front Street. She was a little irritated when he finally bounced up to her back door.

"I declare, where on earth
you
been? I been
fetchin
for
ya
for the last hour. Now,
you
take this money and
give it
to Mis ter Macky, he'll know what it's for, and then
you
get
on
back here with those things, go on now." Norma Purvis
shooed
Shorty away.

Fred Sneed and more of his
sittin
buddies, them old Banes men that didn't
come
out much,
came
out today, all of them had their talk going and kept glancing down to the jail
when
they wern't pointing and pulling on them newspapers the
y
still had.

Banes men down at the saw-yard were moving things around a little quicker, and throwing words
over
their
shoul
ders. Everybody'd seen the paper and most of them knew Red Pasko, some of them
were
distant kin.

Carmella Dean was a striking woman
of
twenty-eight,
but
had hard ways, she worked down
at
the beau ty
shop
on Dillion Street, bu t took her lunch up at the Rosey
Gray.
She was talking to Rhoda Lucas while
she was
doing her hair
.

"I
tell ya what, I don't
care
how
you ng
them niggers
are,
they go and do somethin like this, kill that poor
girl,
th
ey
need killin themselves
.
I don't want that kind around me
a
t all, killin folks like that. I think they ought to just take
em

132 I Albert Frmu:lr

on
out somewhere, get
it done with. H avin
em
around just ke
e
ps remi ndin
ya what
they done," Carmella was saying as
she
finished up and
got ready
to go up to the Rosey Gray for l u nch.

Harvey J ak
es
had wasted no t ime i n getting over to
see
Ely Hampton
and comes
running back into his office to get his
camera.
Helen Marks whipped arou nd in her chair and asked, "What's goin on, Mister Jakes?"

"Ely
says the
sheriff
is bringing them boys over to rhe
courthouse,
and I want to get a picture of them in time for page one," Harvey Jakes answers quickly, reaching for his big Speed Graphic camera. Helen Marks
sits
patiently before sayin, "I sure would like
to
see that."

Caroline Hempfield takes her lunch a little
early,
told Ely Hampton
she
would be back in time
for
the arraignment. On her way to the Rosey Gray,
everybody she talked
to
she
told, "Sheriff's bringing them
out
about ten to
one.
Bringin
em
right
over
to the
courthouse. Charge
is
gonna
be murder in the first degree."

High noon did not bring
sunlight into
Billy's
cell,
just
s
tr
engthened
th
e
harsh
shadows.
Deputy Hill
had
mad
e
his feeding rounds, now it
is whispering time.
Bill
y
had
learned from the
sound of
the
footsteps above
his
head
when
someone
was
coming
down into the
cellblock,
knew
as soon as
the
big
door rattled,
someone was comin.

Gumpy had b
eg
u n to mov
e
arou nd some
in his
ce
ll, looked forward to
the
hot
sandwiches and soup.
He
could
not
see
Billy, only his hand if he
stuck
it out
far enough
through
the
bars. They whispered
most of
the hou r
s
now, until the
foot s
tep
s
above got close to the door, then they'd dash for the
cor
ners of thei r
cells.

B I L L Y
I 133

They are whispering now. "Hey, Gumpy, Gumpy."
"Huh?"

"Ya think theys lets us go?"

Gumpy does not answer, only thinks of Billy's question. Billy waits a moment, then calls again, "Hey, Gumpy,
ya
think our mamas come git us,
ya
think that? Ya think we's can go fore dark time?"

Gumpy remains silent.

"Hey, Gumpy, maybe we's
can sneaks
out? Maybe we's
can
sneaks up and gits out the window. We's
can waits
till they's sleepin."

"We can'ts do thats
,
Billy, theys gots bars on them win dows. Can't ya see
em?"

Billy is silent for a moment, then whispers,
"Ah
wants ta go home."

Gumpy whispers back, "Ah wants ta go home too. Ah don't likes bein in heres. Ah tells ya they git us." Gumpy's "Yhis pers jolt, his eyes pop wide open, then he scoots back into the corner of his cell.

Billy leans against the cell bars, listens, then gets back in his shadowed corner.

The big heavy door clanks open, the thump of footsteps coming down the steps begins.

Deputy Hill comes into the shadows, stands
silently
look ing back and forth through the cell block, then turns
and goes
to Gumpy's cell and takes the key and inserts it into the lock, swings the door open, and shouts, "Get out here, get out h
e
r
e
right now, ya hear me?"

Gumpy shrinks back into the
corner.
He is trembling and begins to
cry
when Depu ty Hill
shouts
again,
"Damn
y
a,

134 I Albert Frc11clr

boy,
get your ass over here now, fore A h
come
in there and get ya."

Gum py th rows h is
eyes
up into Deputy Hill's face and keeps them there as he
eases
off his
cot
and inches his way to the big wh ite man.

"Get
over here now, damn it," Deputy Hill shouts as he be gins to lose patience and knows Sheriff Tom is waiti ng for him upstairs. He reaches over and grabs Gumpy's shoulder and jerks him out of the cell, yanks him around, and then grabs his arms and pulls them behi nd his back. Gumpy's cries become screams and he begins to
squirm
and wiggle away screaming, "Ah didn't do nothin. Ah
wants
ta go home
.
Lets me go home, mister. Lets me go home."

"Shut
up, god damn it. Ya don't
shut
up, Ah take my belt to
ya,
boy. Shut up," Deputy Hill
yells
as he takes his hand cuffs and puts them around Gumpy's wrists and
squeezes
them to their last notch. He yanks Gumpy around and out into the walkway and
shouts,
"Ya stand here, righ t here. Ya move one
step
and
Ah come
back here
and
beat
your ass
for ya."

Billy has
squirmedeeper into the
shadows of
his
cell, bu t
the whites of his
eys cannot
hide from Deputy Hill. He is
al
ready
shaking
when Deputy Hill puts the key into his
cell
door,
shouting, "Get
y
our ass over
here
now,
boy."

Front Street had a face that was not
smiling.
it
was
like
an
old face,
a stone face
t ha t d id not warm u p wi th the high hot sun. Banes
folks stood
watching,
wai ting, whispering
to
one
another in their wait. The Rosey Gray had
emptied,
Fred Sneed and his
sitti n
buddies
stood, Caroli ne
Hempfield
scooted
through the
crowd
and went back to the
courthouse,
Carmella Dean moved to the
edge of
the
sidewalk.
Harvey

B J L L Y
I
135

Jakes stood on the courthouse steps, Helen Mark
s
was b
y
hi
s
side. Shorty bounced up the street and
w
ent into Mack
y's
store lookin for Mister Macky.

The jailhouse door opened and Sheriff Tom stepped out into the harsh sunlight, looked around, and mumbled something back inside, then stepped slowly down the steps and waited. Deputy Hill pushed the two dark skinny shadowed colored fig ures into the harsh sunlight. He had each one by the back of their necks, pushing and steering them down the steps.

"There they are. . . . Here th
e
y come. . .
.
Look at em. . .
.

Damn niggers . . ." the mumbles began.

James Maben and Andrew Miller moved from the sidewalk and started towards the night-colored bo
y
s, others on the sidewalk followed.

"Goddamn niggers .
.
. Look at em . . ." the mumble
s
were becoming shouts and snarls.

Carmella Dean yells out, "Ya ought ta kill em right n
w,
Sheriff."

Sheriff Tom kept his pace.

Deputy Hill pushed Gumpy and Billy faster, but kept hi
s
eyes on th
e
approaching crowd.

Melody Curran, a distant relative to the Paskos, break
s
from the crowd and runs up behind Deput
y
Hill screamin
g
,
"You killed Lori, you rotten black bastard
s
. You bastard
s
. You killed my cousin."

Gumpy shakes and squeezes his
e
y
es
clos
e
d.

Billy tries to look around, but flinches from the shout
s
and yells.

Sheriff Tom keep
s
hi
s
stride.

Fred Sneed yells,
"
Hey, Sheriff, Sheriff
,
Ah got a rop
e
o
ve
r here for ya. That's what ya n
e
ed for em."

136 I Albert French

Deputy Hill looks behind him and
sees
the
crowd
ap proaching.

Carmella Dean
spits
once, then runs up closer and spits again in Gumpy's face.

Depu ty Hill pushes Gumpy and Billy away from the
crowd
.
"Little
black bastards. Nigger animals," shouts
come