Buddies (10 page)

“It shore does,” Joey Frank whispered back.

“He looks like he could commence a-talkin’; don’t he?”

“Yeah, he does, Ernie.”

“Them eyes of his’n re-minds me of our ole tom cat when he’s gittin’ all set to spring for a June bug.”

Joey Frank had turned white, his voice began to shake as he said, “Yeah, Ernie, an’ he looks like, he’s a-lookin’ straight at me an’ you. I thank we oughta git outta here. There ain’t no tellin’ what he’s a pumpin’ in Miss Rene’s head back at that graveyard.”

Ernie now realized that Joey Frank had become very upset. He knew that if he was as distressed over Banker Tolbert’s portrait, as he had been about the wanted poster tacked to the big oak tree in town, then they were in big trouble. If he passed out, being as big as he was, it would be a laborious task to drag him away to the nearest horse trough to revive him.

Ernie agreed to leave, but he wanted to make a few things clear first. He whispered, “Joey Frank, we’ll go, but I better not never hear you ‘cusin’ me of havin’ chicken blood in my veins anymore, when you know dang good an’ well that I ain’t never had sech. I’ve proved to you I wudn’t skeered to come here an’ face Miss Rene, now didn’t I?”

“Yeah, an’ I won’t never ‘cuse you of sech, no more, I promise. Now, come on, let’s git outta here!”

The boys got up to leave just as the nice lady was coming through the doorway with their lemonade. Ernie knew he had to explain something to her as to why they were suddenly leaving knowing full well that Joey Frank would never be able to. He said, ‘Ma’am, we cain’t stay on ‘cause Joey Frank has had one of his spells. When he gits in a strange place, his breath goes to cuttin’ off, an’ he has to git away quick or he’ll pass out. We’re mighty obliged to you an’ we’ll be on our way now.”

The young lady didn’t respond. She just looked at the boys as they rushed passed her holding the tray of lemonade. They walked over to the door and let themselves out. As they started across the porch, Joey Frank didn’t think about marring it. He didn’t care if the tacks were working out of his shoes and scratching the smooth-surfaced floor. He just wanted to get away fast.

As they were about to step from the porch, Ernie hesitated as he took Joey Frank’s arm. They stood and watched as a buggy came speeding through the yard, not bothering to take the designated buggypath. The way it came racing through the well-kept grounds, rolling over jonquil beds and knocking down their rock walls, the driver could be a bit tipsy.

Joey Frank wanted to run, but Ernie held a firm grip on his arm, and was not about to let him run out in front of the crazy driver. He said, “Ernie, that’s Miss Rene, an’ she’s mad as the devil too. I told you Banker Tolbert wud pump her head full of stuff at that graveyard. He’s went an’ put her up to kill me an’ you, like he tried to do. She’s a-comin’ after us; let’s run!”

“Joey Frank, calm yoreself down,” Ernie said, giving his arm a hard jerk. “That ain’t Miss Rene. Cain’t you see that’s a man?”

“Then it’s him, it’s him, it’s Banker Tolbert!”

“No, it ain’t. I’ve told you ghosts don’t come out in the daytime. Now hush up sech.”

The buggy pulled up to the steps where the boys stood looking. A young man jumped out and nodded a hurried, halfway hello, as he went to the door. The way he rapped on the plate glass, it’s a wonder it didn’t shatter. It was obvious the young man was angry. Ernie was curious about his behavior and wanted to stay to see what was going on.

Joey Frank didn’t care what was going on. He was so happy to see the driver of the buggy wasn’t Miss Rene or the ghost of Banker Tolbert that he hardly noticed the young man’s behavior. Now that he had calmed down and Ernie saw his color was back to normal, he released his arm. They watched together as the pretty lady opened the door. She spoke with great surprise, when she said, “Hank! You shouldn’t have come here; you should know better. Mother will be returning at anytime. You must go away now, please.”

“I ain’t goin’ nowhere ‘til we’ve talked,” Hank said, pushing his way past the young lady and into the house.

Although she had closed the door, the boys couldn’t help hearing Hank’s loud voice saying spiteful things about Miss Rene. He blatted out that she thought she was the “cock of the walk” in Ruby Creek and everyone was supposed to look up to her because she has plenty of money. He said that she was mean and defiant and cared for nothing except her wealth and the Tolbert prestige.

On and on he went with his voice getting more distant. When Ernie could no longer understand what Hank was saying, he wanted to move to a better location so he could hear more clearly. He remembered that in the big living room there were some windows that were at the side of the house, and from the way the voices carried, he thought that was probably where Hank and the young lady were. He said, “Joey Frank, let’s me an’ you crawl around over yonder to that side of the house under them windows. I’ll bet’cha they’re gonna start fightin’ like dogs an’ cats in there an’ I’m a-hankerin’ to hear sech.”

“We’d better not do sech, Ernie. That lady said Miss Rene could come in anytime. She might ketch us.”

“She ain’t gonna ketch us ‘cause she ain’t gonna see us. When she comes in, she’ll come up through that buggypath over yonder. Me an’ you’ll be around over here on this side of the house, an’ there ain’t no way she can see us. Now quit bein’ so dang skeered, an’ come on. Yore gonna like hearin’ all that quarrlin’ in there. Just you wait an’ see.”

Joey Frank didn’t like the idea, but he gave in to Ernie. They ran over to the side of the house, got down on their hands and knees, and crawled to the windows. They sat back against the house and tried to listen and hear the commotion from inside.

Hank had stopped shouting now, and the boys could hear only bits and pieces of a conversation between him and theyoung lady. Ernie whispered to Joey Frank, “That quarrel between’m ended way too soon, an’ it’ll prob’bly fire back up in a little while.”

As they sat waiting for the brawl to begin, Joey Frank wondered how on earth Ernie could ever think that sitting under the Tolbert’s windows and eavesdropping could possibly be any fun. He had never been so bored in all his life. If he were sitting on the riverbank for a whole day and never got a nibble, then it wouldn’t be nearly so boring as this silliness. He whispered, “Ernie, I’m tired of sittin’ down here an’ waitin’ for them folks to commence a-quarrlin’. They ain’t sayin’ nothin’ in there now.”

“They might a-went to another room. You sit still, I’ll git up, an’ look in, to see,” Ernie whispered.

“If they’re in there, they gonna see you.”

“Hush!”

Ernie got up and eased his head up to the window. He stayed and stayed. Joey Frank couldn’t imagine why he was taking so long. Finally he reached over, and pulled the leg of his breeches to get his attention and whispered to him, “Can you see anything? Are they in there or not?”

Ernie turned his head around and whispered back, “Yeah, they’re in there.”

“But, I don’t hear no quarrelin’ outta them. What are they doin?”

“You don’t need to know. You stay down there, an’ bequiet.”

“Why don’t I need to know?”

“’Cause yore too young.”

Joey Frank whispered a little louder with resentment, “You ain’t but eight days older than me, I done told you.”

“Lower yore voice. They’ll hear you.”

Joey Frank was tired of Ernie’s treating him as if he were a child, all the time throwing in his face that he was too young for this and too young for that. Whatever Ernie was seeing through the Tolbert’s window, Joey Frank meant that he was going to see also. He jumped to his feet, whispering “Well, dang you, Ernie Brown, I’m a-gonna look in there, where you like it or not, an’ you cain’t stop me.”

“Go on an’ look then, but if you feel a sick spell a-comin’ on, then you’d better not spatter me with yore puke, an’ I mean it.”

Ernie moved over somewhat so that Joey Frank could look into the window with him. They watched the young couple kiss, hug, and look into each other’s eyes. Ernie was thoroughly enjoying the scene so much that his mind was cut off from everything else.

Joey Frank thought the sight was disgusting. His ears were paying attention when he heard what he thought was a buggy pulling into the Tolbert’s place. He gave Ernie a jab with his elbow and whispered, “Ernie, I hear a buggy a-comin’ an’ it sounds real close too, like it’s right out there in the front yard. It may be Miss Rene; we’d better git out from here.”

“She ain’t a-gonna come around here; now hush up. I’m gonna watch’er come in an’ ketch’m.”

Joey Frank didn’t feel so sure that Miss Rene wouldn’t come around the house and catch them looking into her window. While Ernie watched the lovers inside, Joey Frank stood and kept his eyes fixed on the corner of the house. If he spotted Miss Rene Tolbert, he was going to take off running as fast as he could. Ernie Brown could just hang around and face her all by himself if he wanted to.

Joey Frank could hear footsteps on the front porch now. He heard the door open and then close. In a moment, a female’svoice yelled out Hank’s name from the inside. It was plain to hear that Hank wasn’t this lady’s favorite person. Joey Frank had never heard as much cursing from one person in his life. This woman was using strong words, fighting words-some of them he had never heard before.

Ernie was enjoying every minute of the excitement; he was smiling from ear to ear with the knot of chewing tobacco stuck out on his jaw. He whispered to Joey Frank, “There she is, Joey Frank. There’s Miss Rene, an’ she’s mad as a ole hen with a bunch of youngons. Git up here an’ look at her.”

Joey Frank stepped up to the window, looked in and saw Miss Rene. Her eyes looked as mean as Banker Tolbert’s, as she stood before Hank, shouting at him. She yanked off her fancy feathered hat, threw it over into a chair and blatted out at Hank again, saying, “Get out of my house, Hank Eller; you’re notwelcome here, you low-bred . Get out of here; get out thisminute.”

Hank flared back at Miss Rene. He walked up to her and pointed his finger in her face. When he stormed out at her, the veins in his neck protruded. “Rene Tolbert, there’s a few things you’re gonna hafta get used to, whether you like it or not,” he said. “The first thing you’re gonna have to live with is, me and Alice are gonna get married. The second thing you’re gonna hafta accept is, we’re gonna have babies. Live babies, Rene, that won’t be squeezed to death by a corset that Alice was forced to wear by you, ‘cause you didn’t want the people of Ruby Creek to know she was pregnant and ruin that precious Tolbert name. If it wasn’t for the sake of Alice, I would go this very minute and tell the whole town about how you and your husband took your own grandchild and buried it somewhere, like some animal.”

Hank ignored Miss Rene’s orders to leave the house. When he had stopped his rampage, he went back over to the couch and sat down by Alice, who was yet to utter the first word to defend her Mother. Miss Rene had grown pale now. Hank’s news of Alice and him getting married was a heavy blow to her. She sat down slowly in a chair that faced Alice. She began to sob and speak softly, “Alice, my dear, how can you renew your relationship with this low-class thing that calls himself a man, after all that your dead father and I have gone through to protect you from being scandalized by him? How can you do this to us? Oh, how can you?”

Miss Rene bowed her head; she didn’t bother to wipe away the tears that slid down her face.

Alice finally got up and went over to comfort her weeping mother. She sat down on the arm of the chair, put her arm around Miss Rene’s shoulder and spoke softly to her. “Mother, you’re all worn out, and you need to rest. Please go to your room and lie down for a while. You’ll feel better then, and I’m sure you will look at things altogether differently.”

Miss Rene rose from the chair, with her eyes fixed on Hank. She gave him a ruthless look; then she turned and left the room.

Ernie whispered to Joey Frank, “Well, we know who that baby belongs to now, an’ we know why they went an’ buried it out in them woods the way they did. I reckin the quarrelin’ is all over with now. Let’s go down yonder to the blacksmith shop to see Mr. Pearson. He just might let me try my luck at shoein’ a horse today.”

The boys turned away from the window to leave. They didn’t see Miss Rene as she re-entered the room with a revolver. Hank jumped up from the couch, and ran toward her in a desperate effort to get the gun away from her, but he wasn’t quick enough. Miss Rene took aim at him and fired the pistol. The bullet missed him and went through the window, striking Ernie in the back of the head. He fell face down on the ground with blood gushing from the wound. Joey Frank heard the shot and realized what had happened. He quickly knelt down beside Ernie lifting his face away from the ground. He saw that Ernie’snose was bleeding also. He cried, “No, Ernie! Please don’t, Ernie! You cain’t! You cain’t! Please, don’t do sech!”

Joey Frank screamed frantically toward the Tolbert’s house for someone, anyone to please come help, but apparently he wasn’t heard because no one came. He turned Ernie over onto his back.

He then switched his hands back and forth under Ernie’s head to keep it off the ground, while he wriggled the jacket he was wearing off. He folded it with one hand, and put it under his buddies’ bloody head.

Joey Frank jumped up, and ran horrified, as fast as his legs could carry him, toward Doctor Black’s office. When he arrived there, he bolted through the front door, ran past a lady and a child seated in the waiting room. He ran over to the examination room with which he was familiar, because of Gloria’s many visits there. He opened the door where Doctor Black was busy with a patient. Joey Frank was out of breath when he cried out from the doorway, pleading, “Doc Black, you gotta come quick. My buddy Ernie’s hurt real bad. He’s been shot. Somebody went an’ shot him back there at the Tolbert’s house. He’s a-bleedin’ real bad from his head an’ his nose. Oh,please, hurry, Doc, I’m afraid he’s a-gonna _ _ _ that he’s a-

gonna _ _ _.”

Joey Frank burst out crying, unable to say the horrible word he was thinking. His buddy was dying.