Buddies (8 page)

Together once more, the boys were off to spend the day. Ernie said that he wanted to go by Ruby Creek before they went to the river because he was almost out of tobacco. Joey Frank didn’t much like the idea, but he knew how ornery Ernie got when he didn’t have a chew, so he agreed to go.

In Ruby Creek the name Banker Tolbert could be heard almost everywhere. While the boys were in the General Store, they overheard Mr. McGraw telling the town’s gossip, Miss Mattie Hogan, that it was being discussed about having the town’s name changed from Ruby Creek to Tolbert Creek. This of course was to honor the eminent banker. Miss Mattie, who was one of the town’s oldest citizens, told Mr. McGraw that was the best news she had heard in a long time, and the name should have been changed long before now. The Tolbert family deserved having the town named after them, because they were the ones responsible for restoring the old building and erecting new ones she said. Before Banker Tolbert and his wife came to Ruby Creek, the place was no more than a ghost town. Now the town had everything it needed because of the kind and loving Banker Tolbert and Miss Rene, who had furnished most of the money for the town’s growth.

Ernie’s curiosity became aroused as he was listening to Miss Mattie and Mr. McGraw’s conversations. He and Joey Frank went over to the checkout counter to purchase the chewing tobacco and exchanged greetings with Miss Mattie, who stood just passing the time of day, and to Mr. McGraw, standing behind the counter being his usual friendly self.

Miss Mattie stepped aside for the boys to be waited on, making it appear that she was going to stay around for awhile longer to continue her favorite pastime of gossiping, which she so thoroughly enjoyed spreading and hearing.

Ernie said, “I heard what y’all wuz talkin’ about; an’ I commence to wonder who Ruby Creek wuz named after? I’ve lived around these parts all my life; go to school too, but I ain’t never heard it said who it wuz named after. Do y’all happen to know sech?”

“I’d say that it wuz named after a gal, bein’ its gotta gal’s name.” Joey Frank spoke up.

“Well, I know that, Joey Frank, an’ ever’body else knows sech, but who wuz the gal? That’s what I wanna know.”

Miss Mattie’s face flushed red, and she looked at Ernie as if she wanted to knock his head off. She looked at Joey Frank the same way, and what she had to say wasn’t the lease bitfriendly. “You young folks think you’ve got to know everything these days, blabbing your mouths where they’re not wanted and having no respect whatsoever for your elders.”

Miss Mattie’s spectacles had slipped to her nose from shaking her head back and forth with shame. She pushed them back up, as she walked closer to the stunned boys and pointed her finger at them. She shook it a time or two and concluded her little speech by saying, “Foolish minds are not my kind, their thoughts are worthless and deprive my time.”

Miss Mattie reached over and snatched up the bag of things she had purchased from the counter. She said “Good-day” to Mr. McGraw, then whirled around and left the store.

Joey Frank and Ernie were baffled by Miss Mattie’s actions. They couldn’t imagine what on earth they had said to offend her so much. They saw her about every time they came to Ruby Creek, and she had always been friendly enough. On one occasion when they were walking by her home on Main Street, she waved and called out to them from her front porch to come in so they could sample her fresh blueberry pie. Today Miss Mattie was totally different. The sudden change in her perplexed the boys.

Joey Frank remembered hearing his Pa laugh and say little humorous things about Miss Mattie. He, Mama, and Gloria would always get a big thrill out of hearing them. There was no one who could put things into words and make them as exciting as Pa could. He said that Miss Mattie was the ugliest and nosiest old lady that he had ever seen in his life. She worked part-time at the post office. The men folks nicknamed her “Teakettle” because she kept a teakettle at the post office for the purpose of steaming open people’s mail. Pa said in the wintertime the little teakettle stayed heated and ready at all times on the potbellied stove. In the summer she heated the little metal pot of water on a contraption that she had rigged up with a candle under it. She told the public that her arthritis hurt so badly, sometimes, she couldn’t make it through the day without having her hot tea to sip on. He said her arthritis tale might have some of the folks fooled, but it sure didn’t fool him, because he knew the smell of tea brewing and Miss Mattie’s little kettle was full of nothing but pure well water for steaming open people’s mail. She felt compelled to keep up with what was going on in Ruby Creek.

When Pa finished telling his tales about Miss Mattie and the family had their laughs, he would always add a kind word about her. He said although Miss Mattie might be a bit nosey and ugly, with oversized ears for a female, nevertheless she was a gracious old soul and there wasn’t a harmful bone in her body.

Ernie wanted to know what he and Joey Frank had said to upset Miss Mattie, causing her to behave the way she had. He wanted to ask Mr. McGraw if he knew, but Mr. McGraw couldn’t stop laughing long enough for him to ask. The boys looked at each other with puzzled faces and then, at Mr. McGraw with confusion. They had made Miss Mattie so angry that she left the store, now Mr. McGraw was laughing so hard that he couldn’t get a hold of himself. His face had become so red from all the laughing that it looked as though every drop of blood in his body had settled there.

Finally Mr. McGraw stopped laughing so hard, he managed to speak to the boys between little chuckles, saying, “Fellows, I’m sorry, but that’s one laugh that I just couldn’t hold back. Mercy, I’m sure glad Miss Mattie got outta here when she did because I was just about to burst out laughing in the lady’s face. Lord, I ain’t laughed this much since I don’t know when.”

Mr. McGraw picked up his pipe from the counter that he had laid aside while he waited on Miss Mattie. He gave it a few hard puffs to get it started back up again; he went on to say, “I’ll swear, if this older generation of ladies around here don’t beat everything. I don’t reckin that they’re ever gonna let this little town live down, how it got its name. If it’s ever brought up in their presence, who Ruby Creek was named after, then theybecome embarrassed, get mad as old setting hens, and turn red as a beet like Miss Mattie just did. Ernie, I know that you didn’t mean any harm when you spoke up, but Miss Mattie thought that it was just awful. The name Ruby to the women folks in this town is a pure disgrace, especially to the older ladies like Miss Mattie. Lord, I’ll bet there ain’t a girl in this whole country by the name of Ruby, now and hadn’t been in years.”

“Why?” Ernie and Joey Frank asked at the same time

“Well, I don’t reckin there’s any harm in telling you. I see nothing wrong with anyone wanting to learn all they can about the history of the place where they grew up. Most boys your age, in this part of the country, already know how Ruby Creek got its’ name. They’ve learned from their Pa’s and Grandpa’s, but Lord, they didn’t learn it from their Ma’s and Grandma’s because they would never talk of such.”

Mr. McGraw sat down on a high stool that he kept behind the counter. He began to tell the story that had been handed down to him, as Ernie and Joey Frank stood curiously listening.

“Well Boys, it was a long time ago,” he said. “It was before I was born. I’d say that it’s been fifty or sixty years ago when Ruby Creek got its name. My Father remembers the pretty bawd* well that the town was named after. He still talks about how beautiful she was with her long dark hair, smooth white skin and eyes that sparkled like diamonds. He said all the men loved the gorgeous lady, and all the women hated her. Ruby was her name, and back then, she used to sing at the old saloon down the street. During that time the little town had just been born and didn’t have a name. My father said one day all the men folks got together and made it official that the town be named Ruby Creek. The name Ruby was from the pretty bawd and Creek from the large creek below town. When this took place, my father said, it set sparks flying. He said the women folks became so furious

*Keeper of a brothel that they kicked their men folk outta the house coming and going. The poor fellows had to bed down in their barns, to sleep for weeks and weeks. Mr. McGraw gave his pipe a few more puffs, and then he continued with the story that kept the boy interest. “Boys, I’ve been told that the old saloon building down the street is now haunted by the pretty bawd’s spirit. Some of the fellows from around here tell me, when they walk by the deserted old building late at night, they can see a beautiful lady wearing a red dress just standing there at the closed door. They say she is only there a few minutes, and then she disappears right before their eyes into thin air.”

Joey Frank was curious about what a bawd was, but “Mr. know it all” Ernie already knew. Joey Frank had never heard the word before, and he wanted to know the meaning so, he asked. “Mr. McGraw, what’s a bawd? Is she a Queen or somethin’ like that?”

Ernie spoke up loudly an’ clearly saying, “Heck, no, a bawd ain’t no queen, an’ you ain’t got no bizness a-knowin’ what one is ‘cause yore too young to know about sech.”

Joey Frank and Ernie had made Mr. McGraw’s day. He began to laugh once more as the boys were leaving the store to go to the river.

Ernie Brown was an inquisitive young man, and therefore he knew lots more about different things than Joey Frank. He was eager to learn about things that folks didn’t think that he should learn about just yet. He would break his neck to try to find out what it was that they didn’t want him to know.

Ernie was proud of the fact that he was a dab older than Joey Frank. So he liked to throw his shoulders back and boast about it, as he did at the General Store in front of Mr. McGraw. Although he was only eight days older, he felt as if he were the grown-up of the two and should be the one to give the orders and take the lead. There had been times when that would cause a spat between the two, but after awhile they would get over beingangry with each other and become chummy once more, with Ernie giving the orders and taking the lead again.

If Joey Frank were ever to learn what a bawd was, then he would certainly have to find out from somebody besides Ernie.

As they sat on the riverbank, Joey Frank asked, “Ernie, why wudn’t you tell me what a bawd wuz back at Mr. McGraw’s store?”

“’Cause.”

“’Cause why?”

“’Cause you don’t need to know.”

“Why don’t I need to know?”

“I done told you that yore too young to know sech, that’swhy.”

“I’m nearly as ole as you are.”

“But you ain’t though.”

“Miss Lester ain’t never teached that word in school, so how do you know what it means?”

“I just know.”

“Well, who told you?

“Nobody.”

“Yore tellin’ a dirty lie, Ernie Brown, an’ you know it. Somebody had to tell you what a bawd wuz or you wudn’t know sech.”

“I ain’t tellin’ no dang lie, Joey Frank Cooper, an’ don’t you ‘cuse me of sech. There ain’t nobody told me what a bawd wuz. I heard Mr. Pearson an’ some more fellars talkin’ about’m one day at the blacksmith shop; that’s how I found out what one wuz.”

“Well, if you don’t wanna tell me what one is, then don’t. I ain’t gonna beg you to for shore. I reckin I can find out from my Mama what one is. She’ll know what that word means.”

“You go an’ ast yore Mama sech, an’ she’ll take yore hide to the woodshed, too. You’ll git a whuppin’ that you won’t never forgit.”

“Why would she do sech?”

“’Cause bawds ain’t s’pose to be talked in front of Mamas, that’s why. Didn’t you hear Mr. McGraw say at the Gen’ral Store that all women folks hated Ruby?”

“You went an’ said bawds. Is there more of’m besides

Ruby?”

“Heck, yeah, there’s more of’m besides Ruby. There’s a bunch of’m; about one or two in every town, Mr. Pearson said, except for Ruby Creek. He said that there ain’t been a bawd that he’d heard of since Ruby. Now will you hush up an’ talk about somethin’ else? Dang, I’m tired of hearin’ sech.”

The conversation on bawds had ended. Ernie refused to talk on the subject anymore, and that left Joey Frank feeling somewhat spiteful toward him. He was so angry that he would like to take his fishing pole and hit him over the head with it, and let the fish hook swing around and snag him in the backside. He had to grit his teeth and count to ten to keep from jumping up and becoming violent.

There was silence between the boys for a period of time. During that time, as they sat pouting at each other, Ernie became dissatisfied because he wasn’t catching any fish. He finally spoke up and said he was either going to walk around in the woods and search for buckeyes or go back to Ruby Creek to the blacksmith shop.

Joey Frank said that he had rather go hunt for buckeyes, because he didn’t care about returning to Ruby Creek. Headmitted the ‘Wanted Posters’ that had been posted all over town, for Banker Tolbert’s killer, made him uncomfortable. He wanted to stay away for a while.

Ernie glared at Joey Frank and sneered when he said to him, “Joey Frank Cooper, if I wuz as dang skeered as you wuz, I wudn’t go outside to the outhouse after dark. I’d be a sissy an’ use the chamber pot under the bed like the women folks do”.

That smart remark did it! A fellow could only take so much at a time, and Ernie had gone over the limit with his picking at Joey Frank. He was fed up now and ready to fire back at Ernie. He slammed down his fishing pole, sprang to his feet, went over to Ernie and shouted, “Well, Mr. Ernie Brown, I’ll have you to know that I ain’t as dang skeered as you let on like I am. I’ll have you to know that I went an’ done somethin’ that you’d been skeered to death to a-done. You ain’t half as brave as you want folks to thank you are”.

Ernie laid his fishing pole down and jumped to his feet. He turned his head and spit, then he faced Joey Frank, responding, “Well, I don’t know what in the world you could be talkin’ about, Joey Frank Cooper. Do you mind tellin’ ole Ernie here what you went an’ done so big that he’d been skeered to death to a-done?”