Nobody Said Amen (36 page)

Butler stumbled from the car and stood, staring, as Lonergan got in the cruiser, raced the motor, and swung into a screeching U-turn, heading back toward Shiloh.

In November there was an announcement from Mayor Roland Burroughs’s office that Sheriff Dennis Haley would not seek reelection once his term was over at the end of the year.

Sheriff Haley posted a letter in the
Shiloh Clarion
:

I want to thank the good citizens of Magnolia County for the cooperation and support they have offered me for 21 years. It has been a privilege to be your guardian during turbulent times in our beloved county. I will miss you all. I am moving on to pursue a new business opportunity in the country of Belize. I wish you all the best.

It was also announced that Deputy Harold Butler, after 17 years on the force, was retiring to Idaho due to pressing family business and a desire to spend more time with his wife and growing children. Mayor Burroughs declared: “The post of deputy sheriff, served so well by Deputy Harold Butler, will be filled by the best law enforcement applicant, regardless of race. It is time, once again, for Magnolia County to lead the way in Mississippi to achieve racial harmony among all our citizens.”

The ceremony at Delta State had been brief, but for Luke Claybourne Willy knew it was a glory day. When he stepped from the stage bearing the diploma, his face was exultant, and he shepherded his family down the crowded aisle with an urgency of pure joy. “Race you to the car, guys!” He bounded across the lawn toward the car followed by Alex and Benny, hooting with laughter. She watched them. This was happy. God, how long since she had felt this? When she reached the car, the boys lay across the back seat, panting and giggling.

Luke leaned back from the steering wheel, grinning as he watched her approach. “Got a couple of sprinters here, Wil.” He glanced up at the rearview mirror and smiled at the kids. “Your ma must be running cross-country, boys!”

Willy slid into the car and kissed Luke. “Just didn’t expect all that speed from your daddy, him being the oldest kid in the class!”

He laughed. “Oldest, but the fastest!”

“You really the fastest, daddy? ” Benny’s eyes were wide. “Mama says you really are the oldest.”

“Listen to your mama. She knows everything.” He tapped her knee. “Knows she’s married to the first Claybourne to get a B.A., and got it in two years. Now that’s fast!”

There was whispering in the back seat and Benny erupted with laughter. “You the teacher’s pet, daddy? Alex says the teacher looked real sweet at you.”

“Did not!” shouted Alex.

“Did too!”

Willy turned in her seat. “Hush! This is a special occasion and daddy doesn’t need fighting.” She chuckled. “Come to think of it, though, the Dean did look sweet at your father!”

“She was just glad to get rid of me,” Luke said as he backed the Chevy out of the parking lot. Once home, the boys went loping up the block to join a softball game and Luke followed Willy into the house. She settled into a seat and watched Luke pour two highballs to celebrate the occasion. Handing her the drink, he planted his feet in an oratorical manner and spoke enthusiastically to an imaginary microphone. “Ex-cotton planter and ex-Parchman guard Lucas Claybourne III announced today that he is entering the field of aquaculture that Mr. Claybourne triumphantly mastered in his studies at Delta State University after resigning his post at Parchman Penitentiary.”

Willy grinned and applauded. Luke nodded majestically in acknowledgement and pushed ahead. “The explanter and expenologist now has plans to float a sufficiently munificent loan from the Tildon Commercial Bank to finance an ambitious new venture in Delta capitalism, Claybourne and Sons, Inc. This venture will be devoted to the production and distribution of the highest quality fish in the Mississippi Delta.”

Laughing, Willy said, “Do you think you ought to send the announcement to the networks and
Time
and
Newsweek
?”

“Great idea! I’ll send a telegram to the old outside agitator, Mendelsohn: ‘A bit of breaking news from the blood-soaked soil of the Mississippi Delta! Times are changing and fish are now replacing cotton in order to answer the growing demand of the American public for fast food and fried fish! First among equals is entrepreneur Luke Claybourne, once an honorary member of the Shiloh White Citizens’ Council, now head of Claybourne and Sons, whose motto will be: THE FISH WILL RISE AGAIN!”

“Glory be!” shouted Willy. “The Stars and Bars are shuddering to the ground, and Jefferson Davis is weeping. THE FISH WILL RISE AGAIN!” She rose and embraced Luke. “I’m so proud of you, darling. We all are. Even Eula said you graduated Parchman honorably for a white cracker plantation owner. Not bad, Mr. Claybourne. And now you’ve got your Delta State degree, too. Congratulations.” She placed her glass on the table and stepped back, her eyes seeking Luke’s. The buoyant hilarity seemed suddenly to have leached from the room. In the silence they could hear the whooping of the children from the end of the street. Willy’s voice sounded louder than she intended and the words she had not anticipated escaped unbidden into the early twilight of the cramped living room. “So if I understand the scenario of riches to rags to riches as performed by the Delta Claybournes, now you . . . and Alex . . . and Benny . . . will be starting all over again with Claybourne and Sons.” The color had paled in her tight face. “Right?”

Luke frowned and set his glass carefully on the table. “Whoa, Willy! What are you getting at?”

She flushed, then lifted her chin to confront him. “Where exactly with Claybourne and Sons do you see me fitting into your exciting new life?”

He stared at her. “You know where. Where you’ve belonged for twenty years, as Willy Claybourne, my wife, mother of my sons, the heart of my family.” His voice rose. “You fit in by taking pride in my accomplishments on behalf of our family and taking your rightful place as a quality woman who is important and gets respect in our Shiloh.” His voice was now angry. “You fit in by giving up playing Lady Bountiful and leaving Parchman, as I have.”

Willy erupted, “Lady Bountiful? How dare you! Your wife? Your woman who bears your sons? Your accomplishments? Your family? Your decisions?” Tears filled her eyes. “Luke, can you even remember our honeymoon?”

“Of course I remember! What in the world has that to do with this conversation?”

“Everything! Do you really remember New Orleans? The lovemaking? The long walks and the long talks when we’d go down to the river for hot croissants and watch the sun come up?” Her voice broke. “Do you really?”

“Willy—what?”

She sat down, her eyes squeezed tight, and he strained to hear. “That whole lovely week we talked. And we dreamed together about working together on your daddy’s place. We’d build Claybourne’s into the finest spread in the Delta. Together.” Her eyes opened and she looked at Luke. “But from the day your daddy died and you had to take over, all those dreams stopped. And Willy McIntire Claybourne was taken back to Shiloh.”

Luke stood above her, his mouth tight. “You objected to being Luke Claybourne’s wife?”

“Never! How could you think that? I just wanted you to love me for being who I was, the woman you said in New Orleans you adored.” Willy impatiently wiped the tears from her cheek. “You knew I could help you because I knew tractors. You said I knew cotton better in some ways than you did, and I wanted to be next to you, making Claybourne’s successful. But you took me home like a little Shiloh schoolgirl. ‘Claybourne women don’t work in the fields. You’re not Willy McIntire anymore.’ So for all these years your pretty Cotton Queen wife has been playing Miss Scarlett, buying shoes, and tending the kitchen garden. Those days are gone, Luke.”

“Willy, these last years have been like a nightmare to me. You know that. Now I want to get back to where we were before everything went to hell.” His eyes were pleading. “Willy, I want what we had. I want to be what we were.”

“Don’t do this, Luke. Don’t push me back. I’m forty-three and I’ve paid a lot being the Claybourne woman in Shiloh. But when I go to Parchman, I’m not being Lady Bountiful. I’m being me. I work with these women because they’re people I care about, women who’ve never been treated with the respect they deserve. At least now they know that someone cares whether they live or die. They know that I care. They know they have a friend.”

“You’re not their friend! Are you so blind?” His voice snapped. “You’re a white woman who is married to a white businessman in Shiloh, Mississippi. What is the matter with you?”

“No. I’m not blind. There’s a world inside the Delta I’m just learning how to see.” She paused when the back door slammed, and they heard the boys racing up the stairs to their room. When she heard their door close, she settled on the edge of the couch. “And there’s a world outside the Delta, full of interesting people I’ve never met, and fascinating places I’ve never seen. Luke, I want to be part of it all. Wilson McIntire Claybourne is not about to be Miss Willy again. If you can’t see me for what . . . ”

He stared at her. “What?”

“I won’t stay here.” The words were naked.

“On this day of all days, you’re giving me an ultimatum?” His voice was incredulous. “For twenty years I’ve been getting nothing but goddam ultimatums! First the blacks, then the bank, then the damn prison, and now my own wife, who apparently loves the orphans of the world more than she loves me!” He thrust his thumb toward the door. “You’re going to bail out?” The words were nearly shouted and Willy’s gaze flicked to the ceiling where the boys were romping overhead.

“No. I want to be in, really in, not out. I want all of us to be in. All around us the world is changing, Luke. You have to be deaf not to hear it, blind not to see it. Whether it’s here in Mississippi or someplace out there for me is up to you.”

Luke’s rough hands covered his face .When he lifted his head, his reddened eyes looked steadily at Willy and his words were slow and deliberate. “There is a place for you, Willy. You’ve been in this family for more than twenty years. You should know it by now. Claybourne women have always known what was appropriate behavior. No Claybourne woman ever left her husband in my family. No Claybourne woman ever left her kids in my family. And no Claybourne woman ever will.”

“Ever is a long time, Lucas.” She moved to the bottom of the stairs and turned to look at him. “I just may have to go and find out what is appropriate for a Claybourne woman. Damned if I know. I may just have to go back to New Orleans and look for Willy McIntire.”

The last driver had pulled into the parking area and logged out, and for the first time since early morning the yard was silent enough for Jimmy to hear the angelus carillon from St. James over in town.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.
He wondered if Eula was hearing it. Her favorite. He eased back in his chair, feet on the desk, eyes drifting to the construction schedules on the wall. He smiled, counting the completions, humming with the old spiritual. . . .
Was blind, but now I see
.

A tapping on his office door roused him and he glanced at his watch. Almost six. Who the hell could it be? The shadow on the frosted glass was large. The tapping grew louder. Annoyed, he swung his feet off the desk and crossed to the door, grabbing his jacket from the hook as he went.

Luke Claybourne’s face was in shadow against the late afternoon glare. “You have a few minutes, Mack? I hoped I’d catch you before you locked up. Is this a bad time?”

“No. Come on in. I have a few minutes.” He watched Lucas cross to the chair and then took his own seat behind the desk. “I’m meeting an old friend of yours for a drink at the Shiloh Club at seven,” he said, suppressing a smile as Claybourne’s questioning eyes widened. “Ted Mendelsohn’s in town.”

Luke shrugged. “Yeah, I heard that. I’m not sure I’d call Mendelsohn an old friend, but he did spend time at the plantation in the sixties. Not a bad fellow, if misguided.” He shifted in his chair. “The word around town is that he’s down here to talk to you about politics. Is that so?”

Jimmy was clearly annoyed. “That’s of interest to you?”

“I found that troubling.”

“You found that troubling.” Jimmy stared at the man. “Jesus Christ! Should I be honored to hear what you have to say about my political discussions with my old friend?”

Angry now, Luke leaned toward the desk. “No need for that tone, Mack. I came here to share some information I thought might be important to one of Shiloh’s new, successful contractors.” He started to rise from his chair. “But maybe I’m wasting your time.”

“Why don’t you just say what you came here to say, Claybourne? I’m really flattered by the attention of the new president of the Shiloh Chamber of Commerce. After all, Claybournes have been pillars of this town for a hundred years.” His dislike for Claybourne could not be throttled. “Hell, your daddy and Eula’s mama were such good friends you and I could almost been kin!”

“You’ve got a dirty mouth, boy.” Luke’s fingers tightened on the arms of his chair. “Bein’ the newest member of the Chamber doesn’t give you the right to talk that way.”

“Hardly know my place anymore, Claybourne? I sure wouldn’t have been voted onto the old White Citizens’ Council like you were.” Jimmy leaned forward on his desk, noting an unwelcome tremor in his hand. He cleared his throat. “Before you leave, why don’t you enlighten this poor old darkie about why you crossed the highway to see me?”

Luke remained silent. When he finally spoke, his words echoed in the quiet office. “I got a call from Senator Tildon’s office about your contract with HUD.” He nodded to the completion charts on the wall. “The senator’s aide said there seems to be a problem about the allocation of the funds for the Shiloh housing. As president of the Shiloh Chamber, I found that troubling. Some influential members of the House seem to think a man who was once on the FBI list as a known radical ought not to be getting rewarded for his Red activities.” He paused, watching Jimmy closely. “Tildon says he’s trying to sort it out, Mack.”