Authors: Reavis Z. Wortham
Unraveled (27 page)
One of the clowns pushed Pepper to the ground and knelt with his knee on her neck. “Stay right there, miss!”
She grimaced with her face in the beaten-down grass. “Get your knee off me you son of a bitch! You ain't got no right to drag us back here!”
Mark kicked back like a mule, trying to catch the other clown's knee. He missed and I launched myself at the guy to make him turn Mark loose. Adults knew more about fighting and he didn't do nothing but duck. I went over his shoulder at the same time Mark hollered because of the pressure on his shoulder from the hold that feller had on him.
They both went down. I stumbled over them. I couldn't believe this was happening right in the open behind the tents. Carnivals were supposed to be fun, but here we were in the middle of a nightmare.
The snarling clown holding Mark reached out and grabbed my shirt and slung me down. “Let me go!” I tried to twist out of his fist, but he held solid.
The other one wasn't as mean. “You kids settle down and we'll work this out!”
Pepper screamed anyway, but it was lost in the noise from the midway. I rolled and fought and my shirt came up around my arms. I twisted some more and suddenly the clown was holding nothing but cloth. I was standing there without a stitch on from the waist up.
All that fighting and wrestling had messed up the talking clown's paint. It smeared down one eye past his mouth, making it all droop like he'd had a stroke. I looked around for something to hit him with when the light caught him just right and clear as day I saw it was Calvin Williams.
He dropped my shirt. Someone screamed like a little girl. It was me. A farmer in overalls shot into the light a second later, swinging something long and hard. It cracked across the side of Calvin's head with a clang and his red nose popped off. Blood spurted and he hollered and fell back in a roll.
The farmer swung again, squalling like an old tomcat, screaming and jabbering in what sounded like the tongues I'd heard in Miss Becky's little Assembly of God church more than once. Babbling like a terrified lunatic, he took another two-handed swing and hit Calvin across the ribs with a bildukey shovel. It smacked against something solid. I hoped it was the sound of a breaking rib.
The other clown let go of Pepper and stood up, hollering. “Hey! It ain't us. These kids are thieves. They're pickpockets! We're holding them for the laws.”
The farmer was still squalling and babbling. He juked to the side and took a swing at that talking clown, who squealed and ran away. By that time Calvin struggled to his knees where the farmer whacked him on the back of the head. His red wig flew away as he staggered to his feet and stumbled after the other clown.
They disappeared into the crowd on the midway. I turned to see the wide-eyed features of Mr. Ike Reader who stood there trembling, waving the shovel. “Clowns! Listen, listen. I hate clowns!” He swallowed and I saw his big Adam's apple bounce up and down. “Now, why was they after y'all?”
Pepper laid on the ground and laughed herself sick. Mark, and I were shaking, but we managed to explain what was happening.
A bright and shiny flash cut through the sparkling lights. Ned recognized it for a knife blade. He swung his sap again, missing the head he was aiming at. Cody surged forward, straining to get his hands on a Clay he recognized only by his features.
Anna's size put her at a disadvantage in the fight that blew up like a hand grenade. A short man caught a savage blow to his face and dropped at her feet, nearly knocking her down. She backhanded a Clay and lunged through the crowd, trying to get her back to John. Someone grabbed her leg and she stumbled, nearly falling. When she looked down, Royal Clay was bleeding from his nose but holding on to her like a toddler. He waved a pistol in the air, but he was so dazed it could have been a pickle.
A fist flew before her eyes, barely missing her chin. She did the only thing possible to stop Royal's threat, kicking his chin with her steel-toed boot. He fell as limp as a dishrag. One of the younger Mayfields stumbled over the unconscious man and struck a blow that numbed Anna's shoulder. Her sap snapped out, dropping the combatant beside Royal.
***
Divided along both racial lines and blood lineage at the outset, the altercation dissolved into a gang fight. Big John quickly found himself in the middle of furious white men who used the opportunity to strike the black deputy. In that brief instant, there was no law but that of survival. He grabbed Cecil Clay by the shirt and whipped around, using the slender man's body as a weapon. Cecil gasped and came off his feet kicking, but John pivoted using his massive upper body to sling Cecil outward like a child spinning in the yard. His legs cut people down as smooth as a scythe through a wheatfield.
Getting a better grip under Cecil's arms and around his neck, John whipped the limp man in the opposite direction. Men dodged Cecil's flailing legs and still battered each other in desperate individual fights using everything from teeth to nails to knives. Cousins Martin and Wilbur Clay leaped into the fray. John slung Cecil again. The heel of his boot smacked Wilbur on the jaw, dropping him like a rock.
Cody took a fist to the jaw that he felt all the way to the soles of his boots. He grabbed the guy's wrist and forced his arm up between the man's own shoulder blades. Holding one Clay was ineffective in such a fray. Cody shoved him between two combatants and grabbed a Mayfield arm, jerking the man off his feet and spinning him into the crowd of onlookers.
Too old to fight with his fists, Ned furiously laid about with his sap. “That's enough! Back off!” He saw a knife glint and swung at the man's wrist, snapping it like a twig. Without losing momentum, he turned the blow into a backswing, collapsing the assailant with a vicious whack to the temple.
A fist hard as a brick hit him hard in the ribs. Another blow landed behind the ear, exactly where Ned liked to pop drunks with his sap. Sure enough, the punch nearly bashed the old constable to his knees.
John threw Cecil into a knot of fighters, grabbing Ned under the arm to hold him upright as black and white fists rained against his body. The big man roared again, jamming his elbow into a Mayfield temple and knocking him unconscious. Ned grunted from a glancing punch.
No one
touched Mr. Ned. The dark monster Big John kept buried deep inside broke free and clawed to the surface. A sea of frenzied faces blurred and the banshee in the deputy went to work. The crowd of fighters closed in, black and white against the mountain of a man who fought back with solitary, awesome power.
Enemies of the badge swept over John like a wave. He stepped back under the onslaught, keeping himself between them and Ned, to stem the charge both black and white. His rage exploded in close hand-to-hand battle until unseen fingers struggled to unsnap the revolver on his belt.
Knowing the devastation that a pistol would unleash, John pressed his own elbow against the man's hand, trapping it against his side. He reached around and grabbed a fistful of hair, yanking the man off balance. John thrust his forearm under his assailant's armpit, twisting up and back until he felt ligaments tear. The man screamed and dove toward the ground. When the big deputy let go, he side-kicked a knee that snapped, forcing another shriek of pain.
The sharp, deep crump of a single gunshot stopped the brawl. The distinctive threat of a shotgun shucking another shell into the chamber was crisp over the carnival noises.
***
Ned's heart sank at the shot, thinking the worst had happened. His head snapped around to see Delmar Hopkins pointing a twelve-gauge pump toward the pitch black sky. He pulled the trigger again and the crowd recoiled.
Sliding a third round into the chamber, he leveled the shotgun. “That is
enough
! The plug's out of this shotgun and I have three more shells waiting. The next man who swings at another'n's gonna get a full load of buckshot and I don't give a
damn
if there's people standing beside or behind him. Y'all understand? This fight's over and the carnival's closed.”
The white-haired carny took two steps toward Royal Clay who lay unconscious on the ground. Delmar put the muzzle of his shotgun against Royal's chest. “This thing's got a hair trigger. If any of y'all make me jump, it's liable to go off. Constable Parker, y'all do your business.”
Ned grabbed Milton Clay by the collar and jerked him toward Delmar. “Go over there and sit down by Royal.”
“He, he said that gun's liable⦔
“Move slow then.”
Cody pointed. “John, round up everybody that was fighting and sit them right there.”
The big deputy looked down at the man who'd been trying to take his pistol, recognizing Cecil Clay. Surprised at how much fight the man had despite his damaged legs, he nudged him with one foot. “Oh, yeah, and you're under arrest for arson.”
On the ground, Cecil pulled his good arm under his body as if to hide the nonexistent coal oil stains on his fingers.
“You don't have to do that. We know it was you, and Royal had you do his dirty work for him.”
Instead of answering, the young man dropped his head on the dirt and closed his eyes. Anna knelt on Cecil's back and snapped a cuff on his good wrist, then clicked the other onto Royal who was starting to come around.
Ned's voice rose. “Me'n John know ever one of you, so don't be trying to slip out. Y'all sit down right where you stand. Sit!”
Bleeding, with one eye swelling shut, Willie Mayfield dropped to his knees beside his son. “Mr. Ned, Bryce's been stabbed.”
John looked down and saw blood pouring from Bryce's side.
Cody knelt beside him and pointed at the brass knuckles on Willie's hand. “Here.” Cody covered the wound with his palm. “Drop them knuckles and put pressure on the wound like this and hold it.”
Willie shook the weapon free of his fingers and held both hands against his son's side just under his ribs. “How's that gonna help? He's bleedin' inside.”
“Because that's what I was taught and I don't know nothing else.” Cody rose. “Anna, run out to the car and call for help. We're gonna need every car and ambulance we can get.”
Delmar waved one of his people over. “Junior, pass the word down the line. We're shut down for the night. Wrap this up.”
“Yessir.”
Ned swiveled in a slow circle, moving toward Delmar. He leaned in close. “Thanks.”
“I hate trouble in my carnival.”
Ned met his eyes and Delmar explained.
“This kind of shit costs me money.”
***
Aggravated that Cody sent her away from the action and out to the car to make the call, Anna pushed through the throng leaving the carnival. Someone grabbed her arm and she spun around, amped up from the fight and almost swinging the sap still in her hand.
Pepper raised a hand to ward off the blow. “Whoa, Anna! Hold it! It's me.”
The deputy relaxed and kept walking. “Oh, honey. Where are the others?”
“That's why I'm here.” Pepper followed, almost running. “We was attacked by a couple of damn clowns.”
Anna rubbed her face. “Hon, I don't have time for this. Y'all need to go wait in your granddaddy's car.”
“No! Listen! I mean it! Mark's arm is hurt and Mr. Ike Reader saved us. He stayed back with Mark and Top and said tell Grandpa the bad clown is Calvin Williams.”
“I don't know who that is.”
Jumping in frustration, Pepper flapped her hands. “Listen! Top says Calvin Williams who was married to Norma Faye has been doing these bad things around here. He tried to kidnap us tonight because Top recognized him from bad dreams, his Poisoned Gift. You know about that, don't you? Mr. Ike Reader saved us.”
Anna paused. She'd heard about his dreams. “Where are the boys now?”
“They're not far from the Funhouse. Top's foot is bleeding and Mark's staying there with him and Mr. Ike. I saw Mr. John and Grandpa over there, but they have their hands full.
Do
something!”
“As if I wasn't doing something already.” Anna led Pepper to her cruiser and called for help, then they hurried back inside the grounds to find the boys. “Come with me.”
I was shaking like a leaf when Miss Anna showed up with Pepper. The midway was emptying out and the only people moving around were the folks that worked there. They kept glancing over at me and Mark sitting on the ground with our backs to a sharpshooter booth.
Mr. Ike stood over us, leaning on the shovel like he was resting in the field. He started talking to Miss Anna long before she got close enough to hear. “Listen, listen. There's trouble here.”
She kept coming, all the time checking around like somebody was gonna jump out at her.
He repeated himself when she got to us. “Listen. There was clown trouble with these kids.”
“I know that Mr. Reader. Pepper told me. There's lots of trouble here tonight.” She didn't waste any time. Instead of kneeling down beside me like anyone else would, she stayed upright, her eyes moving all the while. “Tell me what happened.”
It aggravated me that she asked him first, but that's how adults always were. Mr. Ike rested the shovel against the game counter and waved his hands. “Did Pepper tell you who he was?”
“Yes. Norma Faye's first husband.”
Mr. Ike laid out what happened when he showed up. “I was coming from back there.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder and I saw Miss Anna's eyes widen when she saw the girly tent only a few yards past the Funhouse. “I's coming out of that exhibition tent when I saw a couple of clowns and you know, I don't like clowns. They was in the way, and I didn't want to pass close, so I ducked around this Funhouse ride to come out past 'em, when I looked up and here come them same two clowns pushing a couple of kids into the dark back there.
“Listen, you know how I don't like clowns, don'cha, Top? Well, I's afraid they was gonna kidnap these kids and brainwash 'em to run off and make more clowns, but I didn't know who they were at the time. Then when they pushed 'em to the ground I got scared and saw this shovel and the next thing I knew I was whuppin' on 'em with it and they run off.”
Miss Anna nodded and scanned around us again. “Top, tell me about this Calvin Williams.”
“I can't tell you anything else for sure, but he came after me when I recognized him. He's been the reason for all the meanness that's going on right now.”
“I can't arrest a man based on what you've dreamed.”
“I know that.”
“Bust him!” Pepper couldn't be still. “Him and that other clown attacked all three of us. You can at least get the son of a bitch for
kidnapping
, can't you?”
“I can get him for assault, if we can prove it was Williams, but how do you know
who
was under all that makeup.”
Mark rose to his feet and ran both hands through his hair. “Clowns, man. We were attacked by clowns. That's just downright
creepy
.”
“Them things are awful.” Mr. Ike twisted around to look over one shoulder like one was sneaking up on him. “You don't know who or what's under all that greasy paint.”
“All right.” Miss Anna patted Mr. Ike's arm. “I know. We're gonna find out who they were. Top, are you hurt?”
“He didn't hurt me. My nail-hole's bleeding pretty good, though. They grabbed Mark and Pepper.”
“They stabbed you with a
nail
?”
“Naw, stepped on one yesterday.”
“All right. You stay off of it for the time being.” Still not understanding, she eyed Pepper. “Well, I know
you're
all right. Mark, how about you?”
He rotated his shoulder. “That'un had me in an arm lock and I believe he near twisted my elbow behind my head, but I'll be all right.”
She turned back to me. “Do you need some help to walk?”
“I'll help him.” Mr. Ike took up his shovel. “They'll stay with me.”
“Fine. Y'all head for the gate and I'll go look for Calvin Williams.”