The Chair Falls At Night

by Chris Vaughn

  "What time is it, Buddy?"

  "It's a little after 11:15."

  Chapter 14

  Joy and Jackie trotted down the dirt road to the Hand house. The sun was now in the center of the sky as it beat down on the two little girls with two missions: to find a daddy who was late for lunch, and how to keep sleeping at the other’s house for as long as possible this summer. As they approached the house, nothing seemed out of place as the dirt road led them to the front of the house. They did notice the front of the barn was open. As the two girls walked up to the house they came to the place where they could see into the barn, and they noticed that back door was open too. The girls turned loose of each other's hands and ran up the stairs to the house's front door. Joy ran into the door and bounced back before she realized it was locked. Jackie instantly started to laugh at the funny moment.

  "When did yall start locking your doors?"

  "I don't know, guess Daddy did it before they left. Let's go around, try the back door." Joy said and was already jumping down the steps, to head off to the back of the house. Jackie followed right behind her. As the two girls got about half way around the house, Jackie noticed something through the open barn. Someone was laying on the ground out behind the barn.

  "Joy!" Jackie turned and yelled, "Is that my daddy?" She questioned Joy.

  Joy stopped immediately although she was almost at the bottom of the steps to the back door. She turned and watched as Jackie didn't wait for Joy but had took off running into the barn to see if it was her daddy, or whoever.

  Before Jackie even reached her daddy, she began to scream, "Daddy! Daddy!" Her screams caught Joy like a knife and she wondered what had happened to Mr. Fryar. Life in the mind of Joy at this time was still the conscience of innocence. Jackie had already made it to her father, and she pulled on his body trying to get it to move and see if he could be stirred from this deep sleep.

  Jackie screamed with a tone of pain, as she grabbed her daddy's head and pulled her hand back and saw the blood. "Daddy...." The cry flowed out of her as she laid her head on his chest that rose and dropped with his shallow breaths.

  "Jackie... run home...." Rudy Fryar whispered to Jackie, but her screams drowned out the whisper. "Jackie girl... listen to me...." Rudy said with a little louder whisper, "Go get Mama." He never raised his head or opened his eyes, but his hand closest to Jackie touched her knee, "Jackie, I said go....."

  Jackie was still screaming when a tall shadow stood behind her, grabbed her arm and started dragging her away. Her shoes tore at the dirt as her feet dangled and dragged while she kicked. Frank Little's gaze was animal-like and his voice spoke with instilled rage. Frank spun his arm and threw the small frame of Jackie several feet in front of him. He towered over the little girl laying on her stomach on the ground, her cries for her father silenced now by the fact the wind had been knocked out of her.

  "Good! Finally you shut up, you little...." Frank snorted and wiped his face that was full of sweat and rage. He kicked dirt on top of Jackie and knelt and straddled her. "Yall people need to be taught young who are your betters." He rolled Jackie over and their eyes met. The moment she saw Frank's face, the air returned to her lungs and she began to yell; the back of Frank's hand as it hit her face was strong and it caused her to pause her scream, but she tried to hit at his chest anyway.

  "Be quiet you... you... you know what you are! It’s been a long time since I had me a girl this young." He slapped her again even harder and the force of it caused Jackie's head to snap to the side, and the welts and bruise to her left eye to begin to swell. He began to unbutton the hook snap on one side of his overalls. "Just think, girl, your first man will be a real man." He worked to unbutton the other hook snap as his eyes ran up and down the little girl’s body. "Been a long time since I've enjoyed myself like this, and to think it was here...."

  Joy had seen Uncle Frank drag Jackie from the body on the ground to just out of view from the entrance on the other side of the barn. The sight of Uncle Frank as he drug her best friend caused her to stop in her tracks and look around for someone to help. The body in the dirt on the other side of the barn was still on the ground and she looked to see who it was, but she wasn't sure. She spun around in hopes to see her mama or daddy, but she knew there was no one around.

  Thoughts raced through her mind. This can't be Uncle Frank? How could this be Uncle Frank? It can't be? Uncle Frank has always been nice 'cept for that last time he was drunk. It can't be Uncle Frank....

  Her thoughts stopped as she heard Jackie scream. Uncle Frank or not, whoever you are you ain't hurting my Jackie! Joy ran to the barn door and began to creep through the barn trying to make sure the man couldn't hear her. Don't hit anything and make a noise she thought to herself. Joy looked around, and the child in her mind wanted someone to come and save the day but there wasn't anyone; the realization she was alone sent a chill in her mind, but a resolve in her heart for her friend. As she got closer to the back door she looked out and saw that Mr. Fryar was laying on the ground, his chest moved with shallow breaths as his hands tried to push himself up. The sound of a slap and Jackie's scream stop her again.

  Every movie of Tarzan and swashbucklers came to her mind. She glanced around the barn again to find something for a small girl to fight with. She looked around and saw a baseball bat, a ball, and gloves in the corner. Something some of the field hands would use when there was time for such nonsense. Joy ran to the corner, then headed out the door.

  Jackie lay there not knowing what was about to take place. Neither her nor Joy were old enough to fully know about the facts of life, the beauty of love, and definitely not aware of the savages of evil men. She held her hands to her face as she tried to hide her tears and protect her face again if Frank Little decided to hit her again. She turned and looked through the cracks of her hands for her daddy to stand up and help her. As she peered through her hands, she saw a white leg as it ran from the barn towards her. She pulled her hands down to see clearly and the whites of her eyes were all the more noticeable.

  Frank noticed the eyes of the girl widen and it startled him. The drunken rage he was in slowed his reflexes some, as his hands were still working on his coveralls. As he turned his head, a homerun swing sent his chest into pain. The sound of the crack wasn't a ball being hit, but a rib being cracked.

  As Jackie realized what happened, she fought to free herself from the straddle of Frank Little. All it took was a kick and the jump of her knees to his scrotum to send him on his side. Curses and grunts flowed out of his mouth as he fell.

  Joy never did realize nor remember later, the second time she hit Frank Little, but Jackie heard Frank yell again and gasp for breath. Joy dropped the bat and took to trying to help Jackie up.

  "Come on, Jackie, come on, we've got to get out of here."

  "My daddy..." Jackie crawled over to her daddy as Joy was ahead of her to get to him.

  "Mr. Fryar, Mr. Fryar, you okay? Mr. Fryar?" Joy cried out, she looked over at Frank as he lay on his back still gasping for air in a fatal position. She turned her attention back to Mr. Fryar as she rubbed his cheek to try and help him. Joy did as much as she knew, as any child would do, as Jackie laid her head on her daddy's chest.

  "Girls, yall ok?" Rudy whispered out to them. "I'm okay. Yall two run to Mama."

  Rudy had no more than gotten the words out when a yell tore through the whimpers and whispers of the two girls. "You little...." Frank screamed at Joy, as he slowly stood and started towards Joy. "I'll teach you a lesson, and when I'm done, no one will find you and I'll be gone. Gonna hit your old Uncle Frank like that! Come here and let me...." Frank Little leaned over and picked up the bat. "I'll take care of the black ones later... first I'm gonna have you, Joy." The hits and Jackie's kick had done some damage to Frank, and his steps were slow as if he were a monster from one of Joy's Saturday movie shows at the Chester Theater.

  Joy didn't know what to do, but put as much distance between her and Frank. She took off an
d ran through the barn towards the house, taking the moment here and there to turn and see if Frank was following her, or going to hurt Jackie and Mr. Fryar again.

  Oh, God, he's going to chase me.

  "Go ahead and run, Joy, it will help me get the wind back in my lungs and wear you out. You ain't got nowhere to run where I can't get you." The sneer off of Frank's words sounded as evil to Joy as the stories of the Devil in the Bible. She didn't know if she could out run Frank, but she decided to try to out hide him, so she ran to the porch on the front of the house, and up the stairs.

  Frank let out a quick laugh that was loaded with spite, "Girl, that house is locked up! See here! I's got a key!" Frank had covered about half the distance of the yard and though he had started to make better time in his chase, he still lumbered through the yard.

  Joy thought to herself in a panic, I'll check the back door.

  Joy jumped off the porch, and in the process knocked some of her mama's coffee can planters off the porch. She tore across the side of the house towards the back door and hoped to keep as much distance as she could between her and Frank Little.

  "Go ahead and try it... It's locked too, you white trash... I'll teach you...." The curses and spewing forth of tirades continued to flow from the mouth of Frank Little with greater flourish.

  She jumped the steps and landed on the next to the last step and ran into the door. The strength of her weight made the door shake. She heard Frank say again, "Go ahead, Joy, it's locked." She turned the doorknob and shook it back and forth for the door to open, and she looked down at the doorknob that was locked. She turned to see Frank again and cried out, "Help!" She pushed and turned the door again once more, and the door popped open allowing her to run inside. She slammed the door shut, and leaned against the door to think for a bit and to make a blockade. She turned and looked through the pane glass to see Frank as he used the bat as a sort of crutch. She knew he wasn't on the porch yet, but would be soon.

  Joy looked at the door lock, and back again at Frank as he began to work his way up the stairs. She screamed a scream that startled Frank, but that scream was hushed in an instant.

  Joy heard something she didn't expect. She heard the tumblers in the lock move.

  Chapter 15

  Buddy pushed the limits of the old truck and the speed limit with complete disregard for the mechanics and the law. The fact that Mary had placed her hand on his right leg was a constant reminder of the urgency that Mary felt.

  "Mary, I don't want to hear 'bout another dream. I'm pushing it as hard as I can." Buddy jerked his leg and Mary finally moved her hand. The truck bounced and hopped across the back roads of South Georgia. Buddy looked more in the rear view mirror for a county sheriff than he did out the windshield for the road.

  "Watch where you are going!" Mary yelled which caused Buddy to jerk the truck.

  "Mary, let me drive my truck, and you go back to dreamin'...." Buddy threw his left arm out the window and stared out the windshield.

  "I don't care what you think about my dreams, Buddy. I saw the house with lights on and the doors locked, and someone is in trouble, I don't know. And there is a man, but I can't see him. It may not mean anything but if it doesn't then all we lost is some time we could have had together, but if we don't and I'm right then we might lose...." Mary's voice trailed off.

  "Ok, Mary, I'll hush. Now hold this steering wheel while I roll me a cigarette." Buddy pulled Mary closer to him and slowed the truck down a bit. "We got a long stretch of road here, and I need a smoke." Buddy's hands were already working with the paper and tobacco as Mary took the wheel in a familiar fashion that she'd done many times before. Although the road was straight, the truck jerked from side to side as it headed back home.

  The old truck went down the highway powered by the old engine, and the heat of a Mother's intuition to get back home. Off in the distance were the flat lands of South Georgia and the tall appearance of a sign. One of the small gas stations, grocery store, and everything else that country folk need out in the middle of nowhere stores.

  "Look, Mama. There's a country store a ways off. You want a coke?"

  "Buddy, we ain't got time for a coke."

  "Well, I want a coke and a small pound cake, and to do one more thing."

  "Buddy, we ain't stoppin'!" Mary's tone was angry with her husband.

  "Mary, do you believe your dreams?" Buddy asked and Mary's answer was deafening silence. After a long pause Buddy continued, "Well, I don't know if I do, but I do know this. It's worth taking a moment and having Billy run out to the house and check on things."

  "Billy?"

  "Good Lord, Mary! Billy Waters. Sheriff Billy Waters." Buddy's voice was frustrated Mary wasn't thinking along with him. "Billy's at one of two places... his office or at the Diner. I'll give him a call to see if I can get him to go check on the house before we get home. If he can't we only lose a few minutes. If he can, he'll be there sooner than we can."

  "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" Mary was praying under her breath. "Well, it won't hurt, and I guess you can get you a coke too."

  "Thanks, Mary, that's what I need is your permission to get a coke."

  Buddy drove to the store and braked hard throwing rocks and sand in front of the truck as it came to a stop. He jumped out and was gone far much longer than Mary would have liked. When he returned he carried two cokes and two pound cakes, then the two of them started back down the road at a frantic pace.

  "Well?"

  "Billy was at the Diner, actually walking out when Mike caught him. I talked to him and he said he'd drive right out. Now quit worrying."

  "Thank you, Jesus." Mary let out a big sigh of breath as relief and then looked over as Buddy was making quick work of a pound cake and a coke.

  "Why did you just guess I'd want a coke and pound cake like you?"

  "I didn't, those are mine, you said you didn't want anything." Buddy grinned as he finished off the cake and took a long drink of the coke.

  Clementine's patience had run out as she watched the clock and finally considered that Rudy, Joy, and Jackie weren't coming home. The clock was close to 12:30 now and the ten-minute walk could have been made several times now. She looked around and threw her apron on the counter, made sure the stove was off, and nothing was left out that could spoil. She hurried out the house on the way to the Hands' to find out what had held them for so long now.

  The ten-minute walk had been cut down to five as she walked as fast as she could to the house. In the distance she heard the cries of a child and the sound gave her gait a faster pace. The distance and path was trotted out as fast as she could go as Clementine nearly stumbled and fell several times. As she came to the long dirt driveway she had a unique position to see two activities at once; she noticed one man on the backside porch with a bat beating the door, and some movement of something on the ground behind the barn. She didn't look twice at the man on the porch but started at a full run to whatever was behind the barn. As she got closer a cry crept through her mouth, she stopped running at the revelation of her husband laying on the ground and her daughter laying on top him crying.

  Clementine ran to her husband and fell down at his side, "Rudy, Rudy, oh my God, Rudy." The sight of the blood on the ground beside his head caused her to gasp again.

  The sound of her mother's voice made Jackie jump up and grab her mother around the neck. "Mama... Mama..." Jackie cried into the shoulder of Clementine.

  "It's gonna be all right, baby." Clementine told Jackie as she rubbed the back of her head. As soon as Jackie pulled her head back and Clementine saw the swelling and welts on Jackie's face she gasped again. "Baby, baby...." Clementine kissed her daughter's face and pulled her back to look closely at the marks. "Baby... baby... who's done this to you two?"

  "Clementine, be quiet...." Rudy said with a low voice.

  "Rudy... Rudy... you okay...?" Clementine's attention was drawn back to her husband and her voice continued to go up an octave in tone, and a ten decibels in volume.<
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  "Woman, I said be quiet. Hush now." Rudy barked as loud as he could. "I'm hurt, but I ain't dead, I was knocked out, when Jackie came over her, I started to come to, but I wanted that wild man to think I'm dead."

  "What wild man?'

  "Frank Little."

  "Frank Little?"

  "Frank Little, Clementine. He hit me and I never knew he was there. Knocked me out cold and then I's wake up with Jackie crying on top of me." Rudy pulled himself up and Clementine helped him. "I wasn't completely out when I was first hit, but I figured I'd play like I was. To play dead you know. Guess I went out after that. Now help me up." Rudy was trying to pull his legs under himself to start to stand.

  "You don't need to go anywhere, we got to get you to a doctor."

  "I've got to find Frank Little."

  The words Frank Little had come out of his mouth and they heard the sound of someone as a bat banged on a door.

  Jackie looked around and realized that Joy was gone. "Mama, where's Joy? I don't know where she is, Mama. She hit him with a bat when he was hitting me and then she ran away." Clementine stood up and left Rudy and Jackie and crept to the door of the barn and peered around the edge to see Frank Little as he kept hitting on the door. From where she was she could make out the words he was slurring as he yelled.

  "I'm coming in to get you, girl." Frank said as he pounded the door with one hand and held onto a bat with the other.

  Frank couldn't open the door. He'd tried the key several times, but every time he turned the tumblers in the lock, the door was still locked when tried to open it. Again and again, he turned the key, the tumblers would move and he could hear the lock click the sound of a release but again the door would creak on its hinges as it refused to open.