“I don’t know,” Joel said. He watched the cars that had just passed. “I think it came from that Mercury. The one turning around.”
They watched as the white Mercury swayed in a large loop left and off the far side of the road, where it parked. Sure enough, the driver kept glancing across the road. His face would be clearly lit in the glow of car lights, then flicker out like a candle in the darkness. Joel recognized the car. “Think that’s one of the Johnson boys,” he said to Tom, “But I don’t know which one.”
They drove across the road and Joel pulled up behind the car. The driver didn’t get out or wave, but waited for them to walk up to the window.
Leo Johnson was hunched down in the seat. He glanced shyly up at Joel. “Thanks for coming over, Joel. I can’t believe I yelled at you out the window.” He giggled nervously.
Joel introduced Tom. “Gee, man, I haven’t seen you for awhile!” Joel said. “I was just thinking about you the other day. What’s up?”
Leo looked surprised for a moment. “Me? What were you thinking about?”
“That time we went on the field trip up in the Florida foothills.”
“Oh. Yeah.”
“What’d you want?”
Leo looked around nervously. “Get in.”
Joel looked at Tom. Tom shrugged. “Okay with me.”
They got in the passenger’s side in the front seat. Joel waited for Tom to get in the middle. Leo drove the car as awkwardly and hunched up as he carried himself when he walked. They lurched down the street. At a dark corner, Leo suddenly made a sharp right and pulled up against the sixteen-foot red wall of the Mimbres County Lumber Company. He leaned forward and his shy, nervous face stared at Joel.
He told them both in a halting and apologetic voice about the stories that Jeannie Lynn was spreading “.to the customers at the Farmer’s Association. I was there coupla days ago and she goes.’Leota!’” He stopped and blinked. “She does that all the time. ‘Leota.I hear you got competition.’ And I asked her what she meant. I just wanted to get out of there cause she had that mean look in her eyes, but I had all these groceries, see? And, so, anyway, she goes, ‘Yeah.Joel Reece is working your corner, hon!’ And I still didn’t know what she meant.”
“I do,” Joel said. “You figured it out, didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” Leo said. “She told me and just about every person in the checkout line about you guys at the Fair Grounds.”
“Shit. I figured she would, man,” Joel said. “It’ll probably blow over.”
Leo shivered. “It may not, Joel. I know. You won’t be able to live that down. I couldn’t.”
Joel thought about saying, “Well, just look why!” then realized that, sissy or not, he couldn’t assume anything about Leo. He was, after all, just another guy, with bigger problems than most people, maybe, and poorly equipped to deal with them, but there was no real way to know that he was like him and Tom. Joel wanted to ask him if he really was, but all he said was, “Thanks for telling me. I figured she would be doing something like that. Thanks.”
“Sure. Well.” He started the engine and drove them back to the pickup. “Guess there’s not much you can do, but I guess knowing will help.”
Joel and Tom were getting out. “Tell you, Leo, I don’t give a shit what people say. Me and Tom don’t care because we’re friends and we’re going to stay that way.”
Leo was leaning toward their side. “Hey, Joel. Keep in touch, okay?”
Joel tapped the top of the car. “Sure, man. Maybe we should. Come on out and see us. Me and Tom. We’re taking care of things while my parents are away.”
Leo grinned. “Well, hey! Thanks. I will.but only if you don’t mind!”
Tom looked thoughtful when they got back into the pickup and resumed the trip into town. “He’s the guy you were telling me about the other night, isn’t he?”
“Yeah.”
“Poor guy. He sticks out like a sore thumb,” Tom said.
“See what I mean?”
“I saw a lot of guys like him in Houston in the area of town I used to hang around in sometimes.”
“What kind of area? You mean for sissies or something?”
Tom laughed so hard and slapped Joel on the shoulder so many times that Joel thought Tom was going to choke. “Oh, Joel!” He could hardly talk and went off into another peal of laughter. Finally he wiped away the tears. “You really should get out of this town!”
Joel felt embarrassed. “Don’t make me mad, man, just tell me!”
He did his best to stop but his shoulders still shook. “I’m sorry! Yeah. It was kinda like that. I mean, Leo would fit in there. But it’s not because he’s what you call a sissy.” He told Joel about the area where he was sure homosexuals met. “They have stores that sell these magazines and have movie arcades and, at night, guys roam up and down in all kinds of clothes, and some of them are pretty weird. I used to go down there, when I was—”
“What?”
“Trying to figure out things.”
“You never told me that!”
“I’m telling you now, aren’t I?” Tom patted him on the shoulder. “I didn’t mean to laugh. You just have such a—”
“Dumb idea about stuff?”
“No. Clean way about you.”
“Dumb.”
“Okay. Dumb. Anyway, Leo is probably a homosexual. I wonder if he knows.”
Joel laughed. “I guess you never can tell by the way people look. I sure didn’t know I was. I was so stupid. Maybe we should tell him.”
“That’s awful. You’re right. He can’t help how effeminate he is.”
“But he needs a friend, I bet.”
Tom patted Joel on the shoulder again. “That was nice, inviting him out to see us. You really aren’t afraid of getting a bad reputation, are you?”
“It’s too late to worry about it now, thanks to Jeannie Lynn. You heard him.”
“And then there’s Pete Thompson. The redhead. I think he’s one of us.”
Joel laughed at the thought. “Can you believe it? In a town like this?”
The idea gave the night a strange air. As they drove back and forth through town, they watched the steady stream of cars and made up stories about the faces they saw in the flash of headlights.
Several times, as they passed the truckstop across the highway from the Triangle drive-in, Joel noticed the Stroud pickup.
“The Strouds go to your church, Tom?” Joel asked, finally.
“Yes. A real poor family.”
“So, you know Kenneth?”
“He’s been to church, but not very regular. Not like his mother. Kenneth has a bunch of brothers and sisters. Mrs. Stroud brings some of them every Sunday. And once in a while her husband comes. She’s a pitiful woman. Sometimes she looks like she’s going to cry. Sometimes she’s bruised. Some people think they fight. The husband repents almost every time he comes. Then you don’t see him for awhile, but there she is, Sunday after Sunday.”
“They live about two miles from us,” Joel said. “How do you know so much about them?”
“Father tries to visit with the families in the congregation. He just loves to minister to families like the Strouds.”
“And Paul?”
“What about him?” Tom’s tone went flat.
“How does he know Kenneth of all people? Kenneth wouldn’t like Paul. They haven’t got a thing in common.”
“Nobody likes Paul. I don’t either. It just happens that our parents are good friends. I guess that’s why Paul thinks we should be friends.”
“Well, that explains a few things, anyway,” Joel said. “But Kenneth?”
“Paul knows Kenneth because Paul’s father does a lot of visiting. And you can bet Paul likes to get in on things like that.”
Joel was planning to turn south for home when he got to the A&W. As they passed the truckstop again, the Stroud pickup pulled out of the parking lot and entered the highway behind them. Kenneth’s face was a tiny, grinnin
g apparition in Joel’s rearview mirror as he came up fast behind them with his brights on. The lights flashed from the mirror, blinding Joel and making him swerve slightly to avoid the light. “He’s doing that deliberately,” Joel said. He adjusted the mirror until he saw the light flash in Kenneth’s face. “Stupid ass! Thinks he can blind me!”
Tom watched out the back window. “That did it. He’s falling back,” he said. “But do you think that was such a good idea?”
Joel knew it wasn’t. “He won’t do anything. At least not in the middle of town. He’s a coward by himself. Guys like him are pretty easy to fight when it’s just you and him.”
Tom grinned. “So how many times have you been in a fight with him?” he teased.
Joel grinned broadly and glanced over at Tom. “I’ve been in fights with him off and on all my life.”
“You never told me that, Joel!”
“Since I’ve known you, I haven’t been in a single fight. But I used to fight all the time.”
Tom was surprised. “Why?”
Joel told him about the country school he had attended. “It used to be one of the roughest schools in this county. Besides the elementary and junior high schools here in town, out south and out east, there’re these country schools. Mine had eight grades. Since we were south of town, most of the students came from the bigger farms and ranches. So there were all of us, about a hundred students, and the Mexican children—Braceros. Some of them were actually old enough to be in high school but they could barely speak English, so the county put them in grade school with us. There was always a lot of fighting. Even though we used the Braceros to work for us, the kids at school treated them pretty mean. Dad says they got it straight from their parents.”
“So why did you fight so much, Joel?”
“Because I was always taking up for the Mexicans. And guys like Kenneth—but especially him—were always bullying the Mexican kids. I had a best friend from Mexico. His family moved to this country and bought a farm right next to ours. Tony was my age, but when he started at Mimbres, he was put back with the third graders. I was in the sixth. He didn’t know a word of English at first, so he couldn’t do very well on our tests. But he was smart. Anyway, he got teased a lot, so I took up for him. And that’s how I fought Kenneth.”
“What happened to Tony?” Tom asked. “He sounds like you’d still be friends. But you’ve never mentioned him.”
Joel sighed. “He got struck by lightning in a cotton field one summer. He was working his field and I was working mine with Dad. When it started to get bad—you know those summer lightning storms—Dad and I went to the house. We stopped to tell Tony he should get in out of the weather, but he wouldn’t stop. He said his father wouldn’t let him. That night, we heard that his father found him dead.”
From his rearview mirror, Joel saw Kenneth coming up behind them again, dangerously close, as if he intended to ram the pickup. Joel swerved and skidded off the pavement so suddenly that he stalled the engine. Kenneth shot past, horn blaring, then slammed on the brakes in front of them. In reverse, the tail end of the pickup swayed recklessly toward them, but pulled up on Joel’s side.
Kenneth leered drunkenly at Joel from his pickup. “Hey, you fucking queers! I got somethin’ for ya!”
Joel stared at Kenneth’s flushed face. His eyes were red and full of hate. “Fuck off, Stroud!” Joel yelled. He felt Tom’s hand on his shoulder and wished he would take it away.
“Oooh! Get her!” Kenneth said, and grunted with satisfaction. “Hey, preacher’s girl!”
“Get out of here, Stroud!” Joel said. He tried the engine, but it wouldn’t start.
Kenneth snorted. “C’mon girls, my dick’s hard over here. Wanna see?”
A moment later Joel was staring down the double barrels of Kenneth’s shotgun. He ducked. “Shit!” he said under his breath. “Tom! Get down!” He tried the starter again and the engine kicked on. He threw the pickup into gear and peeled out, careening onto the highway. Kenneth followed, swaying recklessly, zigzagging over the white lines. He caught up with Joel, pulling alongside long enough to jab the shotgun wildly into Joel’s window. It clanged against the door. He grinned, then pulled the shotgun out of sight. Joel stomped on the accelerator; behind him, the Stroud pickup raged, its engine screaming. Kenneth couldn’t keep up, but hung on doggedly, receding by degrees, his hate-tortured face growing smaller and sharper. As they neared the A&W, Joel skidded around the corner and sped down the street. He turned right at the next corner and pulled into a dark parking lot next to the Five and Dime Store.
His breath was ragged when he let it out. “Damn it!”
Tom was huddled against the door, hugging his knees. His face was hidden in the shadows, but his eyes caught faint light, like two spheres. “Do you think—”
Joel held his finger up to his lips: Shhhh!” They listened. From the direction they had come, the sound of a racing engine drew nearer. “That’s him. I bet he thinks we’re going home.”
The Stroud pickup ran through the intersection, heading south. Joel backed out of the parking lot and drove back onto the street. At the corner, he turned south as well, keeping Kenneth’s taillights in view. Kenneth was weaving wildly ahead of them, and looked like he was losing control; the truck skidded dangerously and ran off the road. It smashed into a light pole.
Steam gushed out of the hood. Kenneth saw them and waved his shotgun. Joel drove by slowly, saw that he wasn’t hurt. He was obviously too drunk to hit a moving target.
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about from him tonight,” Joel said. He patted Tom’s thigh and smiled weakly. “But we’ve got troubles, if I know that son of a bitch.”
Tom was quiet and still huddled in the corner. “I’m scared, Joel.” His voice was shaking and he drew in rapid, shallow breaths.
By the time they got home, Tom was more relaxed, but he stayed quiet. They walked to the house in silence. The night sounds were loud, all of them familiar to Joel—the rustling of the leaves in the breeze, the crickets, the banging tin can sound from the cowshed, and beneath it all the silence of the country. In its welcome familiarity, Joel tried to relax.
It was around ten o’clock and the night air felt comfortable. Joel sat down. “Let’s sit out here for awhile, Tom.”
But Tom leaned against the front door. “No. Let’s go in. Lock up the house.”
Joel wasn’t angry, but he was frustrated by Tom’s fear. “Nobody’s gonna hurt us out here! And besides, if we stay outside, we can hear cars coming down the road, practically all the way to town. We’ll have plenty of time to get in and lock up if Kenneth is stupid enough to show up.”
But Tom shook his head. “I’m going in. You stay out here if you want.”
Joel handed Tom the keys. “Don’t lock me out, okay? I’ll be in after a while.”
He was much more frightened than he let on. He knew he could take Kenneth if he tried anything. He was confident of that. But Leo Johnson’s story of Jeannie Lynn and the lies Paul Romaine was telling right there in Tom’s church would do far more harm than anything Kenneth could do. He hoped Tom was ready for it and wouldn’t freak out again, because things were going to get ugly.
* * *
She listened to Henry’s phlegmy snoring, smelled his sour breath on her neck. In the dark of their bedroom, she stared at the ceiling. Kenneth wrecked the truck. This fact was not so much a surprise as something she knew was coming and couldn’t prevent. Now what? She doubted that he would learn his lesson.
She got up and dressed. It was almost four in the morning; she would have to be up soon anyway to get wood for the kitchen stove. Kenneth wouldn’t do it anymore. And even though the twins could have, at fourteen years old, to her Patrick and Detrick were still mere babies. She didn’t want them to lose their precious sleep. Growing boys. So much different from Kenneth, him so much like his pa. Mean. She thought of Patrick and Detrick as her boys, Kenneth as Henry’s.
Kenneth had come in dru
nk and belligerent again, but this time so angry that his eyes burned with hatred. “I had to fuckin’ walk!” he growled at her gentle question. “The truck’s fuckin’ smashed! That rich bastard queer and that fuckin’ preacher’s queer kid chased me off the goddamn fuckin’ road!” Then he had pushed her aside and made his way to bed. She shivered as she walked outside to the woodpile, wrapping her long arms about her shoulders. Henry’s gotta do something now. Kenneth is gettin’ too crazy, and me with more children than I kin feed. Weren’t for pa’s pension we’d be in dutch. And now the truck wrecked, up to me to get it hauled up and dumped in the yard like the rest of the worthless junk around here. But he don’t learn, neither.
“Kenny.” she cried in the darkness, “please! What’s happened to you? Whyn’t you stop? Just stop!”
* * *
The noise came from the hallway. The creaking steps sounded loud to Joel. He had awakened suddenly, feeling that something was wrong. Now he froze. He felt the sweat pop out on his back. He reached over, and felt tentatively for Tom, not wanting to awaken him. But he wasn’t there. He curled out of bed. Through his open window, the pale light in the yard shed light on the shiny surfaces in his room. He opened the door and turned. Tom was standing in his pajamas. His dark hair was tousled, his face troubled. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I couldn’t sleep.”
Joel shut the door and sat on the bed next to Tom. Tom kept his head down. His breathing was rapid, quiet. Small gasps escaped as he tried to speak.
Joel pushed him back, holding him by the shoulders to make Tom look at him. They stared at each other. “What’s the matter? You letting Kenneth bother you?”
Tom shook his head. “No. It’s what Paul’s been saying.”
“He doesn’t know anything! He’s just farting in the wind. Look, Tom, I told you people would talk. He’s crazy, probably.”
They lay down together on the bed, Tom against Joel. “Hug me.”
Joel rubbed his back, remembering his dream of a few days before. Now he pulled him close, feeling Tom’s breath coming stronger, and Joel felt him relax.
“I do.love you, Joel.” Tom said into his neck.
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