Summer of the Guns

by Justin Daniel Herman

  “Oh, sure, the governor could help me. I took my books over there and showed them to him. He said he’d call the insurance commissioner and straighten things out for me. Next thing I knew, the damn county attorney, Lacy Horne, calls me in and tells me to stay away from the governor or he’d put me behind bars. Horne’s a son-of-bitch, but it ain’t him I blame. It’s Governor Johnny. He knew I was on the straight and he didn’t give a damn. On account of I’m a Republican. That’s all I can figure. I’m a Republican and he’s a Democrat. He don’t help no one but Democrats. That or he’s corrupt as hell. I ain’t decided which.”

  A sick feeling came over me. Only something didn’t seem right. Papa said I had good instincts about people. I almost always could tell right off if someone was putting on an act. Only I hadn’t gotten that feeling from Governor Atkins.

  Ace looked down at the floor after that and pointed toward the linoleum. “I got a stash of papers down there that proves the whole damn thing. Don’t ask me how I got ‘em. But I did. It’s all there, the whole damn thing. If I get those papers to the right people, they’ll blow the state sky high. It would be the biggest scandal in the history of the state.”

  “You mean the governor, too?”

  “I don’t think he’s got anything to do with it. It’s the people who work for him that are the bad apples. Only he turns a blind eye to ‘em.”

  “How come you haven’t given the story to the newspaper?” I asked.

  He took a deep drag on his cigarette. “Because I’m too damn scared.”

  Kelly got out of his chair just then. “I’m going outside,” he said.

  Ace glared at him. “Sit your butt right back down. I’m tellin’ this for a reason.”

  “You’re gonna go on all day about it,” said Kelly.

  “Sit down!” he commanded.

  Kelly sat back down and cupped his face in his hands.

  “Now listen, both of you,” Ace continued. “If something happens to me, you need to know where those papers are.”

  Kelly was looking out the window.

  “If they do me in,” said Ace, “they might just come for you kids, too. Do you hear me?”

  I felt a shiver come over me. I thought we’d found a good place to hide out, only now we were in a bigger mess. I didn’t want to hear the rest of it, to be honest. I wanted to grab Sara and run away. The only thing I could think to do was jump the freight train again, but if we did that, we might never see Papa. Besides which, we might run into Boomer again, or someone worse.

  “Wouldn’t matter if I burned the papers,” Ace continued. “If they even suspect you know about ‘em, they’ll come looking for you. So I guess I shouldn’t tell you anything, only I imagine Kelly would tell it for me if I didn’t.” He gave Kelly a stern look.

  “I ain’t told ‘em anything,” said Kelly in a huffy tone. “It’s all bullshit anyway.”

  “Like hell it’s bullshit!” replied Ace. “But if you wanna think that, go ahead. Just keep your mouth shut.” Then he looked back at me. “Now here’s the thing. Those papers might just save your lives. If they try to frame your dad for something Tommy and Lenny did, we’ll haul out our big guns. We’ll dig out those papers and send a couple of ‘em to Lacy Horne, just so that he knows what we’ve got. I know this all sounds crazy, but those papers might come in handy. They might just save your dad from taking a rap for something he didn’t do. You get my drift? They’ll do anything to keep those papers from seeing daylight. If we play it right, we can hit ‘em up for enough money to get a million miles away from here.”

  “We’d go to California with Billie and Sara?” asked Kelly eagerly.

  Ace looked at him sternly. “I didn’t say that. We’d have to go somewhere else. I ain’t sure where, to tell the truth, but we’d go as far from Phoenix as an airplane can take us.”

  “An airplane?” asked Kelly incredulously.

  “I don’t know,” answered Ace. “At least a car anyway.”

  “I ain’t scared of ‘em!” said Kelly. “Let’s send ‘em the papers now and get the money and go.”

  “No,” said Ace. “And you had damn sure better keep this to yourselves. I mean you can’t tell anyone. No one. You hear me? I MEAN NO ONE. I’ll decide when the time comes to get those papers out. Might be a couple weeks. Might be a month. Might be never. But I’ll do the deciding, you hear me?”

  We vigorously nodded yes while Sara sat silently. I could tell she was trying to make sense of it all.

  “But you’ll need to know where I’ve hidden ‘em,” continued Ace, “in case somethin’ happens to me. I don’t want you trying to use ‘em! I want you to give ‘em to someone we can trust. An adult. Only thing is, I’m not sure who that person is yet. We’ll figure it out.” Then he pointed to a linoleum tile. “It’s that one there right against the wall. The second one in from the corner. If you get a screwdriver, you can pull it out. Only sometimes I move ‘em around, in case anybody finds out. For right now they’re under the linoleum, so we’ll just leave it at that.”

  Part of me thought he might be nuts. Papa said crazy people said all kind of things like that. They’d just talk big all the time and tell people they were important.

  “Now our next task is to figure out where we’re gonna get money to eat,” Ace went on.

  Kelly got out of his chair and ran into his room. Then he came running back holding some money. “I made three dollars selling cantaloupes on Grand Avenue,” he said triumphantly. “Plus I get a dollar a week for carrying the Saturday Evening Post. Those guys at Hack’s bar gave me almost two dollars in tips last week.”

  “I told you not to hang around that bar!” Ace said angrily. “It’s dangerous and it makes me ashamed.” There was a long silence after that, then Ace got up from the couch. “Hold onto that money,” he said to Kelly, “we might need it. Now listen up because here’s what I’m doin’. I’m gonna put the word out that my sister’s kids are comin’ to stay next week. Everybody knows she’s hitched to an Indian guy. Hopefully, that’ll explain your bein’ here. Besides, no one will be lookin’ for you after two weeks or so. They’ll think you caught a freight to California. Meanwhile we’ll figure out our next move. I don’t know what it’s gonna be. Might be just sittin’ tight ‘til we see what direction to go in.”

  I stared at him intently waiting for him to go on.

  “You look like you want to ask something, Billie,” he said.

  I started to say something, then felt the tears come to my eyes.

  “Ah, Jesus,” he said, “I told you I can’t stand kids bawlin’.” He got up and went to the refrigerator. He pulled out a soda and opened it, then put it down in front of me. “Now why are you crying. Did I make you scared?”

  “Not exactly,” I replied. “Well, yeah, I guess you did. But it ain’t that.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “The next time you go out to that hospital, can you ask about our dad? Would you please do that?”

  He reached over and grabbed my arm as he reassured me with a smile. “I surely will,” he said. “He’s in this as much as we are. We’re all in it. Only sure as hell we’ll be getting out of it, just soon as I can figure how. Now you three go and get some sleep while I do some thinking.”

  7

  Ace left the house after that saying he had some folks he needed to talk to. After he’d left, Kelly tried to teach Sara and me to draw airplanes. Mine looked like scribbles, though Sara got pretty good at it. Then she started drawing horses from a picture on the wall. She seemed completely focused on it, like it was the most important thing in the world. I’d never seen her do anything but fill in coloring books. Only her horses were almost perfect. Kelly was pretty good at sketching, too. He could draw an airplane so that it looked like it was in a dogfight, with its wings tilted. He wanted to be an aviator when he grew up, he told us.

  Later on we got out Ace’s tackle box and looked through all the lures, then Kelly went into the closet and fetched out Ace’s
rod and reel. Kelly said we could go fishing for catfish and bluegills in the canals if Ace would give us permission. Sara just ignored us. She kept on drawing horses.

  When Ace came home he was sweaty and exhausted. He sank into a stale-smelling armchair and put his feet up on a stool.

  “Did you see the people you wanted to see?” asked Kelly.

  “Nope. I spent the day at the public library.”

  “The library?” asked Kelly. “Did you bring back any Big Little books?”

  “I’m sorry,” answered Ace. “I got so caught up in what I was doing that I forgot to get you some books.”

  Kelly gave a sigh. “Caught up in what?”

  “Trying to dig up some old stories about Lacy Horne from the newspaper. Only I didn’t find anything. But I did go over to the hospital.” He closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck, then he opened them again and looked at me. “I checked on your father.”

  I felt a queasy feeling as I waited for him to say more.

  “They say he’s gonna live. He’s still unconscious but his vital signs are good. That’s about all I could get out of ‘em. I’d have talked to the doctor but it would have given us away.”

  I felt like crying again but I was afraid Ace would be mad at me. But the more I thought about it, the better I felt. I don’t know how, but I knew he was going to pull through. “Thank you, Ace,” I said anxiously.

  “What’s for dinner?” asked Kelly. “Ain’t gonna be beans again, is it?” I stayed quiet. Sara and I would have been glad to get anything.

  Ace gave a snort, then grimaced at Kelly. “Hell yes it’s beans! Pork and beans, heated in a pot and spooned into a bowl with a sure enough piece of bread on the side and a tall glass of milk. And you’re gonna be the one fixing it. And if beans don’t suit ya, you can cut yourself a piece of cantaloupe.”

  “Yuck,” said Kelly, making a face. Then he went into the kitchen and pulled out a big can of pork and beans from the cupboard.

  “You three can share it,” called out Ace. “I’m not hungry.”

  I could see Kelly rolling his eyes. “You need to keep your strength up,” he said scoldingly.

  “Ah, what the hell,” said Ace. “Open another can. We’ll have a feast.”

  We’d just finished clearing the table when there was a loud knock at the door. I felt my heart jump as Kelly peeked out the curtain. “Get back in the bedroom,” he said, pushing Sara and me toward the bedroom door.

  “Who the hell is it?” Ace asked in a gruff voice.

  “The police,” answered Kelly, “and that damned Jack Wells.”

  “Uh oh,” Ace said quietly. “You kids do as he said and pronto.”

  Once we were in the bedroom we just sat and listened.

  “What brings you here, Jack?” Ace said pleasantly after opening the door.

  “This officer is looking for those escaped kids,” I heard a man say sharply. “Somebody seen the older girl over near the dump a few days back and your nephew Kelly was with her.”

  “Wait, wait, wait,” blurted Ace. “In the first place, I don’t know about any escaped kids, and in the second place, who was it said they saw all this?”

  “My brother Lenny,” the man responded. “He said she’s a colored girl.”

  “Well, your brother was wrong,” Ace responded calmly. “At least he was wrong about who it was. My sister Emma sent her kids here from California two days ago. I’m keepin’ ‘em for a while. I think you remember Emma—you went out with her before she married. Or maybe you can’t keep ‘em all straight.” There was silence after that.

  “Yeah, I remember. I heard she married a...an Indian guy,” Wells replied. “This sure is a strange coincidence, ain’t it? You having your sister’s kids here at the same time there’s two colored kids on the loose who broke out of Sykes’ house and stole a car.”

  “It surely is,” Ace responded. “If Lenny saw this, why don’t you have him come over here and identify the kids. I mean, this kid here might not even be my nephew—maybe he’s an imposter. But then, Lenny can’t do that, can he, since there’s a restraining order on him. Why don’t you tell the officer here about that police report I filed on your brother last year. It’d make interesting reading.”

  “It was all a damn lie and you know it,” came the loud reply. “Lenny never bothered Kelly, and you beat him up for nothing.”

  “I sure did beat him up,” Ace responded, “and I’d love to do it again if he bothers Kelly. Next time he won’t get off so easy. I’ll take care of it so he’ll sing soprano.” Then another man spoke up.

  “You’d better not be making any threats, Mr. Kelly. It would be better if you just bring your niece out here and let us talk to her. We can tell pretty quick if you’re telling the truth.”

  “My niece or my nephew?” asked Ace. “The older one’s a boy.” I felt a sudden panic. I knew that if they left now, they’d just come back later. I made my decision quickly.

  “We’ve got to go out there,” I said to Kelly. I motioned for Sara to get in the closet and take her doll with her. She was a little confused at first, but finally got my drift. Kelly was confused too, but he followed my lead. We came out of the bedroom together and approached the man.

  “Uncle Ace!” I said loudly, “Kelly’s making fun of me because I’m Indian. Tell him he’d better cut it out.”

  Ace folded his arms and looked at us.

  “He can’t even take a little teasing,” said Kelly. “He’s a tattle-tale sissy.”

  “What did you say to him?” Ace asked Kelly.

  “I just said ‘Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo, catch a...”

  ‘That’s enough!” Ace yelled at him. He balled his fist and threatened him with it. “Don’t you ever say that again. Do you understand? Now get back in the bedroom and lie down. I don’t want to hear another peep out of you tonight.”

  Then he turned to the two men as Kelly just stood there. “I don’t know what’s got into that boy. He’s been listening to the white trash around here, I guess. God knows we got plenty of that, haven’t we, Jack?” Without giving anyone a chance to answer, Ace turned on Kelly again. “Did you hear what I said? Now get in that bedroom or get a whipping.”

  “I will not!” Kelly snarled. He was putting on a show. “I don’t have to mind you, you old...”

  His words ended in mid-sentence as Ace jerked him by one arm and went to paddle him in the bedroom while Kelly cursed. I could still hear him crying after Ace closed the door and came back out.

  “I’m sorry about that, gentlemen,” Ace apologized. “The boy needs discipline.” Then he spoke to me. “Now tell these men about yourself, William.” He was using my alias.

  “I apologize, Uncle Ace. Did I do something bad?”

  The policeman shook his head at Wells, then turned back to me. “No, you didn’t do anything bad,” he said. “We were given the wrong information. Let’s go now, Mr. Wells. I’ve got more important things to do than this.” Jack Wells stared at me, then followed the policeman off the porch and onto the driveway.

  “Why did your brother say he saw a girl?” I heard the cop say to Wells as they walked off the porch. “The report is about missing girls.”

  After they drove away, we sat down and ate our supper. “That S.O.B. is the king around this neighborhood, or he thinks he is,” Ace muttered. Then he laughed. “That was great thinking, Missy, but don’t go anywhere near that man again. You hear me? He’s dangerous. God only knows how he makes his living. He’s got irons in a dozen fires, and not a one of ‘em is straight.”

  8

  I look back on the weeks that followed as the most exciting time in my life, though in another way they were the scariest. Papa was lying in a hospital bed, charged with attempted murder, and a couple of killers—not to mention a police captain, the county attorney, and the governor himself—were searching for Sara and me. And yet after all the fear and desperation of those first days after Papa was shot, I somehow had hope that things would
get better. Ace told me that Papa would pull through, after all, and I didn’t know enough to realize that Papa might have brain damage. I somehow didn’t quite believe that Ace really had those papers that he claimed to have—the ones that proved he’d been framed—but I could sense he was a decent man who would do his best to protect us.

  It was another week later when he finally let us out of the house. “I’ve gotta have some rest from you brats,” he said good-naturedly, “but I’m afraid Sara will have to stay inside, or at least in the backyard. If some kid tries to talk to her, the word will get around that she’s a deaf-mute. Wouldn’t take the cops five minutes to figure out who you are.”

  When I tried to explain it to Sara, she was upset. For one thing, she was as desperate as I was to play outside. And for another, she didn’t want me to leave her alone. I suppose I was her security blanket. Me and Raggedy. After I told her that I wouldn’t leave her alone for more than a couple of hours, she nodded a single time, then went back to her water painting. Ace had given her a brush and paints and Kelly had supplied the paper.

  Ace said I might have trouble in the neighborhood, but it wouldn’t come from Lenny. His brother had kicked him out for drinking. Lenny had rented an apartment with Tommy Sykes on the other side of town, although nobody could figure where the rent money was coming from. “Him and Tommy are probably pulling robberies or something else crooked,” Ace added. “Anyway, let’s not worry about it right now. I got something in mind that’s gonna make all of our lives a little better. We’re gonna help little Sara here learn proper sign language. My friend Thelma McQueen teaches at the deaf school. She learned signing when she was a little girl herself. Her mother was deaf.”

  Kelly frowned at the news but didn’t say anything.

  Thelma—Miss McQueen—showed up a week later. She was a big lady, or as Ace said, “plump.” She had graceful hands with long painted fingernails and a smooth face that smiled easily. Though Ace acted gruff around her, I could see he liked her. She started right in with Sara, pointing to objects, making funny expressions with her face and using her fingers so fast I couldn’t follow them.