“Luker seems to be a pretty levelheaded guy except where she’s concerned. A woman who’d flirt with another man behind her husband’s back isn’t worth shootin’, to my way of thinkin’.”
“She flirt with you, did she?”
Brady nodded, then realized Rusty couldn’t see him. “Yeah,” he said. “And with Andy Payne too. Andy said that she reminded him of a black widow spider. She scared the crap out of him. He couldn’t get away from her fast enough.”
“She’s sure to give Mr. Luker trouble.” Rusty reached back to scratch Blackie, who was lying on a crate behind the front seat. “He doesn’t know it now, or maybe he doesn’t care, but he’ll lose his kids over her if he doesn’t change his ways soon. Neither one of them will put up with her much longer.”
“Mona is a pretty girl.”
“Is she?”
Brady glanced over and saw the interest on Rusty’s face. “Yeah. Pretty brown hair that hangs a little down on her shoulders. Big brown eyes. Curves in all the right places. Sixteen or seventeen, I’d guess. If I was ten years younger, I’d set my cap for her.” He continued to glance at Rusty and caught his smile.
“How old are you, Brady? Do you mind my asking?”
“Naw, I don’t mind. I’m twenty-nine.”
“I’m twenty-two. I’ve been blind for twelve years.”
“You’ve not let it stop you.”
“It’s stopped me on this trip. At home I knew my way around. I could go to town, to the barbershop, the post office and the grocery store. When we settle, it’ll take me a while to learn my way around again, but I can do it.”
“Alvin told me that you write songs. I’d like to hear some of them sometime. I listen to Grand Ole Opry from Nashville every chance I get, but I’ve never met a songwriter.”
“You just haven’t been in the right places. Before we get to California you’ll be wanting to slam my guitar against a tree trunk.” Rusty chuckled. “My folks think I can get a job singing on the radio. You know the old saying, a mother’s love is blind? Well, in this case it’s also deaf.”
Brady laughed. He was surprised at how easy it was to visit with a blind person. He found himself describing things he had barely noticed before.
“We’re crossing the Arkansas. I’m surprised they don’t have a toll on this bridge. The river is wide at this point, but there’s not much water down there.”
Later he said, “Almost every other building is empty in these little towns we’ve been going through. There’s a dirt road a little way over from the highway. I’m seeing several wagons. We just passed one piled high with household furniture and with a cow tied on behind. The folks must be moving on. I wonder how they got across the river. Maybe they came down from the north.
“I was damn lucky.” Brady maneuvered the car around a stripped-down Model T that was barely moving. “I worked over near Rainwater and Ponca City when the oil first came in. They were paying good wages, and I saved enough to get a little start or I’d be riding the rails looking for a job.”
“Pa said you’re a rancher.”
“Yeah. Me and another fellow have a little ranch in Colorado. My partner is Cherokee. There isn’t anything about a horse, wild or tame, that he doesn’t know about. He graduated from the Cherokee Seminary down at Tahlequah and is smart enough to do anything he sets his mind to. But all he wants to do is raise horses, which is fine with me. I met him through his sister and her husband while I was in Rainwater. Radna and Randolph Bluefeather are an unforgettable pair. Sometime I’ll tell you about them—that is, if you’re not already tired of hearing my voice. I don’t know when I’ve talked this much.”
“I appreciate every word. You paint a good picture. I’ve been able to see in my mind what you’ve been telling me.”
“It looks like this is where we’ll stop for the night.” Brady followed the Lukers off the highway. “I bought a hunk of meat back there at the store. Do you reckon your mother would make us a stew?”
Chapter 6
THE SUN WAS DROPPING BEHIND the western horizon when Elmer followed Alvin into the camping area west of Sapulpa. A rattletrap car, the two front doors missing, was already there, and three men were sitting or squatting on the grass nearby. Alvin drove to the far side of the area before stopping, leaving room for Elmer, Foley and Brady to pull in behind him.
Elmer stopped a good fifty feet behind Alvin, got out and stood watching Alvin motion for him to move closer. When he made no move to get back into the truck, Alvin came to speak to him.
“I think we should be closer tonight, Elmer. There’s three men over there, and it looks to me like they’re boozin’ it up.”
“They’re not camping. They’ll move on out pretty soon.”
On hearing Elmer’s curt words, Alvin opened his mouth, closed it, glanced at the three men on the other side of the campground, then spoke with exaggerated calm.
“Well, I just thought I’d mention it.”
Margie got out of the truck. Elmer Kinnard was stubborn as a mule! Frustration rolled through her. During the hours she had been cooped up in the truck with him he had not said one word. She had made up her mind during the afternoon that she would endure whatever she had to endure because every day brought her closer to California.
But how long would Alvin put up with Elmer being so obstinate? Her fear was that the others would cut them loose and leave her alone with him. Oh, Lord! What would she do?
She would sacrifice her pride and beg Brady Hoyt to take her with him and Anna Marie, if it came to that.
Margie had tried to look at one of her movie magazines during the afternoon, but the jolting in the truck gave her a headache, and she had to lay it aside and sit silently watching the landscape go by. It had been a long, cheerless afternoon, and she was glad it was time to stop for the night.
Desperately needing a little conversation, and caring not a whit if Elmer liked it or not, Margie headed for the Putman truck to speak to Grace and Anna Marie.
“Margie, guess what?” Anna Marie, clinging tightly to Grace’s hand, called as she approached.
“What? Tell me quick.” Margie hadn’t spoken a word since noon, and her voice seemed rough to her when she answered the child.
“Aunt Grace is teaching me the ABC song.”
“Forevermore! I’ll have to hear it,” Margie exclaimed. “Your uncle will be surprised.”
“We were just talking about that, wasn’t we, Annie?” Grace cupped the child’s head and held it to her side. “When I told her that our son’s name was Russell Allen, but we call him Rusty, she decided that she’d like to be called Annie.”
“Oh, but Anna Marie is such a pretty name.”
“You can still call me Anna Marie, Margie.”
“I think I will, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind. I like to ride with Aunt Grace. Can I ride with you sometime?”
Margie didn’t know what to say. She was afraid of what Elmer’s reaction would be if she invited the child to ride with them. Anna Marie wouldn’t understand his refusal to talk to her.
The Lukers came in and parked close behind Elmer’s truck, and Brady’s car moved around to close the space between Elmer’s truck and the Putmans’. Brady was taking a bundle off the top carrier on his Model A Ford when Anna Marie broke loose and ran to him.
“Uncle Brady! Want to hear me sing the ABC song?”
“Sure! Punkie, let her rip.”
“A B C D E F G, H I J—that’s all I know. Aunt Grace said I learned fast. Mr. Putman sang with me.”
“He did, huh?”
“He knows lots of songs. He knows one about old MacDonald. And he knows how to go hee-haw, hee-haw. Maybe he’ll show you.”
“I’ve always wanted to know how to go hee-haw.” Brady smiled down at the child. At times she reminded him so much of his lighthearted brother that his heart would stumble and almost stop.
“I’m goin’ to play with Blackie.”
“Stay close, Punkie.
”
“I will.” Anna Marie ran toward the Putman camp, and Brady wondered how he had ever thought he could make the trip alone with a five-year-old girl. He thanked God for the kindness of Mrs. Putman and for Margie. He wanted to talk to her and waited until he saw Elmer walk off toward the woods.
Brady went to the back of Elmer’s truck. Margie was inside kneeling beside the cupboard. “Margie—” It startled her when he spoke her name. She rose to step from the truck. Brady reached in and grasped her around the waist. Before she could protest, he had lifted her down as easily as if she were no heavier than Anna Marie.
“Oh, my! I’m too big for that!”
“Big? I doubt you weigh much over a hundred pounds dripping wet.”
“I do. About ten or fifteen pounds over.”
“That still isn’t very big.” He stood there looking down at her with his remarkable green eyes squinted. “I’m leery of that group parked over there.” He jerked his head toward the parked car and the men lounging on the grass beside it.
“Is that why you’re wearing a gun?”
“It’s best to be prepared,” he said by way of an answer.
“Mr. Putman said as much.”
“If they’re going to pull something, they’ll wait until dark.”
“What could we do if they did? There’s three of them.”
“There are five of us counting Jody.”
“Six counting me.”
He grinned. “Does Elmer have a gun?”
“I don’t know, but I do. It’s just a little one, but I know how to shoot it.”
“But would you?”
“Doggone right,” she said staunchly. “A friend gave it to me before I left home. He took me out into the woods and showed me how to use it.” She smiled into his eyes. “I confess that I can’t shoot the eye out of a running jackrabbit, but I did hit a barn door a few feet away.”
The twinkle in his eyes caused a blush to redden her face. “Will it fit in your pocket?”
“In my apron pocket.” She glanced toward the Lukers’ trailer, which Jody and Mona were unloading. “Do you think there’ll be trouble?”
“I don’t know. But it’s best to look for it and be pleasantly surprised when you don’t find it.”
“Are you and Anna Marie eating with the Putmans?”
“We’ve struck a deal. I’ll help furnish the grub, and Mrs. Putman will cook it.” Brady looked past Margie to see Elmer at the front of the truck watching them. He spoke to him. “I was just telling your daughter that we’d better keep an eye on that bunch over there by the other car. Do you have a gun?”
“My squirrel rifle.”
“Sometimes just a show of strength will cause a bunch bent on robbery to back off.”
“What makes ya think they’re goin’ to rob us? They don’t look dangerous to me.”
“They may be just good old boys out boozin’ it up. But I don’t plan to be caught with my pants down if they’ve got something else in mind.” Brady turned, then said, “See you, Margie.”
Unable to understand Elmer’s reasoning, Margie climbed back into the truck again and began to lay out the supplies for supper.
While Foley was putting up the pup tent, Jody built a cook fire. Sugar complained to Foley that the tent was too close to the trailer and car where Jody and Mona slept.
“They’ll hear everything we say and … do,” she whispered seductively. “They’re with us all day. I want you all to myself at night.”
“Just for tonight. Those fellows over there may spend the night here, and we shouldn’t be too far away from the others.”
“Whose idea is that? Alvin Putman’s? He’s an old fuddyduddy, and his wife doesn’t give me the time of day.” Sugar knew how to use her voice. She had let it drop into a sorrowful tone.
“You might like her if you got to know her,” Foley said. “Don’t you think it’s worth trying?”
“No, I don’t. I only want you.” Sugar hugged his arm and pressed her taut breasts against him.
“We have a long trip ahead of us. It will be more pleasant for all of us if we could be sociable.”
“She don’t like me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I wasn’t going to tell you, darlin’, but Mr. Hoyt keeps looking at me. He was stealing glances all the time he was fixing the radiator.”
“I can’t blame him for that, Sugar. I like to look at you too.”
“But, darlin’, he looks at me like … like he wants to see me without my clothes on.”
“If he bothers you, I’ll put a stop to it.”
“But … but he scares me.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll watch him.”
“I’m glad, so glad, I’ve got you to take care of me.” Sugar knew when to back off after she had planted her little seed of distrust, and changed the subject. “I’m trying so hard to make Mona into a young woman you’ll be proud of, but every time I open my mouth she cuts me off.” Sugar pouted and snuggled against Foley.
“She’ll come around. By the end of this trip the two of you will be the best of friends. I’m counting on it.”
“I hope so, darlin’. I really do. Jody takes her side. He spoils her. I like Jody. I really do. He’s such a sweet boy.”
Mona stirred the burning embers of the campfire before she placed the kettle of beans her brother had cooked the night before on the grate. She glanced with resentment at the tent where she could hear the low voice of her father and the giggles of her stepmother.
Embarrassed that her father would be such a fool over a woman so shallow and conniving, Mona sought to busy herself to keep from thinking about what was going on in the tent. She had begun to ladle the corn bread batter into the skillet when she looked up to see two men approaching. She glanced quickly over her shoulder. Jody wasn’t in sight.
“Somethin’ smells mighty good.” The man who spoke had a pleasant, clean-shaven face. He was younger than his companion and wore a billed cap.
Mona stood with the pancake turner in her hand. Jody came from around the trailer and placed the bowls he carried on a box near the fire.
“What do you want?” he demanded.
“We were wonderin’ if ya could spare a meal? We ain’t et all day, and what you got there looks and smells larrupin.’ ” The man eyed Mona in such a way that his words had a double meaning.
Jody’s eyes went from one man to the other and didn’t like what he saw. Somehow the smile on the younger man’s face struck him as being as false as a three-dollar bill.
“Pa,” he called. When there was no answer, he called again, urgently. “Pa, come out here.”
A full minute went by before his father came out of the tent, followed closely by Sugar. On seeing the men she tossed her hair back over her shoulders, pulled her shirt tightly down over her breasts and tucked it into the waist-band of her skirt.
“Howdy, folks.” The young man spoke to both, but his bold eyes were on Sugar.
“Where did you come from?” she asked, as if she hadn’t already spotted the three men in the car at the end of the campground.
“We’re from over there.” The man gestured toward the car.
Sugar flounced over and took the turner from Mona’s hand. “Haven’t you ever seen a man before?” she whispered irritably. “You’re burning the corn bread!”
Jody gave Sugar an angry glance, then spoke to his father. “They want a meal, Pa.”
“Give it to them. Mona, dish them up a plate of beans. We have plenty.”
“That’s mighty good of ya, mister.”
“Doesn’t your friend want to eat?” Sugar asked, nodding her head toward the car where the other man sat on the running board.
“No, ma’am. He’s kind of under the weather.”
Mona ladled beans into two bowls and stuck in spoons. It was Jody who handed them to the men. The young one hadn’t taken his eyes off Sugar, and she was well aware of it.
“Here’s a nice, hot corn brea
d pancake.” Sugar scooped up the bread and took it to the younger man, who had squatted on his heels to eat. When she leaned over to put it on his bowl, he looked down at her cleavage and boldly winked at her.
“Where you folks goin’?” The older man’s eyes moved constantly.
“California,” Sugar answered while giving him the corn bread. “We’re in the ice business. We’re going to build an icehouse in California.”
“That right? I’ve not known anyone in the ice business.”
Sugar laughed. “You should have come up to Joplin. We had a big icehouse up there.”
“I suppose you sold it.”
“Of course. How do you think we got the money to build another one.”
“Sugar—,”Foley admonished, and shook his head.
Jody’s anxious eyes went to his father. The stupid woman would get them killed.
“Where’s the corn bread batter, Mona?” Sugar was enjoying the stranger’s attention. “And get a bowl for your father.”
Mona ladled the batter into the skillet, then retreated. Jody had filled a bowl with beans for his father. He tried and failed to catch his eye when he took it to him. He was sure the bulge beneath the shirt of the older of the two men was a gun.
“Where are you fellows headed?” Foley asked.
“Here and there. Lookin’ for work.”
“You’ll not find work sitting out here in a campground,” Jody said, and nudged his sister back toward the trailer.
“Jody,” Sugar scolded, “that wasn’t very nice.”
The younger man stood and placed his empty bowl on the box, then went back and sat down.
“That was a mighty good supper, ma’am. A good cup of coffee would top it off.”
“We’re short of coffee,” Jody said.
“Since when?” Sugar asked. “Fill the coffeepot, Jody. I’d like a cup myself.”
“If Pa don’t catch on to her now, he never will,” Mona whispered to Jody when they went to the back of the trailer where they stored the foodstuffs.
“The old one has a gun. Slip around to the other side and go tell Brady.”
Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66] Page 7