Here we were about to have all this money, yet Fancy and me couldn’t even walk down the street together. I brushed a strand of hair from her face. “It’s going to get harder not letting anybody find out about you and me.”
“I know. Don’t worry so much. Momma is keeping Daddy from the shine jug so he don’t get crazy.” She laid her forehead against mine. “I’ll be seventeen next summer and done with school. Then I can live on my own.”
“Where you going to live?”
“Why don’t I come stay with you? We can tell folks I’m your live-in housekeeper.” She squeezed closer. “Or we could move somewhere we don’t have to worry about what other people think.”
I pushed my hand under her dress and felt her wetness. “We could just buy a tent and live out in the woods.”
Her legs parted. “And what would we do all day?” Fancy covered my mouth with hers, reaching for my zipper.
“We’d think of something.” She lifted so I could pull down her underwear. Her insides were on fire. We buried our worries and concerns and made love until sweat ran between our bellies.
CHAPTER 31
Lightning waited on the corner. “How’d everything go?” I asked him.
He rubbed his hands against his pants several times. “Good, just got one little thing we need to do first.”
A sour feeling hit me. “What?”
“Twin said he needed to know who he’s dealing with.” Lightning stared out the window. “He wants to meet you.”
“Why?”
“Like I said, he’s suspicious about folks, especially white folks.”
“How does he know I’m white? Dammit, Lightning, why can’t you keep your mouth shut?”
“Just came out when we were talking. You’ll be fine. It’s business, Junebug, nobody’s going to start any ruckus. Turn left at the next street.”
We drove deeper into the heart of Hayti. Houses along the streets were run-down, white-painted wood that had faded to a dusty chalk. Most had a shaded front stoop, and folks sat outside taking in the night air, watching traffic pass. I felt like every eye was on me.
Lightning pointed to a house that sat above the street. “Pull up right there.”
No light was visible from outside. “Don’t look like anybody’s home.”
“They’re here, the windows got heavy curtains.” Lightning got out of the truck.
Fancy started to follow. Lightning turned and put his hand on her shoulder. “You might ought to stay here.”
“I’m going.” The tone of her voice didn’t leave it up for question.
“Suit yourself.” We climbed the cement steps that ran from the street up to a long wooden porch. Lightning knocked.
The curtain moved slightly before the lock rattled. A colored man built like a hickory stump opened the screen door and motioned us in. “Put your hands on the wall.” He wasn’t asking. He patted me down from shoulders to feet. “Go on in,” he growled.
The run-down condition of the outside didn’t match the inside. Thick red carpet covered the floor. There was nice furniture, music coming from a long console against the wall, and a couple of crazy-looking lamps with blobs floating up and down. Lightning motioned me to stand beside him. “This is Twin.”
A fat, bald-headed man sat on a white leather couch, smoking a cigar, except it didn’t smell like cigar. He didn’t bother to get up. “So you’re Lightning’s partner?”
“Reckon so.”
He pulled himself up off the couch. “Hell, y’all ain’t nothing but a couple of punk-ass kids.” Twin towered over me by at least four inches, weighed about three hundred pounds, and had the biggest hands I’d ever seen. His face was pocked bad and a lot of yellow showed in his eyes. He bent down and put his broad nose real close to mine, like he was sniffing my scent.
He moved from me to Fancy. “Now, this is something I can use.” He lifted her chin, pushed her around so he could see her behind, then used his first finger to lift one of her breasts.
Fancy jerked away. Her fists balled up. I moved between them. “She ain’t for sale.”
Twin was startled. He leaned down to me again. “Let me tell you something, you white-bread motherfucker, I’ll take whatever I want.” His breath stunk like my pigpen.
“Like I said, she ain’t for sale.” I swelled up the best I could, staring back. He had a fearsome sneer. His man started laughing.
Twin straightened, then suddenly reached down and grabbed me by my privates, jerking up. “I like a man what’s got some balls, boy, but don’t talk like that to me again. I’ll put your ass in a place nobody will ever find all your parts.”
The sudden severe pain made me suck air. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fancy start to move. I put my elbow against her chest. “She’s got no part in this.” My tone had a higher pitch than usual due to the grip Twin had on my nuts.
He turned loose. I cut an eye at Lightning, but he just stared straight ahead. He was either scared shitless or more worried about the money than about his sister.
“Oh, I get it now,” Twin said. “You done got a taste of this chocolate stuff and you like it. You think this nigger cunt is your girlfriend? Boy, you got a lot to learn about women. But, like I said, I respect a man that’s got backbone.”
He stepped back and settled on the couch. “Y’all sit down and let’s talk business. I have to admit this shit Lightning brought is pretty good. How much you got?”
Lightning talked while Fancy and I sat close together, staying quiet. “A hundred jars like I brought you, and fifty half-gallon ones.”
“When can you deliver?”
“Anytime you want.”
Twin puffed on his cigar while he glanced at the ceiling. “Okay, let’s set up for this coming Wednesday; y’all can get it here?”
Lightning started to agree before I stopped him. “No offense, Mr. Twin, but we ain’t bringing it here. We’ll meet you somewhere private so we can make the trade.”
He pushed to his feet again, his expression pissed off and serious. Then he began to laugh. “What we got here is a junior John Dillinger.” He looked at the other man standing behind us. “What’s the matter, boy, you scared of coming to black folks country?”
Maybe I should just agree, and never show up. “I just don’t trust you to have our well-being in mind.” I watched the blobs float up and down.
That really got him going. He slapped me on the shoulder. “I’m starting to like you, boy. What’d you say your name was?”
“Folks call me Junebug.”
He leaned down in my face again. “That’s about the dumbest name I ever heard, right behind Lightning.” He wasn’t smiling when he straightened up. “All right, where you want to meet?”
I was surprised he agreed so quickly. I waited to see if Lightning had any ideas. He just stood there like he had a post up his ass.
I felt like the idiot in the room, putting myself in a place I was scared we wouldn’t get out alive, but didn’t see anything to do except keep talking. “There’s a bridge just past the county line on Highway 751 where it crosses over Northeast Creek. Right before the bridge is a pull-off place people use to go down to the water and fish. We’ll meet you there at ten o’clock Wednesday night.”
Twin stared at me, rubbing his jaw with a massive right hand. He glanced at his man. “You know the place?”
The man nodded.
“Okay, I’ll be there. Make sure you bring all the stuff.”
“No disrespect, but it comes to some over twenty-two thousand dollars, as I figure it.”
“Don’t you worry about the money, boy, I can count. But worry about this: If anybody jumps out of the bushes, know I’ll kill you first.” He scratched the side of his jaw. “I’m already wondering how two dumb-asses like you could come to have that much reefer.” He wasn’t loud and he didn’t push his face in front of mine, but he wasn’t playing. “Try setting me up and I’ll bury you and everybody in your family.”
I could tell he m
eant every word. “Mister, all we’re trying to do is make some money and not have any trouble.” Fancy and I got to our feet.
“You best hope that’s all you’re trying to do. Now haul your ass out of here.” He looked Fancy up and down again. “Unless you want to stay, little girl.”
She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door.
“Well, ain’t that cute, white bread’s got him a farm nigger. You be careful, that stuff can mess up your head.” They were still laughing as we pulled the door shut behind us.
As soon as I got the truck turned around, I lit into Lightning. “Who the hell have you got us messing with? They could have killed us in there!”
Lightning sounded irritated and impatient with my ignorance. “Junebug, who the hell did you think you would deal with? Ain’t no choirboys selling dope.”
Fancy tried to ease the situation. “Junebug, I’m okay. It didn’t mean anything. It’s like Lightning says, he was just trying to scare us.”
“He damn sure did me. What if they decide to rob us when we do the trade? I don’t want somebody to find my body floating in Northeast Creek.”
Lightning made a feeble attempt at putting my worries to rest. “You’re getting all worked up for nothing. He said he was starting to like you.”
“He can kiss my ass is what he can do. I can’t believe you’re actually stupid enough to trust that bastard. Telling me I’ll be the first one dead, shit, he better be worried about his self.” We rode the rest of the way in silence.
CHAPTER 32
Lightning went into the house and right to bed. Fancy and me closed the door to Grandma’s bedroom, leaving the light on. I lay on my back, counting knots in the wood ceiling, thinking. “Do you have any idea if Lightning would double-cross us?”
She let out an exhausted sigh. “There was a time I’d say no. Maybe that cut in his face runs a lot deeper than the scar.” I felt the shiver in her arms and pulled her close.
“When this is over, we’re done with this shit.” We could stop now, give Lightning the marijuana, tell him to leave and make the deal however he wanted. But Fancy and me had come too far to walk away with nothing.
“That Twin is creepy, Junebug. He just might want to get rid of us and take what we got. I can’t even believe I’m saying that. None of this seems real.”
“I won’t let anything happen to you, Fancy, but when it’s finished, Lightning’s got to go.”
She sat up, holding her knees. “Life gets crazy sometimes, don’t it? Once in a while when the old freight train goes by the school, I feel like I want to hop on and never come back.”
I heard the hoot owl down by the barn.
* * *
A loud pounding sounded from the porch, like a hammer hitting wood. Fancy and me hit the floor. “Junebug. Junebug, you come to this door!” It was Roy.
“Shit.” Fancy hid in the closet. I reached under the bed for my shotgun. When I went through the living room, I could see Lightning standing in the shadow of the other bedroom and waved him back.
I flipped on the porch light. “What do you want, Roy?”
“I told you, Junebug. I warned you.” He stood outside the screen door, his face pressed against the wire. “Tell Fancy to get her ass out here.”
I stood close enough to smell the moonshine liquor on him. “You’re drinking and it’s got your head messed up. Go on home.”
“Don’t lie to me, boy. She’s in there. Get her out here or I’ll come in and drag her out.” He pushed on the door.
I stuck the barrel of the shotgun to the screen. There was no way I could handle him man to man if he got to me. “You ain’t coming in my house unless I say so.” He stopped; spit drooled down the corner of his mouth. I waited, hoping all his years of understanding that a colored man didn’t challenge a white man, even a younger one like me, would be stronger than his rage.
“Here I am, Daddy.” Fancy startled both of us.
Roy’s face clouded like a thunderhead. “Look at yourself. I didn’t raise you to be some white man’s whore. I ought to beat the hell out of both of you.”
Her voice choked. “I ain’t a whore, Daddy.”
Red showed in the whites of Roy’s eyes. “What the hell do you call it? Next you’ll be having bastard children somebody else will have to raise. Who’s going to marry you then?”
Fancy’s voice trembled. “I ain’t going to be having any babies.”
After a minute of the standoff, I decided to get it over with. I hoped to be able to calm him down. “Roy, I’m going to open the door so we can do some talking, but there won’t be any hitting or cussing. You agree to that?” He looked down, forced to accept something he didn’t want. I helped him up when he stumbled over the casing.
In the living room, I sat between Fancy and her daddy. “Go ahead and say your piece, Roy.”
His words slurred, and his neck was rubbery. “I always tried to protect you, Fancy, favored you as much as I knowed how. You’re growing up to be a handsome woman, one with a chance to find a good man and have a decent life, not have to settle for some no-account nigger like me.” He rambled and blubbered about losing Lightning, and now all he had left to hope for was Fancy to make something out of herself. Drunken tears ran down his face.
Fancy got up and went to kneel beside him. Loud knocking came from the back door. The room hushed. I signaled Roy and Fancy with a finger to my lips and hoped Lightning was paying attention. My first thought went to Mr. Wilson or Bull Jones.
I walked through the kitchen and peeped through the curtain. I was so overcome with relief I had to hold on to the casing for support. It was Clemmy. I opened the door. “Junebug, I’m sorry. Roy got to drinking and found out Fancy wasn’t home. I figured he might come here.”
She had a big bruise on her face. “He’s in the living room.”
“Momma?” Fancy grabbed her shoulder, touching her bruised eye before balling her fist and turning back to her daddy. “God damn you, why you always got to be taking out your hatefulness on Momma and me? We’re the only people you got! Why don’t you pick on somebody who can fight back?”
Clemmy pushed Fancy to the couch. “Fancy, you hush. Sit your ass down and let me deal with this.” She took a chair beside Roy. “It’s okay.” She talked easy to him.
Roy got weepy-eyed again. “I’m sorry, Clemmy. You know I didn’t mean nothing by it.”
The floor creaked in the bedroom. Everybody turned toward the noise.
Roy fell out of his chair backward, knocking it over. “God almighty!” His eyes squinted to make sure he was seeing right. “Lightning?”
He stepped into the light. “Hey, Daddy. Hey, Momma.”
Roy rushed him, lifting him off the ground. Clemmy doubled over, holding her stomach. “Oh Jesus. Thank You, Jesus, You brought him home.” The three of them fell into each other, crying, laughing, and hugging.
“Boy, what are you doing here?” Roy held his son at arm’s length.
“Been here staying with Junebug for a while. I knew the sheriff was trying to find me.”
“Is what he said true, son? Did you kill that white man?”
“Had to, Daddy. He was for sure intent on killing me.”
Clemmy touched the scar running down her son’s face. “He did this to you?” As hard as she had tried to guard her children, the evil in the world had gotten to her son.
Lightning sat down between Roy and Clemmy on the couch. They insisted Lightning tell them what had happened and how he got home.
I went on the porch and smoked, letting them catch up in private. I was thumping my second cigarette to the yard when Roy came out. “I owe you an apology, Junebug. You’ve been looking after Lightning all this time.”
“You’d do it for me.”
Roy stuck out his hand. “I reckon I would.”
I fixed my eyes on Roy while I shook with him. “We still got some talking to do.”
“Well, let’s get to it.” He waited for me to lead the way.
<
br /> I sat down beside Fancy. Things went dead silent when I reached and took her hand. She hesitated at first. “Roy, Clemmy, we want to tell you Fancy and me has developed feelings for each other. We understand it’s not right in the face of the world and didn’t intend for things to turn out this way, but it happened and we don’t see nothing changing.”
The room was midnight quiet except for the ticking of the wall clock. Lightning turned his head toward the window. Finally her momma spoke. “Fancy.” Clemmy’s light brown face folded in rows from her eyes down to her chin. “I never thought you’d go this far. You may think you know this world, but you don’t by a long shot. And Junebug, you can’t imagine what danger you’re putting her in.”
Fancy took a deep breath. “I know how things are, Momma; I’m not stupid. We’re not looking to cause trouble, all we’re asking you is to let us decide. Y’all are all I got, and I don’t want hard feelings, but there comes a time to loosen the rope some, let me figure out things for myself.”
Roy’s eyes had cleared some, but his voice now sounded hurt, not angry. “Fancy, your momma and me have sheltered you the best we could. You don’t know what meanness is out there in the world. There’s folks who will hurt you just because of your black skin, others would kill you for living in sin with a white man. And they won’t stop with you.” He let his last words sink in.
I put my hand to Fancy’s shoulder to stop her from answering, and moved my eyes from one face to another. I didn’t see any sympathy. “Roy, I know them people, sit with them in the church pews. They can pray to God on Sunday, then put on white sheets Monday. That kind of hate is bred deep down over a lot of years, and I know it ain’t going away just ’cause we hope it will. But I read about stuff happening across the country. Folks are starting to speak up. Grandma told me once she was proud I didn’t like the things I see, and I don’t believe I’m the only one. I ain’t stupid enough to think they can’t harm us, but you and Clemmy should know I’ll draw my last breath if anybody tries to hurt Fancy.”
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