Letter to Belinda

by Tim Tingle

  “Can’t tell. There’s a bend in the river. If the casket is floating, he probably already went around that bend. Want to follow him on the river bank?”

  “No, too many briars and snakes, and besides, the water is too swift. We couldn’t ever catch up with him.”

  “Suppose he snags on the bank somewhere along the way? Or suppose the casket leaks and sinks somewhere?”

  “Yeah, you’re right. Okay, you go back up the hill and get with Cory, and go down river with the truck to try to intercept him somewhere. I’ll take this flashlight, and walk the riverbank, in case he snags on something.”

  “What’s the nearest place we can drive around and fish him out?”

  “Probably the railroad bridge at Piney Creek. But by the time you walk out, and drive around, he probably will be drifted past that point. You and Cory stop and check anywhere along the river you can get to. I’ll follow on this side of the river.”

  “Where do we pick you up at?”

  “I don’t know. If I don’t see him, I’ll probably walk the river all the way to the Presbyterian Retreat. He’s sure to hang up on something or sink somewhere before he gets that far.”

  “Do you think Chris is okay?” Calvin asked.

  “How should I know? Either way, we got to find him!”

  “What’s our story going to be, in case we see Mom before we see you?”

  “Hey, this place is on the way to the Retreat, where we were supposed to be going anyway. We tell her that Chris was riding in the casket, because it was cramped in the truck, and somehow, because somebody didn’t close the tailgate, he slid out the back, and down the hill, and into the river!”

  “I told you, it wasn’t me! I closed the tailgate!”

  “But apparently not good enough, and it fell open!”

  “But it wasn’t my fault that the tailgate latch came open! It’s an old truck! Old things fall apart! Cory was driving like a bat out of hell!”

  “Okay, we can blame it on Cory!”

  “So we ain’t going to say anything about going to McDonald’s, or Dari-Delite?”

  “No, we leave that part out. No sense digging our graves any deeper than we have to. Pass that on to Cory too.”

  Calvin paused and looked at Joey. “Mom is going to be pissed about us missing our curfew.”

  “Don’t you know it! She’ll be even more pissed if we can’t find Chris. We’ll be grounded until we’re 40!”

  * * *

  When Miranda heard the screech of tires on the highway, and the dull thud, she was just arriving at her house, having walked through the woods in the dark. She could think of only one thing: I hope that wasn’t Lennie that someone hit! She quickly got into her car and drove up the driveway to her mailbox and stopped. She saw a large 4x4 pickup truck with monster wheels, stopped in the middle of the highway, between her driveway and the Judge’s. The headlights were on bright, and two men were standing in the road in front of the truck, looking down at something they had hit. As an almost involuntary response, Miranda found herself running toward them. To herself she was saying: Let it be a deer! Please, please don’t let it be Lennie! But as she got closer, she saw Lennie’s smashed bike on the far shoulder of the road. She yelled at the men. “You killed him! You ran him down!” The two men turned to see her approaching them, they themselves looking like deer in the headlights.

  “It wasn’t my fault!” one of them said. “He rode right out in front of me, and there was nothing I could do!”

  “Yeah,” the other guy said. “He tried to avoid hitting him, but the fellow just steered right into him!”

  “Oh, I don’t care about that! Is he okay? Is he still alive? Have you called an ambulance?”

  “No, I don’t think an ambulance can help him. He was pretty much killed instantly.”

  “Let me see him!”

  “He’s pretty messed up, Ma-am. You don’t want to see him!”

  “Yes I do! I want to see him! Do you have a cell phone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then call the police!” She brushed past them, dreading what she was going to see, but she had to see it. She saw Lennie lying in an awkward position, with a massive head wound. It looked like he hit the radiator of the truck head-first. “Oh Lennie! No, no, no!” She had to look away.

  “Like I said, Ma-am, it wasn’t my fault!”

  “Yeah, I’ll testify in court that it wasn’t his fault!”

  “I told you, I don’t care about that! He’s dead! What does it matter who’s fault it is!”

  “Well I’ve got a few speeding tickets. I don’t want this to get my license pulled.”

  “My God! Is that all you’re worried about? This man is dead!”

  “Are you related to him, Ma-am?”

  “No, but I know who he is. He’s a retarded man who lives down the road. He rides his bike all the time. Now call the police!”

  “Yes Ma-am!”

  The two men walked away from the scene, as one of them made the call. Miranda was crying uncontrollably. She couldn’t believe he was gone, just that quickly. She had just been talking to him, and now he was gone!

  But then a thought occurred to her. This was perfect! Now he can’t mess things up by talking to the police! It was a hard thing to admit, but this was probably the best thing that could have happened, from her perspective. She felt in her pocket. She still had the Judge’s wallet. Why not take this a step farther, while she had the opportunity?

  She turned and saw that the two men were facing the other way, one talking on the phone, and the other was watching him with interest. Neither of them was looking her way. She quickly squatted down, and slipped the Judge’s wallet out of her pocket, and into Lennie’s right front pocket, then stood up again. Good, they were still looking the other way, and had not seen her little ‘deed’. She was still standing near the body when they walked back her way.

  “The police are on the way.”

  “Good. Thank you.”

  “Were you a friend of his?”

  “No, not really. I just knew of him. But I can’t believe that he’s dead! I just saw him earlier today, riding his bike!”

  “Well, he shouldn’t have been out riding after dark! I couldn’t see him until it was too late!”

  “I saw him come out of that driveway up there, and down the side of the road, but as I got close to him, he just turned right into me! I tried to swerve away, but I didn’t have time!”

  “Yeah,” the other guy said. “It was almost like he wanted us to hit him!”

  “Wait! What you are saying, is that he committed suicide? Is that what you are trying to say?”

  “Well, no. I’m sure he didn’t, but I swear, it sure looked like it! I mean, he was smiling, and looking right at us, right up till he hit us! He put his head down, like he was gonna’ head-butt us!”

  “Surely not,” Miranda said, but she had to wonder if it was true. She thought back to just a few minutes ago. What was the last thing Lennie said before he rode away on his bike? ‘I love you, Miranda’. That was the first time he had ever said that to her. That, together with some of the other things she had said to him, about sending him away, so he couldn’t mess things up. Lennie could have taken that to mean that she didn’t want him around any more. And if he could have read her thoughts, he would surely have thought that she wanted him to die and end her problems. Surely he couldn’t read my mind! But he was pretty good at reading between the lines. Yes, he probably knew that he could best help me by dying. And Lennie already said he wanted to help me! He might have helped me, by steering headlong into this truck. He knew he was dying anyway, and he wasn’t afraid of death. Oh my God! He actually did it! He committed suicide, because he thought it would help me!

  She burst into tears, and was still crying when the p
olice arrived.

  * * *

  Meanwhile, on the Cahaba River, the beat-up casket was placidly floating down the gently flowing river. The high quality casket, which Janice had paid top dollar for, when she thought Travis was going to be needing it, was proving that it was worth the money now. This vessel intended to carry its occupant majestically into the after-life, had taken quite a licking, and still retained its water-proof integrity. The outward appearance however had suffered. It looked like the looser in a smash-up derby.

  Inside this battered time capsule, Chris was still in shock over the ordeal. The lining of the casket, while pleasing to the eye, did little to pad its occupant from impact and rough treatment. He had no idea what had happened to him, other than the truck must have wrecked in some catastrophic way, and it had to have killed everyone but him, because he heard no voices, and no one was rushing to check on him. He was hesitant to peer out at the real world, for fear of what he might see.

  But finally, curiosity got the best of him, and he tried to push up on the lid. It did not want to open as easily as it used to, because stress to the structure had bent the hinges, and this made it difficult to open. He shoved with all his might, and the hinges creaked, giving way slightly. The lid raised about three inches, and froze there when he relaxed his muscles. He braced himself and pushed again. This time the lid opened about one third of the way, then he heard a loud crack, and the entire lid broke loose from the casket, and slid off.

  There was a splash.

  He moved to raise up, and he realized that he was, in fact, floating in water! What the hell! he thought. The dark, yet brightly moon-lit river-scape had a mystical aura to it. Is this real? Or am I dead, and this is my lost soul drifting down the River Styx? He decided it had to be real, because he was bruised and hurting too much, and because he thought he recognized the location on the river. But how in the world did he get into the river? Was this another one of his brothers’ pranks? Were they playing one on him?

  The casket was not designed to be used as a boat, and it threatened to capsize if he shifted his weight, so he tried not to move any more than he had to. He realized, to his chagrin, that he was literally up the river without a paddle. But he was able to grab both sides of the casket, and raise up to the sitting position. His mobility would have been better if he was not still bound with mummy wrap. He saw no signs of life up the river where he had come from, but far down the river he saw what looked like flashlights out in the middle of the river. He was getting closer to the lights, so he patiently waited, to see who it was. As he got closer, he heard voices, as they carried well across the water. It sounded like someone fishing. Boy wouldn’t he be a sight, floating down the river in a casket, wrapped like a mummy. Chris smiled. Suddenly the why and how he got here was not nearly as important, as he considered how easy it would be to mess with these guys.

  * * *

  In the boat, two old men were ‘jug’ fishing for catfish. They were using catalpa worms to bait their hooks, and tying their lines to empty milk jugs, which they threw out into the river. If a catfish took the bait, the jug would follow the fish and give away its location. Later, in the wee hours of the morning, they would come back and check their lines, string up the fish they had caught, and re-bait the hooks. In between checking their jugs, the fishermen would sit around their camp fire on the bank, and drink coffee, or beer.

  These two had just started putting their jugs out, and had no idea there was another human being within ten miles. By the dim light of their head lamps, they were carrying out their tasks, as they caught up on the local gossip.

  “Guess you heard about Bob Deason’s demise?”

  “No, I didn’t. I been visitin’ my son in Mississippi.”

  “Your son, is that the one what had the drug problem?”

  “Naw, that was my good-for-nothin’ son-in-law. He’s still in Elmore prison. You know, for rippin’ off that ATM machine. He throwed a chain around it, and snatched it outta’ the store. All the police had to do was follow the scratches on the pavement to where they found him in an alley beatin’ on it with a hammer, trying to get it open.”

  “Dumb son-of-a-bitch, wasn’t he?”

  “Oh yeah, that was stupid!”

  “Where do people that stupid come from?”

  “He come from somewhere down below Hickstown.”

  “I was datin’ a woman from Hickstown once. That was after my second divorce.”

  “I remember that, but I thought it was before your second divorce?”

  “That’s right! You’ve got a good memory, my friend! It was before my second divorce! It had to be, because if I remember right, it was her that caused my second divorce!”

  The two old men cackled with laughter.

  “Hand me another jug.”

  “So you was visitin’ your son in Mississippi, you said?”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t stay but a week. That girl he married is a bitch, if ever there was one! From the time I got there, she didn’t do nothin’ but bitch, bitch, bitch! All I wanted to do was see my grand kids, and spend some time with them, but her snotty attitude was more than I could take. If I hadn’t left when I did, I would’a said something she would’a regretted!”

  “Ain’t that always the way? Young people today just get more and more disrespectful to their elders.”

  “So what got him, heart attack?”

  “Who?”

  “You told me that Bob Deason kicked the bucket.”

  “Oh yeah. Monday, I think it was. But no, it wasn’t no heart attack. His house burnt down, with him in it!”

  “The hell you say!”

  “That ain’t but part of it. They arrested his daughter for murder. She was at his house right before it burned, and he was found with a butcher knife in him!”

  “Damn!”

  “Deason always was a strange bird.”

  “I didn’t know he had a daughter.”

  “Well, he ain’t never been married, but he used to claim that she was his daughter. I can tell you one thing, she is one damn good looking woman!”

  “I reckon I don’t know her.”

  “Yeah you do! Herbert Jones’ wife, or ex-wife, I should say.”

  “Is that Deason’s daughter? Herbert Jones’ ex-wife? What is her name?”

  “Penelope.”

  “Yeah, I know her! You’re right! She is one fine lady!”

  “Well, now that sexy body of hers is goin’ to waste, because she was arrested for her dad’s murder. Probably going to prison the rest of her life.”

  “I wonder if I can pay her bail, and let her stay at my house, at least until the trial? I’d treat her right!”

  “You old fart! If she stays with you for awhile, the court will probably set her free, sayin’ that she has suffered enough! That she has paid her debt to society!”

  “I can live with that.”

  “Naw, she’ll probably stick a knife in you, and burn your house down too. Then she’d go to prison for killing her dad, and one old fart!”

  “What’s that up yonder?” He shined his light up river.

  “Somethin’ floatin’ down.”

  “Looks like an old boat.”

  “It’ll be here soon enough. Pass me those worms.”

  “I wonder why she killed him, her old man, I mean?”

  “I heard she was on drugs. Probably went there to rob him, and got caught. That’s what I figured.”

  “What the hell is that thing floating toward us?”

  “You see all kinds of strange shit on the river.”

  “Ever seen ghosts?”

  “Nah!” Ain’t no such thing! I been looking for them all my life, but I ain’t seen none yet. They say right near here, where the old tressel used to cross, there was a train wreck in 1912 th
at killed lots of people. And gullible people that believe in such things, think that just because people was killed here, then there’s ghosts here too.”

  “But you ain’t never seen any?”

  “Nah! No such thing. When you die, you go to another place, you don’t stay here! That’s what I’ve always thought. But I have heard a lot of ghost tales. Right here where that wreck took place, they say there is the ghost of a beautiful woman, that wades in the shallow water, calling out the names of her three children. She is concerned, because she can’t find them. And they say the reason she can’t find them, is because they survived the wreck.”

  “Shit!”

  “Yeah, I know. And there’s a teenage boy been seen that does the same thing. They say he walks up to people camping, and asks them if they have seen his kid brother. Same thing. His was killed in the train wreck, but his kid brother wasn’t, so because he can’t find his brother, he’ll be lookin’ for him for all eternity. And another ghost I heard about . . .”

  “For a fella’ that don’t believe in ghosts, you sure know a lot of ghost tales!”

  “Tales is just tales! I don’t believe anything unless I can see it with my own eyes!”

  “Then you don’t believe in UFO’s either, do you?”

  “Nah! What about you?”

  “Well, I seen some things I couldn’t explain, but I ain’t ready to say they was little green men! That’s a bunch of hog-wash!”

  “There may be a lot of things in this world that we can’t explain right off, but I think eventually they turn out to be just ordinary shit.”

  “Well then, would you try to explain how a burial coffin got in the river! Look there!”

  “Is that what that is?”

  “I’m almost sure of it! I seen a few coffins in my day, and that looks like a coffin!”

  “It’s about to pass us. Let’s paddle over to it and take a look.” They grabbed paddles and maneuvered their boats that way, intending to intercept it as it passed. “Looks like there is something in it!”

  (Chris was lying down, waiting for the right moment.)