Southern Nights

by Barry Gifford

  ‘I remember being in church,’ Arapaho White continued, ‘when the thought occurred to me that Jesus and Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist, they all of ’em were mistakes, just like me. Freaks, in fact. And they had to do what they had to do, once they realized what that was. From that day forward I have lived as a woman.’

  ‘What did your folks think?’

  ‘When I told my mother what I had decided, she plain passed out. Fainted dead away. My father was long gone. I was told that he’d left shortly after I was born and went to Chicago. My mother and I lived with her parents in Egypt City, Florida. My mother is still there to this day. She’s eighty-four years old.’

  ‘What did you do?’

  ‘Ran off, of course. I went to Miami and got a job cleaning hotel rooms. I did some other things, too, in order to survive. Not such wonderful things. But I knew who I was and I had faith that everything would turn out right in the end. It has, too, except for Frenesi. He’s my son I’m on my way to see at Chattahoochee. His head never has been right, not since he was born.’

  ‘Pardon me for askin’, but are you his mother or father?’

  Arapaho laughed. ‘Good question, child. Frenesi’s natural mother was a Cuban named Esquerita Alvarez. She was a singer, had a gorgeous voice, but her mentality was not all that sound. I guess it was a long-standing affliction in her family. The dementia, I mean. Esquerita and I lived together for about two years. This was in Belle Glade. Then, after Frenesi was born, and Esquerita saw that he wasn’t right, she split and left him with me. Esquerita’s and my relationship had a few unresolved areas, also, which disturbed her. Anyway, I took care of Frenesi until he was old enough to get into serious trouble.

  ‘I was married by then, to a wonderful man who understood my situation and realized that love involves the person, not the body and its accoutrements. My husband did all he could for Frenesi, but it truly was a lost cause. Frenesi went on a killing spree one night with an Uzi, murdered sixteen people in a Winn-Dixie in Tampa. He told the police that he was defending the Earth against aliens from other planets who were using the Winn-Dixie supermarket as their headquarters.’

  ‘That must have been a pretty big disappointment for you, when your son shot all those people. But it’s not like parents are altogether responsible for what their children do. I mean, if I robbed a bank or something, I’m the one done it, not Bird or Wes. I’m the one responsible, not them.’

  ’You’re a bright girl, Marble. You’ll go far.’

  ‘It’s too bad for me you’re not goin’ all the way to New Orleans, Mrs White. I like talking and riding with you.’

  ‘Why thank you, Marble. I’m sorry I’m not, too. But I will make it easier for you to get there. I’ll take you to the airport in Tallahassee and buy you a ticket to New Orleans. That way you’ll be with your father much sooner.’

  ‘Oh, Mrs White, I don’t know how or when I could pay you back!’

  ‘Don’t worry about it, dear. I have plenty of money. Besides, sisters have to help each other out whenever we can. Remember that.’

  BIRD CALLS

  ‘who’s there?’

  ‘Finally! Wesson, is Marble there?’

  ‘Oh, it’s you, Bird. Yeah, she’s here. We’re about to fix supper.’

  ‘My lord, Wesson! We’ve been frantic, thinkin’ Marble been kidnapped or murdered on her way to school yesterday mornin’!’

  ‘Showed up at the door last night. Couldn’ta been more surprised myself, Bird. Thought maybe you’d changed your mind about things.’

  ‘Wesson, put Marble on the line.

  ‘Can you believe it?’ Bird said to Fernando Doig, while she waited for her daughter to come to the phone. ‘Marble’s been there since last night!’

  ‘Hello, Mama. I’m all right.’

  ‘Marble, how did you get to New Orleans so fast?’

  ‘A nice person picked me up when I was hitchhikin’ and drove me to the airport in Tallahassee. She bought me a plane ticket.’

  ‘I don’t believe that. This is somethin’ your daddy cooked up, isn’t it?’

  ‘No, Mama. Like I said, this person bought me a ticket after I told her Daddy needed me and I was goin’ to him any way I could.’

  ‘Is he drunk?’

  ‘No. We’re fixin’ supper. We just been to the grocery.’

  ‘Marble, I’m glad you’re safe, but why didn’t you leave me a note? Or call? Somethin’!’

  ‘You woulda come after me, is why. I was gonna write you a letter tomorrow.’

  ‘Let me talk to your daddy again.’

  ‘Yes, Bird,’ said Wes.

  ‘You have that girl on a bus or a plane by tomorrow afternoon or I swear, Wesson Lesson, Fernando will have your red ass in jail by evenin’.’

  ‘Bird?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Let her stay here a spell. I’ll see she goes back soon, I promise.’

  ‘Wesson, she’s got to go to school here. And your promises ain’t worth a shit.’

  ‘One week, Bird. I swear, Marble’ll be there in a week. A few days won’t make no difference to the school. Marble wouldn’ta come if it weren’t important to her.’

  ‘If you put a mark on her, I’ll kill you myself. You hear?’

  ‘I’m not drinkin’ now, not with Marble by me. Thanks, Bird. This means a lot to me and her both.’

  ‘Put her back on.’

  ‘Mama, I’m stayin’.’

  ‘Just for the week, Marble.’

  Marble did not respond.

  ‘Marble! You there?’

  ‘Yes, Mama.’

  ‘Did you hear what I said? One week.’

  ‘I heard you, Mama. Look, I’ve got to get things goin’ here. Sorry I caused you to worry.’

  ‘Sorry ain’t the half of it.’

  ‘Bye, Mama,’ Marble said, and hung up.

  She turned toward her father, who was standing next to the sink, looking out the kitchen window into the backyard.

  ‘Daddy?’

  ‘Yes, Marble?’

  ‘Why did you beat on Mama all those times?’

  ‘Because I was sick. Sick and ignorant, too. There’s nothin’ I ever can say or do will make it right. Your mama’s gone from me, honey, as she should be. I’m lucky she didn’t shoot me dead. Or at least allow me to choke to death on my own vomit, like she mighta did lots of times.’

  Wes went over to Marble and hugged her to him.

  ‘Marble, your mama’s right about my promises ain’t bein’ worth a shit, but I’m determined to straighten up my life. I’m just pleased to have you bear witness to my determination.’

  The doorbell rang.

  ‘I’ll get it, Daddy.’

  Marble went to the front door, opened it, and saw a gigantic, moon-faced man wearing a pink Hawaiian shirt decorated with yellow parrots.

  ‘Evenin’, miss. My name is Defillo Humble and I’m lookin’ for the gentleman of the house. He in?’

  ‘Daddy!’ Marble yelled.

  Wes Lesson came to the door.

  ‘You lookin’ a whole day’s pay better’n you did the other night,’ said Defillo Humble.

  ‘You the fella brought me home?’

  Humble nodded. ‘Just checkin’ back, like I said I would. See how you doin’.’

  ‘Come in, Mr—?’

  ‘Humble. Defillo Humble. Call me Humble, even if I ain’t.’

  He laughed and entered. The two men shook hands.

  ‘I’m Wes Lesson, Humble. Thanks for the act of mercy. Hope I’ll never need another for the same reason. This is my daughter, Marble.’

  Defillo Humble smiled. He had huge yellow teeth.

  ‘You’re very large, Mr Humble,’ said Marble.

  ‘In most ways,’ he said. ‘In others, not nearly large enough for some.’

  ‘Would you like to join us for supper?’ asked Wes. ‘We were just about to prepare somethin’.’

  ‘Obliged, but I can’t. Take a rain check, though. Say, Wes, are yo
u by any chance lookin’ for work?’

  ‘As a matter of fact, I am.’

  ‘Got a call from an old buddy of mine needs help. Here’s his card.’

  Humble took a card out of his breast pocket and handed it to Wes, who read it aloud.

  ‘“Bunk Colby’s Balloon and Airship Academy. Cuba, Alabama. Telephone 205-fly-high.”’

  ‘Like I say, he’s an old pal. Place is across the state line from Meridian, Mississippi. Needs a man has some mechanical skills.’

  ‘I worked in the oil fields, and I can change a tire,’ said Wes, ‘but I don’t have any aeronautical knowledge.’

  ‘Don’t need any. That’s Bunk’s concern. Listen, I’m drivin’ up to see Bunk tomorrow. Why don’t you come with me, check it out? Bring Marble along.’

  ‘Why not, Daddy? You got to make a change.’

  Defillo Humble bestowed upon her another xanthic caterpillar of a grin.

  ‘I’ll be by at ten in the mornin’,’ Humble said, and let himself out.

  ‘This might could be a good thing, Daddy. The Lord works in mysterious ways.’

  Wes inspected the card again, then looked at his daughter.

  ‘You’re right, Marble,’ he said. ‘Let’s hope real hard, though, that it’s the Lord who’s doin’ this job of work.’

  GOOD PEOPLE

  ‘what about bunk?’ asked Wes, as Defillo Humble headed his Roadmaster northeast on 59. They had just crossed the Pearl River into the Magnolia State. Wes was up in front with Humble, and Marble had fallen asleep in the back seat.

  ‘What about him?’ said Humble. ‘You mean, what type fella is he?’

  ‘Yeah. How long has he been operatin’ this school? Who goes there? Cuba, Alabama, ain’t exactly conveniently located.’

  ‘Well, I tell you, Wes, Bunk has did a bunch in his lifetime, which is now closin’ on seventy-five years. Thing is, before this deal, he ain’t really made any what I call decent money.’

  ‘There that many people want to learn how to fly balloons and blimps?’

  Humble laughed. ‘Your girl sleepin’?’

  Wes looked at Marble. ‘Yes.’

  ‘What Bunk’s got is an airfield, a landin’ strip. The balloon academy is just a cover for the real business, which is flyin’ in drugs from Central America, mostly grass and cocaine from the Guajira Peninsula in Colombia. Eighty percent of the marijuana smuggled into the United States is grown and shipped from there. The marimberos bring it up, pay off Bunk for the use of his strip, where the shit’s unloaded and picked up, then they take off again. Bunk don’t have nothin’ to do with the distribution itself. He needs a man to help keep things runnin’ smooth. Bunk knows everything there is to know about airplanes. He was a pilot in WW Two, again in Korea, flew for TWA for fifteen years, then piloted private jets for Sheik Majeed out of Abu Dhabi for a couple.’

  ‘You don’t mind my askin’, don’t the fact you don’t know hardly a thing about me bother you? I mean, tellin’ me about this operation and takin’ me to the location? What makes you think I might not go to the authorities with this information?’

  Humble showed his yellow teeth to the incisors. ‘You even considered doin’ that, Wes, Marble back there would be a memory. I like to believe I got pretty fair intuition about people, though. You’re not the talkin’ type, I don’t reckon.’

  Wes stared out the passenger-side window at the gray sky. The temperature outside was in the low forties and heavy rains were expected by nightfall.

  ‘How do you figure into the deal, Humble?’

  ‘I’m kind of an investor, you might say. A stockholder in the Academy. Helped old Bunk get the thing organized usin’ some of the proceeds from my first book, Negroes with Cars. You might not completely recall my tellin’ you about it bein’ a best-seller, since you was pretty well inebriated at the time. Writin’s my main occupation, but a wise man doesn’t ignore his investments. Diversification’s the name of the game, Wes. I’m there for Bunk when he needs me.’

  The drive to Cuba took about four hours. Marble slept practically the entire way, and Wes, after learning the true nature of Bunk Colby’s business, kept the conversation with Defillo Humble to a minimum, half-pretending to doze off. A mile or two past Cuba, which was something less than a whistle-stop of a town, Humble turned south on a dirt road through farmland.

  ‘This is where they grow Silver Queen corn,’ he said, ‘the best there is. Nothin’ like Silver Queen corn from ’Bama, boy. Mm-mm! Look on ahead there, Wes. See it?’

  Arced over the dirt road was a white entrance sign: bunk colby’s balloon & airship academy, painted in large black block letters. Below that was written, ‘May the curse of God fall on those evil dwarfs.’

  As the big blue Buick passed under the arch and clattered toward the Butler building that stood adjacent to an airplane runway, Wes asked, ‘Who’s the quotation from?’

  Humble chuckled. ‘Bunk stuck that on durin’ the Persian Gulf War. It’s what Saddam Hussein said just after commencin’ “the mother of all battles.” There’re folks think Bunk’s sense of humor’s more’n some strange, but he’s always been good people to me.’

  BUNK

  ‘the first thing Wes Lesson noticed about Bunk Colby was that he resembled a cat This is not the face of a seventy-five-year-old man, Wes thought, as he and Marble followed Defillo Humble to where Bunk was standing. The former fighter, airline and Arabian potentate’s pilot-turned-drug smuggler was tying a knot in the rigging of a hot-air balloon that was anchored between the Butler building and the airstrip. It was the only balloon on the property, and Wes did not see any blimps, only a Piper Cub painted entirely black parked on the opposite side of the strip. Bunk completed the knot and stepped forward to greet the trio.

  ‘Humble, you’re a man of your word,’ he said, shaking hands with the big guy.

  ‘Try to be,’ said Defillo Humble. ‘This here’s Wes Lesson and his daughter, Marble. Folks, meet the legend himself, Bunk Colby, the terror of three or more continents.’

  ‘Only four,’ Bunk said. ‘Glad to meet you both.’ He shook hands with Wes and Marble.

  ‘Bunk, I swear, you look younger every time I see you,’ said Humble.

  Bunk smiled, showing a row of sparkling white caps.

  ‘Yeah, this new face surgeon I got down in Bogotá knows how to handle a parin’ knife. Think maybe he stretched the skin too tight this time, tucked too much behind my ears. Makes me look like a cat. What do you think? I look like a cat?’

  ‘It’ll loosen up, Bunk,’ Humble said. ‘Shake down some, like always. Besides, the Egyptians worshipped cats.’

  ‘You can stick the Egyptians where the sun don’t shine, far as I’m concerned,’ said Bunk. ‘Pardon me, little lady, don’t mean to offend. But they’re mighty unpleasant people to do business with. Filthy, too. Lost my first set of false teeth in a hotel room in Cairo. Buildin’ caught fire middle of the night and I had to leave ’em behind. You remember, Humble. My third wife, Nazli, burned to death in that fire. Only been married thirteen days. I got all the way downstairs before I remembered her hands were still tied to the bedposts, and then there was too much smoke for me to go back after her. Terrible way to die, don’t you think? She wasn’t much older’n this girl here. How old are you, darlin’?’

  ‘Fourteen,’ said Marble. ‘How old are you?’

  ‘Fifty-six,’ said Bunk, winking. ‘Had my age lowered in Bogotá, too.’

  Humble laughed. ‘Bunk, pretty quick you’ll be younger than me.’

  Bunk’s face turned serious, his eyes disappearing. ‘You tell this fella the score?’

  Humble nodded and both he and Bunk looked at Wes.

  ‘Need a man here maybe twelve, fifteen days a month,’ Bunk said. ‘You’re from New Orleans, huh?’

  ‘Livin’ there now,’ said Wes.

  ‘I pay good and I’ll give you a vehicle to use you can drive back and forth from New Orleans between delivery periods. All you have to do is be ready wi
th a wrench and give the appearance of knowin’ which end of the AK-47 you’re holdin’ deals the cards. Well, you people must be hungry. Come on inside. I got some menudo mumblin’ on the stove.’

  After they all had eaten, Humble and Bunk had some business to discuss, so Wes and Marble took a walk around the grounds of the Academy.

  ‘Daddy, are you gonna go to work for that man?’

  ‘I’m not sure what I’ll do, Marble. There’s not much shakin’ job-wise in N.O., that’s certain. Bunk’s kind of money’s nothin’ to sneeze at.’

  ‘I don’t think I like him, Daddy. Defillo Humble, neither. They’re weird men.’

  Wes half-laughed. ‘They sure are.’

  Later that afternoon, the four of them drove into Meridian in Humble’s Buick Roadmaster to see a movie and have dinner. The choice of films was not extensive. It was either a re-release of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians or a new karate-cop picture, Showdown in Little Tokyo. The men left the decision to Marble, who said she had seen 101 Dalmatians three times, so they went to the other one, which turned out to be pretty bad.

  Over ribs in the T for Texas Barbecue, Bunk agreed with Humble that the movie wasn’t very deep.

  ‘Bullets, breasts and decapitation ain’t enough to carry a picture,’ said Bunk. ‘My favorite’s still Hail the Conquering Hero, where Eddie Bracken gets mistaken for a war hero by his hometown and all hell breaks loose. It’s crazy but human crazy, you know what I mean? Movie like the one we seen just now is devoid of humanity.’

  ‘Way the world is, Bunk,’ said Humble. ‘Humanity’s had its day. Appears our best times been and gone.’

  ‘But Marble here has her best times in front of her,’ Bunk said, smiling at the girl. ‘In fact, they’re comin’ right up. Ain’t that so, Marble’s daddy?’

  Wes said, ‘I hope to hell, Bunk. I really do.’

  Marble said nothing.

  THE BLINK OF AN EYE

  humble, wes and Marble accepted Bunk’s invitation to stay overnight at the Academy and return the next morning to New Orleans. On the ride back to Cuba from Meridian, Wes told Bunk that he would take the job but that he could not begin for a week, until Marble left for Jacksonville, and Bunk said that was all right by him. There was a small dormitory-type setup at the rear of the fifteen-thousand-square-foot Butler building, the remainder of which was divided into office and warehouse space, so guest accommodations were not a problem.