“Thanks, no.”
“Don’t feel obliged to talk,” Arkie said. “Some don’t like to. I can respect that.”
The man nodded. “Thanks. I’m a man of few words.”
Burk drove silently for fifteen minutes.
Toni Jo stretched and yawned. She gazed at her husband and smiled.
“Are we getting close yet? I have to pee.”
“Shh,” Burk said, signaling over his shoulder with his thumb. “We got company.”
Toni Jo peered over the back seat.
“Oh, sorry. No offense.”
“Don’t mention it,” the stranger said.
She looked at Burk, who explained, “He’s a man of few words.”
“Oh.” Toni Jo turned the radio on and skimmed around for a station. Even though the storm was behind them now, each lightning flash sparked through the speaker. She stopped at a song she liked, “Address Unknown,” by the Ink Spots, then grew irritated at the bad reception. Finally she turned the radio off. She leaned back and rested her head. A sign read, “Lake Charles 5 mi.” Toni Jo closed her eyes and resigned herself to the wait. She had almost drifted off when the stranger drew her back with a song. Toni Jo’s eyes lifted in horror.
He was humming “Rock of Ages.”
Her heart pounded. She locked her head straight forward, telling herself it couldn’t be him. A lump of anxiety rose in her throat. She swallowed and tried to think what the stranger had looked like. Scruffy beard, thinning hair, skinny. It couldn’t be him. The stranger continued to hum, distracting her thoughts. The tone of his voice was familiar, with a difference.
Toni Jo looked at the glove box. She convinced herself it was him. They were approaching Lake Charles. She would have to do something fast.
“Arkie, take this road up here on the right.” Her voice trembled.
“Toni, we’re almost there. Can’t you wait?”
“Take it!” she screamed.
The stranger quit humming.
Burk knew something was dreadfully wrong. It had been nearly a year since he had seen his wife in such a state. He turned onto the shell road.
“Where?” he said.
Toni Jo scanned until she saw a drive leading into a rice field.
“There! Stop by that tractor.”
The car halted and she leapt from her door. Arkie had barely shut his when she clutched him by the shirt.
“It’s him. The hitchhiker. It’s Herald.”
“Herald?” Burk squinted at the dark windows. “Don’t be absurd, Baby. It couldn’t—.”
“Listen to me!” She yanked his shirt with the strength of a man. “I know him. I’m telling you, it’s him.” In a loud whisper, Toni Jo said, “Do something!”
“First, we’ve got to find out if it’s him. What do you want me to do?”
“Kill him! I want you to kill the lousy bastard.” It was the first time Burk had ever heard his wife curse.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said.
“Get him out here so we can look at him,” Toni Jo ordered. Burk opened his door. He reached in and pulled the keys from the ignition.
“Say, buddy, sorry for the trouble, but would you mind stepping out for a minute? It seems we got a little problem.”
The stranger opened his door and stepped into the night.
“Come around here,” Burk directed him. “Okay, stop there.”
He stood in the floodlight of the car’s far beam. A fine mist drifted in the yellow cone. The man was stooped and haggard, his hair much thinner than it had seemed inside the car. His suit was clean but ill-fitting.
Burk spoke quietly to Toni Jo. “It’s too short for him. And his hair was thicker than that.”
“I don’t care. It’s him. Tell him to take off his shirt. He’s got tattoos.”
Burk answered softly in a high pitch. “Are you out of your mind? He’s just an old bum.”
“Herald,” she accused. “Take off your shirt!”
The man looked across the light. He glanced down at his shirt and back at the woman.
Leaving his coat on, he unbuttoned the shirt.
“Open it!” Toni Jo called.
The stranger flared one side of the shirt out. Toni Jo squinted across the lights. His chest was dark and sickly looking.
Toni Jo glanced up at her husband. “I don’t care,” she said. “It’s him. I know it’s him.”
“Toni, come to your senses.”
Her anger revived. “Come here!” she commanded the stranger. The man moved through the light. “It’s you, isn’t it?”
“Ma’am—.”
“Don’t ma’am me, you bastard con man. Open your shirt.” The stranger looked down. He opened his shirt and looked at Toni Jo. His chest was crisscrossed with ridges of scars.
Burk winced. “Toni, there’s no tattoo there.”
“You idiot! He took it off.” She glared at the stranger. “Not this time, you swine. You’re tricky, but not this time. Take off your coat. And your shirt.”
The man pulled them off simultaneously. The coat dropped to the muddy ground. One side of the shirt remained in his trousers.
“Turn around!”
The man stared at her placidly, as if he would never harm a soul, then pivoted slowly, moving one foot, then the other, deliberately, like an old man. His back was also a field of swollen scars.
“Why did you take them off?”
The stranger turned around and gazed calmly into Toni Jo’s eyes.
“Because it was an abomination in the sight of the Lord.”
“What–? What do you think I am, an idiot?”
“Herald,” Burk said, “is it really you?”
Without moving his head, the man shifted his eyes to Burk. “Much obliged for the ride, Arkie. I’ll be moving along now.” He stooped to gather his coat.
“No!” Toni Jo said. “You’re not getting away this time. Stay right there.”
Careful to avoid him, she walked around the back of the car and opened her door. She popped the glove compartment, reached past the papers, and grabbed the pistol by its barrel.
When she reached Burk, she held the grip towards him.
“Here. Kill him.”
“Hey—. Watch—. Give me that thing. Are you out of your mind?” He took the gun from her.
“Yes, I’m out of my mind. I want you to kill the slimy bastard for what he did to me. Now!”
Burk pointed the revolver away from his body at the ground. He realized his wife was too disturbed to reason with.
“Don’t be a fool, Toni. Get in the car.”
She shook her head.
“He’s not getting away. Not this time.”
“And I’m not shooting him, so get ahold of yourself.” He reached for her. She tried to evade his grasp.
“Let go!” she yelled.
He gripped her tighter and pleaded, “Let’s talk, okay? Let’s just talk.”
Toni Jo was breathing hard. She seemed to calm down.
“Okay, what do you want to talk about?”
“Let me just ask him a few questions.” He looked at Herald Nevers. “Okay?” She nodded. “Herald, what are you doing here? How’d you get like that?” Burk pointed at the scars with the pistol.
Nevers looked at his chest.
“I erased them with a soldering iron.”
Arkie’s head jerked and he whispered, “God.” Nevers smiled. “What you did to Toni was wrong. You know that.” Arkie’s words were part question, part accusation.
“Yes. I’ve asked God’s forgiveness.”
Toni Jo stepped forward. “He’s conning you, don’t you see that?”
Burk held Toni Jo back with his arm and glared at her.
“Let me handle this, all right?” He looked at Nevers. “That right, Herald? This a con job?”
“No con job,” he said. “It’s the truth. Jesus is the Truth. He saved me from myself.”
“Liar!” Toni Jo said. Burk held her back.
�
��All right, Toni, just hold on. Let’s move away and talk about this awhile.”
“He’ll run off,” she said. “He’s conning you just long enough to get a jump. You turn around, he’ll be gone in a flash.”
“All right,” Burk said. “Let me think a minute.”
Lightning flashed feebly in the south.
“We can tie him up while we talk. Okay? Will that suit you?”
“No! He’ll run. Make him take his clothes off, then tie him to the car.”
“Toni—.”
“Make him!” Arkie glanced from Nevers to Toni Jo and back to Nevers.
“Herald,” he said. It was half plea, half command.
Nevers bent over and unlaced his shoes. He pulled one off. Balancing on one leg, he pulled the sock off and put it in the shoe, then stepped carefully into the cold mire. He took off the other shoe and sock, then unfastened his belt and trousers. Nevers looked at Burk and Toni Jo. He turned around and let the trousers fall to his ankles.
“Pick them up and put them in the trunk,” Toni Jo said to Arkie. She kept an eye on the naked man while Burk did her bidding and returned with a rope. “Tie him up,” she ordered.
His back to Toni Jo, Nevers spoke for the first time of his own accord.
“I’m not the same man you knew, Annie. I’m a new man.”
She went into a frenzy.
“Liar! You’re exactly the same. And my name is Toni Jo, you bastard. Annie was your whore.”
The man turned.
In the fog-clouded lights, his heavy genitals looked out of proportion to the rest of his emaciated body. Burk was enraged at this man who had been with his wife. He felt diminished in her eyes. Humiliated.
Seeing the naked man who had let others watch while he used his equipment on her, Toni Jo lost her senses.
“You maggot, slime, shit, goddamn bastard shit sonofabitch slime horsedick! You horsedick whore-maker!” She turned on her husband. “Kill him! Kill him now!”
Burk raised the gun and pointed it at Herald Nevers’ chest. He pulled the hammer back and held his breath.
“Don’t do this, Arkie,” Nevers said. “I’m not worth it.”
Toni Jo moved towards her husband.
“He’s a con man, Arkie. Don’t let him fool you. Shoot him.” Burk continued to aim at Nevers. Toni Jo lost her patience. “Kill him. If you love me, kill him. Do it.”
Do it—the phrase reminded her of what Nevers had tried to make her say. It triggered savage vengeance in her.
“Do it!” she screamed. “Do it!” She reached for the pistol. It fired.
Shocked, afraid he had hit Nevers, Burk loosened his hold on the pistol. Toni Jo wrenched it from his hand. She aimed the heavy piece at the man’s bare chest.
“This is the only thing you ever deserved,” she said.
“Annie,” Nevers said.
“Toni Jo! Goddamn you, my name is Toni Jo Henry.”
“Toni Jo, don’t do this. You’re a better person than this. Don’t let me do this to you.”
Toni Jo wanted Nevers to fear her, but he was calm. For a moment, she thought his conversion might be real. It was an irony she could not tolerate, that he was forgiven and free.
“Down!” she yelled. “Get down on your knees.”
“Toni,” Burk said.
She turned the pistol on her husband. “Stay back, or I swear to God I’ll shoot you, too.”
“Toni,” he repeated.
“Toni Jo! Can’t anybody get that right? My name is Toni! Jo! Henry!”
Burk moved back a step. His wife was obviously deranged.
Toni Jo swung the pistol back to Nevers and trained it on his chest.
“Get down in the mud,” she commanded.
Nevers knelt down.
Toni Jo stared at him. “Herald Nevers,” she began. Then wildly in her mind—No, not Herald. Not Harold, or even Harry Nilson. Not anymore. He was right that time when he was drunk and said he was nothing.
Toni Jo forced herself to walk slowly towards him, as if she were sneaking up on an especially large cockroach for a disgusting but necessary extermination.
The man, naked, kneeled before her in the misty yellow light.
When she reached him, she pressed the snub-nosed .38 against his forehead and pulled the trigger, spattering his last thoughts, grey and warm, onto her face and dress.
The man fell back in the mud with a wet slap.
Burk screamed, “Jesus God, Toni Jo!”
PART TWO
“For history records the patterns of men’s lives, they say:
who slept with whom and with what results, who fought
and who won, who lived to lie about it afterwards.”
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Chapter 17
February 14, 1940–January 1941
Burk looked at the naked man lying in the mud, curls of steam rising from his limp body in the chill night air. Nevers’ left hand was raised above his head as if he had a question for the teacher and would patiently hold it there until she called on him. Toni Jo stood over Nevers, aiming the pistol at his chest.
“Good God, look what you’ve done, Toni.”
“Is he dead? Or should I shoot him again?”
Burk lunged at his wife. He grabbed the pistol and wedged a finger between the hammer and its home. Toni Jo released the gun and expelled a long-held breath.
“Finally,” she said. “I can live.”
“No, Toni. This can’t happen. We’ve got to get him to a hospital.”
“Are you out of your mind? That man—,” she pointed to Nevers, “that animal raped your wife’s innocence, and you want to bring him to a hospital?” She glared at her husband. “You do that, and I’ll leave you in a split second. No, I’ll kill you. I swear to God, I’ll kill you.”
They looked at the body as if leaving the decision to Nevers. His right arm, flung outward, drew slowly toward his side.
“He’s alive!” Burk said. “We’ve got to get him to a hospital.”
Burk put the pistol on the hood and stooped next to the body. He swiveled Herald’s face toward the car lights. A thick stream of blood issued from a neat hole low on his forehead. His one open eye wandered aimlessly about.
“He’s dead!” Toni Jo yelled. “He’s just twitching like a frogleg in hot grease. Roach bastard son-of-a-bitch! Leave him!” Toni Jo screamed. “What would you tell them when we got there?”
Burk dragged Herald’s body to the car.
“Stop! I want the son-of-a-bitch dead! Can’t you see that?”
Burk stared at his wife as if he couldn’t believe he was married to someone who would say such a thing.
“Help me, Toni. Please.”
He propped his friend’s muddy feet on the running board and climbed in the back seat. He began to pull the man in without his wife’s help. The labor was difficult until the torso reached the seat. Then, the mire acting as a lubricant, the body slid easily into the car. Only the head and arms protruded from the doorway. Crouching, Burk made his way to Herald’s head. For support, he put his hand on the dying man’s chest. He was about to step out of the car when Toni Jo appeared.
She pushed the pistol into the car.
“Toni!”
The gun’s muzzle spat blue and yellow fire. Burk felt the hot powder sting his cheek. The concussion deafened and confused him. His hand went numb. He inspected it under the dome light. The slug had taken a bite from the outside of his index finger. A dark oval seemed to be painted on the scarred chest of Herald Nevers.
“There! He’s dead. Now let’s get rid of him.”
“Oh God, oh God,” Burk said. “This is terrible.”
“This is not terrible,” Toni Jo corrected him. “This is exactly what the bastard deserved. Now let’s dump him and go.”
Burk whimpered with fright.
“We can’t.”
“Why not?” Toni Jo glanced around. “Let’s throw him in that rice canal.”
“To
o many people know him,” Burk argued. “With scars like that, on his chest and back, someone’ll recognize him.”
Intent on the problem, neither husband nor wife noticed the car coming up the road. It halted at the entrance to the field. The driver rolled down his window and called out.
“Say, bub, need some help?”
Burk yanked Herald’s arms into the back seat.
“No!” he yelled from inside the car. He stepped out, planting one foot on the ground while holding Herald’s head inside with his left thigh. He wondered if the man could see their clothes smeared with mud and blood. “Just—. Just having a family quarrel.”
“Sorry,” the stranger said. “Didn’t mean to intrude. But you might cut your lights so’s you won’t run your batt’ry down.”
“Thanks,” Burk said. “I’ll do that.”
The car started easing away.
“Arkie?” the voice called. “Is that you?”
Burk froze.
“Arkansas?”
Toni Jo whispered fiercely, “Say something!”
“Johnny C.?” Burk’s voice was noticeably weak.
“Yeah, it’s me. Sure I can’t help you?”
“No! We got it under control.” He tried to laugh. “I’ll have her in line in no time.”
“Well,” the man said. “I live just up the road on the right if you need me, hear? And you might oughta cut them lights out before you kill your ba’try.”
“Will do,” Burk said. Toni Jo quickly leaned in the window and pushed the light switch. “Thanks!” Burk called.
“You bet,” his friend said, pulling away.
Toni Jo and Arkie stood quietly in the dark. Burk moved away from the car. Herald’s head hit the door frame with a heavy waterlogged sound.
Burk spoke first. “What are we going to do now?”
“They can’t link us if they never find the body.”
“Look at the car,” Burk said. “It’s covered with mud. And blood. It’ll never come clean.”
“You can sell the car,” Toni Jo said. “In Texas. You sell it to someone cheap enough, they’ll be glad to shut their trap.”
“It’s not that easy,” Burk countered. “People knew Herald. I don’t care what he looks like now. Somebody’ll notice he’s gone.”
A Savage Wisdom Page 20