“What?” I came in worried about going to reform school, and now Miss Emma had just told me that sorry Doctor Carl might kill me.
“Oh, Miss Emma, we gotta do something, ’cause I just know any day now that old drunk constable Curly Sawyer is gonna come and arrest me and John Clayton, and that’ll be it. We’ll be done for―goners. Please, Miss Emma, tell me what goin’ on in Doctor Carl’s office. Maybe it’ll be something we can use to stop him.”
“Richard, I can’t tell you anything. It would put my life and your life in danger, and if I did tell you everything, I’d be so embarrassed.”
“Have y’all been foolin’ round with the men that drove up?”
Miss Emma bit her lip and I thought she was gonna cry, and she said real softly, “Yes, but Richard that’s not all: Doctor Donaldson is selling those men stuff that you wouldn’t understand if I told you. It’s a real bad and dangerous situation. Now, I want you to promise me you’ll never go by that office and roam around there after dark. Richard, please promise me.”
I thought Miss Emma was really gonna cry now, so I said, “Yes, ma’am, I promise.” Course, I crossed my fingers so’s it didn’t count.
“Richard, one more thing … oh, I shouldn’t be telling you this, but Doctor Donaldson has been forced to leave several places because of this same problem, and if you know a good person that’s a policeman, ask him to check out the police records for Burlington, Vermont. Be sure to tell him Doctor Donaldson may have changed his name. I’ll bet he has a record. Listen, Richard, this is important: You can’t tell anyone you talked with me, and whatever you do don’t let it get back to Doctor Donaldson. I’m afraid to think of what he’d do if he found out I told you all of this, and I’m not going back to his office again either.”
“Okay, Miss Emma, but what ’bout Miss Simpson? I don’t wanta move to Oklahoma.”
“Richard, are you sure your Daddy is uh, uh, fooling around with Miss Simpson?”
“Yes, ma’am,” and I told her every detail of how we’d seen Daddy going in the back door and even the talk I had with Miss Simpson.
Miss Emma shook her head like she knew more than she was gonna tell me and then she said, “Richard, you listen real carefully. What I’m going to tell you might get you in trouble with your mother, but it might help her cope with this problem. Your dad is a handsome man, and he’s a lot of fun to be around, but he loves your mother and what he’s doing is like his drinking―he can’t stop, uh, fooling around with other women. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good, now this is what I want you to tell your mother. Tell her you talked to me if you want to. After last year and that problem your dad had with me, your mother knows who I am, and she knows I’m not seeing him. Tell your mother to just be patient, because Jack loves her and he’s not going to leave her or divorce her. I know that man. You tell her Miss Emma said just to be patient, and things will get better. Oh, I hope you don’t get switched because you stopped by the Randolph Hotel.”
“Well, Miss Emma, I’ll tell her if you think I should.”
“Tell her, Richard.”
I was so busy talking to Miss Emma that I’d lost track of time. I looked up at the big clock on the wall and I jumped straight up.
“Oh my gosh, it’s one! Daddy will be waitin’ for me―I gotta go.”
“Wait, Richard.” Miss Emma stood up, gave me a great big hug, and I dashed out the door. I looked back to see Miss Emma dabbing her eyes.
Oh, my gosh, wait till I tell John Clayton about Doctor Carl, I thought as I ran back to the Ritz.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A Call to Burlington
Daddy had just pulled up when I ran around the corner. He looked at me, like “Where have you been?” But before he could say anything I told him I’d gotten out early and had run down to Woolworth’s to look at toys.
I hardly said a word all the way home, but my mind was just a-swirling with all of the stuff I’d just heard. Things were so much worse than I’d even imagined they could be, and I was just hoping maybe reform school wouldn’t be so bad, because that sure sounded a whole lot better than having that stupid, criminal Doctor Carl kill me, and I was worried about telling Momma what Miss Emma said. What if she doesn’t wanta hear that?
“Oh, oh my gosh! Oh, my gosh!” I muttered.
“What did you say, son?”
“Oh, nothin’ Daddy; I was just thinkin’ ’bout the picture show.”
Daddy pulled in our driveway, and I jumped outta the car. Heck, I couldn’t wait to get downtown and tell John Clayton everything Miss Emma told me.
“Daddy, I’m goin’ downtown; I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
Daddy just nodded. I could have told him I was going to the moon for all he cared. I knew he was going in to clean up and head out for a night of drinking and probably fooling around with Miss Simpson.
“Sniffer, Sniffer, here, boy!”
Sniffer crawled out from under the porch, and we headed for downtown at a run to find John Clayton. I circled by the breadbox first, and then checked the newsstand and finally the drugstore.
“Yeah,” I muttered, “there he is.” I slipped in and whispered, “We gotta talk, follow me.” We went outside and around the corner to the breadbox where John Clayton sat down and listened as I told him every word Miss Emma had said to me. When I finished, John Clayton looked as white as a sheet. He finally said, “Might kill us? Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do?”
“Well, I sure don’t know, but now we know, it really is us or them. We’re goin’ to reform school pretty soon or we’re gonna be killed, if we can’t run ’em outta town or get ‘um arrested … Heck, maybe Peg will help us.”
“Shoot, Richard, Peg is so scared of those WMU ladies that he ain’t gonna do a dang thing. Anyway, I thought Miss Emma made you promise not to tell nobody?”
“Heck, John Clayton, I had my fingers crossed, and anyway you’re part of this mess and Peg already knows. She probably didn’t count y’all. Anyway, can you believe it? That sorry Doctor Carl is a real honest to god crook, but we can’t tell anybody but Peg, ’cause everybody else will think we’re just telling lies on that sorry Doctor Carl. Shoot, let me tell you something right now, from what Miss Emma told me, we got a lot more to worry ’bout than just bein’ sent to Texarkana. ”
“Yeah, you’re right Richard; this Doctor Carl thing has gotten totally outta hand, and here we are, just sittin’ here on this breadbox waitin’ for Curly to come arrest us, or for that sorry doctor to do something―maybe like kill us. Dang, Richard, we gotta come up with something!”
Then I thought about what Miss Emma told me about Doctor Carl being run outta Burlington. “Heck, John Clayton, I’ve got an idea. Let’s write that sorry Doctor Carl a letter and tell him we know ’bout what happened at Burlington, and that we’re gonna tell the State Police. I’ll bet they’ll be packin’ their bags after they read that letter.”
“That’s great, Richard. I’ll go get my school tablet and pencil.”
Well, John Clayton brought his tablet and pencil over to my house, and we sat at the kitchen table and wrote a letter to Doctor Carl.
Doctor Carl:
We know about Burlington. We’re going to the State Police, and they will be coming to get you real soon. Better get going or you will be spending the rest of your life in jail.
“Ha, that’ll get ’em goin’, I betcha,” said John Clayton.
“Heck, yes, but as soon as we stick this letter under his office door, we’d better watch out real good ’cause Miss Emma said that what’s goin’ on in his office is so bad that he might try to kill us if he found out that we knew what they was doin’.”
Well, we were really scared about the whole danged mess, but heck, we didn’t think we had a choice, so that afternoon we slipped by, and after they’d closed up, I shoved the letter under the door.
That night I just lay there in the bed worrying about what was gonna happen. Heck, aft
er we slipped that letter under the door I started to regret it. Would those sorry people try to kill me and John Clayton? Maybe they’d just pack up and leave, or would they try to frame us again? Oh, I liked to never went to sleep that night. Finally, I thought of something. Not just one thing, but bunches of stuff so bad that when we did it to them they’d high-tail it clean outta Arkansas. Well, that seemed like a real good idea when I thought of it, but shoot, I couldn’t think of nothing else to do to them. Finally I dropped off to sleep.
The next day I met John Clayton down at the breadbox, and we were sitting there talking about the whole danged mess when we spotted Doctor Carl walking across the street heading toward the grocery store.
“Oh my gosh, Richard, get ready to run.”
“Naw, he ain’t gonna do nothin’ right here in broad daylight. Them kind is sneaky.”
Well, I was right, but what Doctor Carl said to us made us more upset than if he’d tried to hit us.
He started off talking real friendly.
“Well, hi, boys. Sure is hot today, isn’t it?”
“Uh, yes, sir,” I said.
“Well, it’s days like this that I really miss living up north. Have you boys ever been to Burlington?”
“No, sir, we’ve only been north as far as Oklahoma,” I said.
“Don’t know anything about Burlington?”
“No, sir.”
Then Doctor Carl got up real close and gosh he looked so mean as he said, “You left me a letter that talked about Burlington. Didn’t you?”
Course, we tried to lie, and say we didn’t leave the letter, but heck, it wasn’t but a few minutes that John Clayton, yelled, “Yes, we did, but don’t kill us!”
Shoot, I nearly died when John Clayton said that, but Doctor Carl just nodded his head and said, “I thought so.”
And then, oh, my gosh, he just gritted his teeth and gave us such a bad look that I nearly fainted, and then he said real quiet like, “You boys have gone too far, and now you’ll have to suffer the consequences!”
My gosh, when he said that a shiver just ran down my back. Consequences?
About that time Mrs. Echols walked outta the store, and Doctor Carl smiled like he just been kidding with us, patted John Clayton on the head and said to Mrs. Echols, “Adel, these boys have just been little angles since the judge put them on probation. I think we’re going to be good friends.”
Mrs. Echols smiled and soon she and Doctor Carl had walked back into the grocery store.
“Dang you, Richard, you got us into this by writin’ that letter! Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do now?”
Course, I was as scared as John Clayton, but, heck, I sure knew one thing: We just couldn’t sit there on the breadbox and wait for that sorry Doctor or worthless old Curly to do something.
“Come on John Clayton, we gotta get outta here, and stay away from downtown today. Heck, he really don’t know that we haven’t already talked to the State Police, maybe he’s packin’ up.”
“I don’t think so, Richard. He said “We’d ‘suffer the consequences’.” What do you think are ‘the consequences’?”
When John Clayton said that a shiver went up my back, and I thought about Miss Emma saying our life would be in danger. Killed? Being killed? Was that the consequences? Course, I didn’t say nothing to John Clayton, because he probably would’ve had a heart attack right on the spot.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Sniffer
Sunday rolled around and Miss Tina and Doctor Carl sat right down front as usual, and during the announcements the preacher recognized Doctor Carl who stood up and made a little talk about how the people of Norphlet had made him feel so welcome, and how he was looking forward to being part of the community for a long, long time. Then he asked the preacher to come up.
“This is just something that I hope will help our building fund,” he said as he handed a check to the preacher.
“Thank you so much Doctor Donaldson. Folks, this is another $5,000 check!”
Everyone stood and clapped while Doctor Carl stood there shaking the preacher’s hand.
“Just a minute, pastor, I have one other little matter. Tina, please come up here and stand by me.”
Miss Tina walked up, they held hands, and then Doctor Carl said, “It is with great pleasure that Tina and I announce our engagement. We plan to be married right here in this church, and you are all invited.”
Course everybody stood up again and clapped like crazy.
Me and John Clayton were afraid not to join in. Shoot, that dang Doctor Carl had everybody fooled, and we knew this was telling us that he wasn’t about to leave town.
The next morning me and Sniffer were right on time again for my paper route, and as I sat on the floor I thought about telling Doc everything that had happened, but since Doc didn’t believe me when I told him the first stuff, I figured I’d just be getting myself in trouble because he’d think I was lying about Doctor Carl again. I picked up my bag and with Sniffer trotting along beside me, I started walking my paper route while I thought over all that had happened. I was wondering what we could do when I heard a car. That’s funny, it’s five-thirty in the morning, dark as pitch, and he doesn’t have his lights on. I turned my head to look just as the car veered toward me.
“Ahaaaa, look out Sniffer!” I dove for the ditch, but Sniffer didn’t have time to get outta the way. There was a sickening thud as the front bumper hit Sniffer and sent him sailing out in the ditch. If I hadn’t turned my head and saw the car, it would have run right over me.
“Sniffer! Sniffer!”
I ran over to where Sniffer was lying, and before I even got to him I knew he was hurt really bad. He was sprawled out on the ground not moving with blood running out his nose and mouth.
“Oh, somebody help me! Sniffer has been run over, and he’s…dead!” But when I looked real close I could see Sniffer was still breathing little short shallow breaths. But evidently the bumper had knocked him out. I looked around and every house was dark. It was just a few minutes after five-thirty and nobody was up, so I dropped my paper bag and started running back to my house, and in a few minutes I burst into the kitchen where Daddy was making coffee.
“Oh, Daddy, help me! Sniffer has been run over, and he’s just lyin’ there knocked out with blood comin’ out his mouth.”
“Richard, what happened?”
“Daddy, it was that sorry Doctor Carl! He tried to kill me! I know it was that dang Doctor Carl! I jumped in the ditch, but he ran over Sniffer!”
“Richard, are you sure it was Doctor Carl? Did you recognize him or the car?”
“Well, no, but I know he’s out to get me, and it had to be him.”
“Richard, you can’t accuse a fine man like Doctor Carl of trying to run over you just because you think he’s out to get you. Maybe it was some drunk going home late. You really don’t know who it was, do you?”
“No sir.”
“All right, let’s go see about Sniffer.”
Me and Daddy got in the car, and we drove back to where Sniffer had been run over. Sniffer was still lying there, but he had opened his eyes and he was whining. He tried to get up but he just fell back whimpering. Daddy stood there a few minutes, and then bent down and felt Sniffer’s ribs and legs.
“Richard, I think Sniffer has been busted up on the inside―maybe some broken ribs, and he may be bleeding internally. I don’t think his legs are broken, but I’m afraid he’s not going to make it.”
“Oh, Daddy, we’ve gotta save Sniffer. Let’s get the veterinarian to look at ’em!”
Tears were running down my face now as I sat there and held Sniffer’s head in my hands.
Daddy shook his head and said, “Richard, I don’t think there is anything the vet can do, but he’s coming by this week to give the mules a shot, so I’ll call him and tell him to come on out today, and he can check out Sniffer.”
“Thanks, Daddy.”
“Okay, son, let’s pick up Sniffer and put him i
n the back seat. We’ll put him in the barn until the vet sees him.”
Me and Daddy picked up Sniffer, who tried to struggle because it was hurting him so bad, and we put him in the car. After we got to the farm, Daddy carried Sniffer out to the barn where I’d made him a bed of hay.
“Richard, this dog is hurt real bad, and I think the vet should put him to sleep to keep him from suffering.”
“Daddy please let the vet see him, and see if there is any way we can save Sniffer.”
“Okay, Richard, I’ll call him to come out.”
A couple of hours later Doctor Goodwin drove up, and we took him down to the barn to see Sniffer. Sniffer was about the same. He could hold his head up and whine, but every time he tried to get up he’d howl and whine and fall back down. Doctor Goodwin sat down on the hay beside Sniffer and slowly felt and mashed over Sniffer’s body. He shook his head as he got to Sniffer’s ribs where the car had left a black mark. Finally, he stood up and turned around to talk to us.
“Richard, Sniffer has several broken ribs that are so severe that every time he tries to get up the pain is overwhelming. That’s why he falls back down and just lies there. He’s probably bleeding internally and will die in a few hours.”
I couldn’t keep it in any longer, and I started to cry.
“Richard, the best thing we can do for Sniffer is to keep him from suffering. I can give him a shot, and he won’t feel any more pain.”
I couldn’t answer because I was crying so much. Doctor Goodwin reached down in his bag and pulled out a needle, knelt down, and took Sniffer’s paw. Sniffer looked up at me with those big brown eyes and whined softly.
“No, no, don’t give Sniffer that shot!” I jumped down and grabbed Sniffer’s head.
Doctor Goodwin stood up and looked at Daddy.
“Richard, it’s not right to let Sniffer lie there and suffer, so get up and let Doctor Goodwin put him to sleep.”
“Daddy, Sniffer is my dog, and I want to do everything I can to save him. Doctor Goodwin is there any way Sniffer could get well?”
Lyin' Like a Dog, The Yankee Doctor, The Danged Swamp! 3-Volume set Page 28