TURNED OUT wadn’t but maybe three four Days, Papa said, and here o’Calley went to Hobbling round ever wheres when he wadn’t bumping up gainst the Wall or a’falling in the Puddle but, he said, they just wadn’t no Quit in him and he kep at it til he was bout Blue in the Face. You just a’Itching to go on and go ain’t you Mister Pearsall I said, Papa said, and o’Calley said Yes Sir I am then went over there and throwed his Saddle up on o’Firefoot to go right now. What bout Little Missey, Papa said, We ain’t just gonna ride off and Leave her are we. Be Glad to have her come long with us if she wants to, Calley said, but I ain’t a’gonna tie her up and drag her off from her Friend if she don’t. I don’t reckon you would neither would you Mister, he said. No Sir I wouldn’t, Papa said, Ain’t neither one a’us that Mean I don’t reckon are we. No Sir we ain’t, Calley said, but that don’t make us Happy bout it neither does it. No Sir it don’t me, Papa said, then Calley come over there and give me a little Knock on my Head and said You better go on and round up o’Fritz now we gonna be a’leaving here in a minute. So I Hollered Fritz Fritz, Papa said, and he give me a little Bark back from some wheres over there in the Dark and I went over there with a Fire Stick to see where he was and Where he was, he said, was in that Room had that Hump a’Dirt out in the Middle of it. And a’setting right there with one Hand on o’Fritz and the other one on her o’Pet Panther was that little o’Wrinkled Up Wild Woman and it looked to me, Papa said, like they all three been a’Crying but that might a’been cause I was a’Crying my self cause of a sudden I seen where she’d a’drawed Pitchurs a’me and o’Calley and Fritz up there on the wall with all them other Pitchurs like we was Family too and it made me so Sad to be a’Leaving Little Missey and her o’Blind Panther like this. We gonna be a’going here in a minute I said, Papa said, I wish you’d come with us but No Ma’am I know you ain’t never gonna just walk off and leave your o’Friend here no moren I would o’Fritz my self. She didn’t say nothing back, he said, but I know she knowed What I said cause she give o’Fritz one more Pet then give him a little Push to me but No he just set there a’Licking her Hand like he didn’t never wanna leave her in his Life and then o’Calley come in with a Fire Stick of his own and squatted down right there in front a’Little Missey and give his Spur a Ching e Ching e ChingChingChing like he was a’thinking a’what to say and What he said, Papa said, was You are my Living Angel and I Thank You Thank You for my Leg and for my Life both and if they ever comes a Time in yours I can repay the favor Well by God you can count on me to be a’standing there right side you Don’t matter a Lick how Deep the Water or how Hot the god dam Fire. Oh and then he reached his Hand out to give hers a little squeeze Goodbye but No that o’Panther wouldn’t have it and give him a Bite on his Hand to keep away from her but it didn’t Hurt much cause he didn’t hardly have no Teeth left in his Head but o’Calley give him a scratch on his Chin any how for his Trouble and went on out with his Eyes just a’Shining. Come on Fritz I said, Papa said, we got to get on We got other Fish to Fry our self then me and o’Fritz went on out a’there too and, he said, I reckon my Eyes was a’shining much as Mister Pearsall’s ever was.
I DON’T RECKON IT WAS MOREN A MINUTE after that, Papa said, and we was on our Horse and Ready to go and course we was both Happy and Sad bout it both at the same time. La Vida Brinca, o’Calley said, Life’s bout to Jump again ain’t it. Yes Sir I reckon so I said, Papa said, then we grabbed us a Fire Stick out the Fire and rode on out in the Cave. Which a’way, o’Calley said. I ain’t got no Idea Which a’Way, Papa said, I was figguring you’d know. No I ain’t got no Idea which a’Way neither, Calley said. Fritz, he said, Which a’Way Which a’Way and o’Fritz leaned out over the Saddle Horn and pointed his Nose That a’Way, Papa said, and we give our Horse a’touch a’our Heels and away we went just a’going in and out a’Caves long the way a’looking for Day Light. You reckon o’Fritz really knows where he’s a’leading us, Calley said. Well, Papa said, He ain’t never knowed it before far as I know so I reckon I’d be surprised if he knows it now. If he don’t know, Calley said, we gonna be Lost here in a minute you know it. I think we already Lost Mister Pearsall, Papa said, I don’t believe we can even get back to where we come from do you. Then o’Calley pulled Firefoot up and went to looking all round in the Dark. Next time we gonna have to plan our Trip better you know it, he said, We ain’t gonna like Dying in here like that o’Skeleton Man we seen in the Iron Hat are we. You a’scaring me now Mister Pearsall, Papa said. Well I’m a’scaring me too, he said, if that makes you feel any better bout it. Oh and right then o’Fritz let go a Bark then jumped off o’Edward and took off a’Running in the Dark. FRITZ I hollered, Papa said, FRITZ FRITZ FRITZ but No he was just Gone Gone Gone in the Dark and my Heart just Broke in Two bout it but then Calley said LOOK LOOK and I Looked, Papa said, and Why way off yonder in the Dark Some Body was a’waving a Fire Stick to tell us This a’Way This a’Way and then we heared a’EeeeEeeeEeee and we knowed it was Little Missey a’waving that Fire Stick and her o’Panther there with her to save our Life again one more time. Well I reckon we just Lucky we hadn’t a’run out a’La Vida Brincas yet huh, o’Calley said. Then, Papa said, we went to follering that Light on through the Dark.
OH WE FOLLERED AND FOLLERED THAT FIRE LIGHT all through the Cave, Papa said, then it went round this Curve and we come out under o’Pelo Blanco’s big o’Rock Over Hang where we started out from but Little Missey and her o’Blind Panther was gone. Where you reckon they went I said, Papa said, and o’Calley said Back Home I reckon I don’t know a’no other Place in the World they got to go back to do you. No Sir I don’t, Papa said, I wish I could a’took em Home to the Choats I think they’d a’liked it there. Well Home ain’t so much a Place as it is a Feeling you get when you there with Some Body you Love, Calley said, So I reckon she already Home here long as she got that o’Blind Panther she Loves with her. Where’s your Home at Mister Pearsall, Papa said. You ain’t never told me. Well it usted to be up yonder round Fayetteville with my Momma and Daddy and my Sister Eurica til that time my Daddy got all Drunked Up that Day in Town and run over all them People in his Wagon. Yes Sir you tolt me that Story and I don’t need to hear it again, Papa said. It ain’t a Pretty One. No Sir, Calley said, Don’t matter how you tell it It ain’t gonna be Pretty is it. But speaking a’my Sister Eurica, he said, I still need to get up there one a’these Days and tell her Her husband Jack Ivey the Third ain’t in this World no more and they ain’t much Chance a’him ever coming back neither what with all them Bullet Holes the Sheriff a’Comal County put in him. Course, Calley said, they ain’t a Her or a Him or No Body else gonna keep me from finding my Pela Rosa now that we out a’that Dark o’Cave. You reckon we can Find her, Papa said. Well I don’t know Why Not, Calley said, the World ain’t big enough to keep us from it is it. Then, Papa said, he give Firefoot a little shake a’the reins cause he seen some thing over there on that Rock where all them Candles burned o’Pelo’s Face off for him and wanted to go see what it was. So me and Fritz and o’Edward bumped on over there with him and when we got there, Papa said, I seen What it was on that Rock and What it was, he said, was Calley’s big o’Pistola and they was that Noose o’Pelo Blanco’d been a’going round hanging People with all his Life and Why they was even that little Mesquites Wood Statue a’Little Saint Lalo o’Pelo’d chopped up in little Pieces but now was all stuck back together again with some Tree Sap or some thing. Looks like o’Pelo wants us to believe he’s a’leaving his o’Bad Life behind him now and a’going off to find him a new Good One don’t it, Calley said. Yes Sir I said, Papa said, it sure does look like it to me. Then Calley looked at his Pistola to make sure he still had him some Bullets in it and said, Well we gonna have to see bout that for our self ain’t we.
CALLEY STUCK HIS PISTOLA DOWN HIS PANTS, Papa said, and I set o’Fritz in my lap and off we went from there and was Sad to do it cause a’Leaving Little Missey and her o’Panther like that. Where you reckon o’Pelo took Pela I said, Papa said. I don’t
have no idea Where, Calley said. Well Where we a’going then, Papa said. I don’t have no idea bout that neither, Calley said. We just a’going that’s all huh, Papa said. Yes Sir we just a’going, Calley said. Course it helps we got these Tracks down here on the ground to foller don’t it, he said, and I looked down there and sure nough they was two sets a’tracks a’leading off cross the Country for us to foller. That’s Him and Her ain’t it, Papa said. Is now, Calley said, Won’t be Him later. You mean Bad Harm on o’Pelo huh, Papa said. Yes Sir I do mean Bad Harm on him, Calley said, Yes Sir I do. What happens when you mean Bad Harm on some body, Papa said, you ain’t never told me that. Why Bad Harm comes to em then, Calley said, that’s What. What kinda Bad Harm, Papa said. You just gonna have to wait and see what kinda Bad Harm when the Time comes, Calley said. I don’t reckon you know you self yet do you, Papa said. No Sir I don’t, Calley said, but I got me bout a hunderd ideas on it. I bet you planning to Shoot him ain’t you, Papa said, now that you got your big o’Pistola back down your Pants again. Well he shot me didn’t he, Calley said, I don’t know how I could be more Fair to him then to shoot him back same way he did me do you. Well do you, he said. No Sir I don’t, Papa said. You do know how the World Works don’t you Mister, Calley said, Any body in your Life ever tell you that. No Sir not that I remember, Papa said. Here’s how it Works, Calley said, you a’listening. Yes Sir, Papa said, I am. Whatever you put out there in the World gonna come back on you xactly the same Way you put it out there you self. Now take o’Pelo Blanco, he said, He Shot me didn’t he. Yes Sir he did, Papa said. Okay so now I’m gonna have to go Shoot him back the same way he done me ain’t that Right, Calley said. See how it Works. Simple as Pie ain’t it. Yes Sir, Papa said, but what if you miss Shooting him in the Leg like he done you and you Shoot him in the Arm or in the Foot or somewheres else in sted. What’re you a’talking bout, Calley said. Well, Papa said, you said ever thing in the World comes back to you xactly how you put it out there you self Ain’t that what you said, he said. Yes Sir some thing like that I reckon, Calley said. So if o’Pelo went and Shot you in the Leg don’t that mean you got to go Shoot him in his Leg back and not in his Arm or Foot or no wheres else. I was just trying to give you the Genral Idea, Calley said, I wadn’t trying to put a Fine Bead on it if that’s what you a’thinking. No Sir I’m just a’saying What if you was to miss your Aim at his Leg and Blowed his Ear off for him in sted, Papa said. Don’t that mean now he got to come back over here and Blow your Ear off for you. Don’t that Worry you. Well, Calley said, they’s two things Wrong bout that. One, he said, I don’t never miss my Aim and Two even if I did and Blowed his Ear off for him I’d still owe him that other Shot in his Leg from before and I’d give him that one fore he could even raise his gun up to Blow my Ear off back. So No Sir, he said, I ain’t Worried he’s ever gonna Blow my Ear off or nothing else off neither. Sides that, he said, you still a’Squirt and your Job is to just listen ain’t it. Yes Sir I said, Papa said. Then we just kep a’riding on but then Calley said Here’s another way the World Works, he said, Some times when you put a’lot a’Bad out there in the World like o’Pelo done Why it comes back to you just a whole god dam Hell of a lot worsern it was when you put it out there in the First Place you know it. I reckon so, Papa said. Yes Sir, Calley said, and that’s xactly what’s gonna happen to o’Pelo Blanco when I catch him. And then I looked back at where we come from for the Last Time, Papa said, and Why I seen Little Missey a’standing there with her o’Blind Panther a’watching us go and Oh they looked so Sad, he said, it bout broke my Heart in two so I set my Hat down on a Rock for a Good Bye Gift and waved em Adios Adios.
BOUT TWO DAYS LATER, Papa said, we come up on this Farm and they was a Old Farmer a’setting out on his Porch a’having him a sip out a Jug at the end a’the Day. How do, Calley said. I do pretty Good long as I got this Jug here and it don’t go empty on me, the Old Farmer said, that’s how I do. Been getting any Rain, Calley said. Oh Yes Sir it rains all day and all night round here, the Old Farmer said, bout oncet ever five six hunderd years and we’re due another one here in Oh say bout sixty years or so. Last one we had I seen o’Noah and his Animals come a’floating by in his Big Boat right out yonder in the Pasture, he said. I like a good Joke, Calley said, but we a’looking for some body and ain’t got time for Laughing right now. Maybe when we come a’riding back by this way here some time in the Future. I reckon you’ll still have a Joke or two on you then won’t you, he said. That’s all I got now, the Old Farmer said, but I already used the one up on you bout o’Noah floating by didn’t I. Yes Sir and it was a good one, Calley said, wadn’t it. Yes Sir I said, Papa said, it was. Some a’the Jokes I got wouldn’t do to tell a Boy, he said, so don’t ask me for that kind. No Sir we won’t, Calley said, but what we a’looking for is two People. One of em is a Pretty Red Head Girl, he said, and the other one is a Fella got his Face all burned off in a Fire. Oh Yes Sir seen em both, the Old Farmer said, they come by here just the other day that o’Red Face Man a’wanting to know was they any thing Good he could do for me. Good, Calley said. Yes Sir but course I didn’t have no idea what he was a’talking bout, the Old Farmer said, so I just said Well if you wanna do some thing Good needs to be done round here my poor o’rusty Chain out yonder in the Barn ain’t been polished since fore o’Saint Patrick went to chasing Snakes. Course that was just another one a’my Jokes, he said, But next morning when I got out there to milk the Cow why that o’Chain was polished to where you’d a’thought it was made a’Silver. What you figgur bout that, he said. You know who that was polished your Chain for you, Calley said. No Sir ain’t got no idea who it was, the Old Farmer said, some body likes to polish Chains I reckon. It was o’Pelo Blanco was who it was, Calley said. You ever heared a’him. Who ain’t, the Old Farmer said, but No Sir wadn’t him. O’Pelo Blanco likes to Hang People off a Tree where this o’Red Face Man I’m talking bout here just wanted to do me some thing Good. How bout this Red Head Girl was with him, Calley said, she look a’scared a’him to you. No Sir she didn’t look a’scared a’him to me, he said. Yes Sir, Calley said, Well that’s what I was a’scared of my self.
. . . I seen Little Missey a’standing there with her o’Blind Panther a’watching us go . . .
WADN’T LONG AFTER THAT, Papa said, and here we come up on this Family just a’going down the Road in they o’Wagon and a’pulling they Milk Cow long behind em on a rope. Oh they must a’been bout a hunderd little Boys and Girls both in there with the Momma and Daddy, he said. How Do, Calley said, you got you a nice big Family here ain’t you Mister. Cold Nights where we come from, the Daddy said. Yes Sir and a lot of em too I reckon huh, Calley said. Where yall a’headed for any how. We wanna hear what that Fella got to say up yonder in San Antoneya, he said, That where you and your Boy there headed too. We don’t know not one thing bout Who you talking bout there, Calley said. The o’Daddy looked just Surprised as could be, Papa said, and said Well you must a’been in some Dark o’Cave somewheres not to a’heared bout The o’Red Face Man. Yes Sir for a Fact we was, Calley said, and we just got out a’there too. The Momma and Daddy both had em a laugh at that, Papa said, and the Daddy said You just like that o’Fella back there a’setting on his Porch always telling a Joke. We bout fell out the Wagon at the one a’o’Noah floating by out yonder in his Pasture. Yes Sir we did too, Calley said. Now what’s this o’Red Face Man you been a’talking bout got to say yall come all this way just to hear it. Well what’s been told us the Man said is here a while back he took him a trip down to H-E-L-L to see his o’Daddy who wadn’t never a nice man in his Life cause he wanted to see how he was a’doing down there and he come to find out his o’Daddy was just a’setting round on a Flat Rock all day and wadn’t doing no good at all. Oh me and Fritz just bout went to falling off o’Edward at that, Papa said, cause it was xactly the same Story I told o’Pelo bout seeing my own Mean o’Daddy a’setting down there in Hell. That don’t sound so Bad to me, Calley said, just a’setting round on a Flat Rock all day
. I got me a Friend or two’d say Why this is Heaven here ain’t it just a’setting round on this Flat Rock all day. Yes Sir but The Red Face Man says they’s a Lot more to it’n that and they ain’t not one Lick a’Fun in it So he come on back up here to warn ever body else bout changing they ways fore its too Late. Well he’s the Best Friend any body ever had then ain’t he, Calley said. Oh I’ll tell you just how good a Friend he is to ever body, the Man said, when the o’Devil seen he was coming back to warn ever body bout What he seen down there Why he burned his face off to make him look so Ugly wouldn’t nobody even wanna Look at him or Listen to him neither one. I heared he got him a Pretty Red Head Girl a’travelling long with him, Calley said. They any Truth to that you know of. Oh Yes Sir, the Man said, that’d be Sister Rose. She’s the one Sings and Dances and Sells the Tickets.
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