Billy (41 page)

The lights
come on, the cellblock door clanks open, the
footsteps
come.
Bill
y si
t
s
on his cot and
watches
as
th
e
guard
men and the
warden man gather
in
front
of
Sack Man's
cell,
he
hears
Wilson
\};
T
agner's voice, but
cannot see
him.
Another
voi
ce
speaks,
"We
ll
,
Sack Man,
I
'
m
sorry, but
it'
s
t im
e
.'
'

Sack Man
s
tand
s
in
his
ce
ll
,
looks around as his door
is
b
e
ing
opened, then
steps slow
l
y
out into the walkway and whispers somethin
t
o Warden
Herman.
Warden
Herman
n
ods
his head
yes,
th
e
n
says,
"Hurry it up.''

Sack
Man
comes
to
Billy's
ce
ll
and peers
throu
gh
the bars,
then he
speaks
in
a
low
sof
t
voice, "Billy boy
. . ."

Billy jumps
from
hi
s col
and runs
up
to the bars with tears in
his
eyes.

"Billy
boy,
Sack Man's gain
now.
Ya do what
Rev
ere
nd
Wil

say.
Ya keeps that
faith
h
e
be
t
ell
in
ya abo
ut."
Sack
.
Man speaks and reaches
hi
s
hand
in
b
et
w
ee
n
Billy"s bars
and
pu ts

B I L L Y
I
187

it on Billy's cheek. Then it's time. He turns
and
takes his
steps.

Billy twists his head as far as he can to watch Sack Man leave him, then
yells
before he knows he is yelling,
"Sack
Man. Sack Man."

The lights go back
ouc
and
even
Dil Martin is
still
in the silence.

The new year that time brought, nineteen hundred and thirt
y
eight, didn't much change things back in Banes. Town folks did the same thing they did the
year
before, Dillion
Street
still had its Saturday nights, Sheriff Tom was still
busti n
heads, Doctor Henry P.
Grey
was still
sewing
them up. Fred Sneed was still sittin across from the Ro
s
ey Gray, and Mar
c
u
s
Warden sold some more
coffins.

January crept
by and
February took its place.
It
was
Feb
rnary's third Saturday, Harvey Jakes
sits
in his office alone, waiting for Helen Marks to stop by, he'd a
s
ked her to
come, said
he wanted to ask her something. He hears her heel
s
coming through the outer office and looks up from his desk as she
comes
in wearing the short
skirt
he likes to
see
her in
.
Her long blond hair was down and
curling
over her
shoulders.
Her step was quick until she reached his desk, then
she slowed,
looked down
,
and smiled. Harvey Jakes leaned back in his chair and says,
"Glad
you could
stop
by, this will onl
y
take a minute. I got
some
good news."

"I'm getting excited, you've been teasing since Thursda
y
about this good news," Helen Marks says,
smiling
and
easing
closer to Harvey Jakes' desk.

"You've been doing a
good
job, Helen, and, ah . . .
well,
I've been thinking . . .
"
Harvey Jakes' words fade.

Helen Marks was becoming very impatient with Har
vey

188 I Albert Fre11ch

Ja kes,
she
puts her hands on her hips and looks him in the
eye
u ntil he
says what she
wants to hear.

"Well,
the
good
news is that I have permission from the
State
to
witness
the
execution.
It will be a great chance for a first-person
story,"
Harvey Jakes
says
and keeps his
eyes
on Helen Marks for her reaction.

"You
what?"

"I
got permission to
cover
the execution."

"That's
great, Mister Jakes.
If
ya
want to watch that little nigger die," Helen Marks says
with
some disappointment in her
voice.

"Well,
what I really
was
thinking, Helen, was maybe you'd like to ride up with me. It's a nice ride.
Of course,
we'd have to
stay
over, I mean,
you
would have
your
own room. I thought
you
might like to
ride
up." Harvey Jakes looks into Helen Marks'
eyes
for her
answer.

Helen Marks is
silent
for a moment, her
eyes smile,
then
she says,
"I'd like to ride up with
you,
it
sounds exciting. When is
it?"

"Next Friday
night."

Ginger
Pasko is fixing
evening supper,
Red
Pasko
is
out on
the
porch.
Time
changed
him when it took his daughter
awa
y
,
he no longer
tries to
hide his drinking. He
sits out
on the porch with his
whiskey glass,
looking
o
v
er
the fields. The
whiskey
hel ps
clear his
mind
of
the
,
colors of
the field
,
the
chill
i n
the air
,
now
he
can
peacefully
think
about next Friday. It's the day he's been waiting
for.

Most Patch
folks and
Patch ways
took well with
Mississip pi
'
s
nineteen hundred
and
thirty-eight
year. It
brought no less than the others. The
old
Patch Road
still
ran red
and even
tually to LeRoy's.

Big Jake
sat
at his table wi th his
Saturda
y
whiskey, clrin kin

B I L L Y /
189

and payin no mind to Shorty and LeRoy's talk until Lucy Mae
came
down.

"Ya
want a little
sip?"
LeRoy asks Luc
y
Mae
as
she sits at
the counter. She nods her head
yes.
LeRo
y
turns to Short
y,
who has become his do-everything boy for a drink,
and yells,
"Shorty, git Lucy Mae
somethin
here."

Lucy Mae takes her drink
slow
as LeRo
y
and Shorty go
on
with their talk.

Big Jake busts into LeRoy and Shorty's talk, sayin,
"Ya all
need to
stay off
that woman. She
gots
trouble nobody knows."

LeRoy throws his words
over
to Big Jake.
"What
Ah
can't
see is why she still got her ass all up ta folks."

Lucy Mae pokes her cheeks out and
rolls
her
eyes
before sayin, "Ah knows if it be me, and theys be bout ta kills m
y
childs,
Ah be over
cross
the road all down on my knees.
She
just a bitch, still actin like
she
made
outta gold
just
cause
her skin that color. Shit, if it ain't been for her and them
ways
she got, my baby Gumpy be home, ain't be up in no
camp
prison, he be home."

"How ya see it that way?" Big Jake's words
come
quick.
"Shit,
she ain't taught that boy righ t.
She
ain't taught Bill
y
Lee a damn thing,
cept
he
somethin special
just
cause
he
be
hers. That boy just like her, and that daddy
of
his too.
Ah
knew sooner or later he gonna get Gump
y
in
trouble," Lu
cy
Mae shouts back to Big Jake and rolls her
eyes
back to h
er

drink.

"Ah tell ya what Ah thinkin," Shorty blurts out, look
s
around quickly to
see
if anyone is payin him mind, then
he
lets his mouth loose,
"
Ah tells ya, thing
s
ain't
been the
same,
ain't
never
gonna be the same agins
since
that boy kills t hat girl. Ah ain't never taki n myself up there agins,
e
v
e
n th
e
m good white folks done
change
their
ways. Ah
tells
ya whats

190 I Albt>rl French

A h
k now."
Shorty
nods his heaown
last words, then til ted his
glass
up to h is mout h.

··When
they
goi n
La ki ll that boy?
What
i t he,
end
of the month?" LeRoy
asks.

Reverend
Sims
had walked the Patch paths, he had gone and
seen Cinder every
day. Sometimes
she'd come
out and
sit,
but
she
wouldn't talk. He'd just
sit
too.
Sometimes
she'd talk, just a few words, then her
silence would
say the rest.
Next
Thursday he
will go
with her to
see
Billy for her last time, Katey has
asked
him to.

Cinder's time
could
no longer be measu red by
clocks and calendars, suns coming
up, moons showi ng hafe their faces,
springtimes
coming.
Cinder's
time is measured now by
only
her heartbeats, pounding beneath her breast, and one thought that would not
stop rippi ng
at her mind, pinching at her
soul.
Time no longer
gave
her days
and
nights,
only
i ts
ghost of
a moment to
come.
Reverend Sims had
spoke of
his
God, said
He
could
change Cinder's world around,
bring
Billy home
one
day.
Cinder
said He
should
have never
taken
him
away.
Rev
erend Sims said,
He'll
bri ng
him
back one day. Cinder said, When,
after the fires turn red,
aft
e
r
they
burn
him
dead. after
they take the life from him? But l'll
still love
him. They
can
take him
from
me,
but
they
can't
take
me from
hi m.

Wilson Wagner had
brought
Billy
some picture books and a
Bible to read,
along wit h some penci ls, crayons, and paper
to write
and draw on
loo.
Each
day
now,
he'd
come and sit with
Billy, then
prayed with and
for him.
He'd
also written
the
Governor,
got
no repl
y
,
but had faith
and
told Billy
of
i t.

Thu rsday,
Guard
Russell Vent
comes
lo
get
Billy, Wilson Wagner is wi th him.
Guard
Russell
Vent opens
Billy's
cell
and
says, "Come on, boy.
Your mama's here."