Buddies (16 page)

“You’re counting your chickens before they hatch, Joey Frank,” she said. “The hens could stop laying at anytime, and we don’t know yet if the cotton crop will make it or not. That will depend on the Good Lord and the weather that he sends.”

Mama stopped her knitting, looked up at Joey Frank, smiling, and said, “I realize how you feel about your Pa’s old shoes, and if you’re still planning to keep them, you can’t wear them through a hard winter because they won’t last. You certainly can’t depend on Ernie’s to last very much longer, because they’re almost gone. I can’t understand for the life of me how you can keep them on your feet now.”

Mama told that Widow Simson had been over to visit and said the Brown family must have accumulated enough money for Ernie’s eye surgery because she had seen them pass her home early that morning with luggage on their wagon. She said that she wouldn’t have known Ernie if he hadn’t been with his parents because he was so pale and thin. Mama said the widow assumed the Browns had accumulated Ernie’s surgery fee with donations made by all the good citizens of the community, since they had no luck selling their farm. She went on to say, the widow praised all the good people around Ruby Creek for making Ernie’s operation possible, and bragged about how fortunate they were to be living among such wonderful folks.

Joey Frank had never been to Atlanta, but he had heard Mama, Pa, and Miss Lester, talk about the big city. He remembered Miss Lester telling the class one day that if any of them ever got the chance to go there, they should wear their best clothes because in big cities, folks dressed up. She said to walk straight, with the head held high and the shoulders back. “Look proper and dignified,” she said. “Don’t go around all slumped over like you do out in the field chopping cotton.”

Mama told Joey Frank that she and Pa had made the trip to Atlanta several times and that it was a good hundred miles from Ruby Creek. She said it would take the Browns at least four days to make the trip there and back. It would also depend on how long Ernie had to stay in the hospital, to predict when they would return.

Mama said she wouldn’t begin to look for the Browns to come back for at least eight to ten days.

Those next few days of waiting to hear from Ernie were the longest days Joey Frank felt he had ever spent in his life. Although he worked long hours in the field each day and took no leisure time out; the days still seemed to drag by anyway.

When eight days had finally lapsed he walked to Ernie’s home, only to learn the family had not yet returned. He drew a bucket of water from the well for the thirsty dog. Joey Frank then went back home and returned again with leftover bread for Ringeye who was so grateful for the food.

Eleven days had gone by, and the Browns still had not yet returned home. On the twelfth day, Joey Frank went to their home and they still weren’t there, he began to worry something might be wrong.

Mama told him there could be stormy weather that far away that could have delayed them. She said that making a tripas far away as Atlanta, any number of things could have gone wrong with the wagon, especially one as old as the Browns’.

On the fourteenth day late in the evening, Gloria came running to the field where Mama and Joey Frank were poisoning the cotton crop to rid the beautiful green leaves of boll weevils. She had been visiting with Widow Simson at her home and saw Ernie and his family go by there. Gloria had run all the way from the widow’s home to tell the good news.

Joey Frank excitedly asked his sister, “Did he see you, Gloria? Did he wave at you?”

“He couldn’t, Brother,” Gloria said, catching her breath. “’Cause he had big white bandages over his eyes.”

Mama realized how anxious Joey Frank was to see Ernie and to learn how the eye surgery turned out. She gave him permission to drop the work he was doing and go visit him before darkness set in.

Joey Frank could hardly wait to see his buddy. He ran from the field and went by the house to get the chewing tobacco he had saved for him.

Ernie’s Mama was on the front porch watering her petunias when he arrived. She invited him to go inside where Ernie was lying down in his room, explaining that the long trip had tired him considerably.

Joey Frank thanked Mrs. Brown and went into the house. He walked to the bedroom softly, intending not to disturb Ernie, if he were asleep. He stood for a moment at the open door, looking at him lying on the bed with bandages taped over his eyes. He was still dressed in his best clothes, and he hadn’t bothered to remove his brogans.

In a moment Ernie turned his head toward Joey Frank at the doorway and said, “Well, are you just gonna stand there like a knot on a log Joey Frank Cooper, or you gonna bring yoreself in here?”

“How’d you know I wuz here, Ernie?” Joey Frank asked, walking on into the room.

“It’s like I’ve done told you before; there ain’t nothin’ wrong with my nose an’ ears. I heard you on the front porch a-talkin’ with Mama before you come in.”

Joey Frank sat down on the foot of Ernie’s bed and said, “Ernie, I brung you somthin’ that I figgered you wuz in need of.”

“I know you did, Joey Frank, “’Cause I got a whiff of it when you come in here. Where did you git money to buy tobacker with anyway?”

“I bought it with my egg money.”

“Did you ever buy yoreself some shoes, too?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“How come you didn’t?”

“’Cause I forgot to, I reckin, but I’m gonna buy me some with the next batch of eggs I sell.”

Ernie took out the tobacco that was in his mouth, and replaced it with the fresh piece Joey Frank had given him. He said, “Joey Frank, I shore am glad you brung me this ‘cause I’ve had this here wad in my mouth off an’ on ever since I left Atlanta. Ain’t hardly got a bit of taste left in it.”

“Here,” he said, reaching out his hand toward Joey Frank. “Throw this stuff out the window for me. I’d do it myself, but I miss ever’time I try, an’ it lands on the floor. Mama don’t like sech when it happens.”

Joey Frank aimed toward the open window and threw out the soggy wad of tobacco, saying, “I guess yore mighty glad to be back home, ain’t you, Ernie?”

“Yeah, I shore am. I stayed in that dang hospital for six whole days, an’ I got so fed up that I wanted to go somewhere an’ hide. I would have if I could a-seen how to. I got so blame tired of them ole doctors comin’ in my room an’ a-astin’ me the same thang over an’ over, that I wanted to jump up an’ run.”

“What did they keep astin’ you, Ernie?”

“Kept astin’ me if I could see a light they said they wuz shinin’ in my eyes. Heck, I never did see the first thang the whole time I wuz there.”

“How long did they say it wud be ‘til you can see agin?”

Ernie paused for a moment then said, “Joey Frank, I’m gonna tell you somethin’, but I don’t want you to commence a-gittin’ all tore up like these sissy women folks do, when they hear thangs that ain’t so good. I don’t want you to commence a-ballin’ to yoreself either, a-gittin’ all stopped up an’ makin’ out like yore a-comin’ down with a cold neither, when I know dang well that you ain’t. I don’t want none of that stuff outta you; now did you hear me straight?”

“Yeah, I heard you straight, Ernie.”

“Okay then, I’m gonna tell you just like it is.”

Joey Frank had a bad feeling about what was about to come from the lips of his buddy, but he braced himself anyway to keep from crying as Ernie began to break the awful news.

“Joey Frank, them doctors said they didn’t thank I would ever see agin. They said some kind of nerve in my eyes wuz in a-bad fix an’ they couldn’t do nothin’ for it. They told Mama an’ Pa the best thang to do wuz put me in a school for the blind; board me there, is what they said.”

Ernie spit into the tin can he was holding; then he went on to say, “They said it won’t take too long for me to learn to read an’ write good as folks that could see. Talked like it won’t be hard to ketch on to.”

“Where is there a school for the blind, Ernie? I don’t reckin I’ve ever heard tell of one bein’ around these parts before.”

“At-lanta is the closes’ one around these parts, an’ the way them doctors talked I reckin it’s the only one in the state ‘cause they didn’t name anymore.”

“Do you reckin yore Mama and Pa’s gonna go an’ put you in it?”

“Shore they are, an’ right away too. Pa done said that as soon as he gits the cotton crop plowed out, then he’s gonna take me out there. Heck, I don’t wanna go, but I reckin I’m gonna hafta, ‘cause I don’t know of no way a-gittin’ outta it.”

“How long will you hafta stay there?”

“About two years they said, but I’ll git to come home ever’ six months to stay a short spell, about a week at a time. Pa’ll be a-comin’ after me so maybe yore Mama will let you come with’m.”

Two whole years sounded like forever to Joey Frank, and he could only imagine how terrible Ernie must feel, knowing he would be away from home so long. He tried to make his voice sound as cheerful as he possible could as he said, “Heck, Ernie, them two years will fly by an’ be gone before you know it. You’ll be back here a-doin’ thangs anybody else can do; just you wait an’ see.”

“No, I won’t neither, Joey Frank. I’ll learn to do some thangs good as other folks do, but I won’t never be a blacksmith, like I want to be someday. A fella’s gotta see to do that kind a-stuff.”

“Yeah, you can too, Ernie. You can still be a blacksmith. Don’t you remember the time you said I could be yore partner doin’ the work? I didn’t want to then, but I’ve went an’ changed my mind. I’ll be yore partner. I’ll go in with you an’ we’ll namethe place
Brown and Cooper’s Blacksmith Shop.
We can do it together; I know we can.”

“Do you really mean it, Joey Frank?” Ernie was smiling now. “Will you stick with me?”

“Heck yeah, I’ll stick with you. I’ll be right there ever’ minute you are, an’ I’ll prove to you I wanna learn to do the work by commencin’ on Saturdays goin’ to Mr. Pearson’s shop to learn that stuff. By the time you git back from yore schoolin’, I’ll done be learnt a bunch, an’ we can start right off. Yeah, we’ll have a blacksmith shop together. I’ll bet my life on it, we will.”

The smile on Ernie’s face had broadened now; it was the biggest one that Joey Frank had seen on his face in a long time. He lifted the tin can to his mouth to spit; then said, “Joey Frank Cooper; I’m gonna shore be a-countin’ on you to do sech. I can done see it in my head now our names painted in big black letters ‘cross the front of a buildin’ sayin’
‘Brown and Cooper’s Blacksmith Shop
.’ Ain’t that gonna be a sight?”

“You bet’cha it’s gonna be, but you went an’ left out somethin’ that oughta be painted under our names.”

“I did? What?”

“The best in the country.”

“Oh yeah, we’ll need that sayin’ on there, too.”

Joey Frank got up from the foot of Ernie’s bed as he said, “Ernie, I best be a-gittin’ on toward home ‘cause it’s gonna soon be dark, an’ I’ve got the milkin’ to do. How would you like to go fishin’ a-Saturday?”

“Yeah, well go if you want to, Joey Frank.”

“Then I’ll be here come sunrise. Don’t worry about the bait ‘cause I’ll bring a-plenty.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
 

It was two days later when Joey Frank and Mama were in the field, and Sheriff Jamison came riding up on his horse. Joey Frank’s heart almost stopped when he saw the lawman. His first thought was the sheriff had learned somehow that he had robbed Miss Rene and had come to arrest him to take him off the jail.

He and Mama watched as Sheriff Jamison stopped his horse at the end of the furrows, climbed down, and started walking toward them.

Joey Frank felt some relief, as the Sheriff was close enough for him to see that he was carrying his old brogan in one hand and Ernie’s lunch pail in the other. He didn’t much believe that Sheriff Jamison had come there to get him, because he probably had some business out this way, and since he was in the area, he would return the brogan and lunch pail.

The sheriff came over and smiled as he tipped his hat to Mama. He said, “Joey Frank, I brought your shoe and your friend’s lunch pail by. I thought you might be needin’ them again.”

“Thank you, Shurff Jamison,” Joey Frank said, taking the shoe and lunch pail from the Sheriff. “Yes sir, I shore am glad to git this ole shoe of mine back, an’ I know Ernie’s gonna be happy to git his lunch pail, too. Thank you a heap!”

“You’re quite welcome, Joey Frank, but that’s not all; I have somethin’ else here for you too.”

Joey Frank couldn’t imagine what the sheriff had for him now, unless it was a pair of handcuffs and he was there to arrest him after all.

Mama looked at the sheriff with a question on her face,too.

Sheriff Jamison opened one side of his brown leather vest and reached into the pocket. He took out an envelope, and smiled when he handed it to Joey Frank. Joey Frank put the shoe and lunch pail down on the ground to take the envelope from the tall lawman. He had no idea what he could be holding in his soiled and nervous hand, so he asked, “What’s in this here envelope, Shurff Jamison? Did me and Ernie lose somethin’ else that we didn’t know we lost? Ernie went and lost a piece of chewin’ tobacker he’d bought that day, didn’t he? Well, I know he’s gonna be mighty glad to git it back ‘cause he’s always a-runnin’ short on this stuff. I’m mighty beholden to you, Shurff Jamison, for bringin’ it by, an’ I’ll take it an’ his lunch pail over to him a-Saturday mornin’.”

“Joey Frank, that’s not chewin’ tobacco you’re holdin’ in your hand,” the sheriff said. “Young fella, it’s money and lots of it, too. More than most people around here will see in a lifetime. That envelope contains five thousand dollars reward money that is supposed to go to the person that furnished the information about who killed Banker George Tolbert. The person who furnished that information was you, Joey Frank, and since the banker caused his own death, then the money all goes to you; every last penny.”

Joey Frank was stunned. He didn’t know what to say to the kind lawman, and if he did, it would be doubtful the words he wanted to say would ever reach his lips. He looked over at Mama with tears in her eyes. The only words she managed to say were, “Thank you, Sheriff Jamison.”