Kent Collins - First Time For Sister

"We caught that black bastard early this morning," he went on, "me and the deputy. They put a fifty-dollar bail on his head." Jed laughed in a loony, loose way. "Take all the niggers in niggertown to raise that much."

Billie tried to make her voice as calm as possible. "Jed, let me out … now."

"Oh, I can't do that. Deputy Sheriff Goodlin has been lookin' for you.

He went up to your house a little bit ago but you was gone so I came lookin' myself." Jed reached over to pat her shoulder but Billie jerked away. "You're not in any trouble; they just want you to write down what that perverted nigger did last night, and that oughta keep him in a cage for a while."

"Jed," Billie said, aware of the quaver in her voice, "let me out!"

"Won't take you but a little bit at the jail," Jed said eagerly. "Then I'm gonna show you how much I really care for you, Billie-Ann. I won't do nothin' so nasty as that nigger done, but if you help I bet I can satisfy you real good. I just know when I see you stripped buck naked that I can…"

Billie had waited until the truck was just starting out from the first stop light in town before she jerked the door handle and kicked her duffel bag out. Then she jumped to the road after it, hooked her hand through the handle and ran as fast as she could.

"You, Billie! Come back here now!"

She heard the truck's engine racing and then the gears grind noisily as Jed tried to get turned around. But before he could swing around the block, Billie ducked through an alley and when she didn't see the pickup, crossed the street and headed for the big glass doors of the Dooberville Community Bank. The remodeled front looked a little too modern for the other stores around it, but because it didn't have many windows, Billie thought she'd feel safe inside.

Once through the doors she stopped and looked around. The refrigerated air was cool on her legs and the thick carpet made the adding machines an typewriters sound muted and far away. And that was when the idea struck her. Hanson was in trouble… maybe bad trouble unless she could get him out. Fifty dollars was what Jed had said it would cost.

Behind the teller's cage the gigantic thick steel door of the safe shined back at her. With all the money the bank had in there, surely they'd let her borrow enough to get her friend out of jail.

A woman with jeweled glasses smiled from a nearby desk and Billie went over. "I need to borrow fifty dollars," she said. "It's an emergency."

"Then you'd have to see Mister Butler's son Jerrold." The woman rolled a fresh piece of paper into her typewriter. "Unfortunately, he's out for the afternoon and won't be in again till Monday."

"But I need it now!" Billie cried. "Could you tell me where he is?"

The woman pursed her lips and frowned.

"Jerrold lives with his father." She gave a smug nod. "Jerrold's father is president of the bank. I'm sure the Butlers wouldn't want to be disturbed at home."

"Maybe if I talked to him…"

"It would be much better if you wait till Monday."

Billie found some courage somewhere. "I know somebody will tell me where to find Jerrold Butler. Won't you please?"

The woman behind the desk looked uncomfortable. "Oh, all right. But it won't do you any good. It's the big white house on Maple, two blocks from the corner of the park." She shrugged.

"Please don't tell the Butlers I gave you their address."

After Billie had looked up and down the street and made sure it was safe to leave the bank, she crossed into the alley again and headed for the municipal park. It was the only place in town she was sure she could find and if the deputy or Jed Judson didn't catch her first, maybe she could get to the Butler place. But of course she still didn't have a plan or even the faintest idea of what she'd say to Jerrold Butler… if she found him.

Billie was almost across the grassy park when she saw the white patrol car cruising up a side street. She dropped her duffel bag behind a trash can and slid into the wooden seat of a swing until the car had turned the corner and headed back towards the business district. Jed had probably told them that she'd slipped away from him and Billie knew that her chances of helping Hanson would grow smaller with each passing hour.

Halfway down Maple she spotted the white house and hurried on. It looked to her like the kind of place a banker would live in. She was relieved to find the wrought-iron gate open and in a moment Billie had slipped inside the high hedged yard. For a while at least she'd be safe from the searching eyes of the Dooberville police.

No one came when she rang the front doorbell, and after she'd called through the screen and still didn't hear any movement from inside, she walked around to the back. There was a high wall around what she guessed must be the swimming pool, and before she was close enough to see the water she heard a loud splash. Keeping an eye out for dogs, she crept up to the archway in the wall and peeked around. The turquoise water in the pool was rough with waves but she couldn't see anyone.

Then a blond head bobbed up somewhere near the middle and a younglooking man started swimming toward the side nearest her. Billie watched him lean his elbows on the wet tiles and squint into the sun while the water trickled from his hair. His shoulders were very tan and though he didn't look as strong as Hanson Allen, he didn't look flabby, either. He was almost handsome… in a snooty kind of way. Taking a deep breath, she stepped around the side of the wall and stood there clutching her duffel bag with both hands. "I'm looking for Jerrold Butler," she said.

The boy snapped his head around and Billie could see that he was even younger-looking than she'd first thought. Maybe twenty-one or two… it was hard to tell.

"That's me," he said, starting to smile a little. "But who in hell are you?"

Billie told him her name and that she'd gone to the bank to borrow fifty dollars.

"You must really need that money bad," he laughed, pushing wet curls back from his forehead while he studied her.

"Yes… I do need it. Awfully bad."

"Tell you what," the boy said. "You come take a dip and we'll talk about that money later."

Billie looked around at the house and then back at Jerrold Butler. She really didn't want to go swimming. Anyway, she didn't have a suit and the last time she'd gotten near water without a swimsuit…

Jerrold smiled at her hesitance. "I don't loan money to girls on Friday afternoon unless they come swimming with me."

"Mister Butler," she started, "I…"

"Call me Jerrold. And if you're trying to tell me you don't have a suit, well I don't, either." With those words, he dove, and for an instant Billie saw his white bottom flash to the surface and then slip down with the rest of him into the green depths of the pool. She picked up her bag and turned, her face hot. She was hoping that Jerrold Butler might feel sorry for her and stop her and offer to loan her the fifty dollars right there, but when she heard his head break surface again there was only a long, crazy-sounding laugh.

"Don't forget to close the gate on your way out!" he called.

Billie pressed her lips together angrily and stopped. She could almost see Hanson behind the bars of the jail… waiting for someone. Waiting for her. Suddenly angry, she whirled around and put her bag down on a nearby beach chair. "You mean you absolutely won't loan me any money unless… unless…

"In the nude," Jerrold said, smirking.

Tears of frustration welled in her eyes and Billie let them. "I think you're just… horrible!" she cried out.

Jerrold Butler laughed, obviously not bothered by her tears. "Most people would jump at a chance to swim in my father's pool with the future president of Dooberville Community Bank," he said, paddling onto his back. Billie could see the black patch of his pubic hair under the wavy water, and for the first time she noticed the half-empty whiskey bottle setting under the shade of a lawn chair.