Charles Williams - Hill Girl

“Bob, I don’t want no trouble with you if I can help it. Ain’t no use you lyin’. His car’s right out there in front.”

This was where I had to tell him. “Oh, the car,” I said. “He left it with me because I’m having mine overhauled. Brake bands are worn out. I’ve been using it.”

I wondered how soon he would begin to catch on.

“That’s a goddamn lie!” He got that far with it and then I could see it start to soak in. He was getting it.

He’s getting it, I thought. Brother, you’re the one who’s getting it.

Eleven

He stood there for a minute before he said anything and seemed to be trying to make up his mind. The silence in the room was beginning to get me. I can stand these things better when there’s more noise.

“You was usin’ that car tonight?” He wanted to be sure we had it all straight.

I could see then that the thing was going to grow into a beautiful understanding between us.

“Why, yes, I was using it,” I said. “I hope you didn’t wreck it too badly, Sam.”

“No,” he said slowly. “I guess we can fix it up all right. Why? Was you figgerin’ on usin’ it today? Goin’ somewhere, maybe?”

“Well,” I said, “I was thinking of a little trip. To Shreveport, maybe. You see, Sam, Angelina and I have decided we don’t want to wait any longer. That is,” I went on quickly, “with your approval, Sam. I hope we have your permission.”

“Why, shore, Bob.” His face began to relax a little. “And jest to think, I didn’t even know you two was a-courtin’.”

Careful now, Sam, you great big understanding son-of-a-bitch, I thought. Let’s don’t make this too great a surprise and spoil all this beautiful act. Surely you remember me, the old faithful suitor of the fair Angelina?

“Well, sit down, Sam,” I said. “I’ve got a bottle around here somewhere and I think we ought to celebrate.”

He came over and sat down at the table but I noticed he still was careful not to have his back toward an open door or window. I found the bottle and brought out some glasses.

“Here’s to the two of you, Bob,” he said, raising his glass.

I told him to have another and got out my safety razor and brought a pan of water and propped a mirror up on the table. I shifted the lamp around so I could see, and shaved. My face looked funny with the lather on it. I was burned black with the months in the sun and my hair was bleached the color of cotton.

I wondered where Lee was. Under the porch? Or down in the barn? He probably had heard Sam going into the ignition wiring of the car and knew there wasn’t any use in going around there.

I packed a bag and got a gray flannel suit out of the clothes closet and shined my shoes. Sam and I talked about the crops and the weather and the large number of quail that had hatched out around his place.

We went out front together and it was beginning to grow light in the east with a strip of pink above the ridges the other side of Black Creek bottom. It was a cloudless morning with no breeze, and I knew it was going to be a scorching day. We haywired back the ignition wiring Sam had torn out of the Buick.

I had an idea that after we got the wiring back Sam wouldn’t leave the car, and he didn’t. He knew Lee was still around somewhere and he wasn’t taking any chances. I guess he was afraid we’d both get the jump on him and light out together. He sat in the car and I went back in the house, saying I had to get my bag and the car keys.

I ducked out back and went down to the barn on the run. I was pretty sure Lee would head in that direction when it became too light for him to hide out around the house.

He was up in the loft, sitting in the hay and smoking a cigarette.

“For God’s sake, throw that cigarette out,” I said. “Do you want to burn the barn down with the mules in here?”

He sullenly pitched it out the door. “Where is he?”

“Out front in the car. Give me the keys.”

“Where you going?”

“To a wedding,” I said.

He looked down at his feet. “I’m sorry, Bob.”

“You’re sorry?” I said. “Give me the keys.”

He fished them out and handed them over. “How’m I going to get back to town?”

“I don’t give a God damn how you get back to town. You can walk if you want to. Or use my car. It’s in the tool shed.”

“Why don’t you go in yours and leave the Buick here?”

“And tell Sam it drove itself out here? He knows you’re here, all right, but do you want to slap him in the face with it while he’s carrying that gun?”

“All right”

“And don’t forget I’m going to a wedding. Nothing but the best for the young bride. She’ll probably feel more a’ home in the Buick.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re making me cry,” I said. I went down the ladder and he looked after me, not saying anything.

When I got back out front Jake and Helen were coming across the road from the little house to start breakfast. When they came up everybody said, “Good mawnin’” all around and looked embarrassed and I could see the concern in their eyes. They knew something serious had happened and Jake was pretty sure what it was.

“Jake,” I said, “I’ll be gone for a few days. If you’ll finish plowing out those middles I’ll make it right with you for my half when I get back.”

“Oh, that’s all right, Bob,” he said reassuringly. “Ain’t but about three days’ work for one man.”

They went on into the house, turning when they went through the door to look curiously back at us. Helen’s eyes were troubled and I knew she was worried that I’d got into some kind of jam.

“Well, let’s get started,” I said. Sam got out of the roadster.

“I’ll go ahead, Bob. An’ you follow me in the Buick.”

“Like hell I’ll follow you. I’ve told you I was going over there and that’ll have to be good enough for you.” I was a little sick of being shoved around. And I’d be damned if I was going in there after that girl with Papa at my heels with the gun.

“I’ll be there when you get there,” I went on, getting into the car. I got it into gear and shot out onto the road, looking at the bullet hole in the windshield and not finding it very comforting.

I gunned it all the way, raging inside and getting some relief from the fast driving and the powerful smoothness of the big car. And I wanted to have it out with that damned girl before Sam arrived. There was no telling what the little fool would do or say.

The sun was just clearing the tops of the pines when I drove in through the gate into the clearing. The front door of the house was open and smoke was coming out of the stovepipe from the kitchen. There was the clear, hot smell of a summer morning and I wished I were going out to work in the fields or going fishing with Jake, the way we had planned it, when the work was done.

I went up on the front porch and knocked and then went on in. Mrs. Harley and the two little girls were eating breakfast. There was no sign of Angelina. They looked up at me apprehensively as I walked in and suddenly I felt sorry for them. The little girls were so obviously scared with all this mysterious business of Papa going off somewhere mad in the middle of the night, and this big man they didn’t know coming in like this. Their big brown eyes regarded me fearfully and they forgot to eat.

“Good morning, Mrs. Harley,” I said.

“Howdy, Mr. Crane,” she replied timidly, and you could see what it had been like with her all night. The last four or five hours must have been hell for her. I wondered what it was like to be a woman and know your man was gone to commit a murder that would probably land him in the pen for the rest of his life and know that you were going to live the rest of yours with the disgrace and the shamed daughter and the children without a I father to support them.