Joe Lansdale - All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky

“It’s wide enough to get fingers through,” she said.

“So,” Gasper said.

“So, nothing for sure,” Jane said, “but you see that dust on the floor there, piled up on the dirt? That’s termite work. They’ve been working on that spot, maybe a lot of other spots. But this spot I can see, and the way I figure it, Jack here, who is a strapping young man, or you, Gasper, might be able to get their fingers through the crack and pull on it, see if the boards will loosen any.”

“If I pull,” I said, “I’m just going with the way the nails are driven in.”

“Let me say that different,” Jane said. “See if you can get a handhold of some sort, and push.”

Sometimes you hear an idea, and you think, that’s not much of an idea, it’s too simple. You been thinking about splashing through water, stealing a boat, or maybe trying to take the truck and run, fight off a bloodhound and dodge shotgun pellets, and then someone says something simple, and you think, that can’t work, there ain’t nothing to it. But another part of you says, you know, maybe you been overthinking this thing.

I stuck my fingers through. I could only get two through it, the two closest to my thumb. I did that and grabbed with them and pushed with my palm. It was kind of like trying to turn a car over.

“That isn’t working so good,” I said.

“Here,” Gasper said. “Let me try with you.”

He got a lower place in the crack, which ran from the top of the building to the bottom, and pushed. That didn’t move anything either.

Tony laid on his back and put his feet against the board and we all pushed. There was a squeak of nails.

“I think it loosened a bit,” Gasper said.

We all stopped and waited, thinking that squeak might bring someone running, but it didn’t. Way we felt right then, it was a chance worth taking. The sheriff thought he had us locked in good, and that might be to our advantage. He might not have too swell an eye on things right then, and if that was the case, we had a chance at getting away. Wasn’t but one way to find out.

Jane got up and came over and put her palms on the board, and we pulled our fingers out of the crack and we all leaned against it, with Tony pushing with his feet. It didn’t squeak again. Then I felt something in the dark. It was the other folk in there. They had come over to stand by us.

“We can all push,” said one of the two women. “We ain’t got much strength by ourselves, but together we might be able to do something.”

They scrambled about, finding a place for their hands, trying not to step on Tony as he pushed with his legs.

So we all pushed.

The nails squeaked.

That made us pause. But only for a moment. No one came to stop us. We were desperate, and we were committed. So we pushed some more. One of the boards loosened near the bottom. It was too narrow for anyone to get out there, and it was still hooked solid at the top, but we kept pushing at it, and pretty soon it popped out. We stopped then, listened.

No one came running around to shoot us.

A dog didn’t bark.

“They figure we’re so good and locked-in,” said one of the men, “they don’t even keep a close guard.”

“Yeah,” said the woman who had spoken before. “We all just give up. But we weren’t all together on things.”

“Don’t talk it to death,” Jane said. “Push.”

We did, and this time the next board popped off and we could wiggle through. Tony was first, and then the women and the men, followed by Jane, with me and Gasper bringing up the rear.

When I looked out at the others, they were running into the woods like deer. All that togetherness hadn’t lasted long, which is pretty much the way of things. People only come together when there’s no other choice; the rest of the time they think they’re free birds and don’t need anybody. Until next time.

The four of us started out toward the woods, and when we did, suddenly headlights hit us, and then we heard Big Bill Brady yell, “Stop, or I’ll shoot!”

38

I didn’t know where he came from, or why he hadn’t heard us before, unless he was sleeping sound in his truck, but when we came out from the back of the house and our group scattered to the woods, the truck lights came on, and Big Bill opened the door and stepped out.

He had a shotgun, and he jerked it to his shoulder and fired. The blast went by us and the shot rattled around in the woods back there, but it didn’t hit us.

“He ain’t playing none,” Gasper said. “Run for it!”

We broke away from where he was shooting, but that carried me and Jane and Tony and Gasper into a section of woods where there was water. Soon as we hit it, we had to slow down. It came up to our knees pretty fast. We hadn’t even known it was like that back there.

Tony and Jane were ahead of me. I looked back. Gasper had fallen behind. Big Bill stood at the edge of the water. We were moving between the trees, but were still within gunshot range.

The shotgun roared and I could hear pellets slapping trees and sprinkling in the water, and I saw Gasper twist and go down. I admit, for a moment I thought about charging onward, leaving Gasper. I admit that, because Jane and Tony were ahead of me, and I feared losing them. But it was only for a moment. Gasper was one of us, and I couldn’t leave him behind. I turned and splashed back toward him, going fast as the water would allow.

The shotgun was a double-barrel, and that had been two shots, both triggers pulled at once. I saw Big Bill snap it open and I glimpsed the empty casings popping out of it and then I saw him pull fresh shells from his pants pocket. I grabbed Gasper and got him up and we kind of stumbled together toward a tree that was twisted with moss and vines. I got us behind that, and as we went onward, I tried to stay in line with it.

Behind us, Big Bill had entered the water and was coming after us, cussing and sloshing along.

“Can you run?” I said.

“If I could run,” Gasper said, “I’d be running.”

“You got to try.”

“I’m trying. You think I don’t want to run? You think I’m not trying? I’m hit pretty good.”

I took us out into the darker part of the woods, and when I looked back, Big Bill was coming right for us. I was glad the hound wasn’t with him.

As we sloshed along, I found that though the water looked shallow, it was pretty deep. It wasn’t long before it was over our knees again. One of Gasper’s legs wasn’t working, and I was holding him up as best as I could.

There was splashing behind me. I looked back. Big Bill was gaining on us, but I kept weaving us in between trees so he couldn’t get off a good shot. I saw him raise the gun to his shoulder once, but we got behind a tree and he didn’t fire.

I looked around for Jane and Tony but didn’t see them. Good, they had gotten away.

“Let me go,” Gasper said. “Doing like this, he’s just going to get us both. You can get away.”

“I’m sticking,” I said.

We went between some trees, and then there was a large patch of moonlight on the water, and we could see the image of the moon there. It was like it was floating in the swamp. I heard a splash and saw the wet darkness ripple.

I stopped moving. Something swam right by us, mostly under the water, but not completely. It wasn’t something small. It wasn’t a fish. And it wasn’t a snake.

Turning, I saw Big Bill wading into the water, pointing the shotgun at us.

“Looks like you’re about to end your employment,” he said.

I flinched, halfclosed my eyes, waiting for the shot.

And it came.

But I didn’t fall.

I looked at Gasper. I still had my arm around his shoulder. He was still standing.

Big Bill wasn’t, however. He was being knocked backwards by something in the water. The shotgun had gone off and scattered pellets in front of him and all across the moonlit water, but not at us.