Joe Lansdale - A Fine Dark Line

“Say you ain’t?” Chapman said. “Say you ain’t?”

“No, sir, I ain’t.”

Beside me, I could feel Richard tense.

Chapman glared at me. “And you and your high and mighty daddy, and that little Jezebel of a sister—”

“Shut your mouth,” I said. “I’ll tell Daddy if you lay one hand on me or Richard. And he’ll come to your house and beat you like a dirty rug.”

“He will, will he?” Chapman said.

“He sure did the other day,” I said, “and he wasn’t even trying.”

“I ought to whip your proud butt with my belt,” Chapman said.

“You ain’t gonna whip either our asses,” Richard said. “You laid your last hand on me, old man.”

Chapman glared. “By the Lord Jesus Christ, you ain’t no son of mine. Not no more.”

“I never was,” Richard said.

Chapman cackled like some kind of creature out of a storybook, turned, got in his truck, and drove away.

I peeked over at Richard. His chin was nearly on his chest, his shoulders slumped. He looked as if he were being held up by an invisible noose around his neck.

I took him by the elbow. “Let’s go home.”

22

THAT NIGHT, as Richard lay on his pallet on the floor, I heard him whimpering, and now and then he would sob. Nub, lying beside me, sat up, looked at him.

I rose up and took a look. I called Richard’s name softly, but he didn’t answer.

I pulled Nub close to me and went back to sleep.

———

SUNDAY, Drew came by, asked if Callie could go for a drive. Daddy studied Drew for a moment. He looked very different from Chester. He was neat, with a white sports coat, tan slacks, and a dark shirt and white shoes.

Dad said, “She can go, if you take Stanley and Richard.”

Drew tried not to show it, but his face fell like a cake.

“Daddy,” Callie said, “I don’t want them to go.”

“Be that as it may, I want them to.”

This, of course, was just Daddy’s way of messing with Drew, making sure that Callie and Drew were not alone all the time. It was a losing battle, but one caring fathers all over the world participate in.

Still, this deal had to have our cooperation. “You boys want to go for a ride?” Daddy asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I think I’d like to just stay here and play chess with Richard. I’m going to teach him how.”

“Richard?” Daddy said.

“Yes, sir. I think I’d like to play chess. I mean, a ride would be okay, but I don’t know.”

“Looks like it’s the couch and television,” Daddy said.

Drew knew a bribe was in order. “I’ll treat us all to a sundae at the Dairy Queen. Then we’ll just ride around awhile.”

Richard and I looked at one another. I said, “Sure.”

“I don’t want Callie in too late,” Daddy said. “Tomorrow’s school.”

“Yes, sir,” Drew said. “I thought we might go to the movie downtown.”

Before Daddy could answer, Callie said, “I don’t believe I’ll be going there anymore.”

“Why is that?” Drew asked.

“I’ll tell you sometime,” Callie said. “Just not right now.”

“All right,” Drew said. “We’ll just have a soda and drive around.”

“And you know to respect my daughter, of course?” Daddy said.

“Yes, sir.”

In the car, Callie sat on her side, but when we drove up from the drive-in, made the corner into town, she slid over beside him.

I looked at Richard and we snickered.

Callie looked over the seat at us. “You won’t think it’s so funny when you start dating.”

“I hope that isn’t any time soon,” I said.

“Well,” Callie said, “in your case it may be never.”

We stopped at the soda shop and had sodas. Tim wasn’t working. A fellow with pimples was. I kept thinking one of them might have popped in my malt, and the idea of it sort of put me off the drink.

When we finished, we drove through town a couple of times, then on out to the lake. The sun went down and up came a beautiful night with the moon hanging high. The light of it spilled all over the streets and woods like milk froth.

Callie and Drew were sitting very close now, what Daddy called the two-headed monster when he saw kids in cars pass us sitting close together.

After a while, I said, “You know, at the top of the hill where you live, that old house? They say the old lady comes back there.”

“How’s that?” Drew asked.

“They say Mrs. Stilwind comes back,” I said. “She lost her mind and comes back. Her daughter died in a fire right behind where the drive-in is now. But Mrs. Stilwind saw her ghost in the house on the hill. Guess she comes there hoping to see her again. She leaves the old folks home when she wants and goes there. We could drive over and see if she comes home. There’s a hill behind the house, and some woods. If there’s a road—”

“There is,” Drew said, and he seemed happy about the idea.

We drove over there, went up a red-clay road and wound around amongst some trees and came out on a hill that overlooked the great house.

In the moonlight, from that distance, you couldn’t tell the house was run-down. The swimming pool, with the light of the moon filling it, looked to have water in it.

“When is she supposed to come?” Drew asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s just a chance you might see her. She might be in the house now. She might not come at all.”

“I know,” Richard said. “Let’s go down there for a look.”

Drew said, “Why don’t you two go look?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “Not by ourselves.”

“You chicken?” Drew said.

“Yes,” I said.

Drew laughed. “That’s honest. Oh, hell, let’s all go.”

Drew pulled a flashlight from under the seat. We walked down the hill, past the pool. We pushed open the back door. The only light was the moonlight that came through the windows.

Inside, Drew pulled the door closed, and there was an explosion of sound like dry leaves being run over by a herd of elephants.

“Bats,” Drew said.

I couldn’t see them, but I could hear them, fluttering up near the high ceilings and at the top of the staircase. In the beam of the flashlight, I could see the floor was littered with bat guano. It hadn’t been there at the first of the summer.

Drew played the light on the ceiling. There were large rafters and from the rafters hung bats, but just as many bats were fluttering about the house.

With a burst, the remaining bats on the rafters let loose and joined the others and swirled about. Then with a rush and a flutter, they made a stream of shadow. Drew’s light followed, and they exploded through a place where the roof had rotted and fallen in.

“Oooooh,” Callie said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“What a shame for such a nice house to go to pieces,” Drew said.

“Come on, Drew, let’s go,” Callie said.

“In a moment,” Drew said. He shone the light on the stairs. “Let’s have a quick look up there. How much of the house have you seen, Stanley?”

“About what you see now. I didn’t stay long. I thought I heard and saw someone up there.”

“It could be a bum,” Callie said. “Anyone.”

“I think it was her. Mrs. Stilwind. That’s what Buster thinks.”

“Buster doesn’t know,” Callie said.

“He knows more than you think about most everything.”

“It won’t hurt to look,” Drew said.

“It might,” Callie said.

We went up the stairs, clustered together like grapes, Drew shining the light. The stairs creaked as we went. We came to a hallway. Along it were a number of doors. We opened one and Drew shone the light about. It was an empty room. The wallpaper was peeling in spots, and as we entered, dust rose up from the floor like a mist.