Chapter 36

Nathan didn’t pick up Curtis Lee for this part of the mission either. They had already talked about it.

He stopped at Jesse’s place first. His mother came to the screen door and stood, warily. Yes, she remembered him. No, Jesse wasn’t at home. He was out in the fields. It was harvest.

He explained that he and Curtis Lee had decided to do a little business on the side, up in Kansas City, selling antiques. He inquired if she had anything he might be interested in, and offered cash money.

She laughed. “Everything we have is an antique.” She relaxed. “The oldest thing I think we have is the coffee pot. You interested in that?”

He asked to see it, and she let him in. He pretended to examine the dented old pot and pulled out a hundred dollars, which he handed her.

“This is all I can give you for it,” he said sadly. “But we’ll be back, occasionally, and interested in more.”

“That’s a hundred dollars,” she said, staring at the money fanned out in her hand.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he said.

“You’re giving me a hundred dollars for an old coffee pot?” she asked, incredulous.

“I’d appreciate it if you let Jesse spend some of that money,” he said gently. “It’s been nice seeing you again.”

He took the pot with him, and tossed it in the back seat. He repeated the scene everywhere he went.

At Johnnie Sue’s, he asked her mother if she’d been making anything, and the woman was almost ashamed to show him woven hot pads, made out of old rug yarn. There was an old brass coat hook on the wall. He gave her a hundred dollars for that, and four hot pads, and then discovered that the coat hook was nailed to the wall, and he didn’t have the proper tools to remove it without damaging it.

“I’ll pick that up next time we’re in town,” he said. He took the four hot pads, and left the woman standing, staring after him with the money in her hands.

Moses was also out at harvest. He had done some woodcarvings of something that was supposed to be a horse, but looked more like a mule from mars. That and an old sausage grinder brought a hundred dollars. Mrs. Finshaw was crying when he left. They needed a repair on a machine that her husband couldn’t do himself, and they hadn’t had the money to pay the blacksmith in town to do it.

Minnie Cripps, Luthor’s mother, smiled at him and invited him in, offering a glass of sweet tea. Luthor was working, and when he spun his tale for her she looked at him askance. “You went off to be a policeman, and that’s all my boy can talk about now, and you’re selling antiques too?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he said calmly.

“And you came all the way back down here, just to pick up something to peddle up there?” She was smiling, but her eyes were alert.

“I’m just trying to help out, Ma’am,” he said.

She had an old flat iron, that was being used to hold down a stack of newspapers. “Like that?” she asked.

“That would be fine, Ma’am,” he said.

“How much?” she asked.

“A hundred dollars,” he said simply.

Her eyes got wet too. She picked up the flat iron and handed it to him. “Bless you, boy. I’m not going to ask any more questions. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but bless your heart.”

“We’ll be back, I ‘spect,” he said. “Needing more things to sell.”

“We?”

“Curtis Lee and me.”

“That boy is helping with this crazy idea?” she said, surprised.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Well then bless his heart too.”

“Thank you, Ma’am. I’ll tell him.”

His last stop was at the Brown farm, where Ruth Ann met him at the door with a smile. Her belly was bulging, and he complimented her on the impending arrival. When he asked her if she had anything to sell, she was at a complete loss. She insisted that he talk to Lester, who was in the barn repairing a piece of machinery.

He scratched his head when he heard Nathan’s story.

“Got all manner of old junk lying around,” he said. “Take your pick.”

Nathan spied an old cross-cut saw hanging on a wall. One wooden handle was broken off, and it was thick with rust. Lester pulled it down and then goggled as Nathan offered him two hundred dollars for it.

“I can’t take that!” he gasped, looking almost fearful. “That saw ain’t worth two dollars!”

“Consider it a late wedding gift from Curtis Lee Waggoner,” said Nathan. “He said to tell you he was sorry we couldn’t get it here for the wedding.”

The man actually cried, twisting his hands, until Nathan forced the money into them. He almost carressed the money.

“You got no idee what this means.” He sniffed, wiping his broad nose with the back of his sleeve.

“Maybe you can buy Ruth Ann a new dress,” suggested Nathan. He shook the man’s hand and left the farmer staring at the money in one hand, and then at the other, that a white man had just shaken. He got the idea that Lester Brown didn’t know which hand was more confusing.

He stopped by Curtis Lee’s house and showed him all the junk in the back seat. Curtis Lee asked how it had gone, and he described the wary and blank looks. He also told him what Luthor’s mother had said.

“You want to hang around a day or two?” asked Nathan.

“If I do, I’ll be sorry,” said Curtis Lee.

“My Mamma sort of found out how Bernadette feels about you,” said Nathan. “Bernie asked about you right off, right in front of her.”

“Do I need to get out of town tonight?” asked Curtis Lee.

“I don’t think so. If I know Bernie, she’s going to come over here tonight, and if she doesn’t find you, she’s going to be a mite pissed off.”

“Your Mamma would let her do that?” asked Curtis Lee, amazed.

“Oh no. In fact, she already said Bernie can’t ever see you again. But you know Bernie. And, as long as we leave tomorrow, I s’pect my mother might not make too much of a fuss. Just keep it in your pants.”

“You think she’ll let you keep it in your pants?” Curtis Lee grinned.

“She won’t have a choice. I’ll be at Flossie’s.”

Curtis Lee looked thoughtful. “Hey, you know, how about if I go to Miss Flossie’s tonight too. You could tell her I was going to be there. She could meet me there, and then nothing could happen.”

Nathan sighed. “Well, it’s better than having her sneaking around in your part of town and getting caught. She might not show. Mamma was going to talk to them both when I left.”

“If that happens, I’ll just take a little walk. What about the gold?”

“I figure to get it, and maybe a couple of those rifles, and then leave,” said Nathan.

“With Miss Flossie there?”

“She’s going to marry me, Curtis Lee. She’s going to find out about it sooner or later. Some of that is ours. I think she’ll understand.”

“Suits me,” said Curtis Lee simply.

Nathan went home for supper. His father acted like he wasn’t even there. His mother asked him all about the police academy, but not anything about where he was living, or what it was like. He told her he’d write her letters, and call sometimes.

His sisters sat and ate, eyes warily darting between their mother, father, and brother. They obviously wanted to ask questions of their own, but weren’t doing that. Neither looked mad any more, but there was a residual of fear in their eyes. When supper was over, Marian began clearing the dishes.

“Girls, after you help me with this, you can take your brother down and show him where they’re going to build the new school. Your father and I would like a little private time tonight.”

Harvey looked up, and Marian smiled at him. His face relaxed a little, and he got up and went into the living room, where he turned on the TV.

Nathan went to his old room, which hadn’t changed at all. He got more clothing, and his doorknobs. There wasn’t much else to take out and put in the trunk of the car. He was sitting in the driver’s seat, his legs out of the open door, listening to the radio when his sisters skipped out of the house. They got in, looking all around like his six year old car was brand new. He made them sit down, and then drove off slowly.

“How’d it go?” he asked.

“I’ve never seen her that mad,” said Hilda Mae. “She yelled, and she cried, and then she settled down and we talked for a long time.”

“You okay?” he asked Bernadette, whose happy mood had evaporated.

“She says I can’t see him again until I graduate.”

“She said that?” he asked. “I mean she said you can see him again after you graduate?”

Bernadette slumped. “She says that then she won’t have any say in the matter. She expects me to come up there and live with you after I graduate.”

“What about Daddy?” he asked.

“She’s not going to tell him,” said Hilda Mae. “I’m not allowed to see Moses except at school. She said she’s going to get some of those new birth control pill things, and that we have to take them every day.”

“You’re kidding!” he gasped. He had heard two women arguing about the recently released pills. One said it was against nature to stop conception, and the other said she had enough children, and didn’t want any more.

“I have to see Curtis Lee while he’s here,” moaned Bernadette. “I just have to!” She looked like she’d lost her last friend. “He’ll forget all about me if I don’t.”

Nathan laughed. “He’s not ever going to forget about you. You know how many times he wondered what you were doing while we were supposed to be studying for a test? It had to be a hundred. Every time we did something cool, he’d talk about how he wished you were there so you could see him acting like a cop. I got sick and tired of him moaning and groaning about how much he missed you.”

“Really?” She perked up. They rode in silence for a while. They hadn’t told him where to go, so he just drove. They were out in the country now. “You know, we missed you too,” said Bernadette. “Mamma told us about Miss Flossie while she was talking to us. She said you got her pregnant.”

Nathan didn’t know where this was going. “Yeah,” he said softly. “We’re taking her back with us tomorrow morning.”

“Stop,” said Bernadette. “I’m horny.”

“I thought you just had to see Curtis Lee tonight,” he said.

“I do, but I’m horny now. Maybe if you take care of me now, I won’t let him put it in me tonight.”

Nathan sighed. “He’s going to go over to Flossie’s tonight. If you’re going to see him, it will have to be there.”

“We can’t do anything there!” she moaned.

“I can’t believe you want to do anything at all!” said Hilda Mae. “Nathan got Miss Flossie pregnant doing that, Bernie! I’m even glad I can’t see Moses outside of school.”

“Well, if I can’t do anything tonight, you have to help me not be horny any more!” said Bernadette firmly. “Hildy’s been acting all weird lately too, because she hasn’t been able to see Moses. Find someplace to stop this car, cause I want something in my pussy!”

“You know I won’t do that, Bernie,” said Nathan patiently. “You can suck me one more time, and I’ll lick you real good, but that’s all. Besides, didn’t you complain it almost killed you last time?”

“What last time?” said Hilda Mae, sitting up straight. She turned to her sister. “Did you get him to put it in you and you didn’t even tell me?!”

“It wasn’t like that,” said Bernadette. “I was mad. It was right after that very first time that Curtis Lee accidentally went in me, and you know how I felt about how Nathan was supposed to be the first. I kind of tricked him in his room while you were asleep.”

“But that’s not fair!” squealed Hilda Mae.

“It almost killed me. It would have killed you.”

“So why are you begging for it like some tramp now?” asked Hilda Mae, obviously upset.

“I know how to do it now,” said Bernadette. “And if I can’t have the man I love, then I’m going to have the other man I love.” She said it like it made sense.

“I got Flossie pregnant,” Nathan reminded her.