vapros
Verified Member
Tom John – part three
I would see them two deputies pass on the state road now and then, when it was their turn to have the squad car, but they never come to my place again. With Tom John gone, I drove over to Bonham one day and made a deal with a man named Pepper for the same down timber that Tom had contracted for. He looked at me kind of funny, as if he might know what had happened to Tom, but he needn't have worried. He was in no danger of losing his wife, who was maybe a hundred pounds bigger than me. And I still had Lily Rose at my place.
Speaking of Lily Rose, now that she had her rent problem worked out she had got pretty independent, and was vexing me right smart. We was still cohabiting on a pretty regular basis, if that word means what I think it does. There wasn't no alfalfa growing under our butts, I can promise you that, but her enthusiasm wasn't near what it used to be. She hadn't never been too big into cooking, and not doing a whole lot of it, and she didn't want to get a job, so Lily Rose really only had one thing going for her.
One hot day when we had had worked up a healthy sweat, and I was getting into a pretty good nap, Lily Rose rolled out and put on her skivvies and cracked her a beer.
“Deakin,” said Lily Rose, “don't you ever get enough?”
“Yes, indeed I do,” I told her without opening my eyes, “I get enough every time.” I didn't hear no reply to that, so I opened my eyes and turned my head to see her. She had her mouth full of Dixie beer and her lower lip stuck out and her eyebrows way up and holding there. It's not a good sign when the lady in your house looks at you that way, but I was still sleepy and off I went. I didn't get to sleep very long.
“You know, Ol' Tom John was not such a bad guy. Maybe I didn't appreciate him when I had him. He wasn't as hard to please as you are.”
“Well, Tom John is gone, so it may be that you didn't please him all that good. I don't guess you ever thought about that, did you?”
Things like we had tend to peter out after a while, so to speak, and after I've had my little nooky it sort of alters my personality for the rest of the day. She had picked a bad time to brace me. “Maybe you'll get lucky,” I told her. “Maybe your husband will stagger into town one day and tell us he had the amnesia, and you and him can go back to Bonham.”
“Yeah, he really might show up again. You never did tell me what happened to him. You're the only one who knows.”
“Well, you never ast me, and it didn't matter, because I couldn't have told you, anyway. The law seems to think I was prolly the last one to see him, but I don't know why. I don't think they even know which day he disappeared. For all they know, they could have been forty-six more people to see him after me.” I could see that it was about time for me to get used to telling lies – not only to Lily Rose, but to anyone else, too.
“You did him in for no good reason, Deakin, and you and I both know it.” I was just before telling her she was right about me having no good reason. She was it. She was the reason Tom John had set up behind my place with his rifle and waited for me to come out of the house. I would not have cracked his coconut just for stealing a few trees off my land.
“And you didn't waste much time packin' up your little shit and comin' to my door with that raggedy Toyota and that little trailer. Well, now you have done wore out your welcome. Here's ten dollars. Go rent that little U Haul buggy again and pack it up and go. I don't need all this grief. Let them deputies follow you a while and leave me alone.” I could fade them sandwiches again if I needed to. I was eating sandwiches before she showed up.
“You're a cold sumbitch, Deakin, to put me out like I wasn't nothing.” So Lily Rose went to cryin', and she said. “Where am I gonna go, Deakin? Where can I go?”
“How about Italy?”
“Italy?! You buyin' my ticket?”
“No, I'm not, but I'll show you which way to go. You go through Halley and then through Pellegrin and then just keep goin' east. That's the way to Italy.” Since my nap was busted, what I really wanted right about then was to go down to the store and have a beer or two, but not with her packin' up. “Don't take nothing that don't belong to you.”
“Well baby boy, I reckon you're thinking this is the end of it – that you can take me in and put me out when it suits you. Well, you cain't. We'll just see.”
“You should have thought some about it before you started runnin' your mouth. Wherever Tom John went he should have brought you with him. And I didn't take you in – I let you in.”
“And it's not 'brought' when you are going away. It's 'took'. He should of took me with him. You're not as smart as you think.”
I had the red ass pretty good by then, and Lily Rose was out, to go wherever. Maybe I was just looking for a reason. I was looking forward to a bit of down time, and maybe going' up the river for a few days to catch some catfish. You don't have to get up in the dark to catch catfish. But it was not to be. The very next day, a big black Buick comes up my road, and I could see a decal on the side. It had to be the high sheriff. The guy driving didn't get out right away; I could see him in there, surveying the terrain through the window and lookin' like he might want to buy the place.
Directly he opened the door and got out, putting on his Stetson hat as he came. He was a right portly guy, no spring chicken, and he moved pretty slow. He had pointed cowboy boots, but they was a lot older than the ones his top deputy had been wearing when he was here. He wore a badge, but as far as I could see he wasn't carrying, which is to say he didn't have no gun on him. There's a bit of a grade from my little road up to my porch, and he was breathin' heavy by the time he made the trip.
“You must be Mr. Deakin,” he began, and I owned up to that by nodding my head just a little bit. “My name is Elray Pfister, and I'm the sheriff of Bignoot County.” I stood my ground and didn't say nothing, and he got tired of waiting on me. “Guess who appeared at my office yesterday afternoon.”
“Maybe you better tell me, so I don't make a bad guess, Sheriff Pfister.”
“It was Lily Rose John, widow of Tom John, from over in Bonham. You know Mrs. John?”
“Sure do. She was living' here with me until yesterday. You called her Tom's widow, so I guess you have found his dead body. Where was it at?”
“No sir, Mr. Deakin, we ain't found him, but we will. I figure he's not far from his truck, and we found that a few days ago. Miz John tells me you done something to Tom John, and that's how come I drove out here today. How about a comment on that, Mr. Deakin?”
“I'm not surprised. When we was fussin' yesterday she accused me of killing ol' Tom, and after all this time, she never said anything about it before. I had just give her her travelin' orders, and I knowed she had a corncob in her ass. I'm not surprised that she showed up at your place, wantin' you to come out here and give me some grief, but I am surprised that you seen fit to do it. So here we are, standing in my yard.”
“Well, a woman scorned and all that, I s'pose, but you and me should have got together about it before now, to be honest. How about if you go ahead and lock up your door and ride down to my office with me?”
“Sheriff, I'm standin' here trying to decide whether to go with you or not. I don't feel no obligation, to be honest. Is Bonham in Bignoot County?”
“Yes it is, so I'm the sheriff over there, too.”
“Well, I'll go if it will help you, but you will have to bring me back home after.”
“Don't start tellin' me what I have to do, Mr. Deakin. Don't be a smartass.”
We stood there for maybe ten seconds, like a couple of dogs getting' ready to go to fist city. I was just before telling this pot-bellied public servant to go piss up a rope, but I held my tongue. “I think I'll take me a ride into town,” I told him. “I'll swing by your office if I have the time, and if you are there, maybe we can have a little talk and get all this worked out.” And I went and locked my door and got in my old truck and cranked it up.
I left the sheriff standing in my yard, and I never looked at him as I went past him and the big car and swung onto the state road. I figured I was winning, so far.
I would see them two deputies pass on the state road now and then, when it was their turn to have the squad car, but they never come to my place again. With Tom John gone, I drove over to Bonham one day and made a deal with a man named Pepper for the same down timber that Tom had contracted for. He looked at me kind of funny, as if he might know what had happened to Tom, but he needn't have worried. He was in no danger of losing his wife, who was maybe a hundred pounds bigger than me. And I still had Lily Rose at my place.
Speaking of Lily Rose, now that she had her rent problem worked out she had got pretty independent, and was vexing me right smart. We was still cohabiting on a pretty regular basis, if that word means what I think it does. There wasn't no alfalfa growing under our butts, I can promise you that, but her enthusiasm wasn't near what it used to be. She hadn't never been too big into cooking, and not doing a whole lot of it, and she didn't want to get a job, so Lily Rose really only had one thing going for her.
One hot day when we had had worked up a healthy sweat, and I was getting into a pretty good nap, Lily Rose rolled out and put on her skivvies and cracked her a beer.
“Deakin,” said Lily Rose, “don't you ever get enough?”
“Yes, indeed I do,” I told her without opening my eyes, “I get enough every time.” I didn't hear no reply to that, so I opened my eyes and turned my head to see her. She had her mouth full of Dixie beer and her lower lip stuck out and her eyebrows way up and holding there. It's not a good sign when the lady in your house looks at you that way, but I was still sleepy and off I went. I didn't get to sleep very long.
“You know, Ol' Tom John was not such a bad guy. Maybe I didn't appreciate him when I had him. He wasn't as hard to please as you are.”
“Well, Tom John is gone, so it may be that you didn't please him all that good. I don't guess you ever thought about that, did you?”
Things like we had tend to peter out after a while, so to speak, and after I've had my little nooky it sort of alters my personality for the rest of the day. She had picked a bad time to brace me. “Maybe you'll get lucky,” I told her. “Maybe your husband will stagger into town one day and tell us he had the amnesia, and you and him can go back to Bonham.”
“Yeah, he really might show up again. You never did tell me what happened to him. You're the only one who knows.”
“Well, you never ast me, and it didn't matter, because I couldn't have told you, anyway. The law seems to think I was prolly the last one to see him, but I don't know why. I don't think they even know which day he disappeared. For all they know, they could have been forty-six more people to see him after me.” I could see that it was about time for me to get used to telling lies – not only to Lily Rose, but to anyone else, too.
“You did him in for no good reason, Deakin, and you and I both know it.” I was just before telling her she was right about me having no good reason. She was it. She was the reason Tom John had set up behind my place with his rifle and waited for me to come out of the house. I would not have cracked his coconut just for stealing a few trees off my land.
“And you didn't waste much time packin' up your little shit and comin' to my door with that raggedy Toyota and that little trailer. Well, now you have done wore out your welcome. Here's ten dollars. Go rent that little U Haul buggy again and pack it up and go. I don't need all this grief. Let them deputies follow you a while and leave me alone.” I could fade them sandwiches again if I needed to. I was eating sandwiches before she showed up.
“You're a cold sumbitch, Deakin, to put me out like I wasn't nothing.” So Lily Rose went to cryin', and she said. “Where am I gonna go, Deakin? Where can I go?”
“How about Italy?”
“Italy?! You buyin' my ticket?”
“No, I'm not, but I'll show you which way to go. You go through Halley and then through Pellegrin and then just keep goin' east. That's the way to Italy.” Since my nap was busted, what I really wanted right about then was to go down to the store and have a beer or two, but not with her packin' up. “Don't take nothing that don't belong to you.”
“Well baby boy, I reckon you're thinking this is the end of it – that you can take me in and put me out when it suits you. Well, you cain't. We'll just see.”
“You should have thought some about it before you started runnin' your mouth. Wherever Tom John went he should have brought you with him. And I didn't take you in – I let you in.”
“And it's not 'brought' when you are going away. It's 'took'. He should of took me with him. You're not as smart as you think.”
I had the red ass pretty good by then, and Lily Rose was out, to go wherever. Maybe I was just looking for a reason. I was looking forward to a bit of down time, and maybe going' up the river for a few days to catch some catfish. You don't have to get up in the dark to catch catfish. But it was not to be. The very next day, a big black Buick comes up my road, and I could see a decal on the side. It had to be the high sheriff. The guy driving didn't get out right away; I could see him in there, surveying the terrain through the window and lookin' like he might want to buy the place.
Directly he opened the door and got out, putting on his Stetson hat as he came. He was a right portly guy, no spring chicken, and he moved pretty slow. He had pointed cowboy boots, but they was a lot older than the ones his top deputy had been wearing when he was here. He wore a badge, but as far as I could see he wasn't carrying, which is to say he didn't have no gun on him. There's a bit of a grade from my little road up to my porch, and he was breathin' heavy by the time he made the trip.
“You must be Mr. Deakin,” he began, and I owned up to that by nodding my head just a little bit. “My name is Elray Pfister, and I'm the sheriff of Bignoot County.” I stood my ground and didn't say nothing, and he got tired of waiting on me. “Guess who appeared at my office yesterday afternoon.”
“Maybe you better tell me, so I don't make a bad guess, Sheriff Pfister.”
“It was Lily Rose John, widow of Tom John, from over in Bonham. You know Mrs. John?”
“Sure do. She was living' here with me until yesterday. You called her Tom's widow, so I guess you have found his dead body. Where was it at?”
“No sir, Mr. Deakin, we ain't found him, but we will. I figure he's not far from his truck, and we found that a few days ago. Miz John tells me you done something to Tom John, and that's how come I drove out here today. How about a comment on that, Mr. Deakin?”
“I'm not surprised. When we was fussin' yesterday she accused me of killing ol' Tom, and after all this time, she never said anything about it before. I had just give her her travelin' orders, and I knowed she had a corncob in her ass. I'm not surprised that she showed up at your place, wantin' you to come out here and give me some grief, but I am surprised that you seen fit to do it. So here we are, standing in my yard.”
“Well, a woman scorned and all that, I s'pose, but you and me should have got together about it before now, to be honest. How about if you go ahead and lock up your door and ride down to my office with me?”
“Sheriff, I'm standin' here trying to decide whether to go with you or not. I don't feel no obligation, to be honest. Is Bonham in Bignoot County?”
“Yes it is, so I'm the sheriff over there, too.”
“Well, I'll go if it will help you, but you will have to bring me back home after.”
“Don't start tellin' me what I have to do, Mr. Deakin. Don't be a smartass.”
We stood there for maybe ten seconds, like a couple of dogs getting' ready to go to fist city. I was just before telling this pot-bellied public servant to go piss up a rope, but I held my tongue. “I think I'll take me a ride into town,” I told him. “I'll swing by your office if I have the time, and if you are there, maybe we can have a little talk and get all this worked out.” And I went and locked my door and got in my old truck and cranked it up.
I left the sheriff standing in my yard, and I never looked at him as I went past him and the big car and swung onto the state road. I figured I was winning, so far.