vapros
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Tom John – Part two
Well, I left Tom John lay all day, and then late that night I took my shovel up the hill and loaded it in his old truck and put Tom in there with it. I drove all the way down to Weller's bridge and crossed the river and up into the heavy woods beyond town. By the light of the moon, I buried him deep in a good spot among the trees and smoothed it over good, so you couldn't tell. You couldn't tell there had been a hole dug at all, let alone a hole with Tom John in it.
That old F-150 looked like hell, but it ran like a clock, and I really hated to go off and leave it. As good a vehicle as my Dodge, for sure, but that's life, I guess. It had to go. I drove five or six miles along the old river road and hid the Ford behind an abandoned wood building; an old church. Even by the moon I could see the faded sign – Special Deliverance Baptist Church.
I stripped down and waded across the river, holding a garbage bag with my clothes and my boots up out of the water, carried the shovel on my shoulder and hiked through the woods back to my place. It was nearly noon by the time I got home. I have to say I really didn't feel anything for Tom, but I was some kind of weary from looking after his dead ass. We do what we have to do, don't we? Well, don't we?
About three weeks later, or not more than a month, and one day an old Toyota Corolla shows up at my house, pulling a two-wheel U Haul trailer, and it ain't nobody but Lily Rose John and all her shit. Me and Lily Rose been knowing one another for a good while – actually we know one another very well. Truth be told, Lily Rose was about eighty-eight percent responsible for the hole in Tom John's head.
Lily Rose is good. I got to give her that. Not world class, or anywhere near it, but a good old country girl, by any reckoning. I was glad to see her, but you need to understand me about all this; no way would I ever kill a man over a woman. But Tom John would. He was in Cutman to kill me, no doubt about that. So it was obviously a kind of self defense, wasn't it? One might say I had hit him back first.
So, I said, “Baby, ain't you pushin' it a little? Tom John has only been gone a month. I hope you don't think you're fooling anybody.”
“Well, Deakin, the rent was past due, and the days of grace was running out, and I didn't have the two hunnert fifty, so I drug up. I didn't do it to fool nobody. It was a economic maneuver.” I helped her unload the little trailer and directly she went into the kitchen and started fixing supper. We never said much about Tom, but I could tell she was pretty sure he was history. Women just know, and Lily Rose didn't grieve all that much that I could see. Don't ask, don't tell. I was her bird in the hand, that's all.
Like night follows day, in less than a week them two deputies in that green and white cruiser came back to see me, and there was another man with them this time. He wasn't in uniform, and he had on a white shirt with a little string tie, held by a Indian medallion of some kind. He had him on a big Stetson hat and cowboy boots with pointed toes. There wasn't any doubt he was there to do the talking, but it took him a while to get around to it. He shook my hand and strolled around a little, looking first at my truck and then at Lily Rose's Toyota. Then he came back to where I was, and he went to rearranging the gravel in my drive with the toe of one boot. It looked like he might by trying to make a star.
Finally, he looked at me and said, “Mr. Deakin, we are still looking for Tom John.”
So I said, “Well, I guess that means you ain't found him yet.”
“No, we ain’t found him, but we will, if he's anywhere around here. Has he been back to see you?”
“Nope, just that once, like I told the deputies.”
“Do you know where he was going when you last seen him?”
“I believe he lives over around Bonham. Did you look in Bonham?”
“They still ain't seen him over there. Do you know if he has a family in Bonham?”
“Just a wife, far as I know.”
“Well, long as we're on the subject, do you know where Mrs. John is, Mr. Deakin?”
I stretched my neck to see past the corner of the house. “I believe she is in the back yard, right now.” If you remember, I said, me and Tom had a couple of common interests. The firewood was one, and Lily Rose was the other.
So, then Deputy Dude made his eyes real big, as if he had just spotted Tom John's ghost. “And what is she doing in your back yard, Mr. Deakin?” He knew where she was at, or he wouldn't be there.
“I think she's plucking a chicken.”
“It ain't been but a few weeks. This don't look real good, does it?”
“Well, I don't mind, and Lily Rose don't mind. You might be the only one that's upset about it.”
He went back to moving the gravel around with his toe, and he can't seem to think of anything to say, so I tried to help him.
“Mr. Deputy, sir, let me explain something to you. In a situation like this one, every day that goes by is an act of love – actually, one or more acts of love per day – that is gone forever. You can't go back to it, and you can't send for it. It's gone. So, me and Lily Rose, we're trying to keep such days to a minimum, and that's it.”
“And what will she do when Tom John comes back? Or is she pretty sure he ain't coming back?”
“You could ask her. Matter of fact, she's got two chickens to pluck. Maybe you could help her with that. Can you pluck a chicken, Mr. Deputy?”
“You better hope to hell I can't, Mr. Deakin.” Me and him was about nose-to-nose by that time. He had that miserable, frustrated look about him like somebody who thinks he knows something, but he don't know it for sure. I can remember my first wife looking that way, now and then.
He wagged his head once or twice and headed back toward the green and white. The two soldiers in uniform hitched up their gun belts and followed him. They got in the front seat, and he got in the back, and they cranked up the car and went to turn in the road, but then I seen the brake lights come on. Deputy Dude opened his door and got out and walked back to me.
“It just may be, Mr. Deakin, that the sheriff will want to speak to you about this matter his own self.”
“Fine, sir, send him out. I will be happy to help him, if I can.” He looked like he might want to say something else, but he didn't. I don't know if he even seen that I hadn't told him no lies. If he was any smarter than the other two, it wasn't by much.
It's maybe four or five months, now, and the sheriff hasn't come yet. He's smarter than all three of them. That's prolly why he's the sheriff. You think?
Well, I left Tom John lay all day, and then late that night I took my shovel up the hill and loaded it in his old truck and put Tom in there with it. I drove all the way down to Weller's bridge and crossed the river and up into the heavy woods beyond town. By the light of the moon, I buried him deep in a good spot among the trees and smoothed it over good, so you couldn't tell. You couldn't tell there had been a hole dug at all, let alone a hole with Tom John in it.
That old F-150 looked like hell, but it ran like a clock, and I really hated to go off and leave it. As good a vehicle as my Dodge, for sure, but that's life, I guess. It had to go. I drove five or six miles along the old river road and hid the Ford behind an abandoned wood building; an old church. Even by the moon I could see the faded sign – Special Deliverance Baptist Church.
I stripped down and waded across the river, holding a garbage bag with my clothes and my boots up out of the water, carried the shovel on my shoulder and hiked through the woods back to my place. It was nearly noon by the time I got home. I have to say I really didn't feel anything for Tom, but I was some kind of weary from looking after his dead ass. We do what we have to do, don't we? Well, don't we?
About three weeks later, or not more than a month, and one day an old Toyota Corolla shows up at my house, pulling a two-wheel U Haul trailer, and it ain't nobody but Lily Rose John and all her shit. Me and Lily Rose been knowing one another for a good while – actually we know one another very well. Truth be told, Lily Rose was about eighty-eight percent responsible for the hole in Tom John's head.
Lily Rose is good. I got to give her that. Not world class, or anywhere near it, but a good old country girl, by any reckoning. I was glad to see her, but you need to understand me about all this; no way would I ever kill a man over a woman. But Tom John would. He was in Cutman to kill me, no doubt about that. So it was obviously a kind of self defense, wasn't it? One might say I had hit him back first.
So, I said, “Baby, ain't you pushin' it a little? Tom John has only been gone a month. I hope you don't think you're fooling anybody.”
“Well, Deakin, the rent was past due, and the days of grace was running out, and I didn't have the two hunnert fifty, so I drug up. I didn't do it to fool nobody. It was a economic maneuver.” I helped her unload the little trailer and directly she went into the kitchen and started fixing supper. We never said much about Tom, but I could tell she was pretty sure he was history. Women just know, and Lily Rose didn't grieve all that much that I could see. Don't ask, don't tell. I was her bird in the hand, that's all.
Like night follows day, in less than a week them two deputies in that green and white cruiser came back to see me, and there was another man with them this time. He wasn't in uniform, and he had on a white shirt with a little string tie, held by a Indian medallion of some kind. He had him on a big Stetson hat and cowboy boots with pointed toes. There wasn't any doubt he was there to do the talking, but it took him a while to get around to it. He shook my hand and strolled around a little, looking first at my truck and then at Lily Rose's Toyota. Then he came back to where I was, and he went to rearranging the gravel in my drive with the toe of one boot. It looked like he might by trying to make a star.
Finally, he looked at me and said, “Mr. Deakin, we are still looking for Tom John.”
So I said, “Well, I guess that means you ain't found him yet.”
“No, we ain’t found him, but we will, if he's anywhere around here. Has he been back to see you?”
“Nope, just that once, like I told the deputies.”
“Do you know where he was going when you last seen him?”
“I believe he lives over around Bonham. Did you look in Bonham?”
“They still ain't seen him over there. Do you know if he has a family in Bonham?”
“Just a wife, far as I know.”
“Well, long as we're on the subject, do you know where Mrs. John is, Mr. Deakin?”
I stretched my neck to see past the corner of the house. “I believe she is in the back yard, right now.” If you remember, I said, me and Tom had a couple of common interests. The firewood was one, and Lily Rose was the other.
So, then Deputy Dude made his eyes real big, as if he had just spotted Tom John's ghost. “And what is she doing in your back yard, Mr. Deakin?” He knew where she was at, or he wouldn't be there.
“I think she's plucking a chicken.”
“It ain't been but a few weeks. This don't look real good, does it?”
“Well, I don't mind, and Lily Rose don't mind. You might be the only one that's upset about it.”
He went back to moving the gravel around with his toe, and he can't seem to think of anything to say, so I tried to help him.
“Mr. Deputy, sir, let me explain something to you. In a situation like this one, every day that goes by is an act of love – actually, one or more acts of love per day – that is gone forever. You can't go back to it, and you can't send for it. It's gone. So, me and Lily Rose, we're trying to keep such days to a minimum, and that's it.”
“And what will she do when Tom John comes back? Or is she pretty sure he ain't coming back?”
“You could ask her. Matter of fact, she's got two chickens to pluck. Maybe you could help her with that. Can you pluck a chicken, Mr. Deputy?”
“You better hope to hell I can't, Mr. Deakin.” Me and him was about nose-to-nose by that time. He had that miserable, frustrated look about him like somebody who thinks he knows something, but he don't know it for sure. I can remember my first wife looking that way, now and then.
He wagged his head once or twice and headed back toward the green and white. The two soldiers in uniform hitched up their gun belts and followed him. They got in the front seat, and he got in the back, and they cranked up the car and went to turn in the road, but then I seen the brake lights come on. Deputy Dude opened his door and got out and walked back to me.
“It just may be, Mr. Deakin, that the sheriff will want to speak to you about this matter his own self.”
“Fine, sir, send him out. I will be happy to help him, if I can.” He looked like he might want to say something else, but he didn't. I don't know if he even seen that I hadn't told him no lies. If he was any smarter than the other two, it wasn't by much.
It's maybe four or five months, now, and the sheriff hasn't come yet. He's smarter than all three of them. That's prolly why he's the sheriff. You think?
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