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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
puttin you so far back in the pen it d cost you eight
dollars to send a postcard out to the front gate. When
they re-elected me six years ago, and then again two
years ago, I promised em the same thing. They knew I
was honestly tryin , and they believed me. They had
patience, because they knew what I was up against.
I m still tryin . And some day I m going to do it. Some
day I m going to get enough evidence on you to send you
up the river so far your grandchildren will be old men
when you get back, and we can hold up our heads around
here and look the rest of the state in the face.
Sometimes I m tempted to quit, to just throw up the
job and sell my home and go somewhere else and start
over, but then I get to thinkin about all the other poor
people in this county who d have to stay here and go on
putting up with you because they can t sell out and leave,
so I stick it out and keep trying. It s an obligation, I
reckon. I just can t abandon all these defenseless people
to you.
It ain t just a job. It s gone beyond that. I
ent into the Treasurer s office the other day nd told em
they didn t have to issue my pay-checks any more till I
freed the county of you, and that if the people didn t re-
elect me two years from this fall I d go on servin for
nothing, right along with the new sheriff, till we got the
The Diamond Bikini 49
evidence on you to put you away and we wouldn t be
ashamed to bring innocent children into a world where
you was running around loose.
And now that I find out there ain t only you, that
there s two of you here on this one farm with decent,
God-fearin people livin all around you, I m almost
tempted to call the Governor and have him declare
martial law. There must be something on the statute
books to protect the citizens from you without havin to
go to court with evidence of any one particular crime.
It s like I was tellin you, Sam, Uncle Sagamore says.
This shurf is a real fine man, aside from being a little
inclined to get all het up over triflin little things that
don t amount to a hill of beans. Reckon he s got the high
blood pressure. An then, too, it must be kind of trying,
havin your men sneakin around Pokin beans up their
noses when you ain t lookin .
No, Pop says. They wasn t poking beans up their
nose. They were drinking croton oil remember?
Oh, sure, Uncle Sagamore says. It was croton oil,
wasn t it?
The sheriff brought both hands up and rubbed em
across his face, and he didn t say anything for a minute.
He breathed kind of slow and heavy, but when he took
his hands away he was still quiet.
While I m out here, he says to Uncle Sagamore, I m
going to have a look in your barn. We been gettin
reports from various towns that you been doing a little
shopping here and there.
Why, sure, Shurf, Uncle Sagamore says. Help
yourself, I m always kind of proud when I done a little
shopping. The way I see it, it shows good management
when a man can have a little money left over to buy
something for hisself after he s fed all the goddam
politicians he s got lyin in his lap.
Come on! the sheriff says, real cold.
The barn was made out of logs, with split shingles for a
roof. Inside there was some stalls for the mules. It was
kind of dim, and smelled nice, just like the stables at a
race track. In one corner there was a corncrib with a
little door made out of planks.
The Diamond Bikini 50
We all stopped, and the sheriff went over and opened
the corncrib door, Well, well, he says, Ebbing his hands
together. Just like I thought.
I couldn t see past him very well, but it looked like a lot
of sacks of something or other piled up five or six feet
high.
Sure is a lot of awful sweet mule feed, the sheriff
says. He started counting, pointing with his finger and
moving his lips. Uncle Sagamore leaned against the wall
and sailed out some tobacco juice.
The sheriff finished counting. He turned around and
looked at Uncle Sagamore, and he seemed to feel a lot
better. Ninety sacks, he says. That s about the way we
heard it. That was quite a little shopping you did, here
and there.
Well, you know how it is, Uncle Sagamore says. A
man s workin eighteen, twenty hours a day, he don t get
to town very often.
You mind lettin me know what you re aiming to do
with all of it? the sheriff asked. Stories like that
interest me.
Why, no. Not at all, Shurf, Uncle Sagamore says.
You see, when Sam here wrote me he was comin to visit
a spell this summer and was bringin his boy, I figured I
ort to lay in a little sweetnin . You know how boys is.
They got a sweet tooth.
Nine thousand pounds of sugar? the sheriff asked.
They must figure on staying several weeks. Ain t you
afraid that much d be bad for his teeth?
Uncle Sagamore snapped his fingers. Well sir, he
says, you know, I never thought of that.
The sheriff s face started to get purple again.
Uncle Sagamore shook his head, kind of sad. Imagine
that, he says. Sure looks like the joke s on me, buyin
all that sugar for nothin .
The Diamond Bikini 51
Six
We walked back to the car. The sheriff opened the door
and started to get in. Well, you just go right ahead bein
smart, Sagamore Noonan, he says. Sooner or later
you re going to laugh on the other side of your face. It s
here on this land, and we re goin to find it. It ain t goin
to be so funny then.
Why, did you lose something, Shurf? Uncle Sagamore
asked. You should have told me. Anyway, me an Sam
can help, you just let us know. And don t you fret none
about us tellin anybody your men s started drinkin
croton oil. You can depend on us.
The sheriff said a bad cuss word and got in and
slammed the door. The car jumped ahead and made a big
turn and then went bucking up the hill. It seemed like
him and his men was always in a hurry. I thought it
wasn t any wonder they kept running over Mr Jimerson s
hogs.
I wondered why Uncle Sagamore had bought all that
sugar, but I figured there wasn t any use asking him.
Maybe I could ask Pop about it later. He might know. But
I was sure he hadn t bought it on account of us, like he
told the sheriff, because he didn t even know we was
coming until we d got there.
Uncle Sagamore looked up the hill to where you could
just see Dr Severance s trailer in the edge of the trees.
Pop remembered then that what with that excitable
sheriff talking so much he d forgot to tell Uncle
Sagamore about it. So he told him.
Well, is that a fact? A hundred and twenty a month,
Uncle Sagamore says, aiming some tobacco juice at a
grasshopper about ten feet away on the sand. He missed
him a couple inches. The grasshopper went away,
buzzing. Got the anaemia, has she?
That s right, Pop says. She has to eat vegetables.
The Diamond Bikini 52
Well sir, that s a shame, Uncle Sagamore says. A
young girl, and all.
By the way, have we got any vegetables? Pop asked. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
