-where?
-down at the end of the street.
sittin’ in that motherfucker’s truck
-language!
- sorry, Leona. ain’t no nicer word for ‘em.
Henry says
-go out the back and hide behind
that tool shed. Me and Mr Brown’ll
watch out for them, then follow you.
the women slip out the back door,
Henry and Reggie peek through
the front window. can’t tell if Smith
and Bobby are still in the truck.
-you got anything heavy, like a pick ax
or a hammer, some kind of handle?
-they’s a pick ax in the shed.
-good. when we get out there, get that.
then we need to slip away. can’t risk
starting up the car, they’d be on us
before we could get going.
-you’re right, gotta be careful.
-any neighbors where we could get in quietly?
-i don’t know. they won’t be expecting any
visitors this time of night. if they wake up
gonna be pretty hard to keep it quiet.
out by the shed, a man’s loud voice:
-Ruthie! I didn’t know they was in
the hut! the babies. it was dark
I didn’t know, they was babies.
I didn’t know, I didn’t know.
Reggie says, That’s Junior! He must
be prowling around like he does.
-Oh shit! They’re going to know the
women are out there. C’mon!
Henry and Reggie run out to the shed.
Ruthie tries to calm Junior.
-I know Junior. It’s alright. You didn’t know.
It’s alright. We gotta be quiet now you hear?
-Why we gotta be quiet? The hut was quiet.
But they was in there. And the fire.
I heard them screaming.
-I know, I know. Please. we gotta be
quiet now. There’s some bad men here.
-Where? I won’t let them hurt you. I won’t.
-shhh. Junior, please.
Smith and Bobby come around each
side of the house towards the shed.
-Well well, ain’t this sweet, got the whole
family out for some night air. But we all
wanna be good neighbors now, don’ want
to disturb the peace. Why’nt we take
this party inside?
A dog begins to bark, then two more join in.
-too late for that, Smith,
the peace is already disturbed.
- so it is, Bandyman. so it is.
Not as disturbed as you gonna be.
All of you get back inside. We gonna have
a little party. ‘cept for you Bandyman.
But I’m gonna let you watch.
Junior grabs a shovel, brandishes it at Smith.
-You stay back. you just get out of here.
Bobby snickers. -Or what Junior? You get
any closer and we’ll use that shovel to dig
your grave.
Junior raises the shovel over his head, takes
a step towards Bobby. Smith shoots Junior
in the chest.
No one has noticed that Loretta had slipped
away, now she runs up behind Smith with a
heavy iron skillet and cracks his egg.
He sees a whole new galaxy and the tweeting
of a thousand neon birds as he falls down,
twitchs briefly then goes still. His noodles spill
through his cracked skull onto the ground.
The dogs are in full chorus now and lights are
coming on. Neighbors awakened by the gunshot
come out of their shacks.
-What’s going on over there? You alright?
-Reggie! What’s goin’ on man?
Loretta stands over Gus, the skillet dangling
from her hand. kicks him in the groin,
but he doesn’t move.
Bobby backs up, straight razor in his hand.
-Stay away from me. I’ll cut you.
Loretta turns toward him, takes a step.
-Listen here, you bastard. I’m goin’a brain you
too fore I take that razor and cut off your balls.
Ruthie and Leona are kneeling over Junior who
is breathing shallowly and struggling to speak.
-I didn’t know they was in the hut.
oh god, they was just babies. I didn’t.....
-It’s alright Junior, Jesus knows you didn’t know.
It’s gonna be alright baby. You just lie quiet now.
You’ll be alright.
Junior looks up at Ruthie, smiles
- I’m sorry Ruthie, I’m sorry......
The starlight reflected in his eyes freezes,
and his last breaths fade away.
Reggie and Henry hold Loretta back
from getting any closer to Bobby,
but she’s in spitting distance and
takes full advantage of that.
Barney, the off duty deputy from Tulare,
wearing just his uniform trousers and
undershirt comes running up with his
service revolver and a flashlight.
-What’s going on here? Who are these men?
Reggie says, they came up here from
Bakersfield. They was set on taking my daughter here.
This one had a gun.
Barney shines the flashlight on Gus.
-He’s been shot?
-No, he shot Junior. Over there.
I think Junior’s dead.
Barney leans down and checks Smith’s pulse.
-So’s this one. What happened to him?
Looks like he got clobbered in the head.
Who done that?
He looks around and sees Loretta still clutching
the heavy skillet. And Bobby backed up against
the wall of the shack.
-She did it?
-Yeah. ‘fore he could shoot somebody else.
-Right. Looks to me like a clear case of self defense.
He takes another look at Loretta, in her clinging
green satin dress and Bobby in his sharp suit.
-These two connected, ain’t they?
-Yes sir, he’s a pimp. He was gonna hurt her because
she helped Ruthie get away from him before he could
sell her to this piece of trash.
-That ain’t going to look so good, even though she did
the right thing here. She’s obviously a working girl.
Be a lot of explaining. Even for doing a shitheel like
this one here.
-Because he’s white?
-You know that as well as I do. So here’s what happened.
This one came up here for reasons unknown and surprised
Junior. Shot him. And before he collapsed, Junior knocked
him over the head with that skillet. Or the other way around,
nobody seen anything right?
Bobby says, I did. I saw this bitch conk him.
-I doubt you want to get too involved in this, pal. Be a lot of
questions about what you were doing here. So I think you best
keep your trap shut while we figure out what to do about you.
-well if I go down, I’m taking her with me.
-You can make plenty of trouble for her, I’m sure. So maybe
we’ll just get you out of the picture all together. You were
never here. Or her. How’s that sound?
-I can live with that.
-What about the rest of you all? We let this scum crawl away
and keep the lady out of it? The only ones involved are the dead?
Reggie says, I don’t like it. He the one who was trying to sell
my daughter. Why should he get off the hook?
-Well that would be justice. What do you think young lady?
-He’s a skunk for sure. But I don’t want Loretta to get in trouble.
-You’d have to make a statement too. How’d you get here, anyway?
-Henry brought Loretta and me up here. We knew Bobby and Smith
were coming and they might hurt Mama and Daddy.
Barney turns to Henry, What is your involvement in all this?
-It’s a long story, both of these men were after Ruthie and I was
trying to protect them.
-You’re a friend of hers?
-Yes sir.
-A real special friend, right? Makes this whole mess a lot more
complicated. I think maybe it would be a real good idea for
the three of you to make yourself scarce for awhile.
-What about Bobby?
-Oh I think he’s gonna keep his mouth shut. How’d they get here?
-In Smith’s pickup.
-That’ll have to stay. I think we’ll send Bobby here back
down to Bakersfield on the bus from Earlimart.
Leona says, What about you, Barney? What are you gonna say
about why you down here in Teviston?
-Well. The cat was going ta get out of the bag pretty soon anyway.
Me and Gayle are fixin’ to get married. No law against it anymore.
-Hoo boy! That’s a pretty big cat!
-I know. But that’s what we’re gonna do. We’ll live up at my place
outside of Tulare. I have a little spread there so it won’t be nobody’s
business. They can talk behind my back all they want.
Gayle steps forward and stands close to Barney.
-That’s right. We want to be right in the eyes of God.
they the only ones that matter.
Henry says, So what’s next?
-You and Ruthie and Loretta need to get out of here so I can call
this in. The rest of you will need to make some kind of statement.
Like you didn’t see anything just heard the shot.
We’ll lock this other piece of crap in somebody’s shed til we get
this scene cleared, then I’ll take him down to Earlimart to catch
the bus. And you ain’t never coming back here are you? Cuz if you
do, it won’t be the law you need to worry about, you understand?
-Yeah, I hear ya. Shit.
-Alright, then. Let’s get this mess cleaned up.
Leona throws her arms around Ruthie.
-You be careful darlin’. You gotta come back here soon as it’s safe.
-I will, Mama.
She hesitates a moment, then hugs Henry close.
-You take care of my little girl. I’m gonna pray for you everyday.
-I’ll do my best.
Reggie and Henry shake hands.
-That goes for me too son. You already seen how much trouble
you’re facing. The world ain’t ready for you and Ruthie. I don’t like it,
but nothin’ I can do about it. I see the two of you are set on it.
-Thank you, sir. I know it isn’t going to be easy.
They all embrace one more time, then Henry and Ruthie join
Loretta and go over to the car.
-Where we going to go Henry?
-I think we’re gonna go see Mr Green about riding some horses.
Then we’ll go up to Fresno so you can meet my folks.
How’s that sound?
-That sounds wonderful. Especially the horses.
Loretta says, Who’s this Mr Green?
I ain’t gettin on no damn horse.
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