Family Thang Page 27

  “If you do,” Shirley shouted, “I swear to God, Estafay, I’ll kill you!”

  “Who are you?” Estafay shouted.

  “It’s me. Shirley. Estafay, let Eric go!”

  “Come out and get him, fatso!”

  “I’m going to kill that heifer! Momma, I swear to God, I’m going to kill that crazy heifer!”

  “Robert Earl?” Ida said. No answer. “Robert Earl?”

  “What?” Robert Earl said, his voice far off again.

  “Is he outside?” Ida asked.

  Shirley pointed the light at Robert Earl’s dusty hiking boots inside the chimney.

  “How did he—What’s he doing in there?” Ida asked.

  “He’s hiding, Mother.”

  “Robert Earl,” Ida said, “get outta there! Your wife is out there—you hear her! Go out there and talk some sense into her, so everybody can go home. Get out of there, Robert Earl, and start acting like a man.”

  “Estafay killed Daddy, Momma,” Shirley said.

  “How you figure that, Shirley?” Robert Earl said.

  “Ruth Ann,” Shirley said, “you remember the day before the barbecue? You told Estafay she didn’t have to buy all the meat herself. You tried to give her some money and she wouldn’t take it. The meat she brought to the house was separated in Tupperware bowls. One for chicken, another for ribs, one for hot dogs and one for neck bones.”

  “Yes,” Ruth Ann said. “You’re right.”

  Robert Earl said, “Why y’all trying to pin it on Estafay? She’s a sanctified woman. A little high strung, yes. She’s still a good, sanctified woman. Shirley, you gave everybody else the benefit of doubt—give Estafay one, too.”

  “You might be right, Robert Earl. I doubt it. There’s only one way to find out. You go out there and talk to her. Maybe she’s teed off because not one of us contributed to her church building fund. Who knows? You go out there and find out what her problem is.”

  “Ruth Ann,” Estafay called, “you’re down to five seconds!”

  “Robert Earl, what are you going to do?” Leonard said.

  “All right, already, I’m going. Somebody help me out of here.”

  Leonard moved to assist him—and then a shot rang out.

  “Wait a minute,” Robert Earl said.

  Chapter 41

  Eric, on his knees, Estafay’s fingernails pinching his neck, whispered what little he remembered of The Lord’s Prayer.

  Estafay said, “I don’t think Shirley cares if you live or die, whore.”

  “Shirley is nothing to play with. I wouldn’t hurt me if I were you. Shirley will beat the shit out of you, then beat you again for messing yourself. I were you I’d leave now.”

  “If she’s so tough why hasn’t she brought her fat butt out here? She cares the same what happens to you as Ruth Ann. Diddlysquat!”

  “Can you blame her? You got a gun. Put it down and she’ll come out. I know she will.”

  Estafay squeezed his neck harder and he felt a warm trickle slide down his chest. “Do you feel me as stupid?”

  “No, I don’t,” he grunted. Insane, not stupid! “Let me go and I’ll forget all about this. Swear to God! I don’t know nothing! Nothing!”

  “Ruth Ann,” Estafay shouted, “you’re down to five seconds.”

  “In prison, Mrs. Harris, them women lift weights all day and love to wrestle. Two or three of em hold you down and make you eat something real ugly and smelly. Let me go—no wrestling for you.”

  “How would you know?”

  “Believe me, I know. The smell worse than sardines. It’ll leave a bad taste in your mouth Listerine can’t touch. You need to think about the long-term consequences of what you’re doing.”

  “Here’s something for you to think about.”

  Kapooow! The gunshot echoed through the woods. Eric’s left foot jerked and he felt a strange sensation… a burning pain… She’s standing on my toes… The pain increased… and increased… His foot felt on fire… She’s burning my foot!…

  The heat flamed up his leg, burned in his groin, sizzled in his stomach, heated his chest and burst inside his head… My God!… She shot me!… He dropped to the ground on his side.

  “You shot me! You shot me! You shot me!”

  “Scream!”

  “You shot me!”

  “I said scream!” Estafay stepped on his injured foot and hopped up and down on it.

  “Aaauugggggghhhh!”

  “Louder!”

  “Aaaaauuggggggghhhhhhh!”

  * * *

  The door opened and slammed shut… opened and slammed shut. “No, Shirley!” Ida said. “We’re not letting you go out there!”

  “She’s killing him!” Shirley cried. “Momma, she’s killing him. Please, Momma, let me out!”

  The door opened and slammed shut, opened and slammed shut, opened and slammed shut…

  “Help us, Ruth Ann!” Leonard said, breathing hard. “We can’t hold it!”

  Ruth Ann didn’t budge, paralyzed by fear and guilt. All this is my fault.

  Shirley screamed… and the door opened and slammed shut again.

  “Ruth Ann, would you please help us!”

  She didn’t move. She’d caused Shirley this anguish; to get in her way now would be dangerous. Shirley loved Eric, more than she herself could ever love any man.

  Shirley was more than willing to risk getting shot for Eric. Ruth Ann couldn’t think of anyone for whom she would risk her life.

  Except… Shirley!

  “Ruth Ann, you better get out here!” Estafay shouted. “He’s going fast.”

  Again Shirley screamed and this time the door opened and took longer to slam shut.

  “I’m going out there,” Ruth Ann said.

  “Ruth Ann, please,” Leonard said. “We’re doing all we can to keep Shirley in, you know we’re not letting you go out there. She has a gun!”

  “Estafay!” Ida shouted. “Estafay, this is Ida. Listen to me. There’s no money, no money at all. It was a lie. Do you hear me? A lie. I made it all up. Stop this foolishness!”

  No response from Estafay. Eric screamed again.

  “Let him go, Estafay!” Shirley cried. “Please! Please, Estafay! I’m begging you! Oh God, please, Estafay! I’ll give you all I have… just let him go! Please! I’m begging…”

  Her voice gave way to loud, gut-wrenching sobs and she collapsed onto the floor.

  “Robert Earl!” Ida said. “Robert Earl, you take your butt out there and talk to your wife! You hear me! Go out there and talk to your wife!”

  “Momma, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Robert Earl said. “She sounds awfully upset. What if she shoots me?”

  “Get out there!” Ida shouted.

  * * *

  Just as Eric started slipping into unconsciousness, Estafay stepped off his foot. The heat reduced a few degrees, yet still burned like hell. He looked up at the stars, blinking in a strange pattern, one section sparkling and then other sections following suit.

  I’m losing it! I’m going to die out here.

  A footstep sounded on the porch. “Hey, honey. It’s me! Robert Earl. Don’t shoot!”

  “Robert Earl, help me! She shot me!” Estafay kicked his foot. “Ohhhhhh!”

  “Shut up!” To Robert Earl: “What you doing out here? I thought you went to Greenville to look at a snake.”

  “I went there and saw a good one. Didn’t have enough money to buy it. Honey, you didn’t bring my Smith and Wesson out here, did you?”

  “No, I didn’t. It’s the Colt, the rusty one.”

  Crazy bitch shot me and he’s worried which gun she used!

  Robert Earl stepped closer. “You didn’t neuter Eric, did you?”

  “No. Such a small target I never would’ve hit it.”

  “What?”

  “My aim was low.”

  “Honey, what’s this about?”

  “Are you still with me, Robert?”

  “What are you talking abou
t? You know I am. You’re my wife.”

  Eric’s heart sank.

  “Good,” Estafay said. “I knew you would be. Who else is inside?”

  “Shirley, Ruth Ann, Momma and Leonard.”

  “Leonard? What’s he doing in there? Not a problem. Robert, we need to burn the cabin down.”

  “I’ll go tell Momma them to come out and we’ll burn it down. All this time you just wanted to burn the cabin down. I told Shirley there was a simple explanation for this.”

  “Robert, we need to burn it down with them inside it.”

  “Do what? What did you say?”

  Eric salvaged a sliver of hope.

  “Robert, we can’t let them go. They’ll go straight to the police and we’ll go to jail for a long time.” Pause. “And we won’t get a dime of the money.”

  “Estafay, there’s no money. Momma told a bald-faced lie to get us visiting her and Daddy.”

  “If she’ll lie about one thing, she’ll lie about everything! Go set the cabin afire and I’ll take care of him.”

  A long silence. A cricket fiddled near the porch. A mosquito stung Eric just below the right eye; he didn’t feel it.

  “Fuck!” Robert Earl said. “Estafay, honey, this ain’t right! I can’t do it!”

  “Why the potty mouth?”

  “Sorry, honey. They’re my people. I’m related to every one of em. I can’t burn em up. Imagine the nightmares I’d have.”

  “I’ll do it! Like I have to do everything else. Can you shoot him, or is it asking too much?”

  Robert Earl sighed, as if she’d asked him the fifth time to empty the trash. “He’s not related to me. If he dies Shirley will be highly PO’ed. You should’ve heard her in there a while ago. We’ll have to live the rest of our life watching out for her. We might have to leave the country.”

  Eric heard Estafay breathing hard through her nose.

  “Plus,” Robert Earl continued, “Sheriff Bledsoe gave me a heckuva pass on something I did a long time ago, before I met you. He told me the next time I got into any trouble would be the last time. I burn somebody I’ll be looking at the electric chair. Besides, Estafay, it just ain’t right! Did God tell you to do this?”

  “Was it right your family treated me the way they did? They didn’t know me, didn’t know me from Eve. When decent people meet someone the first time they just say hello, or they don’t say anything at all. Your daddy called me a name to my face, Robert. Ruth Ann fell on her knees laughing. Were they right to treat me the way they did?”

  “No, they weren’t right. I hate it happened just as much as you do.”

  “Enough talk, let’s get this over with so I can go home and cook supper.”

  “Estafay, I… I can’t do it!”

  “Go home then!” Estafay shouted at him. “Go home! I’ll handle this myself. Take the roast out the freezer when you get there.”

  Wekeee! Wekeeee!

  Eric looked and thought he saw something move near the side of the cabin.

  “What was that?” Robert Earl said.

  “A bat,” Estafay said. “Go home. I got work to do.”

  “Aw shucks, Estafay. Why don’t we both go home together and forget about this?”

  “Robert, I’m going to explain it to you one last time. I shot this whore here. Everyone in there knows I shot him. They’ll tell the police and we—you and I!—will go to jail.”

  “Eric,” Robert Earl said, “you wouldn’t sic the police on Estafay, would you?”

  They’re both crazy! “Of course not!”

  “He’s lying,” Estafay said.

  “Eric, you promise?”

  “Cross my heart, on my momma’s honor!”

  “See, Estafay, he’s not going to the police.”

  “Go home!” Estafay said. Kapoooow!

  “Ohhhhh!” Eric shouted, and then realized she hadn’t shot him again. He looked toward Robert Earl’s shadowy form… gone. He heard footsteps fading in the distance.

  Crazy bastard flying home. When he gets there, he’ll take the roast out the freezer and sit his big, stupid ass down without thinking once to call the police.

  “Alone again, you and I,” Estafay said. “The time has come for us to go our separate ways. Anything you’d like to say before you go to hell?”

  “If you kill me I’ll come back and haunt you! I swear I will!”

  Estafay laughed. The gun barrel bumped the back of his head. “Guess I’ll see you when you get back.”

  Eric closed his eyes, faintly aware he’d released his bowels.

  Chapter 42

  Gas, Sheriff Bledsoe thought, soured my memory. He forgot Leonard had told him Ruth Ann was at the Boy Scout camp.

  Otherwise he could’ve avoided taking the good reverend to the liquor store, contributing to the purchase of a gallon of Wild Irish Rose, driving to the jail and then back to the liquor store because the good reverend suddenly decided Wild Irish Rose with Ginseng was what he really wanted.

  The cruiser headlights rolled across a gray Lumina, a yellow Datsun truck and a blue Camry. Ida’s car! He killed the engine and looked around. Totally dark outside of the area spotted by the headlights.

  Reaching for his hat, he heard gunfire. He grabbed the mike. “Tracy, come in!” Static. “Tracy, come in!” No response. “Tracy, come in!”

  He turned off the headlights and all went black. “Tracy, come in!” No time to wait, he felt under the passenger seat for the flashlight, found it, and got out.

  In Iraq, the first time, he wouldn’t sit next to a guy who wouldn’t cuff his cigarette; and now he’d be running in the woods like a neon target.

  He waved the beam left to right. A handcrafted plaque marked Maumelle Trail indicated a break in the trees. It looked a good entrance as any, so he started in at full sprint, flashlight in one hand, trusty .357 Magnum in the other.

  Not twenty feet up the trail, Sheriff Bledsoe heard something coming toward him. “Police! Halt!” It sounded like a horse, hooves clopping incredibly fast.

  A blur appeared in the light and before he could blink, whatever it was ran smack into him, sending him airborne, knocking the flashlight and the .357 magnum out of his hands. He landed on his back on a thorn bush. “Sheriff!” he shouted, getting to his feet. “Freeze, right where you are!”

  Gurgling and groaning. “Ohhh, my head!”

  “Don’t move!” Sheriff Bledsoe warned. “I’ve got a gun!” Somewhere around here.

  “You busted my head!”

  “Robert Earl?”

  “You broke my nose, too!”

  He spotted the flashlight, still shining, picked it up and pointed it at the noise. Robert Earl lay flat on his back, hands over his face.

  “Robert Earl, you all right?”

  “Uh-uh!”

  Where’s the gun? He played the light in every direction and didn’t see it. He dropped to all fours and inspected the ground. It had to be somewhere close.

  “Robert Earl, who’s shooting up there?” No response. Thorns scratching his hand, he probed the base of the bush. Nothing.

  “Robert Earl, you busted your nose, is all. Who’s up there shooting?”

  Robert Earl hawked and spat. “You busted my nose!” His voice a nasal twang. “I didn’t bust it myself. Hey! Listen to me! Oh no, like a homo!”

  Sheriff Bledsoe tossed up clods of dirt. “What’s going on up there?”

  “What you looking for?”

  “Nothing!”

  “You looking for something. What did you lose?”

  “Don’t worry about me, Robert Earl.” Where in the world is my gun? “Stop evading the question. What’s going on up there?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He stopped searching and pointed the light at Robert Earl sitting up, pinching his nose, head tilted back, overalls blood splattered.

  “Robert Earl, what’s going on up there? Don’t lie to me!”

  Robert Earl shook his head and shrugged.

  “Don’t B
S me! I heard a gunshot and you come running like a scalded hog. Don’t tell me you don’t…” A thought occurred to him. “Stand up, Robert Earl!” he demanded, standing up himself. “Interlock your fingers behind your head. Do it now! Slowly.”

  Robert Earl stood up, left hand behind his head, right hand pinching his nose.

  “Both hands behind your head! Do it!”

  “Sheriff, if I let go my nose will start bleeding again.”

  “Do it!”

  Clean, save for a bunch of junk in his pockets. Time wasted; someone could be up there hurt—and he couldn’t find his blasted gun.

  He resumed searching for it. “One more time, Robert Earl, and if you lie to me again I’m charging you with what you did to that Chinese girl. Who’s shooting up there? Your mother?”

  “She was Okinawan, not Chinese.” He hawked and spat again. Then, in a stream: “I told Estafay to come home with me and she wouldn’t listen—I couldn’t burn nobody up ’cause they my family and burnt bodies stink worse than burnt cats and I didn’t want the nightmares and she said Eric would tell even though he promised he wouldn’t and she shot in the air and told me to go home—

  “Hey, hey, hey! Slow down. Estafay shot in the air?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where’s your mother?”

  “In the cabin.”

  “Does your mother have a gun, too?”

  “They laughed at her.”

  “Laughed at who?”

  “Estafay… and me.”

  What the hell? “Anybody up there hurt?”

  “Eric. Estafay… Estafay sort of shot him.”

  “What?” He lay flat on his stomach and fanned his arms and legs. The gun was nowhere to be found. It seemed it had sprouted legs and walked away.

  “Robert Earl,” stirring up clouds of dust, “how did she sort of shot him?”

  “I guess she sort of aimed and pulled the trigger.”

  What? He fanned faster.

  Robert Earl sighed. “She’s gonna set the cabin on fire with Momma them in it.”

  “What! Momma them? Who are them?”

  “Momma, Shirley, Ruth Ann, Leonard.”

  The entire family! He quit the search and stood up. “Listen closely, Robert Earl. Go to my patrol car, get Tracy on the radio and tell her to send everything she’s got to this location. Police, fire department, EMT’s, everything she’s got.”