Family Thang Page 28

  “You deputizing me, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Go!”

  Robert Earl headed down the trail pinching his nose. He had a bad feeling Robert Earl would somehow muck up the simple task, but didn’t have any other choice except to send him. And he didn’t have any other choice but to go up the hill without his weapon.

  The flashlight showing the way, he ran up the trail. Twenty feet later his lungs betrayed him and he started walking as fast he could.

  What I’m going to do without my gun? He didn’t have a clue.

  Chapter 43

  “He’s sure taking a long time,” Ruth Ann said. “I bet him and Estafay out there arguing. He lets her run all over him.”

  Leonard said, “I hope she doesn’t persuade Robert Earl to join her.”

  Ida said, “He wouldn’t turn against his family. He ain’t the stupidest person in the world.”

  “Mother, I’m sorry. He thinks he can train a snake to jump through a hoop. He is the stupidest.”

  Ida started to respond when a gunshot rang out. “Oh my Lord!”

  “Eric!” Shirley said, her voice hoarse. “She shot him again!”

  “I’m going out there, Leonard,” Ruth Ann said. “She came here looking for me. No reason for anyone else to get hurt.”

  “Ruth Ann, we can’t let you go out there.”

  “You don’t have a choice. I’m going out there.”

  “I’m going with you,” Shirley said.

  “No, Shirley,” Ruth Ann said. “If Eric is injured, you’ll need to be there for him and your son. Let me do this myself. I owe you, remember?”

  Leonard said, “Remember what you told me? A label—if it don’t fit don’t think about wearing it. You’re donning the hero jacket because you feel guilty. Getting yourself killed won’t change anything. You’ll just be dead.”

  “I love you, Shirley,” Ruth Ann said, ignoring Leonard. “Whatever happens remember I love you. I’ve always have and I always will. What I did was inexcusable, but I never intended to hurt you.”

  She crossed to the door and opened it. “It’s high time I started acting like a big sister,” and stepped out and closed the door behind her.

  “Estafay!” She heard trepidation in her voice and shouted louder, “Estafay! I’m here!” This is it, she thought. The end of my life!

  “Well, well, well,” Estafay said, “if it ain’t the delectable Mrs. Ruth Ann. I’m glad you could finally join us. Eric was on his way out.”

  Ruth Ann squinted, unable to distinguish Estafay, some twenty feet or so away. “Hello, Estafay. Where’s Eric?”

  “He’s right here. Say something, Eric.”

  Ruth Ann heard a thud and Eric said, “Ohhhhh!”

  Estafay said, “You’ll have to excuse him. His foot has been troubling him lately.”

  “Is he all right?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Where’s Robert Earl?”

  “I sent him home. You didn’t think he would go against his wife, did you?”

  “Estafay, I don’t know what to think.”

  “You should think about gnashing teeth and eternal suffering. You’ve heard of Hell, haven’t you?”

  Ruth Ann couldn’t see a gun, but sensed Estafay was pointing one at her. “Yes, believe it or not, I have. Before you shoot me, would you please tell me why? Why, Estafay?”

  “Why I shot your boyfriend? Or why I dispatched the heathen you called Daddy?”

  “None of this makes sense. You killed my daddy, his dog. You even tried to frame me. Daddy never did anything to…” She remembered her father calling Estafay an orangutan. “All these years you held a grudge. You could’ve slapped Daddy’s face. You could’ve egged his truck. You could’ve told him what he said hurt your feelings, deeply offended you. You didn’t have to kill him!”

  “‘Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.’”

  “Do you know what literal misinterpretation means?”

  “Do you?”

  “It means you glossed over the essence, love and compassion, and locked onto a verse more suitable to your psychosis.”

  “Beware the false prophets.”

  “Beware nuts with unresolved resentments. How did Eric incense you?”

  “He’s a whore! A vile, disgusting whore!”

  “Who the hell do you think you are? Reading the Bible grants you the authority to judge who’s evil? Please! You are a murderer, a cold-blooded murderer! God cannot be happy with you justifying murder in His name.”

  “What do you know of God?” Estafay sneered. “A sullied, lifelong whore talking to me about God! Blasphemy! What do you think an unrepentant whore, a whore who ruts with her sister’s man, is worth in the eyes of God?”

  That stung, and knocked her against the ropes.

  “Yeah… oh yeah… well… well, I might be a whore, but I’ve never killed anybody!” Weak, though it was the best she could do after absorbing an uppercut. She tried again: “I’ll bet you this, when we get to Hell, your seat will be a helluva lot hotter than mine.” Even weaker.

  “Not hardly, harlot. I know grace, redemption, salvation, the rapture. You worship the flesh, I worship the word of God. There’s no comparison between you and me.”

  “You’re so right. Something has raptured inside your head. You have truly lost your bug-eyed mind!”

  “No, no, no!” Eric said. “Don’t agitate her! She’ll shoot you!”

  Ruth Ann said, “I don’t give a damn! If she’s going to shoot me, then let her shoot. It won’t change a damn thing! I’ll be dead and she’ll still be ugly and out of her crazy fucking bug-eyed mind!”

  “Watch your mouth, Ruth Ann!” Startled, she looked to her right. Ida stood beside her.

  Another voice, to her left, Shirley’s: “You intend to kill us all, Estafay? What you’ll have to do if you shoot Ruth Ann. You might get one or two of us, I doubt you’ll get all of us. It’s a family thang now, Estafay. We’re in it together. And if you shoot me, you better make damn sure I drop!”

  Estafay laughed.

  “Mrs. Harris,” Leonard said, standing behind Ruth Ann, “right now you’re looking at short jail time. Continue with this and you’ll be looking at life in prison, possibly the death penalty. It’ll be hard on you, Estafay. Prison is no place for a woman of your virtue.”

  “Smite by a Sodomite,” Estafay said, stepping closer. Gradually, Ruth Ann was able to make out her doughy form. She stopped a few feet short, the gun held out in front. “A sexual deviant appealing to my ego.”

  “He’s not a sexual deviant,” Ruth Ann said. “He’s my brother!”

  Estafay chuckled. “He can’t be both? Shirley, I’ve never held anything against you. You soiled yourself taking a whore in your bosom.”

  “I love Eric. Something you wouldn’t understand, Estafay.”

  “I wasn’t talking about him.”

  “I love Ruth Ann, too,” Shirley said. “And I don’t appreciate you calling her that.”

  “What do you call a woman who’ll lay with her sister’s man? Skank? Slut? Skeezer? Dog bitch?”

  Ruth Ann’s face got hot. “Shut up!”

  Estafay laughed and stepped to Ruth Ann. “Did I say something touched a nerve, something befitting, something true? Skank? Slut? Dog—”

  “Stop this nonsense, Estafay!” Ida said. “Enough is enough! Stop it now!”

  “Drop it!” a voice boomed out of the darkness.

  A flashlight outlined Estafay in a black scarf, black shirt, black pants and black tennis shoes.

  Sheriff Bledsoe shouted, “Sheriff! Drop the gun, Estafay! Drop it right now!”

  “Thank you, Jesus!” Eric cried. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you, Jesus!”

  Estafay didn’t drop the gun; she kept it pointed at Ruth Ann.

  “Drop the gun, Estafay! Drop it! I said drop it right now!”

 
Estafay shook her head. “No, Sheriff. Ruth Ann and I are checking out together. Same departure time, different destinations.”

  “Aw hell!” Sheriff Bledsoe said.

  “Shoot her, Sheriff!” Eric yelled. “Shoot her! What you waiting on?”

  Estafay grinned at her. “When you get there, look through the flames and see who’s burning with you. It won’t be me,” and cocked the pistol with the palm of her left hand.

  Ruth Ann closed her eyes.

  Thulink!

  Thulink? A misfire? She opened her eyes… A stick… No!… An arrow was wrapped around Estafay’s head… A prop?… Where did she get it from?

  Ida screamed.

  Estafay looked surprised, eyes and mouth agape, blood filling in both.

  Sweet Jesus, it ain’t a prop! The real deal!

  Someone shot Estafay with an arrow!

  The gun slipped from Estafay’s fingers. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, arms went limp… torso started jerking as if she were belly dancing.

  Ida screamed again.

  Estafay leaned forward… and collapsed into Ruth Ann’s arms.

  “Who’s there?” Sheriff Bledsoe said, shining the light at the side of the cabin. “Who’s there?”

  “What happened? What happened?” Ruth Ann shouted, holding Estafay up by her armpits. “What happened? What happened?”

  “Let her go!” Shirley said. “Ruth Ann, let her go!”

  “What happened?”

  “Dammit, I said let her go!”

  “What happ—” Claaap! Something slammed into the left side of her face, almost knocking her down… Estafay hit the dirt. She thought she’d been whacked with a two-by-four.

  Shirley shook her. “Snap out of it!” Ruth Ann ran her tongue across the roof of her mouth, worried she’d lost the ability to taste. “Are you okay?”

  She rubbed her face. Numb. “Shirley, was that absolutely necessary?”

  Shirley answered by taking her hand and leading her to where Eric lay on the ground. Shirley knelt beside him and removed the underwear wrapped around his wrists and used it as a tourniquet on his leg.

  “Is it over, Shirley?” Ruth Ann said. “Is it really over?”

  “It’s over. Try not to think about it just yet.”

  Sheriff Bledsoe came over and played the light on Eric. “Is he all right?”

  “He’s lost a lot of blood,” Shirley said. “We need to get him to a hospital. He’s going to be all right.”

  “Did anyone see who shot the arrow?”

  Ruth Ann started to speak but Shirley cut her off. “No. No, we didn’t. We saw the same thing you saw, Sheriff, which was nothing. Right, Ruth Ann?”

  “I’m not sure what I saw.”

  “I saw it, Sheriff,” Eric piped in. “An angel, swear to God! An angel! I saw it with my own eyes.” He grimaced in pain as he propped up on an elbow and pointed at the cabin. “Standing over there, right side the cabin, I saw it. I was right here looking dead at it.”

  Shirley patted his head. “He’s delirious. He’s lost a lot of blood.”

  “I’m not delirious! I saw it! A black angel! I couldn’t believe it myself. A black angel right before my eyes! I prayed to God, Shirley, and He sent us an angel. It’s an epiphany—no, no! It’s a miracle! A miracle!”

  Shirley wiped his face with the hem of her sweat shirt. “Eric, baby, relax. If you say you saw an angel I believe you. Now you know if God sends you an angel, He expects you to walk true the rest of your life. No tipping, slipping, tripping, sliding—walk straight and true, you know what I’m saying?”

  Eric nodded. “I know what you saying, Shirley. I know exactly what you saying.”

  “What did this angel look like?” Sheriff Bledsoe asked.

  “It was black. I guess God sends black angels to black folks and white angels to white folks.”

  “Yeah, yeah. What was he wearing?”

  “It was naked. Naked than a jaybird. How I knew it was an angel. It had a bow and arrow, too.”

  Sheriff Bledsoe grunted. “Angels, black or white, don’t shoot people with arrows.”

  “Let it go, Sheriff,” Shirley said. “It’s over, let it go.”

  Sheriff Bledsoe ignored her and turned his attention to Ruth Ann. “Where’s your son? I was told your son was up here. Where is he?”

  She started to speak and again Shirley cut her off. “Ruth Ann, go check on Momma and Leonard. Go see how they’re doing. Turn around and walk straight ahead. Go on now. Go check on em.”

  Leaving, Ruth Ann heard Shirley say, “Ennis Bledsoe, why you digging up bones when you should be helping me get my future husband to a hospital? No one asked why you come up here without a gun, did they? The mayor hasn’t asked about the polygraph machine you rigged up, has he? Some bones are best left in the ground. You don’t dig up mine, I won’t dig up yours. You dig what I’m saying, Sheriff Ennis Lee Bledsoe?”

  “I think I do,” Sheriff Bledsoe said dryly.

  Ida and Leonard stood in front of the damaged cabin, Ida crying on his shoulder.

  “How’s Momma doing?” Ruth Ann asked.

  “She’ll be all right in a bit,” Leonard said. “How’s Eric?”

  “Shirley said he’s going to be all right.”

  “Good. I’m taking Mother down the hill. Tonight we’re staying at the Holiday Inn in Greensville. Tell Shirley to come by tomorrow before we leave town. You come by, too.”

  “We? Where are you going?”

  “Mother and I are going to Chicago to stay. Are you ready to go, Mother?” Ida nodded. They started toward the trail, Leonard pointing the penlight in front of them.

  Ruth Ann thought to go hug her mother before they left, but she didn’t. She watched them disappear into the darkness.

  Wekeeee! Wekeeee!

  The sound came from behind the cabin.

  “Shane! Shane! Shane!”

  “Ruth Ann,” Shirley called, “we need your help to carry Eric down.”

  “Shane!” Ruth Ann crossed to the side of the cabin. “Shane!” Shirley came up behind her. “Shane, come back! Come back, Shane!”

  Shirley put a hand on Ruth Ann’s shoulder. “C’mon. He’s all right. He knows his way around out here.”

  “Are you sure? He’s out there all by himself, after all has happened. I know I couldn’t handle it. Are you sure, Shirley?”

  “Trust me.” In a quavering voice she added, “Would your little sister lie to you?”

  Ruth Ann knew she was supposed to say, “No, she wouldn’t,” but her throat constricted and she couldn’t get the words out. She swallowed, closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, cleared her throat and again tried to push the words out. Nothing.

  So she wrapped her arms around her little sister’s broad shoulders and hugged her tightly, and through her sobs she finally blurted, “I love you, Shirley!”

  Epilogue

  Eric slowly made his way up the aisle on crutches, dressed in a diamond-white double-breasted Giorgio Brutini suit and a black Bentley shoe on his right foot. The left pant was folded up below the knee and held in place by a safety pin.

  He took his place in front of Reverend Jones, the pastor of Greater Paradise Church. Robert Earl, in a brown three-piece corduroy suit, the seat stitched with pink thread, stood to his left, looking uncomfortable. A petite young woman walked up front and started singing Let’s Get Married.

  The young woman put all she had into the song, eyes closed, shaking her head, arching her back on high notes, raising her hand to God, yet, Ruth Ann thought, she sounded like a wounded walrus.

  Shane, wearing blue dress slacks, white shirt, blue tie and white tennis shoes, walked Shirley up the aisle.

  Shirley looked absolutely stunning. A pearl tiara was inserted into a light-brown bun cascading wavy curls down her back. Light mascara, a touch of orange on her cheeks, a brush of candy-apple on her smiling lips. Rhinestone necklace. Navy blue satin gauntlets. In a navy blue satin, strapless gown with a beaded split front, she
moved with the grace of a princess.

  Ruth Ann stood up and took her picture.

  “I can’t believe it!” said someone behind her.

  Ruth Ann sat down and turned. “Believe what?” she asked, not sure which of the three women sitting behind her had made the remark.

  The middle one, a young woman wearing a teal-green column dress, her head draped in patently ridiculous long braid extensions, said, “I can’t believe she’s marrying him.”

  Ruth Ann couldn’t help herself. “Oh, and why can’t you?”

  “He’s a dog,” the young woman whispered.

  Ruth Ann turned her attention to the ceremony, and the woman touched her on the shoulder of her black lace-trimmed blouse.

  “I know this for a fact. A one-legged dog now, but he’s still a dog.” Ruth Ann brushed the area where the woman had touched her. “He slept with her sister!”

  “Which sister?” Ruth Ann whispered.

  “Which sister! She only has one sister.”

  “What does she look like?”

  The woman started coughing: “Woof woof woof!”

  It took a second for Ruth Ann to realize she wasn’t coughing.

  “Woof woof woof!”

  A damn dog!

  Reverend Jones read Shirley and Eric the wedding vows, but Ruth Ann wasn’t listening, unnerved and pissed that the woman had slyly called her a dog.

  She checked the impulse to whirl around and backslap the woman. Claaap! Teach the little tart to keep her mouth shut at social functions. Instead she turned, smiling, looked the woman straight in the eye.

  “Hello. My name is Ruth Ann, Shirley’s sister. Your name?”

  The tart’s mouth dropped, eyes going left to right, searching for an escape if things got ugly. “D-D-Darlene. Darlene Pryor.”

  Ruth Ann turned face front and attempted to focus on the proceedings.

  “Anyone here who have reasons that these two not be joined in holy matrimony?” Reverend Jones asked the congregation of fifty or so people.

  Shirley looked over her shoulder directly at Ruth Ann, who smiled at her. Shirley smiled back.