Five Miles to Paradise

30

Early lay balled up in the fetal position on the floor of the cell. She was sound asleep. Occasionally, a cough erupted from her.

"She don' sound so good. She ain' ate, suh. We can't rouse hah. She cusses 'n sez ta' leaf hah be."

"Don't worry about her, Erling," Sumter said. "She has to sleep it off. Have you righted her cottage?"

"Yes, suh. We done been cleanin' awl mawnin'. Bennie awful tore up," Erling said. "She say Miss Early done broke awl hah pretties."

"Don't worry about that. I'll buy Miss Early more pretties," Sumter said. "I always do, don't I? Stay downstairs with her, Erling. I'll get Moses to take care of anything I need."

"Yes, suh."

Weeks passed.

Early recovered slightly from her 'spell.'

Meanwhile, life in LayfayettahCounty crept on at its usual slow-to-middling pace. It was the talk of the town. Clancy Threckenstall's two nephews had been arrested for automobile theft. A witness had come forward claiming the two had boasted about their joyride in a fancy Cadillac convertible, and a trial date was set.

The townsfolk were on edge. Summer was turning into fall, but you would never know it by the thermometer, and as the county baked under the Mississippi sun, the people talked and gossiped like Mexican jumping beans in a red-hot cast iron skillet.

The upcoming trial was all anyone could talk about. Suddenly, Heck was a celebrity. Newspaper men from as far as Jackson and Atlanta arrived to cover the event. They hounded Heck, pestering him for an interview. They were as thick as fleas, and just as pesky.

Suddenly, LafayettahCounty was on the map.

Heck thought it better if we both slept in our own beds. The wisdom of his decision was made clear the night before the trial was scheduled to occur. A huge rock tied with a burning rag was hurled through his front window.

Heck ran to the sitting room where the smell of smoke was overwhelming. He grabbed a throw from couch and beat the small fire out that had caught up on the rug in the middle of the room.

I came running into the room in my nightgown and bare feet. I could just make out the yells and hoots from the vehicle that was driving away.

"Niggah lovah!"

Hoots and hollers faded into the night. A small cross was burning in the front yard.

"Well, they pulled out all the stops, didn't they?" Heck said.

"You're not angry?" I asked.

"Naw, Leah. I 'spected as much. Worse, actually. Clancy can't sit by, 'n let his own blood kin go to trial without makin' some kinda statement. This kinda tactic is all he knows to do."

"Will you arrest him?"

"On what evidence? It's pitch dark. Clancy's a slimy toad, that way. If I arrested him, he'd deny he was within three counties of my house. There will be no witness to all this. Even Anjohn would never dare say anything against Clancy. Nobody will cross him, black or white. He has everyone that scared."

"But, I'm sure if anyone saw anything, it would be Miss Anjohn."

"I'm sure Anjohn saw the whole thing. Have you ever known her to miss a lick of anything that goes on this street since you've been here?"

"No. Of course not. It's like she has her fingers on the pulse of this street. Her ears to the voice of this whole community."

"Well, I won't even ask Anjohn if she parted her curtains to peek at the show, tonight. Anjohn is old. She is a nosey, old biddy, but she is old. I won't have her fearing what Clancy would do in retaliation if I forced her to tell me what she saw.

I'll handle Clancy, myself. I don't know when or how, yet. But, I'll bide my time. I'll get my chance, sooner or later."

"Well, what are you going to do, Heck?"

Heck walked outside and stepped into the yard. He got a pail of water and poured it over the small burning cross. He looked up in the sky. I stood in the doorway, watching him.

"Well, the fire's out. The sky is clear. Don't think it will rain, tonight. I'm going to bed, Leah. I suggest you do the same. You've got a big day, tomorrow."

And with that, Heck put the pail on the porch, passed by me, and went to bed.