Buddies Read online

  “Heck if I know, Ernie. Maybe we oughta go back the way we come, we could git ourselves lost.”

  “Don’t you commence to chicken out now Joey Frank Cooper. We’re just gittin’ started good, but before we decide on which way that we gonna go, let’s sit down here an’ eat that tater an’ biscuits. I’m a-starvin’.”

  “Wait a minute, Ernie, looka yonder! Somebody is a-comin’ this way!”

  “Danged if they ain’t. We’d better git back up here in the woods an’ hide ‘cause it could be somebody that ole Miss Lester’s got out a-lookin’ for us.”

  The boys went quickly back into the woods. They hid behind some bushes and watched as a shiny black surrey pulled by a well-groomed horse slowly approached. It stopped close enough for the eager-eyed boys to peek through the bushes and see a well-dressed man and woman get out. The man had a box in his arms, and the woman had a shovel. The couple looked up and down the road as if to make sure no one was in sight then walked up into the woods close by where the boys were hidden.

  “What’cha reckin they’re gonna do, Ernie?” Joey Frank whispered.

  “I wudn’t know but we’re gonna find out for shore. Let’s squat down here to watch an’ see what they gonna do.”

  The boys separated the bushes to get a better look. Ernie whispered, “Joey Frank, them folks looks like Banker Tolbert an’ Miss Rene, don’t they?”

  “Yeah, I believe that’s them. What’cha reckin Banker Tolbert’s a-diggin’ that hole for?”

  “To bury that box in; that’s what for.”

  “What’cha reckin he’s got in it?”

  “Beats the devil outta me, less’n it’s money.”

  “They must have a heap of money if that big bank of theirs won’t hold it all.”

  When the banker had finished digging, he laid the shovel to the side and took the box from his wife and put it in the hole.

  Joey Frank whispered, “Ernie, look at Miss Rene, she’s a-startin’ to cry. What’cha reckin she’s doin’ that for?”

  “’Cause she loves money, I guess; some folks is crazy about that stuff; an’ look at her now. She’s down on her knees like she’s a-prayin’.”

  When Miss Rene arose, Banker Tolbert began to shovel the dirt in over the box. When he finished, he packed the loose soil down firmly with his feet, gathered up a large handful of dead leaves and bark then sprinkled them over the new dirt. He took Miss Rene by the arm as they walked back to their surrey.

  Ernie said, “Joey Frank, we’ll give’m time to git outta sight good, an’ then we’ll go over there an’ find out how much money they went an’ buried in that box.”

  “Don’t you wanna eat first, Ernie? You said back yonder that you wuz hungry. I could eat some myself.”

  “This ain’t no time to thank about grub, Joey Frank, when there’s work to be done. Now come on, they’ve had time to be outta sight. Let’s git over there an’ dig-up that box.”

  “An’ just what in the heck are we gonna dig with?”

  “We gonna dig with these two thangs that we got a-hangin’ right here from our arms. That’s what! Now let’s git started; we ain’t got all day.”

  The boys went over to the spot where Banker Tolbert had dug. They got down on their knees and began to scratch away the dirt from the hole. After awhile Ernie felt the top of the box. “Here it is, Joey Frank,” he screamed “now you git a-hold on that end an’ I’ll git this side, an’ we’ll lift it out.”

  Before Joey Frank got hold of the box, he looked back toward the road and said, “I shore hope Banker Tolbert an’ Miss Rene don’t decide to come back an’ ketch us a-doin this. There ain’t no tellin’ what they might do to us.”

  “They ain’t gonna come back, Joey Frank. Now will you hush up an’ let’s git this thang outta here.”

  The boys worked the box out of the hole. Ernie said, “Whow! This dang thang’s heavy as lead. There must be a heap of money in here, an’ it must be all bills, too, ‘cause I don’t hear no change rollin’ around in there, do you?”

  Joey Frank looking back toward the road answered “No.”

  “Do you wanna open it, Joey Frank, or do you want meto?”

  “You go on an’ open it, Ernie, ‘cause it wuz yore notion to dig it up.”

  Ernie began to untie the twine from around the box, he said “Dang, they shore did tie this here box up good. I ain’t never seen this much twine on one thang in my life. They must not been aimin’ on leavin’ it here too long either, or they’d used a tin box instead of this here pasteboard thang. Wudn’t you say so?”

  “Yeah, it looks like they wudda done sech, Ernie.”

  When Ernie opened the box, a smile came across his face, “Well, I’ll just be dang. Will you look a-here at this? Banker Tolbert an’ Miss Rene’s got this money all wrapped up in this pertty pink blanket. I reckin they wuz afraid that it’d git cold. Lordy, lordy, I’ve seen ever’thang now.”

  “Me too!” Joey Frank said, “I ain’t never heard tell of sech doin’s!”

  Ernie pulled back the blanket from the bundle, hoping to start counting all the cash. Instead he shouted, “Holy thunder, Joey Frank Cooper, this here ain’t money; it’s a dang baby.”

  Joey Frank sprang to his feet and backed away. “Is it alive, Ernie?”

  “Well, heck no, it ain’t alive, dumbbell. How can you thank sech a thang?”

  “Well, I didn’t know. I don’t know nothin’ about babies.”

  “Well, I got anuff sense to know that it cain’t be alive, an’ I know that it ain’t s’pose to be buried away out here from nowhere too; that’s for shore.”

  “Whata we gonna do with it, Ernie?

  “We gonna put it right back here where we got it; that’s what,” Ernie said as he pulled the blanket back over the baby. “Now will you quit standin’ over there astin’ dumb questions an’ come on over here an’ give me a hand?”

  Joey Frank didn’t want to, but he knelt down by Ernie, while Ernie retied the box. Together they put it back into the hole and covered it up. They got up, brushed away what they could of the wet soil from their hands and breeches, and walked away from the grave. Joey Frank asked Ernie, “Reckin why Banker Tolbert an’ Miss Rene went an’ buried that baby way out here from nowhere?”

  “To keep anybody from knowin’ about it, that’s why. If they hadn’t been tryin’ to hide it, then they wudda had it buried at a graveyard where folks is s’pose to be buried.”

  “Reckin who it belongs to?”

  “I guess it belongs to Banker Tolbert an’ Miss Rene; that’s who.”

  But then Ernie rethought, he said, “No-oo, I take it back, Joey Frank. I don’t guess it does neither ‘cause I see Miss Rene in Ruby Creek all the time, an’ she ain’t never looked like she wuz uh-uh. You know what I mean.” Ernie held his arms out from his stomach in a round position.

  “Do you mean bein’ big in the belly, an’ a’fixin’ to sprout?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I mean, but that still ain’t the right sayin’ for it. Heck, it don’t matter no how. Lets git outta here.

  By the time we find our way home, I guess it’ll be nearly chore time.”

  “I hope we find our way home before dark ‘cause if I ain’t there by then, Mama’s gonna be awful mad.”

  “Don’t commence to frettin’, Joey Frank. We’ll find our way back before dark. We’ll follow Banker Tolbert’s surrey tracks. They oughta take us straight to Ruby Creek.”

  The boys followed the fresh surrey tracks down the road. When they spotted a creek, they went down and washed their dirty hands. They recognized the creek and knew it wasn’t far from town. They had plenty of time before dark, so they sat down and ate the potato and biscuits from Joey Frank’s lunch pail.

  They talked about the baby. Ernie exclaimed, “It wud be best n
ot to tell anybody what we seen.” He also admitted, “If Pa ever found out that I left school, he’d horsewhip my hide.”

  Joey Frank promised, “I’ll never tell nobody what we found. If Mama ever found out I left school, she’d horsewhip me for shore!”

  Ernie thought up a story to tell Miss Lester about not returning to class. “I’ll tell her you stepped of in that quicksand hole behind the school house an’ I worked for hours to keep you from goin’ under. She’ll believe ever’ word, an’ that’ll be all there is to it.”

  When the boys got to Ruby Creek, they saw Banker Tolbert’s shiny surrey with its muddy wheels parked in front of the bank. They looked at each other and without a word they went home.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The next morning Mama came to the kitchen with Gloria’s best clothes. As she placed them on the back of a chair to warm them by the cook stove, she said, “Joey Frank, Gloria didn’t sleep well at all last night. Whatever she has, it’s gotten worse. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to miss school today. Go out, hitch the wagon, and we’ll go to Ruby Creek and let Doctor Black look at her.”

  The trip was cold and uncomfortable for Gloria. She kept her pale face buried against her Mama’s shoulder to keep from breathing the cold air that caused her to cough uncontrollably. Her thin legs shook so that Mama could hardly keep the blanket tucked around them.

  When they arrived in front of Doctor Black’s office, Mama stepped from the wagon, straightened her shawl, looked up at the sky, and spoke with relief “Well, at last we’re here, and I do believe that the sun is going to show it’s face for a change. Thank the Lord!”

  As Joey Frank took Gloria’s hand to help her step from the wagon, he saw Banker Tolbert’s shiny surrey pulling up in front of the bank. His concentration was interrupted and he stumbled, almost causing Gloria to fall. The surrey’s wheels had been washed clean, as though they had never been through the rough, muddy countryside.

  “Joey Frank Cooper, watch what you’re doing, for heaven’s sakes,” Mama scolded. “This is no time to be daydreaming.”

  “Yes, Mama.” Joey Frank obeyed as if to admit he were “daydreaming”, and not thinking about what the banker and his wife had done the day before.

  When Gloria stepped into Doctor Black’s warm office, she began to vomit. The doctor got up from his desk and opened the door to the examination room, telling Mama “Please bring her inside.” Joey Frank took a seat in the waiting room, feeling very worried about his sister. He couldn’t remember Gloria’s being able to stay in school a full term, but she always passed her grade with help from him to keep up her studies.

  After awhile the examination room door opened, Mama and Gloria come out. Doctor Black came out behind them with his hands full of brown bottles. He put them on his desk and took a seat. Mama stood by with her arm around Gloria and watched the doctor write on a note pad, pushing each bottle to the side, one by one. When he finished, he ripped the sheet away from the pad and handed it to her. The look on Mama’s face plainly told Joey Frank that the medicine was too expensive for her, but she opened her purse and carefully counted out what she owed the Doctor.

  Doctor Black leaned back in his chair and pushed up his glasses, he said “Mrs. Cooper, Gloria’s system is very weak. It’s very easy for her to pick up germs that infect her, like the influenza she now has. It is most important that she get plenty of the food I’ve written down for you to buy for her. With her getting those foods, her body should strengthen, she will then be able to resist such germs that she is most likely to come in contact with in the future.”

  The uncomfortable look was still on Mama’s face. Joey Frank knew there was no way she could buy the foods Doctor Black had written down on the paper. Thanking him, Mama folded the paper and put it into her purse.

  That night while Gloria slept, Mama and Joey Frank sat by the fire and talked of ways that they might raise money for Gloria’s special foods. Joey Frank suggested “Mama I could quit school an’ git a job.” Mama flatly refused such an idea by saying “That, Joey Frank, would be the last straw, when Gloria gets over the influenza and goes back to school, then I’ll find a job. Just a few days ago, the Widow Simson told me her son Hoyt, has a boarding house in Ruby Creek, and was in need of someone to do some cleaning there. If he still needs help, and he hires me to do cleaning, I could buy Gloria’s food. Maybe I could earn enough money to buy some seed for spring. Just think, we could have a small cotton crop, wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

  Mama looked up from her knitting and smiled at Joey Frank. He smiled back, but he wasn’t pleased at all that she might take a job. Joey Frank felt like he was the man of the house now and should be the one earning the money for Gloria’s foods, seeds for the cotton crop or whatever they needed. He made Pa the promise that he would look after Mama and Gloria, but he couldn’t obey Mama and keep his promise to Pa too.

  “You best be going to bed, Joey Frank,” Mama said, laying her knitting down and turning the sweet potatoes that were baking under the hot ashes in the fireplace. “Morning will be here before you know it, and you don’t need to be sleepy headed for school.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Why wudn’t you at school yesterday Joey Frank?” Ernie asked when he ran out to meet his buddy at school the next morning, “Did you git in trouble for gittin’ home late the other day?”

  “I missed school ‘cause Gloria wuz sick, an’ no I didn’t git in trouble for gittin’ home late, but what about us? Is Miss Lester mad ‘cause we didn’t show up after recess?”

  “She wuz mad to start with, but she got all soft when I told her you got stuck in that quicksand hole down behind the schoolhouse an’ I had to work half a day to save yore life. I told her that I hollered an’ hollered for help, but didn’t reckin nobody could hear me.”

  Ernie spit and then laughed, “I wisht you could a-seen her, Joey Frank. She shook her old head an’ had to hold back tears when she commenced to tellin’ the class what a hero I wuz.”

  “I wisht I could really be a hero, Ernie.” Joey Frank spoke with sadness. “I guess you gotta be ole, to be one of them though.”

  “Maybe you gotta be an’ maybe you ain’t gotta be Joey Frank. Why I bet’cha there’s been a heap of youngon heroes that folks ain’t never heard about. Why do you wanna be one anyhow?”

  “I’d like to be one for Mama an’ Gloria. I’d like to be ole anuff to git a job an’ buy all them special foods that it’s gonna take for Gloria to git well agin so Mama won’t hafta git a job.”

  “Dang, Joey Frank, you shore are down in the dumps this mornin’. Snap outta sech, ever’thang’ll work its way out.”

  “I guess yore right, Ernie. Now we’d better git inside ‘cause yonder’s Miss Lester a-standin’ in the door.”

  “Yeah, an’ there she goes slingin’ her ole arm a-ringin’ that dang bell, back an’ to, back an’ to. Why in the heck does she just keep on an’ on a-ringin’ that thang for? Nothin’ but pure aggervation I bet’cha, just pure aggervation!”

  Joey Frank was glad to get interested in the Revolutionary War. It took his thoughts away from the problems at home. When recess came, they were renewed again by Ernie just doing his job to be a good concerned friend, he said “Joey Frank there ain’t no use of gittin’ all down an’ out just ‘cause your Mama’s gonna git a job. Heck, she won’t hafta work from now on. You ain’t gonna be a youngon all yore life. It ain’t gonna be too much longer ‘til yore ole anuff to git a job.”

  “Yeah, I know that, Ernie, but I still got a long ways to go yit, an’ that’s too long for my Mama to hafta work away from home. Shucks, I wisht there had a-been money in that box we dug up instead of that baby.” Joey Frank sat down on the ground in disgust.

  Ernie sat down beside him and said, “Joey Frank, there ain’t no sense to wish for somethin’ that oughta been, an’ won’t never be. Yore just usin’ up that brai
n of yores when you oughta be savin’ it for a day it’ll come in handy. Shucks, Gloria might git well on her own an’ not hafta have all them fancy grubs, you cain’t never tell!”

  Joey Frank wanted to change the subject. He didn’t want to talk or think about his Mama taking a job away from home. He asked, “Ernie, do you still believe that Banker Tolbert an’

  Miss Rene went an’ buried that baby in the woods to keep folks from knowin’ about it?”

  “Well, shore they did. Have you ever heared tell of anybody a-bein’ buried way out in the woods from nowhere less’n it wuz some Injun?”

  “No, I don’t reckin I ever have, but I shore wud like to know why they went an’ done sech.”

  “Yeah, me too, Joey Frank, but I wudn’t know how to go about findin’ out less’n you just come out an’ asted’m.”

  “Do you reckin they’d tell a fella why they done sech if he just come out an’ asted’m?”

  “Well, they’d know that the fella knows that they’d went an’ done sech when he done the astin’, so I don’t see why they won’t, do you?”

  Joey Frank drew up his knees and propped his chin on them. He picked up a stick and began drawing marks in the sand. After awhile he said, “Ernie, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll go ast Banker Tolbert why him an’ Miss Rene went an’ buried that baby out there in the woods, if you’ll go with me.”

  “You ain’t just a-foolin’, Joey Frank Cooper?”

  “No, I ain’t just a-foolin’. I’ll ast him. I’d like to know why they went an’ done sech myself. Wudn’t you?”

  “Well, heck yeah! I’d like to know.” Ernie stood up bravely and stately, spitting out his tobacco juice farther than usual. “I ain’t skeered to go with you.” He said, “Go git that lunch pail of yores, an’ let’s go down yonder an’ git stuck in that quicksand agin.”

  “No, we’d better not go today, Ernie, ‘cause Miss Lester might not believe that quicksand tale agin, but come a-Saturday, we’ll go if you still got the notion.”