Gone Fishin' Read Online Free PDF Page A

stool and a
rough-hewn plank table that had six legs. The table was piled with
dried plants and all kinds of powders in glass jars and bowls. I
didn’t look too close at the table because I didn’t want
to see any other keepsakes like Domaque.
    She opened
the sack and smiled when she saw little Johnnie. She said to Mouse,
‘You brought me lightnin’,’ then she looked at me,
‘an’ sugah.’
    ‘That’s
right, Momma, you know I take care’a you.’
    ‘Uh-uh,
baby, you takes care’a Raymond, an’ that’s why I
loves you,’ Momma laughed. ‘Yes, yes. Raymond take care’a
hisself…’
    We settled
in and Momma broke out the scotch with hand-carved wood bowls that
she used for glasses. She poured us each a drink, and then another
one. We were down to the bottom of the second bottle. Mouse was
talking about the wedding when Momma turned to Clifton and asked,
‘An’ why is the po-lice chasin’ you, honey?’
    ‘Well
they ain’t really aftah me at all. Just sumpin’ come up
an’ me an’ Ernestine had ta go, that’s all.’
    Momma Jo
had been smiling and pleased the whole time, but she frowned then.
    ‘He
kilt a boy in a bar fight, Momma,’ Mouse said. And before
Clifton could speak, ‘Momma don’t always know what’s
truf, Clifton, but she sure’n hell can smell a lie.’
    Ernestine
was staring up at Momma’s face like she had never seen anything
like her. ‘Tell’er, Clift,’ she said. ‘She
ain’t gonna hurt us.’
    ‘You just trust
ev’rybody, huh, girl? I might as well go on back there an’
give up, huh?’
     
    ‘No!’
    Momma Jo
smiled and said, ‘Com’on, honey, you tell me the truth
an’ I he’p.’ Those yellow teeth against her face
and the armadillo spoor brought to mind a bear in her dark den. She
seemed wild and violent and I could feel my heart working.
    ‘She
the best chance you got,’ Mouse told him. I didn’t say
anything. I knew that Mouse was working those kids for his own
purposes but I didn’t care. I was just a driver, a cabbie
waiting for his fare.
    Clifton
was fair-minded, you could see that by the way he worried over the
pressure those three put on him. He was sullen and sulky but his arms
and shoulders were jerking so that you knew that the story wanted to
come out.
    Mouse
poured him another scotch and Clifton busted open like an overripe
melon.
    He told
Momma the same story he told in the car; he used the same words
exactly. I knew right then that Clifton couldn’t lie to save
his life.
    It was a
strange day. That house was always midnight with its oil lamps
burning and the armadillos and the cat skirting the edges of the
room. Mouse was slouched up against the wall staring at the dead
fireplace as if it were raging. Clifton was looking into his lap and
Ernestine had her eyes glued to Momma Jo.
    Jo was
taking it all in. She looked at each one in his turn. But when she
looked at me she’d catch my eye and smile so it seemed like
that old witch was flirting. She was more than twice my age but she
was still a handsome woman without a wrinkle on her fine-featured
face. And I knew that in women it’s the face that gets old
first.
    She was
sitting on the stool with her legs crossed like a man, it was only
that long white apron that kept her modest. She was smoking a
hand-rolled cigarette for a long time before she said, ‘You
chirren got two thangs to do. First off you gotta hide while they
look fo’you. That is if that boy really is dead. But that’s
easy, ‘cause you kin stay here. I could use a strong boy like
Clifton and Ernestine can help me wit’ my herbs.
    ‘But
you got a worse thing ‘cause Clifton cain’t satisfy this
young girl’s womanly needs an’ she ain’t woman
enough t’teach him yet.’
    ‘Wha?’
Clifton was drunk by then so he staggered to his feet to challenge
the witch. Clifton was a big boy, about my height with more heft to
him, but Momma Jo had him by a head and twenty pounds.
    She stood
up to his face and said, ‘Sit’own