Me and Rupert Goody Read Online Free PDF Page B

is it?”
    Me and Uncle Beau stopped.
    â€œNeither,” Uncle Beau said. “Just come to speak to you a minute, Mr. Reuben.”
    The old man jerked his head toward a sign. “Beware of Dog.” I looked around. Wasn’t no dog in sight. Then I heard the rattle of a chain and the ugliest dog I’d ever laid eyes on stuck his head out from under the front steps and growled at us. Mr. Reuben leaned toward us in his lawn chair.

    â€œI don’t see no lawn mower. That’s what I do. Fix lawn mowers. You ain’t got a lawn mower, then you got no business with me, mister.”
    Boy, Mr. Reuben would’ve made a good Helton. He’d’ve fit right in with them nasty brothers of mine. But Uncle Beau didn’t let Mr. Reuben faze him a bit.
    â€œCome to shake your hand, is all,” Uncle Beau said. “Thank you for caring for Rupert Goody”
    Mr. Reuben narrowed his eyes. “Rupert Goody?”
    â€œYessir.”
    â€œThat no-good, sorry sack of nothing left me high and dry.” Mr. Reuben threw his arm out toward his dirt patch of a yard, littered with lawn mowers and rototillers and greasy engine parts. “I give him a roof over his head and a good job and what does he do? Hightails it on out of here.”
    Uncle Beau and I looked at the yard. That ugly dog was still rattling his chain under the steps, but he didn’t come out. Every now and then Jake let out a bark from the truck.
    â€œRupert’s my son, Mr. Reuben,” Uncle Beau said. “I just come to thank you for taking care of him.”
    Mr. Reuben cocked his head and glared at Uncle Beau. “Rupert Goody’s a black man.”
    â€œYessir, I know that.”
    Mr. Reuben grunted and waved his hand at Uncle Beau. “Go on, get out of here. I got work to do.”
    â€œYou know anybody name of Anna Lee?”
    â€œDead.”
    â€œDead?”

    â€œThat’s how come Rupert come moping around here in the first place. Anna Lee died and left a passel of riffraff behind. Took in every kind of homeless no-account.”
    â€œWell, now, that’s too bad,” Uncle Beau said, taking out the napkin. “What about Nana June. You know her?”
    Mr. Reuben snorted. “Over in that duplex by the Laundromat.”
    Once again Uncle Beau tipped his imaginary hat. “Much obliged, Mr. Reuben.”
    Â 
    We hadn’t been in Nana June’s house fifteen minutes before I wanted to crawl in her lap and lay my head on her ample bosom. She was that kind of woman. Big and warm. All the time smiling and saying things that make a person feel like they was the most special person there ever was.
    Her house was cluttered from wall to wall with toys and jackets and schoolbooks. Big, comfortable chairs and sofas were all squished together and just begging to be curled up on. The smell of something good baking in the kitchen set my mouth to watering the minute we walked in.
    â€œRupert Goody!” she squealed, taking Uncle Beau’s hand in both of hers and pumping it up and down. “An angel on this earth, that boy. Come on over here and set yourselves down.”
    We pushed aside diapers and books and toys and sat on the couch. Nana June brought us homemade cookies and ginger ale. Two little kids peeked out at us from the kitchen.

    â€œRupert’s my son,” Uncle Beau said.
    Nana June threw her arms up. “Law, you don’t mean it!” She beamed at me and Uncle Beau. “You know, I’ve taken in nearly two hundred children over the last twenty years and I remember every one of them. And I do think Rupert Goody was the sweetest child I ever had the pleasure of knowing.”
    Uncle Beau grinned. “Did you know Rupert as a child?”
    â€œKnow him? Shoot, I changed his diapers and blew his nose and smacked his bottom a time or two.” She patted me on the knee. “Is this sweet thing here your child, too?” she asked Uncle