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halfway through the meal, Ike looked up and said, “I wonder what Papa’s eating.”
    Mama reached over and rubbed his shaggy head. “I was wondering the same thing.”
    “I reckon Papa’s doing just fine,” I said.
    Mama smiled. “Figure you’re right, Richard. He’s doing just fine.”
    When dinner was finished, we did dishes. Mama washing, me drying, and Ike stacking. Afterwards Mama gave Ike and me a piece of peppermint and sent us on our way. There wouldn’t be any serious chores to do until evening time.
    I got my stacks of magazines and went out to the hay loft to read, and Ike got his pole and stuff and went fishing. The loft was pretty warm, but sometimes I liked that. The heat—and me cuddled down in the hay—would sometimes make me drowsy and I’d have some really good daydreams.
    Today it wasn’t working though. I couldn’t even concentrate on my magazines the way I liked to. Kept thinking about those big tracks in the corn patch, about Old Satan.
    After a bit I went to the open hay-loft door and looked out. Mama was standing way out from the house, in the middle of the road, looking down it. She stood there for a long time, like maybe if she looked hard enough she could see around the curves and through the pines, and all the way to the fair in Tyler.

Seven
    On the day Papa was due home, Doc Travis drove up in the yard without him. We had all heard the dogs barking and heard the Ford popping and we had rushed out to meet them.
    When Doc Travis got out of the car and Papa wasn’t with him, I could hear Mama drawing in her breath. All sorts of awful things went through my mind, horrible things that could have happened to Papa.
    But when Doc Travis smiled at us I knew everything was okay.
    “Leonard?” Mama asked softly.
    “Fine, real fine. Whomped that fair fellow quicker than a duck can eat a June bug.”
    “Where is he?” Mama asked. “Ain’t hurt none, is he?”
    “Not hurt a lick,” Doc Travis said. “One of you boys get that box out of the car, will you? Something your Papa sent.”
    Ike and I nearly knocked each other down trying to get to it, and when we found out how heavy and cumbersome it was, we decided to do it together.
    “Bring it in to the kitchen table,” Mama said. “Doc, you want some coffee?”
    “Ain’t going to leave without none. Pour it up, lady.”
    They went inside and we followed, putting the big cardboard box in the center of the table.
    “You boys be careful with that,” Doc Travis said. “And don’t look inside neither. Not yet.”
    We all sat around the table and stared at the box for a moment.
    “Where’s Leonard?” Mama asked.
    “Tell you in good time, gal,” he said. “Now look here.” He reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out a wad of money. He slapped it down on the table in front of Mama. “Two hundred dollars of the prize money.”
    “Two hundred!” Mama said. “That’s the most money I’ve ever seen in one place.”
    “Made more than that. Prize was about three hundred, but he spent some of it on what’s in the box and he had to keep some for living money.”
    “Living money?” Mama asked.
    “Uh huh. He not only beat that fair fellow, but he beat him so good, they fired their boy and took on Leonard.”
    “He’s traveling with the fair?” Mama asked.
    “For a few towns, if he don’t get licked,” Doc Travis said.
    “He won’t get licked. Never,” Ike said.
    “I don’t reckon he will either,” Doc Travis said. He turned back to Mama. “You see, he’s got a chance to make a thousand dollars or better.”
    “A thousand dollars!” I said.
    Doc Travis nodded. “That’s right.”
    “Why it wouldn’t matter if our crop came in or not,” Mama said. “And if it did come in—”
    “We’d be rich,” I said.
    Mama looked over at me and smiled. “Not quite rich, but we wouldn’t have to live quite so close to the bone.” She turned back to Doc Travis. “You said he wasn’t hurt none?”
    “Course he