We folded up the tent in silence. I kept staring at Buzzy, but he wouldn’t meet my eye. Finally, I couldn’t hold my thoughts in any longer. “Buzzy, why did you lie to the sheriff? You didn’t do anything. It just makes you look guilty or something.”
“I dint lie an I dint do nuthin.”
Anger that I didn’t quite understand boiled up in me, and I threw down the tent. “Bullshit. I found all your stuff right up by Mr. Paul’s head and you told the sheriff that you didn’t go into the alley.”
“I tole him I went in a little.”
“But you went in all the way. Why did you lie?”
“I’m jus scared.”
“Scared of what? You didn’t beat him up. In fact, you probably saved his life.”
“Just scared a the cops. I mean, I’m thinkin maybe they think I did it or somethin.”
“That’s stupid. Why would you beat up Mr. Paul?”
“I’m jus sayin you never know what the cops is gonna do, is all. Better off sayin as little as possible.”
I picked up the tent and wrapped the pole lines around it and led him into the kitchen.
“I’m headin back now, I guess,” Buzzy said.
Audy Rae smiled and brought out a huge bag of leftovers from our last three dinners. “Take these to your momma,” she said.
He nodded thanks.
“Let me go wake up Dr. Peebles so he can drive you.”
“No, ma’am. I’m gonna walk.”
Audy Rae didn’t press the issue; she just smiled and went back to her kitchen work.
I showed him out to the empty front porch. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around.”
“Yup,” he replied and walked quickly off the porch steps. About halfway down Chisold Street he turned and looked at me. I raised my hand to a wave. He gave back a halting half wave that seemed to be pulled right back down to his side by the weight of what he had seen. He turned, broke into a run, and was gone.
Chapter 15
INTO RICH AND SPLENDID WINGS
I was dozing on the porch a few hours later when Audy Rae came out of the door carrying flowers and a foil-covered casserole dish. “I’m off on an errand, be back in a few hours,” she said.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m off to see Paul in the hospital and give Paitsel this shepherd’s pie… he loves my shepherd’s pie.”
“Can I come?”
She nodded. “Just tell your Pops what you’re doing.”
Pops had been sleeping all morning, and it was now well past noon. I ran into the house and up the stairs. His room was all the way at the end of the hall. I tiptoed past my mother’s closed door. The wood floor creaked under my weight. Pops’ door was slightly ajar. I pushed it open just enough to slip inside.
He was there on the four-poster bed, stripped down to boxer shorts and T-shirt—one arm over his eyes to shield the day, mouth slightly agape. I watched as his chest rose and fell ever so slowly. The headboard of the bed had the same intricate carvings as the wardrobe in the attic. On his nightstand was an old photo of my grandmother by a lakeside with a handful of sand ready to throw at the picture taker.
On the other nightstand was their wedding picture—Pops dashing in his Lexington store suit, Sarah Winthorpe dazzling in a white satin dress.
I stood at the side of the bed, just watching him breathe; a slight smile came to his face and I backed away slowly, so as not to disturb the dream that was producing it. I found a notepad and a pencil on his dresser, jotted my plans, and left the note on the bed.
Audy Rae was already in Pops’ truck with the engine started. She had put the seat as far up as it could go, and I pulled myself into the cab with my legs pushed sideways. “Sorry about the tight squeeze, Kevin. I seem to be shrinking with the years.” She sighed and backed out of the driveway slowly, looking both directions twice before gingering into the street. We passed Green Street and I couldn’t help but look down to the alley, now covered with police tape, a sheriff’s car still parked on the road. We picked up speed after the abandoned stores in town and shot over the last hill before the highway. The cab was quiet except for the sound of the old engine firing. We passed an abandoned church and Audy Rae began softly humming.
“What’s that song you’re humming?” I asked to break my silence.
“Oh, it’s just an old gospel song my daddy taught me years ago. When I drive out this way I think of him and sing it.” She broke into an abounding voice that sounded like a track from an old movie.
Hail, Brother Jesus, send me hope and grace
Make me a brilliant angel to lead them from this place
Make these simple shoulders, in an effortless embrace
Into rich and splendid wings
“He’s buried out at the church we just passed,” she said. “It’s closed now, but all the graves are still there. I go out once a week and tend to it and the others.”
“How old were you when he died?” I asked, not wanting to stir up sad memories but curious about her life.
“A little older than you, sixteen. Left me and my momma struggling, but we managed. She’s still going strong, probably live to be a hundred.”
“How did he die?” I asked tentatively.
“He was killed in the mines. It was dangerous work back then, especially for black folk. Our men had to do all the jobs that the white folks refused. My daddy’s job was setting explosives deep in the shaft, and one day his charge exploded before he could get out.”
“I’m really sorry, Audy Rae.”
She looked over at me and smiled, then gave my knee a squeeze.
We were silent for a few minutes. “I can’t believe what they did to Mr. Paul,” I said to myself as much as to Audy Rae. I looked over at her.
She shook her head and let out a resigned breath. “It is an evil as big as I’ve ever seen. There ain’t nobody I know more gentle and caring than Mr. Paul. It’s a tragic day for this town… a tragic day indeed.” Her eyes were welling.
“He’s been telling me stories about Grandma, Mr. Paul has,” I said after some silence.
“Has he now,” she replied. “Paul and Miss Sarah were good friends. When she first moved into town, he was one of the few who took to her right away.”
“Did the other people not like her at first?”
“It wasn’t that… She was just different than any other woman in town. Didn’t take sass from nobody. Spoke her mind to the men.” Audy Rae laughed at the memory. “She was a handful, I will tell you that, but she won folks over pretty quick.”