Jared let out a big yell and jumped up. Buck was still holding on to him with his hands and his teeth, so when Jared jumped up he pulled Buck with him. The bench caught the back of their legs and made them both fall over backwards onto the floor. Cockroach blew his whistle one short time then three long times, loud, to call the other guards, but Buck and Jared just kept on fighting. Jared was yelling and punching Buck in the face, or trying to, but he was having trouble getting any good licks in because Bucks face was mostly covered by his own arms and Jareds arm. So then Jared put his other hand on Bucks throat and started to choke him.
Thats when Cockroach got there and started trying to pull them apart. He wasnt having much luck with his one hand, so he started kicking. He kicked Buck in the back and the ribs three or four times, and that was enough to make Buck let go and curl up into a ball. Buck hollered at the first kick, then grunted at the second kick and then he just whimpered like a dog thats been hit by a car and is dying. Cockroach kicked Jared three or four times too, in the belly and in the nuts. The last two kicks were hard enough to lift him mostly up off the floor and send him skidding. Jared puked out some bloody looking vomit and just lay there on his side making a gurgling sound.
Four other guards came busting into the dining hall then. They looked at Cockroach, who was standing over Jared, looking down with his face all twisted up and purple and his nostrils open wide like a horses. One of the guards, Mr. Delaney, squatted down and looked at Jared, then looked up at Cockroach. Hes in bad shape, said Mr. Delaney. I don’t think he’s breathing right. We best get him to the infirmary. Goddammit said Cockroach. Alright get him out of here. Mr. Delaney and Mr. Whitlock reached under Jareds arms and raised him up off the floor, face down, and dragged him out the door. His knees and feet were dragging the floor, and I heard his shoes thump down the wooden steps and scrape across the dirt and roots in the yard. The third guard, Mr. Tillman, was squatted down looking at Buck, who was groaning and whimpering. I reckon we should take him to the infirmary too, said Mr. Tillman, but Cockroach said no. He aint hurt, said Cockroach, hes just pretending. Come on and help me bring him down to the shed. Mr. Tillman looked at Cockroach and said are you sure about that? and Cockroach said goddam right Im sure. Come on. So he and Mr. Tillman grabbed Buck under the armpits and hauled him up and started carrying him toward the door. Buck started crying and saying please dont, please dont. Shut up, boy, said Cockroach. Buck got his feet halfway under him. I dont think he was trying to walk, I think he was trying to stand up and plant his feet and stay in the dining room. but he was to weak. They ended up dragging him out the same way theyd dragged out Jared, except Buck was crying and pleading and trying to get his legs under him.
The fourth guard, Mr. Ewbanks, stayed behind with us while we ate. Nobody talked or even looked at anybody else, we just kept our heads down low over our plates. I ate about three bites and then I felt I was about to get sick, so I quit eating and just stirred my food around with my spoon. After a few minutes Mr. Ewbanks had us clear the table and march back to our dormitory.
It took me a long time to go to sleep. I dreamed Cockroach was making Buck bite his own arm and chew it and swallow it.
The next morning Bucks bed and Jareds bed were both empty still. At assembly Cockroach told us that because of the fight in the dining hall, we were confined to the dorm for the morning. He said Jared had been taken to the doctor in Quincy to get stitches for the bite in his arm and Buck was in the infirmary.
I will not tolerate fighting, Cockroach said. The next boys I catch fighting will be severely punished. Do you understand? Yes sir, we all said. Severely punished, he said again. Do you understand? Yes sir, we shouted.
That afternoon during work time, I went to sweep and empty the trash in the infirmary. There was four beds in the infirmary. Two of the beds had clean white sheets on them. One of them had been stripped, but there was blood at the head and in the middle, and brown and yellow stains in the middle, too. The nurse, Mrs. Wilcox, was sitting beside the fourth bed and she bent over Buck. He was lying on his stomach, with no cloths on, and she was using tweezers to pick at his bottom and his back and his legs. Bucks bottom was all black, with bits of bloody fuzz sticking up from it. I knew, from what Id heard about other whippings, that the bits of fuzz were bits of his shorts that had been shredded and pounded into his skin by the strap.
The strap was one of the first things I heard about when I came. It was like two long barbers strops sewn together, with a piece of metal between them to make it stiffer and heavier. One boy said they used to use a big wooden paddle for the beatings, but they switched to the strap because you can beat a boy longer and harder with a strap than what you can with a board.