Jimmy passed over West Fork and the dozen slightly dilapidated houses on the other side. From their clotheslined porches, old folk and children stared, forgetting the black train heavy with coal coming down through the center of town.
The boys on the corner, barely out of high school, tore tires off the rims and deposited those in a big old wooden box out back.
The truck slowed, bumping along over potholes the size of a coon dog. Jimmy stopped in front of Arlick's Truck and Tire. He dropped to the running board and took his place among the "men."
"Y'all seen Toby Morris?"
The one with the feather in his hat spit and cussed under his breath.
"I said..."
"We heard ya," the feathered hat pounced. "We ain't got time now to take care of no foreigners."
He climbed back in the truck and crossed the first set of empty tracks, the spur off the main. He found Toby's brother sitting on a bench near the old depot.
"Toby? He around?"
"He's dead."
"Look. I don't have time for games. Principal Gary sent me out here to look for the boy."
"He ain't comin back. He done went away."
"What in the sam...is that supposed to mean?"
"He's really dead."
"So,' Jimmy huffed. "He's not coming back to school?"
"That's right, mister."
"Well, of all the..."
Jimmy closed the truck door and drove up to the post office. The postman closed his office door and came into the lobby.
"And what would you like, son?"
"I would like a book of stamps..."
"OK, I will go get some for you."
"No. Not stamps. I am looking for little Toby Morris. He is supposed to be at school. This is the fifth day in a row the parents don't answer. I am tired of trying to do my job when no one around here wants to cooperate!"
The postman pinched his nose.
"Toby Morris?"
"Yeah...that boy is trouble. Don't hardly blame you. What with them parents. Half wits."
"I don't have the address. Nobody has the address. Not the school, not the secretary. It's not in the phone book..."
"They don't have a pot to piss in."
Jimmy frowned.
"No phone."
"Really? The only ones around here without a phone?"
"I think you're right there."
"Can you...at least...give me directions to the old Morris place?"
The postmaster leaned against the front door.
"Do you know where Boggs Holler is?"
"Nope."
"If you let me in your truck there, I can lead you there."
The postmaster locked the front door to the post office. No sign. No warning. He climbed up into the passenger side of Jimmy's truck.
"Now, the best way to go is just down that roadway over yonder," he said, pointing to a thin lane of asphalt hugging a steep bank.
Jimmy inched the vehicle between the steep mountainside and the bank below. He drove a mile before stopping the truck.
"How much farther do I have to drive to get to the boy's house?"
The postman pointed to a turn off, within sight.
"That's Boggs Holler."
Jimmie counted potholes and curves until he felt nauseous. The truck jerked to a stop when it hit something in the road.
"I'll get out!"
The postman got down on his hands and knees and searched the underside, the exterior, and under the hood.
"You killed a perfectly fine possum."
"Sorry," he said, turning the key.
A mile up the hollow, the postman slapped his right leg.
"What in the...did you do that for?"
"You wasn't gonna stop."
"This is the place? Where?"
"That," the postmaster said, pointing at the weathered shack. "The Morris castle."
They stopped the vehicle in the road on account of the driveway being underwater. They crossed a swing bridge. Jimmy knocked on the wooden door.
"You here to take my boy away?
This time, Jimmy stared at the woman. She was the ugliest creature he'd ever seen.
"Mam, Toby needs to be in school."
"He ain't here."
"Where would he be?"
"Last I saw him, he was way up there," she said, pointing to the top of the back ridge. "He likes to go off on his own and explore."
"I don't think you understand, Missus Morris. They've been sending someone round for months. If he misses any more school, he'll flunk out. They'll expell him."
The woman puckered up and shook her head.
"He's off with his dad. They're a pair."
"In the mountains?"
"They like to hike."
"During school?"
"It's too durn hot in summertime!"
"Missus Morris. I am going back to the school...I'm going to be late. If he does not come to school tomorrow, they'll send the truant officer after him."
She stood her ground.
"I'll do my best, but they're men. I'm just a helpless woman."
No comments:
Post a Comment