books I’d brought with me from California, when the phone rang.
I knew that my father would make no effort to answer it, and so I walked into the living room and answered it myself.
“Morning, Roy.”
“Morning, Lonnie.”
“Your daddy get through the night okay?”
“Some dog kept him up.”
I could tell by Lonnie’s voice that he hadn’t called to check on my father. Something else was on his mind.
“Listen, Roy,” he said, “I’m at my office here in Kingdom City. I got Lila Cutler down here.”
I pictured her as she’d looked the last time I’d seenher, in that white dress with the long blue sash, eighteen years old, with dark red hair that hung over her shoulders, a crinkle in her nose when she smiled.
“She’s not saying much,” Lonnie went on. “Won’t tell me anything about Clayton. That’s why I’m calling. I thought you might drop by this morning, talk to her a little bit.”
Before I could protest, he added, “Look, Roy, I let something slip. To Lila, I mean. When I was talking to her this morning. I let slip that you were back in Kingdom County. When I told her the story about Ezra finding the body, then going up to Jessup Creek. It just slipped out that you happened to come along. And the thing is, it had an effect on her.”
“Lonnie, I—”
“No harm in you coming by, right? Talking to her?”
I could have gotten out of it, simply told Lonnie that too much time had passed, but something fired in me, perhaps no more than the odd, inexplicable need we sometimes feel to open that book we’d long ago shoved into a corner of the closet, gaze at that one photograph again.
“All right,” I said, giving no hint of what had actually determined my decision.
“Thanks, Roy. See you in a few minutes.”
My father gave every intention of being entirely captured by an episode of Petticoat Junction when I walked into his room.
“I’m going out for a while,” I told him.
His eyes stayed fixed on the screen.
“You need anything before I go?”
His gaze fell to his hands. His fingers uncurled, then curled again. “Listen here, Roy,” he muttered. “I’d like for you to stay gone awhile. I just want to be by myself.”
“All right, Dad. If you’re sure you won’t need me.”
“Dead sure,” he said.
Though it served as the county seat, Kingdom City was little more than a street along which shops and offices had been built, most of plain red brick. There was a barbershop complete with a twirling barber pole, the only sign in town that actually moved. The rest were made of tin or wood, with a smattering of pink or pale blue neon. Mr. Clark still had the drugstore I’d worked in as a boy, but Billings Hardware, where Archie had worked, sorting nails, stacking paint, mopping the floor, was now in other hands. I could still recall Mr. Billings’s face in the days following Archie’s arrest, how baffled he’d looked that the boy who’d worked for him, meekly obeyed a thousand petty orders, could explode so suddenly.
But it wasn’t Archie I thought about that morning. It was Lila as I remembered her, a girl who’d seemed to take life as a dare.
You don’t believe me, Roy? You don’t believe I’ll do it?
At first I’d thought her reckless, but it was really a fierce certainty that she could triumph over anything that drove her forward. I couldn’t help but wonder what the woman would be like now.
Lonnie was outside his office when I arrived, propped back in a metal folding chair, a red Coca-Cola machine humming softly at his right. His cruiser stood freshly polished and gleaming a few feet away, the words “Sheriff Only” stenciled in bright yellow on the asphalt pavement beneath its rear bumper.
“I should be doing some paperwork, but it’s just too damned hot inside,” he said as I came toward him. “I been trying to get the county to buy me an air conditioner, but they won’t do it.” He tipped forward in his chair. “Thanks for coming in, Roy. I
I knew that my father would make no effort to answer it, and so I walked into the living room and answered it myself.
“Morning, Roy.”
“Morning, Lonnie.”
“Your daddy get through the night okay?”
“Some dog kept him up.”
I could tell by Lonnie’s voice that he hadn’t called to check on my father. Something else was on his mind.
“Listen, Roy,” he said, “I’m at my office here in Kingdom City. I got Lila Cutler down here.”
I pictured her as she’d looked the last time I’d seenher, in that white dress with the long blue sash, eighteen years old, with dark red hair that hung over her shoulders, a crinkle in her nose when she smiled.
“She’s not saying much,” Lonnie went on. “Won’t tell me anything about Clayton. That’s why I’m calling. I thought you might drop by this morning, talk to her a little bit.”
Before I could protest, he added, “Look, Roy, I let something slip. To Lila, I mean. When I was talking to her this morning. I let slip that you were back in Kingdom County. When I told her the story about Ezra finding the body, then going up to Jessup Creek. It just slipped out that you happened to come along. And the thing is, it had an effect on her.”
“Lonnie, I—”
“No harm in you coming by, right? Talking to her?”
I could have gotten out of it, simply told Lonnie that too much time had passed, but something fired in me, perhaps no more than the odd, inexplicable need we sometimes feel to open that book we’d long ago shoved into a corner of the closet, gaze at that one photograph again.
“All right,” I said, giving no hint of what had actually determined my decision.
“Thanks, Roy. See you in a few minutes.”
My father gave every intention of being entirely captured by an episode of Petticoat Junction when I walked into his room.
“I’m going out for a while,” I told him.
His eyes stayed fixed on the screen.
“You need anything before I go?”
His gaze fell to his hands. His fingers uncurled, then curled again. “Listen here, Roy,” he muttered. “I’d like for you to stay gone awhile. I just want to be by myself.”
“All right, Dad. If you’re sure you won’t need me.”
“Dead sure,” he said.
Though it served as the county seat, Kingdom City was little more than a street along which shops and offices had been built, most of plain red brick. There was a barbershop complete with a twirling barber pole, the only sign in town that actually moved. The rest were made of tin or wood, with a smattering of pink or pale blue neon. Mr. Clark still had the drugstore I’d worked in as a boy, but Billings Hardware, where Archie had worked, sorting nails, stacking paint, mopping the floor, was now in other hands. I could still recall Mr. Billings’s face in the days following Archie’s arrest, how baffled he’d looked that the boy who’d worked for him, meekly obeyed a thousand petty orders, could explode so suddenly.
But it wasn’t Archie I thought about that morning. It was Lila as I remembered her, a girl who’d seemed to take life as a dare.
You don’t believe me, Roy? You don’t believe I’ll do it?
At first I’d thought her reckless, but it was really a fierce certainty that she could triumph over anything that drove her forward. I couldn’t help but wonder what the woman would be like now.
Lonnie was outside his office when I arrived, propped back in a metal folding chair, a red Coca-Cola machine humming softly at his right. His cruiser stood freshly polished and gleaming a few feet away, the words “Sheriff Only” stenciled in bright yellow on the asphalt pavement beneath its rear bumper.
“I should be doing some paperwork, but it’s just too damned hot inside,” he said as I came toward him. “I been trying to get the county to buy me an air conditioner, but they won’t do it.” He tipped forward in his chair. “Thanks for coming in, Roy. I