Uncle Nate had beat him to a pulp again. He hadn’t meant to upset him, but that seemed to be his calling.
He didn’t mean to rat either but he got dizzy and fell down by the tree between their field and Aunt Hil’s house. The next thing he knew he was lying on her couch and she was dabbing that stingy stuff on him.
“Why’d he do this to you, child?” She said so soft and tender. “He drinkin’ again?”
“Aunt Hil, when does Unk not drink?”
She smiled. “Poor bastard.” She said. Ian didn’t know if she meant him or his uncle. “Honey, why ain’t you in school?”
“Unk said I could read and write and that’s all I needed. I wasn’t to go no more. He had to have me at home.”
“Say what?” Ian didn’t have time to answer. Aunt Hil grabbed his wrist and yanked him across the field to his own house, screaming his Uncle’s name the whole way.
To his Uncle’s lapse in judgment he came stumbling out of the house trotting right up to her. He didn’t expect the swift and heavy right hook that caught him square on the chin. She kicked him in the ribs as he fell to the ground in pain. “You beat this boy?”
“Screw ya!” He recoiled.
She retorted by stomping on his elbow. Ian heard bones crack. “Watch your mouth.” Hil let go of Ian’s wrist and grabbed his uncle by the throat, yanking him like a rag doll up to his knees. “Answer me!” She slapped his face twice, once coming and once going. “You beat this boy?”
“He done fall down again Mizz Hillary. You know how dumb and stupid he is…”
She kneed him in the crotch. “One more time, you drunken liar! You beat this boy?”
“Yes’m...gaddamn...he sassed me. Just getting’ the devil outta him. You know he’s got his mama…”
She smacked him twice again. Blood from Uncle Nate’s split lip splattered across Miss Hillary’s apron smock. “You got the devil in you Nate Ransom. Don’t you ever lay a hand on this boy again! You hear me?”
“Yes’sm”
She let go of him and he crumpled in a heap in the dirt. “And what’s this about no more school? This boy is smart. He got something and he gots to go to school. He don’t got no business staying home being yer bitch!”
“But I…”
“Don’t you sass me, bastard!” She kicked him again. “If I ever even think you keeping this boy from school, I turn you into the po-lice. You got me?”
“Shit…they ain’t gonna…”
“You know what I talkin’ about. I know lotsa secrets. Some I swore I won’t tell on ma death bed, but some I just dying to tell. You got me?”
Uncle Nate rolled over and looked at her.
“You got me?”
He just held his belly and nodded his head. She kicked him one more time for good measure, adjusted her humongous breasts and sauntered back to her property.
As soon as she was out of sight, Uncle Nate made a blood spattered grab for Ian. Ian ran as fast as he could. He was out of breath by the time he made it to the barn, locking the door behind him, but a pair of hands grabbed him. Ian squirmed and screamed. A firm hand went over his mouth.
“Calm down, son, calm down!” A soothing voice spoke, and held him until he stopped squirming.
Ian looked up into a face. “Mister Jude? You scared me….”
Jude set him on his feet and got down on his knees and looked Ian in the face. “Now what’s all the…holy shit youngun...What happened to you?”
Ian looked away. He could feel Mister Jude get angry. “He do this to you?” He shook him a little. “Boy, answer me. That drunken bastard do this to you?” Jude let go of Ian and stood up. “Never mind. I know the answer to that.”
Jude slammed his fist into his palm. “You okay, sonny?”
“Uh huh.”
“You go in my room, and you stay there until I tell you its okay to come out. You hear me?”
“Yes Mister Jude”.
“I’ll take care of this. This ain’t never gonna happen again, you hear me?”
“Uh huh.”
“Now scoot! There may be an old pop in that bucket in there. Get cha some ice and drink that pop.” Ian scooted toward what used to be the old tackle room at the back of the barn. “And don’t come out til I tell ya. Hide under the bed if’n you ain’t sure it’s me!”
Ian liked Mister Jude. He didn’t know much about him, except that he had showed up during the winter and moved into the barn. Uncle Nate made Ian clean out the old tackle room for him to stay in. He was about Uncle Nate’s age, but Ian didn’t care about anything other than the fact that he was nice to him and he always made Ian feel safe.
Ian found the old silver bucket with some melted ice in it. He fished his hand around its water until he found a cube or two. He stuck on in his mouth and sucked on it. It stung a little bit, but it made his jaw feel better. He heard his Uncle bellowing his name. Ian crawled like a cockroach under the bed.
He had barely gotten to safety when he heard the door slam open and could smell his uncle’s breath.
“You hidin’ in here you wasted spunk you?”
Ian could see his boots stepping into the room. All of a sudden those boots got lifted off the floor and he heard a body slam against the wall. Uncle Nate sure was having a bad day.
“You son of a bitch!” It was Jude’s voice, fiery and scary. He heard a body slam against the wall again. “You ever lay a finger on that kid again and I’ll kill you!”
“Aw, Jude, you ain’t got no right…”
He heard the slam a third time, and then saw the boots slide to the floor heels down. “I ain’t got no right? Seven years, I served! Don’t you ever tell me I ain’t got no right!”
“You don’t know nothin…”
“I was drunk, but I remember. It took a while, but I remember it all.”
Ian heard a whomp that made him jump. “You been touching that boy?”
“Huh?”
“I know you Nate, you been touchin' that boy?”
“Hell no, I swear…”
Ian heard a thwack and a crack. “Damn, Jude, I swear!”
“Bes not be. Or you’ll answer to me. By God he may not have been born with much of a chance, and you tuck as much of the rest of it as you could. That poor kid never done nothin’ to you but be born. You let him be, or you’ll wish it was you sent up and not me.”
Ian saw Jude’s hand’s reach down and pick up Uncle Nate like a piece of paper. He heard footsteps and a splat outside the barn. He heard the barn doors shut and then silence. Ian cowered in the corner…
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