Archie is sick; ever since he got knocked out nothing seems right no more. Everything is strange he sees things moving away from him and then they come back real close. It’s mostly the walls in the room but now it’s the trees and the houses, hedges, sky, and everything else. He just can’t get things to stop moving away and then back when he looks at them. And he wants to throw up from time to time and his tongue is sore and swollen.
He must of bit his tongue when he went down cause it’s been bleeding and it hurts too much to eat. He’s walking to school but he don’t want to go: he might throw up in the classroom. He’s known as a tough guy now but he don’t feel like no tough guy.
And Pike-eye Monahan? Everybody’s mad at him because he lost on a foul to a little kid. Everybody hates a dirty fighter especially if he’s supposed to win. They say his pa’s so mad he shipped the disgraced bad guy out of town—maybe all the way back to Ireland. Even Pike-eye’s friends are getting shunned, ain’t nobody wants to talk to them no more. Somebody said Archie was always gonna be known as the guy who run Pike-eye outta town.
Archie walks right up to a boy sitting on a low brick fence. The boy is crying; books are scattered on the sidewalk around him. It’s Benny, the only rich kid in Washington School. Cab says rich folks ain’t no good because they’re inbred. Archie don’t know what inbred means but he feels sorry for Benny. Seems like everybody picks on Benny. The teachers are mean to him, and he’s got mean parents; they don’t allow Benny to bring any friends over to their house.
“What happened, Benny?” Archie bends down and gathers the books into his arms.
Benny looks at Archie and cries harder. “Paulie says if he sees me again he’s going to beat me to a pulp.
He grabbed my books and threw them on the ground. He hates me.” “Paulie hates ever’body. Come on, let’s go to school.”
“I don’t want to go to school.”
“No kiddin’? Then let’s go play hooky.”
Benny jumps to his feet. “I can’t. I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“You ain’t gonna get in no trouble. Nobody’s gonna catch us. We can go over to the other side of the river .”
Benny’s mouth drops open and he looks at Archie like he’s crazy. “The other side of the river? No kids from around here ever go over there. How are you going to get over there anyway?”
“We can go across the Highway 99 Bridge. We’ll have a lot of fun over there.”
Benny grabs his books. “My mom told me never to get on that bridge. It’s too dangerous. She said she’s going to give me a whipping if I do.”
Archie knows that's a lie; Benny ain't never had a whipping in his life. And that is a mystery to all the kids that know Benny: if he never gets a whipping why is he so scared? What punishment can be so awful?
Benny pulls out a hanky; he’s the only kid in town that’s got a hanky. Archie is reminded of a joke. “Hey, Benny, what does the rich man put in his pocket and the poor man throw away?”
“I don’t know. What?” Benny blows his nose.
“Snot!” Archie is laughing but Benny keeps looking sad. He’s a strange guy but he would be a regular guy if it weren’t for his folks.
Archie puts his arm around Benny and guides him across the golf course to a spot high above the Tuolumne River. There’s lots of brush and trees all along the bank and the water’s slowly running all the way to the ocean. Benny says, “Let’s stay on this side. I don’t want to cross over the river.”
Archie thinks that maybe Benny’s right. “OK! Let’s throw rocks.” And he blasts one hard and fast, skimming the bushes and crashing into the river.
“GOD DAMN, KIDS! You almost hit me! I’m gonna whale the tar out of ya!” A big old nasty-looking guy jumps out of the bushes and comes running up the hill.
“Don’t worry, Benny, we left him in the dust.” Archie stops running and looks back to see the angry man is no longer in sight.
Benny’s riled. “You shouldn’t have thrown that rock.”
“It’s your fault, Benny. This wouldn’t have happened if we was across the river like I said.” “OK. OK. Let’s go across the river. If I get in trouble it’s going to be your fault.”
The cars are racing along the road as the boys follow 99 Highway to the bridge. Seems like all the cars in town are trying to get across the river at the same time. The engine noise, gas fumes, and crazy drivers block out all other sounds, sights, and smells. The bridge sidewalk is narrow and close to the speeding cars. The concrete lions guarding the bridge approach have their faces chipped and worn smooth.
On the other side of the river the boys run hard to get away from the highway, but a new noise hits them head-on. The noise is a mighty roar that blots out everything. They are made deaf and dumb by the thunder that takes over the whole area. Bushes and trees block the path to the river. The travelers walk away from the river until they see a clearing. Once across the clearing they look from the high bank down into the moving water.
A giant iron scoop on a cable is flying down and splashing into the water. It comes back up and dumps a load of sand on the riverbank. There’s a high tower up near the giant motor that sits away from the river at the end of the cable. The guy who runs the thing must be in there with all his levers. He can’t be seen because of the glare even though the tower has windows all around. There’s a mound of sand going out into the stream directly beneath the cable. The mound goes almost to where the scoop crashes into the water. Poles set in this sand bank hold up the cable. Archie has heard about these things—it’s a dredge. He tries to tell Benny but the words are snatched from his mouth and blown away.
Benny’s mouth is open and he’s staring at this unbelievable contraption. Archie thinks: “I gotta watch him: he gets crazy sometimes.” The dredge keeps grabbing sand, taking it up the hill and dumping it, moving back and forth. The noise never stops.
Archie is distracted and when he looks back Bennie is running. He’s running pell-mell down the hill. He runs under the tower and out under the cable. Archie goes after him, as he, Benny, runs all the way to the end of this dam-like formation. Something causes Archie to stop and look back. He sees the speeding scoop coming straight toward him. Just before it hits him it levels off, passes over his head, and crashes in the river. The excitement and danger thrill Archie: he likes it.
Archie keeps chasing Benny, stopping to watch the scary scoop each time it passes over his head. He gets close to Benny who turns and looks at Archie with his eyes getting wider and wider. What’s wrong? What’s he getting upset about?
Archie feels a stinging whack across his rear end. He turns around and there’s a big man with a tree limb in his hand. He points the stick towards the riverbank. Archie runs back under the tower, stops, and looks back.
Benny’s backed all the way to the end of the mound. The man is walking fast right at him. Benny turns and jumps in the river. The current grabs him and sweeps him away. He can’t swim!
Archie is running along the riverbank, trying to keep his friend in sight. Benny’s fighting hard, splashing the water with all his might. Archie breaks a branch off a tree and runs ahead. He wades out into the current and reaches with the limb but he can’t reach him. Benny’s a goner.
There’s a man sitting on a tree stump smoking a cigarette and looking out across the river. Archie runs up and grabs him, pointing at Benny. The man jumps up, takes his shoes and pants off and dives in the river. He swims to Benny. Benny grabs him and pushes him under the water. The guy comes up fighting mad. He punches Benny full in the face. Benny goes under and the guy hauls him out by the back of his collar. He drags him to shore and throws him onto the bank. The guy's really mad.
Benny’s shaking, crying, coughing all at the same time. His clothes are stinky and slimy. He looks awful. Nobody can hear anything but the man waves the boys away from the river.
Archie gets Benny up and they walk towards home. It’s a long walk but Archie feels good about getting away from the noise. Benny ain’t doing any talking. He just keeps on shaking and crying. Near where this adventure started they stop to allow Archie to retrieve Benny’s books from their hiding spot in the bushes.
Benny’s got a big new pretty house. The best house Archie has ever seen. He rings the doorbell and Benny’s mom answers the door. “Benny! Where have you been? What happened to your clothes? Why weren’t you in school? Your father and I have been looking all over for you."
Benny’s shivering and shaking; his lips are quivering as he tries to say something.
“Shut up! I don’t want to hear your lies! Get in this house right now!” She grabs him and throws him in the house. Archie starts to leave but she turns and says, “Stay right there. I want you to see what happens to Benny when he’s bad.”
Benny’s looking around his mom, pleading with his eyes for his friend to leave. But Archie’s gotta see what’s gonna happen. If it’s not the cat-o’-nine-tails, what could it be?
Archie hears the commotion in the house. Benny’s pleading and his dad is hollering. Archie can’t make out the words but something bad is happening. The door flies open and Dad comes out. He has an awful look on his face and his hair’s all messed up. He reaches back and starts pulling Benny out of the house. Benny’s fighting and screaming, grabbing the doorjamb, doing everything he can to stay inside.
Now he’s on the porch, fighting, kicking, and screaming. His dad says, "Benny, get on outside and play with your friend."
Benny ain't going nowhere. He grabs the porch pole, sinks to the ground, and looks at Archie through tears and screams. He's asking Archie with his eyes not to tell anybody that his dad is making him wear a girl's dress.
Archie walks away. Poor Benny the worst thing that can happen to a boy has happened to him.
Archie vows never to tell anybody.
Chapter X
Archie is sitting on the couch in Grandma’s arms. “How ya feelin’, Archie?”
“I feel okay. When me and Benny was foolin’ around under the dredge I forgot all about being sick and feeling funny and all.
“Ha! Ha! Sumtimes that’s the best medicine just get on with your life and forget all your troubles. I remember when me and Tom first got married …”
“Grandma, you never did tell me much about you gettin’ married and all that stuff. The last I remember you got kicked out of your house by the woman you worked for.”
“Oh yeah. That was a kick in the pants all right. I was young and always had a roof over my head and all of a sudden I was out on the street. Lucky Tom was with me cause he knowed right away what to do. He said I could sleep in the fat lady’s tent and work in the kitchen. We went back to the circus that night and left Topeka the next day. The whole circus pulled up stakes and hit the road in a caravan. We didn’t stop movin’ till we hit Emporia. Our little circus always played in the little towns. I never figgered why they was in Topeka when I joined. Maybe it was providence.”
“What’s providence?”
“Damned if I know. It just seemed like sumthin’ smart to say. And quit your God- damned laughin’.
If I pop one upside your head you won’t think it’s so funny.” “Ha! Ha! Sorry, Grandma.”
She pulls Archie’s head to her breast. “You little dickens. You know I’d never hitcha’. That punch I caught ya with was a accident. You was blockin’ and dodgin’ punches so pretty I decided to throw a five punch combination atcha’. That wouldn’t have happened if ya was throwin’ punches back. Remember that the next time you put the gloves on.”
Archie quits laughing. He’s hoping that Grandma, Lonnie, and everybody else will forget about fighting. The one thing that worries him is that everybody says that he’s gotta fight Paulie. Paulie is one guy he don’t want to mess with. “So ya married Tom, slept with the fat lady, and worked in the kitchen.”
Grandma pushes Archie away and laughs so hard she’s shaking all over and tears pour out of her eyes. “How am I gonna tell my story with you making me laugh so hard? You’re the funniest and smartest kid I ever knowed. Where’d ya get so smart at?”
“Pa says I’m the dumbest kid he ever saw.”
Grandma sobers up. “That’s what all men tell their sons. I don’t know why they do that. It just puts an extra burden on somebody trying to find his way in the world. O! O! Here comes Lonnie an’ it looks like he’s bustin’ with news. I’ll have ta tell ya my story later.”
Archie looks out the front window and sees Lonnie hurrying up the front walk. He’s got a bigger smile than usual on his face. The front door flies open and that game leg swings stiffly across the threshold and plants its foot on the floor. The rest of Lonnie follows the leg. “Grandma, Andy’s coming home. He’ll be here next week.”
“Where’d ya hear that.”
“Babe Risko just pulled upside me in his big car and said he’s got a fight for Andy next month. He said this is a big fight and if Andy wins he will be in line for some even bigger things. That’s what he said.”
Grandma disengages from Archie and stands up. “Babe Risko? Ain’t he the fat son of a bitch that ruined Tommy?”
“He didn’t ruin Tommy. Tommy caused his own problems. Besides Tommy’s the one that got ever’ thing going. He told Babe about Andy.”
“Horse manure! Tommy wouldn’t have no dealings with that fat son of a bitch after all that’s happened.”
Lonnie hops back towards the kitchen swinging his bad leg like a little kid. “You go on trashin’ what’s happenin’ all you want. It’s gonna happen no matter what. And wait’ll ya find out who Andy’s gonna fight.”
Grandma races after her fast-moving son. “Longfellow Johnson! Don’t you walk away from me.
Who’s he fightin’ anyways?”
Archie hears the back door open, Lonnie laughing, and silence after the door slams shut. Grandma comes storming back into the front room with a frown on her face. “Dang that boy. He can be so frustratin’.”
Archie’s puzzled. “Who’s Tommy and why didja call him Longfellow?”
Grandma smiles and puts her arm around Archie. “Tommy’s my other son, Tom Junior. You ain’t met him. We named Lonnie after a famous man. We was hopin’ he would take to book-learnin’. But he turned out like the rest of us: none of the Johnson’s like schoolin’.”
Archie figgers he’s got Grandma talking now and he can jump into some forbidden subjects. “What happened to Lonnie’s leg and who did he murder?”
Grandma seizes Archie’s shoulders and turns him to face her. “Boy, there’s things we don’t talk about in this house. I’m gonna pretend I never heard what you said. You just keep all those things to yourself.”
Archie nods his head in agreement but he’s trying to think of a way to find out everything.
The next day Archie is walking across the school grounds when he crosses paths with Gary Striker.
Gary’s a stuck-up guy but Archie says hello anyway. Gary turns with a sneer on his face. “You ain’t nothing but an Okie. My dad said you should go back to Oklahoma where you belong.”
Archie’s heard this stuff before and he’s not bothered by attacks like this. “I ain’t done it. I’m from Colorado, Denver Colorado.”
“You’re still an Okie. And your friends, the Johnson’s, are Okies too. You Okie sons a bitches can’t even talk like us real Americans.”
“You don’t know nothin’. They’re from Kansas.”
“Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma it’s all the same. You’re all dumb Okies and don’t belong in California. Besides I know a lot more than you do.”
“You still don’t know nothin’.”
Gary can see that Archie’s not upset by his taunts so he decides to escalate his assault. “I know Lonnie’s a murderer.” He’s encouraged by Archie’s reaction. “A no-good rotten murderer.”
Tears spring into Archie’s eyes. “He didn’t murder nobody.” “Oh yeah? He murdered Todd Toolbee.”
Archie’s crying now. “Who’s Todd Toolbee?” “He’s Caleb Toolbee’s son.”
“Who’s Caleb Toolbee?”
Gary’s incredulous. “You are dumb. He’s the richest man in Stanislaus County—maybe the richest guy in the whole world. He owns everything in this county. Boy, are you dumb.”
Back home, Grandma can’t get Archie to stop crying. “What’s a matter, boy? Come on it couldn’t be that bad. You can lay it on ol’ Granny here and ever’thing will be all right.”
Grandma sits beside Archie on the couch and he scoots into her arms, sobbing as he says, “Gary Striker said Lonnie murdered Todd Toolbee. He didn’t do it. Did he?”
Grandma pats Archie’s back. “Land of Goshen, some things never die. Jest calm down and I’ll tell you the whole story then I never wanna hear you talk about it again.”
Chapter XI
Grandma pulls a large steamer trunk from under her bed. She motions to Archie to help her carry the worn container into the front room where they sit it in front of the couch. She pulls the lid up to reveal the interior stuffed with photo albums, scrap books, newspaper clippings, and a large assortment of mementos. She looks at Archie and motions with her hand towards the trunk contents. “This is all I got in this world.” And she starts crying, her shoulders shaking.
Archie is moved to tears. He sits beside her, wraps himself in her arms, and they suffer, together, a long interlude of uncontrolled weeping. Finally, she pushes Archie away. “Enough of that. We gotta get on with the story. I’ll be back in a minute.” She walks toward the kitchen and the bathroom beyond.
Archie looks after her in amazement; how could a woman so tough become so much like a baby over some old stuff? He likes to look at old pictures and hear about people long dead and things they did but it never made him cry. Even his mother, as mean as she is, will start crying when she talks about things and people from long ago. Heck, Grandpa and Grandma weren’t even dead and she cried about them because they lived so far away and she’d never see ‘em again. He just don’t understand grown-ups.
Grandma returns and pulls a newspaper clipping from the trunk as she sits down beside Archie. “I gotta start from the beginnin’ and tell the whole story. Otherwise you’ll never understand why that Toolbee kid needed killin’.”
Grandma’s still sniffling, her flabby lips quivering, and Archie knows he’s the only person in the whole world that can understand her. Even Lonnie would be asking her to say it again. But not Archie, it’s almost like he knows what she’s going to say before she says it. She points with a shaky finger at the picture on the clipping. “That’s us. Tom, me, Tommy, and Lonnie.” She points to each figure as they appear from left to right. Archie looks at the picture and sees a tall man staring back at him. It’s the first time he’s seen Tom and he has to agree with Grandma; the guy looks like a movie star. The lady standing beside Tom is smiling but the two boys, Tommy a head taller, have mean looks on their faces. All are wearing blue tights like acrobats in the movies. The caption beneath the photo says: “THE JOHNSONS—A CIRCUS FAMILY.”
“Gosh, Grandma. You guys was famous.”
Grandma’s face breaks into a big grin. “We had our day.” “And you was purty. You said you was ugly.”
Grandma laughs. “I got married and that changed everthin’.”
Archie remembers that Grandma joined the circus with Tom when she was kicked out of her home. “Did you marry Tom right away?”
Grandma laughs some more. “Heavens no, child. Tom always thought I was too young ta get married. I almost had ta bust him one ta get him ta notice me.”
Archie is puzzled. “I thought you guys was in love when ya first met.”
Grandma returns the clipping to the trunk and begins sorting through other clippings. “Tom wasn’t like that. He just saw me as a young girl who needed a friend. He was never lookin’ for nothing for hisself.” Her face takes on a dreamy look as she lays her head back and stares at the ceiling. “I can tell ya the story ‘cause I got it rit down.”
Archie raises up on a knee and elbow to stare into her face. “Ya mean ya got it all written down?” “Yup. Right ‘cher.” Her pale blue eyes sparkle as she taps her forehead with a finger. She screws
her face into a wrinkled grotesque smile. Her jaws clamp together and her face ends at the tip of her nose—it’s her way of clowning.
This clowning always made Archie laugh till now. He stares long and hard at her as something cold grows deep inside his body. He almost never thinks of things beyond himself. That other people have a story to tell is something he never considers. He doesn’t reflect on the time stories were told around the campfire back in Colorado. Like all children he views others as there for him and him alone. But this mean truth has been lurking in his brain for a long time: GROWN-UPS WILL NOT LIVE LONG IF THEY DON’T HAVE ANY TEETH AND GRANDMA DON’T HAVE NO TEETH.
Next Up: Grandma’s Story