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imthederpyfox — Of Mice and Men - Parody crossover 3
#cross #crossover #honeydew #men #mice #over #parody #story #three #xeph #yog #xephos #yogs #yogscast #3
Published: 2015-04-28 22:00:38 +0000 UTC; Views: 2175; Favourites: 0; Downloads: 0
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WARNING - This is a long piece and is something I decided to write while reading the original book the prepare for my English exam. It will be long and if you get bored you don't have to read all of it, I just thought of it because of a reference Lewis made to this book a while ago. I didn't originally write the book, obviously, so anything that sounds insulting or is disrespectful, I didn't write it, I'm just writing and changing from the original book. If you do want to read it, then hope you enjoy
Four
Panda, the negro stable buck, had his bunk in the harness room; a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn. On one side of the little room there was a square four-paned window, and on the other, a narrow plank door leading into the barn. Panda's bunk was a long box filled with straw, on which his blankets were flung. On the wall by the window there were pegs on which hung broken harness in process of being mended; strips of new leather; and under the window itself a little bench for leather-working tool, curved knifes and needles and balls of linen thread, and a small hand riveter. On pegs were also pieces of harness, a split collar with the horsehair stuffing sticking out, a broken hame, and a trace chain with its leather covering split. Panda had his apple box over his bunk, and in it a range of medicine bottles, both for himself and for the horses. There were cans of saddle soap and a drippy can of tar with its paint brush sticking over the edge. And scattered about the floor were a number of personal possessions; for, being alone, Panda could leave his tings about, and being a stable buck and a cripple, he was more permanent than the other men, and he had accumulated more possessions than he could carry on his back.
Panda possessed several pairs of shoes, a pair of rubber boots, a big alarm clock, and a single-barrelled shotgun. And he had books, too; a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905. There were battered magazines and a few dirty books on a special shelf over his bunk. A pair of large gold-rimmed spectacles hung from a nail on the wall above his bed.
This room was swept and fairly neat, for Panda was a proud, aloof man. He kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs. His body was bent over to the left by his crooked spine, and his eyes lay deep in his head, and because of their depth seemed to glitter with intensity. His lean face was lined with deep black wrinkles, and he had thin, pain-tightened lips which were lighter than his face.
It was Saturday night. Through the open door that lead into the barn came the sound of moving horses, of feet stirring, of teeth chomping on hay, of the rattle of halter chains. In the stable buck's room a small electric globe threw a meagre yellow light.
Panda sat on his bunk. His shirt was out of his jeans in back. In one hand he held a bottle of liniment, and with the other he rubbed his spine. Now and then he poured a few drops of liniment into his pink-palmed hand and reached up under his shirt to rub again. He flexed his muscles against his back and shivered.
Noiselessly Honeydew appears in the open doorway and stood there looking in, his big shoulders nearly filling the opening. For a moment Panda did not see him, but on raising his eyes he stiffened and a scowl came on his face. His hand came out from under his shirt.
Honeydew smiled helplessly in an attempt to make friends.
Panda said sharply, "You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me."
Honeydew gulped and his smile grew more fawning. "I ain't doing nothing," he said. "Just come to look at my puppy. And I seen your light," he explained.
"Well, I got a right to have a light. You go on get outta my room. I ain't wanted in the bunk house, and you ain't wanted in my room."
"Why ain't I wanted?" Honeydew asked.
"'Cause I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me."
Honeydew flapped his big hands helplessly. "Ever'body went into town," he said. "Strippin' an' Xeph an' ever'body. Xeph says I gotta stay here an' not get in no trouble. I seen your light."
"Well, what do you want?"
"Nothing - I seen your light. I thought I could jus' come in an' set."
Panda stared at Honeydew, and he reached behind him and took down the spectacles and adjusted them over his pink ears and stared again. "I don't know what you're doin' in the barn anyway," he complained. "You ain't no skinner. They's no call for a bucker to come into the barn at all. You ain't no skinner. You ain't got nothing to do with the horses."
"The pup," Honeydew repeated. "I come to see my pup."
"Well, go see your pup, then. Don't come in a place you're not wanted.
Honeydew lost his smiles. He advanced a step into the room, then remembered and back to the door again. "I looked at 'em a little. Strippin' says I ain't to pet 'em very much."
Panda said, "Well, you been takin' 'em out of the nest all the time. I wonder the old lady don't move 'em some place else."
"Oh, she don't care. She lets me." Honeydew had moved into the room again.
Panda scowled, but Honeydew's disarming smile defeated him. "Come on in and set down a while," Panda said. "Long as you won't get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down." His tone was a little more friendly. "All the boys gone into town, huh?"
"All but old Lalna. He just sets in the bunk house sharpening his pencils and sharpening and figuring."
Panda adjusted his glasses. "Figuring? What's Lalna figuring about?"
Honeydew almost shouted, "'Bout the rabbits."
"You're nuts," said Panda. "You're crazy as a wedge. What rabbits you talkin' about?"
"The rabbits we gonna get, and I get to tend 'em., cut grass an' give 'em water, an' like that."
"Jus' nuts," said Panda. "I don't blame the guy you travel with for keepin' you outs sight."
Honeydew sat quietly, "It ain't no lie. We're gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an' live on the fatta the lan'."
Panda settled himself more comfortably on his bunk. "Set down," he invited. "Set down on the nail keg."
Honeydew hunched down on the little barrel. "You think it's a lie," Honeydew said. "But it ain't no lie. Ever' word's the truth, an' you can ast Xeph."
Panda put his dark chin into his pink palm. "You travel aroun' with Xeph, don't ya?"
"Sure. Me an' him goes ever' place together."
Panda continued. "Sometimes he talks, and you don't know what the hell he's talkin' about. Ain't that so?" He leaned forward, boring Honeydew with his deep eyes. "Ain't that so?"
"Yeah ... sometimes."
"Jus' talks on, an' you don't know what the hell it's all about?"
"Yeah ... sometimes. But ... not always."
Panda leaned forward over the edge of the bunk. "I ain't a southern negro," he said. "I was born right here in California. My old man had a chicken ranch, 'bout ten acres. The white kids come to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice. My ol' man didn't like that. I never knew till long later why he didn't like that. But I know now." He hesitated, and when he spoke again his voice was softer. "There wasn't another coloured family for miles around. And now there ain't no coloured man on this ranch an' there's jus' one family in Soledad." He laughed. "If I say something, why it's just a nigger saying it."
Honeydew asked, "How long you think it'll be before then pups will be old enough to pet?"
Panda laughed again. "A guy can talk to you an' be sure you won't go blabbin'. Couple of weeks' an' them pups'll be all right. Xeph knows what he's about. Jus' talks, an' you don't understand nothing." He leaned forward excitedly. "This is just a nigger talkin', an a busted-black nigger. So it don't mean nothing, see? You couldn't remember it anyways. I seen it over an' over an over - a guy talkin' to another guy and it don't make no difference id he don't hear or understand. The thing is, they're talkin', or they're settin' still not talkin'. It don't make no difference, no difference." His excitement had increased until he pounded his knee with this hand. "Xeph can tell you screwy things, and it don't matter. It's just the talking. It's just bein' with another guy. That's all." He paused.
His voice grew soft and persuasive. "S'pose Xeph don't come back no more. S'pose he took a powder and he ain't coming back. What'll you do then?"
Honeydew attention came gradually to what had been said. "What?" he demanded.
"I said S'pose Xeph went into town tonight and you never heard of him no more." Panda pressed forward some kind of private victory. "Just S'pose that," he repeated.
"He won't do it," Honeydew cried. "Xeph wouldn't do nothing like that. I been with Xeph a long time. He'll come back tonight ..." But the doubt was too much for him. "Don't you think he will?"
Panda face lighted with pleasure in his torture. "Nobody can't tell what a guy'll do," he observed calmly. "Le's say he wants to come back and can't. S'pose he gets killed or hurt so he can't come back."
Honeydew struggled to understand. "Xeph won't do nothing like that," he repeated. "Xeph is careful. He won't get hurt. He ain't never been hurt, 'cause he's careful."
"Well, S'pose, jus' S'pose he don't come back. What'll you do then?"
Honeydew face wrinkled with apprehension. "I don't know. Say, what you doin' anyways?" he cried. "This ain't true. Xeph ain't hurt."
Panda bored in on him. "Want me ta tell ya what'll happen? They'll take ya to the booby hatch. They'll tie ya up with a collar, like a dog." Suddenly Honeydew's eyes centred and grew quiet and mad. He stood up and walked dangerously toward Panda. "Who hurt Xeph?" he demanded.
Panda saw danger as it approached him. He edged back on his bunk to get out of the way. "I was just supposin'," he said. "Xeph ain't hurt. He's all right, He'll be all right."
Honeydew stood over him. "What you supposin' for? Ain't nobody goin' to suppose no hurt to Xeph."
Panda removed his glasses and wiped his eyes with his fingers. "Jus' set down," he said. "Xeph ain't hurt."
Honeydew growled back to his seat on the nail keg. "Ain't nobody goin' to talk no hurt to Xeph," he grumbled.
Panda said gently, "Maybe you can see now. You got Xeph. You know he's goin' to come back. S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody - to be near him." He whined, "A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya," he cried, "I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick."
"Xeph gonna come back," Honeydew reassured himself in a frightened voice. "Maybe Xeph come back already. Maybe I better go see."
Panda said, "I didn't mean to scare you. He'll come back. I was talkin' about myself. A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin' books or thinkin' or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin', an' he got nothing to tell him what's so an' what ain't so. Maybe if he sees somethin', he don't know whether it's right or not. He can't turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can't tell. he got nothing to measure by. I seen things out here. I wasn't drunk. I don't know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an' then it would be all right. But I jus' don't know." Panda was looking across the room now, looking toward the window.
Honeydew said miserably, "Xeph wun't go away and leave me. I know Xeph wun't do that."
The stable buck went on dreamily, "I remember when I was a little kid on my old man's chicken ranch. Had two brothers. They was always near me, always there. Used to sleep right in the same room, right in the same bed - all three. Had a strawberry patch. Had an alfalfa patch. Used to turn the chickens out in the alfalfa on a sunny morning. My brothers'd set on a fence rail an' watch 'em - white chickens they were.
Gradually Honeydew's interest came around to what was being said. "Xeph says we're gonna have alfalfa for the rabbits."
"What rabbits?"
"We're gonna have rabbits an' a berry patch."
"You're nuts."
"We are too. You ast Xeph."
"You're nuts." Panda was scornful. "I see hundreds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches with their bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an' they quit an' go on; an' every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never God damn one of 'em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever'body wants a little piece of lan'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody never gets no land. It's just in their head. They're all the time talkin' about it, but it's jus' in their head." He paused and looked toward the open door, for the horses were moving restlessly and the halter chains clinked. A horse whinnied. "I guess somebody's out there," Panda said. "Maybe Strippin'. Strippin' comes in sometimes two, three times a night. Strippin's a real skinner. He looks out for his team." He pulled himself painfully upright and mover toward the door. "That you, Strippin'?" he called.
"Lalna's voice answered. "Strippin' went in town. Say, you seen Honeydew?"
"Ya mean the big guy?"
"Yeah. Seen him around any place?"
"He's in here," Panda said shortly. He went back to his bunk and lay down.
Lalna stood in the doorway scratching his bald wrist and looked blindly into the lighted room. He made no attempt to enter. "Tell ya what, Honeydew. I been figuring out about them rabbits."
Panda said irritably, "You can come in if you want."
Lalna seemed embarrassed. "I do know. 'Course, if ya want me to."
"Come on in. If ever'body's comin' in, you might just as well." It was difficult for Panda to conceal his pleasure with anger.
Lalna came in, but he was still embarrassed. "You got a nice cosy little place in here," he said to Panda. "Must be nice to have a room all to yourself this way"
"Sure," said Panda. And a manure pile under the window. Sure, it's swell."
Honeydew broke in, "You said about them rabbis." Lalna leaned against the wall beside the broken collar while he scratched the wrist stump. "I been here a long time," he said. "An' Panda's been here a long time. This's the first time I ever been in his room."
Panda said darkly, "Guy's don't come into a coloured man's room very much. Nobody ever been here but Strippin'. Strippin' an' the boss."
Lalna quickly changed the subject. "Strippin's as good a skinner as I ever seen."
Honeydew leaned toward the old scienter. "About them rabbits," he insisted.
Lalna smiled. "I got figured out. We can make some money on them rabbits if we go about it right."
"But I get to tend 'em," Honeydew broke in. "Xeph says I get to tend 'em. He promised."
Panda interrupted brutally. "You guys is just kiddin' yourself. You'll talk about it a hell of a lot, but you won't get no land. You'll be a scienter here till they take you out in a box. Hell, I seen too many guys. Honeydew here'll quit an' be on the road in two, three weeks. Seems like ever' guy got land in his head."
Lalna rubbed his cheek angrily. "You God damn right we gonna do it. Xeph says we are. We got the money right now."
"Yeah?" said Panda. "An' where's Xeph now? In town in a whore house. That's where your money's goin'. Jesus, I seen it happen too many times. I seen too many guys with land in their head. They never get none under their hand."
Lalna cried, "Sure they all want it. Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus' som'thin' that was his. Somethin' he could live on and there couldn't nobody throw him off of it. I never had none. I planted crops for damn near ever'body in this state, but they wasn't my crops, and when I harvested 'em, it wasn't none of my harvest. But we gonna do it now, and don't you make no mistake about that. Xeph ain't got the money in town. The money's in the bank. Me an' Honeydew an' Xeph. We gonna have a room to ourselves. We're gonna have green corn an' maybe a cow or a goat." He stopped, overwhelmed with his picture.
Panda asked, "You say you got the money?"
"Damn right. We got most of it. Just a little bit more to get. Have it all in one month. Xeph got the land all picked out, too."
Panda reached around and explored his spine with his hand. "I never seen a guy really do it," he said. "I seen guys nearly crazy with loneliness for land, but ever' time a whore house or a blackjack game took what it takes." He hesitated. "...If you ... Guys would want a hand to work for nothing - just his keep, why I'd come an' lend a hand. I ain't so crippled I can't work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to."
"Any you boys seen Rythian?"
They swung their heads toward the door. Looking in was Rythian's wife. Her face was heavily made up. Her lips were slightly parted. She breathed strongly, as though she had been running.
"Rythian ain't been here," Panda said sourly.
She stood still in the doorway, smiling a little at them, rubbing the nails of one hand with the thumb and forefinger of the other. And her eyes travelled from one face to another. "They left all the weak ones here," she said finally. "Think I don't know where they all went? Even Rythian. I know where they all went."
Honeydew watched her fascinated; but Lalna and Panda were scowling down away form her eyes. Lalna said, "Then if you know, why you want to ast us where Rythian is at?"
She regarded him amusedly. "Funny thing," she said. "If I catch any one man, and he's alone, I get along fine with him. But just let two of the guys get together an' you won't talk. Jus' nothing but mad." She dropped her fingers and put her hands on her hips. "You're all scared of each other, that's what. Ever' one of you's scared the rest is goin' to get something on you."
After a pause Panda said, "Maybe you better go along to your own house now. We don't want no trouble."
"Well, I ain't giving you no trouble. Think I don't like to talk to somebody ever' once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?"
Lalna laid the stump of his wrist on his knee and rubbed it gently with his hand. He said accusingly, "You gotta husban'. You got no call foolin' aroun' with other guys, causin' trouble."
The girl flared up. "Sure I gotta husban'. You all seen him. Swell guy, ain't he? Spends all his time sayin' what he's gonna do to guys he don't like, and he don't like nobody. Think I'm gonna stay in that two-by-four house and listen to how Rythian's gonna lead with his left twice, and then bring in the ol' right cross? 'One-two,' he says. 'Jus' the ol' one-two and he'll go down.'" She paused and her face lost its sullenness and grew interested. "Say - what happened to Rythian's han'?"
There was an embarrassed silence. Lalna stole a look at Honeydew. Then he coughed. "Why ... Rythian ... he got his han' caught in a machine, ma'am. Bust his han'."
She watched for a moment, and then she laughed. "Baloney! What you think you're sellin' me? Rythian started sum'pin' he didn' finish. Caught in a machine - baloney! Why, he ain't give nobody the good ol' one-two since he got his han' bust. Who bust him?"
Lalna repeated sullenly, "Got it caught in a machine."
"Awright," she said contemptuously. "Awright, cover 'im up if ya wanta. Whatta I care? You bindle bums think you're so damn good. Whatta ya think I am, a kid? I tell ya I could of went with shows. Not jus' one, neither. An' a guy tol' me he could put me in pitchers ..." She was breathless with indignation. " - Sat'iday night. Ever'body out doin' sum'pin. Ever'body! An' what am I doin'? Standin' here talking to a bunch of bindle stiffs - a nigger an' a dum-dum and a lousy ol' sheep - an' likin' it because they ain't nobody else."
Honeydew watched her, his mouth half open. Panda had retired into the terrible protective dignity of a negro. But a change came over old Lalna. He stood up suddenly and knocked his nail keg over backward. "I had enough," he said angrily. "You ain't wanted here. We told you you ain't. An' I tell ya, you go floozy idears about what us guys amounts to. You ain't got sense enough in that chicken head to even see that we ain't stiffs. S'pose you get us canned. S'pose you do. You think we'll hit the highway an' look for another lousy two-bit job like this. You don't know that we got our own ranch to go to, an' our own house. We ain't got to stay here. We gotta house and chickens an' fruit trees an' a place a hundred time prettier than this. An' we got fren's, that's what we got. Maybe there was a time when we was scared of gettin' canned, but we ain't no more. We got our own lan', and it's ours, an' we c'n go to it."
Rythian's wife laughed at him. "Baloney," she said. "I seen too many you guys. If you had two bits in the worl', why you'd be gettin' two shots of corn with it and suckin' the bottom of the glass. I know you guys."
Lalna's face had grown redder and redder, but before she was done speaking, he had control of himself. He was the master of the situation. "I might of knew," he said gently. "Maybe you just better go along an' roll your hoop. We ain't got nothing to say to you at all. We know what we got, and we don't care whether you know it or not. So maybe you better jus' scatter along now, 'cause Rythian maybe ain't gonna like his wife out in the barn with us 'bindle stiffs'."
She looked from one face to another, and they were all closed against her. And she looked longest at Honeydew, until he dropped his eyes in embarrassment. Suddenly she said, "Where'd you get them bruises on your face?"
Honeydew looked up guiltily. "Who - me?"
"Yeah, you."
Honeydew looked to Lalna for help, and then he looked at his lap again. "He got his han' caught in a machine," he said.
Rythian's wife laughed. "OK, Machine. I'll talk to you later. I like machines."
Lalna broke in. "You let this guy alone. Don't you do no messing aroun' with him. I'm gonna tell Xeph what you says. Xeph wont have you messin' with Honeydew.
"Who's Xeph?" she asked. "The blue eyes guy you come with?"
Honeydew smiled happily. "That's him," he said. "That's the guy, an', he's gonna let me tend the rabbits."
"Well, if that's all you want, I might get a couple rabbits myself."
Panda stood up from his bunk and faced her. "I had enough," he said coldly. "You got no rights comin' in a coloured man's room. You got no rights messing around in here at all. Now you jus' get out, an' get out quick. If you don't, I'm gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more."
She turned to him in scorn. "Listen, Nigger," she said. "You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?"
Panda stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself.
She closed on him. "You know what I could do?"
Panda seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed himself against the wall. "Yes, ma'am."
"Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny."
Panda had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego - nothing to arouse either like or dislike. He said, "Yes, ma'am," and his voice was toneless.
For a moment she stood over him as though waiting for him to move so that she could whip at him again; but Panda sat perfectly still, his eyes averted, everything that might be hurt drawn in. She turned at last to the other two.
Old Lalna was watching her, fascinated. "If you was to do that, we'd tell," he said quietly. "We'd tell about you framin' Panda."
"Tell an' be damned," she cried. "Nobody'd listen to you."
Lalna subsided. "No...," he agreed. "Nobody'd listen to us."
Honeydew whined, "I wish't Xeph was here. I wish't Xeph was here."
Lalna stepped over to him. "Don't you worry none," he said. "I jus' heard the guys comin' in. Xeph'll be in the bunk house right now, I bet." He turned to Rythian's wife. "You better go home now," he said quietly. "If you go right now, we won't tell Rythian you was here."
She appraised him coolly. "I ain't sure you heard nothing."
"Better not take no chances," he said. "If you ain't sure you better take the safe way."
She turned to Honeydew. "I'm glad you bust up Rythian a little bit. He got it comin' to him. Sometimes I'd like to bust him myself." She slipped out the door and disappeared into the dark barn. And while she went through the barn, the halter chains rattled, and some horses snorted and some stamped their feet.
Panda seemed to come slowly out of the layers of protection he had put on. "Was that the truth what you said about the guys come back?" he asked.
"Sure. I heard 'em."
"Well, I didn't hear nothing."
"The gate banged," Lalna said, and he went on, "Jesus Christ, Rythian's wife can move quiet. I guess she had a lot of practice, though."
Panda avoided the whole subject now. "Maybe you guys better go," he said. "I ain't sure I want you in here no more. A coloured man got to have some rights even if he don't like 'em."
Lalna said, "That bitch didn't ought to of said that to you."
"It wasn't nothing," Panda said dully. "You guys comin' in an' settin' made me forget. What she says is true."
The horses snorted out in the barn and the chains rang and a voice called, "Honeydew. Oh, Honeydew. You in the barn?"
"It's Xeph," Honeydew cried. And he answered, "Here, Xeph. I'm right in here."
In a second Xeph stood framed in the door, and he looked disapprovingly about. "What you doin' in Panda's room? You hadn't ought to be in here."
Panda nodded. "I tol' 'em, but they come in anyways."
"Well, why'n't you kick 'em out?"
"I di'n't care much," said Panda. "Honeydew's a nice fella."
Now Lalna aroused himself. "Oh, Xeph! I been figurin' and figurin'. I got it doped out how we can even make some money on them rabbits."
Xeph scowled. "I thought I tol' you not to tell nobody about that."
Lalna was crestfallen. "Didn't tell nobody but Panda."
Xeph said, "Well you guys get outta here. Jesus, seems like i can't go away for a minute."
Lalna and Honeydew stood up and went towards the door. Panda called, "Lalna!"
"Huh?"
"'Member what I said about hoein' and doin' odd jobs?"
"Yeah," said Lalna. "I remember."
"Well, jus' forget it," said Panda. "I didn't mean it. Jus' foolin'. I wouldn't want to go no place like that."
"Well, OK, if you feel like that. Goodnight."
The three men went out of the door. As they went through the barn the horses snorted and the halter chains rattled.
Panda sat on his bunk and looked at the door for a moment, and then he reached for the liniment bottle. He pulled out his shirt in back, poured a little liniment in his pink palm, and, reaching around, he fell slowly to rubbing his back.
Five
One end of the great barn was piled high with new hay and over the pile hung the four-taloned Jackson fork suspended from its pulley. The hay came down like a mountain slope to the other end of the barn, and there was a level place as yet unfilled with the new crop. At the sides the feeding racks were visible, and between the slats the heads of horses could be seen.
It was Sunday afternoon. The resting horses nibbled the remaining wisps of hay, and they stamped their feet and they bit the wood of the mangers and rattled the halter chains. The afternoon sun slides in through the cracks of the barn walls and lay in bright lines on the hay. There was a buzz of flies in the air, the lazy afternoon humming.
From outside came the clang of horseshoes on the playing peg and the shouts of men, playing, encouraging, jeering. But in the barn it was quiet and humming and lazy and warm.
Only Honeydew was in the barn, and Honeydew sat in the hay beside the packing case under the manger in the end of the barn that had not been filled with hay. Honeydew sat in the hay and looked at the little dead puppy that lay in front of him. Honeydew looked at it for a long time, and then he put out his huge hand and stroked it, stroked it clear from one end to the other.
And Honeydew said softly to the puppy, "Why do you got to get killed? You ain't so little as mice. I didn't bounce you hard." He bent the pup's head up and looked in its face, and he said to it, "Now maybe Xeph ain't gonna let me tend no rabbits, if he fin's out you got killed."
He scooped a little hollow and laid the puppy in it and covered it over with hay, out of sight; but he continued to stare at the mound he had made. He said, "This ain't no bad thing like I got to go hide in the brush. Oh! no. This ain't. I'll tell Xeph I foun' it dead."
He unburied the puppy and inspected it, and he stroked it from ears to tail. He went on sorrowfully, "But he'll know. Xeph always knows. He'll say, "'You done it. Don't try to put nothing over on me.'" An' he'll say, "'Now jus' for that you don't get to tend no rabbits!'"
Suddenly his anger rose. "God damn you," he cried. "Why do you got to get killed? You ain't so little as mice." He picked up the pup and hurled it from him. He turned his back on it. He sat bent over his knees and he whispered, "Now I won't get to tend no rabbits. Now he won't let me." He ricked himself back and forth in his sorrow.
From outside came the clang of horseshoes on the iron stake, and then a little chorus of cries. Honeydew got up and brought the puppy back and laid it on the hay and sat down. He stroked the pup again. "You wasn't big enough," he said. "They tol' me and tol' me you wasn't. I di'n't know you'd get killed so easy." He worked his fingers on the pup's limp ear. "Maybe Xeph won't care," he said. "This here God damn little son-of-a-bitch wasn't nothing to Xeph."
Rythian's wife came around the end of the last stall. She came very quietly, so that Honeydew didn't see her. She wore her bright cotton dress and the mules with the red ostrich feathers. Her face was made up and the little sausage curls were all in place. She was quite near to him before Honeydew looked up and saw her.
In a panic he shovelled hay over the puppy with his fingers. He looked sullenly up at her.
She said, "What you got there, sonny boy?"
Honeydew glared at her. "Xeph says I ain't to have nothing to do with you - talk to you or nothing."
She laughed. "Xeph giving you orders about everything?"
Honeydew looked down at the hay. "Says I can't tend no rabbits if I talk to you or anything."
She said quietly, "He's scared Rythian'll get mad. Well, Rythian got his arm in a sling - an' if Rythian gets tough, you can break his other han'. You didn't put nothing over on me about gettin' it caught on no machine."
But Honeydew was not to be drawn. "No, sir. I ain't gonna talk to you or nothing."
She knelt in the hay beside him. "Listen," she said. "All the guys got a horseshoe tenement goin' on. It's on'y about four o'clock. None of them guys in goin' to leave that tenement. Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely."
Honeydew said. "Well, I ain't supposed to talk to you or nothing."
"I get lonely," she said. "You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Rythian. Else he gets mad. How'd you like not to talk to anybody?"
Honeydew said, "Well, I ain't supposed to. Xeph scared i'll get in trouble."
She changed the subject. "What you got covered up there?"
Then all of Honeydew's woe came back on him. "Jus' my pup," he said sadly. "Jus' my little pup." And he swept the hay from on top of it.
"Why, he's dead," she cried.
"He was so little," said Honeydew. "I was jus' playin' with him ... an' he made like he's gonna bite me ... an' I made like I was gonna smack him ... an' ... an' I done it. An' he was dead."
She consoled him. "Don't you worry none. He was jus' a mutt. You can get another one easy. The whole country is fulla mutts."
"It ain't that so much," Honeydew explained miserably. "Xeph ain't gonna let me tend no rabbits now."
"Why don't he?"
"Well, he said if I done any more bad things he ain't gonna let me tend the rabbits."
She moved closer to him and she spoke soothingly. "Don't you worry about talkin' to me. Listen to the guys yell out there. They got four dollars bet in that tenement. None of them ain't gonna leave till it's over."
"If Xeph sees me talkin' to you he'll give me hell," Honeydew said cautiously. "He tol' me so."
Her face grew angry. "What's the matter with me?" she cried. "Ain't I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways? You're a nice guy. I don't know why I cant talk to you. I ain't doin' no harm to you."
"Well, Xeph says you'll get us in a mess."
"Aww, nuts!" she said. "What kinda harm am I doin' to you? Seems like they ain't none of them cares how I gotta live. I tell you I ain't used to livin' like this. I coulda made somethin; of myself." She said darkly, "Maybe I will yet." And then her words tumbled out in a passion of communication, as though she hurried before her listener could be taken away. "I live right in Hexington," she said. "Come there when I was a kid. Well, a show come through, an' I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol' lady wouldn't let me. She says because I was on'y fifteen. But the guy says I coulda. If I'd went, I wouldn't be livin like this, you bet."
Honeydew stroked the pup back and forth. "We gonna have a little place - an' rabbits," he explained.
She went on with her story quickly, before she should be interrupted. "'nother time I met a guy, an' he was in pitchers. Went out to the Riverside Dance Palace with him. He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soon's he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it." She looked closely at Honeydew to see whether she was impressing him. "I never got that letter," she said. "I always thought my ol' lady stole it. Well, I wasn't gonna stay no place where I couldn't get nowhere or make something of myself, an' where they stole your letters. I ast her if she stole it, too, an' she says no. So I married Rythian. Met him out to the Riverside Dance Palace that same night." She demanded, "You listenin'?"
"Me? Sure."
"Well, I ain't told this to nobody before. Maybe I ought'n to I don't like Rythian. He ain't a nice fella." And because she had confided in him, she moved closer to Honeydew and sat beside him. "Coulda been in the movies, an' had nice clothes - all of them nice clothes like they wear. An' I coulda sat in them big hotels, an' had pitchers took of me. When they had them previews I coulda went to them, an' spoke in the radio, an' it wouldn't cost me a cent because I wan in the pitcher. An' all them nice clothes like they wear. Because this guy says I was a natural." She looked up at Honeydew, and she made a small grand gesture with her arm and hand to show that she could act. The fingers trailed after her leading wrist, and her little finger stook out grandly from the rest.
Honeydew sighed deeply. From outside came the clang of the horseshoe on metal, and then a chorus of cheers. "Somebody made a ringer," said Rythian's wife.
Now the light was lifting as the sun went down, and the sun streaks climbed up the wall and fell over the feeding racks and over the heads of the horses.
Honeydew said, "Maybe if I took this pup out and throwed him away Xeph wouldn't never know. An' then I could tend the rabbits without no trouble."
Rythian's wife said angrily, "Don't you think of nothing but rabbits?"
"We gonna have a little place," Honeydew explained patiently. "We gonna have a house an' a garden and a place for alfalfa, an' that alfalfa is for the rabbits, an' I take a sack and get it all fulla alfalfa and then I take it to the rabbits."
She asked, "What makes you so nuts about rabbits?"
Honeydew had to think carefully before he could come to a conclusion. He moved cautiously close to her, until he was right against her. "I like to pet nice things. Once at a fair I seen some of them long-haired rabbits. An' they was nice, you bet. Sometimes I've even pet mice, but not when I could get nothing better."
Rythian's wife moved away from him a little. "I think you're nuts," she said.
"No, I ain't," Honeydew explained earnestly. "Xeph says I ain't. I like to pet nice things with my fingers, sof' things."
She was a little bit reassured. "Well, who don't?" she said. "Ever'body likes that. I like to feel silk an' velvet. Do you like to feel velvet?"
Honeydew chuckled with pleasure. "You bet, by God," he cried happily. "An' I had some, too. A lady give me some, an' that lady was - my own Aunt Madia. She gave it right to me - 'bout this big a piece. I wish't I had velvet right now." A frown came over his face. "I lost it," he said. "I ain't seen it for a long time."
Rythian's wife laughed at him. "You're nuts," she said. "But you're kinda nice fella. Jus' like a big baby. But a person can see kinda what you mean. When im doin' my hair sometime I jus' set an' stroke it 'cause it's so soft." To show how she did it, she ran her fingers over the top of her head. "Some people get kinda coarse hair," she said complacently. "Take Rythian. His hair is jus' like wire. But mine is soft and fine. 'Course I brush it a lot. That makes it fine. Here - feel right here." She took Honeydew's hand and put it on her head. "Feel right aroun' there an' see how soft it is."
Honeydew big fingers fell to stroking her hair.
"Don't you muss it up," she said.
Honeydew said, "Oh! That's nice," and he stroked harder. "Oh, that's nice."
"Look out, now, you'll muss it." And then she cried angrily, "You stop it now, you'll mess it all up." She jerked her head sideways, and Honeydew fingers closed on her hair and hung on. "Let go," she cried. "You let go."
Honeydew was in a panic. His face was contorted. She screamed then, and Honeydew's other hand closed over her mouth and nose. "Please don't," he begged. "Oh! Please don't do that. Xeph'll be mad."
She struggled violently under his hands. Her feet battered on the hay and she writhed to be free; and from under Honeydew's hand, came a muffled screaming. Honeydew began to cry with fright. "Oh! Please don't do none of that," he begged. "Xeph gonna say I done a bad thing. He ain't gonna let me tend no rabbits." He moved his hand a little and her hoarse cry came out. Then Honeydew grew angry. "Now don't," he said. "I don't want you to yell. You gonna get me in trouble jus' like Xeph says you will. Now don't you do that." And she continued to struggle, and her eyes were wild with terror. He shook her then, and he was angry with her. "Don't you go yellin'," he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Honeydew had broken her neck.
He looked down at her, and carefully he removed his hand from over her mouth, and she lay still. "I don't want ta hurt you," he said, "but Xeph'll be mad if you yell." When she didn't answer nor move he bent closely over her. He lifted her arm and let it drop. For a moment he seemed bewildered. And then he whispered in fright, "I done a bad thing. I done another bad thing."
He pawed up the hay until it partly covered her.
From outside the barn came a cry of men and the double clang of shoes of metal. For the first time Honeydew became conscious of the outside. He crouched down in the hay and listened. "I done a real bad thing," he said. "I shouldn't of did that. Xeph'll be mad. An' ... he said ... an' hide in the brush till he come. He's gonna be mad. In the brush till he come. That's what he said." Honeydew went back and looked at the dead girl. The puppy lay close to her. Honeydew picked it up. "I'll throw him away," he said. "It's bad enough like it is." He put the pup under his coat, and he crept o the barn wall and peered out between the cracks, toward the horseshoe game. And then he crept around the end of the last manger and disappeared.
The sun streaks were high on the wall by now, and the light was growing soft in the barn. Rythian's wife lay on her back, and she was half covered with hay.
It was very quiet in the barn, and the quiet of the afternoon was on the ranch. Even the clang of the pitched shoes, even the voices of the men in the game seemed to grow more quiet. The air in the barn was dusky in advance of the outside day. A pigeon flew in through the open hay door and circled and flew out again. Around the last stall came a shepherd bitch, lean and long, with heavy, hanging dugs. Halfway to the packing-box where the puppies were she caught the dead scent of Rythian's wife, and the hair roe along her spine. She whimpered and cringed to the packing-box, and jumped in among the puppies.
Rythian's wife lay with a half-covering of yellow hay. And the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. Now her roughed cheeks and her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly. The curls, tiny little sausages, were spread on the hay behind her, and her lips were parted.
As happens sometimes, a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much, much more than a moment.
Then gradually time awakened again and moved sluggishly on. The horses stamped on the other side of the feeding racks and the halter chains clinked. Outside, the men's voices became louder and clearer.
From around the end of the last stall old Lalna's voice came. "Honeydew," he called. "Oh, Honeydew! You in here? I been figuring some more. Tell you what we can do, Honeydew?" Old Lalna appeared around the end of the last stall. "Oh, Honeydew!" he called again; and then he stopped, and his body stiffened. He rubbed his smooth wrist on his white stubble whiskers. "I di'n't know you was here," he said to Rythian's wife.
When she didn't answer, he stepped nearer. "You oughten to sleep out here," he said disapprovingly; and then he was beside her and - "Oh, Jesus Christ!" He looked about helplessly, and he rubbed his beard. And then he jumped up and went quickly out of the barn.
But the barn was alive now. The horses stamped and snorted, and they chewed the straw of their bedding and they clashed the chains of their halters. In a moment Lalna came back, and Xeph was with him.
Xeph said, "What was it you wanted to see me about?"
Lalna pointed at Rythian's wife. Xeph stared. "What's the matter with her?" he asked. He stepped closer, and then he echoed Lalna's words. "Oh, Jesus Christ" He was down on his knees beside her. He put his hand over her heart. And finally, when he stood up, slowly and stiffly, his face was as hard and tight as wood, and his eyes were hard.
Lalna said, "What done it?"
Xeph looked coldly at him. "Ain't you got any idear?" he asked. And Lalna was silent. "I should of knew," Xeph said hopelessly. "I guess maybe way back in my head I did."
Lalna asked, "What we gonna do now, Xeph. What we gonna do now?"
Xeph was a long time in answering. "Guess ... we gotta tell the ... guys. I guess we gotta get 'im an' lock 'im up. We can't let 'im get away. Why, the poor bastard'd starve." And he tried to reassure himself. "Maybe they'll lock 'im up an' be nice to 'im."
But Lalna said excitedly, "We oughta let 'im get away. You don't know that Rythian. Rythian gon'ta wanta get 'im lynched. Rythian'll get 'im killed."
Xeph watched Lalna's lips. "Yeah," he said at last, "that's right, Rythian will. An' the other guys will." And he looked back at Rythian's wife.
Now Lalna spoke his greatest fear. "You an' me can get a little place, can't we, Xeph? You an' me can go there an' live nice, can't we, Xeph? Can't we?"
Before Xeph answered, Lalna dropped his head and looked back at the hay. He knew.
Xeph said softly, "- I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we'd never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would."
"Than - it's all off?" Lalna asked sulkily.
Xeph didn't answer his question. Xeph said, "I'll work my mouth an' ill take my fifty bucks an' i'll stay all night in some lousy cat house. Or i'll set in some pool-room till ever'body goes home. An' then i'll come back an' work another month an' i'll have fifty bucks more."
Lalna said, "He's such a nice fella. I didn't think he'd do nothing like this."
Xeph still stared at Rythian's wife. "Honeydew never done it in meanness," he said. "All the time he done bad things but he never done one of 'em mean." He straightened up and looked back ay Lalna. "Now listen. We gotta tell the guys. They got to bring him in, I guess. They ain't no way out. Maybe they won't hurt 'im." He said sharply, "I ain't gonna let 'em hurt Honeydew. Now you listen. The guys might think I was in on it. I'm gonna go in the bunk house. Then in a minute you come out and tell the guys about her, and ill come along and make like I never seen her. Will you do that? So the guys wont think I was on it?"
Lalna said, "Sure, Xeph. Sure I'll do that."
"Ok. Give me a couple minutes then, and you come runnin' out an' tell like you jus' found her. Im going now." Xeph turned and went quickly out of the barn.
Old Lalna watched him go. He looked helplessly back at Rythian's wife, and gradually his sorrow and his anger grew into words. "You God damn tramp," he said viciously. "You don't it, di'n't you? I s'pose you're glad. Ever'body knowed you'd mess things up. You wasn't no good. You ain't no good now, you lousy tart." He snivelled, and his voice shook. "I could of hoed in the garden and washed the dishes for them guys. He paused, and then went on in a singsong. And he repeated the old words, "If they was a circus or a baseball game ... we would of went to her ... jus' said 'ta hell with work' , an' went to her. Never ast nobody's say so. An' they'd of been a pic and chickens ... an' in the winter ... the little fat stove ... an' the rain comin' ... an' us jus' settin' there." His eyes blinded with tears and he turned and went weakly out of the barn, and he rubbed his bristly whiskers with his wrist stump.
Outside the noise of the game stopped. There was a rise of voices in question, a drum of running feet and the men burst into the barn. Strippin' and Martyn and young Sjin and Rythian, and Panda keeping back out of attention range. Lalna came after them, and last of all came Xeph. Xeph had put on his blue denim coat and buttoned it, and his black hat was pulled down low over his eyes. The men raced around the last stall. Their eyes found Rythian's wife in the gloom, they stopped and stood still and looked.
Then Strippin' went quietly over to her, and he felt her wrist. One lean finger touched her cheek, and then his hand went under her slightly twisted neck and his fingers explored her neck. When he stood up the men crowded near and the spell was broken.
Rythian suddenly came to life. "I know who done it," he cried. "That big son-of-a-bitch don't it. I know he done it. Why - ever'body else was out there playin' horseshoes." He worked himself into a fury. "I'm gonna get him. I'm going for my shotgun. I'll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I'll shoot 'im in the guts. Come on, you guys." He ran furiously out of the barn. Martyn said, "I'll get my luger," and he ran out, too.
Strippin' turned quietly to Xeph. "I guess Honeydew done it, all right," he said. "Her neck's bust. Honeydew coulda did that."
Xeph didn't answer, but he nodded slowly. His hat was so far down on his forehead that his eyes were covered.
Strippin went on, "Maybe like that time in Weed you was tellin' about."
Again Xeph nodded.
Strippin' sighed. "Well, I guess we got to get him. Where you think he might of went?"
It seemed to take Xeph some time to free his words. "He - would of went south," he said. "We come from north so he would of went south."
"I guess we gotta get 'im," Strippin' repeated.
Xeph stepped close. "Couldn' we maybe bring him in an they'll lock him up? He's nuts, Strippin'. He never done this to be mean."
Strippin' nodded. "We might," he said. "If we could keep Rythian in, we might. But Rythian's gonna want to shoot 'im. Rythian's still mad about his hand. An' s'pose they lock him up an' strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain't no good, Xeph."
"I know," said Xeph. "I know."
Martyn came running in. "The bastard's stole my Luger," he shouted. "It ain't in my bag." Rythian followed him, and Rythian carried a shotgun in his good hand. Rythian was cold now.
"All right, you guys," he said. "The nigger's got a shotgun. You take it, Martyn. When you see 'um, don't give 'im no chance. Shoot for his guts. That'll double 'im over."
Sjin said excitedly, "I ain't got a gun."
Rythian said, "you go in Soledad an' get a cop. Get Ridge Wilts, he's deputy sheriff. Le's go now." He turned suspiciously on Xeph. "You're comin' with us, fella."
"Yeah," said Xeph. "I'll come. But listen, Rythian. The poor bastards nuts. Don't shoot 'im. He di'n't know what he was doin'."
"Don't shoot 'im?" Rythian cried. "He got Martyn's Luger. 'Course we'll shoot 'im."
Xeph said weakly, "Maybe Martyn lost his gun."
"I seen it this morning," said Martyn. "No, it's been took."
Strippin' stood looking down at Rythian's wife. "He said, "Rythian - maybe you better stay here with your wife."
Rythian's face reddened. "I'm goin'." he said. "I'm gonna shoot the guts outta that big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand. I'm gonna get 'im."
Strippin' turned to Lalna. "You stay here with her then, Lalna. The rest of us better get goin'."
They moved away. Xeph stopped a moment beside Lalna and they both looked down at the dead girl until Rythian called, "You Xeph! You stick with us so we don't think you had nothin' to do with this."
Xeph moved slowly after them, and his feet dragged heavily.
And when they were gone, Lalna squatted down in the hay and watched the face of Rythian's wife. "Poor bastard," he said softly.
The sound of men grew fainter. The barn was darkening gradually and, in their stalls, the horses shifted their feet and rattled the halter chains. Old Lalna lay down in the hay and covered his eyes with his arm.
