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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

Six

The deep green pool of the Salinas River was still in the late afternoon. Already the sun had left the valley to go climbing up the slopes of the Gabilan mountains, and the hilltops were rosy in the sun. But by the pool among the mottled sycamores, a pleasant shade had fallen.
   A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent head and back lanced down and plucked it out by head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically.
   A far rush of wind sounded and a gust drove through the tops of the trees like a wave. The sycamore leaves turned up their silver sides, the brown, dry leaves on the ground scudded a few feet. And row on row of tiny wind waves flowed up the pool's green surface.
   As quickly as it had come, the wind died, and the clearing was quiet again. The heron stood in the shallows, motionless and waiting. Another little water snake swam up the pool, turning its periscope head from side to side.
   Suddenly Honeydew appeared out of the brush, and he came as silently as a creeping bear moves. The heron pounded the air with its wings, jacked itself clear of the water, and flew off down river. The little snake slid in among the reeds at the pool's side.
   Honeydew came quickly to the pool's edge. He knelt down ad drank, barely touching his lips to the water. When a little bird skittered over the dry leaves behind him, his head jerked up and he strained toward the sound with eyes and ears until he saw the bird, and then he dropped his head and drank again.
   When he had finished, he sat down on the bank, with his side to the pool, so that he could watch the trail's entrance. He embraced his knew and laid his chin on his knees.
   The light climbed on out of the valley, and as it went, the tops of the mountains seemed to blaze with increasing brightness.
   Honeydew said softly, "I di'n't forget, you bet, God damn. Hide in the brush an' wait for Xeph." He pulled his hat down low over hi eyes. "Xeph gonna give me hell," he said. "Xeph gonna wish he was alone an' not have me botherin' him." He turned his head and looked at the bright mountain tops. "I can go right off there an' find a cave," he said. And he continued sadly, " - an' never have no ketchup - but I wont care. If Xeph don't want me ... I'll go away. I'll go away."
   And then from out of Honeydew's head there came a little blonde/grey old woman. She wore thick bull's-eye glasses and she wore a huge gingham apron with pockets, and she was starched and clean. She stood in front of Honeydew and put her hands on her hips, and she frowned disapprovingly at him.
   And when she spoke, it was in Honeydew' voice. "I tol' you an' tol' you," she said. "I tol' you, 'Min' Xeph because he's such a nice fella an' good to you.' But you don't never take no care. You do bad things."
   And Honeydew answered her, "I tried, Aunt Madia, ma'am. I tried and tried. I couldn' help it."
   "You never give a thought to Xeph," she went on in Honeydew's voice. "He's been doin' nice things for you all time. When he got a piece of pie you always got half or more'n half. An' if they was any ketchup, why he'd give it all to you."
   "I know," said Honeydew miserably. "I tried, Aunt Madia, ma'am. I tried and tried."
   She interrupted him. "All the time he coulda had such a good time if it wasn't for you. He woulda took his pay an' raised hell in a whore house, and he coulda set in a pool room an' played snooker. But he got to take care of you."
   Honeydew moaned with grief. "I know, Aunt Madia, ma'am. I'll go right off in the hills an' I'll fin' a cave an' I'll live there so I wont be no more trouble to Xeph."
   "You jus' say that," she said sharply. "You're always sayin' that, an' you know sonofabitching well you ain't never gonna do it. You'll jus' stick around an' stew the b'Jesus outta Xeph all the time."
   Honeydew said, "I might jus' as well go away. Xeph ain't gonna let me tend no rabbits now."
   Aunt Madia was gone, and from out of Honeydew's head there came a gigantic rabbit. It sat on its haunches in front of him, and it waggled its ears and crinkled its nose at him. And it spoke in Honeydew's voice too.
   "Tend rabbits," it said scornfully. "You crazy bastard. You ain't fit to lick the boots of no rabbit. You'd forget 'em and let 'em go hungry. That's what you'd do. An' then what would Xeph think?"
   "I would not forget," Honeydew said loudly.
   "The hell you wouldn'," said the rabbit. "You ain't worth a greased jack-pin to ram you into hell. Christ knows Xeph done ever'thing he could to jack you outta the sewer, but it don't do no good. If you think Xeph gonna let you tend rabbits, you're even crazier'n usual. He ain't. He's gonna beat hell outta you with a stick, that's what he's gonna do."
   Now Honeydew retorted belligerently, "He ain't neither. Xeph wont do nothing like that. I've knew Xeph since - I forget when - and he ain't never raised his han' to me with a stick. He's nice to me. He ain't gonna be mean."
   "Well he's sick of you," said the rabbit. "He's gonna beat hell outta you an' then go away an' leave you."
   "He won't," Honeydew cried frantically. "He wont do nothing like that. I know Xeph. Me an' him travels together."
   But the rabbit repeated softly over and over, "He gonna leave ya, ya crazy bastard. He gonna leave ya all alone. He gonna leave ya, crazy bastard."
   Honeydew put his hands over his ears. "He ain't, I tell ya he ain't." And he cried, "Oh! Xeph - Xeph - Xeph!"
   Xeph came quietly out of the brush and the rabbit scuttled back into Honeydew's brain.
   Xeph said quietly, "What the hell you yellin' about?"
   Honeydew got up on his knees. "You ain't gonna leave me, are ya, Xeph? I know you ain't."
   Xeph came stiffly near and sat down beside him. "No."
   "I knowed it," Honeydew cried. "You ain't that kind."
   Xeph was silent.
   Honeydew said, "Xeph."
   "Yeah?"
   "I done another bad thing."
   "It don't make no difference," Xeph said, and he fell silent again.
   Only the topmost ridges were in the sun now. The shadow in the valley was blue and soft. From the distance came the sound of men shouting to one another. Xeph turned his head and listened to the shouts.
   Honeydew said, "Xeph."
   "Yeah?"
   "Ain't you gonna give me hell?"
   "Give you hell?"
   "Sure, like you always done before. Like, 'If I di'n't have you I'd take my fifty bucks ...'"
   "Jesus Christ, Honeydew! You cant remember nothing that happens, but you remember ever' word I say."
   "Well, ain't you gonna say it?"
   Xeph shook himself. He said woodenly, "If I was alone I could live so easy." His voice was monotonous, had no emphasis. "I could get a job an' not have no mess." He stopped.
   "Go on," said Honeydew. "An' when the enda the month come ..."
   "An' when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks an' go to a ... cat house ..." He stopped again.
   Honeydew looked eagerly at him. "Go on, Xeph. Ain't you gonna give me no more hell?"
   "No," said Xeph.
   "Well, I can go away," said Honeydew. "I'll get right off in the hills an' find a cave if you don' want me."
   Xeph shook himself again. "No," he said. "I want you to stay with me here."
   Honeydew said craftily- "Tell me like you done before."
   "Tell you what?"
   "'Bout the other guys an' about us."
   Xeph said, "Guys like us got no fambly. They make a little stake an' then they blow it in. They ain't got nobody in the worl' that gives a hoot in hell about 'em ..."
   "But not us," Honeydew cried happily. "Tel about us now."
   Xeph was quiet for a moment. "But not us," he said.
   "Because ..."
   "Because I got you an' ..."
   "An' I got you. We got each other, that's what, that gives a hoot in hell about us," Honeydew cried in triumph.
   The little evening breeze blew over the clearing and the leaves rustled and the wind waves flowed up the green pool. And the shouts of men sounded again, this time much closer than before.
   Xeph took off his hat. He said shakily, "Take off your hat, Honeydew. The air feels fine."
   Honeydew removed his hat dutifully and laid it on the ground in front of him. The shadow in the valley was bluer, and the evening came fast. On the wind the sound of crashing in the brush came to them.
   Honeydew said, "Tell how it's gonna be."
   Xeph had been listening to the distant sounds. For a moment he was business-like. "Look acrost the river, Honeydew, an' I'll tell you so you can almost see it."
   Honeydew turned his head and looked off across the pool and up the darkening slopes of the Gabilans. "We gonna get a little place," Xeph began. He reached in his side pocket and brought out Martyn's Luger; he snapped off the safety, and the hand and gun lay on the ground behind Honeydew's back. He looked at the back of Honeydew's head, at the place where the spine and skull were joined.
   A man's voice called form up the river, and another man answered.
   "Go on," said Honeydew.
   Xeph raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again.
   "Go on," said Honeydew. "How's it gonna be. We gonna get a little place."
   "We'll have a cow," said Xeph, "An' we'll have maybe a pig an' chickens ... an' down the flat we'll have a ... little piece alfalfa ..."
   "For the rabbits," Honeydew shouted.
   "For the rabbits," Xeph repeated.
   "And I get to tend the rabbits."
   "An' you get to tend the rabbits."
   Honeydew giggled with happiness. "An' live on the fatta the lan'."
   "Yes."
   Honeydew turned his head.
   "No, Honeydew. Look down there acrost the rive, like you can almost see the place."
   Honeydew obeyed him. Xeph looked down at the gun.
   There were crashing footsteps in the brush now. Xeph turned and looked towards them.
   "Go on, Xeph. When we gonna do it?"
   "Gonna do it soon."
   "Me an' you."
   "You ... an' me. Ever'body gonna be nice to nice. Ain't gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal form 'em."
   Honeydew said, I thought you was mad at me, Xeph."
   "No," said Xeph. "No, Honeydew. I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know."
   The voices came close now. Xeph raised the gun and listened to the voices.
   Honeydew begged, "Le's do it now. Le's get that place now."
   "Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta."
   And Xeph raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Honeydew's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Honeydew jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.
   Xeph shivered and looked at the gun, and then he threw it form him, back up the bank, near the pile of old ashes.
   The brush seemed filled with cries and with the sound of running feet. Strippin's voice shouted, "Xeph. Where you at, Xeph?"
   But Xeph sat stiffly on the bank and looked at his right hand that had thrown the gun away. The group burst into the clearing, and Rythian was ahead. He saw Honeydew lying on the sand. "Got him, by God." He went over and looked down at Honeydew, and then he looked back at Xeph. "Right in the back of the head," he said softly.
   Strippin' came directly to Xeph and sat down beside him, sat very close to him. "Never you mind," said Strippin'. "A guy got to sometimes."
   But Martyn was standing over Xeph. "How'd you do it?" he asked.
   "I just done it," Xeph said tiredly.
   "Did he have my gun?"
   "Yeah. He had your gun."
   "An' you got it away from him and you took it an' you killed him?"
   "Yeah. Tha's how." Xeph's voice was almost a whisper. He looked steadily at his right hand that had held the gun.
   Strippin' twitched Xeph's elbow. "Come on, Xeph. Me an' you'll go in an' get a drink."
   Xeph let himself be helped to his feet. "Yeah, a drink."
   Strippin' said, "You hadda, Xeph. I swear you hadda. Come on with me." He led Xeph into the entrance of the trail and up toward the highway.
   Rythian and Martyn looked after them. And Martyn said, "Now what the hell you suppose is eatin' them two guys?"

------End------

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

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

Six

The deep green pool of the Salinas River was still in the late afternoon. Already the sun had left the valley to go climbing up the slopes of the Gabilan mountains, and the hilltops were rosy in the sun. But by the pool among the mottled sycamores, a pleasant shade had fallen.
   A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent head and back lanced down and plucked it out by head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically.
   A far rush of wind sounded and a gust drove through the tops of the trees like a wave. The sycamore leaves turned up their silver sides, the brown, dry leaves on the ground scudded a few feet. And row on row of tiny wind waves flowed up the pool's green surface.
   As quickly as it had come, the wind died, and the clearing was quiet again. The heron stood in the shallows, motionless and waiting. Another little water snake swam up the pool, turning its periscope head from side to side.
   Suddenly Honeydew appeared out of the brush, and he came as silently as a creeping bear moves. The heron pounded the air with its wings, jacked itself clear of the water, and flew off down river. The little snake slid in among the reeds at the pool's side.
   Honeydew came quickly to the pool's edge. He knelt down ad drank, barely touching his lips to the water. When a little bird skittered over the dry leaves behind him, his head jerked up and he strained toward the sound with eyes and ears until he saw the bird, and then he dropped his head and drank again.
   When he had finished, he sat down on the bank, with his side to the pool, so that he could watch the trail's entrance. He embraced his knew and laid his chin on his knees.
   The light climbed on out of the valley, and as it went, the tops of the mountains seemed to blaze with increasing brightness.
   Honeydew said softly, "I di'n't forget, you bet, God damn. Hide in the brush an' wait for Xeph." He pulled his hat down low over hi eyes. "Xeph gonna give me hell," he said. "Xeph gonna wish he was alone an' not have me botherin' him." He turned his head and looked at the bright mountain tops. "I can go right off there an' find a cave," he said. And he continued sadly, " - an' never have no ketchup - but I wont care. If Xeph don't want me ... I'll go away. I'll go away."
   And then from out of Honeydew's head there came a little blonde/grey old woman. She wore thick bull's-eye glasses and she wore a huge gingham apron with pockets, and she was starched and clean. She stood in front of Honeydew and put her hands on her hips, and she frowned disapprovingly at him.
   And when she spoke, it was in Honeydew' voice. "I tol' you an' tol' you," she said. "I tol' you, 'Min' Xeph because he's such a nice fella an' good to you.' But you don't never take no care. You do bad things."
   And Honeydew answered her, "I tried, Aunt Madia, ma'am. I tried and tried. I couldn' help it."
   "You never give a thought to Xeph," she went on in Honeydew's voice. "He's been doin' nice things for you all time. When he got a piece of pie you always got half or more'n half. An' if they was any ketchup, why he'd give it all to you."
   "I know," said Honeydew miserably. "I tried, Aunt Madia, ma'am. I tried and tried."
   She interrupted him. "All the time he coulda had such a good time if it wasn't for you. He woulda took his pay an' raised hell in a whore house, and he coulda set in a pool room an' played snooker. But he got to take care of you."
   Honeydew moaned with grief. "I know, Aunt Madia, ma'am. I'll go right off in the hills an' I'll fin' a cave an' I'll live there so I wont be no more trouble to Xeph."
   "You jus' say that," she said sharply. "You're always sayin' that, an' you know sonofabitching well you ain't never gonna do it. You'll jus' stick around an' stew the b'Jesus outta Xeph all the time."
   Honeydew said, "I might jus' as well go away. Xeph ain't gonna let me tend no rabbits now."
   Aunt Madia was gone, and from out of Honeydew's head there came a gigantic rabbit. It sat on its haunches in front of him, and it waggled its ears and crinkled its nose at him. And it spoke in Honeydew's voice too.
   "Tend rabbits," it said scornfully. "You crazy bastard. You ain't fit to lick the boots of no rabbit. You'd forget 'em and let 'em go hungry. That's what you'd do. An' then what would Xeph think?"
   "I would not forget," Honeydew said loudly.
   "The hell you wouldn'," said the rabbit. "You ain't worth a greased jack-pin to ram you into hell. Christ knows Xeph done ever'thing he could to jack you outta the sewer, but it don't do no good. If you think Xeph gonna let you tend rabbits, you're even crazier'n usual. He ain't. He's gonna beat hell outta you with a stick, that's what he's gonna do."
   Now Honeydew retorted belligerently, "He ain't neither. Xeph wont do nothing like that. I've knew Xeph since - I forget when - and he ain't never raised his han' to me with a stick. He's nice to me. He ain't gonna be mean."
   "Well he's sick of you," said the rabbit. "He's gonna beat hell outta you an' then go away an' leave you."
   "He won't," Honeydew cried frantically. "He wont do nothing like that. I know Xeph. Me an' him travels together."
   But the rabbit repeated softly over and over, "He gonna leave ya, ya crazy bastard. He gonna leave ya all alone. He gonna leave ya, crazy bastard."
   Honeydew put his hands over his ears. "He ain't, I tell ya he ain't." And he cried, "Oh! Xeph - Xeph - Xeph!"
   Xeph came quietly out of the brush and the rabbit scuttled back into Honeydew's brain.
   Xeph said quietly, "What the hell you yellin' about?"
   Honeydew got up on his knees. "You ain't gonna leave me, are ya, Xeph? I know you ain't."
   Xeph came stiffly near and sat down beside him. "No."
   "I knowed it," Honeydew cried. "You ain't that kind."
   Xeph was silent.
   Honeydew said, "Xeph."
   "Yeah?"
   "I done another bad thing."
   "It don't make no difference," Xeph said, and he fell silent again.
   Only the topmost ridges were in the sun now. The shadow in the valley was blue and soft. From the distance came the sound of men shouting to one another. Xeph turned his head and listened to the shouts.
   Honeydew said, "Xeph."
   "Yeah?"
   "Ain't you gonna give me hell?"
   "Give you hell?"
   "Sure, like you always done before. Like, 'If I di'n't have you I'd take my fifty bucks ...'"
   "Jesus Christ, Honeydew! You cant remember nothing that happens, but you remember ever' word I say."
   "Well, ain't you gonna say it?"
   Xeph shook himself. He said woodenly, "If I was alone I could live so easy." His voice was monotonous, had no emphasis. "I could get a job an' not have no mess." He stopped.
   "Go on," said Honeydew. "An' when the enda the month come ..."
   "An' when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks an' go to a ... cat house ..." He stopped again.
   Honeydew looked eagerly at him. "Go on, Xeph. Ain't you gonna give me no more hell?"
   "No," said Xeph.
   "Well, I can go away," said Honeydew. "I'll get right off in the hills an' find a cave if you don' want me."
   Xeph shook himself again. "No," he said. "I want you to stay with me here."
   Honeydew said craftily- "Tell me like you done before."
   "Tell you what?"
   "'Bout the other guys an' about us."
   Xeph said, "Guys like us got no fambly. They make a little stake an' then they blow it in. They ain't got nobody in the worl' that gives a hoot in hell about 'em ..."
   "But not us," Honeydew cried happily. "Tel about us now."
   Xeph was quiet for a moment. "But not us," he said.
   "Because ..."
   "Because I got you an' ..."
   "An' I got you. We got each other, that's what, that gives a hoot in hell about us," Honeydew cried in triumph.
   The little evening breeze blew over the clearing and the leaves rustled and the wind waves flowed up the green pool. And the shouts of men sounded again, this time much closer than before.
   Xeph took off his hat. He said shakily, "Take off your hat, Honeydew. The air feels fine."
   Honeydew removed his hat dutifully and laid it on the ground in front of him. The shadow in the valley was bluer, and the evening came fast. On the wind the sound of crashing in the brush came to them.
   Honeydew said, "Tell how it's gonna be."
   Xeph had been listening to the distant sounds. For a moment he was business-like. "Look acrost the river, Honeydew, an' I'll tell you so you can almost see it."
   Honeydew turned his head and looked off across the pool and up the darkening slopes of the Gabilans. "We gonna get a little place," Xeph began. He reached in his side pocket and brought out Martyn's Luger; he snapped off the safety, and the hand and gun lay on the ground behind Honeydew's back. He looked at the back of Honeydew's head, at the place where the spine and skull were joined.
   A man's voice called form up the river, and another man answered.
   "Go on," said Honeydew.
   Xeph raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again.
   "Go on," said Honeydew. "How's it gonna be. We gonna get a little place."
   "We'll have a cow," said Xeph, "An' we'll have maybe a pig an' chickens ... an' down the flat we'll have a ... little piece alfalfa ..."
   "For the rabbits," Honeydew shouted.
   "For the rabbits," Xeph repeated.
   "And I get to tend the rabbits."
   "An' you get to tend the rabbits."
   Honeydew giggled with happiness. "An' live on the fatta the lan'."
   "Yes."
   Honeydew turned his head.
   "No, Honeydew. Look down there acrost the rive, like you can almost see the place."
   Honeydew obeyed him. Xeph looked down at the gun.
   There were crashing footsteps in the brush now. Xeph turned and looked towards them.
   "Go on, Xeph. When we gonna do it?"
   "Gonna do it soon."
   "Me an' you."
   "You ... an' me. Ever'body gonna be nice to nice. Ain't gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal form 'em."
   Honeydew said, I thought you was mad at me, Xeph."
   "No," said Xeph. "No, Honeydew. I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know."
   The voices came close now. Xeph raised the gun and listened to the voices.
   Honeydew begged, "Le's do it now. Le's get that place now."
   "Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta."
   And Xeph raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Honeydew's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Honeydew jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.
   Xeph shivered and looked at the gun, and then he threw it form him, back up the bank, near the pile of old ashes.
   The brush seemed filled with cries and with the sound of running feet. Strippin's voice shouted, "Xeph. Where you at, Xeph?"
   But Xeph sat stiffly on the bank and looked at his right hand that had thrown the gun away. The group burst into the clearing, and Rythian was ahead. He saw Honeydew lying on the sand. "Got him, by God." He went over and looked down at Honeydew, and then he looked back at Xeph. "Right in the back of the head," he said softly.
   Strippin' came directly to Xeph and sat down beside him, sat very close to him. "Never you mind," said Strippin'. "A guy got to sometimes."
   But Martyn was standing over Xeph. "How'd you do it?" he asked.
   "I just done it," Xeph said tiredly.
   "Did he have my gun?"
   "Yeah. He had your gun."
   "An' you got it away from him and you took it an' you killed him?"
   "Yeah. Tha's how." Xeph's voice was almost a whisper. He looked steadily at his right hand that had held the gun.
   Strippin' twitched Xeph's elbow. "Come on, Xeph. Me an' you'll go in an' get a drink."
   Xeph let himself be helped to his feet. "Yeah, a drink."
   Strippin' said, "You hadda, Xeph. I swear you hadda. Come on with me." He led Xeph into the entrance of the trail and up toward the highway.
   Rythian and Martyn looked after them. And Martyn said, "Now what the hell you suppose is eatin' them two guys?"

------End------