Part 10 (1/2)
”I'll tell him.”
”You won't forget now, will you, Peacie? You'll tell him to come on over and see me right away.”
”Ya.s.suh.” Her head bobbing, her back bowed. ”I sho' 'nuff will.”
The sheriff turned to go, then turned back. ”Now, you know I like LaRue, don't you? I got no ax with him.”
”Ya.s.suh.”
”It's just I don't want to see him in no trouble with anybody else.”
”No suh. Me neither!”
He chuckled. ”So you just-” He spied me and stopped talking, leaned around Peacie for a better look. My heart sank. I hadn't done what Peacie had asked. ”Who's that?” he asked her.
Peacie spun around, murder in her eyes. But when she turned back to the sheriff, her voice was sweet and low. ”Why, you know, that's just Diana, Miss Paige Dunn's daughter. I'm keeping her here with me while her mother in the hospital. Didn't want to leave her alone over her house.”
”There wasn't anyone else who could take her?”
”Her mama want me to have her, ax me in the particular.”
Sheriff Turner smiled and nodded at me, and I smiled back.
”This ain't no place for a white child,” he told Peacie quietly.
”Ya.s.suh,” she said.
”Ain't no place for a white child! 'Specially at night.”
”I be taking her home tomorrow.”
”Why didn't you just stay at her house with her?”
”I needed to come home and feed my chickens and pack some things.”
So Peacie believed my mother would be hospitalized for some time.
The sheriff stood still for a moment, thinking, then again stretched his head around Peacie to call out, ”Diana! Come on over here!”
I walked slowly to the door, held up my hand in a weak wave. ”Hi,” I said.
”I understand your mother's in the hospital,” he said.
”Yes, sir.” The top of his unders.h.i.+rt was a yellowish color that Peacie would never have tolerated.
”Well, I'm real sorry about that. But I don't think it's a good idea for you to be here, do you? I'll tell you what, how about if you come home with me, I got a daughter 'bout your age.”
”No, thanks. I want to stay here.”
”Well...How old are you?”
”Going on fourteen.”
”Eighth grade?”
”Yes, sir.”
”So you know my daughter! K.C. Turner!”
Of course I knew her. Everyone knew her. ”No,” I said.
”You don't know K.C. Turner?”
I shook my head. ”Nope.”
”Well, I'm surprised!” He looked at Peacie as though she, too, should share his incredulity. She pretended to, shaking her head and smiling. ”She's a real popular girl!” he said.
”It's a big school,” I said.
He smiled. ”Oh, it is, huh?”
”Sometimes it is,” I said. ”Right now it is.”
”Well, I'm not going to...” The sheriff turned to Peacie. ”I want that girl back in her own neighborhood tomorrow morning. Otherwise, we'll both be in trouble. You know that, don't you.”
”Ya.s.suh.”
”I'll send someone take y'all back over there first thing.”
”No suh, thank you very kindly, LaRue carry us.”
”I don't want to see her back here,” he said, and walked to his car, then slowly drove away.
Peacie closed the door, and I said, ”I'm sorry. I was just trying to see.”
”Don't make no never mind,” she said, and I saw that she was too distracted to pay attention to my misdeed.
”Is LaRue in trouble?” I asked.
”He be home tomorrow,” she said, by way of an answer. ”And he ain't going back.” She said that, but I wondered.
We walked together into the living room. Peacie sat in one of the chairs, staring into s.p.a.ce, her fingers pulling at her bottom lip. I sat on the sofa, watching her.
Finally, ”How come you talked that way to the sheriff?” I asked.
She said nothing.
”Peacie?”