COMPLICATIONS
Justin hadn’t been to the Old Place to see Little Billy since that first day. He couldn’t go there in the morning because he had to leave early to get to school on his bicycle, and he couldn’t go in the afternoon because of ball practice. He’d left feeding Little Billy and the rabbit to Chip, Luther, Lily, or Kate.
However, during the week that started so badly—Brad getting suspended, Mr. Jackson threatening to fail him in math, and Coach putting him on probation—Justin took to riding over to the Old Place after baseball practice. By the time he got there, the others had already come and gone. He went partly to see Little Billy, but mainly so he could be alone for half an hour before he rode home and hit the books.
Something besides the problems at school was bothering Justin. Sometimes he felt guilty for having stolen Little Billy. Sometimes he didn’t. He knew stealing was wrong, but wouldn’t it have been wrong to leave Little Billy there, where he was being mistreated?
Justin knew that Mom certainly would have been upset if they’d told her Grimsted was abusing Little Billy, but it was more complicated than that. He also knew his mother believed that once you sold an animal, that animal belonged to the person who bought it. What they did with it was their business—even if they wanted to turn the animal into hamburger, like what had happened with the calves.
Justin was pretty sure he couldn’t count on his dad for understanding either. Charlie didn’t even understand why they wanted to have their own goats, let alone why they would have stolen one. More than once, when Charlie was picking Justin up or dropping him off, he’d said, “I don’t know why your Mom keeps those smelly animals around! I’d get rid of them in a minute!”
The first Monday after the really bad week, afternoon ball practice was canceled because Coach Donovan had to go to a conference. Justin was about to cycle past his house and on to the Old Place to see Little Billy when he decided he’d better make a quick stop first and pump up the front tire on his bike. He parked the bike on the shady side of the house and went inside to get something to drink.
He’d completely forgotten that it was his mom’s day off. Mom and Ruby were sitting on the floor, fabric, paper patterns, and half-finished outfits scattered all around them. Kate was lying on the couch. He guessed she’d been trying on something because all she had on was her underwear. She held up a magazine that showed an actress wearing a denim jacket with velvet and lace patches.
“Look at this, Mom. It’s like the one you made me for Christmas.”
Ruby took the magazine out of Kate’s hand, glanced at it, and handed it to Mom. “If movie stars are wearing them,” Ruby said, “we can sell them.”
“Hi, son,” Mom said as Justin passed through on his way to the kitchen. To Kate she said, “Go get dressed, honey.”
Kate didn’t move, except to roll over on her stomach so she could look at the magazine over Mom’s shoulder.
Justin got some milk from the fridge and stood looking out the kitchen window as he drank it. Out in the yard, Chip and Luther were scuffling over the tire swing, each boy yelling, “My turn! My turn!” Somehow Lily managed to get hold of the tire and climb up so she could sit on the top. From there she kicked at them and shouted, “Let go, both of you! It’s my turn.”
Suddenly it didn’t matter whose turn it was, because a big car with a star painted on the side pulled into their driveway. Chip and Luther stopped squabbling and stared as Sheriff Dallano got out, a sturdy man in a brown uniform, his silver badge flashing in the sun. Then the person on the passenger side got out. Justin choked on his milk when he saw who it was. He backed away from the window, hoping they hadn’t seen him. The sheriff walked toward the house, Mr. Grimsted right behind him.
Justin glanced toward the back door and considered making a dash for it. But he desperately wanted to know what Sheriff Dallano and Grimsted were going to tell Mom. If he stayed out of sight in the kitchen he figured he could hear everything.
The first thing he heard was “eeek!” as Kate, still in her underwear, made a dash for the bedroom.
“Can I help you?” Justin heard Mom ask.
“Mr. Grimsted here has lost his goat,” Sheriff Dallano drawled.
“Not lost! STOLEN! And not just the goat, either. They took my rabbit, too!” There was no mistaking whose voice that was.
“What on earth are you talking about?” Mom asked.
“Mr. Grimsted claims he saw your kids hanging around his place a few days before his goat disappeared,” Sheriff Dallano explained.
Justin’s heart sank. Then he realized what the sheriff had said: a few days before. That meant Grimsted hadn’t actually seen them that day.
“Mind if we take a look in the outbuildings?” the sheriff was asking.
“You got a search warrant?” That was Ruby’s most unfriendly voice, the one she used with people she thought were being disrespectful.
Mom didn’t sound all that friendly either. “I can’t imagine why anyone would make an accusation like that, but go right ahead, Sheriff Dallano. You look till you’re fully satisfied that this so-called stolen goat is not here. Then I’d thank you to get him off my property!”
The only person still speaking in a polite voice was the sheriff. “Thank you for your cooperation, Mrs. Martin,” he said, and clomped off the porch.
Through the kitchen window, Justin watched the sheriff stroll over to the tire swing, Grimsted with him. The little kids looked scared stiff.
The sheriff asked Chip, “Son, ya’ll got any goats around here?”
“Three. Right over there.” Chip pointed to the pen where Sugar lived with her two daughters, Honey and Go-Girl.
“Them the only goats ya’ll got?”
“Yes, sir.”
Good boy, Chip, Justin thought. Now just clam up!
But of course, Chip didn’t. “We used to have another one, a little billy. But my brother sold him. To that man.” He pointed at Grimsted.
“Then stole him back!” Grimsted yelled. “I saw that brother of yours biking up and down in front of my house. I saw him.”
“If you don’t mind,” said Sheriff Dallano, “I’ll handle this.” But before he could ask Chip another question, Grimsted took off toward the goat shed.
“I hope you’re not going to take that kid’s word for it!” Grimsted called over his shoulder. “I want to see what’s inside the shed.”
“That’s exactly what we’re gonna do, Mr. Grimsted,” the sheriff said, hurrying along behind him.
It took barely a minute to see that there were only female goats in the pen, and no goats at all in the shed.
“I didn’t reckon we’d find your billy out here,” the sheriff told Grimsted. “Tell the truth, we don’t get too many cases of livestock being stolen in broad daylight by a boy on a bicycle.”
“I guarantee you, this bunch has got my goat,” Grimsted said angrily. “They probably saw us coming and hid it in the house.”
Grimsted headed for the front door, walking fast. The sheriff, who was already at his car, called, “You can’t go in the house, Mr. Grimsted. This search warrant is just for the outbuildings.”
Justin lost sight of them, but he heard Grimsted crossing the porch. Then the front door banged open. “Get out of this house!” Mom yelled. “Officer Dallano! Please get this man out of here!”
Justin heard the sheriff stomping up the porch steps. “Mr. Grimsted! Mr. Grimsted! You come out of them folks’ house, you hear me?”
“Don’t come in here!” Kate shrieked from down the hall.
Justin guessed his sister had been too busy watching them search the goat shed to get dressed, and now it was too late. He opened the kitchen door a crack and peered out.
“Don’t come in here” had been exactly the wrong thing to say. Grimsted was heading straight for the hall leading to Kate’s bedroom. Ruby jumped in front of the intruder and blocked his way.
“Let me handle this, ma’am,” Sheriff Dallano said to Ruby, as he grabbed Grimsted’s arm.
Mom was right behind the sheriff, looking over his shoulder. “Stay in your room!” she called to Kate. “And close the door.”
Grimsted jerked his arm away from the sheriff and shoved him so hard that the big man toppled back into Mom. Mom fell backwards, too, knocking over a lamp. All of a sudden she and Sheriff Dallano were on the floor with pieces of broken lamp all around them. Justin forgot all about staying out of sight and ran to help his mother. She had fallen hard. The sheriff got to his feet looking befuddled. Ruby was still scuffling with Grimsted, trying to keep him from getting past her.
“Get your black butt outta my way!” Grimsted roared.
Just then the sheriff wrapped his beefy arm around Grimsted’s neck in a powerful hammerlock. Grimsted went down on his knees.
“Aaaarrrgggh!”
Slowly, like a workhorse hauling a heavy load, the sheriff dragged Grimsted toward the door. In his low, rumbling drawl he said, “I don’t know where you’re from, mister, but in these parts, we don’t use that kinda language around womenfolk.”
The sheriff paused at the door and tipped his hat toward Mom and Ruby. “Sorry about the disturbance, ladies.”
Justin heard the thump-thump-thump of Grimsted being dragged down the porch steps.
She nodded. When she saw him looking at the blood on her hand, she said, “It’s nothing. Just a nick. I guess I cut it on glass from the light bulb.”
“How about you?” Justin asked Ruby.
“I’m fine.” Ruby brushed herself off and headed toward the bathroom. “Or will be, as soon as I wash all the places where that brute touched me.”
Kate opened her door and peered out. “Are you all okay?” she asked in a scared voice.
“Yeah,” Justin said. “We’re fine.” But he didn’t feel fine. His heart was pounding so hard he felt like anybody who came close to him would hear it. As soon as the police car was out of sight, he found his bicycle pump and went outside. Luther, Chip, and Lily stood in a huddle next to the tire swing. Nobody seemed interested in swinging anymore.
Justin started filling the low tire, glad for something to do while his heart got back to normal. Luther came over and squatted next to him. Behind his glasses, the little boy’s brown eyes seemed enormous. “Is it dark in jail, Justin?” he asked in a low, frightened voice. “Or do they leave the lights on?”
“I’ve heard they leave the lights on all the time,” Justin said. “But I don’t really know. I’ve never seen the inside of a jail. C’mon, Luther. You’re never going to see the inside of a jail either, so stop worrying, okay?”
“Okay,” Luther said. But the fear was still in his eyes.
Justin disconnected the pump, screwed the cap back on the stem, and stood up. Chip and Lily were still standing near the swing. “You kids been down to feed Little Billy yet?”
“No,” Chip said. “Mom’s been around all day, and Ruby, too.”
“Why don’t we go now?” Lily asked. “They’re too busy to notice.” She motioned toward the house. Through the living room window they could see Kate, Mom, and Ruby sweeping up broken glass and picking up scattered pieces of pattern and fabric.
“I’ll go,” Justin said. “You guys better stay here. If Mom asks, tell her I went to test my bike tire to see if it’s still leaking air.”
Little Billy bleated when he saw Justin coming and followed him into the old barn. There wasn’t much left of the feed they’d hidden in the loft, Justin noticed. He would have to buy more soon.
That brought up another worry: money.
He poured the grain into the feeding pan, a rusty old cast-iron skillet they’d found in the weeds. Before Justin finished dumping the feed from can to pan, Little Billy had his nose in it. The big rabbit hopped up and stuck his twitchy pink nose into the skillet, eating right along with the goat. Little Billy didn’t seem to mind.
When the pan was empty, Little Billy butted Justin’s thigh. Next to food, what the small goat liked best was having the top of his head scratched where his new horns were just beginning to stick through.
Justin sat down in the sweet-smelling grass and scratched the goat’s head. The big white rabbit hopped around, ears flopping and nose twitching as it ate stray grains that had been dropped. Justin reached out and stroked the rabbit’s fur. It was amazingly soft. The late afternoon sun was warm on Justin’s back, and he knew it felt good to the animals, too. He was certain that they had done the right thing in rescuing them from Grimsted’s dark garage.
The problem was that no grown-up in the world would ever see it that way.