When I come outta the mission, after returnin’ the reverend’s pi’ture, there was a tow-headed kid sittin’ on the middle of my hood. He didn’t bother to git off my car as I got near, either. When I was close enough, he pointed in at the seat an’ said, “That a real snake?”
“Yup.” I unlocked the car door. “You got a name, young man?”
“Young man?”
“You prefer I call you boy?”
“Skip.”
I shoved my hand at him. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Skip.”
He looked at me suspiciously an’ made no move to shake. “Why’s that?”
“Ain’t every day a man gets to meet a legend.”
“Legend?”
“Ain’t you Skip Jackson?”
“What if I am?”
“Well, ain’t many your age’d have the sense to clear out on a old man’s tryin’ to skin him alive, an’ the savvy to find somewhere like this to hole up in ’til he’s growed enough to be on his own.” It was a arrangement the County Welfare’d legalized by havin’ Skip declared a ward of the agency. “Takes brains,” I went on. “Maybe enough you’ll be runnin’ the whole county one day.” I could see him puffin’ up at that, but he shook his head.
“You some kind of smart-ass?”
“Next to Miss Nina Ross, the smartest ass in Boone County.”
“You’re weird!”
I let the slur pass as I opened the car door an’ removed Clyde from my seat.
“Hey!” he said. “I thought you said that was real!”
“It is.” I shoved Clyde under the seat. “You didn’t ask me if it was live.” He scowled. “Only a fool’d keep a live rattler in his car.” I’d known a few—gun runners an’ moonshiners, mostly. One of ’em died a snakebite when he wore through his seat, an’ his guard-snake bit him in the balls. But that’s another story … “You didn’t come out here to discuss my security arrangements,” I said. “What can I do for you?”
He must’a decided to see it my way, ’cause he finally said, “You still lookin’ for Mr. Devon?”
“I am.”
“Well, there’s someone might be able to tell you somethin’.” I waited. “My cousin Angie. She’s a friend a his.”
I raised my eyebrows, an’ he made a face I took to mean, “Gimme a break.”
“Mr. Devon’s not like that. He wouldn’t hurt a kid. He’s friends with most all of ’em.”
“Okay. Angie here today?”
“Naw. That’s the problem. She ain’t been here since Mr. Devon left.”
“That’d be Angie Boone?” He nodded. “The girl your older brother, Ash, is sweet on?” Again a nod. “Why do you suppose nobody’s bothered to mention it to me?”
He shrugged. “Prob’ly nobody but me or Mr. Devon’d notice. Angie’s sixteen. She don’t have to come to school.”
I got into the car but didn’t start it ’til I’d rolled the window down. “Much obliged.”
“Hey, can I ride in your car?”
I reckoned I owed him. I reached over an’ unlocked the passenger door; he scooted round the car an’ got in.
“I can only take you to the road.”
He grinned as he nodded. “All right!”
By the time we got there, he’d learned how to operate the Mars lights an’ the siren, an’ I figgered I’d created a monster. Or, mebbe, made a friend.