ON CHRISTMAS morning, Jared asked Cy and his son and Bertha to join them. While the gifts were being opened, Jared fixed everyone a breakfast of the eggs and bacon. All of them felt a tinge of guilt as the odor of frying bacon drifted throughout the camp. Others were having sardines and Vienna sausage.
It was shortly after noon when Creedy came to the camp. Jared and Cy were sitting on the ground outside the room when Jabbo and Clug approached. Jabbo stopped in front of Jared and said, “Mistuh Creedy say the girl stay here now an’ work in the fields. He want the baby.”
“What?” Jared said, springing to his feet. “What’d you say?”
Jabbo repeated, “Mistuh Creedy say he want the baby. He’s done with the girl, an’ you can have her back now. He say she’s tetched, an’ she ain’t much of a woman noways. She don’t know how to take a man. I tried ’er myself when Mistuh Creedy was gone.”
Jared lunged furiously at the giant black man as Cy jumped up and ran into his room. Jabbo whipped a pistol from his belt and smashed it into Jared’s face. The blow spun him backward against the wall. For a moment he stared at Jabbo, then he slumped to the ground.
Cy came out of the room holding a butcher knife. He stepped in front of Jabbo and said, “You tetch that baby it goin’ be the last thing you ever tetch ! You understand me, black nigger?” He pointed the knife at Jabbo’s throat.
Jabbo looked at the long blade as he stepped back and said, “We goin’ take the baby. You want to get yo’self killed fo’ it?”
Cy went into a crouching position. He said, “You’ll have to kill me right here in the camp! It won’t be out in the swamp where nobody can see! You’ll have to do it right here in front of ev’rybody!”
Jabbo pointed the pistol at Cy and said, “You go with us to see Mistuh Creedy. You don’t go, I’ll blow yo’ guts all over the ground.”
Cy straightened up to a standing position. He gripped the knife handle harder and said, “I’ll go see Creedy, but you ain’t tetchin’ that baby. You’ll have to kill me first.”
Jared pushed himself up and saw Cy walking with Jabbo and Clug around the side of the building. Cloma, Kristy and Bennie rushed from the room, and all of them had stark terror in their faces. Jared motioned frantically for them to go back inside, then he staggered along the wall and out to the cookshed.
Hanging on a rafter in the shed there was a large steel hook the cook used to remove pots from the grille. Jared took it down and made his way slowly along the south fence. When he passed the end of the building he could see Cy standing in front of Creedy, with Jabbo and Clug behind him. They were arguing violently. Creedy also had a pistol in his hand. Jabbo and Clug suddenly grabbed Cy and started dragging him toward the pickup. He broke free and came at Creedy with the knife. Jared watched as Creedy fired point blank; then Cy slumped to the ground. Jabbo and Clug picked him up and threw him into the back of the pickup.
Sweat was pouring from Jared’s face as he crept closer, coming in behind the trailer so they couldn’t see him. He eased around the side of the trailer and was just to the side of Creedy when Creedy turned. Disbelief flashed into Creedy’s eyes as the steel hook smashed into the center of his head. He stared blankly for a moment, then he toppled backward. The pistol fell at Jared’s feet.
The bullet stung like a wasp when it hit Jared’s left shoulder. He grabbed Creedy’s pistol and looked up. Jabbo was about to fire at him again. He pointed quickly and pulled the trigger, and the bullet caught Jabbo in the right arm. Jabbo dropped the pistol and stepped back.
For a moment Jared couldn’t move, and he felt hot blood running down the inside of his shirt. He finally pushed himself up and walked to Jabbo and Clug.
Clug looked at the pistol in the trembling hand and at the anger in Jared’s eyes. He took a step backward and said wildly, “I didn’t mean no harm! I swear fo’ God I didn’t! Mistuh Creedy made me do it!”
Jabbo remained silent, also watching Jared’s trembling hand.
Jared turned to Jabbo and said, “Jabbo, I ought to kill you right now! You ain’t fitten to live, the things you’ve did.” He pointed the pistol directly at the giant black man’s head, and then he hesitated, as if trying to make a decision. He finally lowered the gun and said, “I’ll tell you what I want. I want both of you to walk down to the gate and step outside. Then I want you to run. And I don’t want you to stop or look back ’til you reach Homestead. You understand me?”
Clug nodded his head in agreement, but Jabbo stood still and said, “You must be crazy, white man!”
Jared aimed the pistol and fired. The bullet knocked a piece of leather from Jabbo’s right shoe. He jumped back quickly and then he followed Clug to the gate. Jared watched as the two men ran down the dirt road toward the highway.
Bennie came around the comer of the building and ran to his father. He said wildly, “Are you hurt, Papa? Are you hurt?”
Jared shook Bennie’s shoulder to calm him, then he said, “I want you to run to the store and get them to call Deputy Drummond at the sheriff’s department. Tell him to come out here real quick and send an ambulance, that they’s people hurt out here. You’ll have to run faster than you’ve ever run before. Can you do this, Bennie?”
“I can do it, Papa,” Bennie said. “It won't take me no time at all to get to the store.” He bounded across the clearing and out the gate, then he cut at an angle across the tomato field toward the highway.
Jared’s head was beginning to pound, but he paid no heed to this or to the severe pain in his shoulder. For a moment he watched after Bennie, then he walked back to where Creedy was lying on the ground. Creedy didn’t move as Jared dropped down and straddled the huge hulk. He sat on Creedy’s chest and pointed the pistol directly into Creedy’s face. Jared’s hand trembled harder as he pressed his finger against the trigger.
From behind him he heard a voice calling, “Mistuh Jay! Mistuh Jay!”
Cy was dragging himself across the ground. Jared was startled, for he thought they had killed Cy. The pistol barrel was still pressed against Creedy’s face when Cy yelled, “Don’t do it, Mistuh Jay! Don’t do it! He ain’t worth it! Let it be!”
For a moment Jared did not remove the pistol, then he suddenly remembered something Cy had once said to him, “ ... you goin’ end up doin’ somethin’ bad you would have never done.” He threw the pistol to the ground and went over to Cy.
The front of Cy’s shirt was soaked with blood. Jared bent over him and said, “How bad is it?”
Cy tried to manage a smile. “If I had a choice, I’d ruther not have it at all. But they ain’t done me in yet. It’s a hard job to kill a nigger.”
Jared looked into his eyes and said, “When this’s all over, Cy, let’s do somethin’ together. We’ll be pardners in somethin’.”
“That would sho’ be fine,” Cy said weakly. “But let’s see if we can do somethin’ ’sides pick ’maters.”
Jared put his arms under Cy and picked him up. The weight of Cy’s body sent sharp pains searing through his shoulder, yet he didn’t waver as he walked slowly to the room and placed Cy on one of the bunks.
Kristy was sitting on a bunk against the opposite wall, clutching the rag doll that Jeff Billings had given her the night before they left West Virginia. Jared turned to her and said, “See to Cy as best you can, Kristy. Bennie has gone fer an ambulance.”
Kristy didn’t answer, and she seemed not to hear or see Jared. She pushed herself back against the wall and tightened her grip on the doll.
Jared said harshly, “Kristy! Don’t you hear me? I want you to look after Cy!”
A wildness came into her eyes, and suddenly she jumped up and ran screaming from the room.
Jared stumbled outside and found Cloma sitting cross-legged on the ground, holding the baby. She was swaying back and forth, singing, “Jesus ... loves me ... this I know ... for the ... Bible ... tells me so ... little ones ... to Him belong ... they are weak . . . and He ... is strong ....”
For a moment Jared stared at her blankly, as if seeing someone other than Cloma, and then he said, “Cloma ... are you all right, Cloma?”
She looked up, but her eyes showed no recognition. She said, “There’s snow now in West Virginny. The school will be a long walk for the children.” Then she started swaying again, swaying and singing, “Yes . . . Jesus loves me . . . yes ... Jesus loves me ... yes ... Jesus loves me ... the Bible tells ... me so .... ”
Jared dropped down beside her and said in anguish, “Oh my God! My God have mercy! What have I done to them? What have I done ... ?”
For a moment more he watched her, trying to disbelieve what he was seeing, wanting to reach out and touch her and the baby, but not doing so; and then he was suddenly overwhelmed with rage. He jumped up and rushed around the east side of the building, totally unaware of the people huddled in groups along the wall, people watching with fear and bewilderment in their eyes. He climbed into the red bus and cranked it, then he backed it into the clearing. When he gave it full throttle, the old vehicle shuddered forward and crashed into the side of the trailer, sending it tumbling over on its side.
Jared then backed the bus again, turned it and aimed it full speed at the north fence. It rammed into the thick mesh wire and seemed to bounce back. The fence swayed for a moment, then it toppled to the ground.
Jared got out of the bus and walked trance-like to the pickup. His eyes were glazed, and the pounding in his head had become almost unbearable. He noticed that Creedy had dragged himself to a sitting position beside the Mark IV, but his eyes were still closed.
When Jared reached the pickup, he removed the gas cap and dropped a lighted match into the tank. The force of the explosion knocked him backward, and he crawled away as a mushroom of fire enveloped the truck.
Jared lay on the ground and watched without emotion as the flames consumed the pickup, then he pushed himself up and went out of the gate and into the tomato field. He pulled one of the plants from the ground and threw it into the air. Then he pulled another and another, throwing them wildly. He was still moving down the row, sailing plants into the air, when he heard the scream of a siren. The wailing sound brought him back to consciousness, and he turned and went back to the gate.
The patrol car was leading an ambulance, and Bennie was on the front seat with the deputy. Jared stepped aside as the two vehicles rushed past him and parked just inside the gate. White dust boiled into his face as he forced himself to the ambulance. He held on to the front fender and said, “My friend’s down there in room ten. See to him first. He’s been shot pretty bad.” Then he felt darkness rush in as he toppled to the ground.
Jared was not aware again until he looked up into the face of one of the ambulance attendants. The deputy and Bennie were standing to one side. He asked, “How’s my friend?”
“He took a good one,” the attendant said, “but we think he'll make it.”
“What about Creedy?”
“You mean the big one?”
“Yes. The big one. Is he dead?”
“Naw, he’s o.k. His skull’s probably cracked, but that’s nothing new. We get plenty of those every day out of these camps. But you can bet he’ll have some kind of a headache tomorrow. You folks sure had some donnybrook of a Christmas party out here.”
The deputy leaned over Jared and said, “He’ll have more than a headache for a long time to come. Your son has told me all the things you told me before, and now maybe some of these other people will talk. He’s got a lot to answer for, including that bullet in your friend.”
The words meant nothing to Jared. He was glad that he hadn’t killed Creedy, but he no longer cared about him or Angel City, and he received no satisfaction from the thought of what might happen to Creedy. He said absently, “ ... it don’t matter none noway ... the woods is full of ’em .... ”
The deputy leaned over him again. “Don’t worry about your family or any of these other people,” he said. “I’m sending welfare workers out here to help them. They’ll be o.k.”
Bennie came to his father and said, “What we goin’ to do when we leave here, Papa? I need to know what we’ll do.”
“I don’t know, Bennie,” Jared said weakly. “I just don’t rightly know. Maybe that fruit stand is still out there sommers, and maybe we’ll have to go back to the mountains so’s I can work in the mines. We’ll make it somehow, I promise you. But you got to take care of your Mamma and the baby and Kristy while I’m gone. You just got to do it, son. You hear?”
“I can do it, Papa,” Bennie said. “Don’t you worry none at all. I’ll see to them.”
Jared reached out and squeezed Bennie’s hand as he felt himself being lifted into the ambulance. He said urgently, “Do your best by them, Bennie! They’re goin’ need all the help you can give.”
As soon as the two flashing vehicles crossed the dirt road and turned onto the highway, some of the people trudged slowly back to their rooms. Others did not.
Several men went to the open gate and stepped out. For several minutes they stood still, looking back at the barracks and the flattened fence and the smoldering hulk of the pickup. Then they moved forward hesitantly. Suddenly they started running, and soon there was a pounding of feet as they rushed across the tomato field toward the open highway.