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My Great-grandfather Turns Twelve Today

                                                                                  (c) 2003 Bill Dodds

Chapter 16

   "That boy bothering you, Charlie?"

   I looked up. The black kid was back again. This time he didn't have on any clothes and water was dripping from him. Charlie didn't answer and the kid started walking toward us. The closer he got, the easier it was to see that he was actually a little taller than I was. He looked strong, too.

   "That boy bothering you?" he asked again.

   Charlie gave his head a little shake.

   "You want me to whup him, Charlie?"

   "No, Richard," Charlie said. He looked over at the kid who was now about five feet from us. "I... just got something in my eye," Charlie said.

   "Uh huh," Richard answered, sounding as if he didn't believe it. "I look in your eye, I see Sweet William. Thas what I see in your eye. Huh?"

   Charlie shrugged.

   "You lose someone like that, it makes a hole in your heart," Richard said. "Thas what my mama told me when Etty passed on. I was only six but I thought I was gonna join her I felt so bad. She was 'bout the best big sister anybody ever had."

   Charlie sniffed and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

   "But that hole Mama talked about?" Richard continued. "It gets smaller and smaller."

   Charlie looked at him.

   "It does," the black boy said. "But I don't think it ever goes away."

   "What do you do when the hole is still big?" Charlie asked.

   "You hurt," Richard said. "Thas what my gramma tol' me and expect she knows a lot about hurtin'."

   Charlie nodded. "Why?" I asked.

   "Who are you?" Richard asked.

   "My cousin Michael," Charlie lied.

   "You live in the city?" Richard asked.

   "The suburbs," I said.

   "The suppers? What do you mean you live in the suppers?"

   "He lives in the city," Charlie said. "He fell on his head and his brains are still a little mixed up."

   "Uh huh," Richard said. "Well, he sure doesn't dress like he's from around here."

   Which I thought was kind of an interesting statement, coming from someone who wasn't dressed at all.

   "Tell him why your gramma knows a lot about hurting," Charlie said. "He's trying to learn a thing or two while he's here."

   "Huh," Richard said. "And I hope he does." Then to me: "Gramma knows a lot about hurting because Gramma was a slave."

   "No way!" I said.

   "What?"

   "I mean, really? A slave?"

   "That's what I just said, isn't it?" Richard answered, sounding a little annoyed.

   "When was she born?" I asked.

   He shrugged. "Don't know for sure. Before the 'Mancipation Proclamation, that's for sure."

   "Before the what?" I asked.

   "Boy, you mean to tell me you never heard of the 'Mancipation Proclamation?"

   I shook my head. "I guess not," I said.

   "Well, you know coloreds are free now, don't you?"

   "Coloreds?" I asked.

   "His brains are more than mixed up," he said to Charlie. "His brains are gone." Charlie laughed. "This fool related to you or is he related to Bucky? This fool don't know cow pie from shoofly pie."

   What from what?

   Charlie laughed again. I began to suspect the black kid was saying all this stuff just to cheer him up.

   "What kind of pie from what kind of pie?" I asked, playing along and both boys howled.

   "We gonna call you 'Bucky Junior' you keep that up," Richard said.

   "Who's Bucky?" I asked.

   "Come on," Charlie said and I followed both of them into the bushes.

   We walked maybe 25 yards and there was the river bank. It was about 10 feet from the top of it down to the water.

   Overalls and some kind of underwear that were shirts and drawers in one piece were hanging on some bushes up where we were. Three boys -- two white and one black -- were splashing around down in the water which was maybe 30 feet across and moving slowly.

   "There's a drop off about 20 feet from shore," Charlie was telling me. "A hole. That's where you want to be sure to land."

   "Land?" I asked.

   "Yeah, Junior," Richard said. "Land. Hey, Bucky, come meet your kin."

   A white boy of about 10 walked out of the water. He was naked, too. He had dark hair that was slicked back from the water and his front teeth really protruded. They stuck way out.

   "Bucky was here all by hisself when Nate and I showed up," Richard said. "Out swimming. I told him that's dumb."

   "If something happens to you, Bucky," Charlie said, "no one will be around to help."

   "It was hot," he answered. "Where'd you get that shirt you're holdin'?" He was looking at me.

   "This is my cousin Michael," Charlie said. "This is Bucky Taylor." The kid smiled and then turned around and waded back into the water.

   "He could sure use some braces," I said.

   "Some what?" Charlie asked.

   "Wires in his mouth," I said.

   "Junior, why you want to put wires in that boy's mouth?" Richard asked.

   "Little strands of metal," I said.

   "Crazy."

   "It would push his teeth back in," I said.

   "My uncle's got teeth like that," Richard said. "You talk about wires around him, he'll push your teeth into the back of your head."

   In the meantime, Charlie had taken off his overalls and his one-piece underwear. "You want to go first or you want me to?" he asked. "Come on, shuck those clothes."

   I felt a little embarrassed but since everyone else wasn't wearing any... I pulled them off. Richard and Charlie laughed at my briefs and then Charlie untied the end of an old rope that was looped around some branches on a tree right next to us. One branch went way out over the water. The other end of the rope was tied to it.

   "I'll go first," he said, suddenly tightening his grip on the rope, taking a couple of steps back and swinging off the bank. He sailed out on the giant pendulum, letting go when he was 20 feet from shore and way up over the water. Then he put his hands down right in front of him and plunged feet first into the river. He quickly popped to the surface, waved at us and began swimming in toward the other boys.

   "Your turn," Richard said. "Bucky, get the rope."

     Bucky went over to the rope and brought it to us. He climbed the bank and handed it to me.

   "It's not hard, Junior," Richard said and laughed. "Just do like Charlie did."

   All the boys were watching me. I took a couple of steps back and prepared to jump.

   "Just be sure to take care of your jewels," Richard said.

   "What?"

   "Do like Charlie."

   I nodded and hurled myself forward. Down I went, over land and then over water. Then up. And up. And up. At the top of the pendulum's swing, I let go and for an instant I was suspended in mid-air.

Go to Chapter 17.