get up, that I had to get up each time I was able. For that was the kind of
game Hiram and I had always played. He knocked me down each time I got up
and I kept on getting up until I couldn’t any more and I never cried for
quarter and I never admitted I was licked. And if, for the rest of my life,
I could keep on doing that, then I’d be the one who won, not Hiram.
But I wasn’t doing so well. I wasn’t getting up. Maybe, I thought, this
is the time I don’t get up.
I still kept pawing with my hands, trying to lift myself and that’s how
I got the rock. Some kid, perhaps, had thrown it, maybe days before – maybe
at a bird, maybe at a dog, maybe just for the fun of throwing rocks. And it
had landed in the street and stayed there and now the fingers of my right
hand found it and closed around it and it fitted comfortably into my palm,
for it was exactly fist size.
A hand, a great meaty paw of a hand, came down from above and grabbed
my shirt front and hauled me to my feet.
‘So,’ screamed a voice, ‘assault an officer, would you!’
His face swam in front of me, a red-smeared face twisted with his
hatred, heavy with its meanness, gloating at the physical power he held over
me.
I could feel my legs again and the face came clearer and the clot of
faces in the background – the faces of the crowd, pressing close to be in at
the kill.
One did not give up, I told myself, remembering back to all those other
times I had not given up. As long as one was on his feet, he fought, and
even when he was down and could not get up, he did not admit defeat.
Both of his hands were clutching at my shirt front, his face pushed
close toward mine, I clenched my fist and my fingers closed hard around the
rock and then I swung. I swung with everything I had, putting every ounce of
strength I could muster behind the swinging fist swinging from the waist in
a jolting upward jab, and I caught him on the chin.
His head snapped back, pivoting on the thick, bull neck. He staggered
and his fingers loosened and he crumpled, sprawling in the street.
I stepped back a pace and stood looking down at him and everything was
clearer now and. I knew I had a body, a bruised and beaten body that ached,
it seemed, in every joint and muscle. But that didn’t matter; it didn’t mean
a thing – for the first time in my life I’d knocked Hiram Martin down. I’d
used a rock to do it and I didn’t give a damn. I hadn’t meant to pick up
that rock – I’d just found it and closed my fingers on it. I had not planned
to use it, but now that I had it made no difference to me. If I’d had time
to plan, I’d probably have planned to use it.
Someone leaped Out from the crowd toward me and I saw it was Tom
Preston.
‘You going to’ let him get away with it?’ Preston was screaming at the
crowd. ‘He hit an officer! He hit him with a rock! He picked up a rock!’
Another man pushed out of the crowd and grabbed Preston by the
shoulder, lifting him and setting him back in the forefront of the crowd.
‘You keep out of this,’ Gabe Thomas said.
‘But he used a rock!’ screamed Preston.
‘He should have used a club,’ said Gabe. ‘He should have beat his
brains out.’
Hiram was stirring, sitting up. His hand reached for his gun.
‘Touch that gun,’ I told him. ‘Just one finger on it and, so help me,
I’ll kill you.’
Hiram stared at me. I must have been a sight. He’d worked me over good
and he’d mussed me up a lot and still I’d knocked him down and was standing
on my feet.
‘He hit you with a rock,’ yelped Preston. ‘He hit…’ Gabe reached out
and his fingers fitted neatly around Preston’s skinny throat. He squeezed
and Preston’s mouth flapped open and his tongue came out.
‘You keep out of it,’ said Gabe.
‘But Hiram’s an officer of the law,’ protested Chancy Hutton. ‘Brad
shouldn’t have hit an officer.’
‘Friend,’ Gabe told the tavern owner, ‘he’s a damn poor officer. No
officer worth his salt goes picking fights with people.’
I’d never taken my eyes off Hiram and he’d been watching me, but now he
flicked his eyes to one side and his hand dropped to the ground.
And in that moment I knew that I had won – not because I was the
stronger, not because I fought the better (for I wasn’t and I hadn’t) but
because Hiram was a coward, because he had no guts, because, once hurt, he
didn’t have the courage to chance being hurt again. And I knew, too, that I
need not fear the gun he carried, for Hiram Martin didn’t have it in him to
face another man and kill him.
Hiram got slowly to his feet and stood there for a moment. His hand
came up and felt his jaw. Then he turned his back and walked away. The
crowd, watching silently, parted to make a path for him.
I stared at his retreating back and a fierce, bloodthirsty satisfaction
rose up inside of me. After more than twenty years, I’d beaten this
childhood enemy. But, I told myself I had not beat him fair – I’d had to
play dirty to triumph over him. But I found it made no difference. Dirty
fight or fair, I had finally licked him.
The crowd moved slowly back. No one spoke to me. No one spoke to
anyone.
‘I guess,’ said Gabe, ‘there are no other takers. If there were, they’d
have to fight me, too.’
‘Thanks, Gabe,’ I said.
‘Thanks, hell,’ he said. ‘I didn’t do a thing.’
I opened up my fist and the rock dropped to the street. In the silence,
it made a terrible clatter.
Gabe hauled a huge red handkerchief out of his rear pocket and stepped
over to me. He put a hand back of my head to hold it steady and began to
wipe my face.
‘In a month or so,’ he said, by way of comfort, ‘you’ll look all right
again.’
‘Hey, Brad,’ yelled someone, ‘who’s your friend?’
I couldn’t see who it was who yelled. There were so many people.
‘Mister,’ yelled someone else, ‘be sure you wipe his nose.’
‘Go on!’ roared Gabe. ‘Go on! Any of you wisecrackers walk out here in
plain sight and I’ll dust the street with you.’
Grandma Jones said in a loud voice, so that Pappy Andrews could hear.
‘He’s the trucker fellow that smashed Brad’s car. Appears to me if Brad has
to fight someone, he should be fighting him.’
‘Big mouth,’ yelled back Pappy Andrews. ‘He’s got an awful big mouth.’
I saw Nancy standing by the gate and she had the same look on her face
that she’d had when we were kids and I had fought Hiram Martin then. She was
disgusted with me. She had never held with fighting; she thought that it was
vulgar.
The front door burst open and Gerald Sherwood came running down the
walk. He rushed over and grabbed me by the arm.
‘Come on,’ he shouted. ‘The senator called. He’s out there waiting for
you, on the east end of the road.’
18
Four of them were waiting for me on the pavement just beyond the
barrier. A short distance down the road several cars were parked. A number
of state troopers were scattered about in little groups. Half a mile or so
to the north the steam shovel was still digging.
I felt foolish walking down the road toward them while they waited for
me. I knew that I must look as if the wrath of God had hit me.
My shirt was torn and the left side of my face felt as though someone
had sandpapered it. I had deep gashes on the knuckles of my right hand where
I’d smacked Hiram in the teeth and my left eye felt as if it were starting
to puff up.
Someone had cleared away the windrow of uprooted vegetation for several
rods on either side of the road, but except for that, the windrow was still
there.
As I got close, I recognized the senator. I had never met the man, but
I’d seen his pictures in the papers. He was stocky and well-built and his
hair was white and he never wore a hat. He was dressed in a double-breasted
suit and he had a bright blue tie with white polka dots.