Free Billy by Albert French Page A

must get through his
    62 I Albert FrN rrh

    tears, must gel i nto his mi nd, must get into his hemt, must get to hi m as quickly as it leaves her.
    ''Billy Lee, listen to Mama, and do just as I say. Get out of tha t window beh ind Mama's bed, ru n across that field, and get in them bushes where the Catfish tu rn s. You stay there. Don't you come out till you hear me call, just me, you hear Mama?"
    "Mama, Sheriff gits me? He comes and gits me too?" "No, you hide till night. Mama come, you h ide till Mama
    come get you. Here, take this blanket, and take this to eat. Now go, rnn, baby." Cinder has given a blanket, food from the cookin table, bu t has not been able to hold him tight. She pushes Billy through the window and shou ts behind him, "Ru n, Billy Lee, run."
    She watches him start across the field, then she turns and rushes for the door as Katey comes running in.
    "He's comin up here . He's comin for Billy, Ah's knows it, he's comin here. Lord help us. Cinder, he's goin ta git Billy. What we's goin ta do?" Katey's muffled shouts fill the room, but Cin der is silent. She moves through the room with the swiftness of a cal, her dark eyes become dark e r, like burning wood before it begins to glow.
    "God have mercy, child, what ya doin? Don't goes out there. What ya doin, Cinder? Cinder, oh Je s us," Katey shouts as Cinder swishes past her.
    Sheriff Tom comes rumbli ng through the d i rt ya rd and stomps up t he porch steps. The shack door opens slowly and Cinder steps out onto the porch.
    "Ge t out my godda mn way, where's that nigger at?" "W hat do you want h ere? What do yo u wan t?'' Cinder's
    eyes glow red, she stares into t he sheriff's eyes, and her words hiss through the heal. "What do you want?''
    B J L L y I 63

    Sheriff Tom pushes her aside and storms into the hou se yelling, "Where's that little nigger at? Where's that boy at, ya got that Billy Lee in here? Billy Lee. Bill y Lee. I know ya here."
    Katey comes run ning out of the house and into the dirt yard. Patch folks peek out their doors and windows and flinch at every crashing sound and yell coming from Cinder's hous e. The sheriff 's face is twisted, his teeth are gritting, his eyes flash back and forth as he jerks his large head from side to side. Everything in the house has been turned over, sleeping beds turned upside down and their feather mattresses kicked across the room. Life magazines are strewed over the floor .
    Pictures of people in long evening gowns , black tuxedos, big smiles on their faces , lay scattered over the floor.
    The sheriff comes stomping back out onto the porch, his lips are pulled back from his tobacco-stained teeth, h e spits out his words. "Where's that boy at, where's he at? I want that nigger and I want his little knifin ass right now. You his mama? Answer me."
    "Naw sir, Ah ain't his mama," Katey whimpers up from the yard.
    The sheriff turns quickly and looks at the woman who stands glaring up at him.
    "You his mama, that boy yours?" Silence.
    "A nswer me when I'm talkin to you. You that boy's mama?"
    Silence.
    "Where's that boy at? Ya his mama? Ya better answer m e." Silence.
    "You that boy's mama?" Th e sheriff lowers hi s voice and slowly walks over Lo Cinder.
    64 I Albert French

    She does not turn from his snarling face, she does not flinch from his flexing muscles. She can smell the liquor on his breath, smell the scent of his sweat, but she is silent and only stares up into his eyes.
    "Where he at?" The sheriff 's eyes come to Cinder's. lt is silent.
    "Goddamn you, bitch," the sheriff mumbles. His hand comes smacking across Cinder's face, knocking it to the side, but she jerks it back and throw s her eyes back into his. Again his hand comes smacking across her face with the grunt of "Ya snake-eyed bitch."
    Cinder is flung from the porch, lands, and skids on her side in the dirt. She lays with her face nestled in the ground. Katey screams, prays, pleads, "God, leave her be. Don 't hurt that child, please, don't hurts her.