Free Only the Truth by Pat Brown Page B

finished off the beer and she
seemed a little drunk.
    "Aw, honey, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that," she seemed to
realize she was repeating herself, "what I am saying is she finally can be
my little girl again; she doesn't want to be a grown up right now with a man
she has to take care of. She just wants to be my baby again."
    Maybe there was some sense in that. I didn't say nothing though. I just wanted to hear Mrs. Wiggington tell me
about Charlene.
    She wanted to tell me about her 'Cheryl,' too. She leaned against me and
told me how she finally could smile again and how she could start getting back
all those years she lost when Charlene went missing. She made me uncomfortable
and she made me mad.
    "Cheryl is going to have such a wonderful time when we get her out of
this little bit o' trouble!"
    A little trouble? I was beginning to see where
Charlene got her craziness from.
    "I am going to take Cheryl home and let her ride on the swing she never
got to use. We put it up the week after she went missing, thinking maybe it
would draw her home .“
    Mrs. Wiggington got quiet for a minute. She
smiled.
    "Huh, maybe that ol ' swing really did bring
her home, you think, Billy Ray?"
    I wasn't really thinking of Charlene at home with her family. I was thinking
about Charlene sleeping in another bed far away from me.
    "Anyway, I want to bring her home and show Cheryl her room with all her
stuffed animals still in it. And I want to walk her to her school and back home
again. I want her to eat her dinner with us and I want to say prayers with her
before she goes to sleep at night."
    I just couldn't listen any more.
    "Bye, Mrs. Wiggington ." I left as quick as I could.
    When I looked back, she was standing at the door with another beer in her
hand and she was still smiling.
     
    ********************

     
    I went back to the house, made myself some tea and forced myself to think
things through. I could feel myself hating Mrs. Wiggington for stealing Charlene away from me and I could feel myself hating Charlene for
wanting to go with her. But, then I knew if I ever had a little son and he went
missing and then I found him a whole bunch of years later, I would want to
bring him home to our little house on the hill, and let him see Big Dog, well,
if Big Dog were alive, and give him biscuits fresh out of the oven and watch
him breathe while he sleeps on our bed. And I'd guess I would want him coming
home by hisself and not bring a whole bunch of people
I didn't know with him. I could understand all that but I still wanted my
Charlene. I didn't want to be alone again. Maybe I should get a new Big Dog.
    A new Big Dog. A new Big Dog. That was a nice idea but still it seemed like
just a dog wouldn't be enough for me any more . I
wanted Charlene. And my baby. I would be a good daddy.
I would take good care of him. Play with him. Get him toys. Maybe make him a
swing like they did Charlene. He would like that. Kids like swings. It was one
of the first things Charlene mentioned when Mr. Green asked her what she
remembered; the swing that hung from the big oak tree.
    I suddenly had a bad feeling I couldn't identify.
    The swing that hung from the old oak tree.
    I went and looked under the bed for those papers I took to Charlene way back
when I was trying to make her happy in the jail. She didn't seem all that
interested in them and she would always give them back to me. I kept them in
case I needed to bring something back for her again. I pulled out the stack and
went through them one by one, looking at the pictures until I came to the one I
didn't want to find.
     
    ********************
     
    I couldn't sleep that night. I just rocked back and forth on the bed until
the sun came up. Then I went to town. I stopped in at the drug store for a few
minutes. When I got to the courthouse, I found Pammy in the hallway and I nodded to her but walked away without even a good morning.
    I saw Mr. Green talking with Mrs. Wiggington over
by the trial room door.