Free Buddies by Nancy L. Hart Page B

drop of blood in his body had settled there.
    Finally Mr. McGraw stopped laughing so hard, he managed to speak to the boys between little chuckles, saying, “Fellows, I’m sorry, but that’s one laugh that I just couldn’t hold back. Mercy, I’m sure glad Miss Mattie got outta here when she did because I was just about to burst out laughing in the lady’s face. Lord, I ain’t laughed this much since I don’t know when.”
    Mr. McGraw picked up his pipe from the counter that he had laid aside while he waited on Miss Mattie. He gave it a few hard puffs to get it started back up again; he went on to say, “I’ll swear, if this older generation of ladies around here don’t beat everything. I don’t reckin that they’re ever gonna let this little town live down, how it got its name. If it’s ever brought up in their presence, who Ruby Creek was named after, then theybecome embarrassed, get mad as old setting hens, and turn red as a beet like Miss Mattie just did. Ernie, I know that you didn’t mean any harm when you spoke up, but Miss Mattie thought that it was just awful. The name Ruby to the women folks in this town is a pure disgrace, especially to the older ladies like Miss Mattie. Lord, I’ll bet there ain’t a girl in this whole country by the name of Ruby, now and hadn’t been in years.”
    “Why?” Ernie and Joey Frank asked at the same time
    “Well, I don’t reckin there’s any harm in telling you. I see nothing wrong with anyone wanting to learn all they can about the history of the place where they grew up. Most boys your age, in this part of the country, already know how Ruby Creek got its’ name. They’ve learned from their Pa’s and Grandpa’s, but Lord, they didn’t learn it from their Ma’s and Grandma’s because they would never talk of such.”
    Mr. McGraw sat down on a high stool that he kept behind the counter. He began to tell the story that had been handed down to him, as Ernie and Joey Frank stood curiously listening.
    “Well Boys, it was a long time ago,” he said. “It was before I was born. I’d say that it’s been fifty or sixty years ago when Ruby Creek got its name. My Father remembers the pretty bawd* well that the town was named after. He still talks about how beautiful she was with her long dark hair, smooth white skin and eyes that sparkled like diamonds. He said all the men loved the gorgeous lady, and all the women hated her. Ruby was her name, and back then, she used to sing at the old saloon down the street. During that time the little town had just been born and didn’t have a name. My father said one day all the men folks got together and made it official that the town be named Ruby Creek. The name Ruby was from the pretty bawd and Creek from the large creek below town. When this took place, my father said, it set sparks flying. He said the women folks became so furious
    *Keeper of a brothel that they kicked their men folk outta the house coming and going. The poor fellows had to bed down in their barns, to sleep for weeks and weeks. Mr. McGraw gave his pipe a few more puffs, and then he continued with the story that kept the boy interest. “Boys, I’ve been told that the old saloon building down the street is now haunted by the pretty bawd’s spirit. Some of the fellows from around here tell me, when they walk by the deserted old building late at night, they can see a beautiful lady wearing a red dress just standing there at the closed door. They say she is only there a few minutes, and then she disappears right before their eyes into thin air.”
    Joey Frank was curious about what a bawd was, but “Mr. know it all” Ernie already knew. Joey Frank had never heard the word before, and he wanted to know the meaning so, he asked. “Mr. McGraw, what’s a bawd? Is she a Queen or somethin’ like that?”
    Ernie spoke up loudly an’ clearly saying, “Heck, no, a bawd ain’t no queen, an’ you ain’t got no bizness a-knowin’ what one is ‘cause yore