Free The Boxcar Blues by Jeff Egerton Page A

a
little more about the Jenny and the theory of flight. They soaked
up the information and spent most of their evenings at the hangar,
marveling at the plane and sharing their dreams about learning to
fly it.
    One Saturday Barney told the boys he’d take
them into Vaughn, so they could buy some new clothes and go to the
ice cream shop. Looking forward to another treat in their new
lives, they climbed in the back of the truck.
    At the dry goods store, they bought new
Oshkosh B’Gosh overalls, denim work shirts, a cotton dress shirt,
new long johns and two pairs of Red Wing work boots. When Catwalk
tried on his new work clothes, he told Curly, “These are the first
new clothes I’ve ever worn. My Momma sewed me new shirts on my
birthday, but I never had any good work clothes like these.”
    Curly admitted, “I haven’t had any new
clothes since my tenth birthday. Cat, we really lucked into it and
now we gotta work extra hard, so Barney keeps us around.”
    “ I have been working extra
hard, haven’t you noticed?”
    ” You was laying down by
the creek yesterday,” Curly said as he laced up his new work
boots.
    “ That’s because I finished
mucking out the barn and then dressed out the deer that Barney
shot, all before noon.”
    Curly smiled. He knew how proud Cat was
about the work he performed and he enjoyed joshing him whenever he
got the chance, even though he realized that his pal could work
rings around him most of the time.
    After buying their new clothes, they walked
across the street to the ice cream shop. The boys devoured
chocolate sundaes while Barney talked to a neighbor. When it was
time to head back to the farm, Catwalk wore a permanent smile. For
the first time in a year he was eating regular and for the first
time in his life he had new clothes on his back. And, he was going
to learn how to fly an airplane. He felt bad because in his limited
vocabulary, he couldn’t thank Barney enough. He decided to show his
appreciation by doing some extra work on Sundays, rather than
reading or fishing down at the creek.
    Three days later Catwalk and Curly were out
on the west side of the spread mending fences. Barney was
collecting eggs when he saw a police car drive up. Vaughn Police
Chief Zane Thomas stepped out.
    The chief sounded sociable, but his face
said this was all business. “Morning Barney, how’s that arm
feeling?”
    “ It’s a nuisance, Zane.
Doc Bowman says the cast’ll come off in a couple days.”
    “ That’s good to hear. Say,
I heard you hired a couple new hands recently.”
    “ Yes, I did. A couple
drifters come by. I wasn’t thinking of hiring anyone, but they had
a good look about them. They’re young, but they’re hard
workers.”
    “ Well, I’m glad they’re
working out for you, but they might be running from the law. Has
the colored boy got a burn mark on his left cheek?”
    “ Yes, he does.”
    “ The other one about five
ten with curly hair?”
    “ Yeah, in fact he calls
himself Curly.”
    “ We got a message a while
back about two guys that fit their description who murdered two
hoboes back in Texas.”
    Barney kicked at a clod of dirt. He would
have bet money that Catwalk and Curly weren’t murderers, but their
descriptions couldn’t be denied. He thought about the desperate
times they were living in, and how good people were driven to
criminal acts. Because of the way they might be treated, he hated
the thought of handing the boys over to the sheriff. He said,
“These boys aren’t murderers, Zane. They’re just a couple young
fellows looking to work for three squares a day.”
    “ I need to talk to them,
Barney. Are they around?”
    “ No, they’re out by river
mending fences right now. Won’t be back until the morning. How
about I bring them in tomorrow to talk to you.”
    “ That’ll be fine Barney. I
appreciate it.”
    Thomas drove off and Barney breathed a sigh
of relief. He knew what he had to do. He filled his truck with gas,
then drove across his