said.
I believe it is gone, I agreed.
In a minute or two its gonna be in Loo-siana, he said with a grin. They always said tall, skinny boys like you and me cant play baseball. They say we too far from the ground. Ill tell you something, I proved they dont know everything.
He wiped the broom handle on his shirt and put the broom back inside.
We walked a few minutes in silence. Then Abraham stopped, his face suddenly serious.
I could talk baseball and swing at soft peaches all day, he said. But you and I have some other business.
Yes, we do, I said.
This is serious business, Mr. Corbett. Sad business. My people are worse off now than they were the day Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation.
Chapter 34
WE DONT HAVE TO GO far to find a lynching tree, Abraham said. But I know how tired you young fellas get from walking in the heat of the day. I reckon wed best take the hosses.
The two hosses Abraham led out from a rickety blacksmith shop were mulesin fact, they were mules that had hauled one too many plows down one too many cotton rows. But those skinny animals proved their worth by depositing us, less than twenty minutes later, at a secluded swampy area that was unmistakably the site of a lynching.
Unmistakably.
A cool grotto tucked back in the woods away from the road. Big branches interlaced overhead to form a ceiling. The dirt was packed hard as a stone floor from the feet of all the people who had stood there watching the terrible spectacle.
Abraham pointed to an oak at the center of the clearing. And theres your main attraction.
Even without his guidance, I would have recognized it as a lynching tree. There was a thick, strong branch barely a dozen feet from the ground. The low dip in the middle of the branch was rubbed free of its bark by the friction of ropes.
I walked under the tree. The hard ground was stained with dark blotches. My stomach churned at the thought of what had happened in this unholy place.
Somebody left us a greeting, Abraham said. That would be the Klan.
He was pointing behind me, to the trunk of a sycamore tree. About five feet up, someone had used an odd-looking white nail to attach a plank with crude lettering on it:
BEWARE ALL COONS! BEWARE ALL COON LOVERS!
Ive never seen a nail that color, I said.
You never seen a nail made out of human bone? said Abraham.
I shuddered, reaching up to haul the plank down.
Dont waste your strength, Mr. Corbett, he said. You pull that one down today, therell be a new sign up there next week.
His face changed. We got company, he said.
Chapter 35
THE DOUBLE-BARRELED SHOTGUN pointed our way was almost as big as the girl holding it. It was so long and heavy I was more afraid she would drop it and discharge it accidentally than that she might shoot us on purpose.
Abraham said, What you fixin to do with that gun? That aint no possum you aimin at.
I was distracted by the fact that she was very serious and very pretty. She wore a simple cotton jumper, stark white against the smooth brown of her skin. A perfect face, with delicate features that betrayed the fierceness of her attitude. Deep brown eyes flashed a steady warning: keep away from me .
What yall doing messin around the lynching tree? she said.
You know this girl, Abraham?
I surely do. This is Moody. Say hello to Mr. Corbett.
Moody didnt say a word to me. She kept her barrel trained on my heart. If she was going to stare at me this way, I couldnt help looking back at her.
Well, if you know her, I said, maybe you should tell her not to go around pointing firearms at people.
Moody, you heard the man, said Abraham. Put it down. Now, granddaughter.
Oh, Papaw, she said, what you bring this white man out here for?
Abraham reached out and pushed the gun barrel away. Moody pulled back from him as if he were trying to