I looked at Papa, then back at Jessie, but I knew what I had to do. My father came first. I loved Jessie, too, but it wasn’t as if we were going to hurt her. We just needed that head start.
Before I could move, Jessie threw herself at the table, reaching for the gun in her purse. The purse fell on the floor and I kicked it away. Then my father put Sara on the floor and tried to grab hold of Jessie but she moved away from his grasp, still trying for the purse. Kelly stood paralyzed with fear.
“I said I wouldn’t hurt you!” Papa yelled at Jessie, but she didn’t listen. When he finally caught up with her, he pulled her upright and tried to pin her arms back, but she raked his face with her fingernails, drawing blood. I could see she was trying to gouge his eyes. I was afraid he’d fly into a rage, but he didn’t.
“All right, have it your way,” he said calmly. “I won’t tie you. Go ahead and call the cops. They won’t find us.” Then he grabbed me by the arm with one hand and picked Sara up in his other arm. She was crying and screaming now, and clinging to her doll. Kelly was crying, too.
Then Jessie yelled out, “the police are on their way. If you’ll give up right now, I’ll tell them you just wanted to see your children!”
“I can’t,” Papa said urgently. “There’s no turnin’ back. Now, let’s go, Billie! I have a friend who will hide us.”
He pulled my arm hard, but Jessie took my other arm and tried to pull me back with her. “Please, please listen,” she cried. “Billie’s right. We can help you. It’s not too late.”
“You can’t do anything, lady,” my father replied. “I can’t wait no longer, either.” He pulled me toward the door as Jessie ran back for her purse.
“Stop her!” I yelled. “There’s a gun in there.”
My father dropped Sara and released my hand as he dove to reach the purse. Jessie and he collided, sending her careening into the table. I saw her head hit hard against one of the wooden legs. My father grabbed the gun out of the purse, then looked over at Jessie. She made a gagging noise for a few seconds, then her hands and legs went into spasms. I realized she was having another epileptic fit.
Papa got off the floor slowly, appearing stunned and worried. “I didn’t mean to hurt her,” he kept saying over and over. Then he walked over to me and grabbed my arm again. “We can’t stay to help her,” he said. “We’ve got to go before the police come.”
“She’ll be okay,” I said to no one in particular. “She’s just having one of her seizures. She’ll gain consciousness again in a few minutes.”
“I hope so,” someone said from behind me. I spun around to see Captain Sykes walk into the room from the front of the house, his gun drawn.
My father just stood where he was, his shoulders slumped. Captain Sykes moved into the kitchen and looked down at Jessie, then walked closer to her. “Jesus,” he said, “another seizure.” I noticed that he slurred his words. “I wasn’t expecting to be on duty today,” he said, looking over at my father. “I’m afraid I’m a little drunk. When I’m like this I’ve got a quick temper. I’d advise you not to move a muscle, Mr. Moran, unless of course you want to be shot.”
Just then I saw Jessie’s eyes flicker. For a moment she was unfocused, then her eyes fell on Captain Sykes. I could see her stare at his boots then turn her gaze upward. She had a look of terror on her face. Then she screamed. She went on and on until Captain Sykes leaned over and slapped her.
“Stop it, Jessie!” he shouted. “Stop it before I go crazy!”
She began to make whimpering sounds, sobbing and gasping for breath. Suddenly she started screaming again. “Oh, my God, Charles. Oh, my God. It was you! It was you out there at the rest stop! I remember your boots. Right after those boys left me for dead, you drove up! You leaned over me and felt my pulse, then you went over to the man who had been shot while trying to help me. I saw you! You picked up my purse and took my gun out of it, then you fired it in the air and put it in his hands! You betrayed me to cover up for Tommy! You knew it was him!”
Captain Sykes slapped her harder. She just lay there, sobbing uncontrollably. “I’m sorry, Jessie,” said Captain Sykes, “but you killed Chuck. I had to protect the only son I had left. I did what I thought I had to. You and Moran were just lying there. I thought you were dead. I had to protect my son! And now you’re destroying me, too, just like the rest of my family. You’ve destroyed me, too, Jessie!”
His hand shook as he directed the gun away from my father and pointed it at Jessie. “If I can’t have you, nobody else will either. I’ve got nothing to live for, Jessie. You and I can go to hell together.”
When my father started to move toward Captain Sykes, the captain pointed the gun at him again. “I don’t want to hurt you, Moran,” he said. “Just take the children and go. Hurry up before I change my mind. Get out of here! Did you hear me, get out of here!”
My father took my arm again, then picked up Sara while she clutched her rag doll, crying tears on it. Kelly stood watching, shaking all over. “You too, boy,” my father called out to him. “You come with us. We’re gettin’ out of here. This ain’t our problem.” When Kelly didn’t move, my father let me go and pulled Kelly toward the open door. Then he grabbed me again and yanked me in the same direction.
“Run!” he shouted. “Run!” Kelly took Sara by the hand and ran over behind the car, but I turned to see what was happening. Papa had his back to me now, facing Captain Sykes. I saw Papa throw his body at the captain just as the gun went off. My father jerked as if he’d been hit, but he kept going until he reached the captain. The captain shot Papa again at the moment they collided. Jessie screamed as Papa picked up Captain Sykes under the arms and slammed him against the wall. When Sykes lifted his gun again, I threw myself against him. The gun went off but the shot missed. Papa slammed the captain against the floor, causing him to go limp. Then Papa collapsed into his own pool of blood. I ran over to him and hugged him as I cried bitterly.
Jessie came over and knelt down beside my father, her tears falling on his chest. “Oh God, I’m so sorry,” she said. “You didn’t even know me,” she kept saying, “you didn’t even know me.”
Just then Colonel Rutledge burst into the room, followed by two policemen. The governor came right behind them along with Pat Fellows and Jimmy Parsons. Pat seemed to size up what had happened without saying a word.
“It was Charles!” said Jessie. “It was Charles who found us out on the road after he saw his own son leaving. He was covering up for Tommy! He just tried to kill me! This man gave his life for me.”
I hardly remember what happened next, I was so afraid that Papa was dying. They took Captain Sykes away in cuffs, then an ambulance came for my father. He was still breathing as they took him away, the siren screaming all the while. Then Pat Fellows came over to me. “Come with me,” he said. “I’ll drive you over to the hospital. You and Sara need to be with him.”
When we came into the emergency room, we saw Cora Malcome and two doctors standing over him. Then they rolled him away on a gurney into an operating room. Jessie came up behind me and Sara and hugged us both. For a long time we said nothing. We just sat by a window and watched it turn dark outside. Then the governor came in and sat with us, putting his hand on my shoulder. He didn’t say anything. I just sat there watching Sara clutch her doll. I was still dazed and feeling detached, as if it was all a terrible dream. Then Cora Malcome came out of the operating room.
“We got the bullets out,” she said with a smile. “Your daddy’s gonna make it.”
Epilogue
My father got well enough in a couple of weeks to be discharged. Somehow, both bullets had been deflected by his ribcage; they didn’t hit any organs. Though he was still wanted for escaping prison in Arkansas—and in Arizona, too, for that matter—the governor used his political influence to get him pardoned.
As for the governor, he didn’t win that last election. He swore he’d run again in two years, but he passed away before he could do it. Of course
it took many months for the courts to hear all the cases stemming from the scandals they’d uncovered. In the end, all the bad guys went to jail, including the ones who tried to kill us.
After Papa was freed, the governor helped him get a blacksmith’s job with the highway department. Papa got a mortgage on Ace’s old house and we lived there for many years. Only Kelly stayed with Jessie and the governor. We got to visit him often and play in the pool. Every year on the anniversary of Ace’s death, we’d go with Jessie and Kelly to put flowers on his grave. Cora usually came, too. She’d become friendly with Papa, though they never married.
As for Captain Sykes, he was convicted of attempted murder. Instead of sending him to prison, they put him in the state mental asylum. When new medications became available in the 1970s, they released him. Jessie surprised everyone by forgiving him. She’d visit him once in a while and bring him groceries.
Meanwhile Oaf went to live with his uncle in California. We only saw him once before he left. Jessie gave him another hundred dollar bill—the same amount he’d taken from the lock box—then warned him not to steal again. We heard later that he was killed in Okinawa while taking out a machine gun nest.
Kelly served in the war, too, but he survived it. He became an M.P. and later a policeman in civilian life. He had many adventures before retiring as a detective. I had a lot of adventures, too; maybe someday I’ll write about them.
As for Sara, she’s lived a long and prosperous life. She’s married and has three girls, all of whom can hear normally and each of whom loves a solitary old rag doll with a stitched-up chest—the doll that lost its heart and saved our lives in the summer of the guns.
Summer of the Guns Page 24
