I'll Stand By You

by Sharon Sala

  Within a few minutes, Johnny had loaded them into his old SUV and was driving across town to Miss Jane’s Before and After. She called herself a part-time day care, but since she refused to wipe baby butts, her only service was taking kids to school and picking them up afterward. She furnished an after-school snack and expected them to sit quietly and do homework until they were picked up before suppertime. Miss Jane also did not tolerate roughhousing, which meant the Pine brothers were on notice at least once a week.

  Johnny accelerated slightly as he approached the incline where the old railroad tracks used to be. Even though the train no longer ran through Blessings, it was still the demarcation point for the wrong side of town. While Johnny had grown up there, he had himself a plan. He was going to take his family into a better way of life or die trying.

  * * *

  Ruby Dye frowned when she heard the rain peppering against her windows. Rain was never a good sign for a beauty shop. The Curl Up and Dye had a reputation to maintain, and humidity played hell with a hairdo, especially Vera’s and Vesta’s creations. The Conklin twins were inordinately fond of hair spray and used it liberally, although it had a tendency to turn hair into a helmet on high-humidity days.

  She glanced at the clock. It was almost seven a.m. If she left now, she’d have time to do a load of towels at the shop and mop the floor before Willa Dean Miller showed up for her weekly shampoo and style.

  Willa Dean ran the local travel agency. Last year, she’d booked a trip to Italy for Patty June Clymer after Patty divorced her preacher husband for fornicating with a local whore. The divorce had caused quite a stir in Blessings, and Willa Dean’s business increased dramatically after Patty June came back talking about good-looking Italian men.

  But Ruby wasn’t in the market for travel beyond going to the salon, so she put on her raincoat, gave her own hair a last check, and flipped a curl back in place.

  Ruby liked to change her hair color on a regular basis as a walking advertisement for what she sold, which was beauty in a bottle. She’d been blond and curly for the past two months and liked the look. It brought out the green in her eyes. She grabbed her purse and umbrella as she left the house, grateful for her covered porch and carport.

  She had a Garth Brooks CD playing in her car and the windshield wipers seemed to swipe rhythmically to the music as she drove toward Main. On impulse, she swung by a drive-through at a local bakery and picked up a dozen doughnuts. The twins were cranky on rainy days, and a little sweetening up might be in order.

  Today was also Mabel Jean Doolittle’s birthday. Her manicurist was a real sweet girl, and while Ruby hadn’t bought her a gift, Mabel Jean would be just as happy with a jelly doughnut and a week of free booth rent.

  * * *

  On the other side of town, semi-newlyweds Mike and LilyAnn Dalton were still sleeping. Mike had a spa/gym down on Main Street that was temporarily closed for renovations, and LilyAnn had taken off work today for her monthly doctor checkup. She was four months pregnant and still struggling with morning sickness. Added to that, her emotions were on a perpetual-motion merry-go-round. Between the daily drama of throwing up and bawling for no reason, this was getting on her last nerve. However, Mike was over the moon that there was a baby on the way, and when she felt better, she’d be on the same page. She’d wasted far too much of her life already.

  * * *

  Unlike most of the other businesses in Blessings, Granny’s Country Kitchen never suffered a loss of business on nasty days. In fact, bad weather had a tendency to draw more people to warm, cozy places, and there was nothing more comforting in the South than hot biscuits, sausage gravy, and a great cup of coffee.

  The waitresses were turning in an unusual amount of orders, and Walt Warden, the morning cook at Granny’s, was turning them right back out just as quickly. The customers continued to come in, but then lingered because of the rain. Before long, the place was packed, and there were a half-dozen people waiting for to-go orders as well.

  Dori never looked up from her job. She scraped leftovers, rinsed, and loaded dishes into the commercial-style dishwasher without hesitation. It took ten minutes for them to run through the superhot cycles, another five of rinse and heat dry, and then a couple of minutes of cooldown before she took them out again and stacked them back into service for the cook and servers. It was a nonstop process that kept her in constant motion. By the time the breakfast rush was over, it was after ten a.m. and she was ready for a potty break.

  She glanced up as the back door swung inward and the owner, Lovey Cooper, came in, shedding a raincoat and umbrella as she went. Lovey smiled at Dori and waved at Walt, who was scraping down the grill.

  “Busy morning?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Dori said as she took off her rubber gloves and waterproof apron before heading to the bathroom.

  After she finished, she washed her hands without looking in the mirror, a subconscious act reflecting the disgust she had with her life.

  She was concerned about Luther’s little bottom. It was pretty raw from that diarrhea, and she felt guilty all over again for giving him the whole jar of prunes. Without a woman to ask for advice, raising her baby was a case of “live and learn.” Unfortunately, Luther was the one suffering the consequences.

  She dried her hands quickly and went back into the kitchen. The last dishwasher load was just about done, and she was gearing up mentally to be ready for the lunch crowd. Her daily shift was from six a.m. to two p.m., at which time the second-shift dishwasher, Larry Bemis, would come in and work until close. She glanced up at the clock again. Eight more minutes on her break—just enough time to call home—so she slipped into the back hallway for privacy. When her granddaddy answered before the second ring, Dori knew Luther was down for a nap and Granddaddy was making sure nothing woke him before it was over.

  “Hello, Dori. Everything okay, honey? Did you make it to work before the rain?”

  She smiled. “Hi, Granddaddy. Everything’s fine. It rained on me some, but I didn’t get too wet. Everything okay there?”

  Meeker Webb chuckled. “You are a worrywart just like your grandma was. Everything is fine, including me and buster. There’s food in the kitchen, and the roof don’t leak, so we’re high and dry. Can’t ask for anything more.”

  She laughed. “Okay. I hear you. I love you. See you this afternoon.”

  “Deal,” he said.

  She dropped the phone back in her pocket and returned to the kitchen, put the apron and rubber gloves back on, and began emptying the busboy’s latest tub of dirty dishes. One thing was for sure: scraping out other people’s leavings was a deterrent for overeating. She was as thin as she’d ever been in her life.

  * * *

  The rain at Johnny’s job site made removing stumps easy, and Floy Beaudine had six of them he wanted out. But Floy had also warned Johnny not to tear up his pasture with the bulldozer if the ground got too wet.

  Johnny had three stumps out before the ground got soft, and now the dozer tracks were making ruts in the pasture. It was time to stop. He was in the act of loading up the dozer when his cell phone rang. He jumped up into the truck cab, out of the rain, to take the call, and then, when he saw it was the school, his heart skipped a beat. They never called unless there was a problem.

  “Hello?”

  “Johnny Pine?”

  The woman’s voice was clipped, the disdain in her voice a faint, long-distance slap on the cheek.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “This is Principal Winston. Your brother Brooks was fighting at school. He’s in the office, and you need to come get him.”

  Johnny thought of those bald spots on the back of Beep’s head and muffled a groan. He’d feared as much.

  “Is he all right?” he asked.

  “He has a black eye, and his nose is bleeding. It seems a bit crooked. It might be broken. We thoug
ht you would want to get him checked out.”

  Johnny gasped. Little kids didn’t usually do much damage to each other, but a broken nose was a lot more than a scuffle.

  “Broken? What the hell happened to him? Who did that?”

  “The children were sent to recess in the gym because of the rain, and some of them were—”

  The skin crawled on the back of Johnny’s neck.

  “Some? As in more than one jumped on Beep?”

  She hesitated. “Well, we’re still investigating the—”

  “I am on my way, and you better have the responsible parties in the office when I get there.”

  “Now see here, Johnny! You—”

  “It’s Mr. Pine to you, ma’am, and we’ll continue this discussion face-to-face.”

  He hung up and got out of the truck. Minutes later, he had the dozer loaded and was driving back to town, talking to his boss as he went.

  “Mr. Clawson, this is Johnny. I got three of the stumps out of Mr. Beaudine’s pasture before I had to stop because the ground got too soft. I was just loading up when I got a call from school. Beep’s been hurt, so I need to run him by the ER, okay?”

  Clawson liked Johnny Pine and had known him for years. Johnny was the best worker Clawson had, and he never asked for favors. It was not a problem to grant this one.

  “Sure, it’s okay, Johnny. We can’t do any more dozer work today because of this rain, so go on home when you’re done. I sure hope your brother is okay.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you very much.”

  He hung up the phone and kept on driving. By the time he got the truck parked and headed to school in his SUV, he was so mad, he was shaking.

  Chapter 2

  Mavis West, the school secretary, looked up from inside the big, glassed enclosure of the principal’s office and saw Johnny Pine coming in the front door. He was easily over six feet tall, with wide shoulders and long legs, and his face was downright handsome. Strange how the bad boys always turned out good-looking, she mused. And then she saw the frown on his face and the length of his stride and glanced at the little boy on the cot near her desk. She liked the Pine boys. They had good manners and they were smart. It wasn’t their fault they came from bad blood. Then the office door opened, and Johnny Pine was coming inside.

  * * *

  Johnny’s anger was on simmer as he walked into the office. Then he saw Beep’s swollen face and bloody hands, the ice pack against his cheek, and his backpack lying beneath the cot, and he stifled the urge to put his fist through a wall.

  “I want to speak to Mrs. Winston.”

  Mavis sat up a little straighter. “She’s in conference with—”

  “Who did this?” he asked.

  “It’s not my place to—”

  At that point Beep woke up, saw his big brother, and started to cry all over again.

  “I fighted my own battle, Johnny, but there was too many. They said I had cooties in my hair, and I told them I didn’t, and they shoved me down on the gym floor and started kicking me and calling me names.”

  Rage washed over him in waves as he scooped Beep up in his arms.

  “They kicked you?”

  “Yes.”

  “In the face too?”

  Beep nodded, his eyes welling all over again.

  “How many?”

  “Four.”

  “All of them from your class?”

  “No, they were fourth graders.”

  Johnny looked back at the secretary and spoke, his voice so soft she had to lean forward to hear properly. “Miss Mavis, either you open the door to Mrs. Winston’s office for me, or I’ll kick it open.”

  Mavis jumped up to block the way.

  “I told you she’s in conference. She’s dealing with this. It’s not your place to—”

  “Well, yes, it by God is my place. This little boy was attacked by a gang of older boys in the school gym, which is school property, and no one has seen to his welfare beyond a fucking ice pack. Did he tell you all he’d been kicked?”

  Mavis hesitated, but truth came out. “One of the teachers on duty in the gym witnessed it.”

  “Why didn’t you call an ambulance? Did anyone call the police?”

  Mavis gasped. “We didn’t see a need to call an ambulance, and the police have no place here. This is a school problem and will be dealt with here.”

  Johnny looked down at Beep and wanted to cry. His face was swollen, and his nose was crooked on his face.

  “If he was kicked all over by a gang of boys, that’s assault, which is illegal, and he could have internal bleeding. Either I talk to her now, or you’ll all be talking to a lawyer. Do I make myself clear?”

  All of a sudden the principal’s door opened and Arlene Winston slipped out, quickly closing it behind her.

  “Please lower your voice. I’m dealing with this in the proper manner,” she said.

  Johnny tightened his hold on his little brother.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Winston, but you do not tell me how to react to this outrage, and you’re not dealing with shit. Four older boys attacked a little boy, and if there are broken bones in his body or internal bleeding that you have ignored, there’s going to be hell to pay. I’m taking my brother to the emergency room. I will have the names of the responsible parties, because their parents are paying for the medical bills incurred from this incident. Their little bastards better suffer some serious suspension time too, or shit is going to hit the fan all over town.”

  Mavis watched her boss’s skin color go from a highly incensed pink flush to pasty white so fast she had to look twice to make sure she was seeing properly.

  Principal Winston flinched. “I understand the ringworm issue started everything and—”

  Beep hid his face against his brother’s chest as Johnny interrupted.

  “Ringworm? Did I hear you actually say that? He doesn’t have ringworm. He got gum stuck in his hair, and when I cut it out, hair came with it. That then raises the question, are you implying that if Beep had ringworm, then the boys had the right to kick the shit out of him?”

  Arlene Winston paled. “You are putting words in my mouth. There’s no need to make such a—”

  “There is every need,” Johnny said softly. “Just because you don’t like this little boy’s last name doesn’t mean he deserves less than any other kid here. I am not making empty threats, and you know me well enough to know I mean every damn word I say.”

  He started toward the door, then paused and turned around.

  “Considering the way this has gone down, I believe I’ll just get Marshall out of school now too. I feel the need to keep my family close today, since it seems I can’t trust the public school system to do it for me. If Beep is able to come back tomorrow, then they’ll both be back. If he’s not, they won’t. And if anyone looks cross-eyed at either one of them over this, I will make you and them sorry.”

  Mavis glanced at the principal, who nodded reluctantly. Mavis used the school intercom to summon Marshall Pine to the office to be checked out of school.

  Sitting up in Johnny’s arms made Beep’s nose bleed again. Mavis handed him a handful of tissues and then patted his leg. Johnny considered the gesture as coming a little too late and focused on Marshall coming up the hall. He knew when Marshall stumbled that it was a reaction to Beep’s face.

  “What happened?” Marshall asked as he entered the office.

  “Please pick up your brother’s backpack under the cot and we’ll talk in the car,” Johnny said.

  Marshall scooped it up, pausing long enough to give the women in the office a look of disbelief, and then followed his brothers out of the office and into the rain.

  Mavis looked at the principal.

  “What do you want me to do?” she asked.

  “Get the school lawyer on the p
hone and start calling parents,” Mrs. Winston said. “Don’t tell them what happened. Just tell them I need them down here now.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Mavis said and scurried back around to her chair as Arlene Winston went back into her office to face the four boys in question.

  Johnny drove to the clinic with Beep in his lap. He knew it wasn’t legal to drive like that, but he couldn’t bring himself to let him go. The windshield wipers swiped rapidly through the downpour as the rain continued to fall.

  Marshall was quiet all the way to the clinic, but his fingers were curled into fists and Johnny knew he was contemplating revenge. It was an unfortunate aspect of how the Pine men rolled, but this time it had to be different because they couldn’t give anyone an excuse to let this slide.

  “Hey, Marshall.”

  “What?”

  “I am telling you to let me deal with this. This is more than just two kids fighting, okay?”

  Marshall eyed his little brother. “Who beat you up, Beep?”

  Johnny shook his head. “No. I said we’re not going there. Four older boys did it, and right now that’s all I know.”

  “They said I had ringworms. They said I had cooties,” Beep mumbled.

  Johnny patted Beep’s arm. “We’re going to get you x-rayed, buddy, and if everything is okay, when we get home, we’ll have a family discussion, okay?”

  Marshall patted his little brother’s leg as Johnny drove into the ER parking lot, then parked as close to the front as he could get. He took off his jacket and put it over Beep’s head and face to protect him from the rain before he carried him inside.

  Thelma Crown, the ER receptionist, quickly recognized the family.

  “We need to see a doctor,” Johnny said. “My little brother was attacked at school.”

  Thelma hid her shock, but the others in the waiting room did not. That would be all over Blessings before sundown. She slid a clipboard across the counter.

  “Fill this out for me and take a seat. As soon as—”

  But Johnny didn’t budge as he pulled the jacket off of Beep’s little head, revealing the extent of his injuries.