by Sharon Sala
“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 thought 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 boy 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, and 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, which 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 phone and start calling parents,” 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.
“No, ma’am. We need to see a doctor now. He was kicked repeatedly about the head and body by four older boys, and I need to make sure he’s not bleeding internally.”
This time, Thelma didn’t bother to hide her shock.
“I’m sorry. You can put him in that wheelchair while I call the nurse’s station.”
“No thank you. I’ll carry him,” Johnny said.
Thelma made the call, and moments later, a nurse and a doctor came out pushing a gurney.
When Johnny laid him down, Beep cried out.
“Johnny, don’t leave me!”
“Don’t worry, buddy,” Johnny said softly. “You’re not going anywhere without us.” He held tight to his hand as they rolled him back.
• • •
Halfway through the noontime dinner service, the busboy at the Country Kitchen began throwing up. Lovey immediately sent him home, but it left the waitresses in a bind. They didn’t have time to clear tables and wait on their customers, so Lovey made a few adjustments in the staff.
“Hey, Dori, I need you to grab a tub and cart and help the girls bus some tables.”
“What about the dishes?” she asked as she began taking off the gloves and apron.
“Just hustle and we’ll make it work,” Lovey said.
Dori took down her ponytail, smoothed down all the loose ends, and put it back up again. Then she straightened the blue-and-white-striped shirt she was wearing, checked her jeans to make sure they weren’t wet, and pushed a tub and cart out into the dining area straight toward an empty table full of dirty dishes.
Customers were still seated at the tables on either side. A trio of men at one of the tables smiled at her and went on about their business. But the four women at the other table were parents of kids she knew from school, and the looks they gave her weren’t kind. She kept her head down as she cleared the table, then wiped it down and set it back up. As she moved past, one of them called out.
“Dori Grant! You’ve changed so much I almost didn’t recognize you. How are you doing?”
“I’m just fine, Mrs. Parrish, thank you for asking.”
But Lorena wasn’t through.
“And how is that baby of yours? I guess he’s getting bigger. What is he now, four months?”
“No, ma’am, he’s six months old.”
Mrs. Parrish smiled at Dori, but it was not a friendly smile.
“Now what was it you named him? I know I’ve heard it.”
Dori started moving away. “His name is Luther Joe Grant, after my daddy.”
Parrish’s smile thinned. “Well, that’s sweet, but I would have thought you’d name him after his own daddy and not yours.”
Dori stopped, then looked the woman squarely in the eyes.
“Why would you think something like that, Mrs. Parrish? It’s pretty much tradition in the South to name babies after parents and grandparents.”
Lorena Parrish sniffed.
“Well, I guess that’s so, especially if the identity of the parent is in question,” she drawled.
Dori gasped. She tried to hide it, but her eyes quickly blurred with tears, and to make it worse, Lorena Parrish was still talking.
“However, your people aren’t from the South, now, are they? I mean, everyone knows you’re a direct blood descendant of Ulysses S. Grant, the man in charge of ravaging this country during the War of Northern Aggression.”
Across the room, Lovey Cooper had been eyeing Dori ever since Lorena Parrish called her down, and she could tell by the look on Dori’s face that she was being insulted. Lovey never had liked Lorena much anyway and
decided it was time to call a halt to what looked like an inquisition. She strode across the floor and slipped a hand across Dori’s back, patting her gently to make sure Dori understood she was not in trouble.
“Ladies, I’m going to have to interrupt this fascinating history lesson and insist that you let Dori get back to work. We’re a little shorthanded right now. Honey, if you’ll just get those last two tables for me, that will be enough.”
“Yes, ma’am, I sure will,” Dori said, thankful for the reprieve.
She could hear Lovey’s sharp, high-pitched voice shift into an oversweet tone as she addressed the table of women.
“Lorena, you’re looking fit as a fiddle. I guess that new marriage is agreeing with you. I have to say I wouldn’t have had the guts to take on a fifth husband like you did. They’re so dang hard to train and all.”
Lorena Parrish was laughing with everyone else, but she was pissed and Dori knew it. Her face was a ruddy shade of red.
• • •
Johnny was sitting beside Beep’s bed in the ER and Marshall was sitting silently in a chair against the wall, overwhelmed by what had happened to his little brother and intimidated by the sight of all the scary equipment.
Beep’s nose had already been set and both eyes were turning black. His nostrils were plugged with little wads of cotton to stop the bleeding. The clear plastic guard they’d put over his nose spanned the upper portion of his face like a mask. He was drifting in and out of sleep, exhausted from the events of the day.
Marshall glanced at Johnny. “When can we go home?”
“We don’t go anywhere until the doctor tells us it is okay,” Johnny said.
