Forty Lashes Less One

by Elmore Leonard

  I'm sorry I don't know everybody's name yet. This is Frank Shelby, Fisher said. He wants to tell you something.

  Shelby watched the little man rise and offer his hand and say, I'm Everett Manly, your new superintendent. He watched Mr. Manly sit down again and look off somewhere.

  Frank Shelby . . . Shelby . . . forty-five years for armed robbery. Is that right?

  Shelby nodded.

  Forty-five years, Mr. Manly said. That's a long time. Are you working to get some time off for good behavior?

  I sure am, Shelby said. He didn't know if the man was serious or not, but he said it.

  How long have you been here at Yuma?

  Little over a year.

  Have you got a good record here? Keep out of fights and trouble?

  Yes, sir.

  Ever been in the snake den?

  No, sir.

  Got two boys in there now for fighting, you know.

  Shelby smiled a little and shook his head. It's funny you should mention them, he said. Those two boys are what I wanted to talk to you about.

  Bob Fisher turned to look at him but didn't say a word.

  I was wondering, Shelby went on, what you'd think of us staging a prize fight between those two boys?

  A prize fight? Mr. Manly frowned. Don't you think they've done enough fighting? Lord, it seems all they like to do is fight.

  They keep fighting, Shelby said, because they never get it settled. But, I figure, once they have it out there'll be peace between them. You see what I mean?

  Mr. Manly began to nod, slowly. Maybe.

  We could get them some boxing gloves in town. I don't mean the prison pay for them. We could take us up a collection among the convicts.

  I sure never thought of fighting as a way to achieve peace. Bob, have you?

  Fisher said quietly, No, I haven't.

  Shelby shrugged. Well, peace always seems to follow a war.

  You got a point there, Frank.

  I know the convicts would enjoy it. I mean it would keep their minds occupied a while. They don't get much entertainment here.

  That's another good point, Mr. Manly said.

  Shelby waited as Mr. Manly nodded, looking as if he was falling asleep. Well, that's all I had to say. I sure hope you give it some thought, if just for the sake of those two boys. So they can get it settled.

  I promise you I will, Mr. Manly said. Bob, what do you think about it? Off-hand.

  I been in prison work a long time, Fisher said. I never heard of anything like this.

  I'll tell you what, boys. Let me think on it. Mr. Manly got up out of the chair, extending a hand to Shelby. It's nice meeting you, Frank. You keep up the good work and you'll be out of here before you know it.

  Sir, Shelby said, I surely hope so.

  Bob Fisher didn't say a word until they were down the stairs and Shelby was heading off along the side of the building, in the shade.

  Where you going?

  Shelby turned, a few steps away. See about some chow.

  You can lose your privileges, Fisher said. All of them inside one minute.

  Go easy, Shelby thought, and said, It's up to you.

  I can give it all to somebody else. The stuff you sell, the booze, the soft jobs. I pick somebody, the tough boys will side with him and once it's done he's the man inside and you're another con on the rock pile.

  I'm not arguing with you, Shelby said. I used my head and put together what I got. You allow it because I keep the cons in line and it makes your job easier. You didn't give me a thing when I started.

  Maybe not, but I can sure take it all away from you. I know that.

  I will, less you stay clear of Norma Davis.

  Shelby started to smile he couldn't help it even with Fisher's grim, serious face staring at him.

  Watch yourself, Fisher said. You say the wrong thing, it's done. I'm telling you to keep away from the women. You don't, you lose everything you got.

  That was all Bob Fisher had to say. He turned and went back up the stairs. Shelby watched him, feeling better than he'd felt in days. He sure would keep away from the women. He'd give Norma all the room she needed. The state Bob Fisher was in, Norma would have his pants off him before the week was out.

  Chapter 6

  Boys, I tell you the Lord loves us all as His children; but you cross Him and He can be mean as a roaring lion. Not mean because he hates you boys, no-sir; mean because he hates sin and evil so much. You don't believe me, read your Psalms, fifty, twenty-two, where it says, 'Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces' you hear that? 'tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver.... ' None to deliver means there ain't nothing left of you.

  Mr. Manly couldn't tell a thing from their expressions. Sometimes they were looking at him, sometimes they weren't. Their heads didn't move much. Their eyes did. Raymond's eyes would go to the window and stay there a while. Harold would stare at the wall or the bookcase, and look as if he was asleep with his eyes open.

  Mr. Manly flipped back a few pages in his Bible. When he looked up again his glasses gleamed in the overhead light. He had brought the two boys out of the snake den after only three days this time. Bob Fisher hadn't said a word. He'd marched them over, got them fed and cleaned up, and here they were. Here, but somewhere else in their minds. Standing across the desk fifteen, twenty minutes now, and Mr. Manly wondered if either of them had listened to a word he'd said.

  Again in the Psalms, boys, chapter eleven, sixth verse, it says, 'Upon the wicked shall rain snares, fire and brimstone and a horrible tempest' that's like a storm 'and this shall be the portion of their cup.'

  Raymond, look at me. 'He that keepeth the commandments keepeth his own soul' Proverbs, chapter nineteen, verse sixteen 'but he that despiseth His way shall die.'

  Harold Jackson of Fort Valley, Georgia, 'There shall be no reward for the evil man.' That's Proverbs again, twenty-four, twenty. 'The candle of the wicked shall be put out.' Harold, you understand that?

  Yes-suh, captain.

  What does it mean?

  It mean they put out your candle.

  It means God will put you out. You're the candle, Harold. If you're evil you get no reward and the Lord God will snuff out your life. You want that to happen?

  No-suh, captain.

  Raymond, you want to have your life snuffed out? No, sir, I don't want no part of that.

  It will happen as sure as it is written in the Book. Harold, you believe in the Book?

  What book is that, captain?

  The Holy Bible.

  Yes-suh, I believe it.

  Raymond, you believe it?

  What is that again?

  Do you believe in the Holy Bible as being the inspired word of Almighty God as told by Him directly into the ears of the boys that wrote it?

  I guess so, Raymond said.

  Raymond, you don't guess about your salvation. You believe in Holy Scripture and its truths, or you don't.

  I believe it, Raymond said.

  Have you ever been to church?

  I think so. When I was little.

  Harold, you ever attend services?

  You mean was I in the arm service, captain? I mean have you ever been to church.

  Yes, I been there, captain.

  When was the last time?

  Let's see, Harold said. I think I went in Cuba one time.

  You think you went to church?

  They talk in this language I don't know what they saying, captain.

  That was ten years ago, Mr. Manly said, and you don't know if it was a church service or not.

  I think it was.

  Raymond, what about you?

  Yes, sir, when I was little, all the time.

  What do you remember?

  About Jesus and all. You know, how they nail him to this cross.

  Do you know the Ten Commandments?

  I think I know some of them, Raymond said. Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not commit adultery. Thou shalt not k
ill, Mr. Manly prompted.

  Thou shall not kill. That's one of them.

  The one that sent you here. Both of you. And now you're disobeying that commandment again by fighting. Did you know that? When you fight you break the Lord's commandment against killing?

  What if you only hit him? Raymond asked. Beat him up good, but he don't die.

  It's the same thing. Look, when you hit somebody you hurt him a little bit or you hurt him a lot. When you kill somebody you hurt him for good. So hitting is the same as killing without going all the way. You understand that, Harold?

  What was that, captain?

  Mr. Manly swiveled around slowly to look out the window, toward the convicts standing by the main cell-block. Close to a hundred men here, and only a handful of them, at the most, understood the Divine Word. Mr. Manly was sixty years old and knew he would never have time to teach them all. He only had a few months here before the place was closed. Then what? He had to do what he could, that's all. He had to begin somewhere, even if his work was never finished.

  He came around again to face them and said, Boys, the Lord has put it on the line to us. He says you got to keep His commandments. He says you don't keep them, you die. That doesn't mean you die and they put in a grave no-sir. It means you die and go straight down to hell to suffer the fires of the damned. Raymond, you ever burn yourself?

  Yes, sir, my hand one time.

  Boys, imagine getting burned all over for the rest of your life by the hottest fire you ever saw, hotter'n a blast furnace.

  You'd die, Raymond said.

  Only it doesn't kill you, Mr. Manly said quickly. See, it's a special kind of fire that hurts terrible but never burns you up.

  They looked at him, or seemed to be looking at him; he wasn't sure.

  He tried again. Like just your head is sticking out of the fire. You understand? So it don't suffocate you. But, boy, these flames are licking at your body and it's so hot you're a-screaming your lungs out, 'Water, water, somebody give me just a drop of water please!' But it's too late, because far as you're concerned the Lord is fresh out of mercy.

  Raymond was looking at the window again and Harold was studying the wall.

  Hell Mr. Manly began. He was silent for a while before he said, It's a terrible place to be and I'm glad you boys are determined not to go there.

  Harold said, Where's that, captain?

  After they were gone Mr. Manly could still see them standing there. He got up and walked around them, picturing them from the back now, seeing the Negro's heavy, sloping shoulders, the Indian standing with a slight cock to his hip, hands loose at his sides. He'd like to stick a pin in them to see if they jumped. He'd like to holler in their ears. What's the matter with you? Don't you understand plain English? Are you too ignorant, or are you too full of evil? Answer me!

  If they didn't understand the Holy Word, how was he ever going to preach it to them? He raised his eyes to the high ceiling and said, Lord, if You're going to send me sinners, send me some with schooling, will you, please?

  He hadn't meant to say it out loud. In the silence that followed he hurried around the desk to sit down again.

  Maybe that was the answer, though, and saying it out loud was the sign. Save somebody else, somebody who'd understand him, instead of two boys who couldn't even read and write. Sixty years old, he didn't have time to start saving illiterates. Somebody like Frank Shelby. Save him.

  No, Frank was already trying. It was pretty clear he'd seen the error of his past life and was trying to correct it.

  Norma Davis.

  Get Norma in here and ask her if she was ready to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as her saviour. If she hadn't already.

  No, something told Mr. Manly she hadn't yet. She was in for robbery, had shot a man, and had been arrested for prostitution in Wichita, Kansas. It wasn't likely she'd had time to be saved. She looked smart though.

  Sit her down there, Mr. Manly thought.

  He wasn't sure how he'd begin, but he'd get around to picking some whores out of the Bible to tell her about like that woman at the well. Jesus knew she was a whore, but He was still friendly and talked to her. See, He wasn't uppity about whores, they were just sinners to him like any other sinners. Take the time they're stoning the whore and He stops them, saying, Wait, only whoever of ye is without sin may cast a stone. And they had to quit doing it. See, Norma, we are all of us sinners in one way or another.

  He kept looking at the way her top buttons were undone and the blouse was pulled open so he could see part of the valley between her breasts.

  Where the soap had run down and over her belly.

  She was sitting there trying to tempt him. Sure, she'd try to tempt him, try to show him up as a hypocrite.

  She would undo a couple more buttons and he'd watch her calmly. He would say quietly, shaking his head slowly, Norma, Norma.

  She'd pull that blouse wide open and her eyes and her breasts would be staring right smack at him.

  Sit back in the swivel chair then; show her he was at ease. Keep the expression very calm. And kindly.

  She'd get up and lean over the desk then so they'd hang down. Great big round things with big reddish-brown tips. Then she'd jiggle them a little and he'd say in his quiet voice, Norma, what are you doing that for? Don't you feel silly?

  Maybe he wouldn't ask her if she felt silly, but he'd say something.

  She'd see she wasn't getting him, so then she'd take off her belt and slowly undo her skirt, watching him all the time, and let it fall. She'd back off a little bit and put her hands on her hips so he could see her good. Norma, child, cover your nakedness.

  No, sir, that wasn't going to stop her. She was coming around the desk now. She'd stepped out of the skirt and was taking off the blouse, all the way off, coming toward him now without a stitch on.

  He had better stand up, or it would be hard to talk to her.

  Mr. Manly rose from the chair. He reached out to place his hands on Norma's bare shoulders and, smiling gently, said, Child, 'If ye live after the flesh ye shall die' Romans, eight, thirteen 'but if ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.'

  From the doorway Bob Fisher said, Excuse me.

  Mr. Manly came around, seeing the open door that had been left open when the two went out; he dropped his hands awkwardly to the edge of the desk.

  Bob Fisher kept staring at him.

  I was just seeing if I could remember a particular verse from Romans, Mr. Manly said.

  How'd you do with Harold and Raymond?

  It's too early to tell. I want to see them again in the morning.

  They got work to do.

  In the morning, Mr. Manly said.

  Bob Fisher thought it over, then nodded and left the office. Walking down the hall, he was thinking that the little preacher may have been trying to remember a verse, but he sure looked like a man about to get laid.

  Lord, give me these two, Mr. Manly said to the window and to the yard below. Give me a sign that they understand and are willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ into their hearts.

  He didn't mean a tongue of fire had to appear over the two boys' heads, or they had to get knocked to the ground the way St. Paul did. All they had to do was show some interest, a willingness to accept their salvation.

  Lord, I need these two to prove my worthiness and devotion as a preacher of your Holy Writ. I need them to show for thirty years service in your ministry. Lord, I need them for my record, and I expect You know it.

  Sit them down this time. Maybe that would help. Mr. Manly turned from the window and told them to take chairs. Over there, he said. Bring them up close to the desk.

  They hesitated, looking around. It seemed to take them forever to carry the chairs over, their leg chains clinking on the wooden floor. He waited until they were settled, both of them looking past him, seeing what there was to see at this lower angle than yesterday.

  I'm going to tell you something. I know you both had humble beginnings. You were poor, y
ou've been hungry, you've experienced all kinds of hardships and you've spent time in jail. Well, I never been to jail before I got sent here by the Bureau Mr. Manly paused as he grinned; neither of them noticing it I'll tell you though, I'll bet you I didn't begin any better off than you boys did. I was born in Clayburn County, Tennessee either of you been there?

  Raymond shook his head. Harold said nothing.

  Well, it's in the mountains. I didn't visit Knoxville till I was fifteen years old, and it wasn't forty miles from home. I could've stayed there and farmed, or I could have run off and got into trouble. But you know what I did? I joined the Holy Word Pentacostal Youth Crusade and pledged myself to the service of the Lord Jesus. I preached over twenty years in Tennessee and Kentucky before coming out here to devote the rest of my life to mission work the rest of it, five years, ten years. You know when your time is up and the Lord's going to call you?

  Harold Jackson's eyes were closed.

  Harold the eyes came open you don't know when you're going to die, do you?

  No-suh, captain.

  Are you ready to die?

  No-suh, captain. I don't think I ever be ready. St. Paul was ready.

  Yes-suh.

  Not at first he wasn't. Not until the Lord knocked him smack off his horse with a bolt of lightning and said, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecuteth me?' Paul was a Jew-boy at that time and he was persecuting the Christians. Did you know that, Raymond?

  No, I never knew that.

  Yes, sir, before he became Paul he was a Jew-boy name of Saul, used to put Christians to death, kill them in terrible ways. But once he become a Christian himself he made up for all the bad things he'd done by his own suffering. Raymond, you ever been stoned?

  Like with rocks?

  Hit with big rocks.

  I don't think so.

  Harold, you ever been shipwrecked?

  I don't recall, captain.

  Mr. Manly opened his Bible. You boys think you've experienced hardships, listen, I'm going to read you something. From two Corinthians. 'Brethren, gladly you put up with fools, because you are wise ... ' Let me skip down. 'But whereas any man is bold . . . Are they ministers of Christ?' Here it is ' ... in many more labors, in lashes above measure, often exposed to death. From the Jews' listen to this 'five times I received . Thrice I was scourged, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was adrift on the sea; on journeyings often, in perils from floods, in perils from robbers, in perils from my own nation ... in labor and hardships, in many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.'