Caleb's Wars by David L. Dudley Read Free Book Online

fightin'."
    Yes, sir.
    Ma came toward me, but Pop stopped her.
    "Frank, the boy's hurt. His lip's cut and that eye's a mess."
    "Who'd you fight?" Pop demanded. "Don't tell me you and Nathan got into it."
    "No, sir. He was with me, though. Henry, too."
    "What happened?" Ma asked. Her voice was tight.
    Now I was in for it. Wildly, I searched for a story—a lie—anything. Why hadn't I thought of something on the way home?
    "He needs tending," Ma said.
    "That can wait. Caleb, what'd you get into?"
    There was no way out. I couldn't think of a lie, and Pop could ask Nathan and Henry to check my story. "We went to the prison camp."
    "What? That ain't no place for you!"
    "Just to look at it. We went to the front gate and the guard told us to move."
    "What else?"
    "So we went around to the back of the camp—"
    "After the guard told y'all to leave?"
    "We were just standing there in the road, and he didn't have any right—"
    Pop cut me off. "Yeah, he did! It his job to keep order around there."
    "So we went around to the back and there were some prisoners playing soccer. We went up to the fence to watch them. They noticed us and one of them called us niggers."
    "Oh, Lord," Ma cried.
    Why had I said anything about that? Now the whole thing would come out. Might as well say it, because Henry would sure rat on me if Pop got to him.
    "So Nathan and I got some rocks and threw them through the fence. I got one of them in the head."
    Ma clapped her hand over her mouth.
    "Jesus God!" Pop shouted. "You assaulted one of them POWs?"
    "They called us niggers! We ran into the woods and started home."
    "That still don't explain that lip and your eye. Tell me the truth, boy!"
    Pop hadn't called me that in a long time.
    "We were on the road, and the Hill brothers came up behind us on their wagon. I turned around to see who it was, and Dolan threw a turnip and got me right in the face. Then he got Henry in the head, too."
    "Stinkin' white trash!" Pop exclaimed.
    "We tried to walk away. Henry said we should, and we wanted to. But Lonnie told us not to turn our backs on him 'cause he's a white man."
    "One of the nastiest, sorriest white boys on the face o' this earth."
    "So we turned back, and Nathan said something that made Lonnie mad."
    "That boy got a real big mouth," Pop noted bitterly.
    "Then Lonnie said something else, and Nathan said something about Lonnie's mama, and then they jumped off the wagon and came after us. We had to fight, Pop!"
    He looked serious. "How'd it turn out?"
    "Nathan kicked Dolan between the legs—"
    "Good for Nathan."
    "And that laid him out, and then we fought off Lonnie and Orris. Orris got a bloody nose and Lonnie got a cut on his face."
    "What about Nathan and Henry?" Ma asked. "They all right?"
    "Nathan has a broken tooth and Henry's face is messed up some. They're okay."
    "Sounds like you gave as good as you got," Pop remarked. "I'm glad about that, at least."
    "We had to fight! We couldn't let them just beat us up."
    "Let me take care of him," Ma said.
    "Not yet. Caleb and me got some business to tend to in the workshop."
    I knew what that meant. Pop intended to whip me. "No, Pop! I didn't do anything."
    "Didn't
do
anything? You call goin' to that camp and messin' around with prisoners of the government not
doin
anything? Do you know what kind of trouble you can get yourself into by foolin' with them Germans? And you call sassin' white folks not
doin'
anything?"
    "Nathan sassed Lonnie, not me!"
    "If y'all hadn't gone to where you wasn't suppose to be in the first place, you wouldn't of run into them crackers. Don't talk to me about not
doing
anything. Now get into the workshop."
    "No! I'm too old for that."
    "Hell you are!
I'm
the one who decide when one o' my boys is too old to get some sense beat into him. And you ain't got the sense of a tick!"
    "No!" I said again. I could feel tears coming, but I blinked them back. There was no way I would cry in front of Pop.
    He started down the steps toward