thing, I don’t know how long I’m gonna be gone, an I want you to be real nice to Mrs Curran while I’m away.’
‘She’s my grandma; I’m always nice to her,’ little Forrest says.
‘An I want you to do real good in school, an don’t get into no kind trouble, okay?’
A kind of frown come over his face, an he look at me sort of funny.
‘Say, you ain’t my daddy. Why you tellin me all this?’
‘I guess that’s what I want to talk to you about,’ I says. ‘You see, I
am
your daddy.’
‘No you’re not!’ he hollers. ‘My daddy’s sick back home. He’s comin to get me just as soon as he gets well.’
‘That’s somethin else I got to tell you,’ I says. ‘Your daddy ain’t gonna get well, Forrest. He’s with your mama now, you see?’
‘He is
not
!’ Forrest says. ‘Grandma says he’s comin to get me pretty soon! Any day now.’
‘Well, your grandma’s wrong,’ I says. ‘You see, he done took sick like your mama, an he didn’t get well, an so I am gonna have to take care of you now.’
‘You! – That’s not so! My daddy is comin!’
‘Forrest,’ I says. ‘You got to listen to me, now. I didn’t want to have to tell you this, but I got to. You see, I’m your real daddy. Your mama tole me that a long time ago. But you was livin with them, an I was just – well,like a bum or somethin, an it was better that you stayed with them. But see, they gone now, an ain’t nobody but me to take care of you.’
‘You’re a liar!’ he says, an begun to beat on me with his little fists, an then he begun to cry. I knew he was gonna, an it was the first time I seen him do it, but I figger it is good for him now – although I still don’t think he understands. I would rather be doin anythin but this.
‘Forrest is tellin you the truth, son.’ Mrs Curran had been standin in the doorway durin all this. She come out on the porch an pick the little boy up an set him in her lap.
‘I didn’t want to have to tell you this myself,’ she says, ‘so I got Forrest to do it for me. I should have tole you, but I just couldn’t.’
‘It’s not so. It’s not so!’ he shouts, an begun to kick an cry. ‘You’re liars. You’re both liars!’
About this time a big ole black limousine pull up in front of the house an Alfred get out an motion for me to come on an get inside. I can see Mrs Hopewell’s face grinnin out the backseat.
An so I took my bag an went on down the sidewalk to the car, an behind me, all I could hear was little Forrest screamin, ‘Liar, liar, liar!’ If this is what Mrs Curran meant when she says tellin little Forrest the truth will make a ‘lastin impression,’ I sure do hope she is wrong.
Anyhow, we went on up to Atlanta, an the whole time Mrs Hopewell is puttin her hands on my leg an stuff like that, an ole Alfred, he is pourin over papers an books an talkin to himsef a lot. When we arrive at the CokeCola headquarters buildin, they is a big ole mob of people there to welcome us, an when I come in everbody be pumpin my hand an clappin me on the back.
They led me down a long hall to a door marked Experimental Research Lab. Top Secret. Keep Out! When we gone inside, I like to fainted! They has set up a whole kitchen exactly like Mrs Hopewell’s, right down to the half-empty glasses where I had drunk the CokeCola.
‘Everthing is right here, Gump, just like you left it back at Mobile,’ Alfred says. ‘Now, what we want you to do, is just what you did when you fixed that CokeCola. Trace every step you took, and think real hard, because the fate of this whole company might be riding on it!’
To me, it seems a sort of unfair burden to shoulder. After all, I ain’t done anythin but try to fix me somethin to drink. Anyhow, they put me in a big ole white smock, like Dr Kildare or somethin, an I begun the experiment. First I take a can of the ‘new CokeCola’ an put it in a glass with some ice cubes. I tasted it, just like I done at Mrs Hopewell’s, an it