Leavin' Trunk Blues by Ace Atkins Read Free Book Online

excitement. He hoped she didn’t regret the invitation.
    “I appreciated your letters,” Nick said, smiling. “Enjoyed every one.”
    Ruby wiped her nose with her right hand and stared at the buzzing lights over her head. She shifted in her seat, crossed her arms again, and turned back to Nick. The sound of her stiff denim was briefly interrupted by the guard’s cracking gum.
    “So, why’d you choose me?” Nick asked. “After forty years, you could have spoken to anybody.”
    Ruby shrugged.
    “I’ll make sure your story is cataloged into the archive at Tulane. Probably follow up with an article published in a blues history magazine. Several research papers … Ruby?”
    She looked back up at the ceiling as if waiting for divine intervention. Seemed more talkative in the letters. Maybe she had trouble being around people.
    “I’d like to start at the beginning,” Nick said. “Maybe cover some old ground from what you wrote … Heard you’re a good cook.”
    Ruby slowly brought her head down to her chest and raised her eyebrows. She nodded as if seeing Nick for the first time. “Appreciate that,” she said in a rough growl with only a trace of a Mississippi accent. “But with these ingredients, it’s like turnin’ dog shit into chocolate pie.”
    Nick laughed. Ruby and the guard didn’t crack a smile.
    “Remind me to skip lunch,” Nick said. Still laughing alone.
    No one spoke for a few uncomfortable seconds. Nick looked down at his notes. “Tell me more about ‘Lonesome Blues Highway.’ Big hit?”
    “Went straight to the top,” she said with dead, black eyes. “You know that magazine Cashbox? They called it pure gold. Billy couldn’t press ‘em fast enough.”
    “You cut how many, ten others?”
    “ ‘Bout a dozen.”
    “Which ones were your favorites?”
    “Dude, you’re askin’ questions from way back.” She sighed. “Let’s see, ‘Blues Highway.’ I wrote that. Couple of Memphis Minnie numbers, ‘Please Don’t Stop Him’ and ‘Fashion Plate Daddy.’ And Tie Yo’ Monkey in a Knot.’”
    Nick sang:
“ When you see that woman
dressed so fine,
And you got lovin’
on your mind,
    You better tie,
    You better tie,
    Yo ’ monkey in a knot.”
     
    Ruby listened to the words, her face intent. The guard laughed and turned away. Guess he never would make it as a singer. But maybe he’d loosen Ruby up.
    “Moses Jordan wrote that one?” Nick asked.
    “Yeah, Moses wrote most of my songs.”
    “You still see him?”
    “He’s come to see me a few times,” she said. “He sent a few letters. But your friends have a way of forgettin’ when you’re inside. Used to have this big woman in here who told me that. Said forget your friends. Forget your family. Only person you can rely on is yourself.”
    “Last year, Elmore King told me you got a raw deal,” Nick said. “You know why he would say that? You two close?”
    “I thought you said you wanted to hear my story,” Ruby said. “You said you wanted to know all of it.”
    “I do.”
    “Aren’t you gonna ask me why I pointed that gun at Billy?”
    “All right—why’d you point the gun?”
    “After forty years, those things start to rattle in your mind,” she said slowly. She never looked Nick in the eye, reciting what she had to say like a bored minister working with an old sermon. ‘You fill your cell with books and your mind with the past. I still see it in my sleep. Wakes me up.”
    The cassette recorder whirred in the silence. Nick scratched his cheek and shifted in his chair. He smiled at her again. Her face was without expression.
    Ruby leaned back into her seat and laced her hands in her lap. “Me and Billy was fightin’ over money that day,” she said. “They tried to make it seem like I was jealous, but he owed me for my records. We’d been through for a long time.”
    “Seems like you loved him a lot.”
    “I did.”
    “But you didn’t kill him over love?”
    Ruby looked up from her seat. Her face