Jimmy, âHoney, I got to go away for a while. Mr. Farraday, heâll look after you.â See, she worked for him; he liked her a lot and she him, I think. And she said, âNow donât fret yourself; it may be a long while, but Iâll be back.â Only that wasnât true. She never did come back.â Penny lifted her head and looked out across the river, Jury thought past everythingâthe willows, the swans surfeited with crumbs and scudding against the bank, the brilliantly colored little pleasure boats moored at the edge. âShe died of a wasting disease. Thatâs what they told us. But Jimmy and me never did find out what that wasting disease was. I guess it donât make no difference. I guess you could say anything you die ofâs a wasting disease.â
Jury said nothing, only waited for her to go on. âBoy, was she pretty! You canât tell it from that pictureââ
âYes, you can. She looks exactly like you.â
Astonishment was stamped on her face. Her light eyes seemed to refract some of the gold of the day. âAh, go on. . . . No one ever looks at me with them two around.â
âSome people have no taste, then. What about your real father?â
She dropped the butt of her cigarette on the ground. âI guess he diedtoo. I donât think him and our mama was married, if the truth be known. Maybe I knew him. I donât remember. But Jimmy, he never . . .â This was brought out on a deep sigh, and in the words there was not a trace of reproach. People make mistakes, her tone seemed to imply.
âSo He ups and marries this Amelia Blue, and sure as God made little green apples, her and Honey Belle think weâre just bastards. Oh, they donât say it out loud; they wouldnât dare; their eyes say it. You just can see it in their eyes every time they look at us. That Honey Belle, thereâs words for what she is where I come from. I was born in West-by-God-Virginiaâyou can tell, I donât talk goodâand what we call girls like that is just plain c-u-n-tâif youâll excuse my languageâI trust I ainât shocking you. In West Virginia we got all kinds, so maybe we got c-u-n-t too, but I swear to almighty God with my hand on my heartââand not to be thought a liar she placed it thereââthat we ainât got it with a capital C. That had to come slithering up from Georgia. Now we live in Maryland,â she added indifferently. âYou can just see the boys around Honey Belle. They drop like flies everytime she twitches that ass of hers down the street. I used to have me a boy friend once.â She sighed. It was not hard to imagine what happened to the boy friend. âI know you think Iâm jealous and I donât deny it. My God, you seen them shorts she wears? Practically up to her armpits. Well, you got to allow as how you know what I mean about Honey Belle.â
Jury had to allow as how he did.
âAnd that Amelia Blue, she ainât no better. Two peas in a pod. It makes me sick the way she messes with men. Thereâs this Englishman on our tour that I bet my life sheâs been fooling withââ
âWhoâs that, Penny?â
âChum or Chomly. But it ainât spelt that way. First nameâs George. Heâs good-looking all right. Nearly has Amelia and Honey Belle wetting their pants. What I wanted to tell you wasâyouâll have to excuse me bending your ear this wayâI think Jimmy mightâve run off.â
âRun away, you mean? But surely not in a foreign country.â
âYou donât know Jimmy. âJames Cahlton,â she calls him. I swear, all those people down South have these stupid double names, so Amelia Blue has to make them up for us too. She calls Him James Cecil as if one nameâs not enough for anybody. I ainât got a middle name, thank you, Lord.â She looked up at the
Learning to Kill: Stories