When I Crossed No-Bob by Margaret McMullan Read Free Book Online

Mr. Tempy, and if I went off to war, I'd get far, far away from danger."
    Mr. Tempy laughs but I don't because what I'm saying is the truth and he and I both know it.
    "That's
funny,
Addy," he says. "Don't you
ever
laugh?"
    "I laughed in my brain," I say.
    Some of Mr. Tempy's hogs begin to squeal. I look at Mr. Tempy and plug my nose. "They stink."
    We see Mr. Smith stepping down from the porch, his pole leg thunking on the planks. He yells back to Mr. Frank, "You
hear say, 'Don't wait for six strong men to take you to church'? Well, then, don't wait for six strong men to take you to join up, you hear?" He hauls himself, then his wife and son, up on his horse, leans in, and giddyups.

    Mr. Tempy and me, we go back up to the house.
    "You best be careful, Frank," Mr. Tempy says. "I sure hope me and the missus being here didn't cause you any trouble."
    "No trouble."
    "You know about this club he's talking about don't you?"
    "He's calling it a Christian group. All men."
    "A Christian group." Mr. Tempy spits a wad of chewing tobacco. "Oh, yeah. All good people. White men who go to church and work hard. Good family men. Oh, they're not against anyone. Except Indians, Jews, coloreds, and anybody not like themselves." The way Mr. Tempy is talking makes me think he is joshing. Makes me think he's not calling it straight. This Mr. Tempy is like no other person I met. He says something funny, but his face is so serious. He has my head all full of confusions.
    "Trouble, are they?" Mr. Frank says to Mr. Tempy.
    "They're called the Ku Klux Klan, Frank," Mr. Tempy says, all business now. "White men who ride around on
horseback at night scaring all the freed slaves. They're up to no good."

    Zula comes out of the hen house and stands beside Mr. Tempy, who puts his arm around her.
    "That Anglo man, he is full of loud noise and words." It's the second time I've heard her talk.
    "Frank," Miss Irene calls out from the hen house. "Someone's taken all the eggs and someone's done stole one of our chickens."
    Mr. Frank and Mr. Tempy, the two of them both, they look at me.

    The chicken thief could have been a fox or a mink or a skunk. But I don't wait to hear. I have no interest in such things as talk of chicken thieves and trouble. I head up the road to Mr. Frank's ma and pa's house to find Little Bit, so we can go chart out our own little bit of Smith County.
    Little Bit wants me to take her to No-Bob so we can map it, but I say no, no, not on your life. I have other plans than to cross back into No-Bob. I reckon we need to map out better, more uncharted territory. I tell Little Bit there's treasure to be found.
    Before we set out, we stop by Mr. Frank's house where Mr.
Tempy is still talking a mean streak. I hide red pepper in Mr. Tempy's chewing tobacco. We stay long enough to catch the look on his face after the first two chews. His watery, bulging eyes catch mine and I say bye.

    Then Little Bit and me, we gather up paper and some charcoal pencils, and we set out for our great adventure to find Mr. Tempy's buried treasure.

Chapter 5
    We follow the road through the woods that smell of pine and toadstools, lichen and moss. These woods are dense, but if you know them, you know their paths—same ones the animals use. And I wouldn't mind now if Nona Dewitt or Rew Smith called me an animal. Animals are smart.

    Cobwebs catch in our hair and we laugh, pulling at the sticky strings.
    "Let's be spies like they done in the war," Little Bit says.
    "OK, but who are we spying on and who are we spying for?"
    "It doesn't matter," she says, all smiles. "Let's just
spy!
"
    "Hey, let's you and me make a map leading to Tempy's hideout."

    "Yeah!" Little Bit squeals. "Maybe there's hidden treasure like you said."
    "Yeah," I say. I'm just as riled as she is.
    I got me some big happies. We are outside and away from all that ugly talk of thieves and thieving. So much talk going on. But now we are outside. Outside! We are searching for treasure. We will draw