Leaving: A Novel by Richard Dry

Author:Richard Dry
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2013-08-05T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 1B

MARCH 1965 • EASTON 19

IT WAS HOT for March, and Easton had forgotten what it felt like in southern humidity. Charles took off his coat and laid it on the top of the car. An airplane passed over, and they looked up and then Easton went back to working under the hood. He’d rebuilt everything in this car, so he could surely fix it, unless it needed a part. Then they were in trouble because Jackson was still at least thirty miles.

“I told you this was foolish,” said Charles. He paced behind the car, looking up and down the highway. He had a pen in one hand and he clicked it in and out. “I liked Clinton. Yes, Clinton was a nice place: friendly, the way those boys spit on the car. Maybe it would be better if we took these California plates off altogether. At least then people would think we were just common car thieves.”

He had the distinct feeling that Easton wasn’t listening to him, so he walked over and watched him work. “You know what’s wrong with it?”

Easton had never seen Charles afraid of anything before, at least not openly, and he didn’t like the edginess, the kind that got you into unnecessary trouble.

“I knew what it was before I opened the hood,” he said. “The thermostat’s busted and we got a leak in the radiator. All we’ve got to do is find some water and a hose and then take it slow. Best if we wait till nightfall. Or we could turn around.”

“We are not turning around.”

“We’ve got another day to Selma,” Easton said, and closed the hood. Charles folded and unfolded his arms. “Out here’s our best chance, anyway. The Black folk will help us before the men at the service station. I’m going to walk up that road and see what I see.”

Easton walked fifty feet to a dirt road. He heard Charles walk after him.

“Look,” Easton said. “Where you think you’re going?”

“I think it’s better to stick together.”

“You want to go up here and let me stay there with the car? That’s fine. I just figured you’d feel more comfortable by the car.”

Charles looked up the dirt road. It curved behind some trees and then disappeared. “I don’t feel more comfortable anywhere. I’d feel more comfortable in Vacaville State Pen, where they got less trees to lynch you from.”

“Whatever happened to ‘Fight the Revolution, brother’?” Easton walked back to him. He didn’t touch Charles because of the heat, but he got right up beside him and talked softly. “Listen, I grew up in the South. There are more of us in this part than them. This is our land. We built all the fields and homes around here. You’re not so far away from home, you just don’t know what home looks like. This is nature. Look over there.” He pointed to a fish hawk circling above the high top of a pine tree. “That means there’s water over there. Why don’t you see what you can find that can carry something and go get some water.

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