Portersville by Daryl Haskew

Author:Daryl Haskew
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2021-08-24T17:28:48+00:00

Chapter 49

Honesty

Quietness settled over the boatyard. Across the bayou, the guests moved inside The Portersville Hotel and Casino to continue the New Year’s celebrations. Only one person remained on the hotel deck staring across the bayou at three boys sitting on a heavy timber.

Big John’s sons, Mayata, Tokala, and Clayton, having watched the fireworks aboard the Queen, joined their father, Cy, and the three boys on the timber. From the deck of The Portersville across the bayou, lanterns cast eerie shadows among the frames of unfinished boats.

Cy broke the silence. “Bear did not knock those men down, did he?”

“No,” answered Leonidas. “We did.”

“Tell us what happened.”

“We were just standing there minding our own business,” said Al. “People from the canning place down the road joined us. They could not speak our language, but they smiled and were friendly. We went to the table where Mother, Mrs. Ann, and Fawn were serving cookies, and got some for the children. We gave some to a little girl. Before she could eat her cookies, a big man took them away from her and pushed her back. We got mad.”

“You got mad?” questioned Cy. “This is what caused all of this? There must be more. Tell me the truth.”

Leon motioned for his brothers to let him speak. “We disobeyed you, Father, and we are sorry. We went to the canning factory and peeped in the windows. We saw what is happening inside and how the foreign people are being treated. We saw those same two men yell at the children shucking oysters to work faster in the freezing cold and not to worry about resting. They slapped that little girl who gave us a hug. She began to cry for her mother while lying on the dirty floor in the oyster juice. The men laughed at her and would not even help her up. I swore that if I had a chance, I would teach those men a lesson.”

Big John punched Cy in the ribs lightly with his elbow and smiled. “Like father, like sons, huh?”

“I guess so,” answered Cy, placing his arm across the shoulders of his sons. “I guess so.”

“We used the hoplite kick, like you taught us,” said Nick. “It worked.”

“I’ll say it worked,” said Mayata, laughing and punching his brothers. “Those guys were busted up bad!”

“Quiet,” said Big John. “This is a family matter for them. Stay out of it.”

“Sorry, Pop,” said Mayata. “But we sure would like to learn that pankration stuff too.”

Seeing that they were not going to be punished for disobeying, the Papatonis boys relaxed and began to chatter among themselves. Cy, Big John, and his sons sat back and listened.

“We weren’t sure Leon would be able to knock that big man down, but we dropped down just at the right time. If he had missed, we would have been hurt for sure because that man was big and mad at us after what Leon told him.”

The banter went on and on until Cy stopped it with a question.

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