That Night at the Palace by Watson L.D

Author:Watson, L.D. [Watson, L.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reklaw Prod. Services
Published: 2015-10-23T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

301 RED OAK AVE. ELZA TEXAS

12:00 p.m. November 19, 1941

Jesse and Gemma slowly climbed the steps to the porch and approached the front door of the house. Jesse was wearing the same jeans and t-shirt he’d had on the day Brewster and Jefferson arrested him. Gemma was wearing her best Sunday dress. There were some cars out front, and Jesse prepared himself for what he knew was going to be a difficult encounter.

The two days with Cherokee-One-Leg had mostly been spent trying to figure out what had happened and who had killed Cliff. Both he and Cherokee missed their friend and had shed some tears, but they also knew that there was work to be done; they knew that business they had hoped was long-since behind them had come back and cost Cliff his life. Cherokee blamed himself. Deep down he knew that the things from the past weren’t finished. The boys had been too young at the time to understand, but he knew better. Inside he knew that they should have told everything to the Texas Ranger years ago, but that would have hurt the two people Jesse cared for most`, so he wouldn’t allow it then, and he wouldn’t allow it now.

It was Cherokee who had come up with a plan. Jesse was determined to be at Cliff’s funeral and, of course, so would the C.A. and some sheriff’s deputies.

After Jesse left his office with Corporal McKinney, and after the C.A. had left, Jefferson went to Gemma and told her that Jesse was hiding. She didn’t have to think about it to know where he was. Cherokee-One-Leg was Jesse’s one and only hero. Whenever Jesse had a problem, no matter how big or small, he always went to Cherokee.

It had taken several years for Gemma to understand the relationship Jesse had with the old black man. In a small East Texas town in the 1930’s, you rarely saw a young white boy even speaking to old black men, let alone run and hug them as if they were long lost uncles. But as Gemma began to see the relationship Jesse had with his parents, she slowly understood. In the same way that Cliff’s dad had taken the place of a father to Jesse, Cherokee took the place of a grandfather. She had heard, through the Elza gossip mill, how Jesse’s real grandfather had killed himself before Jesse was born because he’d had some connection to a prostitution business. Naturally, as a boy, Jesse was drawn to the old man who was part Indian and had fought in wars, not to mention that he wore an alligator’s tooth around his neck. As they grew to adulthood, Jesse and Cliff had come to love the man as if he was family.

Gemma, of course, was a little afraid of an old man who rarely smiled and always seemed a bit gruff. He was kind to her, of course, but distant. She especially could not understand why Jesse put so much faith in him.

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