All Aboard by Patricia E. Forté

Author:Patricia E. Forté [Forté, Patricia E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781663238160
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2022-04-12T04:00:00+00:00

PSST! PSST! ODIE!

By the time it was light enough to see, they had to

be in the fields, where they hoed the cotton and

corn as well as the other crops. Between ten and

eleven o’clock [at night], everybody left the field.

—Amanda McDaniel, age unknown

Georgia

Early Friday morning, before Buck blew the rising horn, Ruth quietly left her shack and scurried to the hounds’ pen. She hid beside an evergreen shrub, waiting for Odie to show up. Finally, he came around the corner of the poultry house a little before four o’clock. Ruth stepped out from the shrub, whispering, “Psst! Psst! Odie!”

Odie looked in her direction, frowning. Ruth beckoned him over to her with her finger. He could barely make out her movement in the moonlight. Out of curiosity, he went over.

“Listen here, Odie. I need yo’ hep.”

“Don’t care, gal. Leave me be.”

“You heard ’bout how Ol’ Cyrus gon’ kill Lil Jesse and R. C.?”

“Cyrus ain’t gon’ do no such a thing.”

“You seen R. C. lately? That boy’s face so swollen he can’t hardly see. Lila worried sick over it.”

Odie’s interest was piqued at the mention of Lila’s name.

This encouraged Ruth. “She grew up with that boy. They played—”

“Wait. Wait. Lila’s worried sick? Where is she?”

“She say only you can save they lives. Only you.”

“Lila ain’t said no such a thing. Where she at? How she git word to you?”

“Same way I git word to her. Can’t tell you evathang. Look here, Odie. I’m gon’ need you to maybe … uh … git two passes for Lil Jesse and R. C., in case—”

“Where she at, damn it, gal?”

“Can’t tell you, but I’m gon’ need them passes in case them boys git stopped by ’trollers. That way, they be able to keep on goin’.”

“I ain’t thinkin’ about you, gal. Where’s Lila?”

“I’m gon’ need them passes real soon, Odie. Tomorra, I’m—”

“Hell, naw!”

“I’m gon’ need you to ’low Lil Jesse to git to the hounds so they can be calmed down on Sunday.”

“What the hell? You done lost your nigga mind? You must be crazy. I oughta have you whipped for this.”

“Do you want two deaths on yo’ hands? That what you want?”

“My pa’ll kill me. You know that.”

“Yo’ pa ain’t got to know. Who you choose? Yo’ pa, who all the time talkin’ down to you? Who all the time call you out in front of everybody? Or … you choose Lila, the girl what love you and who trust you and dependin’ on you?”

Odie was taking it all in.

Ruth was determined to convince him. “’Sides, you two grew up together. Y’all played together. You thought ’nuff of Lila to teach her how to read and count numbers. You was good to Lila. She always said she was sweet on you.” Ruth wasn’t sure she was making any headway, so she then said, “Listen here, Odie, you the one what made her run. You the cause of my daughter bein’ gone.”

“Me?”

“You the one what showed her another kind of life. You the one what teached her to read and wonder about this world.

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