Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton

Author:Clyde Edgerton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: 1987-10-22T04:00:00+00:00

VIII

Saturday night Patricia drove Wesley to the 7-Eleven at Creek Junction, where he was supposed to meet Blake Bumgartner. Wesley held three pieces of pound cake wrapped separately: one for him, one for Patricia, and one for Blake. But Blake didn’t show up.

They sat in Patricia’s car around back, where they were supposed to meet him. “We’ll wait another fifteen minutes,” said Wesley. “He screwed it all up somehow.”

“What are you going to do if he don’t show up?” asked Patricia.

“Eat the cake.”

“I mean after that. I got to go home.”

“Hell, I don’t know. Go to Lamar’s, I reckon. I don’t know.” Wesley thought about Mattie placing bowls of good hot food on the table in front of him. “Maybe I can go to Mrs. Rigsbee’s.” He envisioned the extra room she probably had—a soft warm room with a soft bed and a big fluffy pillow and big warm chairs he could sit in and watch stuff on a little portable TV that might be in there. “I’ll go to her house. She came to see me first. She might be my grandma.” Wesley looked at Patricia. “Did you know that?”

“No, I didn’t.”

They waited a while longer, but Blake didn’t come.

“Take me to Mrs. Rigsbee’s,” said Wesley. “And we might as well go ahead and eat this piece of cake, too. Hell, I’m glad he didn’t come.”

When Wesley opened the car door and started up the walk to Mattie Rigsbee’s brick ranch he felt relieved to be away from Patricia. She looked all right, but she had begun to get on his nerves. She didn’t talk much and she had to check in at home about every two hours.

It was 9:30. There was a light on in the living room and somebody was playing the piano. What kind of music was that? One of them hymns. When he got to the door he heard Mattie singing.

Yes, we’ll gather at the river,

The beautiful, the beautiful river;

Gather with the saints at the river

That flows by the throne of God.

Mattie heard the knock. Who in the world? At this time of night. Saturday night. Who could it be? She turned on the porch light at the door, and looked out through the glass. Well, my goodness. Wesley. “Come in,” she said, opening the door.

Wesley stepped in and looked around.

“What you got there?” said Mattie, looking at the paper bag.

“Few clothes.”

“Oh? . . . Well, have a seat. You just in the neighborhood?”

“Yeah. Have you got a extra room?” he said, sitting down in Mattie’s swan-neck rocker.

“Well . . .”

Wesley’s hands were on the chair arms. He put them in his lap and then back on the chair arms. “I need a place to sleep for one night before I go see this buddy of mine. Lamar’s got company, and I thought maybe . . .”

“Yes, well, yes. I suppose you can stay in Robert’s room.” Mattie sat down on the couch. “When is your leave over?”

“I got about nine more days.”

“You need to take a bath or anything?”

“You got a bathtub?”

“Shower or bath.

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