Leaving: A Novel Read Online Free Page B

not explained that Mr. Waters had antagonized him, which was no surprise to the principal. But he did punish Easton for bringing a knife to school, and he did call Corbet.
    For this act of self-defense, Papa Samuel would have been proud of him, not for being suspended—for that, he still would have gotten a whipping—but for having fought back and won. However, Corbet was different in every way from Papa Samuel, and Easton didn’t know what to expect.
    *   *   *
    WHEN EASTON RETURNED home, Corbet sat him down on the couch in the living room and then went to his rocking chair. Ruby came up behind Easton and put her hands on his shoulders, watching her father carefully. He pinched tobacco between his thumb and forefinger and ground it into his pipe very slowly, as if he were squeezing the life out of it. He lit the pipe and leaned back in his chair. Easton wiped his cheek repeatedly as he looked around the room for a switch or any long piece of wire. The only thing he saw was a thick leather belt, and that was still firmly wrapped around Corbet’s waist.
    It was a long time before anyone spoke. Ruby shifted her weight a few times in the silence. Finally she said, “Sometimes I think we should jus tie all de boys to dey desks at school.” Corbet nodded his head slowly and took another drag from his pipe. The tobacco glowed orange for a moment. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d been burned, Easton thought. Ruby continued: “But dat jus remine me of de racehorse dat all de folks love in Greenwood. Dis horse beat all de udder horses in town and beat all de horses out to Orangeburg County, an all de people love dis horse ’cause it be fast and beautiful, wid his shiny muscles on his legs. But when dis horse ain’t racin, it still had a whole lotta mischief. He always jumpin out de fence and runnin into someone’s field. He run ’round an et all de carrots and de turnips and run through de rice patties, an jus do a general stompin all over. It was jus in his nature to be wile. But de people got real mad ’cause dey losin dey crop. So de owner, he tie him up to de barn. Well de horse start neighin and kickin and makin all kind of a racket all night long. So de owner start to whip him to make him stop. But de horse jus get madder and madder. He stop while de man whip him, but when de man come out again, he see dat de barn door done been kicked down. So he made de horse lay down and he tied de animal’s legs to de stable. But dat nex night, de horse pull de ropes so hard, he break his own leg, and de nex day de man had to take him out an shoot him. Lose hisself a mighty fine racehorse.”
    Easton looked at his sister in bewilderment.
    “Tell me this,” Corbet said. “Who started it?”
    Easton stood straight up in front of the couch, as though he were answering a question in the classroom. “I’ll tell you I sure enough finished it. He didn’t get a chance to hit me. Not one boy could take me in that whole school.”
    “You sound awfully proud of yourself.”
    “Yes sir.”
    “What did he do to start the fight?”
    “He said something to me.”
    “Something? Just spoke to you, so you hit him.”
    “He called me a name.”
    “What did he say?”
    Easton looked straight at Corbet but didn’t answer. He measured his new father’s eyes, his ability to catch a lie. There was a white glaze over their color, like a dog who was going blind.
    “What did he say,” Corbet repeated, “that made you risk getting kicked out of school and ruining your future?”
    “He called me a nigger,” Easton said.
    “He didn’t call you no nigger!” Corbet yelled. He stood up and came at him. “I’ll call you nigger, nigger. You get called nigger ten times a day. Now you tell me what that boy said to you or you’ll wish you were back in Carolina.”
    “He called me a faggot.”
    “A what?”
    “A faggot! And he called you a faggot too. He said you take it up the ass.”
    “Stop that nastiness, Love E,” Ruby