The World Made Straight Read Online Free Page A

like these hills,
Preacher Caldwell had said one Sunday,
high enough up to see everything that goes on.
It ain’t like stealing a cash crop like tobacco where a man’s shed some real sweat, Travis reminded himself, for marijuana was little more bother than a few seeds dropped in the ground. Taking the pot plants was just the same as picking up windfall apples—less so because those that grew it had broken the lawthemselves. That was the way to think about it, Travis decided.
    â€œHow come you grow your own tomatoes but not your own pot?” Travis asked when Leonard laid down his hose and came over.
    â€œBecause I’m a low-risk kind of guy. It’s getting too chancy unless you have a place way back in some hollow.”
    One of the Plotts nudged Leonard’s leg and Leonard scratched the dog’s head. The dog closed its watery brown eyes, seemed about to fall asleep. Not very fierce for a bear dog, Travis thought.
    â€œWhere’s Shank?” Leonard said. “I thought you two were partners.”
    â€œI don’t need a partner,” Travis said. He lifted the first sack from the truck bed, pulled out each stalk carefully so as not to tear off any leaves and buds. He placed the plants on the ground between them. It was a good feeling, knowing everything on his end was done. A lot like when he and the old man unloaded tobacco at the auction barn. Even his daddy would be in a good mood as they laid their crop on the worn market-house floor.
    As Travis emptied the second sack he imagined the old man’s reaction if he knew what Travis was doing. Probably have a fit, Travis figured, though some part of his daddy, the part that had been near an outlaw when he was Travis’s age, would surely admire the pluck of what his boy had done, even if he never said so. Travis nodded at his harvest.
    â€œThat’s one hundred and twenty dollars’ worth at the least,” he said.
    Leonard stepped closer and studied the plants a few moments. He pulled the billfold from his pocket and handed Travis five twenty-dollar bills. Leonard hesitated, then added four fives.
    Travis stuffed the bills into his pocket but did not get back in the truck.
    â€œWhat?” Leonard finally said.
    â€œI figured you to ask me in for a beer.”
    â€œI don’t think so. I don’t much want to play host this afternoon.”
    â€œYou don’t think I’m good enough to set foot in that roachy old trailer of yours.”
    Leonard settled his eyes on Travis.
    â€œYou get your hackles up pretty quick, don’t you?”
    Travis did his best to match Leonard’s steady gaze.
    â€œI’m not afraid of you,” Travis said.
    Leonard shifted his gaze lower and to the right as though someone sat in a chair beside Travis. Someone who took Travis’s words no more seriously than Leonard did.
    â€œAfter the world has its way with you a few years, it’ll knock some of the strut out of you,” Leonard said, no longer smiling. “If you live that long.”
    A part of Travis wanted to clamp a hand over his own mouth, keep it there till he was back in Marshall. He had the uneasy feeling that Leonard knew things about him, things so deep inside that Travis himself hadn’t figured them out, and every time he opened his mouth Leonard knew more.
    â€œI ain’t wanting your advice,” Travis said. “I just want some beer.”
    â€œOne beer,” Leonard said, and they walked into the trailer. While Leonard got the beers Travis went down the hall to the bathroom. The bedroom door was shut and he hoped it stayed so. If the woman came out she’d surely have some more sass words for him. When he came back Leonard sat in the leather recliner, a beer in each hand. He handed one to Travis. Travis sat on the couch and pulled the tab. He still didn’t much care for the taste, but the beer was cold and felt good as it slid down his throat.
    â€œYou got a lot