The World Made Straight Read Online Free Page B

of books,” Travis said, nodding toward the shelves.
    â€œKeeps me from being ignorant,” Leonard said.
    â€œI’ve known plenty of teachers without any sense,” Travis said. “They didn’t even know how to change their own car tire.”
    Leonard leaned back a little deeper in the chair.
    â€œStupidity and ignorance aren’t the same thing. You can’t cure someone of stupidity. Somebody like yourself that’s merely ignorant there might be hope for.”
    â€œWhat reason you got to say I’m ignorant?”
    â€œThat tee-shirt you’re wearing, for one thing. If you’d worn it up here in the 1860s it could have gotten you killed, and by your own blood kin.”
    Travis had drunk only half his beer but Leonard’s words were as hard to grasp as wisps of ground fog.
    â€œYou trying to say my family was yankees?”
    â€œNo, at least not in the geographical sense. They just didn’t see any reason to side with the slave owners.”
    â€œSo they weren’t on either side?”
    â€œThey had a side. Nobody had the luxury of staying out of it up here. Most places they’d fight a battle and move on, but once war came it didn’t leave Madison County.”
    Travis took a last swallow and set the empty can at his feet. He wondered if the older man was just messing with him, like when Shank had asked about the music. But it didn’t seem that way. Leonard looked to be serious.
    â€œYou go out to Shelton Laurel much?” Leonard asked.
    â€œJust for family reunions when I was a kid.”
    â€œAnd your kin never talked about what happened in 1863 or said anything about Bloody Madison?”
    â€œWhat’s Bloody Madison?”
    â€œThe name this county went by during the Civil War.”
    Travis thought back to church homecomings and family reunions in the Laurel. Most of the talk, at least among the men, had been about tobacco. But not all of it.
    â€œSometimes my daddy and uncle talked about kin that got killed in Shelton Laurel during the war, but I always figured the yankees had done it.”
    The Plotts began barking, and a few moments later Travis saw a red Camaro rumble up to the trailer, its back wheels jacked up, white racing stripe on the hood. Two men with long black hair got out. One threw a cigarette butt on the ground and didn’t bother to grind it out with his boot heel. They stood beside the car, both doors open, the engine catching and coughing. When Leonard didn’t come out, the driver leaned into the car and blew the horn. Both dogs barked furiously but stayed near the trailer.
    Leonard lifted himself wearily from the chair. He went tothe kitchen and came back with two plastic baggies filled with pills. The car horn blew again.
    â€œThe worst thing the nineteen sixties did to this country was introduce drugs to rednecks,” Leonard said. He laid the baggies on the coffee table and went to the refrigerator.
    â€œYou don’t seem to much mind taking their money,” Travis said.
    Leonard’s lips creased into a tight smile.
    â€œTrue enough,” he said, taking another beer from the refrigerator. “Here,” he said, holding the can out to Travis. “A farewell present. It’s best if you don’t come around here anymore.”
    â€œWhat if I get you some more plants?”
    â€œI don’t think you better try to do that,” Leonard said. “Whoever’s pot that is will be harvesting in the next few days. You better not be anywhere near when they’re doing it either.”
    Travis left the couch and stepped into the kitchen. The first faint buzz from the alcohol made his scalp tingle.
    â€œI ain’t scared,” Travis said.
    â€œWell, maybe you should be in this instance.”
    Leonard’s words were soft, barely audible over the roar of the Camaro. He wasn’t talking down to him the way the teachers or his father might. For a moment Travis