Walking Across Egypt Read Online Free Page B

stumbling, looking down and then up into Carl's eyes—said, "Do you know Emmett Leftcourt?" and Carl said yes and the old drunk said, "You know, he's one of the sorriest men I ever met."
    Pearl would try to tell it but never got it as good as Carl. Mattie thought about the sea heron's legs sticking up out of that pot, about herself in the chair. She laughed again, looked down at the billfold.
    She picked it up and opened it. There was a twenty-dollar bill and a folded-up something—letter? Stuck in there where the money goes, a folded letter or something on yellow lined notebook paper.
    The food was all on the stove; it was 11:00 a.m. He'd probably be by pretty soon. She would see what the yellow paper was. Nobody would ever know. And it wouldn't hurt one thing in the world. He was liable to come in ten minutes or so and if she didn't look now she'd never as long as she lived know whether or not it was a love letter, or what.
     
    dear lamar:
    I want you to try to get me out of here If you can sign this thing they'll put me in your Custedy Some of the people here are real Shits They will put us in a solatary confinement room if we mess up. They done had me in there twice and I didn't do a thing. How are You doing these days, fine I hope. Lamar, all you have to do is sign this paper. If I got a legal guardian everything will be fine Ok? You can tell them I'm going to live with you, then there wont be no more trouble for me.
    SINCERELY YOURS,
    WESLEY.
     
    Such language, thought Mattie. The hack doorbell rang. A wave of panic swept over her, hurting the backs of her legs. She folded the letter quickly, stuck it back into the billfold. "Come on in."
    Alora came in the back door. Mattie noticed that Alora's hair had been freshly dyed black. It would look so much better natural, she thought, and she wondered why Alora didn't either lose weight or buy larger pants suits.
    Lord, I hope she don't stay long, thought Mattie. I got to tend my food.
    "I thought I'd come over and see about the dog. They got him didn't they?" Alora was eating an apple.
    "Sure did. I can't keep a dog with all I got to do around this place. And I got the Lottie Moon coming up, starting early again. I reckon they'll ask me again this year. Lord, I wouldn't have kept that dog a minute a year ago. I must be going soft."
    "Yeah, we heard the dogcatcher over here last night." Alora stepped on over into the kitchen. "I reckon the little thing's dead by now," she said. "Gassed, I imagine."
    "I don't know. Sit down over here at the table. I got to tend to my food a little bit. Watch out! Not that one. The bottom's out. Sit on the one there with the board."
    Alora looked at the chair. "You got your seats out?"
    "Yeah, I wanted some of that oil cloth stuff you can wipe off easy. I don't even think they make real oil cloth anymore. You know, sort of like you got."
    "Yeah. It does make it lots easier—you can just wipe them right off." Alora needed to throw away her apple core. She walked to the trash can where on top of a wadded-up piece of paper she saw the handful of sawdust Mattie had swept up from the kitchen floor the night before. "What you been cutting?"
    "What?"
    "What you been cutting? This sawdust."
    "Oh that. The sawdust. I just, ah, cut a board."
    "What kind of board?"
    "Just a board. To ah, to put over my chairs there."
    The back doorbell rang. It was the dogcatcher.
    "Come on in." Mattie stepped toward the door as he came in. "This is Alora Swanson, my next-door neighbor. And—you know I don't believe I got your name."
    "Lamar. Lamar Benfield. Nice to meet you," he said to Alora.
    "Here's your billfold." Mattie handed it to him. "Lamar was by for the dog yesterday," Mattie said to Alora, "and his billfold dropped out of his pocket."
    "While I was down on the floor sawing the chair I guess," said Lamar.
    "What chair?" said Alora.
    "That one over there. The one Mrs., ah, she got hung in."
    Alora looked over at the chair. "Hung in? Mattie? You sat in