I soon returned to the solitude of house painting. With the clear exception of operating a road grader, it was a job I preferred over all others. The difference between the two was that I couldn't actually operate a road grader, and it would be years before I'd be able to. But I could certainly paint. After watching the Mexicans, I'd learned even more and improved my technique. I applied the paint as thinly as possible, trying my best to stretch the two gallons.
By mid-morning one bucket was empty. My mother and Gran were now in the kitchen, washing and canning the vegetables.
I didn't hear the man walk up behind me. But when he coughed to get my attention, I jerked around and dropped my paintbrush.
It was Mr. Latcher, wet and muddy from the waist down. He was barefoot, and his shirt was torn. He'd obviously walked from their place to ours.
"Where's Mr. Chandler?" he asked.
I wasn't sure which Mr. Chandler he wanted. I picked up my brush and ran to the east side of the house. I yelled for my father, who poked his head through some vines. When he saw Mr. Latcher beside me, he stood up quickly. "What is it?" he asked as he hurried toward us.
Gran heard voices and was suddenly on the front porch, my mother right behind her. A glance at Mr. Latcher told us something was very wrong.
"The water's up in the house," he said, unable to look my father in the eye. "We gotta get out."
My father looked at me, then at the women on the porch. Their wheels were already spinning.
"Can you help us?" Mr. Latcher said. "We ain't got no place to go."
I thought he was going to cry, and I felt like it myself.
"Of course we'll help," Gran said, instantly taking charge of the situation. From that point on, my father would do precisely what his mother told him. So would the rest of us.
She sent me to find Pappy. He was in the tool shed, trying to stay busy puttering with an old tractor battery. Everyone gathered by the truck to formulate a plan.
"Can we drive up to the house?" Pappy asked.
"No sir," Mr. Latcher said. "Water's waist-deep down our road. It's up on the porch now, six inches in the house."
I couldn't imagine all those Latcher kids in a house with half a foot of floodwater.
"How's Libby and the baby?" Gran asked, unable to contain herself.
"Libby's fine. The baby's sick."
"We'll need a boat," my father said. "Jeter keeps one up at the Cockleburr Slough."
"He won't mind if we borrow it," Pappy said.
For a few minutes the men discussed the rescue-how to get the boat, how far down the road the truck could go, how many trips it would take. What was not mentioned was just exactly where the Latchers would go once they had been rescued from their house.
Again Gran was very much in charge. "You folks can stay here," she said to Mr. Latcher. "Our loft is clean-the Mexicans just left. You'll have a warm bed and plenty of food."
I looked at her. Pappy looked at her. My father glanced over, then studied his feet. A horde of hungry Latchers living in our barn! A sick baby crying at all hours of the night. Our food being given away. I was horrified at the thought, and I was furious with Gran for making such an offer without first discussing it with the rest of us.
Then I looked at Mr. Latcher. His lips were trembling, and his eyes were wet. He clutched his old straw hat with both hands at his waist, and he was so ashamed that he just looked at the ground. I'd never seen a poorer, dirtier, or more broken man.
I looked at my mother. She, too, had wet eyes. I glanced at my father. I'd never seen him cry, and he wasn't about to at that moment, but he was clearly touched by Mr. Latcher's suffering. My hard heart melted in a flash.
"Let's get a move on," Gran said with authority. "We'll get the barn ready."
We sprang into action, the men loading into the truck, the women heading for the barn. Just as she was walking away, Gran pulled Pappy by the elbow and whispered, "You bring Libby and that baby first." It was a direct order, and Pappy nodded.
I hopped into the back of the truck with Mr. Latcher, who squatted on his skinny legs and said nothing to me. We stopped at the bridge, where my father got out and began walking along the edge of the river. His job was to find Mr. Jeter's boat at the Cockleburr Slough, then float it downstream to where we'd be waiting at the bridge. We crossed over, turned onto the Latchers' road, and went less than a hundred feet before we came to a quagmire. Ahead of us was nothing but water.
"I'll tell 'em you're comin'," Mr. Latcher said, and with that he was off through the mud, then the water. Before long it was up to his knees. "Watch out for snakes!" he yelled over his shoulder. "They're everywhere." He was trudging through a lake of water, with flooded fields on both sides.
We watched him until he disappeared, then we returned to the river and waited for my father.
We sat on a log near the bridge, the rushing water below us. Since we had nothing to say, I decided it was time to tell Pappy a story. First, I swore him to secrecy.
I began where it started, with voices in our front yard late at night. The Spruills were arguing, Hank was leaving. I followed in the shadows, and before I knew what was happening, I was trailing not only Hank but Cowboy as well. "They fought right up there," I said, pointing to the center of the bridge.
Pappy's mind was no longer on floods or farming or even rescuing the Latchers. He glared at me, believing every word but quite astonished. I recounted the fight in vivid detail, then pointed again. "Hank landed over there, right in the middle of the river. Never came up."
Pappy grunted but did not speak. I was on my feet in front of him, nervous and talking rapidly. When I described my encounter with Cowboy minutes later on the road near our house, Pappy cursed under his breath. "You should've told me then," he said.
"I just couldn't. I was too scared."
He got to his feet and walked around the log a few times. "He murdered their son and stole their daughter," he said to himself. "My oh my."
"What're we gonna do, Pappy?"
"Let me think about it."
"Do you think Hank'll float to the top somewhere?"
"Nope. That Mexican gutted him. His body sank straight to the bottom, probably got eaten by those channel cats down there. There's nothin' left to find."
As sickening as this was, I was somewhat relieved to hear it. I never wanted to see Hank again. I'd thought about him every time I crossed the bridge. I'd dreamed of his bloated corpse popping up from the depths of the river and scaring the daylights out of me.
"Did I do anything wrong?" I asked.
"No."
"Are you gonna tell anybody?"
"Nope, I don't think so. Let's keep it quiet. We'll talk about it later."
We took our positions on the log and studied the water. Pappy was deep in thought. I tried to convince myself that I should feel better now that I'd finally told one of the adults about Hank's death.
After a spell Pappy said, "Hank got what was comin' to him. We ain't tellin' nobody. You're the only witness, and there's no sense in you worryin' about it. It'll be our secret, one we'll take to our graves."
"What about Mr. and Mrs. Spruill?"
"What they don't know won't hurt 'em."
"You gonna tell Gran?"
"Nope. Nobody. Just me and you."
It was a partnership I could trust. I did indeed feel better. I'd shared my secret with a friend who could certainly carry his portion of it. And we had decided that Hank and Cowboy would be put behind us forever.