Executioner's Song, The - Norman Mailer [117]
They sat out there half an hour. Gary spoke about April. Said she was a slick chick. Said she was "Real nice." The longer they sat out there, the calmer Gary got. He almost got despondent. Then he said that when he was settled, he would send Craig a painting. He also said, "I'll write you my new address. You can mail my clothes and stuff." He had brought his paintings, his poems, his manila envelope full of snapshots and his other belongings over from Spanish Fork. He said, "Send me all them things when I get settled."
To himself, Craig kept saying, "Come on, Johnny, you son of a bitch, get here."
7
When the Caffees got home, they discovered that Debbie was covered with blood. Chris had to take her into the other room to change. Then Debbie wanted to make phone calls. She telephoned her mom, and Ben's sister, and all her own brothers and sisters, and Ben's friend, Porter Dudson, up in Wyoming. She just called and called. She would start crying and say, "Ben's been shot and he's dead." It was like a recording.
Chris opened their sofa bed in the living room, and she and David lay there while Debbie sat in the rocking chair and rocked Benjamin.
Now, it was Gary on the phone. "Where's John?" he asked.
"He should be there by now," said Brenda.
"God, man," said Gary, "he's not."
"Well, honey, calm down," she said.
"Cousin, is Johnny really coming out?"
Brenda said, "He's coming, Gary."
She had a flash. "Gary, what was the house number, 67 or 69?"
Gary said, "No, it was 76."
"Uh-oh," said Brenda, "I gave him the wrong one."
"Will you get it right this time?" he snapped.
"Okay, Gary," she said meekly. "Johnny's got the CB in the truck, and I have one here. I'll plug him into the right address. Just hang tight." She took a breath, "If you feel kind of faint," she said, "or kind of badly from the wound, why don't you go out on the porch where the air is cool and take some deep breaths. Turn the light on so Johnny can find you."
"How stupid," said Gary, "do you think I am?"
Brenda said, "Excuse me, stay inside."
"All right," he said. He still must trust her.
Soon as she hung up, she began to bawl again. It seemed so wrong to do it this way. But she called the police department, and told them, "He's getting very impatient."
To Gary, who soon called again, she said, "Listen, I know you're in pain. Hang loose. Just stay put."
Brenda was now patched in with the Provo, the Orem, and the Pleasant Grove Police Chiefs, and she could tell from what the dispatchers were saying that the houses around Craig Taylor's were being quietly evacuated. The police were moving into position. One of the Police Chiefs wanted to know which room Gary was in and she told them, she thought he was in the living room. Was the light on? he wanted to know. She said she didn't think so.
Just then Gary called back again. "If John ain't here in five minutes I'm splitting."
"My God, Gary," she said, "are you on the run or something?"
Gary said, "I'm leaving in five minutes."
She said, "Be careful, Gary. I love you."
He said, "Yeah." Hung up.
To the police, she said, "He's coming out. I know he's got a gun, but for God's sake, try not to kill him." Brenda added, "I mean it. Don't fire. He doesn't know you're there. See if you can surround him." She didn't know if she was reaching anybody.
After the last call, Craig just talked to Gary through the screen in the window, until finally Gary said, "Stick your head out through the screen and let me see your face."
Now, Gary shook hands with Craig and said, "Well, they're never coming, so I'm leaving." They shook hands, thumbs up, pretty good handshake, Gary still looking Craig in the eye. Then he went out to his truck. Craig turned the porch light off and watched him go down the road.
For a while, Brenda got the play-by-play over the special channel on the CB a voice said, "Gilmore's leaving. I can see the truck. He's pulling out now. He has the lights on." Then she heard he was heading down to the first roadblock. She didn't know what happened next. He seemed to have driven around that first