The Ranger - Ace Atkins [86]
He figured he could get a gun, maybe fire some shots in the air like they do in old movies, but then he could see them guns turning back on him and him lying down in the same ditch as this unfortunate soul. He kept thinking that maybe they’d take it easier on Shackelford if the boy looked halfway human, but he had a face made of poured rubber and no hair and looked something like a creature that would live down in the center of the earth, coming up at night to catch some air and maybe howl at the moon. A man could beat on someone pretty severe who didn’t seem real.
Ditto ’bout lost his lunch when he heard them bones breaking and caught a splatter of blood in his eye.
“Let’s go.”
Lena let out a cry when she saw Ditto standing over her, his face all flecked with blood and flesh.
“You cain’t stay around here,” he said. “Get the baby and y’all’s things.”
Lena considered Ditto’s upturned nose and pudgy face, thick waist and short legs. But she saw something else in him, a real conviction of what he was saying, Get on out before Gowrie does the same to you. And, hell, he didn’t need to say it. Lena had felt it since the first time she’d laid eyes on Gowrie.
“Where will we go?” she asked.
“Somewheres else.”
“He’ll find us.”
“I ain’t as stupid as Keith Shackelford.”
She shook her head and walked the trailer, the thin floor creaking up under her, not having much faith in Ditto but picking up the baby’s things anyway—not much besides what they gave her in a care pack at the hospital and some ragtag used clothes gathered up for them both by Gowrie’s women. She stopped, holding some plastic grocery bags, and just looked at Ditto. “Where are my shoes?”
He got down to his knees and started patting around, reaching up under the blanket and covers, just as the baby started to cry. Lena picked up the little girl, soothing her head, the baby smelling clean and warm and good, while asking her to please be quiet, please be quiet. “Did Gowrie see me?”
Ditto looked confused.
“In the window? I didn’t see nothin’. I swear on it.”
He shook his head.
“Is he dead?”
“He’s in the car. Messed up to shit. Gowrie took things out on him with a whipping chain and a baseball bat. Everyone thinks he’s dead, they were good and drunk when I told them I’d get rid of what they done.”
“You ain’t got no car. We can’t leave. Why did you say that? You gonna get us all killed.”
“Hell yes, I got a car, girl.” He pulled back the towel from the window, revealing the image of the black Camaro surrounded by burning oil drums. Ditto flipped the keys around his fingers. “Figured if he’s gonna be pissed, might as well go all the way.”
“I’m ready.”
“Didn’t figure on you sayin’ good-bye to Charley. He’s with all them down in Daddy’s trailer.”
Lena held the baby against her shoulder, the cries becoming softer, breaking into slow breaths, small whimpers, until they soothed her. Ditto carried the grocery bags in one hand and held Lena’s hand with the other.
He started the car, those dual pipes on that black Camaro purring and throttling. “Ain’t she a wet dream.”
“Don’t forget to put her in gear.”
Holding the baby in the passenger seat, Lena turned to find the mass of Shackelford under a blanket, a bloody hand falling loose against the floor, but she saw him take an easy, soft breath and heard a ragged cough. When he turned to her, uncovering his face from the blanket, Lena nearly shit her drawers. “Where’s that damn Ranger?” he asked in a cracked voice. “Goddamn. Y’all better find his ass.”
29
Gowrie was there the next morning