Tobacco Road - Erskine Caldwell [62]
Jeeter the next morning casually mentioned the fact that he would like very much to ride over to Burke County and see Tom.
Dude was filling the radiator at the time, and he stopped to hear what Bessie was going to say. She said nothing, and Dude picked up the bucket again and filled the radiator to overflowing. Jeeter walked away, waiting for Bessie to make up her mind. He went towards the rear of the house as if he were going to get out of sight until she had time to make up her mind definitely whether she would go or not. Jeeter did not go so far away that he could not keep his eye on the car. Bessie was liable to do most anything when his back was turned, and he did not want them to slip off and leave him.
“Jump in and let’s go in a hurry, Dude,” Bessie whispered excitedly, pushing him to the car. “Hurry, before your Pa sees us.”
Jeeter was standing by the well, looking out across the broom-sedge, and he did not know they were getting ready to leave him.
When he heard Dude start the motor, he dashed for the automobile. By that time, Dude had got the gears engaged, and the car shot over the yard to the tobacco road.
He had swung the front wheels sharply, making a circle around the chinaberry trees, and he bumped over the ditch without slackening speed. They were away in a few short seconds, long before Jeeter could run to the road. He stood looking after them.
“Well, I never saw the likes of that,” he said. “I don’t know why they want to run off and leave me. I always treated Bessie fair and square. When a man gets old, folks seem to think that he don’t care about riding around, and they go off and make him stay at home.”
He stood watching them until the car was out of sight. Ada and Ellie May stood on the porch looking at the disappearing car. They had come to the door the moment they heard the car start. Both of them wanted to go somewhere, too; they had not been allowed inside the new car since it was bought.
Jeeter took a seat on the porch and sat down to wait for them to return. He was glum and silent the rest of the morning. When Ada told him to come into the kitchen at dinner time and eat some cheese and crackers, Jeeter did not move from his chair. Ada went back into the house without urging him to eat. There was so little food, she was glad he was not coming. The cheese and crackers that had been brought back from Augusta provided barely enough of a meal for one or two persons; and as he would not leave the porch, there would be more for her and Ellie May. It did not matter about the grandmother, because she was going to be given the cheese rinds and cracker crumbs that were left when they had finished. Jeeter always ate so fast that there was never time for anybody else to get his full share at any meal. Jeeter ate as if it were the last time he would ever taste food again.
Ada and Ellie May sat down to eat their meal, leaving Jeeter alone.
Late that afternoon when Bessie and Dude returned home, Jeeter was still waiting for them on the porch. He got up as they approached, and followed the car to its place beside the chimney. He was as angry as ever, but he had forgotten about it momentarily. He was anxious to know if they had found Tom.
“Did you see Tom?” he asked Bessie. “What was he doing? Did he send me some money?”
Ada came out to listen. The grandmother took her accustomed position behind a chinaberry tree, looking and listening. Ellie May came closer.
“Tom ain’t at all like he used to be when I knowed him better,” Bessie said, shaking her head. “I