way out.
A car passed going in the other direction. A man was behind the wheel, and he waved with a little flip of the hand, and Cooper took one of her hands off the steering wheel and stuck it out the window and waved back. Then she saw the man’s eyes go wide as the car went by. He stared at her and said something to himself.
“Uh-oh,” Jesse said.
“What?”
Jesse was looking in the rearview mirror. “He turned around.”
After a moment, they heard a honk behind them.
“What’s the matter?”
“Just keep going. Nice and easy.”
Several more cars passed, and some of them turned around, too. After a while, Jesse said, “We’ve got a little procession going here.” She liked that word, procession . It sounded like the Easter pageant at church. Jesse waved his arm out the window, motioning them to stay back, and she supposed they did, but she couldn’t see the rearview mirror, andshe didn’t want to turn and look back for fear she might fall off the sack of sunflower seed, which jiggled and rattled under her every time she shifted her weight.
They were in town now. “We’re gonna make a right-hand turn here,” Jesse said.
They were at the courthouse, where Cleve sometimes brought her when he came to walk the halls and shake hands and talk to the fellows about the weather and crops and voting and so forth. Next to the courthouse was the squat yellow Sheriff’s Office, where Cleve sometimes got into a pinochle game with Joe Banks, the sheriff, while Cooper sat in a big chair in Joe’s office and drank an RC Cola from a tall bottle and listened to Joe’s deputies talking to each other on the radio.
Two deputies were there now, leaning against the side of a patrol car in the parking lot and talking. One of them glanced at Cooper’s car as it pulled into the lot, followed by all the others. Then he raised himself up and pointed and started shouting something. And then all of a sudden they were stopped and the deputies and the people from the cars behind them were running, surrounding the car, all yelling at once.
“What’s the matter?” Cooper asked Jesse.
“They’re just amazed, that’s all,” he said calmly.
She sat in Sheriff Banks’s big chair, cradling Ginger in her lap, while someone sent for Mickey. Jesse sat in a chair across the room with his hands folded across his chest and his legs splayed in front, staring at his feet. Every once in a while, Sheriff Banks came in and said something like, “Boy, that was the dumbest damn-fool thing I’ve ever seen a person do. What on earth were you thinking ?” Jesse would look up at him without changing a muscle in his face, and Sheriff Banks would throw up his hands and walk out.
They heard Mickey before they saw her, raging down the hallway, voice rattling the air. She burst into the room with Sheriff Banks right behind her, raising her pocketbook as she headed toward Jesse and belting him right on the side of the head. He fell out of the chair onto the floor and stayed there a few moments, crumpled in a heap with his knees drawn up to his chest and his hands covering his head.
“Get up!”
He flinched, but that was all. Mickey raised her pocketbook again. “Leave him alone!” Cooper screamed. “It wadn’t him driving the car, it was me!”
“Shut up!” Mickey commanded.
Cooper started sobbing.
“You want me to take her down the hall?” Sheriff Banks asked.
“No. I want her to stay right here. Give her your handkerchief.” To Jesse again, her voice a little lower now but flat and deadly: “Get up.”
He pulled himself up from the floor and into the chair, bent at the waist while Mickey towered over him, glaring down at the back of his head.
“Do you realize …?” Then a disgusted shake of her head. “Of course you don’t. You don’t realize a goddamn thing. Your father trying to run a campaign, everybody picking apart every little thing he does and says, scrambling around trying to find some dirt … And you
A car passed going in the other direction. A man was behind the wheel, and he waved with a little flip of the hand, and Cooper took one of her hands off the steering wheel and stuck it out the window and waved back. Then she saw the man’s eyes go wide as the car went by. He stared at her and said something to himself.
“Uh-oh,” Jesse said.
“What?”
Jesse was looking in the rearview mirror. “He turned around.”
After a moment, they heard a honk behind them.
“What’s the matter?”
“Just keep going. Nice and easy.”
Several more cars passed, and some of them turned around, too. After a while, Jesse said, “We’ve got a little procession going here.” She liked that word, procession . It sounded like the Easter pageant at church. Jesse waved his arm out the window, motioning them to stay back, and she supposed they did, but she couldn’t see the rearview mirror, andshe didn’t want to turn and look back for fear she might fall off the sack of sunflower seed, which jiggled and rattled under her every time she shifted her weight.
They were in town now. “We’re gonna make a right-hand turn here,” Jesse said.
They were at the courthouse, where Cleve sometimes brought her when he came to walk the halls and shake hands and talk to the fellows about the weather and crops and voting and so forth. Next to the courthouse was the squat yellow Sheriff’s Office, where Cleve sometimes got into a pinochle game with Joe Banks, the sheriff, while Cooper sat in a big chair in Joe’s office and drank an RC Cola from a tall bottle and listened to Joe’s deputies talking to each other on the radio.
Two deputies were there now, leaning against the side of a patrol car in the parking lot and talking. One of them glanced at Cooper’s car as it pulled into the lot, followed by all the others. Then he raised himself up and pointed and started shouting something. And then all of a sudden they were stopped and the deputies and the people from the cars behind them were running, surrounding the car, all yelling at once.
“What’s the matter?” Cooper asked Jesse.
“They’re just amazed, that’s all,” he said calmly.
She sat in Sheriff Banks’s big chair, cradling Ginger in her lap, while someone sent for Mickey. Jesse sat in a chair across the room with his hands folded across his chest and his legs splayed in front, staring at his feet. Every once in a while, Sheriff Banks came in and said something like, “Boy, that was the dumbest damn-fool thing I’ve ever seen a person do. What on earth were you thinking ?” Jesse would look up at him without changing a muscle in his face, and Sheriff Banks would throw up his hands and walk out.
They heard Mickey before they saw her, raging down the hallway, voice rattling the air. She burst into the room with Sheriff Banks right behind her, raising her pocketbook as she headed toward Jesse and belting him right on the side of the head. He fell out of the chair onto the floor and stayed there a few moments, crumpled in a heap with his knees drawn up to his chest and his hands covering his head.
“Get up!”
He flinched, but that was all. Mickey raised her pocketbook again. “Leave him alone!” Cooper screamed. “It wadn’t him driving the car, it was me!”
“Shut up!” Mickey commanded.
Cooper started sobbing.
“You want me to take her down the hall?” Sheriff Banks asked.
“No. I want her to stay right here. Give her your handkerchief.” To Jesse again, her voice a little lower now but flat and deadly: “Get up.”
He pulled himself up from the floor and into the chair, bent at the waist while Mickey towered over him, glaring down at the back of his head.
“Do you realize …?” Then a disgusted shake of her head. “Of course you don’t. You don’t realize a goddamn thing. Your father trying to run a campaign, everybody picking apart every little thing he does and says, scrambling around trying to find some dirt … And you
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