The note was written in a scrawl
Chapter
17) The Deck of Life
Contents Previous
Next chapter
River Boy escaped out the window with the pen and paper from Grandpa's desk
because of prison, because that's where Edwin Jones found the Deck of
Life.
It was inside an old book.
Called the Book of Serious.
Nobody knew why it would have that name because it was a humorous book
meant to be a distraction.
It sat on the highest shelf, next to the Big Bible.
The prison had more than one Bible.
But the Big Bible had a brown cover not the black.
And it wasn't really a Bible, the men called it a Bible because it was
an explanation of the big stuff.
Lot of guys wanted to know why they were in prison. So the Big Bible
caught their eye but few men noticed the Book of Serious sitting next
to it, except generally remembering it was a funny story about
something that Edwin didn't recall.
He read all the books.
One by one between the beatings and memorizing what he could.
Prison for him was an awful stay.
He never spoke about it afterwards.
Edwin remembered the Book of Serious only because it contained the Deck
of Life.
Those magic words struck him as if that was in fact what the book said.
You know how the memory of something distorts what's actually there.
That wasn't important.
Edwin found the words quite remarkable.
The Deck of Life had nine cards
Love poker heart blood forgive abandon revenge
The truth card was lost
The last card was unknown maybe it was the future
The book said the man who reads this cannot ignore his fate.
He must choose.
Edwin understood.
And his captivity caused him to clarify the purpose of his choice.
His choice was to free himself and he did what needed to be done.
They freed him two years later, but he was powerless to fulfill his
destiny.
His promise to the Deck of Life lay unfulfilled, a fate that carried
it's own prison that he was too old to escape.
Until he met River Boy.
Grandpa Edwin Jones' heart changed after prison, and when he met
River Boy he felt peace for the first time.
River Boy gave that magic to people. It's how they felt around him.
Grandpa told him, you saved me.
It was the nicest thing River Boy ever heard in his life. He loved
watching that old man leave the shack in the morning, trudging down the
hill to the river.
Edwin Jones knew the currents and the habits of fish, same as he knew
the hatred of prison guards.
Every step in the soft mud, every cast of the line was one more
forgiveness he gave himself for 30 years of misery laid bare on his
soul
from prison. Slowly departing the past with each moment, Grandpa was
drawn to the river.
But he had chosen another destiny with his decision to leave prison.
The Deck of Life.
And with River Boy's help, the things he saw with his eyes could be
fulfilled.
Yes, Edwin Jones wrote the notes in brown ink, and River Boy delivered
them.
Grandpa never read them and didn't understand what he wrote, but he did
what he agreed to do.
It was part of enduring his life that freed him from beatings. He
didn't have to keep standing no matter how hard they hit. He didn't
have to laugh and spit and use his massive hands to shake men apart. He
was free and owed his decision to the Deck of Life.
Only Edwin Jones knew the what the notes said. River Boy didn't question it. But as
he lay there hiding from the men who were breaking apart Grandpa's
shack, he knew it was time to fulfill his own destiny.
His Grandpa saved him, and he saved his Grandpa, but now they needed
help.
River Boy got to the shack ahead of the car only because Crackling
stopped in Blacktown to pick up Spade. And now Spade was outside
looking around. He was a clever animal, the best of predators
and worst of human lot, but he was used to town living and not moving
through a forest.
River Boy laid on a steep edge. A town person would climb the
easiest route to the top and avoid the steep slope.
River Boy had to get off the hill and find his Grandpa before he came
back to the shack, so the higher Spade climbed, the lower River Boy
crawled
until he was in the valley and concealed by full underbrush and deep
grass.
He waited along the river until Grandpa came by.
Together they hid in the trees, sharing the ham and cheese from Latchy, until after dark when they
heard the car leave and watched the lights bounce along the road and
around the hill.
They couldn't see if three men were in the car or just two.
Then they made their way down to the old hobo camp, and discovered Top
Hat and four other men. Those guys survived the murders in Blacktown. Heated discussions were underway.
Spade killed at least three in Blacktown and maybe others.
Crackling Green had his men out looking for Top Hat, and nobody was
sure how many or where they were.
River Boy was the fastest runner and could get out ahead of anybody who
saw him. He needed a ride to Abbeyville to see Commisioner Churchail.
Top Hat knew Molly Princess was pulling money off Churchail, but didn't
know he loved her, or why River Boy thought the
Commissioner
would put up a snap over 3 or 4 dead Negroes in Blacktown.
The other men sparked mad that River Boy wanted to talk to Churchail.
He the Klan ya fool. Why you talk to him?
River Boy couldn't tell them about
the notes they'd delivered to Churchail and Boy Johnson, so he didn't
explain.
One thing he did know, Churchail loved Molly, so he probably
already knew about the murders.
Grandpa
said, hey, Crackling live all the way over Crooks
Tail. He won't stay here. But the other guys, they gonna ambush us.
A man mumbled, well he your blood.
River Boy realized they all knew something he'd never heard.
Crackling is whose blood?
Your Grandpa's.
What?
Grandpa said, he's not mine and never was. I kill him same as any ya.
Top Hat didn't say anything, and the men backed down a bit.
River Boy settled his mind not to ask, and then said, give
me one more night.
They were all in a tough spot.
Three more men came in from across the railroad tracks. They had been scouting, but came up with nothing.
Grandpa said, that's cause they got an ambush set up. The other guys agreed, which locked them down for a while anyway.
It was chilly and damp that night being so close to the river. A fire
would've been nice, but they kept a dark camp and slept on wood
planks while taking turns at watch.
Contents
Top
Previous Next
Author Page