I said you must leave town he looked at me
did she send you to me
I say you must go not my father not anybody I say it
listen save this for a while I want to know if shes all right have they been bothering her up there
thats something you dont need to trouble yourself about
then I heard myself saying Illgive you untilsundown to leave town
he broke a piece of bark and dropped it into the water then he laid the bark on the rail and rolled a cigarette with those two swift motions spun the match over the rail
what willyou do if I dont leave
Illkillyou dont think that just because I look like a kid to you the smoke flowed in two jets fromhis nostrils across his face how old are you
I began to shake my hands were on the railI thought if I hid themhed know why Illgive you untiltonight
listen buddy whats your name Benjys the naturalisnt he you are Quentin
my mouth said it I didnt say it at all Illgive you tillsundown
Quentin
he raked the cigarette ash carefully off against the rail he did it slowly and carefully like sharpening a pencilmy hands had quit shaking
listen no good taking it so hard its not your fault kid it would have been some other fellow did you ever have a sister did you
no but theyre allbitches
I hit him my open hand beat the impulse to shut it to his face his hand moved as fast as mine the cigarette went over the rail I swung with the other hand he caught it too before the cigarette reached the water he held both my wrists in the same hand his other hand flicked to his armpit under his coat behind himthe sun slanted and a bird singing somewhere beyond the sun we looked at one another while the bird singing he turned my hands loose
look here
he took the bark fromthe rail and dropped it into the water it bobbed up the current took it floated away his hand lay on the railholding the pistolloosely we waited
you cant hit it now no
it floated on it was quite still in the woods I heard the bird again and the water afterward the pistol came up he didnt aimat all the bark disappeared then pieces of it floated up spreading he hit two more of thempieces of bark no bigger than silver dollars
thats enough I guess
he swung the cylinder out and blew into the barrel a thin wisp of smoke dissolved he reloaded the three chambers shut the cylinder he handed it to me butt first
what for I wont try to beat that
youllneed it fromwhat you said Imgiving you this one because youve seen what itlldo to hellwith your gun
I hit himI was still trying to hit himlong after he was holding my wrists but I still tried then it was like I was looking at him through a piece of coloured glass I could hear my blood and then I could see the sky again and branches against it and the sun slanting through them and he holding me on my feet
did you hit me I couldnt hear what
yes how do you feel allright let go
he let me go I leaned against the rail do you feelallright
let me alone Imallright
can you make it home allright go on let me alone
youd better not try to walk take my horse no you go on
you can hang the reins on the pommeland turn himloose he’llgo back to the stable let me alone you go on and let me alone
I leaned on the rail looking at the water I heard him untie the horse and ride off and after a while I couldnt hear anything but the water and then the bird again I left the bridge and sat down with my back against a tree and leaned my head against the tree and shut my eyes a patch of sun came through and fell across my eyes and I moved a little further around the tree I heard the bird again and the water and then everything sort of rolled away and I didnt feel anything at all I felt almost good after all those days and the nights with honeysuckle coming up out of the darkness into my roomwhere I was trying to sleep even when after a while I knew that he hadnt hit me that he had lied about that for her sake too and that I had just passed out like a girl but even that didnt matter anymore and I sat there against the tree with little flecks of sunlight brushing across my face like yellow leaves on a twig listening to the water and not thinking about anything at all even when I heard the horse coming fast I sat there with my eyes closed and heard its feet bunch scuttering the hissing sand and feet running and her hard running hands
foolfoolare you hurt
I opened my eyes her hands running on my face
I didnt know which way until I heard the pistol I didnt know where I didnt think he and you running off slipping I didnt think he would have
she held my face between her hands bumping my head against the tree stop stop that
I caught her wrists quit that quit it
I knew he wouldnt I knew he wouldnt
she tried to bump my head against the tree
I told himnever to speak to me again I told him she tried to break her wrists free
let me go
stop it I’mstronger than you stop it now
let me go Ive got to catch himand ask his let me go Quentin please let me go let me go allat once she quit her wrists went lax
yes I can tellhimI can make himbelieve anytime I can make him Caddy
she hadnt hitched Prince he was liable to strike out for home if the notion took him anytime he willbelieve me
do you love himCaddy do I what
she looked at me then everything emptied out of her eyes and they looked like the eyes in the statues blank and unseeing and serene
put your hand against my throat
she took my hand and held it flat against her throat now say his name
Dalton Ames
I felt the first surge of blood there it surged in strong accelerating beats say it again
her face looked off into the trees where the sun slanted and where the bird say it again
Dalton Ames
her blood surged steadily beating and beating against my hand
It kept on running for a long time, but my face felt cold and sort of dead, and my eye, and the cut place on my finger was smarting again. I could hear Shreve working the pump, then he came back with the basin and a round blob of twilight wobbling in it, with a yellow edge like a fading balloon, then my reflection. I tried to see my face in it.
“Has it stopped?” Shreve said. “Give me the rag.” He tried to take it frommy hand.
“Look out,” I said, “I can do it. Yes, it’s about stopped now.” I dipped the rag again, breaking the balloon. The rag stained the water. “I wish I had a clean one.”
“You need a piece of beefsteak for that eye,” Shreve said. “Damn if you wont have a shiner tomorrow. The son of a bitch,” he said.
“Did I hurt him any?” I wrung out the handkerchief and tried to clean the blood off of my vest.
“You cant get that off,” Shreve said. “You’ll have to send it to the cleaner’s. Come on, hold it on your eye, why dont you.”
“I can get some of it off,” I said. But I wasn’t doing much good. “What sort of shape is my collar in?”
“I dont know,” Shreve said. “Hold it against your eye. Here.” “Look out,” I said. “I can do it. Did I hurt himany?”
“You may have hit him. I may have looked away just then or blinked or something. He boxed the hell out of you. He boxed you all over the place. What did you want to fight himwith your fists for? You goddamn fool. How do you feel?”
“I feelfine,” I said. “I wonder if I can get something to clean my vest.” “Oh, forget your damn clothes. Does your eye hurt?”
“I feel fine,” I said. Everything was sort of violet and still, the sky green paling into gold beyond the gable of the house and a plume of smoke rising fromthe chimney without any wind. I heard the pump again. A man was filling a pail, watching us across his pumping shoulder. A woman crossed the door, but she didnt look out. I could hear a cow lowing somewhere.
“Come on,” Shreve said, “Let your clothes alone and put that rag on your eye. I’ll send your suit out first thing tomorrow.”
“Allright. I’msorry I didn’t bleed on hima little, at least.”
“Son of a bitch,” Shreve said. Spoade came out of the house, talking to the woman I reckon, and crossed the yard. He looked at me with his cold, quizzicaleyes.
“Well, bud,” he said, looking at me, “I’llbe damned if you dont go to a lot of trouble to have your fun. Kidnapping, then fighting. What do you do on your holidays? burn houses?”
“I’mallright,” I said. “What did Mrs Bland say?”
“She’s giving Gerald hell for bloodying you up. She’ll give you hell for letting him, when she sees you. She dont object to the fighting, it’s the blood that annoys her. I think you lost caste with her a little by not holding your blood better. How do
