The Lions of Little Rock (20 page)

40

DYNAMITE

One evening in early May, I finished my homework and came into the kitchen to find my parents sitting at the table with a man I didn't recognize. He wore a suit and hat, and it wasn't until I saw his stamp that I realized he was a notary. And I remembered that Mother and Daddy, as teachers, were both state employees.

“Act 10?” I asked, once the man had left.

Mother nodded. Daddy's face was pinched and pale.

“Did you list them all?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Daddy.

“Even the Arkansas Council of Human Relations?”

“Of course. I'm a member.”

Daddy got up and left the room.

Mother and I looked at each other. “Will he lose his job?” I asked.

“I hope not,” said Mother. Then she went to the sink and started washing the dishes from dinner.

The next day was Tuesday, and I was meeting Liz at the rock crusher. She wasn't there when I arrived. I waited awhile, then put my satchel on the big rock and started to climb the oak tree. It wasn't as scary this time. If I concentrated and held on real tight, I could almost do it without counting. Almost. I was halfway up when I heard a voice call out, “Hey, Marlee!”

I was so surprised, I nearly fell out of the tree. I looked up.

There was Liz, looking down at me. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn't mean to startle you.”

“I didn't know you were there.”

“You climbed up without watching me this time.”

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

Liz grinned at me.

“You're in a good mood,” I said, pulling myself up to the branch she was sitting on.

“Yeah,” said Liz. “Curtis asked me to a baseball game this weekend. We had a great time. Shirley was there too and she just about fell off the bleachers when she saw I was there with a ninth-grader!”

“Wow,” I said. But the truth was, I was worried. If things were going so much better for Liz, how much longer would she need me?

“Bring anything to eat?” Liz asked.

“I've got some apples,” I said. “But I left my satchel on the rocks.”

“Never mind,” Liz said.

“No, I'll go get them.” I started to climb down. It was a long way. I was just jumping down from the lowest branch when I heard something, like someone biting into an apple.

“Hello, little mute girl.”

Red and JT were sitting on the stone table. My satchel was open, and they were eating my apples. I was glad I was on the ground, because I suddenly felt so weak, I didn't think I'd have been able to hold on to the branches.

“We followed you,” said JT.

I wasn't sure if they knew Liz was here or not. She was a long way up. I wasn't sure she could hear us, but I had to warn her not to come down.

“Why, JT and Red,” I said, as loud as I could without yelling. “What a surprise to see you here!”

“Where's your friend?” Red asked.

“I came here by myself.”

“Why were you up in the tree?” JT asked.

“I was looking at the view,” I said.

Red went over to the tree and looked up. My heart started beating furiously. But the branches were thick with spring growth. “Sure there's not anyone else up there?”

“I think I would have seen them if there were.”

I held my breath and willed Liz to be silent. I recited the times tables myself, until finally Red looked away from the tree and turned his piercing blue eyes on me.

“I heard you stopped doing my brother's homework,” said Red.

JT was eating my apple intently without looking up.

Suddenly, I wasn't just scared. I was angry too. “You going to beat me up, Red?” I asked. “You going to beat up a girl?”

Red didn't answer. “Anything in the bag?” he asked JT finally.

JT rummaged inside. “Two dollars.” He handed the money to his brother.

Something fell out of the tree.

We all turned and looked. An acorn. Then another one. And the sound of something—or someone—coming down the branches.

No. No, Liz. Stay in the tree. I have it under control. I don't care if they steal what's left of my birthday money.

“What was that?” Red asked.

I shrugged, my heart beating so hard, I was sure they could see it through my sweater.

JT and Red walked over to the tree and looked up.

“You see anything?” asked Red.

“Nothing,” said JT.

“I'm going to climb up and make sure.”

At that moment, two more acorns fell. Red grabbed a branch, about to swing himself up, when a squirrel jumped down, spooked, and jumped on Red's head. “Ahh!” Red screamed. “Get it off of me!” He fell to the ground.

JT was laughing too hard to do anything.

“It's just a squirrel,” I said. I went over and picked up my satchel. “I'm leaving. You two can stay and play with the rodents if you want.”

I turned and started walking, praying they would follow me. After a moment, they did.

“I know you're a race mixer,” said Red. “We'll catch you at it one of these days.”

I didn't say a word.

I guess it made him mad that I didn't respond, because he grabbed the satchel from my shoulder and tossed it into the forest.

It took reciting all twenty-five prime numbers under one hundred, but I didn't get angry. I didn't say a word. I just left the path and went to get my bag. It had fallen into a little ditch, full of weeds and tree roots and ferns. On the way back to the path, I tripped on a rock and fell down. “Ow!”

JT came over to me. “You all right, Marlee?”

“Why do you care?” I asked.

But he held out his hand to help me up, and I took it.

That's when we realized it wasn't a rock I had tripped over. It was a box. An old box. Labeled
DYNAMITE
.

“Wow,” said JT. “Red, come look at this!”

Red crashed through the underbrush, his boots much better suited for tramping through the weeds than my saddle shoes.

“Dynamite!” he breathed. “Holy moly, JT, your girl's good luck after all.” Red reached to take the lid off the box.

“Don't touch it!” I screamed. “Do you want to kill all of us?”

“Don't you know nothing? Dynamite's stable. It won't go off unless there's a charge of some sort. Besides, you tripped over it. If anyone was likely to kill us, it was you.”

I stood there and watched as he pulled the lid off. There was a whole layer of dynamite inside, nine or ten sticks. He whistled. “Must have been here since this place was a working quarry. Tonight, we'll have some fun for sure.”

“What are you saying?”

“I'm saying,” said Red, “we'll find your little friend and show her whole family what we think of niggers who try to pass.”

“Red!” said JT.

“Daddy's right,” said Red. “You are a little coward.”

JT said nothing.

“Give me your bag,” said Red.

I didn't move.

“I said, give me your bag.”

I just stared at him.

Red came over and grabbed it off my shoulder.

“What are you doing?” I yelled.

“We,” said Red, “are taking this dynamite home.” He started placing the sticks of dynamite in my satchel. “JT!” he barked. “You gonna help me or not?”

JT glanced at me, then at his brother. He started placing the dynamite in the bag.

I turned and walked off. Slowly at first. I figured, if I ran, it'd be tempting them to follow, like dogs after a fox. Also, my knee hurt, and my tights were ripped. I'd have to tell Mother I'd lost my school satchel, and we'd have to buy a new one. I didn't dare go back to find out if Liz was still in the tree. Hopefully, she'd snuck down and had already made it out another way.

I stumbled home, unsure what to do. I'd have to tell my father about the dynamite. I'd have to warn Liz. We'd thought we were safe at the rock crusher because it was so isolated, but clearly we were wrong.

When I got home, Betty Jean was waiting for me in the kitchen. She looked me over, from the twigs in my hair, to my ripped skirt, to my bloody knee. Finally she waved a piece of paper in the air. “I have a message for you,” she said, then handed me the paper. “From your friend Lisa
.
”

I took the paper and read it:
I'm home and I'm fine. Call
me.

“Thank you, Betty Jean.” That was one thing off my chest. Liz was okay. I'd give her a quick call and jump in the shower and . . . Then I noticed Betty Jean was still looking at me, her arms crossed, a frown on her face, and I started to think I wasn't going to get that shower. “I don't think I've ever met your friend
Lisa,
have I?”

“No,” I said quietly. “I don't think so.”

“Funny thing is,” said Betty Jean, “her voice sounded awful familiar. I couldn't figure out who it reminded me of at first. But then it came to me. Elizabeth Fullerton. She's in youth group with Curtis. Nice girl. Pretty. Sometimes goes by the name of Liz.”

Oh, no. She knew.

There was a glass of iced tea and a piece of pecan pie on the kitchen table.

“Now, sit down, Marlee, and start talking.”

41

CONSEQUENCES

I had to tell the whole story three times. Once to Betty Jean. She made me call Mother and Daddy when I was done, and after they rushed home, I had to tell them everything again. Then Daddy called the police.

Sergeant Pike was an older man with silver hair and beard, and he shook my father's hand like they knew each other. He had kind eyes like a grandfather's and listened to my whole story without an expression on his face.

“Well, young lady,” he said when I was done, “you have gotten yourself into a great deal of trouble.” He sighed. “I'll pay the Daltons a visit. But if they don't want to let me search their house, there's not a lot I can do.”

He turned to Betty Jean. “Has the colored girl's family been informed?”

Betty Jean nodded. She'd made a bunch of calls while we were waiting for Sergeant Pike to arrive.

“Good. I'll ask my officers to increase patrols in that neighborhood. Can you give me the address?”

Betty Jean nodded again. “My husband is going to go over and sit up with them tonight.”

It was the policeman's turn to nod. “That's probably a good idea.”

“But Red doesn't know where Liz lives,” I said. “Or what she looks like. He's just blowing off a lot of hot air. Isn't he?”

No one in the room answered. And I realized it wouldn't be that hard if he really wanted to find out. Even though I was at home, with my parents and a police officer, I suddenly felt scared. I couldn't go to the rock crusher anymore. I couldn't meet Liz anywhere.

The policeman finally left, but dinner was worse than the telling had been. I could barely choke down a piece of pot roast. I had to know what they were going to do to me. Anything would be better than not knowing my punishment.

“I've called Granny,” Daddy said finally. “We'll drive you to Pine Bluff tonight.”

“What?” I asked.

“You're going to stay with Judy and your grandmother.”

“No!”

“Marlee, I warned you to stay away from Liz. You should have listened. For her sake, if not your own.”

“It's not my fault about the dynamite!”

“No,” said Daddy. “It's your fault Red is targeting Liz. If you'd left her alone like I asked, he would have forgotten all about her by now.”

The worse part was, maybe he was right.

“Have you not been paying attention to anything going on in Little Rock?” Daddy continued. “The FBI came to David's graduation because there were so many threats made against Ernest Green. The FBI!”

“I know it's serious,” I said. “But—”

There was a knock at the door.

“I'll get it,” said Mother.

Daddy and I stood frozen. Why hadn't Mother said anything? Did she want me to go? A minute later, Mother returned with Miss Winthrop in tow. Her face was flushed and red, as if she had been running. “I've been calling all afternoon!” she exclaimed. “The line was always busy.”

“Miss Winthrop,” Daddy started, “we've had a stressful day and I think—”

“Oh, so you've heard the news?” Miss Winthrop asked.

“What news?” asked Daddy.

“Mrs. Brewer asked me to tell you personally because . . .” She paused. A long dramatic pause. “You've been fired.”

“What?”

“The school board has fired a whole bunch of teachers! Forty-four people in all. Including you.”

No one said a word.

“Actually, it was half the school board, and you weren't really fired, but your contract wasn't renewed for next year.”

“Sit down,” said Mother, “and start from the beginning.”

Miss Winthrop drank half a pitcher of tea and ate a sandwich as she filled us in. The school board had been having a normal meeting. They were supposed to rehire all the teachers for the upcoming year. But when it became clear that the board president was going to go through the list one by one and try to fire anyone he thought was supportive of integration, Lamb, Tucker and Matson walked out of the meeting.

“Why'd they do that?” I asked.

“They'd been told by their lawyer that without them there, there would be no quorum and all the teachers would be automatically rehired. But then, after lunch, those still there, McKinley, Rowland and Laster, declared themselves a quorum and started firing thirty-four teachers, seven principals and three secretaries. Including Mr. Shelton from Horace Mann and Vice Principal Powell from Central and Principal Wood from Forest Park Elementary and—”

“And me,” said Daddy quietly.

“And you,” Miss Winthrop agreed.

“Is that legal?” asked Mother.

“I don't think so,” said Miss Winthrop. “But they did it, and I don't know who is going to stop them. Before I left, I stood up and asked, ‘Why are they being let go?' I knew the answer, of course. Every single person on it is a supporter of integration. But I wanted to make them say it. McKinley just cut me off and said there was no time for discussion.”

Miss Winthrop wiped her mouth. “Thanks for the meal. I hadn't eaten all day. The Forest Park PTA is meeting tonight at seven to discuss the firings. I hope you'll all be there. Now if you'll excuse me . . .”

Mother walked her to the door.

I sat by Daddy at the table. He looked completely stricken. I'd never seen him so defeated.

“I'm sorry, Daddy.”

He shook his head. “What are we going to do?”

“We,” said Mother firmly, walking back into the kitchen, “are going to that meeting. I was president of the Forest Park PTA, and I have a few things I want to say.”

I didn't usually see Mother like this, confident and in charge. It was nice. “What about Pine Bluff?” I asked.

“Pine Bluff,” said Mother, “is going to have to wait.”