The diamond bikini - By Charles Williams Page 0,42

I’m real proud to see you boys again.”

Booger and Otis walked on around the car real slow, not saying a word. When they got in the road in front of it they just stood there with their thumbs hooked in the gun-belts. They looked at each other in a way that made you think they was going to bust out laughing any minute, but then their faces got real serious.

“Why—uh—you having a little trouble, Mr. Noonan?” Booger asked, real anxious. He didn’t mean Pop, though, because he was looking at Uncle Sagamore.

But before Uncle Sagamore could say anything, Otis says, “Why, Booger, I do believe Mr. Noonan’s car has broke down.”

Booger looked amazed. “Well, is that a fact?” he asked. “Now, ain’t that a embarrassing thing to happen? I mean, right at a time like this.”

Otis nodded his head real solemn. “It sure is,” he says. “But ain’t he the lucky one we come along so we could help him?”

Uncle Sagamore pulled his right foot out of his shoe and used his big toenail to scratch his other leg with. He looked down at the ground. “Shucks, boys,” he says. “I don’t reckon it’s nothin’ very serious. Likely me an’ Sam can get her goin’, an’ we wouldn’t want to put you boys out none, you bein’ busy an’ all. I think you can get around us all right, by just pullin’ out of the ruts.”

Booger and Otis stared at each other, like they was horrified just even thinking about it. “Go off and leave you broke down like this? Why, Mr. Noonan, we wouldn’t dream of it,” Otis says. “Good heaven, Booger, how many times you reckon the sheriff has told us? Boys, he always says, any time you can be of any help to Mr. Noonan, you just pitch right in there and give him a hand. Mr. Noonan’s a taxpayer, Otis he tells me. I know for a fact his taxes is paid in full right up through 1937.”

Uncle Sagamore took out his big red handkerchief and mopped his face, and then rubbed it around on top of the bald spot on his head. “Well sir, you boys make me feel real proud, talkin’ like that, an’ it’s downright neighborly of you to offer to help, but me an’ Sam ain’t in no hurry an’ we’d be just mortified at causin’ you any sort of trouble.”

Booger held up a hand. “Not another word, Mr. Noonan. Not—another—word. Pu-leese! What kind of men you think is in the sheriff’s department, if they can’t help out a fine up-standin’ citizen like you when they see him in trouble?” He stopped then and looked at Otis. “I say there, Mr. Sears, you know a little something about motors, don’t you?”

“Why, yes, Mr. Ledbetter, a little,” Otis says.

Booger nodded. “Well, that’s fine. Now. What would you says might be causin’ the trouble?”

Otis put his chin in the palm of his right hand and sort of frowned. “Hmmmm,” he says. “Now this here is just a guess, mind you, but offhand I’d say they’s a pretty good chance it’s a plugged gas line.”

“Well, is that a fact?” Booger asked. “Now. Where would you start to look for a thing like that?” Otis scratched his head and looked real thoughtful. “Well, there’s a number of places she might be clogged up. We might look in the trunk, or under the back seat, or in the upholstery, or even underneath, along the frame.”

“But wait a minute,” Booger interrupts him. “Wouldn’t you need a search warrant to go poking around in somebody’s car like that?”

“Why, shucks, no, I wouldn’t think so,” Otis says. “Not to look for a clogged gas line.” He turned to Uncle Sagamore. “Ain’t that your opinion, Mr. Noonan?”

Uncle Sagamore mopped his face again. “Why-uh-” He says.

“Why, of course not,” Otis says. “It’d just be silly. A neighborly gesture like that?”

So they walked along on each side of the car. Booger come to the back door I had left open when I got out. He stuck his head in and hefted the bag of clothes.

“Well, well,” he says. “What have we got here? Looks like a whole passel of laundry. And, by golly, here’s a cardboard box under it, where you wouldn’t hardly notice it if you didn’t happen to be looking for a clogged gas line. Box just settin’ there, all covered up.”

Otis came around to that side too. They looked at each other, real puzzled.

“What do you reckon is in there?”