was?”
“Tru?” I said grudgingly.
“He’s devoted to Flo, and because she loves Gertie, he’s devoted to her as well. And don’t let Gertie fool you. She loves Tru.”
“They’ve got a funny way of showing it, the kind of talk they throw at each other.”
“You ever eat a walnut? Crack that hard shell and there’s sweet, soft meat inside.”
Flo called out gently, “Buck, would you play us a tune or two on your harmonica?”
“Don’t feel like playing,” I said.
“Then a story,” Emmy insisted.
“A story, Buck,” Truman Waters said and lifted his beer as if in encouragement.
“A story?” I said. “Sure, I’ll give you a story.”
* * *
THERE WERE ONCE four Vagabonds.
“The fairy princess, the giant, the wizard, and the imp,” Emmy said brightly. “And they’re on an odyssey to kill the Black Witch.”
“Exactly,” I said.
They’d traveled long and hard, and although the Black Witch had sent many foes to battle them, they were still unharmed because together they were invincible. There was magic among them that made them strong, and they knew that nothing could stand against them, not even all the evil powers of the Black Witch.
Although they didn’t understand it, this was their weakness. Their absolute certainty of themselves.
But the Black Witch understood it, understood that sending an army against them was useless, and she understood that there was another way to destroy them.
I paused for effect, and the gathering on the deck of the shanty boat was silent, until Emmy cried in distress, “What way?”
She sent a little fly to whisper in their ears as they slept. What the fly whispered to the giant was this: You are strong and do not need the others. And to the wizard: You are smart and do not need the others. And to the fairy princess: You are magical and do not need the others. But when the fly tried to whisper in the imp’s ear, the imp slapped at it and crushed it dead.
The next morning, the giant rose and looked at his friends and thought, What do I need with the others? I’m strong enough on my own. And the wizard opened his eyes and thought: What do I need with the others? I’m smart enough on my own. And the fairy princess, who’d always been kind, awoke and thought: My magic is powerful. What do I need with the others?
The imp alone understood the dark plot the Black Witch had hatched. “Comrades,” he cried. “Don’t be fooled. The only way to stand against all the evil in this land is to stand together.”
But the whispering of the little fly had done its job, and the other Vagabonds were deaf to the pleas of the imp.
The giant said, “I’m going to kill the Black Witch myself. I don’t need your help.”
The wizard said, “I’m going to kill the Black Witch.”
The fairy princess said, “No, I will kill the Black Witch.”
The three boastful Vagabonds eyed one another with suspicion and then with anger. They began to fight among themselves, and in the end, they destroyed one another. Only the imp, who’d stood sadly by and watched and could do nothing to stop them, survived.
He knew he could never kill the Black Witch by himself. For the rest of his days, he wandered the land alone, cursing the Black Witch and mourning his fallen companions.
After a few moments of silence, in which could be heard only the crackle of the fire burning in the cut-down barrel, Truman Waters barked, “Well, hell, that’s not a very happy story.”
“Not all stories end happily,” I said.
My dour tale had the effect I’d hoped, putting a dark cloud over the celebration on the Sweet Sue. Gertie stood and said, “We should all get to bed. Dawn comes early and hungry folks along with it.”
We trooped back to Gertie’s place, and Albert and Mose and Emmy and I settled ourselves in the shed for the night. Albert lit a candle and we sat on our bunks.
“Okay, imp,” Albert said, “tell us everything about one-eyed Jack.”
I recounted our chance meeting in the post office and my talk with Jack in the park.
Mose signed, A bullet in his heart and he’s still alive?
“He was dead,” Albert said. “I could have sworn it.”
“Only looked dead. The bullet missed his heart by half an inch.”
“He didn’t hate us, Odie?” Emmy asked.
“In fact, he was thankful, swore we’d changed his life. But here’s the thing. If Jack, who wasn’t even looking for us, found us, the Black Witch and her toady husband