didn't let up, he could forget the cotton crop. The beans might make it, but he was worried about the cotton.
"Say, Joe Frank, I hear you got one of those jury summons for the trial next week."
"Yeah, afraid so. Who told you?"
"I don't know. I just heard it around." tf
"I didn't know it was public knowledge."
"Well, I guess I must've heard it in Clanton today. I had business at the courthouse. That's where I heard it. It's that nigger's trial, you know."
"That's what I figured."
"How do you feel about that nigger shootin' them boys like he did?"
"I don't blame him," inserted Lela.
"Yeah, but you can't take the law into your own hands," explained Joe Frank to his wife. "That's what the court system is for."
"I'll tell you what bothers me," said Tierce, "is this insanity crap. They're gonna say the nigger was crazy and try to get him off by insanity. Like that nut who shot Reagan. It's a crooked way to get off. Plus it's a lie. That nigger planned to kill them boys, and just sat there and waited on them. It was cold-blooded murder."
"What if it was your daughter, Will?" asked Lela.
"I'd let the courts handle it. When we catch a rapist around here, especially a nigger, we generally lock him up. Parchman's full of rapists who'll never get out. This ain't New York or California or some crazy place where criminals go free. We've got a good system, and old Judge Noose hands down tough sentences. You gotta let the courts handle it. Our system won't survive if we allow people, especially niggers, to take the law into their own hands. That's what really scares me. Suppose this nigger gets off, walks out of the courthouse a free man. Everbody in the country will know it, and the niggers will go crazy. Evertime somebody crosses a nigger, he'll just kill him, then say he was insane, and try to get off. That's what's dangerous about this trial."
"You gotta keep the niggers under control," agreed Joe Frank.
"You better believe it. And if Hailey gets off, none of us will be safe. Ever nigger in this county'll carry a gun and just look for trouble."
"I hadn't really thought about that," admitted Joe Frank.
"I hope you do the right thing, Joe Frank. I just hope they put you in that jury box. We need some people with some sense."
"Wonder why they picked me?"
"I heard they fixed up a hundred and fifty summonses. They're expectin' about a hundred to show up."
"What're my chances of gettin' picked?"
"One in a hundred," said Lela.
"I feel better then. I really ain't got time to serve, what with my farmin' and all."
"We sure need you on that jury," said Tierce.
The conversation drifted to local politics and the new supervisor and what a sorry job he was doing with the roads. Darkness meant bedtime for the Perrymans. Tierce said good night and drove home. He sat at his kitchen table with a cup of coffee and reviewed the jury list. His friend Rufus would be proud. Six names had been circled on Will's list, and he had talked to all six. He put an okay by each name. They would be good jurors, people Rufus could count on to keep law and order in Ford County. A couple had been noncommittal at first, but their good and trusted friend Will Tierce had explained justice to them and they were now ready to convict.
Rufus would be real proud. And he had promised that young Jason Tierce, a nephew, would never be tried on those dope charges.
Jake picked at the greasy pork chops and butterbeans, and watched Ellen across the table do the same thing. Lucien sat at the head of the table, ignored his food, fondled his drink, and flipped through the jury list offering comments on every name he recognized. He was drunker than normal. Most of the names he didn't recognize, but he commented on them anyway. Ellen was amused and winked repeatedly at her boss.
He dropped the list, and knocked his fork off the table.
"Sallie!" he yelled.
"Do you know how many ACLU members are in Ford County?" he asked Ellen.
"At least eighty percent of the population," she said.
"One. Me. I was the first in history and evidently the last. These people are fools around here, Row Ark. They don't appreciate civil liberties. They're a bunch of right-wing knee-jerk conservative Republican fanatics, like our friend Jake here."