"Don't know. He said they gonna pass the bucket ever Sunday until the trial."
"That's mighty nice. What'd he say 'bout me?"
"Just talked about your case and all. Said how expensive it would be, and how we'd need help from the churches. Talked about Christian givin' and all that. Said you're a real hero to your people."
What a pleasant surprise, thought Carl Lee. He expected some help from his church, but nothing financial. "How many churches?"
"All the black ones in the county."
"When do we get the money?"
"He didn't say."
After he got his cut, thought Carl Lee. "Boys, y'all take your sister and go play over there by the fence. Me and Momma needs to talk. Be careful now."
Carl Lee, Jr., and Robert took their little sister by the hand and did exactly as ordered.
"What does the doctor say?" Carl Lee asked as he watched the children walk away.
"She's doin' good. Her jaw's healin' good. He might take the wire off in a month. She can't run and jump and play yet, but it won't be long. Still some soreness."
"What about the, uh, the other?"
Gwen shook her head and covered her eyes. She began crying and wiping her eyes. She spoke and her voice cracked. "She'll never have kids. He told me . . ." She stopped, wiped her face and tried to continue. She began sobbing loudly, and buried her face in a paper towel.
Carl Lee felt sick. He placed his forehead in his palms. He ground his teeth together as his eyes watered. "What'd he say?"
Gwen raised her head and spoke haltingly, righting back tears. "He told me Tuesday there was too much dam-
age . . ." She wiped her wet face with her fingers. "But he wants to send her to a specialist in Memphis."
"He's not sure?"
She shook her head. "Ninety percent sure. But he thinks she should be examined by another doctor in Memphis. We're supposed to take her in a month."
Gwen tore off another paper towel and wiped her face. She handed one to her husband, who quickly dabbed his eyes.
Next to the fence, Tonya sat listening to her brothers argue about which one would be a deputy and which one would be in jail. She watched her parents talk and shake their heads and cry. She knew something was wrong with her. She rubbed her eyes and started crying too.
"The nightmares are gettin' worse," Gwen said, interrupting the silence. "I have to sleep with her ever night. She dreams about men comin' to get her, men hidin' in the closets, chasin' her through the woods. She wakes up screamin' and sweatin'. The doctor says she needs to see a psychiatrist. Says it'll get worse before it gets better."
Chapter Fourteen
"How much will it cost?"
"I don't know. I haven't called yet."
"Better call. Where is this psychiatrist?"
"Memphis."
"Figures."
"How are the boys treatin' her?"
"They've been great. They treat her special. But the nightmares keep them scared. When she wakes up screamin' she wakes everybody. The boys run to her bed and try to help, but it scares them. Last night she wouldn't go back to sleep unless the boys slept on the floor next to her. We all laid there wide awake with the lights on."
"The boys'll be all right."
"They miss their daddy."
Carl Lee managed a forced smile. "It won't be much longer."
"You really think so?"
"I don't know what to think anymore. But I don't plan to spend the rest of my life in jail. I hired Jake back."
"When?"
"Yesterday. That Memphis lawyer never showed up, never even called. I fired him and hired Jake again."
"But you said Jake is too young."
"I was wrong. He is young, but he's good. Ask Lester."
"It's your trial."
Carl Lee walked slowly around the yard, never leaving the fence. He thought of the two boys, somewhere out there, dead and buried, their flesh rotting by now, their souls burning in hell. Before they died, they met his little girl, only briefly, and within two hours wrecked her little body and ruined her mind. So brutal was their attack that she could never have children; so violent the encounter that she now saw them hiding for her, waiting in closets. Could she ever forget about it, block it out, erase it from her mind so her life would be normal? Maybe a psychiatrist could do that. Would other children allow her to be normal?
She was just a little nigger, they probably thought. Somebody's little nigger kid. Illegitimate, of course, like