She said, “You know how this works, right? Like over to the commissary. Otis supplies the liquor.”
Del said, “Figures.”
She rolled her eyes and said, “Name, number where yer stayin’？”
He gave her the information, and she fixed the drinks, set them in front of him. She made some marks in a ledger, then ignored him and began moving jars and bottles around on the shelves. Del watched the movement of her backside under the snug material of her dress. Nothing. He sighed and made his way back to Nolan, almost spilling what he had when two men stumbled into him, jabbing at each other playfully, full of drink and good times. From across the room came a round of cussing.
“Dammit all, had me a full hand, now you tryin’ to gyp me. You got my money!”
“Hell if it is! You a cheatin’ sonofabitch and everybody knows it!”
There was a scuffle and the crash of a glass breaking. Two of the card players had jumped up and were leaning across the table, holding crude knives and jabbing at each other.
Another card player, an older man with gray hair sprouting from his scalp in a patchy manner and missing most of his teeth, said, “Y’all sit’cher asses down. Act like you got some sense, or you can leave this table. Me and Lanky don’t need y’all to play us a decent game. That right, Lanky?”
The fourth man, Lanky, said, “You right.”
The two men continued facing each other as if they would start fighting, and Del expected someone to get hurt. The older man stood up, knocking his chair over.
He pointed at them, the other hand in his pocket signaling he too had some sort of weapon. “I ain’t messin’。 I kin clear it up right now.”
The other men eased back down in their seats, pocketing their weapons, but neither lowered their eyes. Nolan watched the men carefully as well, but it appeared the moment was over, and he turned back to Del.
He said, “Ain’t easy workin’ in a place like this, so they get liquored up.” He took a few more sips and leaned back in his chair. “I ain’t said my piece yet, and I best get on with it so we can get out of here before it gets rough.”
Del detected a change in the tone of his voice, distant, less friendly.
Nolan said, “This here’s the first and last time you and me do this. I can’t be gettin’ into no trouble. I know how he is. We got our place in this camp, and it’s best we act like we know it. It don’t include minglin’ with white folk. He see me with you, doin’ whatever, even talkin’， he gone think I went and got uppity, and he gone teach me a lesson. Put me in my place. That’s just the way of it with him.”
Nothing Nolan said surprised Del at this point. Sure, Nolan had to look out for himself, given what it might mean to any one of them, a death sentence essentially, and he couldn’t blame him.
Del said, “Can’t say as I disagree. It gives him the upper hand, though. If we stuck together, all of us, things might change. Ain’t but the one box. He can’t put all of us in it.”
Nolan gave a derogatory grunt.
He said, “No. But whoever gets put in there, could be you, could be me. I ain’t ready to die. You ready to die? It sounds to me like you meant to be here a bit longer.”
Del said, “No, I ain’t ready to die.”
He thought the grain bin had been horrific, but it was quicker than a slow death in the box.
Nolan said, “You had you a few hours in it, but when it comes to what goes on round here, you got off easy. Won’t be the same next time, for you or me, if he gets any reason to put one of us in it.”
The next few minutes passed in silence, with Nolan appearing broody. Del, wiped out from the hours confined, was hungry, and the liquor was starting to make the headache he’d had earlier come back.
He said, “I hear you, Nolan. I ’preciate the time, and you clearing things up. I also ’preciate you listening to my other story. Good to know I ain’t crazy.”
Del stood, and Nolan gave him a bleary stare along with a final warning.
“Hmm. We all got a little crazy in us, main thing is, watch your back.”
Del nodded, and crossed the small space, while suspicious eyes tracked him until he was out the door. The music coming from those on the porch didn’t stop as he passed by them, although he was aware they watched him leaving too. On the path that wound its way around the little shanties, he was alone, most everyone gone inside for the day, except those at the juke joint. Wood smoke drifted from the cook fires, and the smell of suppers being cooked throughout the camp made Del hurry along, ready to eat and get to bed.