Delta Blues Read online

  “Why don’t you go on outside and visit with your brother while we men talk about all this stuff you’re not interested in?” he continued. “Levon’ll tell you some stories about Washington, D.C. Now, gal, that’s a real city! Don’t you want to hear about Washington?”

  Faye Mae snatched the coin from his fingers and headed out the Dew Drop’s front door as Big Jim proceeded to mouth whip Daddy Ray.

  LEVON WAITED in the Dew Drop’s parking lot, polishing Big Jim’s black Caddie. It was the first time she’d seen him in weeks. He whistled “Big Legged Mama” in time to the white rag he pushed around the chrome.

  “If you got another rag, I’ll help you,” offered Faye Mae.

  Levon looked up with a grin. “Now, that’s the kind of welcome home I like. Come give your brother a hug.” He smelled of Turtle Wax and Big Jim’s cologne. Faye Mae wrinkled her nose as he stooped and wrapped his long arms around her.

  Levon had a different daddy than Faye Mae. His skin was so light he passed as white in some of the places where he drove Big Jim. When he couldn’t pass, he helped Big Jim with people like her and Granny. Faye Mae was smart enough to know, even if Levon wasn’t, that was one of the reasons Big Jim had hired him. That and his connections with Daddy Ray. And, like Daddy Ray, Big Jim never did anything for other people unless he got more out of it than they did. Still, Faye Mae knew enough to not burst Levon’s bubble with all these facts. What she really wanted was to find out why Big Jim and Daddy Ray were acting all weird about Mr. Banner and Lee from New Orleans.

  Levon stepped back and looked Faye Mae up and down. “My, you’re getting big, Little Bit. The boys’ll be fightin’ over you before long.”

  Faye Mae tried to act disinterested. Seemed every man she met these days felt compelled to say the same things. Thank heavens no one said those things in front of Granny, or she would never see life beyond the Dew Drop again.

  “Say, are the gentlemen from New Orleans relatives of Big Jim’s?” Faye Mae picked at lint on her cotton shorts, pretending like she could care less who the pair was.

  Levon’s response was to spin his head around, searching the Dew Drop’s yard like a scorched dog looking for water. Satisfied they were alone, Levon turned back to Faye Mae with an angry face the likes she’d never seen on her brother. “You don’t need to be asking nothing about them men from New Orleans. You forget who they are and where they’re from. You understand me?”

  Faye Mae solemnly nodded her agreement and smiled for Levon’s benefit. As always, the best way to deal with Levon was to turn the conversation back to him.

  “Say, would you like one of those cold beers Granny put out for Big Jim and them? There’s more in the Frigidaire than they’ll drink.”

  Leon pulled off his black chauffeur’s hat and touched the polishing rag to his brow.

  “You are a genius of a hostess, Faye Mae. Yes, I’d like one. The sun’s hot enough to burn the cotton in the fields. A cold bottle of beer would do me nicely.”

  Levon had been around Big Jim for so long he was beginning to sound and act like him. In the old days, Levon shared all his secrets with Faye Mae, but he’d worked for the senator since he reached legal driving age. He was still Levon, but he was different too. He was too young to be drinking, especially in a dry county where liquor and beer were illegal, but Faye Mae wasn’t going to remind him. Breaking little laws was just another perk of being Big Jim’s driver.

  “If you’ll play for me, I’ll sneak around to the kitchen and go in that way so I don’t disturb Big Jim, Daddy Ray and, uh, their guests,” Faye Mae said.

  “Shore I’ll play whatever you like.” Levon popped open the Caddie’s trunk to reveal the guitar Granny had given him years ago. He pulled the instrument out into the sunlight and lowered his voice for only Faye Mae’s ears. “Don’t be asking no more questions, you hear?”

  Big Jim brought guests to the Dew Drop all the time, but nobody had ever been so skittish about them before. “Sit down. Rest and cool off til I get back,” Faye Mae said. “You owe me two songs.”

  A few minutes later, Faye Mae was sneaking away from the Dew Drop’s bar, Levon’s two bottles of beer resting in the crook of one arm, when she realized Mr. Banner was speaking. Pausing, she strained to make out his words above the whir of the barroom’s old ceiling fan.

  “Nobody will ever figure this thing out. I can promise you that. That’s why it’s so important for us to muddy the waters. In a few weeks, it’ll all die down. Levon simply has to drive Lee around the Delta so he can get out of New Orleans for a while and apply for some jobs. It’s that simple. Nothing will happen to Levon as long as he drives and doesn’t ask questions.”

  Daddy Ray grunted, then mumbled something Faye Mae couldn’t decipher. Big Jim jumped in.

  “Ray, you just keep your head down. I’ll take care of Levon. He’s a good boy. Look, the people in New Orleans want what we want, just like Guy here says. We’ve got to do it for the good of the country. Folks don’t know it, but they need men like us to do the right thing here.”

  The blood pounded in Faye Mae’s ears as she strained to hear more, but the scraping of chair legs against the Dew Drop’s floor told her someone was getting up from the table. A trip to the men’s bathroom would mean someone was likely to see her. Careful not to creak the old floorboards, Faye Mae hurried out of the Dew Drop.

  Levon sat beneath Granny’s favorite pecan tree, using his polishing rag to wipe dust from his fancy black patent chauffeur shoes. To his right, the guitar sat in the open case. To his left sat Lee, who looked strained and edgy.

  Faye Mae handed each of the men a Dixie bottle. Levon took a long swig, closed his eyes and leaned back against the pecan tree. Lee sniffed the lip of his bottle and wiped it with his shirt before putting it to his lips.

  “That sure is refreshing in this heat. I do thank you for coming up with this idea.” Levon again used his best Big Jim imitation, showing off for Lee. Faye Mae wondered if Levon ever slipped into it in front of Big Jim.

  “Say, Little Bit, don’t you have a birthday coming up soon? What do you want your big brother to buy you with some of this mess of money he’s making from the senator?”

  Faye Mae had momentarily forgotten her obsession with her birthday wish in her desire to learn more about Mr. Banner. She shifted gears. “I want the same thing I wanted last year and the year before that, and the year before that … “

  “Little Bit, grow up! You know Daddy Ray isn’t gonna do that. Quit making him mad every year. Ask him for something appropriate for a young lady. Ask him for jewelry. That’s what you need to do.”

  Faye Mae stuck out her tongue at Levon, who reached as though to snatch it out of her mouth. Levon wasn’t going to be any more help with her birthday this year than last. She could see that, and she was tired of his actin’. It was time to change the subject. “Who is that Mr. Banner from New Orleans?”

  Levon sat up so suddenly a little of his beer sloshed out of the bottle. “Whoa! I warned you to mind your own business, little sister!”

  Faye Mae turned to Lee, who ignored her gaze. “What are you men up to? A few minutes ago, Daddy Ray almost whipped me when I asked about him being from New Orleans. Why does he make all of you so nervous?”

  Levon resettled his beer bottles, winked at Lee and chuckled. “Now. Now. There’s nothing wrong with, er, … Mr. Banner. I guess he and Big Jim are just doing political business for the first time. That sort of thing makes everybody a little jumpy. If you were around it like I am, you’d understand it more. Why, when Big Jim gets up in Washington—”

  Faye Mae didn’t care about Washington. “I understand Daddy Ray’s got no need to go all crazy when I asked Mr. Banner about New Orleans.”

  Lee’s dark eyes snapped at her as he poured out his beer, then stood to sling the bottle across the yard into Granny’s rose bushes.

  “You need to keep your little sister quiet, or other people will do it for you,” Lee warned before heading back for t
he Dew Drop.

  “I knew y’all were up to no good. Granny isn’t going to like—”

  “You shut up, Little Bit!”

  Levon had never spoken to her in that tone. Tears filled Faye Mae’s eyes.

  Across the yard, Lee started for the Dew Drop, then changed his path to the old barn down the road. Levon eyed him nervously before turning back to Faye Mae.

  “Look, Little Bit, these big political guys have all kinds of secrets. I hear a lot of them, and I have to keep quiet. Why do you think there’s a glass partition between the front seat of the Caddie and the back? It’s so Big Jim can keep me from hearing him talk when he wants to.”

  Faye Mae shook her head. What needed so much secrecy? “Granny isn’t going to like it. We need to tell her.” Faye Mae’s tone was pleading.

  “Whatever Daddy Ray and them is talking about, you don’t need to worry about it. Let them handle it. Why, some of the stuff I hear, I just put it out of my mind because it’s too big and too scary to think about.” Leon took another long pull off the Dixie’s neck, tilting it so far back the bottle’s sweat fell onto his cheeks like tears.

  “What kind of stuff?” whispered Faye Mae. “Is it the Russians? Miss Johnston told us all about them last year in fourth grade. How they spy on us all the time and want to bomb us and how jealous they are because we make better rocket ships than they do.”

  Levon leaned around Faye Mae to peer back towards the Dew Drop, making sure one more time that they were alone. When he spoke, his voice was a conspiratorial whisper.

  “It’s kinda the Russians, but again, it’s not exactly them. You wouldn’t believe the things Big Jim is mixed up in. The things he has to do in order to keep all of us safe. Why, one day last month I even drove him to the White House to talk to President Kennedy.”

  Faye Mae’s eyes were as round as Big Jim’s silver dollar tucked inside a pocket of her shorts. “Did you meet President Kennedy? What did y’all talk about?”

  Levon looked around the tree again. “Miss Johnston ever talk to you kids about Cuba?”

  “Of course she does. But, what does that have to do with Big Jim?”

  Levon sat his lips in a straight line, looking for all the world like the older brother who thought his baby sister was too young to know adult secrets. Instinct told Faye Mae to relax. Levon had never been good at keeping secrets. She held her breath until he began talking again.

  “Now, Faye Mae, you can’t ever tell anybody what I’m going to tell you. Not even Granny,” warned Levon. “You gotta remember. Big Jim would fire me and kill me if he knew I told you these things.”

  “I promise on Robert Johnson’s grave and the night he made his deal with Mr. Devil,” said Faye Mae, quoting one of Granny’s favorite sayings.

  “One night I drove Big Jim down to Biloxi, and he met with some men who’d come in on a boat. They were from Miami. They spoke Spanish,” Levon whispered. “I think they were Cubans. I didn’t hear everything, but I guarantee you from what I heard, Big Jim is gonna fix this mess with Castro.”

  “Is Mr. Banner part of that? Is that why Daddy Ray got so mad that I knew his name?”

  Anger clouded Levon’s eyes. “His name is not Mr. Banner, Faye Mae, and if you know what’s good for your dark hide, you’ll forget about him and what I just told you. You especially won’t be mentioning this to Granny.”

  She stuck out her lower lip and started to invoke Granny’s name again, but suddenly Levon’s face softened. When he spoke, it was in his best Big Jim voice.

  “Say, I seem to recall that birthday present you’ve wanted for years, but nobody would let you have it. Do you still want it?”

  “You know I do! You’re gonna do that for me? No lyin’ now!”

  Levon leaned back against the tree’s trunk. “If you can keep this secret from everybody you know, you’ll get that birthday present. I’ll see to it personally.”

  Faye Mae was skeptical. This was obviously a huge secret she was being asked to keep. “You better not bum out on me. If you do, I’ll . “

  Levon lifted his Dixie bottle in salute. “I swear on my own grave I’ll give you your special birthday wish, but only if you keep our secret.”

  Faye Mae’s head bobbed up and down.

  FALL FROSTED THE DELTA, and Faye Mae had forgotten about Mr. Banner. Her birthday was fast approaching, and she reminded Levon of his promise every time he dropped by the Dew Drop. Lee was living in Granny’s backyard, and Levon was driving him all over the Delta to apply for jobs. Faye Mae was curious about the man, especially since she’d overhead Daddy Ray warning Levon against being seen with Lee. Daddy Ray had advised Levon to drop Lee off, let him apply for work and pick him up later at another location. It was all so strange.

  Faye Mae hurried into the weathered barn next door to the Dew Drop, taking care no one was watching. Granny had banished Lee to the barn’s dusty old tack room shortly after his arrival, then warned Faye Mae to keep her distance. A couple of hours earlier, Granny had headed out to buy groceries, and Lee had left with Levon. No doubt to apply for more jobs that never panned out.

  The time was right to do a little searching of Lee’s things, but if Granny caught her, she would kill her on the spot. Holding back information from Granny would be bad enough. Snooping through someone else’s things was a killing offense. Granny was Baptist, hard-shelled, and there wasn’t leniency for certain crimes.

  Sunlight sneaked through the old planks enough for Faye Mae to see. The cot Daddy Ray had brought for Lee was made up so tight she could have bounced one of Big Jim’s silver dollars off it. An upended wooden crate was a makeshift nightstand, and a kerosene lamp with a smoked chimney sat atop it. Not much to discover, unless there was something in the long, black box stored beneath the cot. Faye Mae thought it was a guitar case, but as she pulled it out into the light, she saw it was too slim. If it was a suitcase, it was the skinniest one Faye Mae had ever seen. She popped its latches and slowly lifted the top.

  Nestled into a cloth cutout was the biggest and shiniest rifle Faye Mae had ever seen. A lot of the men she knew hunted for food, especially during the winter, but none of them, including the white men who pretended to hunt when they were spending time with their girlfriends at the Dew Drop, had ever carried a rifle like this. It even had a little eyeglass for the shooter to look through just like Audi Murphy used in the old movies Granny liked to watch.

  Tires crunching on gravel terrified Faye Mae into action. It had to be Levon bringing Lee home. She slammed down the case’s lid and shoved it back under the cot without realizing she had failed to close the latches.

  “You found a job yet?” Faye Mae asked as she stepped out into the sunlight. She pushed a rickety old bicycle that had belonged to Levon years ago. Her heart beat like an injured sparrow’s.

  Lee’s eyes narrowed, and for a second Faye Mae thought he was mad, but the moment passed, and he only shook his head.

  “My friend Ratchet said his daddy found a job over at the little sawmill in Shelby, and Ratchet’s daddy is a no-good drunk. You might have a chance there ‘cause you don’t seem like a drunk to me.” Faye Mae pushed the bike toward him.

  The corners of Lee’s mouth turned up enough to suggest maybe he could smile, if he set his mind to it. “No, I’m not a drunk. I don’t do sawmill work either.”

  “What kind of job you looking for? Maybe we can help. Granny knows bunches of people.” Lee looked like he needed a job real soon since he was so skinny, and he wore the same pants, shirt and light-weight jacket every time she saw seen him.

  “I’m not really looking for a job,” he said. “I’m here because I already have a job, but I can’t tell anyone what it is. What you been doing in the barn?”

  Faye Mae’s hands sweated on the rust of the bicycle’s old handlebars. She was going to be killed right here within sight of the Dew Drop, and nobody would ever know what happened.

  Lee took a step forward. “Why are you so curious about me?”

 
The sound of Granny’s approaching footsteps stopped the conversation, and Faye Mae silently promised God she would be good for the rest of her life. In fact, maybe God had let Granny show up as a sign Faye Mae should confess everything to her.

  “What are you doing out here?” Granny demanded of Faye Mae. She turned to Lee. “Weren’t you told to stay away from my granddaughter?”

  Lee gave Granny the same little shit-eating smile he’d given to Faye Mae earlier.

  The last thing Faye Mae wanted was for Granny to get into a fight with him now. She wasn’t certain if her guess about Lee was correct, but the hairs were rising on the back of her neck, and that grin of his wasn’t calming her any.

  “Granny, a tire went flat on my bike, and I remembered this ole one of Levon’s. I thought I maybe could use one of the tires,” she stammered.

  Granny glared at Lee as though she were going to throw him off her property but thought better of it. She turned her attention back to Faye Mae.

  “Levon said he’ll be back up here next week.” Granny nodded at Lee. “He had a message for you, Faye Mae. He said to tell you he remembers about your birthday.”

  “That’s right, Faye Mae. Levon told me he has a special gift for you,” Lee said, his tone a warning only Faye Mae understood. “But, he said you get it only if you’re a really good girl. Did he tell you that?”

  Faye Mae could almost feel the blood pulsing through the veins in Granny’s neck.

  “Nothing for you to worry about,” Granny shot back at him. “Maybe you’ll be long gone before we celebrate her birthday. Faye Mae, move that bike. I need you to help me get ready for tonight’s customers.”

  Faye Mae barely got out a “yes ma’am” before Granny was gone. It was the first time Granny had ever walked away from throwing someone she disliked off her property. That was all Faye Mae needed to confirm her suspicions about Lee. He was here on nasty business, Daddy Ray was part of it, and they were using Levon. If Granny knew Levon was involved in anything with a gun, she’d put Lee on the road. Faye Mae wanted to tell Granny everything, but she also wanted that birthday present. She would just have to trust Levon to do the right thing.