Read Online Journeyman by Erskine Caldwell - Free Book Online Page B

where his car was standing under the shed. He knew there was no use in trying to argue with Lorene after she had made up her mind that something was to be done. He had never succeeded in bettering her in any argument.
    The car started up without any trouble, and he backed it out and turned around in the yard. He waited for Lorene to bring Vearl out and put him in the seat beside him.
    Lorene finished washing Vearl’s face and hands on the back porch. She combed and parted his hair, and buttoned all the buttons on his clothes.
    “I don’t reckon tomorrow would do just as well, would it?” Clay said. “Tomorrow’s Saturday, and I like to go to town a lots better on Saturdays than any other time.”
    Lorene did not answer him. She placed Vearl on the seat beside Clay and closed the door. When they were ready to go, she leaned over and kissed him good-by.
    “Take him to the doctor and have him treated, Clay,” she instructed. “If you don’t, I don’t know what I won’t do to you. Vearl needs to see a doctor right away.”
    Clay nodded glumly and drove off. He did not look back. Lorene went as far as the front gate to watch them, and when they had passed from sight down the road, she walked slowly back to the house.
    Semon was waiting for her.
    “I wonder where Tom is,” he said. “He promised to come back today.”
    “I don’t care where Tom Rhodes is, now or any other time,” Lorene said curtly.
    She sat down on the porch and looked down the road in the direction in which Clay and Vearl had gone.
    Semon sat silently for a while, waiting until she was in a better mood. Presently she turned back to look at the magnolia tree at the fence.
    “Tom said he was coming,” Semon began again. “If he said he was, he ought to keep his word.”
    “He’ll forget about it,” she told him. “I know Tom Rhodes. You can’t depend on him too much.”
    “You didn’t know him before you left and went away, did you?”
    “A little.”
    “He acted like he was real friendly with you yesterday. I thought you might know him pretty well.”
    “I used to know a lot of men in Rocky Comfort before I went to Jacksonville over a year ago. Tom was one of them.” She was silent a moment. “Tom was the first one I knew.”
    “I’ve been thinking that maybe you’d like to ride back with me,” Semon suggested, moving his chair closer. “Next Monday morning I’m leaving for South Georgia, and I wouldn’t mind going all the way to Florida. That is, if you’re going my way.”
    “I wouldn’t like to go off with you and get into trouble,” Lorene said. “How do I know about that?”
    “I’d see after that part,” Semon promised, pulling his chair still closer. “I’ll take you to Jacksonville. I’ve been thinking that maybe I ought to go to Florida. The Lord’s been talking to me about going down there, but I’ve put it off and put it off till I’m almost ashamed to think about it now. But I’ve made up my mind to go Monday.”
    “All right,” Lorene said. “I’ll go with you Monday.”
    Semon leaned forward and put his hand on the back of her chair.
    “Maybe we could stop off along the way a little,” he suggested.
    “What for?”
    “Well, just to stop and break the journey. We could stay a day or two along the way, and still get there soon enough.”
    “That would cost a lot, staying at a hotel.”
    “I figured that maybe we can make expenses without much trouble.”
    “How?”
    “I could sort of speak of you to a few people and get them interested.”
    “I see,” she said, nodding. “That’s all right with me, just as long as everything is split fifty-fifty. But if you hold out on me, there’s going to be hell to pay. I’ll make it hot for you, Semon Dye, if you don’t split even. I don’t take chances with men like you. It’s going to be businesslike.”
    Semon removed his hand from the chair and sat up erect, nodding in agreement.
    “That’s fair enough.”
    “Do you know how to go