I dropped my bag and ran. I ran so hard and fast that I
could hear my blood rushing through my ears. I ran like the wind, getting
closer and closer with every step. I was anxious to tell you they were coming.
I figure there wasn’t someone out in your field plowing it up. I saw you
hitching the horse yourself this morning to take out in the field, so it wasn’t
no one out there but the Klan. They have found those boys dead in the woods and now they were coming for us.
Papa said the Klan
come in the night like roaches. If you’ve seen one lurking around then
there’s plenty more hiding somewhere in the bushes just waiting. It wasn’t
night, but they were out there. I’s seen
what I thought was one man in a dust cloud, but I could’ve been wrong. What
if the Klan is coming to get us, what
then.
So I ran, as fast as
my legs could go, but I had never been down to the barn. I didn’t know that
there’s a big dip in the yard . So when I ran smack dab in the middle of it. I
fell, hitting the hard ground with my face first, then flipped over twice
before I knew it. I nearly broke my neck and cursed, “Shit!” But I jumped right
up to rush into the huge barn.
I stopped just inside
the two big wooden doors, breathing hard and sweating while quickly looking
around for you. It was dark in here compared to the brightness of the sun, so I
couldn’t see a thing while my eyes adjusted to the change in light. Finally I saw you were on the opposite end of the barn, near a row of hay. You had your back to me kneeling on the floor with
the rifle near your right knee. You were doing something, but I couldn’t tell
what.
