Buddies Read Free Page A

Ernie, ‘cause it wuz yore notion to dig it up.”
    Ernie began to untie the twine from around the box, he said “Dang, they shore did tie this here box up good. I ain’t never seen this much twine on one thang in my life. They must not been aimin’ on leavin’ it here too long either, or they’d used a tin box instead of this here pasteboard thang. Wudn’t you say so?”
    “Yeah, it looks like they wudda done sech, Ernie.”
    When Ernie opened the box, a smile came across his face, “Well, I’ll just be dang. Will you look a-here at this? Banker Tolbert an’ Miss Rene’s got this money all wrapped up in this pertty pink blanket. I reckin they wuz afraid that it’d git cold. Lordy, lordy, I’ve seen ever’thang now.”
    “Me too!” Joey Frank said, “I ain’t never heard tell of sech doin’s!”
    Ernie pulled back the blanket from the bundle, hoping to start counting all the cash. Instead he shouted, “Holy thunder, Joey Frank Cooper, this here ain’t money; it’s a dang baby.”
    Joey Frank sprang to his feet and backed away. “Is it alive, Ernie?”
    “Well, heck no, it ain’t alive, dumbbell. How can you thank sech a thang?”
    “Well, I didn’t know. I don’t know nothin’ about babies.”
    “Well, I got anuff sense to know that it cain’t be alive, an’ I know that it ain’t s’pose to be buried away out here from nowhere too; that’s for shore.”
    “Whata we gonna do with it, Ernie?
    “We gonna put it right back here where we got it; that’s what,” Ernie said as he pulled the blanket back over the baby. “Now will you quit standin’ over there astin’ dumb questions an’ come on over here an’ give me a hand?”
    Joey Frank didn’t want to, but he knelt down by Ernie, while Ernie retied the box. Together they put it back into the hole and covered it up. They got up, brushed away what they could of the wet soil from their hands and breeches, and walked away from the grave. Joey Frank asked Ernie, “Reckin why Banker Tolbert an’ Miss Rene went an’ buried that baby way out here from nowhere?”
    “To keep anybody from knowin’ about it, that’s why. If they hadn’t been tryin’ to hide it, then they wudda had it buried at a graveyard where folks is s’pose to be buried.”
    “Reckin who it belongs to?”
    “I guess it belongs to Banker Tolbert an’ Miss Rene; that’s who.”
    But then Ernie rethought, he said, “No-oo, I take it back, Joey Frank. I don’t guess it does neither ‘cause I see Miss Rene in Ruby Creek all the time, an’ she ain’t never looked like she wuz uh-uh. You know what I mean.” Ernie held his arms out from his stomach in a round position.
    “Do you mean bein’ big in the belly, an’ a’fixin’ to sprout?”
    “Yeah, that’s what I mean, but that still ain’t the right sayin’ for it. Heck, it don’t matter no how. Lets git outta here.
    By the time we find our way home, I guess it’ll be nearly chore time.”
    “I hope we find our way home before dark ‘cause if I ain’t there by then, Mama’s gonna be awful mad.”
    “Don’t commence to frettin’, Joey Frank. We’ll find our way back before dark. We’ll follow Banker Tolbert’s surrey tracks. They oughta take us straight to Ruby Creek.”
    The boys followed the fresh surrey tracks down the road. When they spotted a creek, they went down and washed their dirty hands. They recognized the creek and knew it wasn’t far from town. They had plenty of time before dark, so they sat down and ate the potato and biscuits from Joey Frank’s lunch pail.
    They talked about the baby. Ernie exclaimed, “It wud be best not to tell anybody what we seen.” He also admitted, “If Pa ever found out that I left school, he’d horsewhip my hide.”
    Joey Frank promised, “I’ll never tell nobody what we found. If Mama ever found out I left school, she’d horsewhip me for shore!”
    Ernie thought up a story to tell Miss Lester about not returning to class. “I’ll tell her you