The Linnet's Wings | Page 102

WINTER ' FOURTEEN Archie and Grandma Bond by Bill Frank Robinson The light is fading fast on this winter day and a chill is chasing away the Sun’s heat. Both Lonnie and Archie are dressed in bib overalls and long-sleeved men’s work shirts. They walk side by side toward the Johnson family home. Archie shivers from the cold and looks up at the face of his benefactor. He sees a kind face but he also sees deep creases all over that sun-burned face—the guy looks like he’s a hundred years old. And he’s got something really bad wrong with his left leg; he limps low to the ground when he puts his foot down, then he swings it in a wide circle when he takes the next step. He smiles a lot just like Andy. “So you know old Andy, huh? How’d ya meet old Andy?” “He gave me a pop bottle so I could go to the picture show.” “That’s Andy for ya. You’ll never find a better friend than Andy. Come on. We better step it up ‘afore it gets dark.” Archie has to run to keep up with the fast moving Lonnie. This is the guy that his dad said was dead in the ass and ain’t worked a day in his life? Cab Cleebo said, “That Lonnie Johnson was born no good and he’s gonna die no good. If it weren’t for his wife, Molly, that whole family would be in the poor house. And he went and murdered that rich man’s son. I don’t know how he got outta that one. He should’a fried in the chair a long time ago.” *** Grandma Johnson, tiny, toothless, wrinkled, and dressed in a long flowered dress and sun bonnet, pours hot water from the tea kettle into a cup. “Ya want some tea, Archie?” Archie, sitting on the couch, leans forward and looks around the corner into the kitchen. “No, Ma’am.” Grandma sits beside Archie and stirs tea leaves into her cup. “That’s what I like about you, Archie. You’re the politest boy I ever met. And you know how ta have fun too. You can laugh with the best of ‘em. Lonnie and Andy do a lot of joking and laughing but they don’t mean it; they can turn mean in a second. And Paulie, his face would break into a thousand pieces if he ever cracked a smile. You don’t know it but The Linnet's Wings