I gwine t' tell the Lawmens I killed Mister Ward 'fore I
lets them take the boy!"
"No, Ned! No! That wouldn't do! It'd just make matters
Worse!"
"Papa, come look here at my shell!"
"Baby, don't bother me right now!"
"See? Stray's got lots of them. He just give me one, and
Shoogie one."
"One what?"
I could tell Papa wasn't half listening.
"A done-shot shell, Papa. See? It's pretty yellow. See? And
Stray may give me his best one, too!"
Papa wouldn't take time to look. Stray emptied another
handful of shells out of his pocket and spread them on the floor,
but before I could decide which one to beg for, Papa called Stray
to come over to the other side of the store and talk to him and
Ned and Black Idd.
"Come on, Stray. Com'ere. We've gotta straighten out just
what happened in that cornfield Sunday evening before the sheriff
and Mister Hawk and all of them get here. It'll be too late
then."
While Shoogie and I were standing all the shells up straight
along a crack in the floor, Papa kept on telling Stray not to be
scared and that everything was going to be all right.
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