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Show 24 the man said. "Well, if that don't beat all! Somebody finally clobbered him over the head with a two by four, huh?" "No, mister, with a three-foot steel billet," Karl replied. Laying down his paper, the toll man said, "I figger the big chump owes me about ten dollars' worth of toll, but you know...." His whiskery face creased in a grin. "I like that wild son of a gun. Every day I watch him risk his neck under the bridge - it adds a little tingle to my life. Go on, give your pennies to them darky kids. Jame can have a free trip today. You too." Karl let out his breath in relief. "Thanks, mister." "Hope his head ain't hurt too bad." Karl paid the four boys, then strained to start the cart across the bridge. If Jame's feet hadn't been dragging, the cart could have built some momentum of its own so it wouldn't be so heavy to pull. Karl stopped after a little way and bent Jame's legs at the knees, bracing Jame's heavy work shoes against the sides of the cart. After that it was easier to pull. Hard as it was to drag Jame across the level bridge, Karl wondered how he'd ever get him up Center Street. There was no way he could manage it alone; he'd have to find help. And what would Mayo and Bridey Culley say when Karl brought their son home, bloody and knocked senseless, and was forced to tell them that Jame had lost his job? Karl felt terrible enough about his own lost job, but his father, Hugo Kerner, was sub-foreman on the open hearth, and he made good pay. Jame's father, Mayo Culley, had been out of work for five years, ever since his hand had been mangled in a mill accident. Bridey Culley took |
