“Cut it out, Teece.”
“Let him go.”
Teece felt for his gun in his pocket.
He saw the men’s faces.
He took his hand away and left the gun in his pocket and said,
“So that’s how it is?”
“That’s how it is,” someone said.
Teece let the boy go.
“All right.
Get out.”
He jerked his hand back in the store.
“But I hope you don’t think you’re gonna leave any trash behind to clutter my store.”
“No, sir!”
“You clean everything outa your shed in back; burn it.”
Silly shook his head.
“I’ll take it with.”
“They won’t let you put it on that damn rocket.”
“I’ll take it with,” insisted the boy softly.
He rushed back through the hardware store.
There were sounds of sweeping and cleaning out, and a moment later he appeared, his hands full of tops and marbles and old dusty kites and junk collected through the years.
Just then the old tin Ford drove up and Silly climbed in and the door slammed.
Teece stood on the porch with a bitter smile.
“What you goin’ to do up there?”
“Startin’ new,” said Silly.
“Gonna have my own hardware.”
“God damn it, you been learnin’ my trade so you could run off and use it!”
“No, sir, I never thought one day this’d happen, sir, but it did.
I can’t help it if I learned, Mr. Teece.”
“I suppose you got names for your rockets?”
They looked at their one clock on the dashboard of the car.
“Yes, sir.”
“Like Elijah and the Chariot, The Big Wheel and The Little Wheel, Faith, Hope, and Charity, eh?”
“We got names for the ships, Mr. Teece.”
“God the Son and the Holy Ghost, I wouldn’t wonder?
Say, boy, you got one named the First Baptist Church?”
“We got to leave now, Mr. Teece.”
Teece laughed.
“You got one named Swing Low, and another named Sweet Chariot?”
The car started up.
“Good-by, Mr. Teece.”
“You got one named Roll Dem Bones?”
“Good-by, mister!”
“And another called Over Jordan!
Ha!
Well, tote that rocket, boy, lift that rocket, boy, go on, get blown up, see if I care!”
The car churned off into the dust.
The boy rose and cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted one last time at Teece:
“Mr. Teece, Mr. Teece, what you goin’ to do nights from now on?
What you goin’ to do nights, Mr. Teece?”
Silence.