“Sugar, like Willie Frank said, we got to do something so this bogeyman won’t be a threat no more. And don’t worry. I wouldn’t stoop low enough to kill nobody on the Lord’s day neither. But first let’s wait until we find out who it is before we decide what to do,” Milton replied.

“Why would it make a difference who he is if we going to kill him?” I wanted to know. “Let’s come up with a plan now.”

“Well, it could be somebody we can’t get at without no witnesses seeing us. Or they might have a gang and weapons and shit. This is one thing we need to think through real good. I just hope it ain’t one of our friends.” Milton suddenly looked so miserable, and I could understand why. The thought of somebody we was close to betraying us almost made me sick to my stomach.

“Swallow me a frog! If that’s the case, he ain’t no friend!” Willie Frank hollered with his eyes blazing with hate. “Don’t spend too much time thinking this thing through. Lollygagging could be a big mistake. We don’t want to give that booger enough time to do something fatal. Good God! I’d be devastated if y’all got killed. Ma, Pa, and all the rest of my folks done got so attached to y’all, they’d never get over it neither.”

Hearing them ominous remarks must have got to Milton. He flinched and looked at me with a dazed and confused expression on his face. I didn’t wait for him to respond to Willie Frank’s outburst. I responded for him. “We won’t waste too much more time. I want to get this over with as soon as possible.”

When Willie Frank left our house again, me and Milton cuddled up on the couch in our bathrobes. Even though we’d drunk two jars of moonshine apiece since we got home, we was still on edge. I could tell from the way he groaned every time he moved that he was still hurting from head to toe. I was, too, but he’d been beat up more than me and had more bruises. “My body been on hold for two days. I need to go sit on the commode for a while. After I relieve myself, I’m going to wash my hair,” I muttered as I toddled up.

“Stay in the bathroom as long as you want, sugar. I’ll just lay here and relax and organize my thoughts.”

“I need to organize my thoughts, too.” I sighed. “I got so many I don’t know how my head can hold them all.”