Spring 2015
we got married by a justice of the peace that night
in Guymon.”
Sandy said, “Damn, Cab, that’s some story.
You sure lucked out when ya married Millie.”
“Sure did. Best bookkeeper I ever had.”
**
Archie raises up for a sneak peek but drops
back down when Cab’s head starts to turn toward
him. He returns to the old days.
He was called Old Ralph and he was the camp
cook because he was too old to work on the roads.
Archie, when he first knew him, thought he was
the worst man that ever lived. When Archie had
things to do in the early morning, he would grab
his clothes and sneak out of the tent leaving his
mom asleep. He would run to the cookhouse and
get close to the hot stove. He waited till no one
was around and then he would hurry out of his
pajamas and into his clothes. Always, just when
he was butt-naked, Old Ralph would come
charging through the door with a big smile on his
face. “Careful, Archie, don’t burn your ass off.”
When Archie was co-pilot with Buck Tom, Old
Ralph drove out to the job with a pot of beans,
cornbread, and coffee for lunch. When Archie
reached the head of the line, Old Ralph said,
“Archie! Ya done got poop all over your face.” All
this humiliated Archie and he could not think of
any way to retaliate.
Far as Archie could tell everybody else hated
Old Ralph too: the dirt was caked sky high on his
hands; he chewed tobacco and spit on the floor
between the stove and the wall; his clothes,
everything showed dirt packed on dirt and he was
stinky; worst of all when he served steak and gravy,
he would snatch the steak out of the hot gravy
with his fingers and throw it in your plate.
Between throws, he would suck the gravy off his
fingers with that tobacco-juiced mouth. Everybody
said we was gonna die of some terrible disease
some day.
Ruthie was the little girl that changed Archie’s
The Linnet's Wings
mind about Old Ralph. She was the daughter of
Mom’s best friend, Viola. Viola and Ruthie would
come visiting and sometimes they would stay for
a week. And Archie was always called upon to
look after Ruthie. That Ruthie was a tough girl.
One time she and Archie were sitting on a stump
and she hauled off and slapped Archie across the
face. It was a hard slap and Archie remembers
screaming as he cried. Mom and Viola come
running. “Ruthie, what did you do to Archie?”
Ruthie replied, “He tried to top a feel.” The
women laughed and Archie couldn’t understand
why Ruthie got upset; copping a feel was what
husbands did to their wives although for a long
time Archie though they said, “Cop a field.”
One sunny day Ruthie and Archie were sent
out into the meadow to play. Mom said, “Archie,
you keep your eye on Ruthie. Don’t let her
wander off. Remember, we are responsible for her
because Viola had to go to town.”
Ruthie was excited to see so many flowers
growing out of the tall grass. She ran wildly
pulling flowers off their stems with both hands.
Finally she sat on the ground and began taking
the petals apart and playing with the pieces.
Archie grew tired of watching and picked up
a stick. The stick turned into a sword and Archie
became Flash Gordon-spaceman. His spaceship
had crashed and he lost his ray gun in the crash.
The flowers became cat men and he slashed into
them, chopping them down left and right. Wilma,
his girlfriend, had been kidnapped by Ming, the
king of the cat men. Now he must fight his way
into Ming’s royal palace to rescue her. Swinging
the sword with both hands he paused and looked
back at Ruthie. She was still sitting on the
ground, playing. He fought his way into the palace
and destroyed the royal guard. Ming, all alone,
drops to his knees and begs for mercy. Archie
disdainfully turns his back and walks away. But
he’s watching in the mirror and sees Ming pull a
ray gun from under his throne and aim at Archie’s
back. Archie spins and throws his sword, which
stabs Ming in the throat and kills him. He has
killed all the cat men and saved Wilma.