I went over to the bed. Mitchell lay so still, I was fearful he hadn’t waited long enough. Then he opened his eyes. “So, how’d it go?”
I stared at him. “What?”
“You get the land?”
I nodded. Mitchell closed his eyes and almost smiled. “Um . . . knowed ya would. Course, I never done thought one of them banking men would loan a colored man no money.”
“Didn’t,” I said, speaking as normally as I could, about what no longer mattered. “Gave me some advice, though. Talked to me like I was some boy. Told me J. T. Hollenbeck’s land was a white man’s kind of land and to be satisfied with what I had.”
“Then how’d you get it?”
“Doesn’t matter. Save your strength.”
“Wanna know.”
“Already paid Hollenbeck the down payment. I’ll pay the rest during the next seven months.”
“You had that much money?”
I nodded mutely.
Mitchell managed the smile this time. “Well, I shoulda knowed.”
I sat down, wanting to take his hand but fearing Mitchell would know my fear if I did. “Nathan said a tree fell on you. How’d that happen?”
Mitchell grunted. “Like t’ know that my own self.” His breathing was hard.
“You get careless?”
He looked straight at me. “Coulda done gotten foolish. Ain’t never got careless . . . ’specially when somebody firing at me.” Every movement was labored. “Got shot just as the tree was ’bout t’ fall. Must’ve stumbled in front of it.”
“Who shot you?”
“Digger.”
“Digger? You sure?”
“It was him, all right.”
“Well, you forget about Digger Wallace right now. Right now you just save your strength.”
“Got no strength t’ save. I ain’t comin’ outa this.”
“Course you are.”
“Naw, I won’t. Don’t start lyin’ t’ me now. We been through too much t’gether.”
“Yeah, we have been, some as bad as this, and we both survived, so I know you’ll be all right.”
Mitchell again grunted, closed his eyes, then, as if by sheer will, forced them back open. “That girl Etta you been seeing, you meant what you said ’bout her?”
My lips parted, not sure why he was asking about Etta at a time like this. “What do you mean what I said about her?”
“’Bout you ain’t got feelings for her. That’s what you said.”
I nodded. “Yes, I meant that. But why—”
“Then good.”
“Good?”
“Then I can ask you what’s on my mind.”
“And what’s that?”
“Want you t’ marry Caroline.”
I gazed at Mitchell, figuring now his mind was going. “What’s that?”
“You just shut your mouth. . . . You got plenty time t’ talk. . . . I ain’t. Can’t keep repeatin’ myself. Said want you t’ marry Caroline.”
I shook my head, not knowing what to say to his rambling. “Well . . . that’s not possible, Mitchell . . . you’re married to her—”
“Want you t’ take care of her for me. Want you t’ take care of her and my boy.”
“Mitchell, no . . . I can’t let you talk like this—”
Mitchell grabbed my hand, and there was in his grasp an amazing strength. He raised himself up on his elbows. “Paul, you gotta do this for me. You gotta do this! I ain’t gonna rest easy ’less you say you gonna do it. You, me, we always back each other up, you know that. So you take care both of ’em for me. You promise me that, Paul. Promise me!” His grip tightened in his urgency, and I could feel the time slipping away.
“I promise you, Mitchell,” I said, and I felt as if Mitchell had squeezed the words right out of me with his final moments of strength, for once the words were spoken, the promise made, he fell back flat and his hand slipped away.
“Good. Knowed I could count on you, Paul. Knowed I could. You won’t be sorry. I promise you that.”
They were Mitchell’s last words to me. He closed his eyes again and this time he made no effort to open them. His breathing grew even more halted, and he did not answer when I called to him. For some while I gazed down on my friend, thinking on all we’d been through together, on the unreality of his lying there, on words that needed to be said but maybe not. I squeezed his hand, then I went to the door, opened it, and called Caroline.
She came quickly and glanced at me, and I went outside. Tom Bee was still sitting on the stoop. “It was that Digger Wallace, ya knows that, don’t ya?” he said to me. “It was Digger shot that boy. No ’count scound’! Shot that boy and yo’ horse too!”