"Cotton," Lou said, "what are you doing here?"
He pointed across the street. "Well, I happen to work here, Lou."
They all stared at where he was pointing. The courthouse loomed large before them,
beautiful brick over ugly concrete.
"Now, what are y'all doing here?" he asked.
"Louisa gave us the day off. Been working pretty hard," said Lou.
Cotton nodded. "So I've seen."
Lou looked at the bustle of people. "It surprised me when I first saw this place. Really
prosperous."
Cotton glanced around. "Well, looks can be deceiving. Thing about this part of the state,
we're generally one industry-moving-on from total collapse. Lumber folks did it, and now
most jobs are tied to the coal and not just the miners. And most of the businesses here
rely on those people spending those mining dollars. If that goes away, then it might not
seem so prosperous anymore. A house of cards falls swiftly. Who knows, in five years'
time this place might not even be here." He eyed Diamond and grinned. "But the
mountain folk will. They always get by." He looked around. "I tell you what, I've got
some things to do over to the courthouse. Court's not in session today of course, but
always some work to be done. Suppose you meet me there in two hours. Then I'd be
proud to buy you some lunch."
Lou looked around. "Where?"
"A place I think you'd like, Lou. Called the New York Restaurant. Open twenty-four
hours, breakfast, lunch, or supper any time of the day or night. Now, there aren't many
folk in Dickens who stay up past nine o'clock, but I suppose it's comforting to have the
option of eggs, grits, and bacon at midnight."
"Two hours," repeated Oz, "but we don't have anything to tell time with."
"Well, the courthouse has a clock tower, but it tends to run a little slow. I tell you what,
Oz, here." Cotton took off his pocket watch and handed it to him. "You use this. Take
good care of it. My father gave it to me."
"When you left to come here?" Lou asked.
"That's right. He said I'd have plenty of time on my hands, and I guess he wanted me to
keep good track of it." He tipped his hat to them. 'Two hours." And then he walked away.
"So what we gonna do for two hours?" said Diamond.
Lou looked around and her eyes lit up.
"Come on," she said and took off running. "You're finally going to see yourself a picture
show, Mr. Diamond."
For almost two hours they were in a place far removed from Dickens, Virginia, the
mountains of Appalachia, and the troublesome concerns of real life. They were in the
breathtaking land of The Wizard of Oz, which was having a long run at movie houses
across the land. When they came out, Diamond peppered them with dozens of questions
about how any of what they had just seen was possible.
"Had God done it?" he asked more than once in a hushed tone.
Lou pointed to the courthouse. "Come on, or we'll be late."
They dashed across the street and up the wide steps of the courthouse. A uniformed
deputy sheriff with a thick mustache stopped them.
"Whoa, now, where you think y'all going?"
"It's all right, Howard, they're with me," Cotton said, coming out the door. "They all
might be lawyers one day. Coming to check out the halls of justice."
"God forbid, Cotton, we ain't needing us no more fine lawyers," Howard said, smiling,
and then moved on.
"Having a good time?" Cotton asked.
"I just seen a lion, a durn scarecrow, and a metal man on a big wall," said Diamond, "and
I still ain't figgered out how they done it."
"Y'all want to see where I do my daily labor?" asked Cotton.
They all clamored that they did indeed. Before they went inside, Oz solemnly handed the
pocket watch back to Cotton.
"Thanks for taking such good care of it, Oz."
"It's been two hours, you know," said the little boy.
"Punctuality is a virtue," replied the lawyer.
They went inside the courthouse while Jeb lay down outside. There were doorways up
and down the broad hall, and hanging above the doors various brass plates that read:
"Marriage Registrar," "Tax Collections," "Births and Deaths," "Commonwealth's
Attorney," and so on. Cotton explained their various functions and then showed them the
courtroom, which Diamond said was the largest such space he had ever seen. They were
introduced to Fred the bailiff, who had popped out of some room or other when they had
come in. Judge Atkins, he explained, had gone home for lunch.
On the walls were portraits of white-haired men in black robes. The children ran their