Good student? bad? In trouble with the police?

From what I recall, he wasnt a good student. He never graduated high school, although he was real good with his hands. He worked at a little printing press with his daddy growing up. His brother did too. Why, I remember one time the press at my newspaper broke down. They sent Rufus over to fix it. He couldnt have been much moren sixteen. I gave him the manual for the machinery, but he wouldnt take it. Words just mess me up, Mr. Barker, he said, or something to that effect. He went in there and within one hour he had the whole damn thing up and running, good as new.

Thats pretty impressive.

And he was never in trouble with the police. His momma wouldnt have let him. You got to understand, this is one small town, no more than a thousand souls have ever lived here, even fewer today. Im pushing eighty, still run the newspaper. Nobodys been here longer than me. Now, the Harmses lived in the colored section of town, of course, but we still knew em. Now, I dont have colored folk over to my house, but they seemed like good people. She worked at the meat processing factory here just like most everybody else. Cleaning crew, not one of the good-paying jobs. But she took care of her boys.

What happened to their father?

He was a good man, not prone to drink or wild living like so many of their kind. He worked hard, too hard, because one day he just didnt wake up. Heart attack.

You have a good memory.

I wrote out his obituary.

What about his brother?

Now, Josh was a different story. Around here, hes what we call a bad black. Hotheaded, arrogant, trying to be better than he was. Now, Im not prejudiced or anything and I dont tolerate the use of thenword in my presence, but if I did use that particular word Id use it to describe Josh Harms. He rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

I read that he fought in Vietnam and was actually a war hero.

Sure, thats right, Barker conceded quickly. He was the most decorated war hero to ever come out of this town, by a long shot. People were damn surprised about that, let me tell you. But he could fight, Ill give the man that.

What else?

Well, Josh actually graduated high school. Barkers voice changed. But where he really showed up everybody was in sports. Im a one-man shop here and I cover all the news. Josh Harms was the greatest pure athlete I have ever had the privilege to see. White, black, green or purple, that boy could run faster, jump higher, stronger, quicker than anybody else. Now, I know the coloreds can do all that really well anyway, but Josh was truly special. He lettered in just about every sport there was. Do you know he still holds about a half dozen state athletic records? He added proudly, And you know Alabamas got more than its share of great athletes.

Sara sighed. Did he play at the collegiate level?

Well, he got a slew of scholarship offers for football and basketball. Bear Bryant even wanted him at Bama, thats how good he was. Probably wouldve been a star in the NBA or the NFL. But he got sidetracked.

How so?

Well, you know how so. His government asked him to defend his country in the war against communism.

In other words, he got drafted and was shipped to Vietnam.

Thats right.

Did he come back home afterward?

Oh, sure. His momma was still alive, but not for long. See, right about that time was when Rufus got in all that trouble. I actually think Rufus volunteered for the Army because of Josh. Maybe he wanted to be like his older brother, you know, a hero. Really I think he just wanted something to go right with his life for a change. After his daddy died there wasnt anything for him in this town. Of course, it ended up going about as wrong as it could. Anyway, Josh came to see me, to see if there was anything I could do. You know, the power of the press, but there wasnt anything I could do.

Did Rufus killing the girl surprise you? I mean, had he ever been violent, that you knew?

He never hurt anyone that I know of. A real gentle giant. When I heard about the little girl I couldnt believe it. Now, if it had been Josh, I wouldnt have blinked twice, but not Rufus. But with all that, the evidence was clear as could be.

Did Josh keep living there?

Well, now you take me to a particularly troubling part of this towns history.

Whats that?

Id rather not say. Sara thought quickly. What was the journalistic phrase? It can be off the record.

Is that right? Barker sounded wary.

Absolutely. Its off the record.

I want you to know that I just recorded what you said. So if I read in some newspaper what Im about to tell you, Ill sue you and your paper for every last cent you got, he said sternly. Im a journalist, I know how these things work.

Mr. Barker, I promise that whatever youre about to tell me will not be used in any way for a story.

All right. Actually, I guess so much time has passed that it doesnt matter anymore legally, anyway. But you can never be too careful in this old world. He cleared his throat. Well, the story of what Rufus had done got around town, no way it wouldnt. A bunch of boys started drinking, got together and decided to do something. Now, they couldnt do anything to Rufus, he was in the custody of the United States Army. But they could do something about the other Harms living here.

What did they do?

Well, what they did was they burned Mrs. Harmss house to the ground.

Good God! Was she in it?

She was until Josh pulled her out. And let me tell you what, Josh went after those boys. They went at it right up and down the towns streets. I watched it from my office. You know, it mustve been ten against one, but Josh put half of them boys in the hospital, until the rest beat him up bad, real bad. Never seen anything like it, hope I never do again.

It sounds almost like a riot. Didnt the police come?

Barker coughed in an embarrassed fashion. Well, just so happens that it was rumored that a couple of the boys that were in on it, you know, who had burned the house down

Were the police, Sara finished the sentence for him. Barker didnt say anything. I hope Josh Harms sued for all the money the town had, she said.

Well, actually, they suedhim.I mean, the boys he put in the hospital did. Josh couldnt prove anything about the fire. I mean, I had my speculations, but that was all. And the police sort of put together this story about him resisting arrest and all. It was ten peoples word against one, and a coloreds word at that. Well, the long and the short of it was he spent some time in jail and they took everything he and his momma had, little enough that it was. She died soon thereafter. What happened to both her boys, I guess, was too much for her.

It was all Sara could do not to start screaming at the man. Mr. Barker, that is the most disgusting story I have ever heard, she said. I dont know much about your town, but I do know I would never want anyone I cared about to live there.

It has its good points.

Really like welcoming home a war hero like that?

I know. I thought about that too. You fight for your country, get shot up and then come home to something like that, probably makes you wonder what the hell you were fighting for.

You sound like you knew the truth. Didnt you use the power of the press that time?

Barker sighed deeply. This has always been my home, Ms. Evans, and you can only offend the powers that be so many times, even if they deserve it. Now, I cant say that Im any great friend of the blacks, because Im not. And I wouldnt lie to you and say I championed Josh Harmss cause, because frankly I didnt.

Well, I guess thats partly what the courts are for: to keep people like those in your town from screwing people like Josh Harms. Please call me back with the name of Harmss lawyer.