didn't care. His old father meant nothing to him now. He thought of his new father, the man who'd died for him in the railyard. Now he'd tracked D. A.'s true killer down and paid out justice in gunfire.
Earl walked over to Owney. Five oozing holes were clustered in a slightly oblong circle on his white shirt under his heart. They were so close you could cover them with one hand, and they were wounds nobody comes back from.
'W-who are you?' Owney asked.
'You'd never believe it,' said Earl.
Chapter 67
She had borne so much pain she had become numbed by it. Her eyes were vague, her sense of reality elongated, her sense of time vanished. The pain just came and came and came, and had its way, though now and then a moment of lucidity reached her, and she concentrated on the here and now, and then it all went away in pain.
She heard someone say, 'She's at fifteen. We've got to do it.'
'Yes, doctor.'
The young doctor's face flew into view.
'Mrs. Swagger, I have been on the phone all over the state trying to get an OB-GYN, even a resident, even a horse doctor over here. Someone can be here in an hour, I'm sorry to report. So I have to act now, or we will lose both you and the child.'
'Don't take my baby!'
'You will bleed to death internally in a very short while. I'm sorry but I have to do what's right. Nurse, get her prepped. I'm going to go scrub.'
She had fought so hard. Now, at the end, she had nothing left.
'It's all right,' she heard Mary whispering. 'You have to get through this. You'll have other babies. Honey, he's right, you've fought so hard, but it's time to move on. You have to survive. I couldn't live without you, I'm so selfish. Please, your mama, your papa, everybody, they are pulling for you.'
'Where's Earl, Mary?'
'I am sorry, honey. He didn't make it.'
Then she felt herself moving. A nurse was pushing her down the dimly lit hallway. The gurney vibrated and each vibration hurt her bad. A bump nearly killed her. She was in a brightly lit room. The doctor had a mask on. Then he turned away from her. A mask came and she smelled its rubbery density. She turned her face, waiting for the gas, and saw the doctor with his back to her. He was working with a long probe but she saw that it had a pointed end to it, like a knitting needle.
My baby, she thought. They are going to use that on my baby.
'She's ready, doctor.'
'All right, give her?'
There was a commotion.
A woman had broken in. Angry words were spoken. Then she heard the doctor say, 'I don't care about all that. Get him in here.'
The doctor was back.
'Well, Mrs. Swagger, your husband just showed up.'
'Earl!'
'Yes ma'am. And he has another doctor with him.'
But there was something on his face.
'What's wrong?'
'This is your part of the country down here, not mine. You would understand better than me. I don't understand, but that nurse says if we let this doctor in here, there will be some trouble.'
'Please. Please help my baby.'
'All right, ma'am. I knew you'd say that.'
'The doctor??'
'The doctor your husband brought. He's colored.'
Earl explained it once again.
'Ma'am, I don't care what your rules say. That's my wife in there and my child, and you need another doctor and this doctor has kindly consented to assist and he's delivered over a thousand babies through the years, so just step aside.'
'No Negroes are allowed in this hospital. That's the rule.' This was the hospital shift supervisor, a large woman in glasses, whose face was knit up tight as a fist as she clung to her part of the empire.
'That was yesterday. There are new rules now.'
'And who has made that determination?'
'I believe I have.'
'Sir, you have no right.'
'My wife and baby ain't going to die because you have some rule that never made no sense and is only waiting for someone to come along and blow it down in a single day. This is that day and I am that man.'
'I will have to call the sheriff.'
'I don't give a hang who you call, but this doctor is going to help my wife, and that's all there is to it. I'll thank you to move or so help me God I'll move you and you won't like it a bit. Now, for the last time, madam, get the goddamned hell out of our way.'
The woman yielded.
The two men walked in the corridor and a neighbor lady was standing there.
'You are not a man to be argued with, Mr. Swagger/' said Dr. James.
'No sir. Not today.'
A woman rushed to join them. She looked tired too, as if she'd been through it the same as Earl.
'Thank God you got here.'
'You're Mary Blanton. Oh, Mary, ain't you the best though. I called and your husband told me what was going on. Dr. James was good enough to say he'd come along.'
'Thank God you're here, doctor.'
'Yes ma'am.'
The young resident came out into the hall.
'Dr.??'
'Julius James. OB-GYN. NYU School of Medicine, 1932.'
'I'm Mark Harris, Northwestern, '44. Thank God you're here, doctor. We've got a posterior presentation and she's dilated all the way to fifteen and she's been in labor for twelve hours. That little bastard won't come out.'
'Okay, doctor, I'll scrub. I believe I can flip the baby. I've managed to do it several times before. We'll have to perform an episiotomy. Then you'll have to cut the cord when I get into her so it doesn't strangle the infant in the womb. Then you'll have to stitch her while I resuscitate the infant. Make sure to have…'
Earl watched the two men drift away, and they disappeared into the delivery room.
He went back outside, to the waiting room, which was now deserted. The woman who had given him so much trouble was gone.
He couldn't sit down. He tried not to think about what was going on in the delivery room, or the hours since he'd dumped the bodies, called home, talked to Phil Blanton, driven to Greenwood, begged Dr. Julius James to accompany him, and driven here.
'I am worried about the doctor,' he said to Mary. 'This could be dangerous for him. He doesn't deserve all this bad trouble.'
'Mr. Swagger, if they should move against him, they will be moving against you. I don't believe they will do that. They are bullies and cowards anyhow, not men.'
