Finally, it was near midnight, and I said to Stacey, “We need to go.”
Christopher-John stood and stretched. “It’s late, Stacey. Folks’ll be getting worried.”
Stacey looked around the darkened church. “Just a while longer,” he said.
I looked around too. Levis and Maynard were seated on the front pew, right in front of the coffin. The other brothers had found pews near the back of the church and were lying down. “You think he’s coming, don’t you?”
“If he’s coming,” Man said in a low voice, “it’ll be tonight. Only chance to say good-bye to Morris.”
Stacey got up without answering me and went to the front pew and spoke to Levis. Then the two of them walked past the pulpit and left the sanctuary through the rear door. They were gone some time before Stacey returned alone. “Where’d you go?” I asked as he sat back down.
“To find Moe” was all he said.
Christopher-John, Man, and I just looked at him. Then the rear door opened again and a man came in.
It was Moe.
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
He had made his way as far as Jackson driving Dwayne’s car. Once in Jackson, he went to the family of a man who had worked at the plant with him in Detroit, and the man’s father had driven him as far as the outskirts of Strawberry. Moe had walked the woods to Great Faith, arriving late in the night. He had been hiding in the church crawl space ever since. It was a crawl space not shown on any of the plans submitted to the county and that was for a reason. It was meant to be a place for secret shelter. When the church was rebuilt after the fire, Papa and some of the other men had insisted on such a space, and Stacey and Levis and Morris, among others, had carved it out of the ground. Both Stacey and Levis had shared information about the space with Moe, and they figured if Moe was in hiding, that was where he would be. He was.
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
When Moe entered the sanctuary, he just stood by the door for several moments, his hat in his hands, then, slowly, he approached the casket. Levis came behind him. Maynard stood up, watching Moe, but did not go to him. Moe reached the coffin, stood there a moment, his head bowed, and gingerly placed one hand flat on top of the coffin. Then he fell to his knees, leaned his head against the side of the coffin, and cried.
His sobs echoed through the church. The brothers lying in the back pews sat up. Levis and Maynard just stood respectfully by, their heads lowered too. The other brothers came slowly up the aisle to the front and stood with Levis and Maynard, gazing upon their eldest brother as he wept for their youngest. They did not go to comfort him. They waited for Moe to be ready. Finally, there was an audible gasp from Moe as his sobbing ceased. Slowly, he raised himself from his knees and stood, still facing the coffin. Then he turned, and all his brothers rushed to him. The boys and I waited as the brothers reunited before we went to join them. I hugged Moe, kissed his cheek, then, holding tight on to his arm, I said, “You’re all right. You’re all right.”
Moe’s smile was faint. “Yeah, Cassie, I’m all right.”
“You know you can’t stay long,” said Stacey. “Those men are still outside.”
“But the doors are locked,” Levis told Moe. “I don’t think they’ll try coming in. Far as they know, you didn’t come into the church. Pastor said the sheriff’s deputy was here early yesterday morning and walked all through the church, and they’ve been watching the front and back all the day since. There’s time to sit a spell.”
Moe shook his head. “I need to get home and see Daddy.”
“How are you going to get over there?” I asked. I glanced at Levis. “You going to take him?”
“Levis, you can’t leave,” objected Stacey. “Those men’ll be expecting all of you to stay in here with Morris. I can take him over.”
I questioned that. “And how you plan to do that? The car’s out front, church lights on. How’s Moe supposed to get to the car without being seen? Can’t hardly turn the church lights off after all this time. They’d get suspicious.”
“Not only that,” said Christopher-John, “they’ve probably got men over that way watching Levis’s house. You drive that road, they’ll see you coming.”
“No need for anybody to drive me anywhere,” said Moe. “I’ll walk the woods.”
“I’ll walk with you then,” said Levis.
I put another question to Moe. “And how you plan to get back to Jackson? You going to walk there too? What if somebody recognizes you?”
“I’m not worried about that. It’s been more than twenty years since I’ve been home. I don’t figure most folks to recognize me.”
“Someone maybe already has,” submitted Levis.
Moe ignored that. “Well, anyway, I’ve got it planned how to get around.”
“What else do you have planned?” I asked. “If you’re planning to go after somebody about Morris, don’t do it, Moe. Don’t do it!”
Moe just looked at me. Stacey glanced from me to Moe. “Cassie, let it be. I’ve already talked to Moe about all this, that it could have been any of these white people caused Morris’s death. Levis, Maynard, you talk sense to him. Moe, when you’re ready to go to Jackson, we’ll take you.”
“No,” said Moe.
“Moe, you can’t walk all the way back to Jackson. Your brothers will take you or we will.”
“I said no! None of you are taking me anywhere. You’ve done enough, Stacey. All of you have, and I don’t want any of you facing any more trouble because of me. I got down here on my own and I’ll get back on my own.”
Moe was adamant. He wasn’t changing his mind.
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
It was decided. Moe and Levis would leave by the rear door. The lights were off at the rear of the church, and all lights in the hallway leading to that back door were off. Outside, there were decorative bushes on either side of the door that would give them some cover. From the hallway they would belly-crawl the steps and across the lawn to the woods. Levis said he had done that during the war and figured they could make it to the woods without being seen. We talked for a short while longer, held hands, and prayed. Then Moe asked Levis to lift the lid to the coffin. He wanted to see Morris. I stepped away. The coffin was opened, and for several minutes Moe stood there gazing down at Morris, saying his final good-bye. Moe himself closed the coffin and, turning from it, hugged each of his brothers, Christopher-John, Man, and Stacey. I was the last one he hugged. Then he and Levis left the sanctuary.