Parkins stood and came over to us.
âAnd a miracle weâll have here soon, I believe. Alabama isnât as far behind as people think.â
She put the tray down and went back into the kitchen, and the way she did it showed that she wanted to say something else but couldnât âcause she knew it wasnât a womanâs place to say it in front of all them people.
âWhatâs wrong with her?â I whispered to Willie.
âIt ainât nothing,â he whispered back. âSheâs been bellyaching to Pa that sheâd like us to pick up stakes and move up north somewhere, âcause folks here ainât so happy with a black family living nearby.â
âYâall are thinking of moving?â I asked. That hit me like a sack of bricks.
âNo, we ainât going to move. She gets on these kicks every time something hits the news about the race problems around here. We just got to ride it out. Like Pa says, Alabama ainât that far behind.â
Mrs. Parkins came back out with a pitcher of lemonade.
âBy the way, Johnny,â she said, âWillie told me you have a visitor thatâs about to have a baby. How is she?â
I shrugged. How are you supposed to answer a question like that?
âStill pregnant, so I guess about as good as can be expected.â
She nodded like that was the perfect answer. Women was weird.
Willie grabbed my arm.
âThat reminds me,â he said. âCome on.â
He dragged me into his bedroom and pulled the letter that was supposedly from Tommy off the wall.
âI was thinking about what you said, about Antonia and Rose being spies, and it got me to thinking, what if Tommy was being a spy when he wrote this letter?â
âThat donât make no sense,â I said. âHe was a pilot, not a spy.â
âNo, I donât mean like a literal spy.â He put the letter on his desk and started looking at it more closer. âI mean, what if he was thinking like a spy. What if he wrote it in code?â
Well, that sounded more interesting, but there was a problem.
âBut Tommy wouldnât have no reason to write me in code.â
âRight, but what if he didâ ?â He pointed at something on the letter. âI mean, look at how many times he wrote âfirst letter.â He wrote it five times.â
âI donât know, I think maybe he was just drunk. Heâd written me before, so that ainât even true.â
âRight, so maybe itâs a clue,â Willie said. âWhat happens if we just take the first letter of the words and try to read them?â
I looked at the letter. I could tell that wasnât going to work just by the first sentence.
âIt says âwmfl.â That donât mean nothing.â
He nodded but kept looking at it.
âOkay, but what if we start here at the paragraph that says âKnowing every elected politicianâ? âCause, look, this sentence thatâs standing all by itself doesnât have no period. Almost like itâs leading into whatever this paragraph is saying. âBut what I really need to say isâ what?â
I looked at it again.
âIt starts with âKnowing,â so K . Then âevery,â so E . Then another E , then a P . So âKeep.âââ I was starting to see what he was saying.
âThen Y ,â he said. âAnd O . U . Then R . Your. Then B . L . O . Uh, letâs see. O . Then D .â
We looked at each other and both said it at the same time.
âBlood.â
Dadgum. The hairs on the back of my neck was starting to raise. Willie real quick underlined the first letters of the rest of the paragraph.
S atisfies A s F ailure E levates F ailure, R usting O ur M en. H ear A ntonia + R oseâs M essage
I read it, and my voice wasnât able to go above a whisper.
âââKeep your blood safe from harm.âââ
We both stared