I was determined to sit on the front steps and wait for my parents and Gran to return from the Latchers'. I could almost see the scene over there; the women in the back room with Libby, the men sitting outside with all those children, as far away from the birthing as possible. Their house was just across the river, not far at all, and I was missing it.

Fatigue was hitting hard, and I almost fell asleep. Camp Spruill was still and dark, but I hadn't seen Tally come back yet.

I tiptoed through the house, heard Pappy in a deep sleep, and went to the back porch. I sat on the edge with my legs hanging off. The fields beyond the barn and the silo were a soft gray when the moon broke through the scattered clouds. Otherwise, they were hidden in black. I saw her walking alone on the main field road, just as moonlight swept the land for a second. She was in no hurry. Then everything was black again. There was not a sound for a long time, until she stepped on a twig near the house.

"Tally," I whispered as loudly as I could.

After a long pause, she answered, "Is that you, Luke?"

"Over here," I said. "On the porch."

She was barefoot and made no sound when she walked. "What're you doin' out here, Luke?" she said, standing in front of me.

"Where've you been?" I asked.

"Just takin' a walk."

"Why are you takin' a walk?"

"I don't know. Sometimes I have to get away from my family."

That certainly made sense to me. She sat beside me on the porch, pulled her skirt up past her knees, and began swinging her legs.

"Sometimes I want to just run away from them," she said, very softly. "You ever want to run away, Luke?"

"Not really. I'm only seven. But I'm not gonna live here for the rest of my life."

"Where you gonna live?"

"St. Louis."

"Why St. Louis?"

"That's where the Cardinals play."

"And you're gonna be a Cardinal?"

"A Painted House"

"Sure am."

"You're a smart boy, Luke. Only a fool would wanna pick cotton for the rest of his life. Me, I wanna go up North, too, up where it's cool and there's lots of snow."

"Where?"

"I'm not sure. Montreal, maybe."

"Where's that?"

"Canada."

"Do they have baseball?"

"I don't think so."

"Then forget it."

"No, it's beautiful. We studied it in school, in history. It was settled by the French, and that's what everybody speaks."

"Do you speak French?"

"No, but I can learn."

"It's easy. I can already speak Spanish. Juan taught me last year."

"Really?"

"Si"

"Say something else."

"Buenos dias. Por favor. Adios. Gracias. Senor. Como esta?"

"Wow."

"See, I told you it was easy. How far away is Montreal?"

"I'm not sure. A long way, I think. That's one reason I wanna go there."

A light suddenly came on in Pappy's bedroom. It fell across the far end of the porch and startled us. "Be quiet," I whispered.

"Who is it?" she whispered back, ducking as if bullets were about to come our way.

"That's just Pappy getting some water. He's up and down all night long." Pappy went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. I watched him through the screen door. He drank two glasses of water, then stomped back to his bedroom and turned off the light. When things were dark and silent again, she said, "Why is he up all night?"

"He worries a lot. Ricky's fightin' in Korea."

"Who's Ricky?"

"My uncle. He's nineteen."

She pondered this for a moment, then said, "Is he cute?"

"I don't know. Don't really think about that. He's my best buddy, and I wish he'd come home."

We thought about Ricky for a moment as our feet dangled off the porch and the night passed.

"Say, Luke, the pickup left before dinner. Where'd it go?"

"Over to the Latchers'."

"Who are they?"

"Some sharecroppers just across the river."

"Why'd they go over there?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

" 'Cause it's a secret."

"What kinda secret?"

"Big one."

"Come on, Luke. We already have secrets, don't we?"

"I guess."

"I haven't told anybody that you watched me at the creek, have I?"

"I guess not."

"And if I did, you'd get in big trouble, wouldn't you?"

"I reckon I would."

"So there. I can keep a secret, you can keep a secret. Now what's goin' on over at the Latchers'?"

"You promise you won't tell."

"I promise."

The whole town already knew Libby was pregnant. What was the use in pretending it was a secret anyway? "Well, there's this girl, Libby Latcher, and she's havin' a baby. Right now."

"How old is she?"

"Fifteen."

"Gosh."

"And they're tryin' to keep it quiet. They wouldn't call a real doctor 'cause then everybody would know about it. So they asked Gran to come over and birth the baby."

"Why are they keepin' it quiet?"

" 'Cause she ain't married."

"No kiddin'. Who's the daddy?"

"She ain't sayin'."

"Nobody knows?"

"Nobody but Libby."

"Do you know her?"

"I've seen her before, but there's a bunch of Latchers. I know her brother Percy. He says he's twelve, but I'm not so sure. Hard to tell 'cause they don't go to school."

"Do you know how girls get pregnant?"

"I reckon not."

"Then I'd better not tell you."

That was fine with me. Ricky had tried once to talk about girls, but it was sickening.

Her feet swung faster as she digested this wonderful gossip. "The river ain't far," she said.

" 'Bout a mile."

"How far on the other side do they live?"

"Just a little ways down a dirt trail."

"You ever see a baby birthed, Luke?"

"Nope. Seen cows and dogs but not a real baby."

"Me neither."

She dropped to her feet, grabbed my hand, and yanked me off the porch. Her strength was surprising. "Let's go, Luke. Let's go see what we can see." She was dragging me before I could think of anything to say.

"You're crazy, Tally," I protested, trying to stop her.

"No, Luke," she whispered. "It's an adventure, just like down at the creek the other day. You liked that, didn't you?"

"Sure did."

"Then trust me."

"What if we get caught?"

"How we gonna get caught? Everybody's sound asleep around here. Your grandpa just woke up and didn't think about lookin' in on you. Come on, don't be a chicken."

I suddenly realized I would've followed Tally anywhere.

We crept behind the trees, through the ruts where the truck should've been, along the short drive, staying as far away from the Spruills as possible. We could hear snoring and the heavy breathing of weary people asleep at last. We made it to the road without a sound. Tally was quick and agile, and she cut through the night. We turned toward the river, and the moon broke free and lit our path. The one-lane road was barely wide enough for two trucks to squeeze past each other, and cotton grew close to its edges. With no moon we had to watch our steps, but with the light we could look up and see ahead. We were both barefoot. There was just enough gravel in the road to keep our steps short and quick, but the soles of our feet were like the leather of my baseball glove.

"A Painted House"

I was scared but determined not to show it. She seemed to have no fear-no fear of getting caught, no fear of the darkness, no fear of sneaking up on a house where a baby was being born. At times Tally was aloof, almost moody and dark, and seemed as old as my mother. Then she could be a kid who laughed when she played baseball, liked being looked at when she bathed, took long walks in the dark, and most important, enjoyed the company of a seven-year-old.

We stopped in the center of the bridge and carefully looked over its side at the water below. I told her about the channel catfish down there, about how big they were and the trash they fed on, and about the forty-four-pound one that Ricky had caught. She held my hand as we crossed to the other side, a gentle squeeze, one of affection and not safeguarding.

The trail to the Latchers' was much darker. We slowed considerably because we were trying to see the house while staying on the trail. Since they had no electricity, there were no lights, nothing but blackness in their bend of the river.

She heard something and stopped cold. Voices, off in the distance. We stepped to the edge of their cotton and waited patiently for the moon. I pointed here and there and gave her my best guess as to the location of their house. The voices were of children, no doubt the Latcher brood.

The moon finally cooperated, and we got a look at the landscape. The dark shadow of the house was the same distance as our barn was to our back porch, about 350 feet, same as home plate is from the outfield wall in Sportsman's Park. Most great distances in my life were measured by that wall. Pappy's truck was parked in the front.

"We'd better go around this way," she said calmly, as if she'd led many such raids. We sank into the cotton and followed one row and then another as we silently moved in a great semicircle through their crops. In most places, their cotton was almost as tall as I was. When we came to a gap where the stalks were thin, we stopped and studied the terrain. There was a faint light in the back room of the house, the room where they kept Libby. When we were directly east of it, we began cutting across rows of cotton, very quietly moving toward the house.

The chances of someone seeing us were slim. We weren't expected, of course, and they were thinking of other matters. And the crops were thick and dark at night; a kid could crawl on hands and knees through the stalks without ever being seen.

My partner in crime moved deftly, as ably as any soldier I'd seen in the movies. She kept her eyes on the house and carefully brushed the stalks aside, always clearing a path for me. Not a word was spoken. We took our time, slowly advancing on the side of the house. The cotton grew close to the narrow dirt yard, and when we were ten rows away, we settled in a spot and surveyed the situation.

We could hear the Latcher kids gathered near our pickup, which was parked as far away from the front porch as possible. My father and Mr. Latcher sat on the tailgate, talking softly. The children were quiet, and then they all talked at once. Everyone seemed to be waiting, and after a few minutes I got the impression they'd been waiting for a long time.

Before us was the window, and from our hiding place we were closer to the action than the rest of the Latchers and my father. And we were wonderfully hidden from everything; a searchlight from the roof of the house could not have spotted us.

There was a candle on a table of some sort just inside the window. The women moved around, and judging from the shadows that rose and fell, I figured there were several candles in the room. The light was dim, the shadows heavy.

"Let's move forward," Tally whispered. By then we'd been there for five minutes, and though I was frightened, I didn't think we would ever get caught.

We advanced ten feet, and then nestled down in another safe place.

"This is close enough," I said.

"Maybe."

The light from the room fell to the ground outside. The window had no screen, no curtains. As we waited, my heart slowed, and my breathing returned to normal. My eyes focused on the surroundings, and I began to hear the sounds of the night-the crickets' chorus, the bullfrogs croaking down by the river, the murmuring of the deep voices of the men in the distance.

My mother and Gran and Mrs. Latcher also talked in very low voices. We could hear, but we couldn't understand.

When all was quiet and still, Libby screamed in agony, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Her pained voice echoed through the fields, and I was sure she had died. Silence engulfed the pickup. Even the crickets seemed to stop for a second.

"What happened?" I asked.

"A labor contraction," Tally said, without taking her eyes off the window.

"What's that?"

She shrugged. "Just part of it. It'll get worse."

"That poor girl."

"She asked for it."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Never mind," she said.

Things were quiet for a few minutes, then we heard Libby crying. Her mother and Gran tried to console her. "I'm so sorry," Libby said over and over.

"A Painted House"

"It's gonna be all right," her mother said.

"Nobody'll know about it," Gran said. It was obviously a lie, but maybe it provided a little relief for Libby.

"You're gonna have a beautiful baby," my mother said.

A stray Latcher wandered over, one of the mid-sized ones, and sneaked its way close to the window, the same way I'd crept upon it just a few hours earlier, just moments before Percy nearly maimed me with the dirt clod. He or she-I couldn't tell the difference-began snooping and was getting an eyeful when an older sibling barked at the end of the house, "Lloyd, get away from that window."

Lloyd immediately withdrew and scurried away in the darkness. His trespass was promptly reported to Mr. Latcher, and a vicious tail-whipping ensued somewhere nearby. Mr. Latcher used a stick of some variety. He kept saying, "Next time I'll get me a bigger stick!" Lloyd thought the current one was more than enough. His screams probably could be heard at the bridge.

When the mauling was over, Mr. Latcher boomed, "I told you kids to stay close, and to stay away from the house!"

We could not see this episode, nor did we have to, to get the full effect.

But I was more horrified thinking about the severity and duration of the beating I'd get if my father knew where I was at that moment. I suddenly wanted to leave.

"How long does it take to have a baby?" I whispered to Tally. If she was weary, she didn't show it. She rested on her knees, frozen, her eyes never leaving the window.

"Depends. First one always takes longer."

"How long does the seventh one take?"

"I don't know. By then they just drop out, I guess. Who's had seven?"

"Libby's mom. Seven or eight. I think she drops one a year."

I was about to doze off when the next contraction hit. Again it rattled the house and led first to weeping and then to soothing words inside the room. Then things leveled off once more, and I realized this might go on for a long time.

When I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, I curled up on the warm soil between the two rows of cotton. "Don't you think we oughta leave?" I whispered.

"No," she said firmly, without moving.

"Wake me up if anything happens," I said.

Tally readjusted herself. She sat on her rear and crossed her legs, and gently placed my head in her lap. She rubbed my shoulder and my head. I didn't want to go to sleep, but I just couldn't help it.

When I awoke, I was at first lost in a strange world, lying in a field, in total blackness. I didn't move. The ground around me wasn't warm anymore, and my feet were cold. I opened my eyes and stared above, terrified until I realized there was cotton standing over me. I heard urgent voices nearby. Someone said, "Libby," and I was jolted back to reality. I reached for Tally, but she was gone.

I rose from the ground and peered through the cotton. The scene hadn't changed. The window was still open, the candles still burning, but my mother and Gran and Mrs. Latcher were very busy.

"Tally!" I whispered urgently, too loud, I thought, but I was more scared than ever.

"Shhhhh!" came the reply. "Over here."

I could barely see the back of her head, two rows in front and over to the right. She had, of course, angled for a better view. I knifed through the stalks and was soon at her side.

Home plate is sixty feet from the pitcher's mound. We were much closer to the window than that. Only two rows of cotton stood between us and the edge of their side yard. Ducking low and looking up through the stalks, I could finally see the shadowy sweating faces of my mother and grandmother and Mrs. Latcher. They were staring down, looking at Libby, of course, and we could not see her. I'm not sure I wanted to at this point, but my buddy certainly did.

The women were reaching and shoving and urging her to push and breathe and push and breathe, all the while assuring her that things were going to be fine. Things didn't sound fine. The poor girl was bawling and grunting, occasionally yelling-high piercing shrieks that were hardly muffled by the walls of the room. Her anguished voice carried deep through the still night, and I wondered what her little brothers and sisters thought of it all.

When Libby wasn't grunting and crying, she was saying, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." It went on and on, time after time, a mindless chant from a suffering girl.

"It's okay, sweetie," her mother replied a thousand times.

"Can't they do something?" I whispered.

"Nope, not a thing. The baby comes when it wants to."

I wanted to ask Tally just exactly how she knew so much about childbirthing, but I held my tongue. It was none of my business, and she would probably tell me so.

Suddenly, things were quiet and still inside the room. The Chandler women backed away, then Mrs. Latcher leaned down with a glass of water. Libby was silent.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Nothing."

The break in the action gave me time to think of other things, namely getting caught. I'd seen enough. This adventure had run its course. Tally had likened it to the trip to Siler's Creek, but it paled in comparison with that little escapade. We'd been gone for hours. What if Pappy stumbled into Ricky's room to check on me? What if one of the Spruills woke up and started looking for Tally? What if my father got bored with it all and went home?

"A Painted House"

The beating I'd get would hurt for days, if in fact I survived it. I was beginning to panic when Libby started heaving loudly again, while the women implored her to breathe and push.

"There it is!" my mother said, and a frenzy followed as the women hovered frantically over their patient.

"Keep pushin'!" Gran said loudly.

Libby groaned even more. She was exhausted, but at least the end was in sight.

"Don't give up, sweetie," her mother said. "Don't give up."

Tally and I were perfectly still, mesmerized by the drama. She took my hand and squeezed it tightly. Her jaws were clenched, her eyes wide with wonder.

"It's comin'!" my mother said, and for a brief moment things were quiet. Then we heard the cry of a newborn, a quick gurgling protest, and a new Latcher had arrived.

"It's a boy," Gran said, and she lifted up the tiny infant, still covered in blood and afterbirth.

"It's a boy," Mrs. Latcher repeated.

There was no response from Libby.

I'd seen more than I bargained for. "Let's go," I said, trying to pull away, but Tally wasn't moving.

Gran and my mother continued working on Libby while Mrs. Latcher cleaned the baby, who was furious about something and crying loudly. I couldn't help but think of how sad it would be to become a Latcher, to be born into that small, dirty house with a pack of other kids.

A few minutes passed, and Percy appeared at the window. "Can we see the baby?" he asked, almost afraid to look in.

"In a minute," Mrs. Latcher replied.

They gathered at the window, the entire collection of Latchers, including the father, who was now a grandfather, and waited to see the baby. They were just in front of us, halfway between home and the mound, it seemed, and I stopped breathing for fear they would hear us. But they weren't thinking about intruders. They were looking at the open window, all still with wonder.

Mrs. Latcher brought the infant over and leaned down so he could meet his family. He reminded me of my baseball glove; he was almost as dark, and wrapped in a towel. He was quiet for the moment and appeared unimpressed with the mob watching him.

"How's Libby?" one of them asked.

"She's fine," Mrs. Latcher said.

"Can we see her?"

"No, not right now. She's very tired." She withdrew the baby, and the other Latchers retreated slowly to the front of the house. I could not see my father, but I knew he was hiding somewhere near his truck. Hard cash could not entice him to look at an illegitimate newborn.

For a few minutes, the women seemed as busy as they'd been just before the birth, but then they slowly finished their work.

My trance wore off, and I realized that we were a long way from home. "We gotta go, Tally!" I whispered urgently. She was ready and I followed her as we backtracked, cutting our way through the stalks until we were away from the house, then turning south and running with the rows of cotton. We stopped to get our bearings. The light from the window could not be seen. The moon had disappeared. There were no shapes or shadows from the Latcher place. Total darkness.

We turned west, again stepping across the rows, cutting through the stalks, pushing them aside so they wouldn't scrape our faces. The rows ended, and we found the trail leading to the main road. My feet hurt, and my legs ached, but we couldn't waste time. We ran to the bridge. Tally wanted to watch the waters swirling below, but I made her keep going.

"Let's walk," she said, on our side of the bridge, and for a moment we stopped running. We walked in silence, both of us trying to catch our breath. Fatigue was quickly gaining on us; the adventure had been worth it, but we were paying the price. We were approaching our farm when there was a rumbling behind us. Headlights! On the bridge! In terror, we bolted into high gear. Tally could easily outrun me, which would've been humiliating except that I didn't have time for shame, and she held back a step so she wouldn't lose me.

I knew my father would not drive fast, not at night, on our dirt road, with Gran and my mother with him, but the headlights were still gaining on us. When we were close to our house, we jumped the shallow ditch and ran along a field. The engine was getting louder.

"I'll wait here, Luke," she said, stopping near the edge of our yard. The truck was almost upon us. "You run to the back porch and sneak in. I'll wait till they go inside. Hurry."

I kept running, and darted around the back corner of the house just as the truck pulled into the yard. I crept into the kitchen without a sound, then to Ricky's room, where I grabbed a pillow and curled up on the floor, next to the window. I was too dirty and wet to get into bed, and I prayed they'd be too tired to check on me.

They made little noise as they entered the kitchen. They whispered as they removed their shoes and boots. A ray of light slanted into my room. Their shadows moved through it, but no one looked in on little Luke. Within minutes they were in bed, and the house was quiet. I planned to wait a bit, then slip into the kitchen and wash my face and hands with a cloth. Afterward I'd crawl into the bed and sleep forever. If they heard me moving about, I'd simply say that they had awakened me when they got home.

"A Painted House"

Formulating this plan was the last thing I remember before falling fast asleep.