Blood Game

Chapter Thirty-Two

Guild recognized the man right away, the tall, frenzied man in the ministerial frock coat and the insane dark eyes. He sat in a comer. Reverend Feely. The fat deputy stood next to him. The deputy said, “In this town you’re in trouble even if you shoot a colored.”

“He killed a white man. Coloreds have gone far enough. Don’t you agree?”

“Whether I agree or not don’t matter none. They still put you behind bars in this town when you shoot somebody.”

“Even a colored?”

“Even a colored.”

“I tell you they’ve gone far enough, and we’ve got to put a stop to it.”

“This is the gun you shot him with?”

“You think I’m ashamed of shooting him?”

“No. I s’pose not.”

“And I ain’t going to be ashamed when I go before a judge, neither.”

Guild knocked on the door that led to the interior room being used for dressing. When the door opened, he stepped back so Dr. Fitzgerald could step inside first.

Rooney lay on the training cot. In his black face his white eyes bulged. Silver sweat stood in cold beads on his face. His big hands favored the massive hole in his chest.

His trainer said, “We got the guy, Rooney. Deputy’s got him outside.”

Rooney seemed not to hear. He just stared up at the ceiling with those bulging eyes. Guild wondered what he was thinking about.

Dr. Fitzgerald went over and started examining him. Once Rooney moaned, as if enduring intolerable pain. He started crying soon after. “I’m gonna die, ain’t I, Doctor?”

“You’re going to be fine.”

“You’re lying and you know it. I’m gonna die. I beat Sovich and a white man shoots me. It ain’t fair.”

“You lie there now and let me have a closer look at that wound.”

“It ain’t fair.”

Guild watched Rooney’s eyes. They were quick now with panic and fear.

As Dr. Fitzgerald bent over him, Rooney said, “They got a priest around here?”

“Lie still now. I don’t think they have a priest.”

“I got to tell somebody what I did.” He writhed then with his pain. He was delivering death just as a birthing woman delivered life. Rooney looked over at Guild. “I poisoned this man, this nigger. He was a boxer. I shouldn’t ought to done that. I just wanted to get ahead, was all. That was all.”

His entire body jerked. His bulging eyes bulged even more. His body jerked again. His eyes closed, white eyes replaced by dark lids.

“He was lucky to make it this long,” Dr. Fitzgerald said.