Selectively Lawless. Asa Dunnington

      Johnny’s smile, which had reached his eyes, faded immediately. “I’ll make you eat those words.”

      “Come on, then.”

      Johnny practically leapt off the porch and charged toward Emmett, who reared back and hit him square in the jaw. Unstoppable force met immoveable object, except that, in spite of his advantage in size, Johnny was very stoppable on that day, and he dropped like a stone in the dirt.

      Everybody was quiet for a moment as they waited for Johnny to stir, and when he didn’t, for a moment, Chester thought he might be dead.

      But then Johnny moaned, and Emmett knelt beside him. He leaned over to whisper in his ear so Johnny’s father couldn’t hear. There was no need to embarrass him any further.

      “You hungry?”

      Johnny lifted his head slightly to look at Emmett, his eyes glassy.

      “Don’t worry, Johnny,” Emmett said. “I ain’t gonna make you eat dirt.”

      Chester laughed.

      “You thirsty?”

      Johnny, still not all back with them, nodded.

      “Then you’re gonna have to drive over to the next county, cause I ain’t gonna waste none of my whiskey on you.”

      Johnny’s eyes cleared a little, and he finally understood.

      “And if they ask why you drove so far, you go ahead and tell ’em Emmett Long sent you.”

      Johnny was silent. He looked completely awake now but too scared to get up for fear of being knocked down again.

      “Say it.”

      “Emmett Long sent me.”

      “Damn right.”

      Then Emmett stood up and tipped his hat to Mister Strange, who nodded respectfully in return. The father knew his son was a bully, and everybody knew what happened to men like that. Sooner or later, they ran into somebody who wouldn’t be bullied.

      As Emmett and Chester walked back to the car, Johnny managed to rise up on his elbows, his legs splayed out behind him and his head in his hands, like a kid shooting marbles.

      “You boys want some lemonade?”

      It was Missus Strange, who’d just stuck her head out the door, completely oblivious to what had just transpired in her front yard.

      Chester was about to take her up on the offer, but Emmett cut him off. “No, ma’am. We’re just fine.”

      Chester nodded in understanding and chimed in. “Thank you, though.”

      “All right, then,” she said cheerfully. “You boys come back anytime.”

      Mister Strange snorted.

      Emmett and Chester tipped their hats to the mother, who, unlike Johnny’s father, probably had no idea what an insufferable bully she’d given birth to. Then they got in the car, this time with Emmett in the driver’s seat.

      Emmett shifted into gear and drove away, shaking his head at Chester.

      “Lemonade,” he muttered with bemusement.

      “I was thirsty.”

      Emmett chuckled. “You and Johnny both.”

      They never heard another peep out of Johnny after that day, but the general consensus around town was that from that time forward, he didn’t ever take another drop of whiskey, even when it was legal again.