Jon knew the sergeant was making up the rules as he went along, but he also knew he had to get Ruby as far away from Sexton as possible. He needed to protect them both.
“Look, the kid is probably dead,” Sergeant Hawkins said. “The grub killed him, or maybe his mama did. You still want to get married? You can change your mind, and we’ll put the grub in jail, where she belongs. There are plenty of other grubber girls, and they look pretty much the same in bed.”
“I’ll marry her,” Jon said.
“Don’t say you weren’t warned,” the sergeant said. He grabbed Ruby’s arm and pulled her off the chair. “It’s your wedding day, grub girl,” he said. “Congratulations.”
“Here are the cuffs,” Officer Summers said, tossing a pair to the sergeant. “Don’t want the bride making a break for it.”
Jon watched as the sergeant cuffed Ruby’s wrists. He told himself it didn’t matter, none of this mattered. He loved Sarah, but she was in Virginia, lost to him forever.
If he wanted to stay alive and out of the mines, this was the only thing to do. The marriage was meaningless. Somehow he’d shake Ruby off and find Miranda and Alex.
The sergeant half dragged Ruby the few blocks to the church. “She sure isn’t crazy about marrying you,” he said.
“Yeah,” Jon said. “I’m the only one who’s crazy.”
The sergeant laughed. He laughed pretty much all the way to the church.
Lisa’s funeral had been there the day before, Jon thought. Reverend Minter had said the eulogy. Now he was being approached by the sergeant and asked to perform a quick but legal marriage ceremony.
“You sure about this, Jon?” Reverend Minter asked. “I don’t want you rushing into something if you’re not one hundred percent certain.”
“I’m certain,” Jon said. “Look, Reverend, I’ve known Ruby for a while. I have very strong feelings about her.”
The sergeant laughed even harder.
Jon ignored him and Ruby, who looked like she wanted to kill all of them. “Just perform the service,” Jon said. “Then we’ll leave Sexton and get out of your hair.”
“Keep it short,” Sergeant Hawkins said. “This one is real impatient.” He held up Ruby’s cuffed arms.
“Do you have a ring?” Reverend Minter asked.
Jon shook his head.
“Well, it doesn’t matter,” the reverend said. “All right. What are your full names?”
“Jon Evans,” Jon said. “Jonathan.”
“Ruby,” she whispered angrily.
“Come on, girl,” Reverend Minter said. “What’s your last name?”
“Tell him to let go of my hands,” Ruby said.
“Sergeant, please,” the reverend said.
Sergeant Hawkins let Ruby’s arms drop.
“Maybe you could remove her cuffs?” Reverend Minter asked.
“She stays cuffed until she’s out of Sexton,” the sergeant replied. “Think of them as her wedding ring.”
Jon nodded. “Ruby, tell them your name,” he said. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Grub,” Ruby said. “Ruby Grub.”
Sergeant Hawkins struck her hard against her cheek.
“No!” she cried. “That is my real name. Ruby Grubb. G-R-U-B-B.”
The three men burst out laughing. When one of them stopped, one of the others would make a joke about really marrying a grub, and they’d laugh all over again.
Reverend Minter was still snorting when he began the ceremony. “Do you, Jonathan Evans, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to honor and cherish her, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, to be faithful only unto her?”
“I do,” Jon said.
“And do you, Ruby Grubb”—and here the reverend cracked up again— “do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to honor and obey him, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, to be faithful only unto him?”
Ruby nodded. The sergeant kicked her.
“I do,” she mumbled.
“Take her wrist,” the minister said. “Now repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed.”
“With this ring, I thee wed,” Jon said, holding on to the handcuff.
“Look, Reverend, could you speed this up?” Sergeant Hawkins asked.
“I now pronounce you man and wife,” the reverend said.
Sergeant Hawkins tossed the handcuff key to Jon. “You may now uncuff the bride,” he said. “Give me your ID badge, Evans, and get going.”
Jon uncuffed Ruby and then removed his badge. He hoped the sergeant didn’t see him shaking. It was one thing to participate in this sham of a wedding. It was another to give up the badge that had protected him for so long.
Sergeant Hawkins grabbed the ID badge and then cuffed Jon to Ruby. “All right,” he said. “Sooner the two of you are out of Sexton the better.”
“Good luck, Jon,” Reverend Minter exclaimed as the sergeant pushed Jon and Ruby onto the street.
“Keep walking,” Sergeant Hawkins said. “Don’t make me hurt you on your wedding day.”
Jon kept his head down, hoping no one he knew could see him. He knew it didn’t matter, that he’d never be back to Sexton, never see the people he’d shared his life with, but still he felt overwhelmed with shame. He was no longer a claver. As far as Sergeant Hawkins was concerned, he was no better than a grub trespassing on Sexton property.
At least Ruby was keeping quiet. Jon understood she’d never thank him for saving her from the mines, but he knew what he was giving up for her. And because of her.
The sergeant walked behind them and alternated prodding Jon and Ruby with his gun butt. When he had to, Jon pulled Ruby along, making her walk even faster.
They got to the gate. The sergeant showed his identification to the guard. “I’m uncuffing them now,” he said. “Then they’re out of here.”
“You can let them loose,” the guard said. “I got them in my sites.”
Sergeant Hawkins uncuffed Jon first, then Ruby. He pushed them out of the gate, out of Sexton.
“Get the hell out of here,” he said. “Don’t either of you show your faces in Sexton again.”
For a moment Ruby stood still. Then Jon grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the gate.
“Come on,” he said. “The highway’s this way.”
“What makes you think I’m going with you?” Ruby asked.
“You want to live, don’t you?” Jon said. “Come on.” He grabbed her hand and held it tightly as they began walking away.
“Hold it, mister,” Ruby said. “I can see the sun. Which way you taking me?”
“East,” Jon said.
“White Birch’s west of here,” she said. “Why ain’t we going west?”
“Because we’re not going to White Birch,” Jon said. “Now, come on, Ruby. The guard can still shoot us. We’ve got to get moving.”
Ruby stood still. “I’m going home to White Birch,” she declared.
Jon wanted nothing more than to be rid of her. But Ruby in White Birch was almost as dangerous as Ruby in Sexton. She could still talk. She could still be overheard. Jon could still be found.
“You’re coming with me,” he said. “You married me, Ruby.”
“I didn’t want to!” she cried. “You all made me.”
“Nobody made you,” Jon said. “Nobody can make a person get married. Not if they really don’t want to. A minister married us, Ruby. A man of God. And you vowed you would obey me for the rest of your life. That was a vow you made to God, and if you break that sacred vow, you’ll be damned in hell for all eternity. I say we’re going east. We’re going east.”
“What’re you going to do to me?” she asked.
Jon shook his head. “I’m not going to do anything to you,” he said. “I never did, and I’m not about to. But we have to get moving. It’s for your sake, Ruby. If you go back to your parents, the police will find you. The
y’ll blame you for Lisa’s death, for Gabe’s kidnapping. I’m taking you someplace where you won’t get hurt. Once we’re there, we’ll decide what to do next. All right? You know you can trust me. I’ve never hurt you.”
“You’ll be sorry,” she said, but she began walking in Jon’s direction.
“I’m sorry now,” Jon said. “Come on. It’ll be dark soon. Let’s get some distance between us and Sexton while we can.”
Ruby scowled. “Don’t come anywhere near me tonight,” she said. “I don’t care what God thinks. I ain’t gonna obey you that way.”
“Fair enough,” Jon said. “Let’s go.”
Saturday, August 1
“We gotta stop,” Ruby said. “I can’t walk another step more.”
“All right,” Jon said. He estimated they’d walked about ten miles the day before, and today they’d been walking since dawn. Each step was getting harder. He hadn’t eaten in close to a day, and he had no idea how long it had been since Ruby had.
They sat on the ground by the side of the highway. Jon saw the fifth truck of the day.
A few days ago he’d waved his ID badge and a trucker had pulled over immediately. Now they whizzed by with no intention of helping.
Well, they’d help Ruby. But Jon wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
“How much longer do we gotta go?” Ruby asked, rubbing her feet.
“I don’t know,” Jon admitted. “A few more days, I guess.”
“We ain’t gonna make it without food or water,” Ruby said.
“We had water a few hours ago,” Jon said. “We’ll get food somehow.”
“Water probably poisoned,” Ruby said. “Biggest mistake I ever made in my life, letting you marry me.” She wiggled her toes. “Think we really are married?”
“I know we are,” Jon said. “The minister doesn’t do fake weddings.” He shuddered to think what Ruby might do if she decided they weren’t really married. It was the only hold he had on her, and they were still too close to Sexton for him to take any chances.
“Can I ask a question?” he said, following her example and rubbing his feet.
“You’re gonna anyway,” Ruby said. “Gotta obey you, I guess.”
“I don’t think you’ll burn for all eternity if you don’t answer,” Jon said. “What I want to know . . . Well, when we were at Lisa’s, you were all over me. I had to push you away. But since we got married, you won’t let me anywhere near you. Why not?”
Ruby shrugged. “You was a claver before,” she said. “Now you’re just a grub. That’s why not.”
“I’m not a grub,” Jon said.
“Well, you ain’t no claver,” she said. “If you ain’t a claver, you must be a grub.”
“That’s not true,” Jon said. “The world isn’t just clavers and grubs. Take those cops yesterday. They weren’t grubs. And teachers. They’re not grubs. They’re just not clavers. They’re something in between.”
“All I know is clavers and grubs,” Ruby said. “And I ain’t letting no grub have me. Not even if he says he’s my husband.”
“I married you to protect you,” Jon said. “You know what would’ve happened to you in the mines? You want to guess how long you would’ve lasted?”
“We ain’t gonna last too long unless we get some food,” Ruby said. “Ain’t that an exit sign up ahead? Maybe there’s a town there.”
Jon squinted. “It’s for Bellingham,” he said. The Sexton team had played them back in October. “It’s a grubtown. They won’t have any food for us.”
“We ain’t gonna get any anyplace else,” Ruby said.
Jon felt sick at the thought of begging from grubs. “No,” he said.
Ruby stared at him. “I know I promised for better or poorer until death,” she said. “And I guess God’ll strike me down if I don’t obey you, whether I want to or not. But there’s no food on this highway, and we don’t know when we’ll see water next. I say we go to Bellingham, to the church there, and do some work. Ministers are kind. They gotta be. It’s their job when they ain’t marrying people, even those who don’t want to.”
It would be different if they worked for food, Jon told himself. It would be different if they got the food from a minister. Besides, even if he could go a few more miles before stopping, that didn’t mean Ruby could. He’d made the same vows, for better or worse. Like it or not, he owed her.
“Okay,” he said. “We’ll go to the church in Bellingham and see if we can work for food. But then we start back on the road. The farther we get from Sexton the better.”
Ruby put her shoes back on and rose. “You sure do hate that enclave of yours,” she said.
“They’re not crazy about me, either,” Jon replied. “Let’s hope the minister in Bellingham is as nice as you say.”
Ruby began walking toward the exit ramp. “Grub work,” she said. “Grub food. You’ll get used to it, Mr. Jon. One of these days you’ll know you’re a grub, just the same as me.”
Monday, August 3
“I have to admit it,” Jon said as he sprawled on the ground next to Ruby. “You were right.”
“Right about what, Mr. Jon?” Ruby asked.
“About working for our food, Mrs. Ruby,” Jon replied.
“I told you not to call me that,” Ruby said. “‘Mrs. Ruby’ sounds stupid.”
“Well, so does ‘Mr. Jon,’” Jon said. “But I can’t get you to stop. Even though you’re supposed to obey me.”
“Well, I don’t see you doing much honoring or cherishing, neither,” Ruby said.
Jon laughed. “Fair enough,” he said. “Good night, Mrs. Ruby.”
“Good night, Mr. Jon,” Ruby mumbled.
Ruby fell asleep quickly, Jon had learned over the past few days. But no matter how much labor Jon had done or how hungry he was, sleep didn’t come easily.
He’d thought spending so much time with Ruby would have tempted him, but when he thought about her as his wife, the image of Sarah flooded over him. Sarah’s lips against his, her heart pounding as he held her tightly.
Jon understood that as the world now was, he would never see Sarah again. But what he’d come to understand was how quickly worlds could change. Four months ago he hadn’t met Sarah. One month ago he hadn’t met Ruby.
One month ago his mother was still alive. A week ago Lisa was.
He willed himself to fall asleep. They’d leave at dawn and get as much walking in as they could before finding a town and looking for work. Maybe someone would feed them before they began their scrubbing. Then, with the money they made today and the money they’d make tomorrow, they could buy enough food to last them until Sunday if they were careful.
Things will be different, he thought, as he drifted off to sleep. Different. Better. In a week things will be better.
Tuesday, August 4
The job Ruby had found for them that day was cleaning a grubber school. Claver schools had grubs to do their cleaning, but no one bothered cleaning a grubber school. For the promise of a dollar and a breakfast of potatoes and cabbage, Jon and Ruby had swept and scrubbed the floors. Now they were outside washing the windows, Jon on the ladder doing the second story while Ruby stayed on the ground.
“When you think they washed these windows last, Mr. Jon?” Ruby asked.
“Not since the world came to an end,” Jon said as he tried to remove four years’ worth of filth. “Ruby, if I’m not a claver anymore, why don’t you call me Jon?”
“I only call my friends by their rightful names,” Ruby replied. “You ain’t my friend, Mr. Jon.”
At first Jon thought he was laughing so hard he made the ladder rattle. Then he realized it was the familiar rumble of an earthquake. Not what he wanted to feel on top of a ladder.
“Hold on tight!” Ruby shouted. She raced over to the ladder and held on to it as it shook wildly.
Jon grasped the side of the building. He was only one flight up, he told himself. Even if he fell, it wouldn’t be so bad.
Bu
t if he fell the wrong way, he could end up with a concussion or a broken ankle, or any of another dozen things that in this world could prove fatal.
The tremor passed, but Jon continued to shake as he scrambled down the ladder. “Thank you, Ruby,” he said.
“Nothing to thank me for, Mr. Jon,” she replied. “You take over these downstairs windows. They’re too tough for me.”
“No, Ruby,” Jon said. “I’ll be okay.”
“I don’t doubt that,” she said. “But I don’t feel like scraping you up off the ground.” She climbed up the ladder and began washing the windows, the pale glow of moonlight illuminating her work.
Eventually they finished and went in to get some sleep in what had been the nurse’s office. Ruby lay down on the floor.
Jon took her hand and gently raised her up. “You take the cot,” he said. “I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“You sure?” she asked. “Don’t seem right somehow.”
“It’s right,” he said. “Good night, Ruby. Thank you.”
“Don’t know what you’re thanking me for,” she mumbled before sinking into sleep.
Jon stretched out on the floor. Good thing he’d washed it, he thought. Clavers should never sleep on unwashed floors.
Wednesday, August 5
They’d spent the afternoon cleaning a clinic run by a grub who’d flunked out of med school twenty years ago. He promised them some money, but when they finished, he said he didn’t have any on him. If they came back tomorrow, he’d see what he could do.
Money would have meant food at the local market, but hunger was an old friend, and Jon knew how to live with it. Besides, he’d swiped an old road map, hiding it until he and Ruby were back on the road.
As soon as they took a break, Jon pulled the map out and traced their path. When he figured out where they were, he located Coolidge, where Matt and Syl lived. It was north and east. Working for food slowed them down, but if they found work tomorrow and rationed their food for the rest of the week, they had a chance of getting there before nightfall Monday.