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I DONT KNOW if law enfort work is more dangerous now than what it used to be or not. I know when I first took office youd have a fistfight somewheres and youd go to break it up and theyd offer to fight you. And sometimes you had to aodate em.They wouldnt have it no other way. And youd better not lose, her. You dohat so muore, but maybe you see worse. I had a man pull a gun on me oime and it happehat I grabbed it just as he went to fire and the plunger on the hammer went right through the fleshy part of my thumb. You see the mark of it there. But that man had ever iion of killin me. A few years ago and it wasnt that maher I was goin out one of these little two lane blacktop roads of a night and I e up on a pickup truck that they was two old boys settin in the bed of it. They kindly blinked in the lights and I backed off some but the truck had Coahuila plates on it and I thought, well, I o stop these old boys and take a look. So I hit the lights and whenever I dohat I seen the slider window in the back of the cab open and here e somebody passin a shotgun out the windo<mark>..</mark>w to the old boy settin in the bed of the truck. Ill tell yht now I hit them brakes with both feet. It skidded the unit sideways to where the lights was goin out into the brush but the last thing I seen in the bed of the truck was the old boy puttin that shotgun to his shoulder. I hit the seat and I just had hit it when here e the windshield all over me in them little bitty pieces they break up into. I still had one foot on the brake and I could feel the cruiser slidin down into the bar ditd I thought it was goin to roll but it didnt. It filled the car just full of dirt. The old boy he opened up owice more and shot all the glass out of one side of the cruiser and by then Id e to a stop and I laid there in the seat, had my pistol out, and I heard that pickup leave out and I raised up and fired several shots at the taillights but they was long gone.
Point bein you dont know what all youre stoppin when you do stop somebody. You take out on the highway. You walk up to a car and you dont know what youre liable to find. I set there in that cruiser for a long time. The motor had died but the lights was still on.
Cab full of glass and dirt. I got out and kindly shook myself off and got ba and just set there. Just kindly colle my thoughts. Windshield wipers hangin in on the dashboard. I turned off the lights and I just set there. You take somebody that will actually throw down on a law enfort officer and open fire, you have got some very serious people. I never saw that truck again. Nobody else did her. Or not them plates noways. May９９ｌiｂ.be I should of took out after it. Or tried to. I dont know. I drove back to Sanderson and pulled in at the cafe and Ill tell you they e from all over to see that cruiser. It was shot just full of holes. Looked like the Bonnie and Clyde car. I didnt have a mark on me. Not even from all that glass. I was criticized for that too. Parkin there like I dohey said I was showin out. Well, maybe I was. But I hat cup of coffee too, Ill tell you.
I read the papers ever mornin. Mostly I suppose just to try and figure out what might be headed this way. Not that Ive done all that good a job at headin it off. It keeps gettin harder. Here a while back they was two boys run into one another and one of em was from California and one from Florida. And they met somewheres or other iween.
And then they set out together travelin around the try killin people. I fet how many they did kill. Now what are the ces of a thing like that! Them two had never laid eyes on one ahere t be that many of em. I dont think. Well, we dont know. Here the other day they was a ut her baby in a trash pactor. Who would think of such a thing? My wife wohe papers no more. Shes probably right. She generally is.
BELL CLIMBED THE REAR steps of the courthouse a down the hall to his office. He swiveled his chair around and sat and looked at the telephone. Go ahead, he said. Im here.
The ph. He reached and picked it up. Sheriff Bell, he said.
He listened. He nodded.
Mrs Downie I believe hell e down directly. Why dont you call me back here in a little bit. Yes mam.
He took off his hat and put it on the desk and sat with his eyes closed, ping the bridge of his nose. Yes mam, he said. Yes mam.
Mrs Downie I havehat many dead cats in trees. I think hell e down directly if youll just leave him be. You call me ba a little bit, you hear?
He hung the phone up and sat looking at it. Its money, he said. You have enough money you dont have to talk to people about cats in trees.
Well. Maybe you do.
The radio squawked. He picked up the receiver and pushed the button and put his feet up on the desk. Bell, he said.
He sat listening. He lowered his feet to the floor and sat up.
Get the keys and look iurtle. Thats all right. Im right here.
He drummed his fingers on the desk.
All right. Keep yhts on. Ill be there in fifty minutes. And Torbert? Shut the trunk.
He and Wendell pulled onto the paved shoulder in front of the unit and parked and got out. Tot out and was standing by the door of his car. The sheriff nodded. He walked along the edge of the roadway studying the tire tracks. You seen this, I re, he said.
Yessir.
Well lets take a look.
Torbert opehe trunk and they stood looking at the body. The front of the mans shirt was covered with blood, partly dried. His whole face was bloody. Bell leaned and reached into the trunk and took something from the mans shirtpocket and unfolded it. It was a bloodstained receipt fas from a service station in Jun Texas. Well, he said. This was the end of the road for Bill Wyrick.
I didnt look to see if he had a billfold on him.
Thats all right. He dont. This here was just dumb luck.
He studied the hole in the mans forehead. Looks like a .45. . Almost like a wadcutter.
Whats a wadcutter?
Its a target round. You got the keys?
Yessir.
Bell shut the trunklid. He looked around. Passing trucks oerstate were downshifting as they approached. Ive already talked to Lamar. Told him he have his unit ba about three days. I called Austin and theyre lookin for you first thing in the mornin. I aint loadin him into one of our units and he damn sure dont need a helicopter. You take Lamars unit back to Sonora when you get done and call and me or Wendell one will e a you. You got any money?
Yessir.
Fill out the report same as a.
Yessir.
White male, late thirties, medium build.
How do you spell Wyrick?
You dont spell it. We dont know what his name is.
Yessir.
He might have a family someplace.
Yessir. Sheriff?
Yes.
What do we have on the perpetrator?
We dont. Give Wendell your keys fore you fet it.
Theyre in the unit.
Well lets not be leavin keys in the units.
Yessir.
Ill see you in two days time.
Yessir.
I hope that son of a bitch is in California.
Yessir. I know what you mean.
I got a feelin he aint.
Yessir. I do too.
Wendell, you ready?
Wendell leaned and spat. Yessir, he said. Im ready. He looked at Torbert. You get stopped with that old boy iurtle just tell em you dont know nothin about it. Tell em somebody must of put him in there while you was havin coffee.
Torbert nodded. You and the sheriff goin to e down a me off of death row?
If we t get you out well get in there with you.
You all dont be makin light of the dead thataway, Bell said.
Wendell nodded. Yessir, he said. Youre right. I might be one myself some day.
Driving out 90 toward the turnoff at Dryden he came across a hawk dead in the road. He saw the feathers move in the wind. He pulled over and got out and walked bad squatted on his bootheels and looked at it. He raised one wing a fall again. Cold yellow eye dead to the blue vault above them.
It was a big redtail. He picked it up by one wingtip and carried it to the bar ditd laid it in the grass. They would hunt the blacktop, sitting on the high powerpoles and watg the highway in both dires for miles. Any small thing that might veo cross. Closing on their prey against the sun. Shadowless. Lost in the tration of the hunter. He wouldnt have the trucks running over it.
He stood there looking out across the desert. So quiet. Low hum of wind in the wires.
High bloodweeds along the road. Wiregrass and sacahuista. Beyond ione arroyos the tracks ons. The raw rock mountains shadowed ie sun and to the east the shimmering abscissa of the desert plains under a sky where raincurtains hung dark as soot all along the quadrant. That god lives in silence who has scoured the following land with salt and ash. He walked back to the cruiser and got in and pulled away.
When he pulled up in front of the sheriffs offi Sonora the first thing he saw was the yelloe stretched across the parking lot. A small courthouse crowd. He got out and crossed the street.
Whats happened, Sheriff?
I dont know, said Bell. I just got here.
He ducked uhe tape a ..up the steps. Lamar looked up wheapped at the door. e iom, he said. e i hell to pay here.
They walked out on the courthouse lawn. Some of the men followed them.
You all go on, said Lamar. Me and the sheriff here o talk.
He looked haggard. He looked at Bell and he looked at the ground. He shook his head and looked away. I used to play mumbledypeg here when I was a bht here.
These youoday I dont think would even know what that was. Ed Tom this is a damned lunatic.
I hear you.
You got anything to go on?
Not really.
Lamar looked away. He wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve. Ill tell yht now. This son of a bitch will never see a day in court. Not if I catch him he wont.
Well, we o catch him first.
That boy was married.
I didnt know that.
Twenty-three year old. cut boy. Straight as a die. Now I got to go out to his house fore his wife hears it on the damn radio.
I dont envy you that. I surely dont.
I think Im goin to quit, Ed Tom.
You wao go out there with you?
No. I appreciate it. I o go.
All right.
I just have this feelin were looking at somethin we really aint never even seen before.
I got the same feeli me call you this evenin.
I appreciate it.
He watched Lamar cross the lawn and climb the steps to his office. I hope you dont quit, he said. I think were goin to need all of you we get.
WHEN THEY PULLED up in front of the cafe it was owenty in the m. There were only three people on the bus.
Sanderson, the driver said.
Moss made his way forward. Hed seen the driver eyeing him in the mirror. Listen, he said. Do you think you could let me out down at the Desert Aire? I got a bad leg and I live down there but I got nobody to pick me up.
The driver shut the door. Yeah, he said. I do that.
When he walked i up off the coud ran and put her arms around his neck. I thought you was dead, she said.
Well I aint so dont go to slobberin.
I aint.
Why dont you fix me some ba and eggs while I take a shower.
Let me see that cut on your head. What happeo you? Wheres your truck at?
I o take a shower. Fix me somethin to eat. My stomach thinks my throats been cut.
When he came out of the shower he was wearing a pair of shorts and whe at the little formica table i the first thing she said was Whats that on the back of your arm?
How many eggs is this?
Four.
You got any more toast?
Theys two more pieces in. What is that, Llewelyn?
What would you like to hear?
The truth.
He sipped his coffee a about salting his eggs.
You aint goin to tell me, are you?
No.
What happeo y?
Its broke out in a rash.
She buttered the fresh toast and put it on the plate and sat in the chair opposite. I like to eat breakfast of a night, he said. Takes me bay bachelor days.
What is goin on, Llewelyn?
Heres whats goin on, Carla Jean. You o get your stuff packed and be ready to roll out of here e daylight. Whatever you leave you aint goin to see it again so if you want it dont leave it. Theres a bus leaves out of here at seven-fifteen in the mornin. I want you to go to Odessa and wait there till I call you.
She sat ba the chair and watched him. You wao go to Odessa, she said.
Thats correct.
You aint kiddin, are you?
Me? No. I aint kiddin a bit. Are we out of preserves?
She got up and got the preserves out of the refrigerator ahem oable and sat back down. He unscrewed the jar and ladled some onto his toast and spread it with his knife.
Whats in that satchel yht in?
I told you what was in that satchel.
You said it was full of money.
Well then I re thats whats in it.
Wheres it at?
Uhe bed in the ba.
Uhe bed.
Yes mam.
I go back there and look?
Youre free white and twenty-one so I re you do whatever you want.
I aint twenty-one.
Well whatever you are.
And you wao get on a bus and go to Odessa.
Yettin on a bus and goin to Odessa.
What am I supposed to tell Mama?
Well, try standin in the door and hollerin: Mama, Im home.
Wheres your truck at?
Gohe way of all flesh. Nothins forever.
How are we supposed to get down there in the mornin?
Call Miss Rosa over yonder. She aint got nothin to do.
What have you done, Llewelyn?
I robbed the bank at Fort Sto.
Youre a lyin sack of you k<df</dfn>now what.
If you aint goin to believe me whatd you ask me for? You o get on back there and get your stuff together. We got about four hours till daylight.
Let me see that thing on your arm.
You done seen it.
Let me put somethin on it.
Yeah, I think theres some buckshot salve in the et if we aint out. Will you go on and quit aggravatin me? Im tryin to eat.
Did you get shot?
No. I just said that to get you stirred up. Go on now.
HE CROSSED THE Pecos River just north of Sheffield Texas and took route 349 south.
When he pulled into the filling station at Sheffield it was almost dark. A lowilight with doves crossing the highway heading south toward some ranch tanks. He got ge from the proprietor and made a phone call and filled the tank a back in and paid.
You all gettin any rain up your way? the proprietor said.
Which way would that be?
I seen you was from Dallas.
Chigurh picked his ge up off the ter. And what business is it of yours where Im from, friendo?
I didnt mean nothin by it.
You didnt mean nothing by it.
I was just passiime of day.
I guess that passes for manners in your cracker view of things.
Well sir, I apologized. If you dont want to accept my apology I dont know what else I do for you.
How much are these?
Sir?
I said how much are these.
Sixty-nis.
Chigurh unfolded a dollar onto the ter. The man rang it up and stacked the ge before him the way a dealer places chips. Chigurh hadnt taken his eyes from him. The man looked away. He coughed. Chigurh opehe plastic package of cashews with his teeth and doled a third part of them into his palm and stood eating.
Will there be somethin else? the man said.
I dont know. Will there?
Is there somethin wrong?
With what?
With anything.
Is that what youre asking me? Is there something wrong with anything?
The man turned aut his fist to his mouth and coughed again. He looked at Chigurh and he looked away. He looked out the window at the front of the store. The gas pumps and the car sitting there. Chigurh ate another small handful of the cashews.
Will there be anything else?
Youve already asked me that.
Well I o see about closin.
See about closing.
Yessir.
What time do you close?
Now. We close now.
Now is not a time. What time do you close.
Generally around dark. At dark.
Chigurh stood slowly chewing. You dont know what youre talking about, do you?
Sir?
I said you dont know what youre talking about do you.
Im talkin about closin. Thats what Im talkin about.
What time do you go to bed.
Sir?
Youre a bit deaf, arent you? I said what time do you go to bed.
Well. Id say around hirty. Somewhere around hirty.
Chigurh poured more cashews into his palm. I could e back then, he said.
Well be closed then.
Thats all right.
Well why would you be in back? Well be closed.
You said that.
Well we will.
You live in that house behind the store?
Yes I do.
Youve lived here all your life?
The proprietor took a while to ahis was my wifes fathers place, he said.
inally.
You married into it.
We lived in Temple Texas for many years. Raised a family there. In Temple. We e out here about four years ago.
You married into it.
If thats the way you want to put it.
I dont have some way to put it. Thats the way it is.
Well I o close now.
Chigurh poured the last of the cashews into his palm and wadded the little bag and placed it on the ter. He stood oddly erect, chewing.
You seem to have a lot of questions, the proprietor said. For somebody that dont want to say where it is theyre from.
Whats the most you ever saw lost on a toss?
Sir?
I said whats the most you ever saw lost on a toss.
toss?
toss.
I dont know. Folks dont generally bet on a toss. Its usually more like just to settle somethin.
Whats the biggest thing you ever saw settled?
I dont know.
Chigurh took a twenty-five t piece from his pocket and flipped it spinning into the bluish glare of the fluorest lights overhead. He caught it and slapped it onto the back of his forearm just above the bloody ings. Call it, he said.
Call it?
Yes.
For what?
Just call it.
Well I o know what it is were callin here.
How would that ge anything?
The man looked at Chigurhs eyes for the first time. Blue as lapis. At once glistening and totally opaque. Like wet stones. You o call it, Chigurh said. I t call it for you. It wouldnt be fair. It wouldnt even be right. Just call it.
I didnt put nothin up.
Yes you did. Youve been putting it up your whole life. You just didnt know it. You know what the date is on this ?
No.
Its een fifty-eight. Its been traveling twenty-two years to get here. And now its here. And Im here. And Ive got my hand over it. And its either heads or tails. And you have to say. Call it.
I dont know what it is I stand to win.
In the blue light the mans face was beaded thinly with sweat. He licked his upper lip.
You stand to wihing, Chigurh said. Everything.
You aint makin any sense, mister.
Call it.
Heads then.
Chigurh uncovered the . He turned his arm slightly for the man to see. Well done, he said.
He picked the from his wrist and ha across.
What do I want with that?
Take it. Its your lucky .
I dont .
Yes you do. Take it.
The man took the . I got to close now, he said.
Dont put it in your pocket.
Sir?
Dont put it in your pocket.
Where do you wao put it?
Dont put it in your pocket. You wont know whie it is.
All right.
Anything be an instrument, Chigurh said. Small things. Things you wouldnt even notice. They pass from hand to hand. People dont pay attention. And then one day theres an ating. And after that nothing is the same. Well, you say. Its just a .
For instanothing special there. What could that be an instrument of? You see the problem. To separate the act from the thing. As if the parts of some moment in history might be intergeable with the parts of some other moment. How could that be?
Well, its just a . Yes. Thats true. Is it?
Chigurh cupped his hand and scooped his ge from the ter into his palm and put the ge in his pocket and turned and walked out the door. The proprietor watched him go. Watched him get into the car. The car started and pulled off from the gravel apron onto the highway south. The lights never did e on. He laid the on the ter and looked at it. He put both hands on the ter and just stood leaning there with his head bowed.
Whe to Dryden it was about eight oclock. He sat at the interse in front of dras Feed Store with the lights off and the motor running. Theurhe lights on and pulled out on highway 90 headed east.
The white marks at the side of the road when he found them looked like surveyors marks but there were no numbers, just the chevrons. He marked the mileage on the odometer and drove another mile and slowed and turned off the highway. He shut off the lights ahe motor running and got out and walked down and opehe gate and came back. He drove across the bars of the cattleguard and got out and closed the gate again and stood there listening. The in the car and drove out down the rutted track.
He followed a southrunning fehe Ford wallowing over the bad ground. The fence was just an old remnant, three wires strung on mesquite posts. In a mile or so he came out on a gravel plain where a Dodge Ramcharger arked fag toward him. He pulled slowly alongside it and shut down the engine.
The Ramchargers windows were tinted so dark they looked black. Chigurh opehe door and got out. A man got out on the passenger side of the Dodge and folded the seat forward and climbed into the rear. Chigurh walked around the vehicle and got in and shut the door. Lets go, he said.
Have you talked to him? the driver said.
No.
He dont know whats happened?
No. Lets go.
They rolled out across the desert in the dark.
When do you aim to tell him? the driver said.
When I know what it is that Im telling him.
When they came to Mosss truck Chigurh leaned forward to study it.
Is that his truck?
Thats it. Plates is gone.
Pull up here. Have you got a screwdriver?
Look in the jockeybox there.
Chigurh got out with the screwdriver and walked over to the trud opehe door.
He pried the aluminum iion plate off of the rivets ihe door and put it in his pocket and came bad got in and put the screwdriver ba the glovebox. Who cut the tires? he said.
It wasnt us.
Chigurh nodded. Lets go, he said.
They parked some distance from the trucks and walked down to look at them. Chigurh stood there a long time. It was cold out on the barrial and he had no jacket but he didnt seem to notice. The other two men stood waiting. He had a flashlight in his hand aur on and walked among the trucks and looked at the bodies. The two men followed at a small distance.
Whose dog? Chigurh said.
We dont know.
He stood looking in at the dead man slumped across the sole of the Bronco. He shohe light into the cargo space behind the seats.
Wheres the box? he said.
Its iruck. You want it?
you get anything on it?
No.
Nothing?
Not a bleep.
Chigurh studied the dead man. He jostled him with his flashlight.
These are some ripe petunias, one of the men said.
Chigurh didnt answer. He backed out of the trud stood looking over the bajada in the moonlight. Dead quiet. The man in the Bronco had not beehree days or anything like it. He pulled the pistol from the waistband of his trousers and turned around to where the two men were standing and shot them once each through the head in rapid succession and put the gun ba his belt. The sean had actually half turo look at the first as he fell. Chigurh stepped between them a and pulled away the shoulder-strap from the sean and swung up the nine millimeter Glock hed been carrying and walked back out to the vehicle and got in and started it and backed around and drove up out of the caldera and back toward the highway.
百度搜索 No Country for Old Men 天涯 或 No Country for Old Men 天涯在线书库 即可找到本书最新章节.