I twisted around quick to see what Shoogie would do. Shoogie was gone! All I saw was a streak of dust. "Now, little wildcat, you'd just as well stop scratchin' and fightin'! We've got a long ways to go! Ah, this is the chance I been waitin' for! Your pa's gonna pay plenty to get you back, and I can buy me my own automobile! Man, that'll be the day! God damn, young'un, you bite me one more time and I'll let you have it! Quit tryin' to jump out, you little devil! Don't you know if you jump, fast as we're goin', you'll break your fool neck?" All at once Mister Ward quit talking mean to me. He didn't let go of my arm, but he told me he thought I was a sweet little gal—pretty, too—and that we were going where there was lots of candy. "More candy than anybody's ever seen, Bandershanks!" "I don't want no candy! I wanta go home!" "Just as soon as we get all that candy, we'll go home." "Where's the candy at?" "It's not too far," he said. "Pretty soon after we cross Rocky Head Bridge we'll come to the road goin' to that candy store." He reached down under the edge of the seat and got a bottle of something that didn't smell good and gulped down half of it. "What's that?" "Whiskey. Good God, ain't you never seen a bottle o' whiskey before?" "No, sir." "I wish to hell my young'uns could say that." He laughed and muttered something else. Then Mister Ward began singing, or half singing and half talking to himself. He sounded real happy, like he knew something nobody else had ever thought about. He had quit paying much attention to the road. Instead, he was just letting the automobile weave from side to side. I was wishing we'd hurry and come to that candy road. But we didn't. We just kept going and going. "When we gonna get there?" "Just a little bit farther, gal." The few houses we were passing I'd never seen before. "I wanta go back home!" "Naw, naw, don't start that tune again. We're gonna soon be comin' to a big steel bridge. You ain't never seen such a high bridge! Be watchin' out and tell me when you see it up ahead." Mister Ward reached under the seat and got his bottle again. "It's getting too dark to see bridges! I want my mama!" "Dammit, it shore is gettin' dark. I hadn't figured on that. Hicks, cuss him, didn't show me how to make the damn lights work!" Mister Ward stopped the automobile and got out. He staggered toward the front wheels. I slid off the seat, put both feet on the running board, and jumped! I fell when I hit the ground, but I scrambled up and ran—back toward home! "You little devil! Come back!" I didn't even look back. "You hear me? Come back!" I could tell Mister Ward was right behind me and getting closer! I darted off the road, down into a ditch full of tall grass, not half seeing where I was going. As soon as I could, I climbed out of the ditch and ran between a lot of bushes and big trees. But Mister Ward kept coming. I could hear him wheezing and panting.