they crossed the state line and left missouri behind.
frank was driving, with belle in the front seat beside him, and jesse and billy in the back.
they had been driving for days, with frank mostly at the wheel.
billy had started to get on the others’ nerves. with his pointless stories and stupid jokes and his goofy laugh. he could not take a hint to shut up. and none of them had liked him much to begin with.
they came to a little general store with a gas pump.
frank pulled over. he looked back at billy.
billy, why don’t you run in there and get me a little pack of beef jerky?
billy considered this. are you going to get gas?
no, we got plenty of gas. i just want you to go in and buy me some beef jerky.
why don’t we all get out of the car, billy said. stretch our legs a little bit.
no, billy, i just want you to go in there and buy me some beef jerky.
o k, man, i get it. i’m hip to the scene, and did not just fall off a banana boat. but it’s cool. i only ask that you let me get my bag out of the trunk before you leave me behind, is that too much to ask?
you’re being paranoid, billy, jesse said.
i don’t think so. if you want to ditch me, you want to ditch me. so be it. now i want frank to get out of the car, go back and get my bag out of the trunk, and then hand me the bag and then, and only then, i will get out of the car myself and you all can drive off.
all right, frank said. he got out of the car, went back and got billy’s bag, opened the rear door and handed billy the bag.
billy checked the little ten cent padlock on the bag, and then heaved himself out of the back seat.
as soon as he was out, frank hauled off and punched billy in the mouth, knocking him down.
billy grabbed frank’s legs and pulled him down, and the two of them started rolling around in the concrete in front of the gas pump.
frank got on top and began pounding billy’s head against the concrete.
a little woman in a blue housedress came running out of the store.
stop it! she shouted. stop it! what are you hoodlums doing?
frank gave billy’s head a final ferocious whack on the ground, cracking his skull and killing him.
jesse had gotten out of the car and was standing over them. damn, frank, he said, what have you done now?
the little woman in the blue dress was shouting something but nobody paid her any mind.
just then sheriff tom wilson came down the other side of the road in his cruiser.
seeing the ruckus, he stopped the cruiser and got out, drawing his colt .45 out of his holster.
jesse had a warrant out in the state they had just crossed into. he took one look at sheriff tom wilson and started to run.
the sheriff shouted once at jesse to stop and then put a bullet in his back.
jesse turned out to be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. in consideration of this he was sentenced to only eighteen months for the robbery he had been wanted for.
frank was convicted of the first degree murder of billy and sentenced to life. he died in prison after twenty-three years.
belle was charged with vagrancy and possessing stolen goods and served two years. when she got out she went back to her home town in montana and married jim smith, the town barber. they had six children, sixteen grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren. on belle’s ninetieth birthday, some of the great-grandchildren had a party for her, with hot dogs and balloons and fireworks, but belle seemed barely aware of the proceedings.
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