Tender Graces (25 page)

I went to the kitchen for my lunchbox. Rebekha packed our lunches full of good stuff. Thermoses with soup when it was cold and ice tea when it was hot, fruit, a sandwich, and notes that read things like,
Have a good day,
or,
Learn well
!

I opened the cabinets and looked for the bottles. He’d hidden them good this time. I gave up, grabbed my lunch, and left to catch my bus, shutting the door behind me like everyone else had.

Chapter 21

Crazy, silly little boy

1968

I thought Andy would be sad forever, but he wasn’t. He liked the way Louisiana was sloshy with water and how there were all kinds of crawlies: bugs, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, and weird things that nobody knew what they were—but people in Louisiana ate them anyway. He shucked off Momma and home like a rotten ear of corn and took to being a Louisiana fellow as if he needed to do that real bad.

Rebekha stayed after Andy all the time, fussing at him to get cleaned up, to stop riding his bike in daredevil stunts, to get out of the tree, off the roof of the house. She hollered almost every day, “Watch out Andy before you get hurt! Andy, get down from there!”

It rained hard and mean for weeks that summer. Poor little Bobby was real sick. He coughed and coughed and Rebekha kept pounding on his back, putting Vicks VapoRub on his chest, taking him to the doctor, staying up with him all night. He kept saying, “I hurt Mommy. I hot.”

And Rebekha rocked him back and forth, saying, “It’s okay, sweet one, it’s okay.”

Andy was about to go slap dab insane with the rainy days, in a room with a sick brother he couldn’t play with, or lord it over with. He ran through the house breaking things. Not on purpose, he just had all that energy with nowhere to put it. Finally, after it rained so much Rebekha said we’d better grow webfeet, it stopped, just like that.

Micah tore out the door.

Daddy said he’d take Bobby to the doctor to get a shot so Rebekha could rest. He told her, “You’ve been up all night. Let me do this, okay?”

“I can take him, Frederick.”

“But I need to do this and you don’t need to, do you see?” He picked up Bobby and smoothed back his hair. “Ready, little big man?”

Bobby hugged onto Daddy. It sure was sweet.

Andy jumped up and down yelling, “Freedom! Freedom! Whoopie whoopie!”

“Thank god,” Rebekha said. “Go play, for heaven’s sake. But be careful. Andy, do you understand? Andy?”

He just grinned and said, “Whoopie,” again.

She cornered me. “I know he’s your younger brother and y’all have territorial sibling rules, but can you keep an eye on him, just this once? Could be some flooded areas and he’s such a daring boy.”

I rolled my eyes, but secretly I didn’t mind. Andy had been plotting adventures the whole time he was locked up and I wanted to see what he’d get into.

The world was wet and mushy. The sun steamed everything right up.

Andy ran out of the front door, raising his arms up with one more “Whoopie!”

I followed him. “Where you going, Andy?”

“You can come if you want, Seestor.”

“I don’t have anything else to do.” I pretend-yawned.

We rode off on our bikes. Andy had playing cards clothes-pinned to his tires and when he went fast, it usually sounded like a motorcycle, but the cards were soggy. The wind in my face felt wet and heavy. We rode around the block, talking about how we hated math. Andy pointed to trees, plants, and birds and asked me to name them, and I told him. That’s what I did best.

A few streets over, Andy’s friends, Dan and Neil, were having a race, with Neil in the lead. Andy called to them and we all raced off on our bikes, riding through the puddles. The dirty water shot up behind us and wet our legs and backs.

Neil splashed me with dirty water on purpose, getting some on my nature book in my  basket.

Dan slowed his bike up to ride beside me. I tried to speed up, but he kept up. I was almost eleven and he was only nine, it was too weird.

Andy said, “She gots a nature book she studies lots. She knows about all kinds of stuff.” Andy glanced back at me. “She knows about worms and centalpeeds. And she can help us find moccasins and stuff.”

“Oh yeah?” Neil said. He never believed anything or anybody. He had yellow hair and nasty yellow teeth.

Dan google-eyed me. “I think that’s innerresting.” He had curly brown hair and lots of freckles, but at least his teeth were white, even if they were a bit bucked.

Neil weaved his bike over to Dan. “You idiot. Girls is stupid, my dad says so.”

“Your daddy is stupid.” I gave him the evil eye.

“Take it back, stooopid hick girl. Hick-hick-hick.”

I pedaled fast until I was ahead of him and pushed off hard as I could in a puddle, sending a big wave of brown water all over the front of him. Andy and Dan laughed, pointing at him while Neil sputtered and spit.

“Sister’s coming with us, Neil.” Andy tore off faster on his bike, skimming up more muddy water. Andy bossed the other two because he was smarter, even if  he was foreign and strange to them.

We parked our bikes by the canal and walked around to see what the high water had brought out. I didn’t care that my bare feet were soaking up germs. I figured they were used to it.

Neil took up to bragging about how they walked the whole way through the inside of the canal, in the cement tunnel. He said they ended up clear across town.

Andy said, “That there water’s too high to go today. We can look for snakes and stuff.”

They hooped and hollered and tore off down the side of the canal calling out, “Here snaky snaky! Oh Mr. and Mrs. Moccasin! Come out come out wherever you are.”

I studied the plants and bugs, looked them up in the nature book I’d tucked in the waistband of my pants. I wanted to find something really weird to show off to smart aleck Neil. The canal was near a small woods that had been part way cleared, and there were big clumps of weeds, bushes, some trees, fallen branches, and logs from oak trees lying around.

Behind the bushes, I heard an animal sound. I sneaked on my hands and knees and parted the bushes to peer through. On a log sat a blonde-haired girl with long skinny legs. Two plaits came to her shoulders, the ends tied up with bands that had two big orange balls on the ends. She was bawling and didn’t even bother to hide her face or wipe the tears.

I turned to leave.

She saw me before I could escape. “Hey!”

I stopped, looked back.

“Where’re you going?”

“My brother’s hunting snakes, I’m going to watch.”

She smiled crooked, still sniffling and hitching. “Can I come?”

I smiled big-toothed with stupid. “Huh?”

“Can I come with y’all?” She swiped her face, leaving a dirty streak across her cheek. Her feet and hands were dirty and so were her flowered shorts and shirt.

“I guess so.”

Her face lit up like a full moon. She stood up. “I’m Jade. It’s short for Jadesta.”

I felt shy as a stray dog. When she walked over and stood close by me, I backed away. She stepped close again, and I let it be.

“What’s your name?”

“Virginia Kate.” I picked up a piece of grass and tried to blow through it to make it screech. I’d seen Andy do it a bunch of times, but hadn’t figured it out yet.

“That’s a nice name.” She picked up a blade and screeched it easy.

I jumped over a stump. She copied me. I bent over and studied a rock. She studied it, too. I’d never been copied before.

She sighed. “My dog died. She was my best friend and I’ll miss her forever and ever and ever.”

I stared off towards the boys’ hoops and hollers. When I turned back to Jade, she was studying me like I did the plants and bugs. Her eyes were like the marble I found in Rebekha’s garden that I’d washed off and kept on my dresser. I turned away from her and fidgeted around. Andy and his friends’ heads bobbed as they ran up the sides of the canal, then down again.

She asked, “Do you have a dog?”

“No.”

“Well, I don’t know if I can ever ever have another one. Sasha was the best dog ever. But if I do get another one, you can come play with it until you get your own.”

I heard Andy shouting, “There’s a big one, look! Hey, Virginia Kate! Come see!”

I pushed in my nature book nice and tight and off I ran, Jade right beside me.

The boys were looking at something on a piece of concrete in the grass.

“Is that a moccasin, Sister?”

I stared at the fat greenish-black snake. “Yep, that’s a moccasin. Unless it’s a water snake, they look kind of alike.”

Neil looked at me as if I was stupider than stupid.

“Let me check, but I’m pretty sure it’s a moccasin.” I pulled out the book and flipped the pages.

“Hurry up, we ain’t got all day. And who’s that? Another stupid girl?” Neil curled his lip.

Jade kicked the ground and sent mud spattering on his already filthy legs. “Shut up.”

Dan stood close to me. Jade stood on the other side. I felt like the insides of a sandwich.

I found the pictures, decided Andy’s snakes had to be moccasins, and if they weren’t, nobody would know anyway. “Yep, those are moccasins. And they’re very poisonous.”

“We ain’t a-scared. You girlies can be a-scared if you want to.” Neil put his hands on his hips and bared his ugly golden teeth. “Ain’t that right, hick girl?”

“You call Sister a hick again and I’m bustin’ you a good one.” Andy took two steps towards Neil, who jerked back, tripped over a branch, and fell on his backside. We all laughed, pointing at him.

“I’m not scared one bit, Neil.” I looked at the snake, how its thick body flopped on the concrete. Another one shimmied into the water, swimming towards us. My stomach did a slow roll around.

“I’m scared.” Jade grabbed my hand.

I had to drop the book on purpose so I could get my hand away from hers. I stuck the book back in my pants.

The boys got in a huddle. Andy said, “Snake polo! You coming, Sister?”

I tried to swallow the big fat scared frog in my throat.

Jade pulled my arm. “Don’t. Come with me. We’ll watch from over there.”

“I’m not scared.”

“I know.” She sat on a log, patting the space beside her. “Keep me company, Virginia Kate.”

“Okay.” I acted all down and out that I couldn’t snake polo.

The boys picked up oak limbs for polo sticks and climbed back on their Huffy bikes. Andy raced in the slime towards a snake, his tires slipping back and forth as he pedaled with his dirty feet, rode next to it and hit it with his stick. “I got it!” He laughed and whooped.

The snake flew twisting into the air towards Neil and landed a foot from his tire. Neil screech-laughed and gave it a fat whack. The snake headed towards Jade and me. We both screamed and scrambled away from it. When it landed, its mouth was open and I thought I saw blood on it. The snake slithered in the other direction, back towards the boys. Jade covered her eyes, opening her fingers a crack to peep.

I kind of felt sorry for the snakes. I stood up and hollered, “Andy! Let’s stop.” But he didn’t hear me.

Jade looked down at her feet. “Poor snakes.”

I looked at my feet, too, but just for one blink in case I missed something.

Neil yelled, “
Aiiiyeeeeee
!” He hit the bigger, uglier brother of the first snake. It landed on Dan’s front tire and he pedaled hard to get away. Both snakes were ready for a fight by then.

Jade’s eyes were open wide.

I was afraid they really were moccasins. I was afraid all the nature world was mad at us for hurting its creatures and would send more snakes, and alligators, and nutria rat with big yellow teeth. I said, “Let’s go
now
or I’m going to tell.”

“I told you she’s a-scared.” Neil looked for the other snake in the tall part of the grass. “Here snaky.”

“Andy, come on, let’s go.”

Andy had his pointy chin on and ignored me.

Dan rode over to me, looking worried. “Don’t worry.” He stayed by us, legs on either side of his bike. He said, “Hey, Andy, this is boring, let’s go.” He looked ready to throw up.

Neil turned on him. “Bawk bawk bawk. Titty baby! Titty Baaaabbeeeee!”

Dan’s face turned red. He jumped back on his bike and rode to look for the snakes, because he had to.

“Jade, I better get Ma’am.”

“Ma’am? Who’s Ma’am?”

All a sudden I felt silly for calling Rebekha Ma’am all this time. “She’s my . . . ” I shrugged. “Just wait here, okay?”  I figured she’d hightail it home soon as I turned my back.

I jumped on my bike and pedaled hard as I could, but my bike slipped and I fell into the mud. My nature book landed on the ground and I left it there when I heard Neil, “Here it is! Gawd he’s huge and he’s mad!” I got back on and raced to get Rebekha. When I burst through the front door, she was reading a book.

Looking at me as if I was a crazy girl, she said. “What in the world happened to you?”

“Andy’s at the canal playing with the moccasins!”

She lit out to her car in her house slippers. I left my bike and rode in the car with her, telling her about it on the way. She said, “Oh my god, that crazy silly little boy!” We were there quick as a bird flies. I was surprised that Jade was still there, waving her right hand at us, my nature book in her left hand.

Rebekha flung herself out of the car hollering, “Andy! Andy!”

Andy didn’t hear, he was shouting, “Hurry up, Dan. Hurry!”

Dan was half in the water scrambling up on his hands and knees. I bet he didn’t care about being a chicken titty baby anymore as he slipped around in the mud, ripping out of the canal wailing and crying.

Rebekha ran towards the boys, slipping in her slippers. Neil looked over at Rebekha, and then out of slap pure meanness, rode his Huffy to the snake slithering towards the canal water, and hit it hard as he could towards Andy, laughing his stupid high screech laugh. The snake flew arching and wiggling into the air.

Rebekha screamed, “Watch out, Andy!” It looked as if the snake fell in slow motion, falling, falling down to Andy. He turned, but it was too late.

Rebekha flew down the slope of the canal in two gigantic slip-slidey steps, losing her slippers on the way. She was almost to him when the snake hit Andy in the back. He let out a banshee holler, twisting around with a fit. He fell off his bike right in front of the snake—its mouth was open and it looked madder than a gone-bad bull. All that hitting hadn’t hurt those snakes much, it seemed to me.