Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere (11 page)

I rolled my eyes as far up into my head as possible. “Who's Muhammad Ali?” I hollered after her.

Mama's hanging plant came crashing through the kitchen window and shattered glass flew clear into the living room.

I never made it to the door in time to say bye to my best friend.

Rain was coming down sideways. Thunder and lightning filled the sky. And the wind had a mind of its own.

There was still a hint of light making its way in from the outside world, but the usual golden colors of Mama's living room in the late light of the day was missing. A stillness and a gray had took over the whole house.

Mama never said one word when she swept up the broken glass and dirt and pieces of her favorite hanging plant into the dustpan that Memaw held for her. The little ones didn't even wander in there and get in the way. Somehow they just knew to stay put and not be whiny.

Daddy and Georgie had stretched thick silvery tape crisscrosses on all the windows while I laid out the papers that Memaw gave me. She showed me how to put them down for Cricket, since we wasn't gonna be able to take her outside to do her business.

Miss had herself stuffed into the corner of the couch. She looked lost and uncomfortable without Uncle T-Bone to hang on. Her eyes
were fixed on the floor, and her shiny knees moved up and down as fast as her feet could bounce. I almost went and sat next to her, but I went into the kitchen instead.

Mama was sitting at the table with her head in her hands. Memaw was keeping herself busy wiping down the counters with a rag. The trash bag covering the hole where the window used to be was flapping loud and poofing like it was gonna tear loose any minute. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

“Mama, can I have a water?”

Mama never looked up at me. “Just one.” Her tired voice got lost in the sounds of the storm and the noisy trash bag window. “Make it last,” she said.

I took a bottle off the table. “Here,” I said, holding it out in front of me.

Miss slowly stopped staring at the floor. Her gaze met mine and I froze. Her caramel-colored eyes were sad, scared, soft, and sweet.

I blinked and swallowed. “I thought you might want a water or somethin'.”

She took the bottle and pressed it against her chest. “Thank you, Armani. This is so thoughtful of you.” She smiled, but her eyes filled with tears. “I'm so scared.” She stared at me in a way that sucked me in. “If anything happens to T-Bone, I don't know what I'll do.” Tears fell from both of her eyes at the same time.

Her crying made my eyes sting. I sat down beside her on the couch, not knowing if I should touch her or not. Finally I laid my hand on her shoulder and patted a couple times. “He'll be okay” was all I could think to say.

She fell into me and went into a full-blown ugly cry, all but suffocating me with her tangerine hat.

The front door slammed open and a soaking-wet Uncle T-Bone fell in.

Listening to Uncle T-Bone go on about the ride to Uncle Alvin's and how he had to practically carry the grown man into his house in the pouring rain turned my stomach.

I gathered up my new puppy and went to my room. Of course, Sealy followed. I didn't mind 'cause I knew she'd let me be.

Quicker than Memaw could crack a nut, Sealy had one of her books out. She sat down on the floor and folded her legs up under her with the book spread across her lap.

The curtains above Sealy's head fluttered the tiniest bit even though the window was closed up good and tight. It made me nervous.

I plopped facedown on my bed with Cricket. I ran my finger up and down in the space between her eyes and down the top of her short, round little nose. She stared at me with her shiny jet-black eyes and thump-thumped her wagging tail up against my arm. Every couple of seconds, she'd stare at the window and whimper, cocking her little head to the side. I wondered if she was hearing the same wind-whistle as me.

I was admiring the beauty of her when there was a quiet knock on my door. It opened a couple of inches and Georgie's wide, fat nose peered in at me. “Armani, can I come in?”

“No,” I said, with no energy.

Georgie walked in anyway.

He sat on the edge of the bed. I scooted over, making sure no part of my brother was touching me.

Cricket left my side and crawled up on Georgie's lap. He bent his face down and she licked him on the chin. He laughed and petted her. She went to licking faster all over his face.

I'd seen enough. All I could do was pray that Cricket hadn't picked up some dreaded disease from that ugly boy's face.

I sat up. “Come here, Cricket,” I called in my baby-talk voice. “Come here.” I clicked my tongue a couple times.

Cricket hopped over to me and sniffed my hand, all the while wagging her stumpy tail. Then she turned around and hopped back to Georgie, picking right back up with the licking.

“She likes me!” Georgie said. He kissed my puppy on top of her head.

“Whatever,” I mumbled. I folded my arms across my chest. Sealy smiled at me over the top of her book.

“Anyway,” Georgie said, still playing with Cricket. “I just wanted to tell you that I thought it was cool the way you stuck up for TayTay.”

“What?” I said.

Georgie jumped to his feet, dancing on his tippy-toes around in a circle, boxing the air.

I rolled my eyes and unfolded my arms.

In a really high, squeaky voice he said, “My name's Armani Curtis. Mess with me or my cuz and I'll kick your butt!” Georgie laughed at his own self, like he was the funniest person alive.

A boom of thunder shook the house at the exact same time a huge, bright flash of lightning lit up my room like someone was shining a
spotlight. The three of us stopped breathing and stared at each other. Sealy grabbed her book sack and leaped onto our bed.

Georgie cleared his throat. He reached over and gave Cricket a quick belly rub.

“Anyway,” he said.

“Yeah, anyway,” I said, just 'cause.

“Well, happy birthday, Sis.” And before I realized what he was fixin' to do, that crazy boy bent down and kissed me on my cheek.

I swatted at him, but Georgie moved too quick. He was out the door, bouncing off walls in the dark hall.

“What an idiot,” I grumbled.

I threw myself back on the bed. Sealy snuggled up next to me and opened her book sack. She put her book inside and pulled out her journal and fluffy feather pen.

I lay there with Cricket, feeling sticky and hot. The room got darker and darker as the gray light of day faded away. I watched my sister's pen move across the pages of her journal. I couldn't hear the scritch-scratch sound that her writing usually made on account of the whistling winds and pouring rain pounding down on our roof.

But the rain and wind couldn't cover up the cracking sound that made me and my sister jump clean out of our skin. It was like God was tearing the whole world in half in one big, long
riiiiiipppp
. . . .

The whole house shook with one quick, loud
thwack!
I ran out to the living room with Sealy on my heels. It was dark, and I didn't see Khayla sitting there in the hall playing with the cars and Cricket's shoebox. I ran right into her, almost dropping the puppy. Sealy plowed into the back of me and screamed. Khayla fell flat to the floor, squashing the little box. She started wailing.

I grabbed hold of Khayla by one arm and pulled her off the floor. “It's okay, Khayla, it's okay . . .” I kept saying in huffs of breath, trying to calm her down. It wasn't working, though, 'cause I was as close as I've ever been to a full-blown panic myself. Everyone was shouting and running around. The room was spooky with candles flickering and shadows running across the ceiling.

“Katherine!” Daddy shouted. “Get the children and take them to our room! Stay away from the windows!”

“Come on, y'all, you heard your daddy!” Mama was scooping up babies and still managed to grab hold of Sealy's hand.

A bright white light streaked through the checkered curtains and poured into the room. In that split second, I seen Memaw's face, her mouth wide open and her eyes all bugged out. The air got sucked out of me.

An explosion of thunder rattled the whole house. I screamed and covered my ears. Another bolt of lightning lit up the shadowy room. There it was again—that look on Memaw's face. A cry that started in my belly flew out of my mouth, blending in with the screams of the wind.

Cold prickly shivers ran up my back and down my arms. A sour taste burned in the back of my throat.

Daddy had his arm around Memaw and led her off to the bedroom to be with Mama and the kids. I didn't want to see her looking that way—all full of fright. My breathing was coming fast and hard. My heart raced almost as fast as my brain.

Another clap of thunder. The creaky, broken screen door made one last loud slap up against the house before I heard it rip right off, flying to who knows where. The house moved beneath my feet. “Daddy!”

“I'm here, baby!” The lightning flashed and there he was—my daddy was right there just on the other side of Memaw's TV-watching chair. The wind shook the windows like an airplane was fixin' to land on our roof.

Even with Memaw and the kids all up in the bedroom, I could still hear them crying and screaming and begging Mama to make it stop.

Uncle T-Bone was huddled on the couch with his arms wrapped around Miss. She was wailing louder than the kids in the bedroom, waving the only flashlight in the room every which way.

More lightning and more thunder. The constant sound of rain dumping down in buckets so hard it sounded like we might as well've been standing up under a waterfall.

I didn't even realize I was holding onto Georgie till he screamed in my ear. It was a high-pitched scream that sent terror running through me. He covered his head with his hands. I dug my fingers deep into his arm and screamed with him.

It wasn't no normal thunderstorm. The sky had fell out, and the world was ending.

Daddy stood by the front window and looked out. He shook his head back and forth. He took off his glasses. His right hand came up and held the top of his head and then slid down. He rubbed his eyes. He put his glasses back on. Then his hands fell heavy to his sides. Daddy looked straight up at the ceiling, and squeezed his eyes shut. In a whisper-cry he said, “Protect us, sweet Jesus.”

A tree branch crashed through the big window and knocked Daddy to the floor.

“Daddy!” me and Georgie both screamed. We ran to him.

Daddy looked up at us. He had a thin line of blood trickling down his forehead and his glasses were missing from his face.

Miss Shug shined the flashlight in Daddy's direction. She seen the blood streaming down the side of his face and went to hollerin'. The whole while, she kept right on fanning herself with the tangerine hat, blinking her eyes a mile a minute.

Uncle T-Bone looked at Georgie. “Go calm Lorraine down.”

Me and Georgie looked at each other like maybe Uncle T-Bone was the one who got knocked in the head. “Who's Lorraine?”

“Shug! Go calm Miss Shug down!” The woman was wailing louder than ever by now.

My brother looked over at the woman so sweet they called her Sugar. “No, sir,” Georgie said, pushing his glasses firm up on his nose. “Daddy needs me.”

Georgie walked across the broken glass that was covered with stuck globs of sticky gray tape. He scooted past my uncle and put his arm around Daddy's waist. He helped Daddy get over to the sofa.

A long-lasting flash of lightning lit up the room. In the white light that shined on my brother, I caught a glimpse of the way I think Georgie'll look when he's a grown man. He looked just like Daddy.