Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere (16 page)

Mama had lost her mama. I took in another long breath of the sweet nighttime air.

It was like the house knew we were gonna be needing to come stay on the roof, so it turned itself just so, giving us a tiny, almost flat spot to be on. Even still, I was nervous walking in the dark on the slippery roof, shuffling along in the bulky rubber boots.

Mama never took her eyes off Heaven. I slipped my hand into hers. She squeezed it with all her might. I leaned into her and cried. The starlight caught hold of a tear sliding down her cheek.

We stood there for a time, letting the sadness take over while heaven looked on.

“No way!” Georgie shouted. His voice cut through the night air. “Daddy, look at this!”

Not again
.

Georgie was shining the flashlight back and forth in front of him, looking at something over the side of the roof.

The sound of sloshing, dogs barking, people hollerin', Cricket whining—the noise filled my head all at once.

I inched closer so I could see what he was fussin' about.

“We've floated out into the middle of the Gulf, Daddy!” Georgie had Cricket up under his arm. I didn't care. My arms were too heavy for holding.

“Armani,” Mama said, touching my arm. “Stay here with the twins. Don't let them move.”

I nodded. Mama baby-stepped her way on shaky legs over to Daddy. He held her tight when she stared over the side. I held my breath wondering what it was that she might've been seeing down there. Her hand flew up to her mouth. She buried her head into Daddy's shoulder.

“What's going on?” Sealy asked.

“I don't know,” I answered.

Daddy walked Mama all careful-like back over to where I was with the little ones.

Mama looked at me with mournful eyes. “There's water
everywhere
,” she said in a heavy, tired voice. She all but fell into my arms—all the weight of her sadness was on me.

Daddy cupped the side of my face in his big, shaky hand. I wanted to hug him more than ever, and for him to hug me back. But I couldn't look at him. I didn't want him to see the wanting in my eyes. I turned my eyes away and found a star to stare at.

“You shouldn't make promises you can't keep,” I said.

Daddy's hand slowly fell away from my face.

Mama went to crying softly again.

Daddy picked up Khayla and dragged hisself back over near the edge of the roof and sat down. Georgie and Sealy sat down on either
side of him. Georgie's glasses kept sliding off his sweaty nose, so Sealy stuck them down inside her book sack, since he couldn't hold onto them and the puppy too. Cricket looked snug and safe up on my brother's lap.

Somewhere close by, something loud splashed into water. Somewhere close by, someone screamed. Chill bumps ran down my back.

“Where did all the water come from, Daddy?” Sealy asked, with her head resting on Daddy's arm.

Kheelin was fussin' and Khayla whined nonstop about being hungry. I did my best to help poor Mama keep them settled. But mostly I concentrated on my ears and whatever Daddy was fixin' to say.

“Well, the levees must've breached and flooded the city. For years people have been saying this could happen. I just never imagined . . .”

“So what's gonna happen to us?” Georgie asked. Him and Daddy looked so much alike in the shine of the moon—both of them without their glasses. “How are we gonna get down from here, Daddy?”

“I don't know, son. I don't know.”

Cricket was harder to handle than Khayla and Kheelin put together. None of us wanted to let her walk around on account of us being up on a rooftop and all, but she couldn't handle being held another minute.

Daddy told Georgie to let Cricket loose so she could move a little, but to watch her close. Georgie set the puppy down, and right away
Cricket went to sniffing—walking with her little nose stuck to the rooftop.

It wasn't like Hurricane Katrina had blown any good sense in for Georgie, so I kept a close eye on the situation.

When the twins weren't sleeping, they were fussin'. Poor Mama had her hands full trying to soothe them with nothing more than the sweetness of her voice.

Sealy had took to mothering Khayla. I hadn't seen Sealy with a book of any kind in a good while. Maybe she was feeling about reading and writing the way I was feeling about talking and helping.

I watched the stars disappear as the sky turned to a softer blue with the promise of light right behind it.

Daddy'd been sitting over by hisself for a long while. It tugged on my heart to go talk to him. I needed him to know that I was sorry and still loved him.

I stood up, fixin' to go make my apology, when Cricket went into a spin. She was spinning and yapping and chasing the stub of a tail connected to her backside. Kheelin started to giggle.

Georgie walked in circles around the spinning puppy. He started laughing too.

“Be careful, son,” Daddy warned.

“I will, Daddy.”

Even though it was a relief to hear something besides the constant sound of the water rushing, and the far-off shouts echoing in the early morning air, it still seemed wrong that anyone could laugh with Memaw lying dead right up under us.

Like someone flipped a switch, the sun showed itself—pouring a creepy, beautiful orangey glow over everything. I didn't have to go look over the edge of the roof no more to see the water. It was
everywhere
, just like Mama said. Water for miles and miles. The sun reflecting off the gasoline-smelling water made it look like we were surrounded by liquid fire. It felt like the end of the world.

I clomped in Memaw's boots, heading over by Daddy. No matter what, I needed him to know I was sorry. But I never made it that far.

A huge telephone pole floated by and slammed into the side of our house. Every one of us gasped. It was a wonder it didn't split the house right in half. I almost got shook clean out of the dang boots.

But Cricket—she kept right on going with her performance, spinning faster than ever, looking like a cute little circus dog entertaining an audience. The kids clapped along and went back to their laughing.

Mama didn't think it was funny. Neither did Georgie or Daddy—or me. The sight of that puppy circling out of control gave me a heavy feeling of dread.

The dog was spinning and yapping herself closer and closer to the edge of the roof. Daddy was on his feet, looking every bit as nervous as me. My heart pounded harder—faster.

“Georgie! Grab her!” I yelled.
How stupid could he be? All he had to do was reach down and pick her up!

“I'm trying!” he said in a high, squeaky voice. He was walking with his legs spread, hunched over right behind her, with his hands held out. But the puppy was fast.

“Cricket,” he kept saying all nervous-like. “Come here, Cricket.” He pushed his glasses that weren't there back up on his nose.

Cricket was spinning herself silly.

“Georgie! Just pick her up!” I stomped my foot. I was scared to move too fast, but I knew I had to get over there and grab the dog. I took a few clumsy steps.

“Armani, stop!” Daddy hollered.

At the exact same time Georgie yelled, “Cricket!”

And Mama yelled, “Nooo!”

I froze, with my mouth hanging wide open, and watched sweet little Cricket spin herself right off the edge of the roof.

A split second later, a very small
plop
sound came from the water flowing no more than twelve inches from the top of our house.

My hands flew up to my mouth.

Georgie twisted his head around and looked at me. Our eyes locked in on each other. I was fixin' to tear into him regarding how incredibly stupid he was, when he blurted out, “It's okay, Armani! I'll get her!”

Before any of us could scream No!, that crazy boy jumped right off the roof.

Mama was wailing at the top of her lungs.

I could barely see the tiny black speck of Cricket bobbing in and out of the disgusting water. It was flowing like an orange river, and my puppy had already floated far away.

But it was my big brother who made the world stop spinning. The second Georgie landed in the gross water, he went completely under. His head popped up to the surface and he swung his arms every which way. He was in trouble.

The water was taking him away from us so fast! He kept taking huge gulps of water into his mouth every time his head disappeared under the orangey-black foamy water.

Someone was screaming, “Georgie!” Then I realized it was me.

Daddy stood on the edge of the roof, his chest heaving in and out so fast it looked like he'd been running. He turned and looked at Mama.

“Katherine,” Daddy said softly.

Mama slowly pulled her stare away from the water. She closed her eyes. Tears were streaming down her face. Then she silently nodded her head
yes
, just one time.

She opened her eyes and looked at Daddy. With a sob, she whispered, “I love you, George.” It was the first time I ever heard her call him by his first name.

Daddy's eyes met mine, just for the tiniest second. He never said a word.

And then Daddy jumped into the water.

Mama crumbled to her knees and a long, deep cry poured from her heart out into the world. It was a sound that came from the place where all the deepest sadness gets stored up. There was no one in the entire world who was feeling more grief right then than Mama. The sound of her heart breaking must've reached Heaven, 'cause just then, it started to rain. Not hard—a soft rain, like tears sprinkling down on us. There was so much sadness coming from our rooftop it had reached the angels. They were crying too.

The drizzling rain had stopped. The sun was shining. The sky was perfectly blue. The hurricane had come out of nowhere, changed everything, and then it was gone.

I couldn't see a single living soul in any direction, but I could hear them. It felt like we were alone in the new upside-down world, left—just the five of us—alone with the sounds of suffering. Dog barks echoed all around us. People screamed and wailed—the shrieking kind that
makes the top of your head tingle with fear. I'd close my eyes and listen careful, hoping it might be Daddy or Georgie hollerin' for help. But it wasn't.

The mesmerizing orange of the water was gone—the dark ugliness of it was plain to see. The water was thick. Black. Alive. And the smell—the smell got laid down in me and brought a shiver that ran along my bones.

I sat on the roof in the clump of what was left of my family—me and Mama with our backs against each other. I held Khayla on my lap, Mama held Kheelin, and Sealy lay by our side.

The buzz of motorboats filled the air, and with that came more screams and shouts from people we couldn't see.

We sat there—sat and did nothing but swat flies. We sat with Memaw lying dead beneath us in a disgusting attic. We sat without Daddy and Georgie and my birthday puppy 'cause they were gone—sucked away by the water monster.