Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning (7 page)

“Look,” I say.

Lottie stops rolling for a second, looks up, and laughs. Setting aside her rolling pin, she pokes some holes in her dough. “Look at mine!”

Her face is even better—she made
X
s for the eyes and a line for the lips, so her dough face is either asleep or drunk. We giggle and ball up our dough to roll it out again.

When I look up, I notice Lottie's got her bathing suit on under her shirt. Yesterday, too. Well, it is hot in here. They don't have air-conditioning either, and the fans are just blowing the hot air around.

“We going swimming later?”

Lottie tilts her head. “What?”

“We going swimming?” I point to her neck where her bikini top is tied. “You got your suit on.”

Lottie licks her lips. “Oh, that. Um . . .” She looks down, rolls a little dough, looks back up. “I don't know if there'll be time.”

“What do you mean? I'll just run and get my suit after we get these pies in.” No big deal.

“Well, I mean, like—” She sets her rolling pin down and looks at me straight on. “Okay, don't be mad, but Melissa invited me over to watch
Paris
Heights
with her.”

My eyes narrow into slits so thin I can barely see out of them. My cheeks turn into stone.

Her shoulders droop. “Violet!”

“What?” I say and purse my lips.

“She's nice. I don't know why you don't like her.”

“I never said that!”

Lottie leans her head. “It kind of shows.”

I look away from her so she can't see that I know what she's talking about. “She tries to be so glamorous all the time.”

“She thinks you have pretty eyes.”

Okay, I do like hearing that. But still, I'm not giving up my best friend for “pretty eyes.” I shrug so's Lottie can see I don't care about that.

She heaves a big sigh. “I'm allowed to have other friends, you know. You do.”

I lay my perfect pie circle in a pan. I grit my teeth as I roll out the next ball. “No, I don't.”

“What do you call Eddie?” She settles a crust and rolls out another ball too. “Half the time you're out doing something with him.”

I roll faster, harder. “Eddie doesn't count. He's a boy. Besides, you don't like doing some of the stuff we do.”

We got the crusts in the pans and the tops rolled out. The windows darken as we work.

“Maybe there's stuff I like to do that you don't like to do.” She pinches around the crust so the top and bottom'll stay together. “I'm just saying that you have other friends and I don't get mad about it.”

It's true. She don't ever get mad when I'm out with Eddie. But like I said, Eddie's a boy. Melissa's trying to get my spot. I try to get the madness out of my face. It's still in my heart, but I don't want Lottie to know that. I just want everything to be like it always is. I grab the apples and a knife and start cutting. “I don't see what's so interesting about
Paris Heights.
”

Lottie laughs and grabs an apple. “You've never even seen it.”

I am beginning to simmer. She knows Momma don't allow me to watch programs like that. I use my knife like an ax.
Chop. Chop. Chop.
I'm done cutting apples. As we mix the apples with sugar and spices, a long train of thunder rumbles by.

“I wonder if we'll have time to bake these pies,” Lottie says.

“Plenty of time,” I say. I dump the filling into both pans and we lay the tops on. “That thunder is far away.”

Then it booms again.

“I don't know,” Lottie says, a worried look on her face. “Sounds like it's getting louder to me.”

Thunder drums in the clouds again. Irritation crosses over me. I know what she's getting at. “You just want to hurry up and go to Melissa's.”

“No, I don't. I just don't know if there's time for these pies to bake before the storm starts.”

“You can't tell when a storm's going to hit? Well, I can tell you.” I grab the pies, open the oven, and slide them in. “It ain't hitting now, so these pies are going in.” I slam the oven shut.
Paris
Heights
will have to wait.

I spin around and look at her. “What do you want to do now?” I ask. “We can't go swimming.”

Lottie fingers the ties at her neck. “Let me clean up this mess first.” She goes to the sink, looking out the dark window as she runs the water.

A soft light flashes inside the clouds.
One
thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand
three
—crack!

Lottie turns around. “I think we should turn everything off.”

I stand up and cross my arms. “No! That storm is three miles away.”

A bright strike flashes through the back windows and I forget to count.

Lottie frowns at me and stomps over to the box fan. “That's it. I'm turning everything off.” She twists the knob, crosses her arms, and looks at me.

Static rushes across my scalp and down my arms. All my hairs stand up. I look at Lottie in slow motion and my mouth starts to form her name. Then light races down the kitchen wall and flares out the oven and at the same time—
BOOM!
—a bomb explodes. My ears are deafened. My heart hammers against my chest.

I start crying.

A fire is burning inside the oven. The smoke detectors shriek and Lottie's screaming and I'm screaming too 'cause I don't know what to do— Lord, help me—and then I'm getting up, I'm grabbing Lottie, and we stumble out of there and cross the yard, slipping and falling through the rain till we climb my steps and fall into my house. We hug each other and cry.

Then I remember learning 9-1-1 in school. I let go of her and run to the phone.

“What's your emergency?” the lady asks.

I sob into the phone.

The lady says, “Take a breath and speak clearly. What's your emergency?”

I take one big breath. “My best friend's house just got struck by lightning.”

15

My best friend is homeless. Actually, it's worse than that. My best friend and her sisters are staying at Melissa's house.

“It's just temporary,” Mrs. Townsend told the girls when everyone was still at our house. By this time, some of the neighbors had come out to see what happened. Including Mrs. Gold.

Mr. and Mrs. Townsend decided to stay in their house so they could work on it. But Lottie, Hannah, Ashley, and Tootsie needed somewhere to stay.

Momma offered right away for them to stay with us, but Mrs. Gold rushed in with her offer, making it sound better. “We have all that room and it's just going to waste. You come,” she said, nodding. “We want you to stay with us.”

I bet they did. I could just imagine Melissa giving Lottie daily movie-star lessons.

Mrs. Townsend's eyes welled up. “If you're sure it wouldn't be too much of a burden.”

“I'm looking forward to a house full of kids. I'm home all day. You can do what you need to do and I'll watch the kids.” She looked like she wanted to say more, but she stopped and waited.

I waited too. I couldn't believe this was happening. Momma couldn't top that offer—she
had
to work.

Mrs. Townsend bit her lip. “I don't know what I'm going to do about clothes. Everything in there is soaked.”

Mrs. Gold waved her hands and shook her head. “Don't worry about that. We'll shove everything they need into plastic bags. I'll run the wash when we get home.”

After that, there was nothing left to say. The two of them went over, filled the bags with clothes, and came back for the girls.

I hug Lottie hard when they leave. “I'm going to miss you,” I say, tears streaming down my face.

She's crying too. “I'll miss you, too, Violet.” She wipes her eyes and laughs. “But I'll just be down the street. We'll still see each other.”

“Yeah,” I say, but I don't believe it. Melissa will guard Lottie like a bulldog. There's something else I got to say. It's hard, but if I don't say it, it'll crush me—it's that heavy. “I'm sorry I made you bake those pies.”

Lottie's eyes fill. “It wasn't the oven,” she says. She leans closer and whispers, “It was the antenna. The firemen said so.” She widens her eyes and leans back. “They said it was like a lightning rod.”

“Oh, my Lord,” I say. That old TV antenna of theirs sticks way up. My heart feels good and terrible at the same time—good 'cause it wasn't my fault, and terrible for feeling good.

It's nighttime when they leave. Momma and me wave till we don't see them no more, then Momma slips her arm around my shoulders and we step into the empty house. In my mind, I replay the lightning and the screaming and 9-1-1 and the taillights of the car I just watched disappear down the road. My breath comes in ragged, and my lips pull back tight. I clench my eyes shut. I turn into Momma's side and push my face into her. For the third time tonight, I'm bawling like a baby.

16

Lottie's house looks normal from the outside. I stare at it real hard as I pass by on my way to Melissa's. It's hard to believe that something that looks the same as it always has is suddenly so different on the inside.

Lord, I can't believe how hot it is today. I swear if Lottie has her suit on, I'm running through the sprinkler with my clothes on, that's how hot I am.

Eddie flies around the bend on his bike, pops a wheelie, and rides it. I can't help but be impressed. He races down the road and skids to a perfect stop right in front of me, causing clouds of dust to puff up around us.

“Don't get me dirty,” I say and keep walking. “I'm going somewhere.”

He hops off his bike and walks alongside me. “Where you going?”

“Melissa's.”

His eyebrows shoot up into a question.

“I been there before,” I say. “Besides, Lottie's staying there.”

Eddie's jaw drops. “What?”

He doesn't even know about Lottie's house! I describe everything—the explosion, the lightning racing down the wall, and how, if I'd have been touching that oven, I would've been struck down dead, dead, dead.

“Whoa!” Eddie says. “Man!”

I like that he's impressed.

“But why are they staying at Melissa's if the house didn't burn down?” he asks.

“It didn't burn down,” I say. “It was burning inside the walls. The firemen had to chop it all open and hose down the wires.” I know this 'cause I overheard Mrs. Townsend telling Momma and Mrs. Gold. I remember something else. “The firemen said the antenna was a big lightning rod.”

Eddie looks off to the side, and I realize he's picturing that antenna looming over Lottie's house. “Man.” He shakes his head. “But you know what they say, Florida's the lightning capital of the United States.” He raises his eyebrows. “We're in
lightning alley.
”

I get the shivers hearing him say that.

We walk down a bit, pushing lovebugs out of our way. Don't ever swat lovebugs. You'll kill them, that's how delicate they are. The sun's burning me flat into the ground. It's so humid, my shirt sticks to my back. I sweep up my hair and hold it up with one hand while we walk.

Eddie looks at me and looks down before looking at me again. “Hey, Violet, you want to—”

“Violet, Violet!” Tootsie runs down Melissa's porch steps and across the walk.

“Tootsie-Tutu!” I yell. I swoop her up and swing her around.

“Do it again!” she says when I put her down. But I grab her hand and go up the walk.

Lottie pops up. “Violet!” She smiles and starts for the steps.

Then I see Melissa's gooseneck pop up. Well, what can you expect? She does live here and all. Her chest heaves with a big sigh when she sees me. That's okay. I don't say hi to her either. Then she looks past me and smiles at Eddie.

Lottie jumps down the stairs and hugs me like she ain't seen me in a year. A good feeling goes through me, and it gets even better when I notice the jealous look on Melissa's face. I'm glad she's not part of this, and I'm glad she knows it.

Lottie leans around me. “Hey, Eddie.”

“Hey.” He leans forward on his handlebars. “You guys want to go to the cave?” he asks. “We could pick up cups on the way.”

I'm about to say yes, a BrainFreeze would sure be good on a day like this, but Lottie speaks up before I do. “Not me. I'm looking at magazines with Melissa.”

Eddie turns to me. “Violet, you want to come?”

I'd love to squeeze into that cave and hear that whooshing sound again. And suddenly a root beer BrainFreeze is just what I got a craving for. But when I look at Lottie, her eyes ask me to stay.

“Naw, I think I'm going to stay here for a while.”

He doesn't say anything back, just turns his bike around and heads down the road.

“Wait till you see the autographs Melissa's got!” Lottie says as we climb up the porch and sit on the floor by Melissa. Tootsie sits on my lap.

Those stupid letters. “I seen them before,” I say. Already, I am regretting not heading down that road with Eddie.

Melissa huffs. “Not all of them.” She spreads out a pile of those plastic sheets, talking without looking up. “Walked here with your boyfriend, huh?”

I sneer at her. “He ain't my boyfriend.” Then I roll my eyes at Lottie so's she can see how stupid Melissa is. As if Eddie and I would ever act all googly-eyed and stuff.

“Whatever.” Melissa busies herself with her letters. “He looks kind of like this guy,” she says, flashing a plastic-encased photo.

I can see the resemblance, dark hair and blue eyes, but I never thought of Eddie as one of those fancy Hollywood types. Eddie is a real person.

Lottie leans over and looks at the picture. “You're right. He does kind of look like that guy.”

Oh, my Lord. I can't believe I'm sitting on this porch wasting time over these pictures. My legs drip with sweat and I push Tootsie off my lap. Then I remember about swimming and I look over and see Lottie's bathing suit tied up under her shirt. “You guys want to hook up a sprinkler?” I ask, then turn to Melissa. “Or you got a pool we can fill up?”