Their mother had been a teacher, and the two boys had gotten more education than most locals, for all the good it had done Lonny. After their parents’ accident, Wallace and his brother had lived like ghosts in their ruined house, by their ruined town. Sometimes they’d drifted. She knew there’d been farm jobs, even a government work project down South. But always they’d been drawn back here.
“An we always had dogs too. ’Thena? I gotta talk to you.”
Almost before he spoke, she recognized the pleading sorrow in his voice and felt herself draw away.
Seeing the way her face hardened, he twitched, then pointed at the boy. “Poor li’l half-wit.” Suddenly, he leered. “An’ you hate him for it, don’t ya? ’Cause he ain’t perfick. An’ you s’posed to be his mother.”
“What do you want?”
“Who was it wanted to have ’im put away?” His eyes seemed to tighten as he watched the boy. “Huh? Answer me that. You ain’t no kinda mother.”
“Do you want money? Is it that again?”
“Ah, ’Thena. You used ta like me once. What do we gotta fight for? We’re family.” He leaned into her face, his breath reeking of booze.
The condition of his teeth shocked her, and she grimaced with disgust.
“Ya think you care ’bout him? You don’t care for shit!”
“When did you get out?” She tried to look bored. “Does Pamela even know? Have you been home yet, or just to Spencer’s?”
“What’s ’at s’posed ta mean? You think I’m drunk or something? I’m sick. Shit. You runnin’ round in that fuckin’ ambulance. Makes me laugh. You don’t even care ’bout your own kid,” he’d begun to shout. “You just provin’ how s’perior you are wi’ all them hurt people. That’s disgustin’ if you ask me. Fuckin’ nigger wonder woman gonna save the day, huh? You just a cripple, ’at’s what you are. ’At’s all you are!” He pointed. “It’s your fault he’s like ’at! My brother’s kid!”
Though she tried not to flinch, her lips went thin.
“That’s right, ’Thena,” he gloated. “Don’t lose control. Gotta stay s’perior. Matty! Matty, c’mere. Your uncle’s here, boy—c’mon over here.”
As she looked at the boy, all her germinating suspicions to the contrary melted away. Rooted to the spot, he stood with his fingers in his mouth, staring as though about to flee. While the boy drooled, Lonny began ranting at her again, and she felt enraged, wanting to laugh and scream with shame…and sorrow.
Matt didn’t run away.
His concentration excluded the adults. He brought the inchworm that crawled on his hand closer to his face and watched the pale green movement. The insect bowed its body, feeling blindly in the air before making contact with his flesh—the barest tickling sensation. Gently, the boy crouched and held his finger to the ground, watched the tiny life crawl away.
“Why don’t ya go back to the city then? If ya hate us here so much? Shit. Go on—go live in slum housing. Go ask your black aunt ta take you back! You’d die before ya did that, wouldn’t ya? Does your wonderful family even know ya got a retard kid?” Suddenly, his voice slurred even more. “Never should’ve stopped the chains. You’ll find out. They used to know how to treat ’em.” He kept rubbing at the back of his gray neck. “Look at ’im. Oh Jesus, look at ’im. You ever know ’bout my father’s brother? No, Wally wouldn’t tell that, would he? I’m so damn tired of hearin’ how wonderful ole Wally was. Don’t look like he’s doin’ you much good now though, do it?” He sneered. “That boy. He’s a real member of this family, he is. It’s gonna take ’im.” Shouting again, he moved closer to her, his hands spasmodically clenching into fists.
She braced herself. The subject of his rant might switch from moment to moment, but the momentum built steadily.
“You’re the one with the crazy mother. Don’t even know who the hell yer father was. You didn’t think Wally told me that, did ya? Coulda been any animal retard.”
She wanted to retort with something about his own children, dead or deformed, but couldn’t. For Pam’s sake. Couldn’t. Moving away from him, she trod on one of the scattered iron flagstones, splashes of rust red on the sodden earth. Once—how long ago?—Wallace had hauled topsoil from well beyond the barrens, dumped it here so she might have a garden, but the rain had leached it away, until now only heroic clusters of crabgrass grew in the darker earth around the flagstones. The erratic trail of a slug glistened wetly on starved weeds.
“I don’t know as how a cripple should even be allowed to have a kid!” Then the voice turned soft and wheedling. “’Thena? ’Thena?”
“I’d appreciate it if you’d leave now. I’m already running late. By the way, welcome home. Hope you can stay longer this trip. Matthew,” she called, refusing to look back at the man who followed her across the yard. “Come here.”
Matty stared at them. His hand had found its way back to his mouth, and drool ran down his arm. She pulled him to her and tried to take his other hand—sweaty, sticky. With a wail, the boy pulled away from her, cringing where he stood.
Lonny approached. “He knows ya don’t like ’im.” Tall and stoop shouldered, he looked odd walking, almost unbalanced, as though his joints all pointed at subtly wrong angles. “Never could stand nothin’ weak, could she, boy?” He grabbed at Matty, hugging him against his legs, the boy at first unresisting. “Looks like he’s gonna be a big ’un, all right. She’s ruinin’ it for everybody, huh, boy?” He crouched beside him, tousled wet hair. “She drove poor Wally till ’e dropped, froze me outta my own house ’cause I was sick.” Suddenly, he was all over the boy, holding and patting him. “You’re a good kid, ain’t ya?”
The child twisted to pull away, redoubling his efforts and crying in panic when the whiskered face pressed to kiss him.
“Leave him alone.”
“Look at dis—he’s filthy! Don’t ya never give him no bath?”
“He’s been playing in the mud,” she told him, annoyed by the defensiveness in her voice.
Noises choked from the boy. Lonny stood up, and the boy hunched over, the contents of his stomach gushing out onto the dirt. She said nothing—not even permitting herself a small victorious smile—just put a hand on Matthew’s shoulder.
“I wanna move back in. Me an’ Pam.”
She looked up at him, her face caught with an incredulous grin. “Well, you can forget that.” The boy coughed and held his stomach, pouring out the scalding misery.
“I just wanna come home.” Lonny’s face twisted with pain. “It’s my house.”
“No,” she spoke slowly, staring him down, “it is not.”
“All ya did was pay the fuckin’ back taxes! Ya don’t even wanna be here. We built this place! My family. Ya hate it here.” He drew himself up and began to walk toward the house. “Not fair. It’s my parents’ house, my goddamn brother gets it, he dies and you keep it? ’S not fair! Ya don’t even belong here. We’re gonna move back in whether ya want us to or not.”
“Don’t even try this.”
“I was born here! In this house!” Trembling with rage now, he swung back toward her. She saw his hands shake and knew what they suppressed. “’Thena, please—I won’t never bother you. And I’ll even fix the place up, you’ll see. I jus’ wanna come home. I’ll die if I don’t. Wallace, he woulda wanted me ta be here. I’ll die. It ain’t like I won’t have money. Me an this friend a mine—he just got out too—we’re gonna start a mink-trappin’ business an’…”
“Of course you are.” She guided the boy back toward the house.
“You better let me! I’ll make you! I swear to God, you’ll be sorry. ’Thena, you listen a me! It’s ’at cop, ain’t it? You think that cop you’re screwin’ can keep me out?”
“Yes.” She whipped around to face him. “That’s it, if that’s what it takes. He’s done a lot more than that for me already. He’s had to, thanks to you and your buddies in town. Do you imagine I don’t know who’s responsible for all my windows being broken? Do you think I don’t know who tore the fence down and drew those things on the walls?” She almost spat. “Thank God for Barry. We wouldn’t have been able to live here, if it weren’t for him. He can keep you out all right. Or put you away. How’d you get out anyway? You weren’t due for a while yet. Maybe I should have him look into that. How’d you like to be back inside? I should do it anyway, for Pam’s sake. I could, you know. So don’t start threatening me again. You think I’d let you back in this house? For even a minute?”
A weird appreciation on his face, he laughed. “Ain’t so cool now, ’Thena. Huh? Not so calm and
