“Come on now.” She took her arm. “Come away.” Moments later, they stood outside in the clean air. “I’d be willing to bet those two didn’t have to get married to share the same last name.” Doris still carried the unopened first-aid kit. “Christ, what a hellhole.”
Athena cast one last glance back into the dim, dirty cave of a shack. “You’ve seen worse though, haven’t you?” They pushed through waist-high weeds toward the car.
“Yeah, but never with you. Don’t feel bad, honey. There’s nothing anybody could do about what’s wrong with that kid.”
A breeze sprang up; yet the air grew corrupt.
“Look. Over there.” Athena ran a few steps, then pointed. “What are those red things? See them?” She raced ahead.
“Honey, where you going?” Dismayed, Doris hurried after her. “Wait up. You got to be careful running around out here.” She pushed through reeds, rounding a small knoll. “’Thena?”
Deep in the undergrowth, Athena stood before a massive lump.
“’Thena, what…?” Dimly, Doris realized they were surrounded by the lumps, rust-red and corroded, sinking in the earth and vines and burned grasses.
“They’re tombstones.” Athena’s hair caught and held the sun. “Iron tombstones.” Her fingers traced carvings in the crude block: an angel with a death’-shead. “Look, you can just make out the dates. ‘Born 1809 died 1824.’ But there’s no name left on this one,” she murmured. “No name at all. Doris? Why does that make me feel like a ghost, Doris?”
She heard a damp thud and violent movement. Behind her, Doris moaned with sudden fear and agony.
It had her by the feet.
Brambles tore at her legs, and a red furrow oozed from abdomen to ribboned throat. A smear of blood covered her slack face, and the wetness clotted on her trailing hair. It dragged her deeper into the brush.
Both women grunted. “We make a fine sight.” She leaned heavily on Athena’s arm. “Both of us…”
“Yes,” Athena finished for her. “Talk about the blind leading the blind.” Helping her up the back steps, she held the screen door open while Doris hopped painfully over the threshold.
“Oh good Christ!” Horrified, Doris grabbed onto the doorframe. “I almost tripped over him.”
Staring blankly, the boy lay on the floor planks.
Athena crouched beside him and shouted, “Pamela!”
“What’s the matter with him? ’Thena?”
“Matthew, can you hear me? Can’t you get up? Pamela! Where are you? No,” she said as Doris moved to help, “no, I’ve got him. Can you make it to a chair?”
The boy blinked, and his throat made gulping motions. The dog limped in from the next room.
“I’m okay. You take care of him. He’s all right, isn’t he?” She had a sudden insight and asked, “This has happened before? How often does he get like this?” When Athena didn’t answer, Doris hobbled across the kitchen and eased herself into a chair. “Christ. Damn stupid thing to do. Running around in the damned woods when we knew there’d been God knows how many troopers out there setting traps just the other day.” She grunted with pain as she raised her right foot to examine Athena’s field bandaging. “Well, if you’ve got to injure yourself, I suppose it’s just as well to do it with a first-aid kit in your hand. Talk about being prepared.” She gritted her teeth against a spasm of pain. “Is he okay?”
Athena started toward the porch to call Pam again, then turned back. She gathered up the boy in her arms and heaved just as the phone began to ring. Breathing hard, she stood there, staring at the wall phone.
“Hell.” Doris stretched, reaching for the phone. “Hell.” She got out of the chair and dragged herself to it. “Hello? Steve, is that you? About time.”
Athena carried the boy out of the kitchen. As she staggered up the stairs, she listened to her friend’s voice fade behind her.
“You better get your ass over here, boy. On the double.”
She stumbled. The boy was dead weight, his face innocent, helpless. She tried to remember the last time she’d held him in her arms and couldn’t. She could, however, remember the first time. Vividly.
At last, reaching the top, she hugged him closer.
Doris hung up the phone and limped back to her seat. “We both look pretty banged up, kiddo.” Bending from the chair, she scratched Dooley between the ears. The dog promptly curled up under the table.
Athena returned. “Let’s see the foot.”
“How’s the boy?”
“I put him on my bed. He’s as…as well as can be expected.” She dragged out her own kit, getting scissors and bandages. “I don’t know what to do here. I mean, I should take you to the hospital, but I can’t leave Matthew alone and Pamela doesn’t seem to be around.”
“It’s okay. Steve is on his way.”
“Not such a bad job of wrapping, if I do say so myself.” Her voice strained toward cheerfulness. “I only want to check this dressing.” She began to snip away at the bloody gauze. “Get it cleaned up better.”
Doris grunted and watched her face. Athena’s lips moved as she worked. “Who you talking to, honey?”
“Huh? Oh. I was just wondering how long he was lying on the floor like that.” Rebandaging the foot, she looked up. “Did you see me back there? Doesn’t it make you laugh? How concerned I was that the little girl wasn’t being taken care of properly. Wasn’t I funny?” She had to put down the bandages. “I’m no better than my own…”
“Yeah, honey. We all grow up like our mothers. Don’t let it get to you.”
She looked away to stare out the back door. “And now it’s my fault that you’re hurt.” The edge of a red sun just touched the pines.
“Don’t be silly.”
“It is. All my fault. If I hadn’t gone running off like that…if I’d only let Lonny and Pam have the house…”
“Honey…”
“You still can’t wiggle the toes, can you? I don’t think it’s broken, but maybe the tendon…Doris? Why don’t you come stay here for a while? Now that the rig’s gone…I mean, just till you’re better.” She rubbed Doris’s leg. “I could use somebody around here. Pam’s not much company for me, and she’s not very responsible. It would be perfect.”
Something happened behind Doris’s face.
“What’s wrong?”
“I, uh, I don’t know, honey, I’ll have to think about…uh…”
“You’re afraid of being trapped out here, aren’t you? And crippled. You’re afraid of being like me now.”
“Don’t talk crazy. I just, uh, just don’t want to be a bother, that’s all.” She groaned. “Where’s that goddamn Steve? My foot’s killing me.” Hoisting herself up, she hobbled across the kitchen to collapse in another chair. “What’s taking him so long? I’m probably going to get tetanus as it is. I think I can feel my jaw tightening already.”
“Shut up, Doris.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
They drove away in Steve’s car, leaving Doris’s station wagon behind.
For a long while after she could no longer hear the car, Athena remained standing by the back door. Finally, she closed it and drew the bolt against the night. There was still no sign of Pam, and the last time she’d checked on Matthew, he’d been in a deep sleep. She moved about the kitchen, mechanically going through the motions of straightening up. Dumping cups in the sink, she spotted a sheet of paper stuck behind the dishes and, pulling it out, shook grains of sugar off it.
