Myself burning in a fiery pit, thank you very much. Too bad I didn’t believe in Hell. I deserved it. I slid my hands into my lap.
“There’s a vivid orange one over your shoulder.” I gestured to the window again. No, a fiery pit is too good.
“Out the window?” Eileen’s confusion distracted me from my moral agony.
“No . . . ” The angel hadn’t stopped pulsing. If anything, it was even more frenzied, swooping towards me and then back. What was it doing? It was acting like a dog who wanted to play fetch.I’d never seen one act like that before, and even its color wasn’t common. A deep lava-orange, persimmon-ish color kind of like . . .
“Birds!” I grabbed her arm. “You said birds were circling?”
“Yeah, it was weird! They were making a lemniscate.” I squeezed and she elaborated, “An infinity symbol.”
A figure eight! I jumped up, knocking over the syrup. “Show me!”
Adam righted the bottle as I hauled my child from her chair. “Lila, what is it?”
“Over the marsh!” Eileen didn’t know about the birds I’d seen at Sal’s house, but her intuition was flawless. “Near the river!”
She barreled through the screen door and led the way down the steps, with me so close behind that we were practically side by side. I heard Adam calling, but couldn’t turn around to explain. What would I say if I was wrong? What if it wasn’t Sal? What story could I possibly make up this time? It has to be him!
We ducked around the scruffy trees and over the bramble, hissing as sandspurs and broken twigs scratched our feet.
“Where, honey?!”
“They were right around here . . . ?” She stopped short at the edge of the marsh and turned back to me with a stricken look on her face. “They were in the air and I was on the porch . . . I don’t know!”
“It’s okay, sweetie.” I touched her cheek before gingerly stepping down into the marsh muck. Low tide. Where are you? Angel, where is he?
“Lila!” Adam grabbed for my arm, but I shook him off and stepped deeper into the grasses and mud.
Why would he be out here? Why didn’t he come to the house? I winced as sawgrass sliced at my ankles, and again as I crunched on a cracked clam shell. Little hermit crabs were scurrying two steps away from me, stopping only to brandish their claws before hurrying out of my path again. What am I doing? If he was out here I’d see him for God’s sake!
“Merowwwrr!”
“Pebbles!” She poked her head up out of the tall grass and plaintively meowed again. Oh, God. “Adam, help me!”
I plowed through the marsh to the flattened hollow where Sal was lying on his side—his naked, beautiful body vulnerable to the sharp grasses, his eyes closed and his face half-submerged in the ooze. I dropped to my knees and tried to roll him onto his back but he was too heavy. Crazy, copious tears were streaming down my face and they made me angry. I needed to see! Why was he lying there? Why hadn’t he gotten up?
“What the hell . . . ?” Adam’s hands briefly grasped my shoulders before he bent to haul Sal onto his back.
“Mom, no!” Eileen’s horror cut through my tears and I looked up to see her at Sal’s feet, her blanched face a stomach-twisting mix of all the emotions I felt.
“Turn away, honey!”
“He’s alive, Lila.” Adam pulled his hand back from Sal’s nose. “He’s breathing.” When I didn’t respond, he pulled off his shirt and arranged it over Sal’s nakedness, but I was too upset to process inane concepts like modesty.
“What’s w-wrong with his f-face . . . ?” Eileen’s whisper was as shaky as the finger she pointed.
Get it together, Lila. I smooshed the backs of my hands across my eyes. “It’s . . . ” I blinked to see more clearly, “ . . . just mud, angel . . . some cuts . . . ” I leaned past Adam to wipe away some of the slime as gently as I could, but Sal groaned. “Shh . . . it’s okay. I’m here. We’re here.” My fingertips couldn’t loosen the sandy grit under the mud, so I climbed over him and tried the soft hem of my blouse, but he groaned again and lifted a weak hand to push me away.
“Mom, stop!”
Confused, I looked to her and then back to Sal. His face was . . . writhing. Thousands of nearly microscopic . . . things . . . were squirming over and under his skin, disappearing in the hollows of his cheeks, forming grotesque lines and patterns on his forehead, swarming around his eyes and across his closed lids.
Adam made a funny noise in the back of his throat.
I felt my own stomach start to lurch but then a roaring buzz vibrated through me and my whole body focused on Sal.
“Adam! Help me get him in the house!” His head jerked at the order, but he gave a curt nod and pulled Sal’s arm around his neck. I did the same on the other side, and we braced to lift his weight. “On three. One, two, three!”
Sal seemed to realize what we were trying to do and struggled to get his legs underneath himself. Awkwardly, the three of us wrestled with his massive body and started toward the house.
“‘Leen. Pebbles.” I couldn’t manage more between gasps for air, but she understood and Pebbles willingly leapt up into her arms. “My bed. Blankets.” She nodded vigorously and dashed off.
It took several minutes to reach the bottom of the steps, and a few more to get in the house—and that was with Adam shouldering most of Sal’s bulk. Part of me was astounded at how much Sal seemed to weigh, but my focus was on getting him help and getting it now.
As we stumbled through the living room, Eileen frantically spread old towels on my bedroom carpet. Not that I cared right now. She’d been even more astute with prepping my bed, though. Under the drape of spare blankets, I could see the painting tarp dangling at the edges. Smart girl. I wouldn’t need to buy a new mattress.
With
