them coming up here. And besides, Kanye West is a bag of fuck.”
“If you don’t like him,” Stephanie asked after sipping her beer, “then why is he on your iPod?”
“Because I used to like him. I just don’t anymore. Dude be tripping all the time. Too much ego and not enough talent. And besides, his shit’s outdated.”
“Well,” Stephanie persisted, “so are Redman and Ice-T, but you’ve got them on here. Hell, Ice-T was around when our parents were our age.”
“Yeah, but that’s classic shit. There’s a difference between being a classic and just being outdated. Ice-T was an original gangster. Kanye ain’t all that. He’s a squirrel looking for a nut.”
Randy turned his attention back to the video gamhe was playing with Sam. The two sat on the edge of his bed, controllers in hand, staring at the television. Stephanie sat in the chair in front of Randy’s desk. Her gaze went from the television to the boys to the computer, and then back to the television again.
She sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Randy asked her, his tone impatient.
“I’m bored. I mean, I didn’t come over here to watch you two play video games all night.”
Randy’s attention didn’t leave the television. “Then what the hell did you come over here for?”
“To spend time with you guys, asshole.”
“I reckon we
“No, we’re not. We’re just hanging out in your bedroom.”
Her cell phone beeped. Stephanie picked it up and smiled.
“It’s Linda. Hang on, let me text her back.”
She grew quiet for a few moments as she typed, and Randy tried to focus on the game. Then Stephanie’s phone beeped again as Linda replied, and Stephanie squealed with laughter. Grunting, Randy dropped his game controller in frustration. On the screen, his character died a bloody death at the hands of Sam, who sat back and grinned.
“Now look what you did,” Randy said to Stephanie. “You fucked with my concentration and I lost.”
“It’s not my fault!”
“Sure it is. You and Linda text like twenty-four/ seven. Ya’ll are lesbians or something.”
“Asshole.”
“Don’t you get sick of each other?”
“Sounds to me like you’re jealous.”
Ignoring her, Randy turned to Sam. “I’m done, yo. This game sucks, anyway.”
“Come on, Steph.” Sam fished the controller out of Randy’s lap and held it up. “Why don’t you give it a try?”
“Okay.”
She hopped out of the chair and took a seat between them on the bed. Smiling, she accepted the controller from Sam, whose hairless cheeks suddenly flushed red. He glanced away from her, shifting back and forth nervously when she giggled. The bed springs squeaked.
“Promise to be gentle?” Stephanie grinned. “I reckon so,” Sam murmured.
Randy stood up and crossed the room. Like Sam, his ears and cheeks were red, too, but unlike Sam, it wasn’t from embarrassment. Sam was supposed to be his best friend. They’d known each other all their lives. They’d known Stephanie all their lives, too, and it wasn’t until this year, when it suddenly became apparent that Stephanie wasn’t just the little girl they’d always known anymore, that the relationship between the three of them had grown so complicated. Randy hated it when Stephanie tried to play him and Sam against each other. Worse, it bothered him even more that Sam was sucker enough to fall for it every time. Sometimes, she genuinely seemed to want to be with him. Other times, she seemed more interested in Sam. Randy hated how the whole situation made him feel.
Not for the first time, Randy wondered what would happen to them all after graduation. It was only a few months away. They’d have the summer together. He supposed that he and Sam would have to find jobs, although he didn’t know how in the hell they’d do that when there weren’t any jobs to be had. Stephanie would be going off to college in the fall. She’d gotten into Morgantown. What would happen then? Would she be like everybody else who left Brinkley Springs, and never come back?
“Where’s your sister at tonight?” Sam asked.
Randy turned around to answer and noticed that
Sam and Stephanie were sitting very close to each other on the edge of the mattress. So close, in fact, that their thighs and shoulders were touching. Neither seemed inclined to move. Randy wondered if they were even aware of it. A lump rose in his throat and something churned in his stomach.
“She went out,” he said, trying to keep the edge out of his voice. “Donny’s leaving tonight. She wanted to confront him before he goes.”
“She ought to just let it drop,” Sam said. “Hell, he’s the one who left in the first place. Went off to Iraq and shit. Left your sis and his mother here. And what with his Mom being sick and your sister in love with him—that shit wasn’t right, yo.”
“She’s in love with him,” Stephanie declared. “It’s easy to see why, too. Donny’s . . .”
“What?” Randy and Sam asked at the same time. “Never mind. All I’m saying is that it’s easy to see why Marsha is still stuck on Donny. Love makes you do strange things.”
“Randy?” The voice came from downstairs.
“Shit. It’s my dad.” He waved at Stephanie and Sam to be quiet. “What?”
“Turn that music down. The bass is coming through the ceiling.”
“Okay,” Randy yelled.
Muttering to himself, he walked toward the computer. As he did, the background music changed, switching from Kanye West to Foxy Brown and Kira singing “When the Lights Go Out.”
“Oh,” Stephanie said, “I love this song.”
And then the lights went out, along with the computer, the television, the video game and all of the other electronics. Stephanie gasped. The bedroom grew dark. The windows were open, allowing the night air to come through the screens, and a slight breeze ruffled the curtains.
“Uh-oh,” Sam said. “Must have blown a fuse.”
“Listen,” Randy said, holding a finger to his lips.
“Ya’ll hush up a minute.”
Downstairs, Randy and Marsha’s father was cursing, and their mother was asking him where the flashlight was. Outside, a dog howled. And then another. And then a dozen.
“Come on,” Randy said. “Let’s go see what’s happening.”
Sam and Stephanie stood up and followed him to the bedroom door. Randy reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. She squeezed back, and her teeth flashed white in the gloom as she smiled at him.
“Besides,” Randy whispered, “maybe it’ll be more exciting than sitting here playing video games.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “I was sort of having fun kicking Sam’s butt.”
Sam laughed behind them and Stephanie’s smile grew wider. Randy let go of her hand and walked out into the hall, barely realizing that his hands had curled into fists.
Outside, the barking and howls grew louder.
***
Five black crows swooped in over the town and then split up, each heading to the outskirts. One glided to the town’s northern point, another to the southern tip. One went east and another west. The fifth crow hovered over the center of town. When all were in position, each simultaneously shed a single black feather. The feathers floated slowly downward. As each one touched the ground, the birds croaked in unison. Their voices sounded human rather than crowlike—as if they were chanting.
The air around Brinkley Springs changed. A glow briefly surrounded the town, and then vanished.
***
When the lights went out, Esther Laudry had finished brewing hot water in her electric tea kettle. She’d just poured some into two dainty, porcelain tea cups decorated with red and pink roses when the power died.
“Oh, fiddlesticks . . .”
She tugged on the teabag strings and left the cups and saucers on the kitchen counter, allowing the tea to
