‘Shit!’
Mouse was laughing so hard that he had trouble holding the lantern steady; his whole body shook.
‘Easy, you shoulda been born rich,’ he said, letting out a long sigh of pleasure. ‘I mean up on the hill with servants and tea.’
‘What you talkin’ ‘bout?’
‘Look at you. Here you go wantin’ t’pick’n choose like you too good fo’Jo. But you don’t un’erstan’ that’s Momma Jo in there. If she like you then you halfway got it made. She feed you and fix you up if you get cut. Shit! An’ I bet she fuck you bettah than all them chippies you be chasin’ in Houston. I tell ya. You got a woman wanna take you home you better not be turnin’ up yo’ nose...’
‘Shut up, shut up!’
‘All right.’ He hunched his shoulders. ‘All I gotta say is...’
‘Just shut up, all right?’
And he did. He turned and walked away without another word. I followed him, my head about to come open with all that had happened.
With those stars and lightning bugs I barely made out the path we walked on from the heavens. It was like walking in the black skies of night; my whole sense of up and down was gone. The only thing that kept me from getting dizzy was keeping my eye on Mouse’s black silhouette, rushing on up ahead. We walked for quite a while until we came into a stand of cypress trees.
‘This it,’ he said.
‘This is what?’
“This is where we gonna meet’im.’
‘Meet who?’
‘Now you gotta make up yo’ mind, Easy.’
‘What you say?’
‘Well, either you want me t’talk or you don’t.’
‘I don’t want you talkin’ ‘bout that woman or nuthin’ t’do wit’ what happened back there.’
He shook his head, saying, ‘I cain’t go along with that. When I talks, I talks an’ that’s it. If you don’t wanna hear me then I shet my mouf. But if you wanna hear, then you gotta take whatever come inta my head, ‘cause that’s the way I am. I cain’t be bothered wit’ you wanna be hearin’ one thing but you don’ wanna be hearin’ nuthin’ else...’
He went on like that, running his mouth. The drift of his palaver was that he couldn’t afford to hold back anything because it might be something important and he’d never know unless he got it out.
‘I think wit’ my mouf, Easy. I might say sumpin’ that sounds like shit t’you, but once I say it then I know sumpin’ else ‘bout what I be needin t’do.’
I could see that he was excited and that he needed to talk, so I let him go on; as long as he didn’t bring up Jo I was happy to let him rave.
After he ran out of things to say we just sat there. I could see a little better by then because morning nosed at the horizon.
‘What’s standin’ out here in the middle’a the night gonna do ‘bout yo’ weddin’?’ I asked, wanting to break the silence.
‘Sh!’
There came the sound of rustling branches.
‘Ray?’ A man called out.
‘Over here, Brother Dom,’ Mouse cooed.
Out from the trees came something. I knew it was a man because I heard him call to us but it could have been something else. He leaned way over to the side, one arm hanging down almost to the ground. He walked in a shuffle that made his whole body twist like a silkworm hanging from her thread. His back was hunched over so his head looked like it sprouted from the chest. His mouth was open wide with misshapen teeth grown in all directions; the giant maw glistened.
‘Hey, brother,’ Mouse said, then he did something I’d never seen him do with a man before — he hugged the hunchback. A real hug with their cheeks touching.
‘This here is Easy, the one I tole you ‘bout,’ Mouse said. ‘Easy, I want you t’shake hands with my oldest friend,
Domaque.’
The hunchback swung his long arm at me and it was all I could do not to jump back. His hand was leathery, dry, and strong.
‘Easy!’ he said like I was old and deaf. ‘My brother tole me ‘bout you. Glad t’meetcha.’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Sure.’
‘This here’s Jo’s boy, Easy. Easy stayed wit’ yo momma last night, Dom.’
‘Uh-huh. Wanna go fishin’ now?’ As it got lighter I could see that one of Domaque Jr.’s eyes was dead; it was brown and receded into the socket.
‘Sure, I got my rod here in my pocket.’ Mouse slapped his pants. ‘But you got what I want?’
