Dom gave me a strong handshake and a crooked smile. He said, ‘Remember to make it in yo’ own words, Easy. That’s how ya do it.’
The car had been moved to the edge of town by one of Mouse’s friends. He’d gotten the key from my pocket when I was sick. Raymond hefted the stuffed rucksack on his shoulder.
‘Weddin’ gifts,’ he said.
I wondered if Theresa was coming to the wedding.
Just before we left for the car Miss Alexander took me by the arm to an empty spot on the wooden sidewalk.
‘Easy, I’m” glad you’re feelin’ better...’
‘I been meanin’ t’thank you...’
She waved her hand for me to keep quiet. ‘I feel bad that you ain’t seen us in a good light, Ezekiel. You know we was all glad to meet you and have you with us. It’s always nice to meet one’a Raymond’s boyfriends, he got a real knack at gettin’ friends.’
We shook hands and then she kissed me on the cheek.
Sweet William and Mouse were standing next to the car when I got there. They were the same height and looked so much alike that you would have had to be blind not to see the relationship.
I don’t think Mouse ever suspected that William was his father. Some men are just lucky.
‘Well, Easy, I guess you gonna get back to the city to rest from the country, huh?’ William smiled.
‘Yeah, you country people is too wild for me.’
He shook my hand. The rest of them came up and waved to us; Theresa ran to the window and kissed Mouse on the lips.
‘She sure have grown,’ Mouse said to himself as we took off.
It had been gray all morning but the drizzle didn’t start until we left Pariah. It wasn’t a rain that cleaned the leaves of dust but a mist that changed the dust to caked mud on everything. The whole world turned filthy and streaked.
Mouse said some things to me but I ignored him for the most part. There was a weight on me. It seemed like the air was too heavy and that the trees along the road were so loose that any minute they’d crash down on us. My fingers felt thick and numb.
Mouse was smoking store-bought cigarettes and whistling; you’d’ve thought the sun was shining on him.
When we got to the main road the bugs came out. We smashed them by the dozens on the windshield. They exploded into blossoms of blood and body parts, then they slipped away into the thin film of drizzle. Every time we hit one I thought of Clifton, with his dour expression, sitting in the backseat; I thought of Reese on his knees in front of his broken house.
There were dead animals in the road too. Armadillos, porcupines and even a couple of dogs. Cars ran them over in the night and kept on going.
Their bodies were torn open and they still seemed to be bleeding because the rain had kept the blood fresh. Flesh burst from the fur like cotton from a ripped sofa.
‘Here ya go, Ease, maybe this brighten up yo’ face.’ Mouse put a fat envelope, folded from a sheet of newspaper, on the dashboard in front of me.
‘What’s that?’
‘I might not be able t’read like ole Dom but I can count like anything,’ he said.
Another time that might have gotten a rise out of me but those days were over.
‘Yeah,’ Mouse said. ‘I cain’t read but I can count to three hundred in my sleep.’
I didn’t say a word. I wouldn’t even look at the envelope.
‘What’s wrong wichyou, man?’ he asked me.
‘Ain’t nuthin wrong.’
‘Then why you cain’t even talk?’
‘Ain’t got nuthin t’say, that’s all.’
‘Yeah. I know.’ He stared at me for a moment, then went on, ‘Easy, I want you t’take that money. It’s yours an’ it would be a insult t’me if you leave it lyin’ there fo’Otum t’take.’
I said, ‘Where you get that money?’
‘Fount it.’
‘Fount it where?’
‘Out t’Reese’s place. I mean he got a will say ev’rything go to Navrochet. But you know he owed me sumpin’ so I just look at it like this here money I got is mines.’
‘How much was it?’
He pointed to the envelope. ‘That there’s just a piece of it.’
I was quiet again.
‘You wanna know what happened, huh?’ He was grinning at me.
