American River Review 2022 - copy - Flipbook - Page 38
“A cigar. You ever smoke one?”
“Nah. Ain’t never been around anyone who did, neither, but my Ma’s pa
used to keep all his best stuff in this
old cigar box.”
“Wouldn’t that make him your
grandpa?”
“He wasn’t no grandpa kind of
guy,” I said, my words coming out
a bit snippier than I meant. “I just
called him Blaze. He was what they
call a teaser, but his teasing was
always mean.”
Walt took a pocketknife from his
back pocket, started cleaning his
fingernails with it. “Never knew my
grandfather. But my dad was kind of
like that. Used to tease me a lot, too.”
Walt sat quiet, slipping that blade
under each nail, swiping them clean
one finger at a time.
“I used to wet the bed,” Walt said,
closing his knife and putting it in his
pocket. “Not all the time, but often
enough that my dad took to calling
me Pea Brain. Years later. First girl I
brought to the house? I was maybe
fifteen or so. My dad told her not
to steer me too far from any bathrooms.”
He stayed quiet a long while, then
picked up a stone and threw it into
the creek, a scowl doing its best to
hide under that big bushy mustache.
“Then he up and died.”
Walt’s eyes got that sadness that
old men tend to get. The kind that’s
not just about one thing but years
and years of sad that only comes out
when they get to talking.
A strider skimmed across the
water, a smaller one right behind it,
like they was headed toward the same
place.
“Blaze used to make fun of me
because I believed him when he said
that he got his cigar box from royalty
on account of King Edward’s name
was on it. Said a prince gave it to him
at one of them fancy hotels really
rich folks stay in.” I picked up a stick,
started scratching marks in the dirt.
“I believed him for a bit. When I figured him for fibbing, he wouldn’t let
it go. Used to say he didn’t know bugs
like me could be fat and stupid.”
Walt cleared his throat, his eyes
still holding on to the sad. Dusk was
settling over the water, the trees.
Morning Glories closing in for the
night, shadows getting ready to take
38
on that deep purple for critters to
hide in. I pulled my T-shirt down
where it sometimes rides up from
sitting, then worked the stick into the
ground ‘til it snapped in half.
“Blaze died too. Last week,” I said
quick, just in case Walt was fixing
to let go a snicker on account of my
shirt. “Guess we got something in
common.”
“Well, that explains why you were
crying when I first saw you.”
“I wasn’t crying. I ain’t no sissy.”
I threw both halves of the stick in
the water. “He ain’t the kind of man
anybody’d miss. He ain’t never been
around much. Then he shows up,
looking like something the cat drug
in, like somebody give him just
desserts for the way he up and left
us.” I could almost see Gram shaking
her head and going on about airing
family business.
He shook his head real slow, like
he was fitting things together in his
mind.
“I used to think my dad died
because he teased me so much. Like
God had decided to punish him, you
know?”
“But you don’t think that no more?”
“No. I’m pretty sure God never
spent much time looking our way at
all.”
It was getting dark and I knew I
best get home. “Thanks for the sandwich, Walt. And the lemonade. I gotta
go. My ma’s probably got her knickers in a knot I been gone so long.” I
stood there for a bit, but he didn’t say
nothing. “Maybe I’ll see ya around
sometime, Walt. G‘night.”
The moon wasn’t nothing but a sliver
and I’d slipped twice for it, climbing
up the ridge. Ryker’s truck was still
out front and, as I got closer, I was
glad to see the house was dark and
quiet. I made my feet light as feathers
getting to bed. Didn’t even bother
changing clothes. I heard Ma come in
and she stood at the doorway a long
while. She knew I was faking sleep.
Ain’t nobody fall asleep that fast. But
we both knew keeping quiet was best.
Keeping quiet was always best.
After Ma left, I lied there looking
out the window, thinking about Ryker
and Blaze and that night I come back
from fishing. I remember, feeling in
my bones, that something in the air
weren’t right. They was both drunk as