The Summer That Melted Everything(38)

“His skin’s comin’ off,” the hand said.

Grand stopped. They all did. Flashlights were turned toward the hand, brown shoe polish showing on its palm.

The other hands let go of me. The light left and made a backward turn to themselves, inspecting the color smeared upon them.

“Do you think it’ll make us sick?” one of them asked.

“Don’t know. Don’t know what it is.”

“It’s his skin, just meltin’ off. Must be the heat.”

Even those hit by Grand no longer bent toward their pain. They looked at their own hands to see if they too had the come-off color.

“C’mon, quick, Fielding.” Grand bent down. “Hop on my back. You haven’t got shoes on. Glass is everywhere.”

And so I rode the back of the god across the sky to the safe dark of the woods, where I slid off to the ground. Didn’t want to, though.

“You’re lucky I was out, Fielding.”

“Thought you had a date?”

“She wasn’t my type.”

“I thought she was the girl everyone wants?”

“I went for a walk instead.”

He had layers of sweat. One from the heat. One from the fight. One from his walk. One from the girl he did not want. The sweat making a circle on his shirt at the small of his back like some sort of ripe fruit.

I was about to say something more but the night was speaking my name.

“Sal? Is that you?”

He stepped from the trees.

“You know what’s goin’ on out there, Sal?” I pointed back. “Someone’s broken the windas and the streetlights. They—” I stopped when I saw what he held in his hand. “Why ya got a rock, Sal?”

He dropped it, and the thud sounded like a window breaking.

“Don’t say it was you, Sal.” Grand put his arm out in front of me, the way a mother might in a car suddenly stopping.

“Now, hold on, guys—” Sal took a step toward us.

“It was you. You broke those windas.”

“No, Fielding.”

“You’ve got a rock.”

“Not to break anything, Grand.” Sal’s hands were up in a way I’d only ever seen on cop shows. “I’m gathering them. That’s all. I’ll show you.” He quickly reached behind Grand to grab my arm, his grip hot and strong. “Please, let me show you.”

I let him pull me through the woods with Grand following behind and on the way picking up the rock Sal had dropped. We ended up at the tree house. In the patch of dirt over Granny’s body, a pile of rocks were freshly stacked.

“I was just making a gravestone.” He let go of my arm, my flesh feeling almost burned.

“Just a gravestone.” Grand placed the rock in his hand on the very top.

“Shit. I thought…” I walked around the rocks. “I’m sorry, Sal.”

He looked down at his hand that had gripped my arm. “What do you have all over you?”

I didn’t answer him. I was thinking about Elohim. About how he had attacked me earlier.

“He was just like a damn wolf,” I told them. “Or a rabid dog, at the very least.”

“Why’d he attack you?” Sal was still studying the shoe polish smeared on his palm.

“He thought I was you.”

“Is that why you colored your skin? Trying to be me?”

“Naw. I was in disguise.”

“As what?”

“As the night. I was sneakin’ over to the sheriff’s, see what all they were askin’ you ’bout.”

“Aw, little man, it’s my fault then.” Grand sighed. “I’m so глупый.”

“I would’ve went even without you sayin’ I should. I’m a shadow, remember?” I turned to Sal. “How’d it go with Dad and the sheriff, anyways?”

“They wanted me to eat candy and be a son from up north. To be something taken. They were upset to take the candle into my night and find I really am just the devil after all. Afterwards, Autopsy went home, but I came out here. I wonder who did it. Broke the windows. Let’s go see.”

“What?” I grabbed Sal’s leaving arm. “No way. They saw the shoe polish on me. They think it was you. I thought they were gonna tear me to pieces. They would’ve if Grand hadn’t stopped ’em.”

“Anytime, little man.” He lightly tapped my chin with his knuckles and then quickly looked away.

I’ll never know how my adoring smiles affected my brother. Were they yellow and nice, like afternoon butter? Or were they pressure? Pressure to be that hero, that god who could be only at the sacrifice of his true self. Sometimes I think older brothers should not be allowed. We fall in love with them too much. They are our everything, all the while, they hurt out of sight for our sake.

“C’mon.” Sal started through the woods. “Sheriff is bound to be there by now. They won’t do anything around him. He’ll stop them.”

*

We hid behind the bushes lining Juniper’s, hidden more by the trunks of the large trees in front. From there, we saw the sheriff’s car, its spotlight on and reflecting in the broken glass.

Elohim was there, listening as person after person went up to the sheriff, claiming to have seen Sal.