All the Ugly and Wonderful Things(46)

KELLEN


Riding down in the elevator to the parking garage, Wavy leaned against the opposite wall, staring at nothing. When the doors opened at the second-level parking, she walked ahead of me to where the truck was parked.

“Where do you want to go?” I said. “You want to stay down at the ranch with Sandy?”

Wavy turned around and took a few steps backwards so we could look at each other. She pointed at me.

“You want to stay with me? Or you want me to stay with you?”

She nodded. I knew she was gonna say that. And I knew I wouldn’t sleep on the couch.

Unlike everybody else, me and Wavy had already been into the farmhouse and seen what Val did before she wrecked. Broken dishes and food all over the kitchen floor. In the living room, the coffee table was split in two like somebody had jumped on it. One of the couch legs was busted off and the cushions were cut open. Lying in the middle of that mess was a used syringe and a pair of lacy panties. Val even went into Wavy and Donal’s rooms, ripped the sheets off the beds, broke toys and tore up library books.

Driving out to the farmhouse, we didn’t talk about what to do. I parked the truck in the drive and we walked down into the meadow. The quilt was right where we left it, no worse for having spent the day out in the hayfield. The two cans of beer were warm, but I cracked one and drank it.

Wavy said all the stars, but we didn’t make a game of it. After she fell asleep, I was still awake, listening to the quiet, thinking about what we’d have to do in the morning. While Wavy swept and mopped, I figured I’d haul the things Val had destroyed out to the trash barrel and burn them. I kept thinking about that, picturing what needed to be done, because that was as far as I could think. After we cleaned up the house, I didn’t know what we’d do next.





12

DONAL

August 1982

I didn’t remember Mama and me having our wreck, but I remembered Mama and Uncle Sean fighting. Just like she does with Daddy. Screaming and hitting and breaking stuff.

“I hate you!” Mama kept saying.

“Where is it? Where the f*ck is it?” Uncle Sean yelled. He went stomping all around the house, tearing things up, even worse than Mama does when she’s mad.

After he left, Mama said, “I’ll show him.”

I was hiding under the bed, but she came and dragged me out and said, “Put your f*cking shoes on. We’re leaving.”

Then I guess we went for a ride and had our wreck, but I didn’t remember that.

I got a cool cast on my arm and everybody signed it. For a while it was just Wavy and Kellen and me at the farmhouse, and I liked that. Wavy was happier, and when Kellen and me made jokes at dinner, she laughed out loud. I wanted us all to sleep together, but Kellen was too big, so he slept in Wavy’s bed and she slept with me. Mostly.

Then Mama got to leave the hospital, and Daddy said, “I want you to come live with me.”

I thought that would be cool because there were motorcycles and puppies and firecrackers down at the trailers. Maybe I could get a bike, too.

Plus Wavy made me eat good-for-me stuff. Oatmeal and green beans. At Daddy’s house, Sandy let me eat Pop-Tarts and frozen pizzas.

Also, Mama scared me. She was different people. “Wait,” Wavy said. Her rule was Don’t talk to Mama until she talks to you. Wait until you know which Mama she’s going to be. If Mama said, “Oh God, I’m so alone,” it was okay for me to hug her.

If Mama said, “Worthless motherf*cker. I’ll show him,” you better watch out. Even Kellen didn’t like to come in the house when she was like that, and he was lots bigger than Daddy.

Before Mama came home from the hospital, Sandy helped me pack my stuff. We packed Wavy’s clothes, too, while she sat on the bed, touching her quilt.

“We can take the quilt with us, honey.” Sandy stuck her hand out, getting ready to do something stupid. Only Kellen and me got to touch Wavy. And she could hit hard. Boy, I didn’t want to see that.

“Don’t touch her,” I said.

“Wha?” Sandy was kinda stoned so she was being silly.

Wavy stood up and Sandy started to fold her quilt.

“No,” Wavy said. When Sandy didn’t stop, Wavy said it loud: “NO.”

“You don’t want to take your quilt?”

“It’s not her quilt,” I said. Grandma, who I didn’t remember, made the quilt for Wavy, but I knew the rule. Nothing belongs to you. I knew the rule, but I didn’t like it. My stuff was mine, like the pocketknife Uncle Sean gave me. If somebody tried to take it, I’d sock them.

Sandy put the quilt back on the bed and took the other stuff to the car.

First thing, when we got down the hill, I showed Wavy the puppies in the garage. It was okay for animals to touch her. She petted them and let them crawl on her lap.

I wanted to light firecrackers, but it was getting hot outside, so I said, “Let’s go watch TV.” That was something else we didn’t have at the farmhouse. Wavy had her little TV with rabbit ears, but Sandy’s trailer had satellite.

Only when we went inside, Daddy and Kellen and Butch were there.

“Hey, come here, kiddo,” Daddy said. Then he saw Wavy.

He yelled, “Sandy! Sandy!” until she came. She musta been in the shower, because she had a towel on her head.