Wrapped in Rain(45)

"Unca Tuck?"

"Yeah, buddy," I said over the rapid shaking noise of our arms.

"My arms hurt."

"Oh no, you can't stop now." I shook the cans above my head. "You got to keep shaking. Come on." I shooed him back in line and handed him two more beers. "You too," I said to Katie, who was looking like she wanted to quit. "This is the ninth inning. You can't quit now. It's five to two, we're down by three, and you're up with the bases loaded. This is your chance. Come on." They jumped back in line and we shook every can until each was taut with pressure. Breathing heavily and with sweat peeling off my face, I stopped them. "Okay, you ready?" Jase nodded while I gently placed his fingernail under the tab. "No, you're not. I mean, ARE YOU READY?"



"YES!"

All at once, we popped the tops and a fountain of beer foam spewed skyward. Before the first bubble had hit the ground, I had popped three more tabs and handed cans to each of them. They stuffed them in their arms and jumped up and down like NASCAR drivers in the winner's circle. Beer showered the sky, and I aimed at Katie first and covered her in frothy foam. She grabbed two more cans, popped the tops, and handed one tojase, and they doused me in about eighteen ounces of foam. The empty cans piled up and clinked around us on the marbled porch. I was down to my last few, so I popped three tops, held all three like a triple-barreled shotgun, and chased them around the horse one more time. Jase picked up the last can and held it up to me. I shook my head, breathing heavily, and said, "Go ahead, partner. It's all yours." He held it at arm's length, shook it one time for good measure, then popped the top. Beer shot straight up and showered us, Rex, and his horse in an umbrella of beer mist and laughter.

Dizzy and breathing heavily, with empty and spent cans lying all around us, we collapsed, rolling in a puddle of beer and drunk with delirium.

I sat up, flung the beer off my fingers, and said, All right, who's ready for dinner?"

Jase jumped across Katie and pounced on me. He wrapped a death hug around my neck, squeezed me as tight as his two arms could squeeze, and said, "I like drinking beer with you. Can we do it again?"



I didn't know whether to hug him or not. I lifted my arms and then looked at Katie. She mouthed the words, "Thank you," and I wasn't sure if those were tears or beer cascading off her face. I wrapped my arms around Jase and for a brief instant remembered Miss Ella and the night she pulled me through her window when my people place was aching.

I wrapped my arms snugly around his waist and felt his smile spread from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.

Feels good, doesn't it?





Chapter 14


THE SUN ROSE OVER THE CYPRESS TREES AND GLISTENED off the crystal water lapping over Mutt's toes. His nails were dirty and needed cutting. The water was a murky blue, soapy with bubbles, and Mutt's hands were spotless. Mud, leaves, and bug bites covered the rest of him. He had spent the night listening, watching, and thinking-if you can call it that. The sirens had died a few hours ago. He had heard boat motors, but they never came this far up the creek. Throughout the night he had worked to occupy his hands and mind. He had tied flies, played chess, tied more flies, and so on. At daybreak, the leaves around his head were covered in live flies, but he didn't mind because the buzzing was better than listening to the alternative. Inside, his mind was racing, the voices were screaming eight different conversations at once, and his arms and face had begun to twist and contort under their control. His eyes looked at everything and nothing, and yet one thought confined the entirety of his mind.





Chapter 15


KATIE CARRIED JASE BENEATH THE COVERED WALK TO Miss Ella's for another shower while I went back downstairs. After yet another cold shower, I climbed the stairs and found the two of them waiting expectantly in the kitchen next to the fire.

Something was wrong. I couldn't quite place it, but the skin crawling up my back told me I should know something that I didn't. I looked around, but nothing seemed wrong. They were warm, both smiling, and seemed oblivious to whatever was bugging me. Then I took a deep breath. The smell. The air smelled of lavender. I sniffed again, following the trail, and it carried me to Katie.

"Hope you don't mind," she said, waving her hand across the air around her neck. "Truck stops don't really carry much variety, and it was in the bathroom. Sorry if I assumed. . .

I held up my hand and shook my head, "No, no. And I don't think she would either. It's just something I haven't smelled in a long time."

"You like it?"

Unlike most girls, she showered quickly. That surprised me. I hadn't hurried, but I hadn't dallied either, and she beat me to the top of the steps. "It reminds me of a hug she once gave me." I fished the keys from my pocket, pointed to her clean clothes, and toweled my hair. "You're quick."

"Didn't used to be. It comes with motherhood."

I threw the towel down the spiral staircase. "Well, let's eat. All that shaking made me hungry." I dangled my keys and opened the door, and the phone rang. I dismissed it. "It's probably for Glue. The machine will get it." After four rings, the machine picked up and we were halfway out the door. The dialer hung up and immediately dialed a second time. Katie looked at it with that same nervous, swivelperch look. I shrugged and she picked up the phone. Her voice trembled when she spoke. "Tucker Rain residence."