Wrapped in Rain(87)

Katie slid down the wall and crouched beneath the windowsill. She pulled her knees in tight to her chest and rested her head on her arms. Maybe I'd said too much. I turned to leave, and Mutt was staring me in the face, pale as a ghost. I don't know how long he'd been standing there.

Mutt walked to the doorway of Rex's room and hesitated, bracing both hands on either side of the door as if trying to gain his balance. He stepped forward, but his feet looked magnetized to the floor. He walked in, mumbling to himself, and stood in the middle of the room. He walked to Rex's rolltop desk, looked around the room as if gaining his bearings, and pointed. After several minutes, he managed to say, "I ... was here."

I stepped toward the door. "What?"

Mutt pointed to the middle of the room, still lost in his own conversation. "She was here, on her knees, cleaning. She asked me to help her move the desk back against the wall." Mutt's movements were mechanical, almost robotic. "I moved it and Rex walked in. Bad drunk. He had sent Mose to Dothan. He said to her, `You like my boys?' She said, `Mr. Rex, they're the two finest boys I've ever known. I love them like my own sons. I know you're real proud of them.' Without a word, he threw his glass at her. It hit her in the mouth and her teeth came flying out. He picked up a piece of broken glass and swiped it across her face, cutting her eye. I took a step toward him, he pointed his finger at me, and I saw the fire in his eyes." Mutt's breathing was heavy, and his hands were shaking. "He said to me, `You dumb little twit! You're not even supposed to be alive. Why can't you just die? You were nothing but an itch that I satisfied. An exchange of body fluids. That's all! That's all you've ever been. Wasted seed.' He pointed down at her again and said, 'I'll tell you when I'm proud of someone,' and then kicked her in the ribs with the toe of his shoe. I heard the crack .. .



Mutt stood stone still in the center of the room, then turned counterclockwise like a second hand. Mutt looked at me. "The screen door slammed, your cleats sounded on the wood and marble, you ran ... here, and ..." He shuffled his feet to the spot where I had shoved the barrel down Rex's throat. "Your finger . . . pressed hard . . . but not hard enough . . . " Mutt pointed out the window. "You picked her up, carried her out, Rex slept ... and I laid down out there."

Mutt spun in the center of the room. "I ... he ... he hit her seventeen times before you came in."

Katie hid her face behind her knees, sobbing. Several minutes passed before she stood up and ran out and down the hallway. Her cries descended the stairs and ran out the back door. Mutt stopped spinning and walked slowly to the window. He pressed his face to the glass, cast his gaze somewhere out over the edge of the earth, and inched his toes over the precipice.

Tucker?

Why didn't you tell me? You knew all along and you never told me.

Tucker that precious boy needs to know that it's not his fault, and he needs to hear it from you. Mutt will live or die on what you do next. He's got to know it was never his fault!

But it was! He just said so. He could have stopped it.

Child-I felt her fingers snap my chin toward her face-cut it loose! It's time to push it off the ledge and let it sink to the bottom.

I crawled across the floor to the dark spot where Miss Ella had fallen for the last time, traced the velvet stain with my fingernail, and watched my tears spread through the cracks of the wood like drops of gold rolling gently toward the smelting pot.





Chapter 37


"UNCA TUCK! UNCA TUCK! UNCA TUCK!"

I jolted upright, blinded by the noonday sun. Jase stood in the doorway, breathing fast, sweaty, and pointing toward the quarry. "He's in the water! He's at the bottom! He's not moving. He's at the bottom!"

I rubbed my eyes, trying to bring Jase into focus. "Slow down, buddy. Who's at what bottom? Who's not moving?"

Jase pointed to a picture on the wall. A picture Miss Ella had taken of me, Katie, and Mutt with our arms around each other the day Katie left for Atlanta. Jase pointed at Mutt. "He is."

I flew down the hallway, down the stairs, through the kitchen, and out the back door. I jumped through the split rail fence, rolled, hit my feet, and began turning up as much dirt as I could across the pasture. I had my shirt off by the time I reached the pines, and when I hit the ledge of the quarry, I never hesitated. I launched off the rock and dove like a fish hawk, breaking the surface of the water that spread like cold glass from rock to rock, and began pulling toward the still body below.

My pants and shoes were dragging me back, but I pulled down, down against the water, trying to reach Mutt. My ears popped and popped again with the building pressure. The sun was high and the water was bright, but it was cold. He was lying still, his hands spread across the sandy bottom, a few feet from the sunken boat and not moving. Ropes, tied about his feet and waist, led to heavy weights resting on the sandy floor. His hair was floating with the motion of the water, and his wrinkled fingers were slowly waving back and forth in the sand. I reached him, grabbed him by the shirt collar, and flipped him over. His eyes were wide and his mouth was gripped around the end of a green garden hose, but he was very much alive. The sight of Mutt staring back at me, calm as a summer breeze, was not what I expected.



I studied his face, making sure he was alive. He waved with one hand, and in his other he held a flour sifter.