by Tina Sears
“You help Reds with the snake.”
“Well, come on then. Let’s go to my house and let the guys go hunting for snakes,” Julie said.
“Okay,” I said, standing up.
Reds stood too. He leaned in to me and kissed me softly on the lips. I didn’t know how to feel about that. Our kiss through the screen felt safe, but now there was nothing between us. No barrier.
I tried to take a step forward, but my foot was stuck. I stumbled and almost lost my balance. I fell into Reds and he caught me. I laughed nervously.
“I got you. You’re okay.”
It felt good to be in his arms. For a moment I was just an innocent girl again and I felt normal. It was like I could be myself, without being ashamed or embarrassed. The Monster disappeared into darkness when he was around me.
My flip flops were covered in mud so I walked to the river and put my feet in the water to rinse them.
The water was calm and green, not muddy like the day I swam out to Slippery Rock. All was quiet except for the sounds of the river. The water was chattering, the birds chirping, and somewhere in the distance a frog croaked repeatedly.
I lifted my face to the sun and let the warmth soak through me. I closed my eyes, enjoying the moment. I smelled honey suckle and felt my mother brushing my hair.
It was quiet for a long time while I stood on the edge of the river. It seemed like the gang was giving me my space, like you do with an injured animal. You want to help it out, but you don’t know if the animal is dangerous or not, so you wait and see before you help it.
“Ready?” Julie asked after a few minutes into my foot bath, breaking my meditative state.
“Yeah.” I turned from the water and walked back to the gang.
We followed Julie to her house without talking. We entered, and her mother was in the same chair as last time. The TV was on and her back was to us.
“Mom, I’m home with some friends,” Julie said. We were all standing at the entrance to the living room, waiting.
“Hi, Mrs. Thompson,” I said. I even waved like a fool, knowing she wasn’t going to turn around to greet us.
We went down the hallway and into Julie’s bedroom. Wendy flopped down on the edge of Julie’s bed. I sat in the makeup chair in front of the mirror.
Julie walked over to me and spun me around to face her. “Let’s do your makeup.”
I never knew anyone who loved doing makeup so much. I shrugged and said okay. Besides, I didn’t have anything else to do.
Julie picked up the biggest brush from her tray and dabbed it into the powder. Then she put it to her lips and blew. Tiny speckles of the powder danced in the sun before floating to the ground. I loved the way the soft bristles felt like fingers caressing my face. I closed my eyes and imagined my mother. Felt her brush my hair that day in the front yard of our house.
“Keep your eyes closed.”
Okay, Mom. Don’t stop.
I felt a little pressure on my right eyelid as the tiny brush swept across it. Again and again. Then I felt the same thing on my left eyelid.
“I’m breaking up with Tommy,” Julie said.
My eyes flew open. “What?” I asked. I was confused as to whether I heard her right.
“I’m breaking up with Tommy,” Julie repeated. “As soon as the summer is over.”
“Why wait until the end of summer?” Wendy asked. She was bouncing on the edge of the bed and seemed as confused as I was.
“Because.” Julie said this as if we should already know why.
We sat there staring at her.
She realized we wanted an explanation, and put down the makeup and impatiently brushed back her hair with her hands. “Because, I can’t go the rest of the summer without a boyfriend.”
“But you and Tommy make a great couple,” I said. I regretted it as soon as I said it. There were a lot of things I wanted to say but that was the stupid thing that came out of my mouth first. I realized she was conceited, but this was too much. I couldn’t believe I tried to impress her by risking my life and swimming out to Slippery Rock and back.
Poor Tommy. He had no idea what was coming and I felt sorry for him. I also didn’t want to be part of her dirty little secret.
Julie grabbed a tube of pink lip gloss and opened it. She put the tube down and held the applicator in front of my face. She put her finger under my chin and lifted gently. “Be still.” She swiped the spongy end of the applicator across my lips. They felt wet.
“And you two have been a couple ever since I can remember,” Wendy said.
“Well, that’s just it. I’m getting tired of Tommy. We have been together a long time . . . and now he’s getting too possessive. I can’t go anywhere without him asking me where I’m going. And he practically stares at any other boy who looks at me. The other day when I was life-guarding, he almost got into a fight with a guy that was just talking to me. And,” Julie lowered her voice, “ever since I let him feel me up he wants to do it all the time.”
I didn’t know anything about her private life and her confession embarrassed me a little.
“I don’t want him to get the wrong idea. He thinks I’m easy, and I’m not . . . Besides, my friend Anna said that her friend Trish told her that Joey Garcia likes me, and he was going to ask me to be his girlfriend when school started. He’s so cute and he’s on the track team, too. I’m so excited.”
I saw Julie for the first time that day in her bedroom. Sure, she liked the attention of guys, but I really couldn’t blame her about wanting to break up with Tommy now that I knew the real reason. Ever since I met Julie, I wanted to be like her, but now everything was different. And if I really thought about it, the times I was acting like Julie were the times that got me into the most trouble, were the times I got unwanted attention from Uncle Butch. I couldn’t wait to be popular, but now, with everything that had happened over the summer, I just wanted to be a kid back in Virginia again. I wished I had never come here.
“Ta-da,” Julie said. She turned me around to face the mirror.
When I saw my face and when I saw how grown up I looked, I gasped. Blue archways swooped across my eyelids and my lips were pink and heart shaped. I looked different, but not just different. I looked like an adult. I remembered what Julie said after the first time she put makeup on me. “You get noticed.” Suddenly I realized what she meant. I saw what Uncle Butch saw in me. I wanted to die. I could never let him see me like this.
I jumped up from the chair and ran to the bathroom and closed the door. I turned on the cold water and lowered my face down near the faucet. I cupped my hands under the running water to catch it and then I splashed it on my face. Over and over. I looked up into the mirror, water dripping everywhere. My lip gloss was smeared onto the sides of my cheeks creating a clown’s mouth. Blue eye shadow crept out of the corners of my eyes.
“Ugh!” I grabbed the bar of soap and put it under the water. I rubbed it between my hands generating enough suds to completely cover my face. I scrubbed until my eyes burned from the soap and then I splashed handfuls of water over my face until there wasn’t any signs of make-up. Only then did I open the door.
Julie and Wendy were standing there, waiting.
“Why did you take the makeup off?” Julie asked with her “notice me” makeup on. She looked like her feelings were hurt.
“Uh . . .”
“Are you okay?” Wendy asked. She had blue eye lids, pink cheeks, and pink lips.
“I’ve got to get out of here!” I said as I pushed past them and left.
“You need to spend more time with your daughter!” I yelled at Julie’s mother as I ran past her. Then I left as fast as I could.
Wendy ran after me. “Where are you going? Wait up.” She trailed behind me.
As soon as we got back to the cottage, I pulled her by her arm to the kitchen sink. Luckily no one was around. “Wash it off.”
“Why? What’s gotten into you?”
“Just wash it off. It doesn’t look
good.”
“What’s wrong with you? You’re acting like a crazy person. It’s just makeup for Pete’s sake.”
“It’s not just makeup. I want you to wash it off. It’s like Julie said. You get noticed when you wear makeup, but you don’t want Owl to get the wrong idea. Like Tommy did after feeling Julie up.” I put the bar of soap in her hand and stood there until every last bit of the makeup was off her face and she was just my sweet innocent cousin again.
Chapter Eighteen
Sweet Revenge
BY FIVE O’CLOCK Thursday evening, everyone was at the back door of our cottage waiting for my command. Except for Paige, who was at Cody and Callie’s cottage. I watched from the back door window and finally saw Uncle Butch disappear behind the shower curtain. I tapped Reds’ shoulder excitedly. “Okay, he’s in the shower. Let the snake out.”
I opened the back door and moved the curtains from the window panel so we could see in. Then I closed the bathroom door so the snake wouldn’t go in there. Straight ahead was the shower and behind the curtain was my uncle. Naked. Vulnerable.
I moved back so Reds could release our planned hell, and we watched as the snake poked its head out of the burlap bag. After a minute, it stopped moving, but I saw its forked tongue spit out, so I knew it was alive.
“Why isn’t it moving?” I asked nervously. Tommy and Julie were standing off to the side holding hands. Little did he know that his time with Julie was limited. I felt sorry for him and his stupid grin. He looked so happy. How could Julie be so mean? But in my heart I knew now that meanness came from somewhere bone deep in a person.
Reds pushed at the burlap bag to coax the snake out further.
The shower curtain moved, and Reds jerked the burlap bag releasing the snake fully. I tugged on Reds’ shirt for him to move away from the door. “Don’t let my uncle see you.”
Reds moved and I pulled the door closed.
Wendy and Owl went to the side of the house where the kitchen window was. They were on their tip toes looking in.
“Do you see anything?” I whispered.
“Mom’s in the kitchen,” Wendy said.
I looked back in toward the shower. “It’s moving,” I whispered. The plan was in motion, and there was no turning back.
Finally, the snake slithered toward the shower. It was slow at first and I waited while holding my breath. “Go into the shower,” I said, almost willing it to move.
“You can’t control a snake, Chris. Don’t panic,” Reds said.
“Finally! It’s going toward the shower.” I got goose bumps. The plan was working.
But it turned toward the kitchen instead of going into the shower.
Wendy gasped. “It’s in the kitchen where my mom is.” We all moved to the kitchen window to watch, barely seeing above the windowsill.
“Don’t worry,” Reds said mostly to calm down Wendy. “It’s not poisonous. It’s okay.”
We heard Aunt Lori through the screen. Since it was summer, and very few people had air conditioning, most of the windows stayed open to let the breeze in. When there was a breeze.
“Quit it, Oreo. That tickles.”
She swiped her kitchen towel at her feet as the snake slithered by her. “Oreo, leave me alone.” The snake continued to pass by her ankles, and she finally looked down.
The snake lifted its head and stuck out its forked tongue. One hiss and Aunt Lori started screaming, “Butch, come here quick. There’s a snake in the kitchen!” Careful to avoid the snake, she crept toward the shower, pulled open the curtain, and screamed, “Snake!”
We watched from the window, all struggling to see.
Uncle Butch appeared in the kitchen with a towel wrapped around his waist, dripping. He saw the snake and laughed. “Lori, it’s just a harmless little snake. Nothing to be afraid of.”
“Get it out of here; I am afraid.” She climbed onto a chair, watching from a safer distance.
“Okay, take it easy.” Uncle Butch disappeared. He reappeared with a broom in his hand. As soon as he hit the puddle on the kitchen floor, he slipped and fell, twisting his leg underneath him.
Wendy and Owl scattered, but I stayed by the kitchen window to see what was happening. Julie and Tommy walked off holding hands.
“Butch! Are you all right?” Aunt Lori leaned over him.
“Son of a bitch. My leg!” Uncle Butch said.
“Are you okay?”
“No! My leg,” Uncle Butch yelled.
“What do you want me to do?” She sounded panicked.
“I need help getting up.” He reached up with his hand and she tried to pull him up but it didn’t work. He was just too heavy for her.
“Help, somebody!” She looked around and we all ducked.
“Lori, help me get some clothes on first,” Uncle Butch said.
She disappeared into the master bedroom and returned with a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.
He took the shirt and pulled it over his head, but he couldn’t get the shorts on past his ankles. “It’s my knee. It hurts.
“Can you lift your legs up so I can pull them up?”
He lifted his legs in the air like a dead bug.
She inched them up to his hips. “Can you lift your butt so I can get them on?”
“I’m trying!”
She finally got the shorts on him and disappeared again.
I heard a knock and we walked to the front of the cottage. Aunt Lori was at the neighbor’s door.
Within seconds, Bob came out of his cottage.
“Bob, I need your help.”
“Lori? What is it?”
“A snake got into the cottage and Butch fell. He twisted his leg pretty good. I think he hurt his knee.”
“Well, I guess we better get him to the hospital.”
We followed Aunt Lori and Bob into the cottage. I watched from the porch.
Bob lifted Uncle Butch up by his shoulder and helped him to his feet. Aunt Lori supported his other shoulder. The three of them walked together onto the porch like a choreographed dance routine.
“Do you need help?” I asked as they passed by me. I had to force myself from smiling. This was actually way better than I had planned.
“No.” Bob struggled to get Uncle Butch into the station wagon. With Reds’ help, he finally got Uncle Butch into the back seat and then got in on the driver’s side. Aunt Lori got in on the passenger’s side and rolled the window down.
I watched from the porch. Wendy and Owl were standing by the car.
“Wendy, I have to take your dad to the hospital. Watch your sister until I get back.” Bob didn’t wait for an answer before he drove away in a cloud of dust.
I thought about the snake loose in the cottage and cringed. I hadn’t really thought the whole thing through. “Reds?”
“Yeah?”
“We need to get the snake out of the cottage before it hurts someone else. It could even hurt Oreo,” I said.
“Don’t worry, it’s not poisonous.”
“Yeah, but we need to get it out of there.” My fear was rising.
“Okay, okay. I’ll go get it out right now,” Reds said.
I smiled at him. “Thanks.” I watched as he disappeared into the cottage on the hunt for the culprit.
Paige came out of Bob’s cottage with Cody and Callie and came over to us. “What’s going on?”
“A snake got in the house, and then Dad was trying to trap it, and well, it’s a long story, but he twisted his leg,” Wendy said.
“What if he broke it?” Paige asked.
“He didn’t break it, just twisted it,” I said.
I acted like I cared, but something had changed inside of me. I hoped he was as broken as I felt. I was Raggedy Ann, empty as my childhood doll, limp and sapped of life.
Wendy locked eyes with me and gave me one of those I-won’t-tell-if-you-won’t-tell looks and then I gave her an I’ll-never-tell look. I was getting good at keeping secrets.
BY EIGHT O’CLOCK, they wer
e back from the hospital. Uncle Butch had a bandage wrapped around his right knee and he was struggling with his crutches. He was lousy and clumsy with them, and as soon as he got inside the porch, he flopped into his chair, his crutches spilling off to the side.
“Well, that was an ordeal,” Aunt Lori said, blowing her hair off her face and worrying around him. “Can I get you anything, Butch?”
“I’m starving. Do we have anything to eat?”
With that, Aunt Lori kissed his forehead, and went into the kitchen. “I’ll whip you up something real nice.”
Paige stood beside her dad, looking at the bandage. “Did it hurt?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“I’m sorry you broke your leg, Daddy,” Paige said, patting the top of his hand.
“I just twisted it, sweetheart, and I’ll be okay,” he said. “I hurt my knee a little, that’s all.”
Too bad for him. I shied away and sat at the kitchen table where I could see everyone and started playing Solitaire. Aunt Lori stirred a pot of macaroni and cheese while boiling hotdogs.
“Did you girls get anything to eat tonight?” she asked.
Wendy shouted, “No,” from the porch, and I shook my head when Aunt Lori looked at me.
Paige walked into the kitchen. “How’s Daddy going to walk with a hurt knee?”
“Oh, honey, don’t worry about Daddy. It’s just a little swollen and he can walk just fine. He has to get used to those crutches, though.”
Wendy joined us in the kitchen. She leaned toward her mother, taking her into confidence. “What about the Fourth of July dance Friday night? Are we still going to be able to go?” She kept her voice low, but I could hear it from where I sat.
“Well, of course we’ll go to the dance,” she said to us, then raised her voice so Uncle Butch could hear. “Honey, don’t you think you can at least go to the dance this Friday to watch?”
“Oh-my-God. The dance! How am I going to win the dance contest?” This seemed to be the first time he thought about it. I laughed inside and smiled my shit-eating grin.
Aunt Lori went to the porch and set the table. “Well, maybe it’s time we let someone else win for a change.” Her voice was sweet and understanding. “Honey, everyone here knows you’re the best dancer. Alice and Bob are good at the jitterbug. They might even stand a chance if we’re not entered.”
