Mamba Point

by Kurtis Scaletta

  * * *

  I thought I’d have the place to myself most of the day, so Friday morning I went and got the snake. It was kind of sluggish and not very playful, so I just let it curl up on the bed and sat next to it, sketching a close-up of its head. I remembered a trick Joe had taught me, and tore out a sheet of paper and tucked it in sideways behind the one I was drawing on. The lines on the papers gave me a grid to help keep the snake scales symmetrical.

  I’d barely started when the doorbell rang and the door rattled on its chain.

  “Be right there!” I shut the bedroom door and ran down the hall.

  “Why on earth did you do the chain?” Dad asked.

  “Habit?”

  They’d come home early to pack. I chewed my lip nervously and paced in the hall until they left their bedroom.

  “Are you going to be okay?” Mom asked. “You seem anxious.”

  “I’m fine,” I assured her. She probably thought chaining the door and pacing and everything was me regressing back to the old Linus.

  “The number to the place is on the fridge,” she said, shouldering her bag.

  “Be good,” Dad said. “I’m serious about the babysitter.”

  “I know. Have fun and hit birdies.” I couldn’t remember if that was what you wanted to do in golf, but it sounded good. I gave them each a hug.

  * * *

  I went back to my room and worked on my drawing until the snake woke up, flicked its tail a couple of times, and went for a slithery stroll around the bed, then raveled itself around the bed frame.

  I heard Artie let himself in and start bumping around in the kitchen. I didn’t think he’d arrive so early. It was like I couldn’t get a moment’s peace. Sure enough, he knocked on my bedroom door a few minutes later. Fortunately, he didn’t open it. I’d forgotten to brace the door under the handle.

  “Little boss man, your friend is here.”

  “Oh, all right,” I sighed. It was probably Matt. This time I stowed the snake in the hamper before going down the hall.

  I was wrong. It was Gambeh, this time without Tokie right behind him. He was all business.

  “I came to ask about my pa’s job,” he said. “You said you might help?”

  “I’m sorry.” I’d been worried about how to tell Gambeh this. “I did ask someone, but he can’t do anything.”

  “All right,” he said, a fake grin on his face. I didn’t think he believed me.

  “I really did try,” I said. “So did my friend.”

  “I’ll go now. You find me if it changes.” He prepared to take off.

  “Do you want some rice? I can make some. Or you can hang out here until Artie’s done with dinner. We can play the game with the lemon while we wait.”

  “Not today, Linus. I have to do things.” He edged out the door before I could even give him that soccer ball. Like a soccer ball would do him any good right now.

  “Did that boy ask you for a job?” Artie asked. “He’s very young.”

  “Not for him, for his dad.” I told Artie how Gambeh’s dad used to be a guard at our building, and was fired for snoozing on the job.

  “He slept while he worked?” Artie looked horrified.

  “Maybe he just got bored and fell asleep.”

  “Little boss man, the building needs to be safe from rogues. They can’t go past the guard and come up the stairs. That’s bad bad.”

  “I know,” I agreed. I didn’t get why Artie was arguing with me. “I don’t blame the embassy for firing him, but he needs a new job now.”

  “He will find a job,” Artie said, but he didn’t sound super-confident. “Maybe soon, oh?”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  “I’m sorry his son is a friend of yours. I didn’t know.” He bit his lower lip.

  “Wait—did you know him?” I couldn’t remember if Artie had been working for us before Gambeh’s dad lost his job.

  “I saw a guard asleep when I came to meet your mother,” he said. “I went back to Mr. Thomas at the embassy employment office and told him.”

  “You told on Gambeh’s dad?”

  “I didn’t know his son was your friend,” he said.

  “Well, he might have kids, even if I didn’t know them,” I pointed out, “and even if he didn’t have kids, a guy needs to live.”

  “The new guard, he also has children, oh? He works better, too.”

  “Oh, right, he’s a friend of yours, isn’t he?” It was the same guy who was trying to kill my snake. The same guy who wouldn’t let the kids play soccer in the courtyard. I didn’t like him much.

  “He’s my half brother,” Artie said. “He was on the wait list for a job, but I didn’t know he was next on the list. I did not go and talk to Mr. Thomas because of that.”

  “Sure you didn’t.” It figured they’d be brothers. Neither of them could leave well enough alone—Artie getting people fired, and his brother the guard chasing kids away and trying to kill other people’s snakes. “You know what? You’re fired, too.”

  “Little boss man?”

  “You’re fired.”

  “I do good work.”

  “I know, but I’m firing you anyway.”

  “Little boss man, I have to stay and make you dinner like I promised. Your mother pays me and she has to be the one who fires me.” I could see a couple of tears in his eyes. He was scared, and for a moment I was glad.

  “Well, go away, then. I can make dinner. We don’t need you here.”

  “Your mother told me—”

  “I won’t tell her!” I shouted. “You won’t be in trouble. You’ll still have this stupid job.”

  “You’re too upset,” he said. “I’ll come back when you’re quieter.” He grabbed his satchel and left, and I immediately put on the chain lock so he couldn’t let himself back in.

  I couldn’t believe it. Artie seemed like such a nice guy, with his roach-eating lizard friends, and he’d taken care of me when I was sick. It was hard to believe he was also a tattletale and a weasel who ruined people’s lives.

  I knew that he probably meant well, that he had a point about the guy sleeping on the job, and a few minutes later I felt both stupid and sorry for what I’d done, but all I had to do was think about Gambeh and Tokie and I could feel a fresh surge of anger that made it all seem justified.

  The telephone startled me, and I thought about not answering it. It was almost never for me, unless it was Matt. I got up and grabbed it anyway.

  “Hey, it’s Law. Is Artie around?”

  “Uh, he left,” I told him, not bothering to make up a reason.

  “Oh, yeah? Um, I was wondering if he was there because, um, I didn’t want you to be alone and stuff.”

  “I’m fine by myself.”

  “Well, Mom made me promise and all. Hey, why don’t you go spend the night at Matt’s, though? That way you won’t be alone and I won’t have to babysit.”

  “Nobody ever said you had to babysit,” I said. “She just told you to be home.”

  “Just a sec.” I heard voices in the background and Law shouting at somebody.

  “It’s my turn at the pool table,” he explained. “So what do you think about Matt’s?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “It was just a thought,” Law said.

  “You don’t have to hurry home on our account,” I promised. “Me and Matt will figure out dinner.”

  “All right. See you tomorrow.” He hung up. Tomorrow? Was he going to be out all night? Well, if he wanted a babysitter until college, that was his business. I was glad to have the place to myself for a while.

  I could even let the snake spend the night, I realized. Maybe Matt would get tired and go home, or maybe … this was what I was thinking … I could show Matt the mamba. I still owed him. He would be scared at first, but I would be really careful, and he would see how incredible it was.

  I went back to my room. The snake had pushed its way out of the hamper and was hiding under the bed. I finished sketching the
snake’s head from memory, then set the notebook aside. The snake found me and buried its head in my elbow.

  I heard the front door bang open a while later and a bunch of people come in. I recognized Law’s, James’s, and Marty’s voices, but there was one guy I didn’t know.

  “Where should I put this?” Marty asked.

  “The refrigerator. What are you, dumb?” Law told him.

  “Yes. You have to ask?” I heard the fridge opening and slamming shut.

  “Oh, man. You got a VHS. The tape is Beta,” said the guy I didn’t know.

  “Oh. Sorry!” Law called back.

  “I can go grab our machine,” said Marty. “No prob, man.”

  “We don’t even need to play that tape,” Law suggested. “We can play records.”

  “Yeah, we do. It’s a whole hour of videos taped off of HBO—Video Jukebox. Did you ever see the video for Van Halen’s version of ‘Pretty Woman’?”

  “That’s on there?” Law sounded more interested.

  I put the mamba in the hamper, set a box of comics on the lid, and closed the closet door before going down the hall.

  “Hey,” said a guy with brown hair hanging down in his eyes.

  “That’s my brother, Linus,” Law said.

  “Dude! Where’s your blanket?” He laughed like it was the most original joke ever.

  “On my bed,” I answered.

  “Jonas,” Law said, gesturing at the guy. “His dad’s not at the embassy, but he goes to the American Cooperative School. He’s in my class.”

  “Didn’t you get eaten by a whale?” I asked, trying to get him back.

  “Dude, that was Jon-ah!” he laughed. “But Jonas is, like, also some dude who did something.”

  “So, Linus,” Law said seriously, “I’m having a few friends over tonight.”

  “Watching videos? That sounds cool.”

  “Yeah, well …”

  “It’s a big kid party,” said Marty.

  “Don’t worry,” Law told him. “He’s going to spend the night at a friend’s.”

  “I never agreed to that,” I reminded him.

  “Come on, Linus. Don’t be a jerk.”

  “I’m not being a jerk, I …” I couldn’t explain, but I shouldn’t have to, I realized. “You’re being a jerk.”

  “Well, Mom said I’m in charge,” he said. “So I’m ordering you to go to Matt’s.”

  “There’s no way she meant you could kick me out of the apartment,” I said. “And she didn’t say anything about you having a party.” He had no response to that.

  “Listen.” James came over and poked me in the chest with his finger. “Why don’t you go play with your friend and forget about it?”

  “You can’t throw me out all night,” I grumbled. I looked at Law, waiting for him to give in and admit he couldn’t.

  “Just watch us,” said James. He grabbed one of my arms, and Marty grabbed the other. They dragged me to the door, shoved me out, and slammed the door behind me. I didn’t have my key, and nobody let me in even after I banged on the door for what seemed like an hour.

  I stomped down to Matt’s and called home, but as soon as Law found out it was me, he hung up. It was useless. Matt put some frozen pizzas in the oven and got the game out.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “When your parents find out, he’ll be grounded for like a decade.”

  Darryl had left Matt all alone for the weekend, too. It was the first time he’d ever done that, Matt had told me. Well, he was doing a lot better than I was, with my big brother “taking care of me.” At least he wasn’t homeless.

  I was mostly worried that the snake would hurt someone, but if nobody went in my room, nothing would happen. Would the snake be okay cooped up all night, though? Did it have enough air? The hamper was wicker, so probably. Would it be hungry? What if it needed to go to the bathroom? How often did snakes do that? I tried to put it out of my head and just play Pellucidar.

  “I saw your friend in the building today,” Matt said. “The little Liberian kid?”

  “Gambeh? He came to ask about the job for his dad.”

  “He still doesn’t have one, huh?”

  “I guess not.”

  “It’s too bad we can’t do anything.” Matt looked down at the book, studying a chart.

  About an hour later we heard people hollering in the hall and running up the stairs past Matt’s apartment.

  “Third floor!” someone shouted.

  “All right! Hey, don’t drop that!” someone else yelled, followed by smashing glass and a bad word.

  “Big party,” I grumbled.

  “Ignore them,” Matt said. “Law is going to be in so much trouble. You’ll probably be babysitting him from now on.”

  We played the game for a while, but I had trouble concentrating.

  “Linus, you’re supposed to roll. You’re caught in a rock slide.”

  “Huh? Okay.” I took the twenty-sided die and rolled it. It came up as a one. I was hurt, but far from dead. I rolled it again, and got another one. Snake eyes.

  I had a sudden twinge—like a headache. For a split second I could see things through the snake’s eyes. I could see carpet, somebody’s tennis shoe flashing by. The snake was loose.

  “I have to go,” I told Matt.

  “Linus,” he pleaded. “We’re supposed to be playing a game.”

  “I know. I’ll be right back. I swear.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Nobody saw me come in. It looked like every American teenager in Liberia was there, and it sounded like all of them were a little drunk. The only light was from the TV, which was rolled out into the living room. There was a Betamax player on top, slightly askew. Law had rigged up the stereo speakers to the TV, so the music really blared. Prince was going to party like it was 1999.

  “Hey.” Eileen walked by, gave me a make-believe punch in the ribs. “Fashionably late, huh?” She smiled, and I felt kind of gooey inside. It was the most friendly she’d been to me since the roller-skating incident. Maybe she kind of liked me again. As a friend, at least.

  “I have stuff to do,” I said coolly. “Be right back.”

  I went to my room. The door was still closed, which was a good sign. I opened the door and flipped on a light, half expecting to see somebody making out with somebody. Nope—all clear. I sighed in relief.

  Then I noticed a few things were out of whack. Like, Moogoo was on the bed. I’d shoved him into a drawer weeks ago and never taken him out again. A couple of comics were on the desk. The whole box was right next to it—the box that was supposed to be on top of the hamper in the closet.

  I had a mental snapshot of Law and his friends rummaging around, laughing at what they found: Jonas finding Moogoo, shaking his body to make his eyes spin. Dude sleeps with a stuffed monkey. James opening and closing drawers, looking for something equally funny. Marty finding the comics in the closet.

  The closet door was still open a crack. More than enough for a snake to get through. I opened it all the way and looked in the hamper. The snake wasn’t in there.

  My heart was beating about a thousand times a second. I stormed into the living room and turned on the living room and dining room lights.

  “Hey!” someone shouted.

  “Lights off!” someone ordered.

  I turned off the TV, shutting up the Go-Go’s. Now their lips really were sealed.

  “Who’s the nark?”

  “Linus?” Law came in from the balcony. “I asked you to—”

  “Someone was in my room.”

  “No they weren’t, Linus.”

  “My stuff was moved around. The closet door was open.”

  “We were just trying to crank you up, dude,” Jonas explained.

  “Yeah,” said Law. “It’s no big deal, man.”

  “It is a big deal.”

  “Look, if it makes you feel better, we didn’t get into your tighty whiteys,” said James.

  “Shut up,” said Law. “He
y, Linus, you can stay and party if you want. You can even invite Matt. All right? All is forgiven and forgotten?”

  “It’s not that easy.” I looked around at everyone, at them looking back at me. The snake was really close. I could feel it.

  “Everyone needs to go,” I ordered. “You have to leave.”

  “No way!” Jonas shouted, more in disbelief than protest.

  “Seriously.” I took a deep breath. There was no easy way out of this. “If you don’t go, I’m telling.”

  A couple of them called me names.

  “Leave him alone,” Law said weakly. He looked at me. “Come on, Linus.” He reached out like he might grab my shoulder, then grinned. “Waka waka waka,” he said, making the Pac-Man open and close its mouth. He was near a bag of Reese’s Pieces someone had left on the coffee table. He nabbed one with his hand and smiled.

  “Power pill,” he said. “Waka waka waka.” He lunged at me. “Pac-Man’s gonna get you.”

  I jumped back, nearly smashing into someone. “Come on, Law. Don’t be a dork.”

  He lunged at me again. A few kids were cracking up at our crazy game.

  “Waka waka waka!” Something moved under the couch, startling him.

  It was the snake. It leapt so high it met Law face to face. For a split second that felt like forever, they stared each other down—Law’s eyes wide in disbelief, the snake’s eyes glassy and cruel.

  The mamba struck. Law made a strangled cry that didn’t sound like his own voice. The snake struck again, and then everyone was screaming, stampeding out of the living room. When it struck a third time, I grabbed it by the neck. It missed, spraying venom down Law’s shirt.

  For the first time I saw the mamba as a monster. I pressed my thumb into the back of its head and dug in with the nail, hoping it hurt.

  Law was wobbly, swaying back and forth. Jonas jumped in but was too late—Law fell over the coffee table and crashed to the floor.

  “Is he all right?” someone shouted.

  “No, he’s not all right,” Eileen barked. “He got …” She couldn’t finish, exploding into tears.