Fiery Rivers

by Daefyd Williams

Outside, Del and Rennie were smoothing the dirt on top of the former grave. “Watcha wanta do now?” Del asked Rennie.

  Rennie took the spade from Del. “I don’t know. Wanta ride the go-kart?”

  “OK.”

  “What about you, Dev? You wanta ride it, too?”

  Devon smiled shyly. Rennie had never offered to let him ride his go-kart. “Uh huh.”

  “Alright. Lemme put these shovels back in the garage an’ I’ll bring it out.”

  He opened the garage door and pushed the go-kart out to the driveway. He had some difficulty starting it. “Musta got some dirt in the gas line when I let it run outa gas,” he said. “Lemme try it again.” After two more attempts, it started but ran irregularly, coughing and sputtering. “Lemme ride it first to see if I can get the dirt outa the line.”

  “OK,” Del said.

  Devon shook his head yes. He couldn’t believe Rennie was really going to let him ride the go-kart.

  Rennie sat down, pressed on the accelerator, and drove along the side of the garage, close to the crab apple tree, over the grave, around the east side of the house, twice around the tire swing, and then back down the driveway to where the boys were standing.

  “I think she’s clear now,” he said, smiling. “It’s your turn, Del.”

  “OK.” He drove up the driveway towards the road, across the front lawn, along the east side of the house, around the crab apple tree and then back to Rennie and Devon. “OK, Dev. You try it now. This is the gas pedal on the right an’ the brake is on the left if you hafta stop. You understand?”

  Devon shook his head yes.

  “Go slow at first till you git the feel of it, OK?”

  “OK.”

  Devon pressed on the accelerator and the go-kart sped down the driveway, scaring him.

  “BACK OFF!!” Rennie shouted at his back. “TAKE IT EASY!”

  Devon eased his foot off the accelerator, and the go-kart slowed down. “That’s better,” he thought. He drove around the oak tree and tire swing in the front yard, down the side of the house, around the crab apple tree, and back to where Del and Rennie were standing. He removed his foot from the accelerator and the go-kart rolled to a stop.

  “Wha’dja think?” Rennie asked.

  “It was fun,” Devon replied, smiling. “Can I do it again?”

  “We’ll take turns, OK?”

  “OK.”

  They spent the rest of the morning riding the go-kart. Eventually, they got tired and went inside to watch TV. Devon and Del always enjoyed watching TV because their family did not own one. Watching TV was a sin.

  Angela and Gloryann finished pasting cat pictures into one album and started a new one.

  Chapter 3

  There were red and orange embers glowing in the pit of Lemuel’s stomach that one drink would burst into flame and ten thousand could not extinguish, but he tried every day to put them out. He was in Smitty’s Bar on South River Street at 4:30 p.m., drinking Jack Daniels on the rocks, sitting on a well-worn leather bar stool beside Frank, his co-worker, and staring at his reflection in the mirror behind the bar. He was tired, having only slept five hours the previous night. “I gotta start gettin’ more sleep,” he thought.

  “Ya know,” Frank said, “I been tryin’ for three months to teach Doreen how to give good head, but she just can’t seem to get it. I ain’t never met a fat woman who knew how to suck. Have you?” He paused. “I just don’t get why she can’t learn. Ya think she’d like it ‘cause she’s always stickin’ somethin’ in her mouth.”

  “Have ya tried showin’ her pitchers?”

  “Yeah, I done that. I showed her some magazines.” Frank shook his head. “I even bought her one o’ them rubber dicks an’ showed her myself what it looks like. It didn’t help.”

  “You sucked it yourself?”

  “Well, yeah, how else could I show ‘er?”

  “Ya know what I think your problem is, Frank?”

  “What?”

  “I think you’re a homo an’ don’t even like women.”

  “Fuck you! Here I am tryin’ to ask you for some advice an’ you go callin’ me a homo.”

  “Sorry. I ain’t never been with no fat women, only beautiful, skinny ones,” he lied.

  “Bullshit!” Frank spat out.

  Lemuel could not tell Frank about Gwen, about her warm, loving mouth and how close he had come to marrying a nigger. He still missed her. He drained his drink. “Well, I best be goin’. The old ball an’ chain is just waitin’ to give me hell.”

  “Why’djou marry Leona, Lem? She wudden the most purtiest girl in our class.”

  “Ya know, I been askin’ myself that for sixteen years. Musta been drunk, or retarded.”

  “Ha ha,” Frank chuckled. “An’ you think I’m strange?”

  “Yeah, I know. Don’t give up on Doreen, Frank. Maybe you’ll get ‘er tuned up an’ one day she’ll be suckin’ like a tornado.” He stood up. “See ya tomorrow.”

  “OK. See ya.” Frank turned to the bartender. “Ya find yourself a girlfriend yet, Bob?”

  Marie was shopping for school clothes for Del and Devon at the Elder-Beerman department store on South Main Street in Middletown. Gloryann was by her side, trying to pull some shirts onto the floor.

  “Gloryann! Stop that now!” Marie commanded.

  “I wanta see, Mommy. I can’t see,” she whined.

  “There ain’t nothin’ to see. We’re just tryin’ to find some shirts for the boys for school,” she said. “This one’s purty, ain’t it?” she asked the boys. “An’ it’s on sale.” She held up a blue-and-white striped mariner’s shirt. “This’d look good on both o’ ya an’ it’d go good with just about any kinda pants. Go try ‘em on, boys,” she ordered.

  Del and Devon dutifully went off to the dressing rooms. The shirts were formfitting and comfortable. When they came out of the dressing room, she could see that the shirts fit them well.

  “Good. Why don’tchou just keep ‘em on then, an’ we’ll show the cashier the tags an’ pay for ‘em that way. We’ll have to go another day to Sears an’ finish shoppin’. This store’s too expensive.”

  After she had paid for the shirts, they were walking down the sidewalk to the car when Devon looked at his reflection in one of the shop windows. An icy fist grabbed his stomach. He was a hunchback! He was hunched over so much that his shoulder blades protruded from his back several inches like miniature wings, accentuated by the tightness of the shirt. He had never realized until that moment that because of the ridicule and taunting he had received from other children, he had attempted to be the same size as they by walking hunched over. Marie noticed it the same time as he.

  “Devon Hensley, straighten up! Why can’tchou walk straight like your brother? You’re always tryin’ to show yourself!”

  “OK, Mommy,” he said, shamefaced. He straightened his back, and from that moment forward, consciously walked with his head held high. He was not going to be a hunchback like that guy in Paris in that story his teacher had read to the class last year. But the fear that he was a hunchback would haunt him the rest of his life.

  When they got home, Del called Rennie and then went up the street to ask the Brower boys if they wanted to play some baseball. Devon and Gloryann went out onto the front porch and swayed back and forth on the metal glider.

  Freckle-faced Janice, two front teeth missing, came with her brothers and sat on the glider with Devon and Gloryann.

  “Didjou bury Dukie?” she asked Devon.

  “No,” Devon replied, “he went to heaven.”

  “What?” she asked, her voice rising.

  “Some butterflies came down an’ took him up to heaven.”

  “How did that happen?” she asked skeptically.

  “I doeknow. Angela just went ‘round an’ ‘round when we were about to bury ‘im an’ the butterflies came down an’ took him up to heaven.”

  “Really?” Janice inquired excitedly. “Cross your heart an’ hope to die?
”

  Devon shook his head. “Really. Cross my heart an’ hope to die.” He made the sign of a cross on his white tee shirt over his heart. Marie had made both boys change out of their new shirts after they got home.

  “I don’t want no grass stains on ‘em ‘fore you go to school,” she had said.

  Janice just looked at him with big eyes and whispered, “Golly. Golly.”

  A strong breeze blew across the front porch. The air was getting cooler. Devon looked to the west across the street and saw dark gray clouds moving towards them. “There’s a storm comin’. We best git inside, Glory,” he said. “You wanta come too?” he asked Janice.

  “OK,” she said. “The boys’ll hafta come in soon too, I reckon.”

  Janice went into Gloryann’s room, and Devon went into his bedroom to watch the boys play baseball through the window. There was a loud CRACK! of lightning which shook the windows. The boys outside quickly picked up the bat and gloves and rushed into the house. There was a deafening BOOM!! and the rain began, slowly at first, and then came down in torrents. Del, Rennie, and the Brower boys stood at the front window in the living room looking out. Puddles were already forming in the front yard. “Neat!” Del said in awe.

  “We ain’t had a rain like this in a couple months,” Doug said.

  “Daddy said we been havin’ a doubt,” Ron said.

  “I think ya mean drought,” Devon stated as he came into the living room and sat on the couch.

  “Huh?” Ron grunted.

  “Drought means it ain’t rained much. Doubt means ya don’t believe somethin’.”

  Doug turned around to look at him. “Whenjou get to be so smarty pants?”

  “I jus’ like science, I reckon,” Devon replied. “I learn’ some stuff about the sun, too,” he added, which reminded him that his vision was still blurry since that afternoon he had stared at the sun.

  Suddenly, the sound of a siren could be heard wending its way up Pennyroyal Hill. Marie came into the living room, wiping her hands on her white apron. “I wonder what that’s all about,” she mused. She reached up and placed a strand of red hair behind her right ear. “I hope nobody’s got into no accident.” She came to the window and stood behind the boys. The siren seemed to be coming down their street, although they could see nothing. It appeared to be pulling into their backyard and then stopped. “Why, somethin’s happened right behind us on Bruce. I hope nobody’s hurt.” She and the children rushed into the kitchen to look out the window. There was a fire truck with its red lights flashing sitting in the driveway of the house just beyond their backyard. “Oh, no! That’s Cora’s house! Devon, go git them umbrellas from the hall closet.”

  After some frenzied searching, Devon found a black umbrella and a pink-and-white one behind the vacuum cleaner. “Found ‘em, Mommy!” he shouted over his shoulder.

  “Well, bring ‘em here.”

  Devon ran into the kitchen and handed the umbrellas to her. “Gloryann and Janice, you come with me. You boys’re gonna haf to make do with that black one.”

  They walked out the back door, down the porch steps, and through the backyard, trying to avoid the large puddles. Del was holding the black umbrella over the boys, but it was only protecting their heads. Their legs were getting soaked.

  When they reached the driveway of Cora Lee’s house, they walked around the fire truck to the front porch and the open front door. A fireman was just coming out with a fire extinguisher in his hand.

  “What happen’? Is Cora OK?” Marie asked anxiously.

  He smiled and shook his head. “Yes, ma’am, she’s fine. Just had a lightnin’ bolt interrupt her bakin’. That’s all. It’s all over now. Go on in.”

  They left the umbrellas on the front porch and went through the living room into the kitchen. Cora, a petite blond woman, was sitting on a kitchen chair talking to another fireman. She looked towards them when they entered. “Oh, Marie! I’m so glad you came. I was scared to death when that lightnin’ hit.” She stood up and hugged Marie.

  “What happen’?” Marie asked.

  “Well,” Cora began, “I had a pan o’ biscuits bakin’ in the oven when I guess lightnin’ hit the house, blew open the oven door, and knocked the biscuits clean across the kitchen and against the wall. It knocked me to the floor, and when I stood up to see what had happened, I saw smoke comin’ from behind the oven. I ran into the livin’ room and called the operator and told her to call the fire department and they were here within a few minutes.”

  “By the time we got here, the fire was pretty much out,” said the fireman. “We saw some flames behind the oven, so we made sure we put those out with the extinguisher and we just turned off the gas, so it’s all over now except for callin’ the gas company to come out and take a look.” He turned and looked at Cora. “You were mighty lucky, ma’am. This coulda been much worse with you standin’ so close to a lightnin’ bolt. Mighty lucky.”

  “Thank the Lord,” Cora affirmed.

  “Praise be to Jesus,” Marie added.

  Marie and Cora went into the living room with the fireman. Janice began picking up the biscuits off the floor and placing them on the pan atop the table. Devon helped her. “These biscuits are still warm,” he said. “I wonder if they’re still good to eat.”

  “Dev, you don’t wanta eat those biscuits. They been on the floor,” Del said.

  “I don’t care,” he replied. He walked to the living room doorway. “Miss Lee, can we eat these biscuits?”

  “Why, Devon! Them biscuits are dirty. You don’t wanta eat ‘em,” Marie said.

  “I don’t care,” Devon insisted. “We can wipe ‘em off first.”

  Cora looked at Marie. “I guess there ain’t no harm in lettin’ the kids have ‘em. I was just gonna throw ‘em out.”

  “Alright then. Cora says you can eat ‘em. Go ahead. I’ll swan these young’uns got bottomless pits for stomachs.”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Cora agreed.

  “She says we can eat ‘em,” Devon reported. He grabbed a biscuit and took a hesitant bite. Del, Ron, Doug, and Rennie sat down at the kitchen table and took a biscuit.

  “Here, Glory,” Janice said, handing her a biscuit. “Here’s one for you.” She took one for herself.

  “Thank you.”

  As soon as they bit into the biscuits, they knew that these were no ordinary biscuits. They were sweet and creamy as though they had been infused with a mixture of sweet butter and clover honey.

  Del was the first to react. “Mmmm, these are great,” he said.

  “Sure are,” Doug agreed.

  “I ain’t never had nothin’ as good as these,” Janice agreed, taking the last biscuit.

  “Mmm. Mmm,” Gloryann chimed in.

  “Boy, these are good,” Devon said, looking at the scorched black wall surrounding the oven. “I wish there was more.”

  “Me too,” Rennie agreed. He went into the living room. “Miss Lee, did you only make eight biscuits? We’d like to have some more if you did.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, honey, but I only baked eight,” she said, as she turned back to Marie. “That’s more than enough for Frank and me.” She turned back to Rennie. “Did you enjoy ‘em?”

  “Uh hum. They were great.”

  “Why, thank you, honey. What a sweet thing to say.”

  He went back into the kitchen. “She ain’t got no more,” he announced. All of them were finishing the last crumbs of their biscuits and licking their fingers.

  “I ain’t never tasted nothin’ as good as that,” Devon said.

  “Me neither,” Del agreed.

  Marie came to the doorway. “The rain’s stopped, young’uns. I reckon we oughta go back home now. All the excitement’s over.”

  “OK, Mommy,” Del said.

  As the children followed Marie across the backyard, a double rainbow appeared in the west. “Why look, young’uns, there’s a rainbow, God’s promise to us that he would never destroy the earth by water again.”<
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  What the children heard coming from her was a deep hum. They looked curiously at her and noticed that her mouth was moving, but they could not hear any words. Suddenly they realized that the hum was inside them and growing louder, drowning out all external sounds. As it grew louder and louder, an ineffable joy surged up from the depths of their souls and washed like a wave over every cell of their bodies. The puddles of water through which they tramped and the overarching sky pulsed with the colors of the rainbow with every step they took—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. They looked at each other. They all had wide grins and blissful expressions on their faces. Marie, still talking, but not being heard by anyone, went into the house and left the children in the backyard. Devon began to skip over the puddles and the other children followed him. As they moved, ghostly images of their arms and legs hung in the air, kaleidoscopically cycling through the colors of the rainbow as they skipped.

  They all went to the back porch, where they lay down on the concrete shoulder-to-shoulder and stretched their arms across each other’s bodies, forming an unbroken circle. Time stopped. As they looked up at the porch ceiling, it shimmered and disappeared. The hum became even more intense. The stars and galaxies beyond the veil of the blue sky became visible, and they felt in the depths of their beings the bliss and awareness of oneness with God.

  Seemingly an eternity later, they returned to their mundane bodies, but they would never forget the gift of the lightning bolt blisscuits. Their rapture had lasted thirty minutes.

  “Devon! Del! Rise an’ shine! Your Uncle Dwayne’s on his way!” Marie yelled from the doorway of their bedroom. “Today’s Saturday. You know what that means.”

  They opened their eyes slowly. They did know what that meant. It meant they would spend all day helping Uncle Dwayne lift heavy garbage cans over the sides of his pickup truck and each be rewarded at the end of the day with a one-dollar bill.

  “Git up now! Git dressed an’ then go to the bathroom an’ warsh your hands. Breakfast’ll be on the table.”

  They groggily complied.

  Uncle Dwayne and his wife, Melda, came into the kitchen through the back door as the children were still eating. “Mornin’, Sis. Mornin’, Adam,” Dwayne said. He looked at the boys. “Rarin’ to go, boys?” Dwayne had a medium build and curly hair and seemed to have a perpetual grin on his face. He considered himself to be funny. Melda was dark-haired, somber, and taciturn. Like Marie, she always wore her hair in a bun.