Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere

by Julie T. Lamana

  I could barely see the tiny black speck of Cricket bobbing in and out of the disgusting water. It was flowing like an orange river, and my puppy had already floated far away.

  But it was my big brother who made the world stop spinning. The second Georgie landed in the gross water, he went completely under. His head popped up to the surface and he swung his arms every which way. He was in trouble.

  The water was taking him away from us so fast! He kept taking huge gulps of water into his mouth every time his head disappeared under the orangey-black foamy water.

  Someone was screaming, “Georgie!” Then I realized it was me.

  Daddy stood on the edge of the roof, his chest heaving in and out so fast it looked like he’d been running. He turned and looked at Mama.

  “Katherine,” Daddy said softly.

  Mama slowly pulled her stare away from the water. She closed her eyes. Tears were streaming down her face. Then she silently nodded her head yes, just one time.

  She opened her eyes and looked at Daddy. With a sob, she whispered, “I love you, George.” It was the first time I ever heard her call him by his first name.

  Daddy’s eyes met mine, just for the tiniest second. He never said a word.

  And then Daddy jumped into the water.

  CHAPTER 22

  Mama crumbled to her knees and a long, deep cry poured from her heart out into the world. It was a sound that came from the place where all the deepest sadness gets stored up. There was no one in the entire world who was feeling more grief right then than Mama. The sound of her heart breaking must’ve reached Heaven, ’cause just then, it started to rain. Not hard—a soft rain, like tears sprinkling down on us. There was so much sadness coming from our rooftop it had reached the angels. They were crying too.

  The drizzling rain had stopped. The sun was shining. The sky was perfectly blue. The hurricane had come out of nowhere, changed everything, and then it was gone.

  I couldn’t see a single living soul in any direction, but I could hear them. It felt like we were alone in the new upside-down world, left—just the five of us—alone with the sounds of suffering. Dog barks echoed all around us. People screamed and wailed—the shrieking kind that makes the top of your head tingle with fear. I’d close my eyes and listen careful, hoping it might be Daddy or Georgie hollerin’ for help. But it wasn’t.

  The mesmerizing orange of the water was gone—the dark ugliness of it was plain to see. The water was thick. Black. Alive. And the smell—the smell got laid down in me and brought a shiver that ran along my bones.

  I sat on the roof in the clump of what was left of my family—me and Mama with our backs against each other. I held Khayla on my lap, Mama held Kheelin, and Sealy lay by our side.

  The buzz of motorboats filled the air, and with that came more screams and shouts from people we couldn’t see.

  We sat there—sat and did nothing but swat flies. We sat with Memaw lying dead beneath us in a disgusting attic. We sat without Daddy and Georgie and my birthday puppy ’cause they were gone—sucked away by the water monster.

  So we just sat.

  Sealy jumped to her feet and pointed at the sky. “Armani, do you see it?”

  I really didn’t feel like playing one of Sealy’s immature guessing games, and I definitely wasn’t in no mood to be bothered. So I just said, “Um-hmm,” and kept staring at the way Memaw’s boots caught the sun when I moved them just so.

  Mama had a grip on Sealy’s wrist, but the girl started waving at the sky with her free arm.

  “Armani, look! It’s a helicopter!”

  Whop, whop, whop, whop, whop . . .

  I tore my eyes away from the boots and put my hand up over my eyes to block the glaring sun. That’s when I seen it. It was a helicopter!

  I practically tossed Khayla onto Mama’s crowded lap and jumped to my feet.

  Please stop, please stop, help us, please stop . . .

  My heart was racing. I went to bouncing on my tippy-toes up inside the boots. I almost smiled. But I didn’t. I was full of nervous and excited at the same time.

  “Mama! It’s going to be all right!” Sealy hollered. “We’re gonna be rescued!”

  Me and Sealy jumped up and down, shouting and waving our arms at the approaching metal bird.

  Mama stood with the twins sitting between her spread legs. She waved and hollered louder than I’ve ever heard before. “Over here! Over here! I have children! Over here!” She stifled a whimper with her hand over her mouth.

  All of us, even the twins, were yelling and flapping our arms as it got closer.

  The wind coming off that thing made waves that slapped up against our house so hard it shook. The helicopter was right above us.

  Sealy was hollerin’ about something, but I couldn’t hear her on account of the loud whop, whop, whop of the helicopter blades twirling two thousand miles an hour. It flew so low, I thought it was gonna take off the tops of our heads.

  A man hanging out of the side of the helicopter waved at us. We waved back, smiling and jumping for joy!

  And then, just like that, the helicopter was gone. The pilot flying that thing flew right past us, like he sees families jumping and shouting on rooftops every day.

  I felt like I’d been punched in the belly.

  Sealy whipped around with big ol’ puppy eyes. “They’re coming back, aren’t they, Mama?”

  Mama stood there with her sorrowful eyes locked on the empty sky. Her whole face sagged.

  I fiddled with Memaw’s locket and took a big breath. With an award-winning smile, I said, “Well, of course they’re comin’ back. They can’t just go landin’ helicopters on people’s roofs without permission. Right, Mama?”

  Mama looked at me, her eyes telling me I’d found the right words, so I kept going. “They’re most likely flyin’ back to their headquarters right this very minute, so they can get the go-ahead to fly on back here an’ rescue the Curtis family. Watch. You’ll see.”

  Sealy looked sideways at me. “Are you sure they saw us?”

  Mama took a step away from the twins and stepped closer to me. She put an arm around my shoulder and kissed me lightly on my cheek.

  “Of course they saw us, sweetheart,” Mama said. “Armani’s right. There are procedures for things like this. They saw for themselves that we’re fine, and they’ll be back before you know it.” Mama gave an award-winning smile too.

  Sealy let out a sigh. “Well, that makes sense.” Then she gave us one of her sunshiny smiles and said, all bubbly, “I can’t wait to be rescued!” She all but skipped back to her spot on the roof and pulled the journal out of her book sack.

  Mama hugged me and whispered in my ear, “Thank you.”

  She went back to sitting with the kids, making sure no one moved from their spots. I stood for a good bit staring into the murky water, wondering how long it takes for a person on a roof to die from no food and no water.

  I was fixin’ to sit back down with my family when a big ol’ speckled dog came floating by. He was standing on top of one of them red and white coolers, just a-wagging his tail, letting out happy barks, like he was having a good ol’ time. He sailed right on up to the side of our house, bounced off, then kept right on gliding by, taking the same exact path that Daddy and Georgie had.

  Mama and Sealy decided that since we were about to be rescued, we should try to clean ourselves up. We took turns fixin’ each other’s hair. Mama tore the hem off her dress and tied lime-green headbands on Khayla and Kheelin to keep the sweat from running in their eyes. It almost felt—normal. But then, I’d hear a far-off shout, or sirens, or a whop, whop, whop and my brain would snap right back to the nightmare we were living. I wished more than anything that Memaw would’ve been there to hum us through our horrible time on the roof.

  Sealy had her hands all up in Mama’s hair and I was looking out across the nasty water trying to count rooftops when a yellow butterfly came and landed right on the toe of my rubber boot. Khayla took a swat at it but
it stayed there, opening and closing its bright, perfect wings.

  I was fixin’ to ask how it was that a little butterfly could survive a storm that had ruined everything else when I felt a bump up against our house.

  “Excuse me, ma’am?” The man’s voice came out of nowhere. Me, Mama, and Sealy almost rolled right off the roof at the same time.

  Sitting right there, so close I could touch him with a stick, was a big, burly white man in a teeny-tiny boat.

  CHAPTER 23

  We must’ve looked a sight to that man. All of us sat there for the longest time staring at him, like we wasn’t expecting company.

  Then Mama started to shake. The quivers traveled from Mama’s head up Sealy’s arms, where she still had her hands lost in Mama’s hair.

  Mama pulled loose from Sealy’s fingers and stood on shaky legs. She pointed at the water in the direction where Daddy and Georgie had floated away. Her hand was trembling so bad, I had to keep myself from reaching up to hold it still.

  “My . . . my . . . my husband and son . . .” Mama managed to say, but then she shuddered with upset.

  The man looked in the direction that Mama had pointed. He pulled off his black and gold ball cap and hooked one of his thumbs in the tattered strap of his blue jean overalls. He wiped the top of his almost bald head with the back of his arm, and put the hat back on.

  “Yes, ma’am. I been gettin’ a lot of that from folks.” He hung his head and shook it back and forth a couple times too many.

  When he looked back up at us, he squinted at the twins. “You got babies up there.” He said it like maybe he was telling us something we didn’t know.

  Before he introduced hisself, he tossed up bottles of water. It was the most delicious water I’d ever had. It was clean, and sweet, and cold.

  Mama cried grateful tears. She kept saying thank you while we took long gulps of the water.

  When he threw the fried Hubig’s pies to us, Mama reacted like she’d been thrown a bag of gold. Khayla tore into hers before I could even get the wrapper all the way off. She had the whole thing gone before we had a chance to thank the generous man.

  I ate about half of mine, chewing every sugary bite real slow, while my taste buds popped and grabbed hold of all the crusty, creamy lemony flavors.

  Khayla stared at me with her mouth hanging open, eyes glued to my food, globs of lemon filling from her forehead to her elbows. I was starving. I could’ve ate at least a hundred of them flaky fried pies right there on the spot. But when I seen the hunger showing on my baby sister’s face, I took one more small bite, then gave the rest to Khayla. She didn’t say thanks, but her smile let me know I’d done the right thing.

  Sealy unwrapped hers all gentle-like. She took one bite, and moaned, “Mmm . . . ,” chewing at the same time. Then, like in slow motion, she folded the edges of the wrapper back over the top of what was left and tucked it down inside her book sack. She took a careful step closer to the edge. Mama grabbed her arm. “Are you here to rescue us, Mister?”

  “Well, I reckon y’all need rescuin’, that’s for sure.” He had a smile that I liked.

  “I—I can’t leave,” Mama said in a panic.

  “But Mama,” Sealy said, “we have to leave. We can’t stay here.”

  Mama looked at Sealy with eyes full of worry and confusion.

  “Ma’am?” the man said directly to Mama.

  Mama tore her eyes from Sealy and planted them on me. “I don’t know what to do, Armani.”

  Tears were flowing. I didn’t know what to say. My own eyes were blurry.

  Sealy stared at me with her face all hopeful. The sweaty, sleepy-looking twins sat there on the hot roof, too pitiful to even fuss.

  I looked down at the plump white man in the tiny boat, with the smile I’d taken a liking to. I caught a glimpse of something yellow on his cap. I rubbed my eyes with my fists to get rid of the blurriness. There right on top of the wore-out ball cap was the yellow butterfly that had been resting its wings on my boot a few minutes earlier.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. “We would sure appreciate it, sir, if you could get us off this roof.” As soon as I said the words, the butterfly fluttered away. Chill bumps raced down my arms.

  Mama moaned.

  I took her hand. “Mama, we have to get the twins somewhere safe.”

  Her eyes were closed and she wouldn’t stop crying.

  “I promise, Mama,” I said, like I was the mama and she was the child, “we’ll tell the police or someone about Daddy and Georgie.” A cry got caught in my throat. “But we have to go with this nice man.”

  Sealy was crying quiet. I kept my teary eyes on Mama. I took hold of Sealy’s hand and walked her to the edge of the roof.

  I sat down, my legs hanging over the side. Sealy climbed up on me, and I whispered in her ear, “I’m gonna slide you down. You’ll be okay.” A tear rolled down my face.

  “I trust you, Armani,” Sealy said in a whisper-cry.

  The man in the tiny silver boat reached up, and I slid my little sister off my lap and into the arms of the stranger.

  His name was Mr. Oscar Dupree. He’s the man who saved us from wasting away on that roof.

  After Sealy, I slid Khayla down. As soon as that baby thunked into the bottom of the boat, she grabbed hold of Mr. Oscar’s leg and made it clear she wasn’t letting go for nothing.

  When I asked Mama to give me Kheelin so she could get on the boat next, she turned from me and started to cry all over again.

  “You—you go on without me,” she sputtered.

  “Mama, you have to come with us.” I swiped at a useless tear, wishing she would stop being so hardheaded. I real careful got to my feet.

  There was a fear and a sadness carved into my mama’s beautiful face that filled me with a knowin’ that I figure I’ll always have.

  “Armani,” she said, nodding her head, talking like she was begging me to keep a secret. “Take the girls and go.” She looked past my shoulder and down at the little boat.

  “Mama, we ain’t leaving without you.” I looked her straight in the eyes, my words coming from my heart.

  “I can’t leave without your Daddy.” She took in a big breath. “And Georgie . . . and Mama Jean.” Her world caving in was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I didn’t know how to make it better for her.

  “But Mama.” I finally found my voice. “Please, Mama. I can’t do this. I can’t leave you.”

  Sealy was crying loud down in the boat.

  “Excuse me, ma’am,” Mr. Oscar said, clearing his throat. “I know it ain’t none of my business, but—”

  “Mama, I can’t do this without you. I need you.” I was near a full-blown panic. Mama closed her eyes and shook her head back and forth.

  I leaned up on her chest and wrapped my arms around her and Kheelin. I whispered, “Mama, Sealy and Khayla need you. I can’t take care of them proper without you. Please, Mama.”

  She opened her eyes and looked at me, her face wet with tears. As plain as Mama has ever said anything, she said, “I’m sorry, Armani, but I can’t. I can’t leave them.” She stood tall and sniffed. Her tears stopped flowing. “Now, you do what I say, and you get on that boat.”

  “But Mama . . .”

  “You can do this, Armani. I have faith in you. You’re special, my darling. You’re strong. I know the children will be fine with you.” She wrapped herself around me and squeezed for a quick, long second. I didn’t want that hug to end. Not ever. When I looked up at her, she smiled sweet and said, “Your daddy’s going to be so proud of you, Armani.”

  I looked down at my sisters sitting in the boat. They were both crying, looking so pitiful and small. Somewhere deep inside, I knew I had to get on that stupid boat.

  I never paid no attention to where my heart sits up inside my chest, but it wasn’t ever gonna be a mystery to me again. The breaking of it was a feeling like a hundred thousand cinder blocks piled on top of me, making it so I couldn’t br
eathe.

  I kissed Kheelin and gave Mama a kiss on her cheek. I reached behind my neck and unhooked the locket that Memaw had gave me right before she died. I stayed fixed on Mama’s watery eyes till I had the compass-locket sitting pretty around her neck. Then I made my way over to the edge of the roof in Memaw’s clunky boots. I sat down all wobbly, almost falling headfirst into the smelly, murky water.

  Mr. Oscar reached up and helped bring me aboard his dinky boat. He wiped his tears away. I was glad to see that his heart matched his smile. He told us to sit and stay still. I didn’t take his advice. If I was leaving Mama and my baby brother on a roof, I was at least gonna stand, so I could watch her for as long as possible.

  “Ma’am, I’ll send word regardin’ you and the baby. I’ll try to come ’round an’ check on ya if I can,” Mr. Oscar Dupree said, looking at Mama.

  “Take care of them,” Mama blubbered, crying wide open.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Mr. Oscar said. Then his foot pushed up against the side of our lopsided house, shoving us out into the rolling water.

  “Mama!” Sealy wailed.

  “Maaaamaaa!” Khayla hollered over and over. She reached her short, thick arms up and out, like Mama could stretch across water and nab her right out of the boat. Sealy held tight to her the best she could, till Khayla took to kicking and squirming. Khayla plopped out of Sealy’s arms and landed with a tiny thud back onto the bottom of the boat. She screamed. I looked down, knowing I should pick her up, but I couldn’t move.

  Mr. Oscar scooped Khayla up and went straight into a bouncy, singsongin’, “Shhshh, bébé, shhshh.”

  All I could do was stare at Mama holding tight to Memaw’s compass-locket and Kheelin, wondering why God was taking away my family.

  CHAPTER 24

  I had my eyes fixed on Mama still standing on the roof with Kheelin when Mr. Oscar Dupree’s boat made a clunk sound. We’d run into something.