Gone Fishin' (5 page)

‘Then
one day Daddy shot ‘im. He got tired’a waitin’ an’
he shot Dom down. He came after Dom with a shotgun fulla buckshot. He
tole Dom t’bring me back but Dom turned his back an’
started walkin’. He din’t say nuthin’; not where I
was or if he had taken me. An’ Daddy kilt ‘im. Luvia tole
me about it an’ she got his body an’ brung it out here
t’me. She knew how wild Dom was fo’me, she knew how Dom
died rather than t’hurt my daddy. She said that if I kept a
piece’a that love wit’ me then I’d be powerful an’
my baby would be healthy, male, an’ strong.’

She worked
her hand down into my pants as Ernestine spoke my mind from behind
the curtain.

‘I
cut off his head an’ put it in a barrel’a salt fo’
five years. Dom Jr. was born an’ Luvia passed on. Daddy died.’
She squeezed me hard when she said that. ‘An’ here we is’

Her kisses
were salty and thick.

What I
remember most are the smells: her mouth and her musky armpits, the
strong smell that almost burned from between her legs. Her feet
smelled like earth along with the weak scent of manure. She tasted of
salt. And after Ernestine quieted down, the only sound was the deep
breathing and the rise and fall of Momma Jo’s body. The sound
filled the room like God watching from some dark corner.

I didn’t
want to do it but Momma Jo was strong; she clenched her arms and legs
around me so powerfully that my ‘No’ was crushed down to
‘Yes.’ She whispered in my ear what she wanted and I lost
my mind for a while; lost it to her desire.

After a
long while I found myself pressing down hard on her and yelling
something, but I can’t remember what it was. I felt pain in my
head and realized that she was pulling my hair. She was yelling too,
‘You done, Easy! It’s over…’

‘No,’
I cried.

‘Shhhh,
baby, it’s okay. You too excited to know you come.’

When I
came to myself and realised what I’d done I turned away from
her.

‘That’s
okay,’ she whispered, rubbing my butt with her palm. ‘You
already loved me enough, baby. Sleep now.’ She was quivering
against my back as I fell asleep.

Mouse and
I were standing in the swamp and mosquitoes were all over me. My
crotch was the worst bit, and I scratched until it was raw. Mouse
told me that I was going to scratch it right off, then he started
laughing.

‘If
you stop scratchin’,’ he said, ‘they stop bitin’
you, fool!’

The wind
was blowing in a loud rush all around. I turned to see Momma Jo
making the wind with her breathing. She came up to me like a big
cloud, and made like to kiss me but instead she breathed down my
throat. It was a powerful smell but I couldn’t pull away from
her — she was too strong.

I was
pushed to the ground. She was so heavy that I could hear my bones
snap, one at a time. At every crack Ernestine moaned.

Momma came
up with my butcher’s knife. I knew she was going to cut off my
head to make her young again. I wanted to yell for Mouse to come save
me but I couldn’t catch my wind without her breath in me.

We were
all at the dinner table. Daddy and my mother and two little girls
that I had never seen. A big gray stallion was heaped on the table.

It had
been roasted with potatoes and carrots, and it smelled like Momma
Jo’s pussy. My mother (who was a big woman) stood up and came
toward me. All I could see was yards and yards of her gray plaid
dress coming at me like a freighter coming into the Gulf.

‘Easy!
Easy!’ Mouse was whispering in my ear. ‘Wake up, man! We
gotta go! Com’on!’

I was sick
in my heart. I moaned out loud, and Mouse said, ‘Shut up. You
gonna wake’er.’

Mouse
pulled me by the arm but I was too weak to move. I could see that he
was wearing a long gray coat.

‘Lemme ‘lone,’ I said.

‘Easy, this ain’t no time t’play.’

‘Raymond?’ Her voice came from somewhere in the dark
room. ‘Raymond, that you?’

‘Yeah, Jo. I come t’collect Easy.’

‘What time is it?’

‘It’s still dark.’

‘When you be back?’

‘I dunno. In a few days, or less.’

‘What you need Easy for?’ She said it like a challenge.

‘He my friend, Jo, like I tole you.’

‘Well. You go on out an’ I sen’im in a minute.’

Mouse
leaned dose to me and smiled his golden smile. He winked, then he was
gone out the door.

A match
struck and Momma Jo was there lighting an oil lantern. Shadows jumped
around the room and I wondered if it was really night outside. She
was just as tall but she looked different when she was naked. Her
breasts made her look more human, they didn’t stick straight
out anymore but they didn’t sag very much either. The hard
nipples curved upward like blunted black barbs on thornbush.

‘Mo’nin’,
Easy,’ she said gently. ‘How you?’ There was a moan
and the rustling of blankets and I could see Ernestine laying on the
pillows from where Momma Jo came; Clifton was nowhere to be seen.

Momma
tossed a blanket over the girl and wrapped another one around her own
shoulders. She asked me to sit down there on the floor, but I shook
my head and picked up my pants.

She stood
close to me while I dressed, letting her shoulders sag down so she
was dose to my height. ‘You gonna come back wit’ Raymond,
baby?’

‘No, I don’t think so.’

‘Why not?’

‘Well,
I gotta job you know, an’ we jes’ gonna say hi to his
fam’ly, then we gone.’

‘Raymond
say he comin’ back.’

‘I
ain’t got the time.’ I looked her in the face for a
second. Her eyes were full of sympathy or pity; I didn’t know
what for.

‘You
had some time las’ night.’

There was
nothing to say to that so I concentrated on the buttons of my shirt.

‘Why’ont
you come back t’say bye?’

‘Okay,’
I lied to keep her quiet, but she looked down at Ernestine and then
back at me.

‘You
shouldn’t be mad ‘bout us girls gettin’ together,
Easy. She just excited an’ you an’ Clifton was out. Girls
need t’talk ‘bout they men.’ She smiled and looked
coy.

I wanted
to tear off my skin.

‘I
don’t care bout them. I gotta go an’ I’ll come say
bye fo’ we get back down.’

I moved to
go to the door, but she touched my arm.

‘Come
back, Easy,’ she said, and I felt something.

‘I
cain’t, Jo. This ain’t right, an’, an’ you
don’t even know me.’

She looked
at me for long time. While she did she seemed to get older and older;
her eyes were tired and there were folds in her face. It was like she
was aging to death and I was killing her. The lantern was fluttering,
maybe it had been the whole time, but right then I thought that if
the light went out she’d die.

‘Okay,’
I said. ‘But just to say bye.’

When she
kissed me I felt sick but excited too; I wanted to scream.

When I got
to the door she said, ‘You watch out fo’Raymond, honey.’

‘Mouse
don’t need me t’help him.’

‘I
mean you make sure you don’t get hurt. Raymond hate this place
an’ he don’t have no good reason t’ be down here.’

‘I
be okay, Jo.’

She put
her hand on my throat like she was going to choke me, but softly.
Then I left.

The sky
was black and crowded with stars. The land was like a heaven too;
everywhere there were dusters of fireflies, glowing white with glints
of green and yellow and blue. They covered the ground in a shimmering
net of light. In the middle of that light was the dark form of a man
holding a yellow lantern.

‘Hey,
Easy! She let you go, huh?’

‘Where’d
you go?’ I asked Mouse. ‘How come you left me there?’

‘I
had t’go see my friend, Easy. I figgered you could take care’a
yo’self.’ Mouse snickered. ‘Who gonna figger you
for runnin’ after witch pussy?’

I took two
steps toward him with my fists clenched.

‘Hole’it,
man.’ He was laughing and holding the lantern out as a play
shield. ‘If Momma go after somebody, then what can they do? We
just people, Easy, and she is more’n that.’

‘What
you go’n leave me for?’

‘I
had t’see somebody. I din’t know what’s on that
crazy woman’s mind.’

‘Shit!’

Mouse was
laughing so hard that he had trouble holding the lantern steady; his
whole body shook.

‘Easy,
you shoulda been born rich,’ he said, letting out a long sigh
of pleasure. ‘I mean up on the hill with servants and tea.’

‘What
you talkin’ ‘bout?’

‘Look
at you. Here you go wantin’ t’pick’n choose like
you too good fo’Jo. But you don’t un’erstan’
that’s Momma Jo in there. If she like you then you halfway got
it made. She feed you and fix you up if you get cut. Shit! An’
I bet she fuck you bettah than all them chippies you be chasin’
in Houston. I tell ya. You got a woman wanna take you home you better
not be turnin’ up yo’ nose…’

‘Shut
up, shut up!’

‘All
right.’ He hunched his shoulders. ‘All I gotta say is…’

‘Just
shut up, all right?’

And he
did. He turned and walked away without another word. I followed him,
my head about to come open with all that had happened.

With those
stars and lightning bugs I barely made out the path we walked on from
the heavens. It was like walking in the black skies of night; my
whole sense of up and down was gone. The only thing that kept me from
getting dizzy was keeping my eye on Mouse’s black silhouette,
rushing on up ahead. We walked for quite a while until we came into a
stand of cypress trees.

‘This it,’ he said.

‘This is what?’

“This is where we gonna meet’im.’

‘Meet who?’

‘Now you gotta make up yo’ mind, Easy.’

‘What you say?’

‘Well, either you want me t’talk or you don’t.’

‘I
don’t want you talkin’ ‘bout that woman or nuthin’
t’do wit’ what happened back there.’

He shook
his head, saying, ‘I cain’t go along with that. When I
talks, I talks an’ that’s it. If you don’t wanna
hear me then I shet my mouf. But if you wanna hear, then you gotta
take whatever come inta my head, ‘cause that’s the way I
am. I cain’t be bothered wit’ you wanna be hearin’
one thing but you don’ wanna be hearin’ nuthin’
else…’

He went on
like that, running his mouth. The drift of his palaver was that he
couldn’t afford to hold back anything because it might be
something important and he’d never know unless he got it out.

‘I
think wit’ my mouf, Easy. I might say sumpin’ that sounds
like shit t’you, but once I say it then I know sumpin’
else ‘bout what I be needin t’do.’

I could
see that he was excited and that he needed to talk, so I let him go
on; as long as he didn’t bring up Jo I was happy to let him
rave.

After he
ran out of things to say we just sat there. I could see a little
better by then because morning nosed at the horizon.

‘What’s
standin’ out here in the middle’a the night gonna do
‘bout yo’ weddin’?’ I asked, wanting to break
the silence.

‘Sh!’

There came the sound of rustling branches.

‘Ray?’ A man called out.

‘Over here, Brother Dom,’ Mouse cooed.

Out from
the trees came something. I knew it was a man because I heard him
call to us but it could have been something else. He leaned way over
to the side, one arm hanging down almost to the ground. He walked in
a shuffle that made his whole body twist like a silkworm hanging from
her thread. His back was hunched over so his head looked like it
sprouted from the chest. His mouth was open wide with misshapen teeth
grown in all directions; the giant maw glistened.

‘Hey,
brother,’ Mouse said, then he did something I’d never
seen him do with a man before — he hugged the hunchback. A real
hug with their cheeks touching.

‘This
here is Easy, the one I tole you ‘bout,’ Mouse said.
‘Easy, I want you t’shake hands with my oldest friend,

Domaque.’

The
hunchback swung his long arm at me and it was all I could do not to
jump back. His hand was leathery, dry, and strong.

‘Easy!’
he said like I was old and deaf. ‘My brother tole me ‘bout
you. Glad t’meetcha.’

‘Yeah,’
I said. ‘Sure.’

‘This
here’s Jo’s boy, Easy. Easy stayed wit’ yo momma
last night, Dom.’

‘Uh-huh.
Wanna go fishin’ now?’ As it got lighter I could see that
one of Domaque Jr.’s eyes was dead; it was brown and receded
into the socket.

‘Sure,
I got my rod here in my pocket.’ Mouse slapped his pants. ‘But
you got what I want?’

Domaque
ducked his head even lower, I couldn’t tell if he was ashamed
or happy. He said, ‘Yeah, I got it out to the house.’
Mouse smiled. ‘Well then, com’on. Let’s get us some
fish!’

Domaque
screamed and jumped and hurried away; Mouse went after him, and I
followed Mouse.

‘I tole ya I’ma show you how t’fish, Easy.’

‘You ain’t even got no fishin’ pole,’ I said.

‘Ohhhhh, but I do.’

‘Yeah,
Easy.’ Mouse leaned back against an old elm looking out into
Rags Pond. It was a largish body of water with a thin mist clinging
to its sleek surface. ‘Me an’ Dom go way back. Huh, Dom?’

Domaque
ducked his head and chortled. ‘That’s right, brother. We
been friends since we was little.’

‘God’s
truth, Ease.’ Mouse held up a hand in a swearing motion. ‘Me
an’ Dom went through it when we was kids. You know they picked
on me ‘cause I was so little, an’ they pestered Dom
cause’a his hump. But you know wit’ my mind an’
Dom’s size we roughed up they little butts.’

The
morning was darker than it was light but day was coming on fast. Live
oaks completely surrounded the pond. The oaks had gray moss hanging
from them into the water. Mouse reached under his coat, into the back
of his pants, and came out with a long-barreled .41-caliber pistol.
He smiled. Domaque howled and waved his fists in circles.