Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley Read Free Book Online Page A

Burke arrive. Roy tells about his church,
the Bethel Church of God in Congregation, which meets in a pretty white
building on a nearby loop road. The preacher is a fat man with a bald spot on
top of his head and hair all around it, and he preaches sermons filled with the
hell of sinners and the damnation of souls. Pretty much everything you can do
is wrong, Roy says, especially if it's fun. The description of the preacher,
whose name is Rutherford Paschal, enlivens Roy as he gives it, and Nathan
shares the vision, remarking innocently that he would like to see this fat bald
preacher one Sunday. At this Roy's face closes shut, and Nathan understands
that he has said a wrong thing. Roy remains silent until he leads Nathan to the
smoking patio, where the sunlight, the calm of a cigarette and the voices of
friends restore him. Nathan relaxes, but studies Roy nevertheless.
    Wondering
about Roy's church, about all the life of Roy that Nathan has yet to fathom.
About the girlfriend, mentioned once and never forgotten.
    Days
pass and they are together often. Roy's chores suddenly require Nathan's
presence, and Roy's homework begs Nathan's help. Some evenings they work at
Nathan's house and some at Roy's. In this way, one night, Nathan meets Roy's
parents, who are much older than Nathan's. The Connellys took a long time to
have children, Roy being the only one of four to live past birth. Sometimes he
visits his brothers and sisters in the cemetery near their church, he says. To
Nathan, who is also an only child, it is curious to think of Roy visiting siblings
in a cemetery. Roy's large, soft mother takes shots to control her blood sugar
and nerve pills to help her sleep. The boys do their homework in Roy's bedroom,
surrounded by Roy's baseball and hunting gear. But one night they work at the
kitchen table as Roy's mother slices apples in the adjacent living room. Roy's
father passes through on his way from the bam to the desk where he keeps the
farm's accounts. There is a feeling of ill health about the mother and a
taciturn, tough shell that protects the father, and they talk little. But there
is also a feeling of peace and safety.
    At the
end of her apple peeling, Mrs. Connelly brings her white glass bowl into the
kitchen and washes the apples again. She asks the boys if they have studied
good, and they answer that they have. She asks Roy what he is learning in
school and he tells her about advanced algebra and auto mechanics. She listens
to the description of dismantled carburetors, fuel pumps, and polynomial
equations, shaking her head at the complexity. “His daddy knows all about
motors too, but I don't.” She offers Nathan a fresh slice of apple.
“And I never could do numbers. I don't think women have the minds for some
things. I know a lot of people think that's old-fashioned, but I think that's the
way God intended it.”
    “My
mom doesn't know anything about motors either,” Nathan offers.
    “See
there.” She nods her head at the profundity of it all. “What about
you, Nathan, what do you like in school?”
    “I
like to read science fiction books.”
    “You
mean about space travel and all like that. Lord, I don't think I would like to
have all that stuff in my head. I don't read too much, except the prayer
magazine we get. Guideposts. I like that magazine. It's really a Baptist
magazine, but I like it anyway. We're not Baptists, we're Holiness.”
    “We
go to the Baptist church.”
    “With
Preacher Roberts? I like him. I think he's handsome.”
    “You
ought not to be talking about handsome men,” Roy says, “you know Dad
don't like it.”
    “Your
daddy ain't studying who I talk about. And I do think he's handsome. Did you
always go to the Baptist church, Nathan?”
    “No,
ma'am. My mom used to take me to the Holiness Church too. But my daddy didn't
like it because they play electric guitars.”
    “No.
You don't mean it.”
    Even
Roy is interested in that. “Electric guitars in the church?”
    “One
time