How Loveta Got Her Baby by Nicholas Ruddock Read Free Book Online Page B

He told Henry how he saw it in his scenario, how he saw it clear as day.
    Johnny Drake was the first to go because he had most of the beer. He had a head start on the rest of them, he felt weak on his legs. He’d never felt his lips go numb like that, and never before saw double. Now he saw two of the little dogs, so he lay down, tried to orient his eyes, lay back so he was part-way in the bean-bag chair, part-way on the floor, his legs stretched out, and he breathed real shallow for a couple of hours.
    â€œCould have laid a feather on his lips,” said Aaron, “but he never woke up. Last thing he saw was a loon on the water. It opened up its mouth, voiceless.”
    Then the botulism that was hidden in the sauce caught up to Terry Snook. He was out on the wharf with his sister when she ran home for lunch and left him there. He heard a low sound, like a make-and-break engine miles away, a choking off and on.
    Shawn Blagdon? He went out for a walk, out when the tide was low and when he looked back there was nothing behind him but water. Couldn’t swim a bit, gave up easy. Barry Rose walked up Iron Skull, he liked to do that, it took all day to climb the mountain that looked over the sea, and when he got to the top the wind died real mysteriously. He couldn’t see half-way to English Harbour.
    Aaron Stoodley was too upset at Justin Peach to figure out just what went on, what it was that Justin Peach saw when he died.
    â€œThat fool Justin Peach,” said Aaron, “he’d cooked up that sauce way back when, he’d mixed it in a pan like it was just beans for dinner. Never thought of the pressure cooker, didn’t know a damn thing about fixing up preserves. Once, maybe twice, he put up jam.”
    Aaron Stoodley would have given back the nine thousand dollars just to have those boys alive, have them wake up, but they never did.
    Of course the last one to go on that night was the soccer star himself, Otto Bond. He lay back and his blonde hair, what there was of it, cut real short, was bent up against the arm of the couch from the weight of his head. He felt his mouth go dry. He saw Bridie from the pizza place. Then he saw the winning goal go in again, curled off his foot up high, smack up under the crossbar.
    He saw the little baby in her arms.
    Then he felt the dog jump on his lap and that was the last thing he knew, and the dog was still there when the police came and broke down the door, and by that time Otto Bond was cold. He felt like he was made out of porcelain, when they touched him.
    Aaron didn’t have to make up any scenarios after that. It was all in the newspapers in Halifax. Public knowledge, how the boys from the soccer team died overnight. The terrier had his picture in the paper, ONLY SURVIVOR it said underneath in capital letters, and off he went to the SPCA. He was still there six months later when in came Aaron Stoodley, re-named him Lucky and brought him home to stay. That’s how long it took, six months no less, for the lawyers from Halifax to track down Aaron. They gave him all the money the boys had, what there was of it. It didn’t amount to much, especially after the lawyers, but Aaron was the closest living relative they had left on the earth, so he was the one to get it.
    Still, Aaron Stoodley couldn’t sleep at night. The nine thousand dollars, the dog named Lucky, the rag-rug, he had them all, but when he looked in the mirror, he saw his face was worn, his arms and legs got all sagged out like he was a hundred years old.
    â€œTotal insomnia, I’ve got it bad,” he said to Henry Fiander.
    Henry watched him fall apart for a month or two and then, after talking to Eunice Cluett, he gave him some considered advice.
    â€œSnap out of it, Aaron Stoodley, smarten up, you got your whole life to think of.”
    It couldn’t have been that simple admonition that did it, but the next day Aaron looked a lot better.
    â€œWhat happened to