Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat Read Free Book Online

odd things, the most recent of which was a hot-air balloon, which he had brought to Haiti from America and occasionally flew over the shantytown skies.
    As they approached the fence surrounding the field where the large wicker basket and deflated balloon rested on the ground, Guy let go of the hands of both his wife and the boy.
    Lili walked on slowly with her son. For the last few weeks, she had been feeling as though Guy was lost to her each time he reached this point, twelve feet away from the balloon. As Guy pushed his hand through the barbed wire, she could tell from the look on his face that he was thinking of sitting inside the square basket while the smooth rainbow surface of the balloon itself float-ed above his head. During the day, when the field was open, Guy would walk up to the basket, staring at it with the same kind of longing that most men display when they admire very pretty girls.
    Lili and the boy stood watching from a distance as Guy tried to push his hand deeper, beyond the chain link fence that separated him from the balloon. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small pocketknife, sharpening the edges on the metal surface of the fence. When his wife and child moved closer, he put the knife back in his pocket, letting his fingers slide across his son's tightly coiled curls.
    "I wager you I can make this thing fly," Guy said.
    "Why do you think you can do that?" Lili asked.
    "I know it," Guy replied.
    He followed her as she circled the sugar mill, leading to their favorite spot under a watch light. Little Guy lagged faithfully behind them. From this distance, the hot-air balloon looked like an odd spaceship.
    Lili stretched her body out in the knee-high grass in the field. Guy reached over and tried to touch her between her legs.
    "You're not one to worry, Lili," he said. "You're not afraid of the frogs, lizards, or snakes that could be hid-ing in this grass?"
    "I am here with my husband," she said. "You are here to protect me if anything happens."
    Guy reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a lighter and a crumpled piece of paper. He lit the paper until it burned to an ashy film. The burning paper float-ed in the night breeze for a while, landing in fragments on the grass.
    "Did you see that, Lili?" Guy asked with a flame in his eyes brighter than the lighter s. "Did you see how the paper floated when it was burned? This is how that balloon flies."
    "What did you mean by saying that you could make it fly?" Lili asked.
    "You already know all my secrets," Guy said as the boy came charging towards them.
    "Papa, could you play Lago with me?" the boy asked.
    Lili lay peacefully on the grass as her son and husband played hide-and-seek. Guy kept hiding and his son kept finding him as each time Guy made it easier for the boy.
    "We rest now." Guy was becoming breathless.
    The stars were circling the peaks of the mountains, dipping into the cane fields belonging to the sugar mill. As Guy caught his breath, the boy raced around the fence, running as fast as he could to purposely make himself dizzy.
    "Listen to what happened today," Guy whispered softly in Lili's ear.
    "I heard you say that when you walked in the house tonight," Lili said. "With the boy's play, I forgot to ask you."
    The boy sneaked up behind them, his face lit up, though his brain was spinning. He wrapped his arms around both their necks.
    "We will go back home soon," Lili said.
    "Can I recite my lines?" asked the boy.
    "We have heard them," Guy said. "Don't tire your lips."
    The boy mumbled something under his breath. Guy grabbed his ear and twirled it until it was a tiny ball in his hand. The boy's face contorted with agony as Guy made him kneel in the deep grass in punishment.
    Lili looked tortured as she watched the boy squirming in the grass, obviously terrified of the crickets, lizards, and small snakes that might be there.
    "Perhaps we should take him home to bed," she said.
    "He will never learn," Guy said, "if I say one