The Last Days of Summer by Vanessa Ronan Read Free Book Online Page B

frowns. ‘I don’t have much choice in the matter.’
    ‘There’s always a choice.’
    She looks away from him, then back. ‘He’s family, Josh.’
    His fist slams down hard on the counter and the Coke bottle rattles, almost falls, but at the last second rights itself. Key Lime Pie looks over and this time does not look away, nosy eyes prying into them. ‘Goddamn it,
Katie, you know what he done! Do you hear what folks round here are sayin’? They reckon your mother’s clear lost her mind takin’ him back in.’
    She struggles to meet his angry eyes. Isn’t even sure she believes the words as she speaks them. ‘He’s done his time.’
    ‘He ain’t done enough.’
    ‘That’s the law’s decision.’
    ‘You serious?’ He laughs. No humour in the sound. ‘Jesus Christ! Do you hear yourself? Do you hear how stupid you sound?’
    Katie bristles.
    ‘He’s a ticking bomb waiting to be set off. It’s just a matter of time. I swear to God, Katie, someone ought to take it into their own hands and set him straight before any more people start turnin’ up missin’.’
    ‘Don’t talk like that!’
    ‘Like what? I ain’t gonna pussyfoot around and pretend he’s some saint just ’cause you and your lot’s been blinded by y’all’s shared blood.’
    ‘He weren’t convicted of all that, Josh. There weren’t ever any proof.’
    ‘That man ain’t right in the head, Katie. We don’t need no proof of that.’
    ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about!’
    ‘Do you?’ Hurt in Josh’s eyes she doesn’t expect, isn’t quite sure she understands. Then softly, his voice almost a whisper, ‘What if he hurts you, Katie? I don’t think I could bear it.’
    She reaches out, uncertain, and lays her hand to rest on
his shoulder. ‘He ain’t gonna hurt me, Josh. He don’t seem so dangerous.’
    The strain in his eyes frightens her. ‘How do you know?’
    The trucker clears his throat. ‘Miss.’
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘More coffee, please, ’n’ the bill.’
    Lizzie watches as the hens gather round Joanne’s feet in a swarm of brown feathers. Joanne tries to scatter the feed as far from her feet as possible, but the action makes no difference – seeds still fall down close enough that, standing barefoot out the back, chickens nibble her toes. She dances and prances in place, shrieking as chicken feed scatters around her. Lizzie smiles. It was the same for her when she was young. The occasional hen bite doesn’t sting so bad; it’s more the apprehension of unexpected nibbles that cause the shrieking. Jasper used to laugh at her when she did the feed. Told her she was ‘chicken dancing’.
    Lizzie tears her eyes from her daughter and looks away from the clothesline, pins in mouth, to see Jasper standing in the shadows of the house. It’s hard to see his face clearly, but he seems to be smiling. She follows his gaze. He’s watching Joanne too. She takes a pin from her mouth and fastens a sock to the line. Starts to secure a shirt. One of Katie’s. Jasper turns, as though feeling Lizzie’s eyes on him. Stands still a moment facing her. They are close enough that he could easily call out to her, but he stands in silence. Lizzie can’t help but wonder what he’s thinking.
He looks like a stranger, standing there in the shade, their daddy’s old clothes hanging loose off his slender frame. She almost calls to him, but something stops her. Maybe it’s the deep shadows crossing his face. Maybe it’s his silence. Jasper raises a hand and waves. A smile lights his face, and Lizzie finds her hand automatically raised in response. Clothespins still in mouth, she does not smile back.
    Mid-morning. But already the sun sits high, sky marked with scattered dots of cloud. Joanne shrieks again as a hen pecks at her toes, then giggles. Jasper turns back to watch her. That funny smile once again stretches his lips. The house shadow lies cast short across the browning lawn. Him right in its shade.
Must be the only