Gone Fishin’ er-6 Read online

  ‘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’Ray-mond, 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.

  Chapter Five

  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.

  ‘Shhhh.’ Mouse waved at him.

  Dom put both hands to his mouth.

  ‘You know we cain’t be yellin’,’ Mouse said. ‘It’s time. Easy, you an’ Dom go sit on the rocks an’ keep quiet. You got that sack right, bro?’

  ‘Yeah, Ray. I got it,’ Dom said.

  ‘All right then! Let’s get us food fo’ the wintah!’

  Mouse rolled up his cuffs to just below the knee. I couldn’t figure out why he did that, because then he waded into the water up to his waist. In one hand he had the pistol and in the other he had some crackers or dry bread that he pulled from his shirt pocket. He sprinkled the crumbs in the water and stood stock still.

  Behind Mouse stood the half-circle of twenty-odd live oaks. A jury of old men with gray moss beards. Over them was the glimmer of a weak yellow sun in a sky that just hinted blue. There was no breeze or sound at all. Mouse looked like a big man, bigger than life, out in that water. He was taller than the trees, and the only thing that stood out from the pond.

  ‘In the beginnin’ God made the heavens an’ the lands,’ Domaque said from behind me. ‘An’ there was darkness in the land and the face of God was on the water...’

  Dom went on and on whispering with his version of Genesis.

  Out in the water, just to the left of where Mouse stood, came a sucking sound and a droplet of water leaped up into the air. Then to the right, two droplets, also with sucking sounds.

  ‘And God went beyond the waters and he called that heaven...’ Domaque said, while dozens of droplets plopped in the water. It was the sound of rain under a clear sky. Mouse slowly scattered the last of his bread into the pond. Then, carefully and slow, like a cat stalking raising his claws, Mouse brought the pistol over his head, holding it with both hands so that the barrel pointed at the water; his thumbs were on the trigger and his finger
s were laced around the butt.

  When he fired, dozens of mallards and pelicans started from behind the oaks. Dom Jr. let out a yell that started at a low warble and peaked at a siren’s whine.

  Mouse yelled, ‘Com’on, Dom! Get yo’ sack out here fo’ they get away!’

  Dom looped the sack around his neck with a rope that was stitched around the lip of the bag. He splashed in, bouncing up and down in the water like a very small child at the shore.

  ‘Com’on, Ease!’ Mouse called. ‘We need some help wit’ all’a these here!’

  He kept on shouting while I got off my shoes and socks and put them on my sitting rock. By the time I waded out to them they had turned away, catching fish with their hands and shoving them into the large burlap sack. When I was up to my hips in water I saw the unconscious fish. It seemed like hundreds of them but I guess it couldn’t have been so many. Pale white underbellies of gar, catfish, carp, and other fish I had never seen. They shuddered in the water like they were dead. Mouse told me later that it was the force of the hollow-nosed soft-lead bullet hitting the water that knocked them out.

  ‘That’s why you gotta catch’em quick,’ he said. ‘Fo’ they come awake an’ slip down ‘tween yo’ legs.’

  It was terrible.

  Mouse lunged one-handed, because he had his pistol held high in the other hand, going for fish after fish. Dom was yucking and yelling. He was clumsy and barely got as many with two hands as Mouse did with one. I didn’t grab any. It was like a bad dream to see all those fish quivering and half dead. I don’t mind catching a fish or wringing a hen’s neck, but that slaughter left me sick.

  On the last day I saw my father he took me down to the slaughterhouse. It was an awful place. They had cows walking down an aisle that came to a sharp turn. When the cow took the turn she came to a window and a big man hit her on top of the head with a sledgehammer; she’d hit the floor shaking just like those fish. From there a conveyor belt took the body to a man with a curved sword. He caught a mean-looking hook in her carcass and then had his helpers lift her up off of the ground. Then he cut her jugular. At first the hot blood sprayed out; then it slowed to a pumping ooze. When the bleeding had almost stopped he cut her open from crotch to throat. The blood flowed down the sides of the killing floor into gutters underneath the room. The blood and the leavings down there were what made the room smell rotten. The smell of death by the dozens and by the hundreds; death so strong that my eyes burned and I gagged, but I wouldn’t let myself throw up because I was afraid to vomit in blood.