Page 33 of Small Town Beast 2: Saverin's Duet

“NO,” Amari said. His chest went up and down. Was it true? Was that why Mama didn’t come?Liar!Liar!He wanted to scream it, but the words couldn’t come out.

“Well, is she going to be a problem?” asked the pretty lady, now looking at her watch.

“No, no.”

“What about his paperwork? I’ll have to give you less if you don’t have paperwork.”

“That’s alright, Sister Kate. An honor— big fan of your husband...”

The pretty lady glared, and she didn’t look so pretty anymore. “You understand, the payment covers discretion.”

“Discretion, yes, your worship.”

“I am not happy about the paperwork. I was told he’d come with paperwork.”

“I– I can ask Sister Cyrie about it.”

“Tell her to see me,” said “Sister Kate”, putting her sunglasses back on. “And I want this boy cleaned up when I come back tomorrow.”

“Yes, yes…”

“He needs new clothes. And a haircut— look at the state of him. You’re not feeding him enough. Does she feed you enough?” This was directly to Amari, her voice sharp as glass.

“N-no,” said Amari.

A cold little smile froze his heart. “Where are your manners, son?”

“No, Ma’am,” Amari whispered.

“I suggest you don’t wet the bed again,” said the pretty lady. And then they both left, locking the door behind them.

It was summer,but a deep chill had crept over Southwest Virginia, and cold wind blew down the chimney and froze Amari’s room. It was colder than the day he helped Mama make hot chocolate. Mama let him use the stove, watching him pour the milk and water in the small pot, cutting open the cocoa packet which had small marshmallows in it.

But just as they were about to drink the chocolate with the marshmallows, the smoke alarm went off. “Mr. Crazy” next door had tried lighting a fire in the chimney. The whole floor filled with smoke and the alarm went WAA! WAA! WAA! Mama grabbed Amari, told him to forget the hot cocoa, and they rushed outside with everybody. Some people were crying, thinking the whole building was gonna burn down. Other people started yelling at Mr. Crazy. Amari was angry, too. He never got to eat one single marshmallow and it wasn’t fair.

When the firemen came everybody relaxed. The younger fireman went inside to check Mr. Crazy’s apartment, while the older fireman let Amari climb up on the truck. The fireman looked like Santa Claus. He let Amari play pretend with the wheel and toot the horn (once). That was even better than hot chocolate. Then Fireman Santa gave Amari a sip of hot whiskey, which annoyed Mama. The whiskey tasted very bad but when they went back inside the hot chocolate was still hot and Mama had saved some marshmallows from her packet after all, and she gave them to him.

He thought about hot cocoa as he shivered in the tiny room. It was so cold not even the dogs were running around outside. This room had achimneyjust like Mr. Crazy’s apartment. But it didn’t have a “stopper” like Mr. Crazy’s chimney did, so thewind and cold came shooting down from the sky into the house through a big hole. Santa the Fireman said in the old days people used to make fire in chimneys to keep warm. But since everybody had central heating now, most buildings closed up the chimneys. It was dangerous to start a fire in a closed up chimney because the smoke couldn’t go outside and smoke could kill you if you breathed in too much. Santa the Fireman taught Amari a lot.

This chimney wasn’t closed up, so Amari could have started a fire in it. Except Amari didn’t have matches, a plastic lighter, or a paper bag, like his school friend Kevin, who had Problems because his daddy was in jail.

Amari bit his lip. If only he could turn into smoke like a genie, he could fly up the chimney…

Amari got out of bed, the stinky blanket wrapped around him. He walked over to the chimney and pushed the mesh barrier aside. Wind blew down the chute, freezing his lungs. His heart wentduhduhduhduhduhdhuh,very fast, like it did when he swung high up in the air, imagining what it was like to fly. He crawled into the fireplace and tilted back his head.

A blue square of pure sky shone through the utter darkness. High above, the cold wind howled. Amari fumbled around with his fingertips until he found a small uneven knob in the brickwork. Then he pulled himself up, one inch at a time.

SIX

TANYA

Tanya cleaned up the old man’s kitchen– what little needed cleaning— and swept his porch. Then she carted out his trash to the curb, where Saverin could get it when he came back. She weeded the scraggly tomato plants, the corn, and watered them. Then she scrubbed the bathroom, and then took down the curtains and shook them all out. When she asked Wilks Johnny to turn over his bedroom mattress he put his (proverbial) foot down.

“I know you’re mad at your man, but don’t take it out on my house,” he told her warily. “I appreciate the help but I can manage it all just fine.”

“If I don’t have something to do, I’m liable to walk up this hill and go home,” said Tanya flatly.

“You should listen to him, you know. Something’s happening in the hills.” Wilks Johnny’s brow furrowed. “There’s a bad wind this morning. Cold.”

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