Page 34 of The Night the Lights Went Out
And then I got angry because Jimmy could’ve died and all he cared about was those glasses not being broken. Because Granddaddy had given them to him and told Jimmy to take care of them.
The glasses still hung around his neck, resting on his chest all in one piece as if he’d put them there on purpose. “They’re fine. Are you hurt?”
Lamar gave me a funny look but didn’t say anything.
“I don’t think so,” he said, his eyes moving from me to Lamar. “I don’t feel no pain,” he said with a little laugh, like he couldn’t believe his good luck at falling from a tree without getting hurt. “He missed me,” he said. “He’s got such a bad aim he’d miss the water falling out of a boat.” He laughed again. “Startled me some, so I let go of the danged tree.”
He put his hands flat down on the ground, then bent his elbows like he was trying to sit up, but then he stopped. “Are my legs still there?” His voice sounded like that time we’d seen a comet streak across the night sky like a ball of fire. Sort of a mixture of excitement and fear and the knowing that the universe was a much bigger place than we could ever even think about.
“Of course they’re...” My eyes moved over to where his legs were still attached to his body, but looking like my favorite rag doll after Harry and Will had gotten hold of her.
Lamar reached over and pinched Jimmy’s leg. “Can you feel this?”
“Feel what?” Jimmy asked, his voice sounding very far away.
My eyes met Lamar’s. “We got to get him home,” I said, my own voice sounding like somebody else’s. Somebody who knew what to do. “Lamar will run get Dr. Mackenzie and he can fix your legs.” I swallowed. “He will. I know he will.” I said it twice, like that could make it true. I kept thinking about Daddy’s favorite horse, Horatio, who’d broke his leg jumping over a fence. I remembered what the leg had looked like, and how my daddy had been pretty close to crying. And how Rufus had been the one to put poor Horatio out of his misery. It was the first time I’d learned that not all broken things could be fixed. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t try.
Lamar looked over to the porch, which was now empty of Curtis and his rifle. “I can carry him on my back.”
I nodded. “Jimmy, you got to use your arms to hang on real tight, you hear? I’ll help Lamar get you up there, and then we’ll put you in the cart with my chickens. They’re real sweet and won’t bother you, so pay them no mind.” I was talking fast as I moved, like I always did when I was scared or nervous, but it seemed to calm Jimmy—and Lamar—as we pulled him up and onto Lamar’s back, his legs hanging funny. I could now see the dark patches of blood on his Sunday pants but didn’t say anything because I didn’t want him to notice his legs. I don’t think I could have stood it if Jimmy had cried.
We got him home, and Dr. Mackenzie came to look at him, but there was nothing he could do but set the broken bones. Whatever it was that made the legs work had been broken in the fall from the tree.
Curtis didn’t go to prison because he told everybody it was an accident and he’d been squirrel hunting, and Willa Faye’s mama gave Jimmy an old wheelchair that had belonged to her aunt, and everybody sort of thought things had worked out in the end. Except for me.
That’s when Bobby, with all his book learning, told me about karma and how all good and bad things come back to you sooner or later. It put some of the joy back in my life, knowing that sooner or later, Curtis Brown would get what was coming to him.
Twelve
MERILEE
Merilee watched the lamps in the house flicker on and off as the storm dumped rain while performing a rather impressive percussion and light show in the sky. The children were with Michael tonight so she could go to the gala committee meeting. She hoped that Lily wasn’t scared and that Michael knew enough to keep Colin from running outside with a kite and a metal key.
Glancing at her watch, she realized she had fifteen minutes before she needed to leave and still be early. It was amazing how fast she could get dressed and ready to go without two children in the house. She glanced into the hallway, where the stacks of books still waited for Wade’s shelves in piles against the wall, her four high school yearbooks now sitting on top of one of them.
Wade was due back that weekend, and she wanted to be prepared for any curveballs he might unintentionally lob at her about where he thought he’d seen her before. Without thinking too much about it—mostly so she couldn’t talk herself out of it—she picked up her cell phone and dialed her parents.
Her mother answered, and for a brief moment Merilee considered hanging up and trying again to see if she could get her father. Usually, but not always, he was easier to speak to and could smooth the transition to her mother.
“Hello, Mama. It’s Merilee.”
After a short pause, Deanne said, “Well, it couldn’t be anyone else calling me ‘Mama,’ could it?”
The sting began in the back of Merilee’s nose, traveling up to her eyes. She wondered how old she’d have to be before her mother could no longer make her cry. “How are you and Dad?”
There was a long sigh, as if her mother barely had the energy to force out words. “Nothing’s changed. Your daddy’s gout has been aggravating him a bit, and I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday to examine a spot on my neck that I don’t like the looks of. We both try to stay busy to keep our minds off of... unpleasant thoughts. Daddy’s golf game is improving, my garden is looking beautiful, and my bridge partner and I won a trip to Branson, Missouri, for winning the most hands in last month’s bridge tournament.”
She sounded almost manic as she listed everything, as if she was trying to prove that despite Merilee and “unpleasant thoughts,” they were still managing to have productive lives. The clink of ice cubes in a glass carried through the phone, and Merilee knew the drink they were cooling wasn’t sweet tea.
“You’d know all this if you called or visited more often. It’s not like anybody knows you here.”
At least the rush of anger made the stinging stop. “It’s hard for me with my job and the children’s schedules. You know you’re welcome to visit anytime. Colin’s going to be playing flag football this fall, and Lily’s going to be playing tennis. She’s also trying out for cheerleading.” Merilee had almost left that part out but changed her mind. She was so tired of doling out and holding back in her conversations with her parents. It was exhausting. “I’m sure they’d both love for you to come and watch them—”
“Cheerleading? Now, that surprises me. You always told me you hated it and resented me for pushing you to try out. Remember that? Even though it was the best thing that could have ever happened to your social life, not that I ever got any thanks for that. Whatever changed your mind?”
A crack of thunder shifted the air around Merilee, and she was fourteen again and her mother was piercing her ears with needles and ice cubes because all the popular girls had pierced ears. It had hurt, and then both ears had become infected, but she’d always worn earrings after that, irrationally believing that her mother might like her more if she did.
“Because Lily’s new friend is trying out, so she wanted to try out, too. She didn’t ask my opinion. I’m more excited about her playing tennis. When she played it at summer camp, she was really good and enjoyed it.”
