isnât?â
âNot if youâre paying attention.â
âWell ⦠shit.â
âYep.â
Katrina handed me the brandy. I took another nip and returned the bottle. A gust of wind rustled the loose paper on the carâs floor and carried the smell of wood smoke.
âI blame my mother. Sheâs a vegetarian and made us all vegetarians, too. I probably didnât get enough iron during crucial developmental phases.â
âIs she as pretty as you?â
âPrettier.â A tiny smile hooked the corner of Katrinaâs mouth. âWhy, Mack? You sweet on me?â
I closed my eyes and let the sunset burn itself into my brain. Everything turned red then gold.
âSweet,â I said, âas honey pie.â
Katrina slapped my arm, sloshing brandy onto the sleeve of my T-shirt. âSee? Fucking snake.â
âI am not a snake, madam,â I said. âIâm totally warm-blooded.â
âYeah right. Youâre a younginâ snake, Mack. A snake in training. I bet youâre thinking about sexing me up right now. Youâd probably love to turn me into your little fuck doll, wouldnât you?â
The golden light behind my eyelids turned a spotty purple. I rubbed my eyes and turned to look at Katrina. I wondered if she had some kind of mental disorder or if this fuck-doll talk was just her friendly way of passing the time. It occurred to me that she probably had her own dark shit going on. She was voluntarily hanging out with me, after all. That couldnât be a healthy sign.
A cow lowed in the field.
A second cow lowed back from a point farther away.
âWell, I donât think heâs coming,â Katrina said, taking a final pull from the bottle and emptying it. âOld MacDonald isnât taking his cows back home tonight. Heâs probably sitting with Ma and Junior at the kitchen table right now, enjoying an overcooked pork chop doused in cream of mushroom soup.â
She capped the bottle and tossed it over her shoulder. I leaned forward, studying the cows in their darkening field.
âItâs a nice evening,â I said. âHe probably leaves them out on nights like this.â
âLike camping, but for cows.â
âWhy not? The cows like to see the stars, too.â
A grasshopper flew up and landed on the windshield. The insect and I studied each other through the glass while Katrina shifted in her seat and groaned.
âOh man. I think youâre going to have to drive us back to town, Mack-Attack. Iâm done tuckered.â
She burped and I laughed.
The grasshopper flew away.
As soon as I pulled us out onto the road, Katrina slumped against the passenger window and fell asleep. She made little snoring noises, cartoonish high whistlings that sounded like a child pretending to be asleep. It took me a half-hour to find a road I recognized and another twenty minutes before I was certain Iâd pointed us in the right direction. Along the way we passed through a small Amish area that was pitch black except for the Bugâs headlights and the eerily beautiful kerosene lantern light that shone from the sprawling homes of the Amish themselves. I shook Katrinaâs shoulder so she could see the houses and she asked me if she was dreaming. I told her yes, she was, and let her fall back asleep.
The History Test
T he siege continued and Mom kept chugging along. By the start of my freshman year of high school our family had grown used to how thin she was, how little she could eat with her reduced stomach, and how determined she was not only to keep on living but to participate in the world. On good days, sheâd have one of us fill up R 2 O 2 from the main oxygen tank and carry it out to the van for her and then sheâd drive into Thorndale by herself to go shopping.
Mom was five-nine. As her weight dipped below one hundred pounds, then below ninety, her face hollowed out and her bones rose up from
Terra Wolf, Mercy May
Jennifer Collins Johnson
Louise Penny
Tamara Hogan
Mary Hanson
Roderick Gordon
Aimee Agresti
Dean Murray
Amy Malone
Katharine Davis