Page 24 of Repentance and Absolution

“It’s our first Christmas together in our new home, for all it’s just a kitchen with a bed. I reckon I can shoot a duck or a goose or somethin’.”

“A goose?”

“Sure.”

“Ain’t all the birds flown south?”

“Not all of ’em. There’s gotta be a few around, down by the river.”

“Well, if you were to shoot one, I reckon I’d eat it,” Oscar said with a lazy resignation.

“Oh, I know you would eat it. I seen you go hog wild on just about anythin’ I bring home.”

“Stop talkin’ about it. You’re makin’ me hungry.”

I laughed. “Tell you what. You spell out the word ‘eat’ on that slate, and I’ll get you something we can roast up on Christmas Day.”

“Fine.” Oscar focused on his slate and wiped it clean with a rag, then used his slate pencil to scratch out some letters. He held it up toward me.

On his slate were the letters E T.

I nodded. “That’s a good try.”

His face fell. “You mean, that ain’t right?”

“Nope. There’s an A where the second E is.”

He frowned at the letters and grunted with indignation. “What? Where the fuck does the A go? I thought A made a ‘ah’ sound. There ain’t no ‘ah’ sound in the word ‘eat’, Jimmy.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “I know it. English is a…peculiar language. It ain’t easy to learn, and you’re doin’ just fine.”

Oscar stood up and brought his slate o’er. “Here. You spell it.”

He got onto the bed beside me and passed me the slate. I took it from him, wiped the second E away and put an A there instead.

Oscar blinked. “Of all the fuckin’, stupid, damn, shitty—! What the fuck?Why?”

He was so damn angry about it that I couldn’t help finding it more amusing than anything.

“C’mere,” I said, throwing the slate and pencil onto the bed and wrapping my arm around Oscar, bringing him on top of me so’s I could kiss and cuddle him. He was still mad, though, so he squirmed and complained, which made me even more determined to kiss him.

“You’re a good learner, and you’ll manage.”

“I don’t know, Jimmy. It don’t make a lot of sense.”

I growled in his ear and closed my teeth gently on the lobe. “Neither do you sometimes, but I would never give up on you.”

“Hmph. I reckon I make more sense than this here language.”

“Maybe. You’re startin’ to be more responsible, that’s true.”

He gave up and stretched out against me, wrapping his hand around my neck and finding my mouth with his. He kissed me sweet and gentle, like his anger at the English language was fading and his interest in other things might be rising.

“Jimmy—” he said as I started to undress him, “I been meaning to ask you…”

“Ask me what, beautiful boy?”

He giggled, lay back and let me unwrap him like a pretty package. I loved the way Oscar seemed so slim and delicate but had the strength and heart of a lion.