Page 12 of Small Town Beast 2: Saverin’s Duet (Sins of the South)

FIVE

AMARI

The white lady smelled like lint. And she wouldn’t take him to Mama. Why wouldn’t they let him see Mama? He cried, but they didn’t care. They just locked the door and left him there.

The room was boring. Nothing to do. The white lady brought real food eventually, but it was bad. He missed Mama’s macaroni and cheese, and apples, and grits with cinnamon and butter. Lots of butter.

It all went wrong that day Granny took him to the park.

Instead of pushing him on the swing, or the slide, or playing seesaw, Granny told Amari to sit down and be quiet.

He took a stone and scratched A M A on the park bench, but she slapped his hand so he dropped it.

He hated Granny. It was bad to hate people, but Granny was so mean.

Amari knew Mama wouldn’t be back to get him for hours and hours.

That was because Mama was applying to jobs in the city.

She needed a job so they could live in an apartment that didn’t have cockroaches.

Mama said getting this job was imperative .

That word meant “very important”. It was im-per-a-tive that he stayed in the park with Granny.

Granny didn’t talk to Amari at all. She didn’t want to hear about school or his trucks and she damn sure didn’t want to know about dinosaurs or puppy patrol.

She told him to shut up . She kept looking at the road, up and down.

She looked at her watch. Then she looked at the road.

She jumped when a squirrel ran past them.

Suddenly Granny got up and said she would be right back.

She left him sitting on the park bench and went across the street to the gas station.

Amari panicked, but then he realized it would be more fun without her anyway.

If she left him here all day by himself he would play on the swings until Mama got back.

Then he would tell Mama Granny had left him by himself, which Mama wouldn’t like at all.

She would never ask Granny to babysit again.

Impressed with his plan, Amari scooted off the hard bench and hopped towards the swing.

He hopped like a bunny rabbit. Then he turned in circles faster, faster, like a top.

He made a noise like an elephant— PHROOOO!

Nobody told him to be quiet. He could do whatever he wanted.

He hoped Granny didn’t come back and he could stay here all day.

Grabbing the swing, he slung himself up and began to jerk back and forth like you had to do when nobody pushed you.

If only Mama was here to push! He’d go soooo high and maybe go all the way around in a big circle.

Amari liked heights. His dream was to fly, like a bird.

Mama was always telling him not to climb up on things and jump off, but Amari knew someday if he tried hard enough he could jump very high and fly in the air.

Amari loved heights. Mama was always telling him to stop climbing stuff.

Pumping his legs on the swing he rose higher, higher… he had to time it right…just right…NOW!

He sailed through the air, like a bird! He was flying, he was—

CRUNCH!

The ground was soft with mulch but still, hard.

He forgot to even breathe. His head rang like a bell.

Ow… Dirt was all over his clothes and even in his mouth as he rolled away from the swing.

Trying not to cry, he scrambled up… just in time to see Granny leaving the gas station. Amari hurried back to the bench.

“What happened to your clothes?” Granny snapped.

“I f-f-fell.”

Granny twisted his ear. “Didn’t I say to stay here on this bench?”

“Ow!”

“Shut up!”

Amari pulled away from her, his stomach twisting in fear, but she dropped his ear and sat down next to him in a huff.

“Nevermind, she’ll be here soon anyway,” she muttered.

Mama will be here soon… His heart filled with hope.

Without looking at him again Granny pulled out a stack of small papers from her purse. Amari watched them curiously. The papers all had different colors and numbers. One of them said, WIN BIG.

Granny scratched the numbers off with a coin one by one.With every number she scratched off, Granny got angrier. She cussed and threw the paper down on the ground, then onto another one, scratching, scratching.

Amari was by then so bored and tired he started falling asleep. But then a gray car pulled up and Granny’s head jerked up quick and she stuffed the papers into her purse.

“Let’s go,” she said sharply to Amari.

Days later Amari tried very hard to remember the car. He knew it was important– imperative– to know the car that the lint-smelling lady was driving. But he forgot.

He didn’t want to get in the car. He didn’t know that white lady. Mama said, never get into a stranger’s car . Granny took his small hand in her cold, dry, wrinkled one and began pulling him towards the gray car. He dug his feet in. Mama said, don’t talk to strangers—

Granny shook his arm so hard he felt it would tear off his body. “Come along, now! Don’t make me whup you!”

“No!” Amari burst out.

He was definitely getting a whupping now, he thought, but Granny’s voice suddenly changed back to the sugar-syrup voice she had used with Mama earlier that day, the voice that was calm and reminded Amari of Mama.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell your Mama where we’re going,” Granny smiled. She sounded just like Mama. She gripped his hand tight and she was still Granny and Mama said to listen to Granny while she was gone, so…

He climbed into the backseat, a deep voice in his head going badbadbadbad .

Sometimes he heard that voice. It was his daddy’s voice, though Amari had never met his daddy.

The car door closed. RUN! Shouted his daddy.

Amari reached for the door handle, but it was too late.

The car sped off while Granny kept a tight grip on his arm.

Her eyes said, don’t even think about it.

“Where are we going?” Granny asked the white lady.

“The bishop’s house. She’ll be here in a few days,” the lady replied. She said “she” like SHE. Amari didn’t know who “SHE” was. Somebody important. He knew something bad had just happened, but what?

I want mommy!

Kidnapping was when somebody– a stranger– took you away.

You had to fight and scream very loud if a stranger tried to take you away.

But he hadn’t kicked or screamed. Granny wasn’t a stranger.

Could your own Granny kidnap you? He didn’t know.

Maybe she wasn’t my real Granny, but a witch pretending to be Granny .

But Mama would have said, there’s no such thing as witches.

And then they came to a big house, and he didn’t want to go inside but Granny dragged him. They put him in this room, and locked the door.

The room was small. There was a bed, a table, and a window. No TV. An attached bathroom (with no door) had running water, but no soap. And a big square thing with bricks in it, that look like somebody had burned stuff. Wind blew through it, making the room cold.

Outside the window had a clear view of the dog kennel. Amari counted one, two, three, four, five dogs. Big dogs. The dogs barked and roared at anybody who walked past the fence. They barked and roared at the white lady. They even attacked each other, tangling up their chains.

When Amari’s Granny left, the white lady set the dogs loose.

They ran all over the yard in circles. They ran all day long and didn’t seem to get tired.

Three times a day, the white lady brought them food: whole chickens from the grocery store, the kind Mama used to get for dinner.

The dogs shredded those chickens in seconds, then turned on each other for the scraps.

They slashed and tore and barked and dragged each other all around the yard until the lady came out with something that sent them scurrying back to their kennels with their tails down.

Amari didn’t look outside the window much.

Inside “his” room there were toys, all broken, and covered in tooth marks.

He didn’t want to play with those. There was also a red ball, which bounced very high.

Amari spent many hours rolling it side to side across the room.

Sometimes he threw it at the wall as hard as he could.

Nobody told him to stop. After two days he could catch the ball at any speed.

Granny never came back. The lady came twice a day to bring him breakfast and lunch. No dinner. Lunch was always a ham sandwich, and breakfast was grits. Plus a cup of orange juice, which made him sleepy. Every time she brought food, Amari asked the same question.

“Can I see my mom?”

“Your Mama ain’t here yet,” the woman said.

Yet ? Did that mean Mama was coming soon?

It didn’t make sense. Why would Mama let him be locked in this room all day long with nothing to eat but grits and a ham sandwich, and nobody to talk to, with this mean old lady and her dogs?

What about school? They were supposed to have Show and Tell on the first day of school.

What if he didn’t get to go back to school?

He’d never get to show the class his stuffed dog, Mr. Spaceman.

Amari was bored of the ball. He slept a lot now.

One night he had a bad, bad dream. He woke up alone, his pants wet and smelling like pee. He would never see Mama again. The room was dark and scary. Something horrible was going to happen. He heard one of the dogs under the window, panting and scratching. Could it dig its way inside the room?

Amari couldn’t move or breathe. The evil dog wouldn’t stop digging. It would come inside and eat him up, crack him open like a whole chicken. He wanted his mommy. Mr. Spaceman…Anybody…

The white lady brought grits the same time the next morning. She laughed at his face. “Still missin’ your mommy? Well, she ain’t coming today, either.”