Page 81 of The Bright Lands

Stevey Turner held up a football he’d brought with him. Luke did his best to smile at this bony boy who bore only a passing resemblance to the KT who’d been at school four days before.

“Just a few passes,” said Stevey.

Garrett caught the ball. “For old time’s sake.”

“I ain’t playing no more,” KT said.

“Get these boysoutof my face.” Mrs. Staler groaned, blocking the door with her arms.

There was no fence to stop them. They found KT standing on a wide porch around back the house, surrounded by bright plastic toys, faded folding chairs, a grill so rusted thorny creeper had twisted itself up through a hole in the lid. A single bare bulb screwed into the porch’s overhang did its best to light a yard that had gone badly to seed.

Garrett and Luke and the twins stood in the yard and gestured for KT to join them. “Come here, son,” Garrett said. “We was worried shitless for you.”

Ricky Turner tossed Luke the ball. Luke caught it at the last moment, hesitated, took a few steps back and tossed it into Stevey’s waiting hands. The narrow scar over Stevey’s brow gleamed where it caught the moonlight.

“I didn’t tell them nothing,” KT said.

Luke felt the grass around his ankles tremble, heard a faintshhrise up from the dirt. Was this what the start of an earthquake felt like? He opened his mouth to say something but saw that none of the other boys seemed to notice. Luke told himself he was imagining things.

Even when it happened again.

Garrett said cheerfully to KT, “We had an agreement, man.”

“It ain’t my fault I’m back.”

Stevey jogged to the side of the yard and caught the ball from his brother.

Garrett bent to run his hand through the grass. “Yet here you are.”

“The charges in Dallas is getting dropped,” KT said. “Soon as that’s done I’ll have my car back and I’ll go. You ain’t never seeing me—”

“That wasn’t the deal,” Garrett said.

Ricky threw a zip pass to Stevey.

“What was the deal, KT? Say it.”

“I know what it was.”

“Say it.”

“Fuck you, Garrett.”

Stevey heaved the ball hard into the back of KT’s head. It struck him with a loud thud. KT staggered forward, almost losing his balance, and Garrett pulled the empty beer bottle from behind his back and shattered it over KT’s skull.

KT fell to his knees. The twins worked fast. Stevey hustled to the side of the house to keep lookout. Ricky flipped KT onto his back, stretched out his wrists, pinned him to the dirt.

Garrett turned to Luke. “Grab his feet.”

Luke took a step away. “The fuck are you doing?”

“I said grab his feet.”

KT groaned.

“Think fast, Evers,” Garrett said. “You’re either a brother or an enemy to us. Everybody is. You hear me? You grab his fucking feet and you’re a brother for life.”

“Isn’t KT your brother?” Luke said, thinking of all the times he had seen KT running with these boys.