Bound by Blood and Brimstone (23 page)

register what she was doing. There she was, already more than halfway across the yard and

moving fast toward Caleb and Sue Lee.

I knew she was too far to try and stop her, so all I could do was follow. By the time I

reached her side, she was face to face with Caleb, staring directly in his eyes. She said, “Hey,

Caleb.” I nearly fainted.

“What do
you
want, freak? Been sleeping much lately?” Sue Lee retorted, stepping closer

to her brother. Lorrie Beth didn’t so much as glance in her direction.

“Listen, Caleb, I just wanted to let you know--I mean, I think it’s time we quit acting like

a couple of brats with each other.”

His bland expression didn’t change, but his eyes were guarded. “That so?”

She smiled slowly and nodded. When she spoke again, her voice had gone all soft and

breathy. “Yeah, well, after all, we aren’t exactly kids anymore. First grade was a long time ago.”

“Yep.” Despite his expansive vocabulary, I could see suspicion all over him. I darted a

look in Sue Lee’s direction. Clearly, she wanted nothing more than to tear Lorrie Beth’s heart out

and eat it raw, just like Wonnie’s Raven Mockers.

Still in a haze of semi-shock, I must’ve drifted out for a second, but I caught the tail end

of what Lorrie Beth was saying, “And I thought maybe, if you’re not doing anything else, you’d

like to come to our potluck on Sunday. It’s a chance to eat a lot of good food and listen to

gossip.” Sue Lee threw back her head and hooted, but Lorrie Beth’s gaze never wavered from

Caleb.

At that point in my short life, I’d seen and heard more than most, some of it shocking.

But standing there, watching my sister practically cooing at Caleb Jacobs, now
that
took the

cake. My stomach plummeted to my shoes, and I would’ve clapped my hand over my mouth to

stifle a gasp, if I could’ve
moved
my hand. Errant thoughts darted and swooped like rabid bats.

What the Sam Hill is she doing? She’s actually flirting! And with Caleb Jacobs! It’s

finally happened. So this is how it ends with us. I wind up stuck in the house with Momma and

Reese, and she gets locked in a place with padded walls where they won’t let you have

silverware, and old men roam around answering the voices in their heads. No, maybe this is a

nightmare, and I just need to pinch myself to wake up.

Caleb’s mouth was hanging open so far his cigarette had tumbled to the ground, a definite

loss in the cool department. His dull eyes sparked. He coughed, finally finding his voice. “Now

why would I want to be seen with a hop-a-long gimp like you?”

Lorrie Beth only shrugged a little and batted her eyelashes a couple of times. “It’s okay if

you’re busy or something. Just thought I’d ask. But if you change your mind, you can let me

know right here at school.” Then she turned, and with her head high, limped away, leaving me as

wordless as a sack of rocks.

I spent the remainder of that school day like a sleepwalker wandering the night in

someone else’s house. Watching Lorrie Beth at noon recess, smiling at Caleb so her dimples

would deepen, didn’t help. Being a second observer to this spectacle had Sue Lee well beyond

her boiling point, and by dismissal time, I wasn’t too far behind. To tell the truth, I’d worked

myself up to the point of serious bodily harm, Lorrie Beth’s.

On the way home I blasted her. I had plenty of time for it, too, since Caleb must’ve been

too much in a state of shock to bother following us. I started in as soon as the schoolhouse was

out of sight and didn’t let up until we were more than halfway home. Among other things, I

questioned the very existence of her brain. I suggested she belonged in a straitjacket, accused her

of being adopted, and demanded to know if she had harbored a secret desire for “cracker white

trash.”

She just quietly accepted my tongue-lashing with nothing more than a twitch or two at

the corners of her mouth. When I was finally through venting, she turned to me and smiled

indulgently, as if ready to scold me gently.

“It’s okay, Em. I know you’re upset now, but you have to trust me. I know what I’m

doing.”

“Oh, well, that’s just great!” I practically spat. “You know what you’re doing. What a

relief! So it’s not a mistake, and you’re
not
crazy. You’ve just decided all of a sudden to play up

to the same moron who tried to strangle you when you were six, called you disgusting names for

years, whacked your hair off, and killed your dog. That makes me feel just
oodles better
!”

She was still wearing that strange little smile when she said quietly, “I have a plan. And

yes, for the first time, I do know what I’m doing. Now, will you please stop yelling at me and

listen?”

“Fine,” I said, throwing up my hands. I was too worn out to argue any further anyway. It

was obvious she needed medication.

She reached out to take one of my hands and forced me to look her in the eye. “I’m sorry

I didn’t talk to you about it first, but this is something I have to do, and I knew you’d try and talk

me out of it. Now, you know Caleb has always expected me to run like a scared rabbit when he

starts in. Except for that one time when he went after Janine, I’ve done just that. Anyway, he

thinks he knows me. He’s used to me. But I’m going to show him he doesn’t know me at all. I’m

going to keep him guessing, right up until the last.”

“And the last? What happens at the last? What then?” I asked.

There was that indulgent smile again, and her eyes clouded. “I’m going to hit Caleb

where it hurts him the most, his pride. And when I take it from him, it’ll be in front of

everybody.”

No matter how hard I pushed, Lorrie Beth would tell me no more of her “plan.” I told her

she was playing with fire and would wind up getting us both killed. Her only response was that

her plan would take a while to carry out, and when the time came, she wanted me there by her

side. When I asked how I would know when that time came, she grinned. “Oh, believe me, you’ll

know.”

Once I made the decision to trust her, it became nothing more than a waiting game for

me, something I was never any good at. As February waned and spring approached, I continued

to bide my time and observe Lorrie Beth in action, which was quite impressive, I must say.

From somewhere deep inside, she’d tapped a hidden reserve of confidence and charisma,

and there seemed to be no stopping her. She began taking extra pains with her appearance. She

stuck her chest out, kept her dimples on display, and showered everyone around her with her

own brand of charm, especially, Caleb Jacobs. Slowly, over time, she worked her spell.

During his routine stops to the schoolyard, no excuse was too insignificant for her to

approach him. She flattered him, giggled at his crude jokes, fluttered her eyelashes, and never

gave up extending invitations. No matter how many times he sneered, she kept asking him to

carry her books, walk us home, or to accompany her to some church event.

She kept insisting the time should be past to hold grudges. Butter wouldn’t have melted

in her mouth, which put me in a constant state of nausea. The one thing she was careful about

was to ignore Sue Lee. Regardless of how hateful or cutting her remarks became, Sue Lee was

dead to my sister.

I came to believe she was actually wearing him down and that her demented plan,

whatever it was, could possibly work. Before April had come and gone, Caleb had stopped

following us altogether. His insults had grown fewer and less enthusiastic. During the last couple

weeks of school, his refusals to her invitations actually seemed halfhearted. As a matter of fact, I

had the distinct impression he wanted to accept, but was being held back by something.

On the last day of school as she waved goodbye and wished him a fun summer, I

could’ve sworn I saw something entirely different in his eyes, a wistful yearning. Whatever it

was for sure, it made me feel like someone had just dribbled ice water down the back of my shirt.

People claimed that summer was the hottest on record. August 15 just happened to be the

hottest day of the entire year. No one had to convince me it was true. Just being outside was

enough to let me know what a pig on a spit felt like, being roasted in the open air.

I’d been planning my escape for two days, going over in my mind how to get out of the

house without a fuss. Dealing with Lorrie Beth’s schemes had proven more than my twelve-year

old spirit could handle, and I wanted a day alone to collect myself. It wasn’t in the cards.

It was Lorrie Beth’s tears that ruined it. Her pitiful pleas to go with me fell on deaf ears at

first, but as history often repeats itself, she wore me down. Oddly enough, none of it mattered

anyway, since Momma and Reese left after chores that morning for Green County. Revival

meetings were being held until nightfall, they told me, and Reese was to be a guest preacher at

the Rushing Waters Church of God. Instead of ordering us to go along, as I would have expected,

we were given instructions to “see to the stock” and to not leave the front yard.

We were almost to the woods before they had time to clear out of sight. I purposely set

up a pace that would be difficult for Lorrie Beth to keep, but she pushed herself to stay with me,

never once complaining. I was still ticked off for having to take her along in the first place, and I

guess I wasn’t going too far out of my way to hide it. I had reminded her repeatedly that we were

headed for The Gorge, no doubt the most difficult terrain in the county. None of my dire

warnings had deterred her.

A three-mile trek into the woods, well beyond Wonnie Dean’s place, The Gorge ended

in an enormous outcropping of granite. This natural overlook sheared off into a cavernous drop-

off so deep the bottom could barely be seen on a cloudy day. In short, it made for a scenic view

that could steal my breath, the ultimate spot for writing poetry or letting my thoughts take flight.

I knew a few high school kids used it as a hideaway to drink and smoke and do other things they

didn’t want their parents to know about, but I had no worries on this day of being disturbed by

any local rebels.

I’d told her up front that I wanted no noise and no chatter. I was making the jaunt to write

and be alone. “You better bring something to do,” I cautioned. “I plan to stay until evening.”

She’d agreed, grabbing her sketchpad and a pencil on the way out the door. I breathed a sigh of

relief, concluding that maybe it would work out to be a quiet day for both of us.

Our retreat screened us off from the stifling heat and offered us coolness and soft

carpeting for our sore feet. In less than an hour, we were settled comfortably, me near The

Gorge’s edge and Lorrie Beth farther back among some birch trees. I had no idea how much time

had passed before we both fell asleep. It wasn’t just a catnap, either, more like the better part of

the day.

I awoke with a start, disoriented, with a crick in my neck. The sun was setting, and as I

crawled out a bit further to take in the red-streaked sky over The Gorge, I heard it, an abrupt

cracking sound like a hammer striking wood
.
I whipped my head around to the stand of birch

trees where Lorrie Beth had been sitting. She was looking at me, wide-eyed and silent, her hands

frantically motioning me to come.

I scarcely had time to say, “What,” before something sailed out of the woods behind her

and barely missed my head. It was a rock. I acted on pure instinct. I ducked and crawled. I made

my way closer to Lorrie Beth just as another airborne missile shot over me, crashing into a

nearby tree trunk. We weren’t alone.

They were whizzing by so fast, the only logical thing to do was take cover, so I dove for

the nearest tree with the largest trunk. We were still close enough to see and hear each other, but

neither of us had spoken. With deadly force and accuracy, nature’s bullets sliced the air, kicking

up dust, shredding leaves, denting trees.

“Who do you think it could be? Nobody could’ve followed us,” she said in a stage

whisper.

At that moment, coarse laughter barked out of the forest behind us, followed by another

shooting rock.
This time it hit the tree trunk in front of Lorrie Beth with such force a sliver of

bark skimmed off.

“Come on out, you one-legged slut! Come out and show yourself!” That dreaded voice,

shrill and grating, could only belong to one person--Sue Lee Jacobs.

“Don’t say anything,” I ordered. Lorrie Beth nodded. We waited.

“I said, come on out, slut! Come out and tell me, face to face what you’re up to with my

brother!” There was venom in her voice, and it warbled slightly. My guts knotted up, and Lorrie

Beth capped a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out. I shook my head, cautioning her to

keep silent.

“I see what’s going on! With your wiggling and jiggling and all your nicey talk! You