The Mason List (10 page)

After the
tree house fire, Uncle Frank removed the charred boards.  He cut down the tree,
leaving just a smidge of its former glory overlooking the meadow.  Jess carved
our names into the stump as a reminder of the night we almost lost each other. 

JESS +
ALEX

The
letters etched in time, forever.  Jess loved the place before the fire and now
it became a place he shared with me.  His place became our place.

A light
tapping sound pulled me from a foggy haze.  The side table clock glowed a
quarter until twelve.  I stumbled from the bed over to the window and lifted
the glass panel.

“Hey, you
ready?”  Jess whispered, the pink lips grinning in the moonlight.

“Yeah,” I
mouthed the words.  Jumping through the window, I followed his silent footsteps
down the road to where he parked the Jeep just out of sight from the house. 
Jess wore a dark, navy shirt with his Wrangles that made his body blend in with
the hot night.

We drove
down the dirt road toward Nickel Bridge.  On a Saturday night, the old metal
contraption would be full of drunk, high school kids hanging off the rails,
laughing and smoking.  Their truck gates folded out like tailgate mini-bars. 

Jess had
the Jeep cruising about seventy-five down the dirt road.  He weaved around
another washed out hole in the ruts.  I clenched the door brace tight in one
hand and the bottom of the seat with the other.  The Jeep skidded through a
curve, making me scream.

“Hey
sorry, I was just testing it out.” 

His hand
went up to the radio dial and flipped through some stations.  The Jeep didn’t
get many channels. 

“I like
that song,” I said, reaching over to stop him.

“I’m the
one drivin’.” He swatted my fingers away, settling on a station with a George
Strait song.

 “I don’t
want to listen to country all night.”

“Don’t be
hatin’ on George.  He’s just a guy with a guitar.”

“
Exactly
,”
I snarled.  Jess grinned back at me, singing along to the swaying words.  I
rolled my eyes.  “You’re a dork.”

“It just
feels wrong you know.  A little like blasphemy, listenin’ to anythin’ else when
you’re drivin’ out here with the dust kickin’ up and the wind on your face. 
Don’t you feel it?”

I gave
him a
whatever
glance.  Living in Arlis or even Texas made me feel
conflicted.  Some of those feelings came from my over-all attitude toward the
Masons, but some of it came from my inner desire to know what else was out
there. 

I had a
poster of Paris taped to the wall of my bedroom.  A mesmerizing picture of the
Eiffel Tower lit up at night with the city in full swing around it.  Sometimes,
I closed my eyes tight and imagined I was part of that world.  I sat on the
bench at the bottom of the photo, watching the beautiful and exotic place that
always smelled like pastries.  In this fictitious world of my poster, I was
independent and self-reliant while the favors of others never existed.  It was
a dream that ended in reality when I opened my eyes.  My beautiful picture hung
on the wall of a house owned by someone else, in a town that never heard of
petit fours.

Jess
commented once on my print of the Eiffel Tower. 
You know there’s a Paris,
Texas.
  I followed with a sharp whack to his arm. 

Jess
never mentioned his secret dreams for the future.  The die-hard country boy
would seem out of place in a city with a tower.  I tried to picture his boyish
grin all over the globe, but the puzzle piece only seemed to fit in one place:
Sprayberry.

The Jeep
bounced down the road as the hot air blasted me in the face.  Watching the
grass fly by, the moment lulled me into a sleepy trance.  This was nice. 
Everything else faded into the distance, even George Strait and his pathetic
love song.

“Stand
up.”

Hearing
his deep voice, I opened my eyes long enough to shake my head,
no
.  He
motioned again with his hand pointing up to the clear sky.

“Come on,
I’ll drive nice.”

I looked
as his sweet smile that I knew so well.  Just another one of his five hundred
and twenty-seven ideas of fun that would probably get me killed.  Jess slowed
his foot on the accelerator to a reasonable pace. 

“You
promise?”

“Yes.”

I took a
deep breath and took my seat belt off.  Balancing against the door, I climbed
to a standing position on the dash.  My fingers grasped the roll bar at the top. 
Strands of my red hair whipped around my face in every direction.  Wedging a
thigh against the window, I lifted my hands high above my head.  The darkness
engulfed my body, and I felt wrapped in a cocoon from everything else in the
world.  My palms pushed back against the rushing breeze.  A slight smile curved
across my lips as my head dipped back.  

It was a
magical sensation of flying high above the ground.  For the first time since
coming to Arlis, I finally had
that
moment.  It was the freedom I once
knew so long ago, sitting in the garden tree.   One by one, the cells in my
body jumped to life.

I hung
from the top of the Jeep until Jess parked in a field area on the outskirts of
the bridge.  Seclusion was a big draw for the weekend parties, and the
abandoned bridge had the perfect cover nestled down a small ravine.  Jess
grabbed a box out of the back, but I couldn’t see the contents in the dark.  I
followed him down the gravel side, sliding a few times.  My knee came down on a
large rock, ripping a layer of skin from my leg.

“You
ok?”  Jess reached out and wrapped his arm around my waist to trying to keep us
steady. 

“Yeah,” I
said, holding tight against his arm. 

It was an
impressive drop off the side that would make me scared to death to experience
it drunk.  We made our way to the center of the bridge and sat with our feet
dangling over the edge.  Jess pulled something out of the box making my skin
crawl.

“Are you
crazy?  You swore no more firecrackers.  They’ll put it together if we get
caught out here.”

“They’re
just little ones,” he grinned.

Back in
June, Jess and I snuck out to the north side of the ranch with homemade bottle
rockets.  The Landrys had a group of round bales across the dirt road.  The air
and grass held the dryness from a record breaking drought.  After the third
shot, the hay burst into flames like an explosion in a desert.  Jess and I ran
back to the house.  Two kids were no match for a fire of that size.  We kept
silent as the arson rumors circled through the lines of Arlis gossip.  We
agreed there was no point to confess when it didn’t change the fact the hay was
gone.  Jess and I swore never to shoot off fireworks again.

“Jess, I
still feel bad about the Landry’s.”

“I know,
but we ain’t gonna hurt anythin’ tonight.  Here, hold this.”  I held the small
tube as he lit the match and touched the end.  “Hurry up and throw it.” 

I threw
the fireball forward and watched the explosion a few yards below the bridge. 
The pink sparkles illuminated the creek before falling into water. 

“See,
it’s all in the water so stop worrin’.  I’m not gonna burn somethin’ up.” 

His smug
grin made me laugh.  “Yeah, ok…give me another one.” 

I tossed
a second stick off the bridge.  It sizzled white, all the way down to the creek
bed.  Everything was quiet except the bang of the firecrackers.  I looked at
this fourteen-year-old boy.  Jess was older now.  He looked older and
definitely sounded older.  My best friend was changing right before my eyes. 

“Jess,
are you going to come out here with everyone, you know on Fridays after the
game?”

“Maybe, I
guess.  If that’s where everybody’s headed.” I felt his shoulders shrug against
mine.

“You
planning to do a lot of stuff with the football team?”

“Maybe, I
don’t know.”

I still
couldn’t believe he caved into the whole football thing.  I had an interesting
summer watching Jess become friends with the people he’d always hated.  It
wasn’t long ago that he ran away to a treehouse, to avoid the superficial
families who tried to associate themselves with the Masons.  

“You
gonna come watch me play?”

“If you
insist.” 

I got a
whack to the arm on that one.  This sucked.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about
everything at this point.  I wasn’t sure where I fit into his new life.

“You
could’ve been a cheerleader, you know.  Could’ve rode the bus to the games with
me.”

“You
really see
me,
dancing around, showing my ass at the games?”

“I just
think you should make some new friends beside Natalie.  She’s all…you know.”  

“Dark and
dreary, like me,” I replied. 

I never thought
it possible, but Jess Mason might be on the verge of becoming a snob.  Looking
down at my fingers, I knew some of her influence affected my choices, but they
were mostly harmless.  My nails were painted in her favorite shade of crimson
black.

“No, you
ain’t like her.  She’s just a little too, I don’t know.  It’s like she’s
dressin’ up for Halloween every day.” 

“So
you’re calling Natalie a freak.  Stop it, Jess,” I spat.  “I like her because
she’s nice to me.”

“I didn’t
mean it like that.  I like Natalie.  Most of the time, anyway.  But I got a
little afraid today, the pool might turn black from her hair,” he laughed.

“Really? 
A hair joke?  Maybe I should just dye mine black, too.”  

“Yeah,
maybe you should,” he taunted back.

I didn’t
reply, but I pulled my ponytail holder off my wrist to tie back my hair.

“You
should leave it down.  You never do,” Jess said, looking over at me. 

“What’s
with your dumb hair obsession tonight?  You’re being more annoying than
usual.”  I wrinkled up my nose as I pulled it back anyway.  He rolled his eyes
and dropped another red explosion off the bridge.

“Al, I
just think next year, you should be lookin’ at all your options.  There’s other
people out there.  Some of ‘em might be nice if you gave ‘em a chance.” 

“Like
who?  Ashley Cartwright?  That’s not
happening
.”  My temper edged up by
the second.  Jess was close to getting himself shoved off Nickel Bridge.

“Ashley’s
not that bad if you took time to get to know her.” 

Picturing
her blonde, curly hair, I threw up a little in my mouth.  “No, I’m pretty sure
she’s all bad.  You’ve always thought the same thing too.  When did you start
drinking the Ashley Kool-Aid?”

I got up
and walked down the bridge.  It was too hot, and I’d decided I’d had enough of
his thoughts.  I had wanted this to be fun tonight.  My gray tennis shoes threw
up dust as I stomped down the dirt path.  I had a deep fear about the way
things were changing.   I knew Jess spent time with other people over the
summer.  Practicing with the team as a freshman was a big deal, and it brought
attention from certain people like Ashley.  I just didn’t get it. 

“Al,
wait.”  He caught up in only few steps and grabbed my arm.

“What,
Jess?  You want to change how I walk now too?”

“What’s
gotten into you?” 

“Into me? 
What about you?  You’re just…just…” I looked down at the ground.  Now that I
had the floor, I didn’t know what I even wanted to say.

“I’m
what?”  He stood in front of me, but I refused to look at his annoying face.

I knew it
would be different in high school.  The magnitude of the difference scared the
crap out of me.  I couldn’t lose Jess even if he
was
a Mason. 

“Al, look
at me.  Are you worried?  You shouldn’t be.  I’ll still be me.”

“It’s
already changed,” I mumbled. “Everything is already different with you.”

“I know. 
I get what you’re sayin’.  It’s just playin’ football has made things
different.  For the first time, people notice me for
me
.  It’s got
nothin’ to do with my family.  It just feels different and I like it.  But
that’s not gonna change us.”

“But it
already has, Jess.”

“No, it
hasn’t.”  He pulled me against his chest with a tight hug, crushing the air
from my lungs.  My nose buried deep against his shoulder.  I pulled in a deep
breath, smelling his familiar soap.  His arms squeezed tight around my back and
I heard his voice next to my ear. “We’ll still be us.” 

“Promise?” 
I felt vulnerable asking, like an exposed wound.  High school would be a big
deal.  All joking aside, I needed to hear Jess promise.  It was something that
was always a constant with us.  If Jess looked at me and promised, it would
ease the fear in my gut.

He let me
go and peered into my face with his familiar sweet smile.  “I’ll always
promise.  You, me, and Sprayberry and burin’ shit down.”

“You
promised not to burn anymore shit down.”