The Stone of Blood (46 page)

“
Altercation?
” I thought.

I was pretty sure that Colby didn’t even know the meaning of
that
word, let alone be able to use it in a sentence!

“No sir.” I answered. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Colby has told us about how you and he had gotten into an argument with some black boys at the movie theater.” My aunt Jemma said. “And about how they had threatened to beat you both up if you came back to school.” She continued with tears wellin’ up in her eyes. “He has missed over a month of school because he is scared!”

Colby hadn’t told me of this ridiculous lie! And he hadn’t told me of my involvement in it neither!

My Aunt Jemma sat there and looked to me as if she hoped I could offer her some kind of comfort. But since I didn’t know about the lie until right then, I didn’t have any comfort to give her.

And it wasn’t like I’d been the one who’d been skippin’ school or nothin’! I wasn’t the one that had found that boat down there on that creek! And I surly wasn’t the one who had chiseled the chain off of it! It was Colby who’d done that! And he’d been playin’ ‘
Huckleberry Finn
’ on it up and down that river for a month! Can you imagine? My mama would’ve flat
worn me out
if I’d have done somethin’ like that!

But there I was anyways; just sittin’ there in that Principles office bein’ stared at by my Principle, my Aunt Jemma and that Principal of that
City
School
.

“
You know?
” I was thinkin’ out loud in my head. “
You’d think that if someone had involved you in one of their schemes, they’d have at least had the ‘gumpshun’ to have told ya about it!
” I thought as I placed my hand on my chin like I was ponderin’ hard over the situation.
 
“
Tom would’ve told Huck bout’ it!
” I thought again. “
But I don’t reckon Colby ever read that book!
”

I wanted to reach out to her then, my Aunt Jemma I mean, to provide her some means of comfort. She looked like a deer blinded by the headlights of an on comin’ car! She was gonna hit her no matter what I done; I knew that! But I just hoped she wouldn’t feel much pain.

“Colby said that he has been skipping school because he’s afraid that those boys will get him!” My Aunt Jemma said again.

Colby sure could tell a whopper! And he sure had told one this time! And it seemed that he had brought me to a crossroads. I could stand by his story since he was my friend and cousin and all. I mean, what could it hurt? It would only be a little lie, right? And it would get him out of an awful big mess! But then, how could our stories possibly match up if we were both tellin’ lies based on events that hadn’t actually ever happened? I didn’t even know what the made up facts of the story were! Or …since I had no workin’ knowledge of any of this ‘
altercation
’ …I could simply let the chips fall where they may! And I could tell em’ the truth! I knew that’s what I was supposed to do!

But if I told em’ the truth, I would have to tell em’ about the boat! Cause that’s the only part of the story that I actually knew about! And Colby would get into even more trouble if I did that!

He had showed me that boat! Now, I don’t know as I remember him tellin’ me that he was gonna be skippin’ school to go up and down that creek on it! But he had showed me that boat!

I realized then, that no matter what happened my Aunt Jemma needed to know that her boy wasn’t in any danger of gettin’ beat up! At least not until his mama and daddy got him home after this meetin’, I reckoned!

“I don’t know anythin’ about gettin’ into an argument up at the movies!” I just kinda blurted out real fast. “And I don’t know where these stories come from!” I continued. “All that I know about is the boat that Colby found down there by the creek!” I blurted out and then I set back on that chair like a balloon that had just had all of the air let out of it.

My Aunt Jemma’s eyes got really big and she sat back on the couch to catch her breath!

My school’s Principal looked as though a great weight had been lifted from off of his shoulders and he let go a big sigh of relief!

But the other school Principal, he looked at me differently, eerily. And then he asked me about the wolves. “So the stories he’s told us about the ‘
werewolf
cave
’ were untrue as well?” He asked.

“
Had I seen this man before?
” I wondered. “
Was there fury behind his eyes?
”

My worlds had been divided now by vast walls of separation; my world at home, my world at school and my world that only existed when I was with Cricket. And when these worlds collided like they had that day, and by no fault of my own …I found it extremely difficult to determine which role I was to play.

Within the confines and concrete walls of that school, I played the part of a school boy, who did his homework, took his tests and did his best to pass the course. That world was a part of what the grownups called ‘
reality
’. But I knew, as I had seen it with my own eyes, that ‘
realities
’ could be altered. For if the grownups only knew how close they were to the edge …their ‘
reality
’ would shatter like many pieces of broken glass!

‘
Cognitive dissonance
’ was the term I’d learned in class. It was a big word so I made sure to write it down so I could remember it! It was described as what
occurs when ‘
what a person believes to be true is altered by information that they previously did not have. And cause of this new found information; they must then ‘rethink’ their whole way of thinkin’
.

And it was written in Aesop’s fable too, the story of the Fox and the Grapes:

‘
The fox sees some grapes hangin’ high on a limb and wishes to eat em’. But when he is unable to think of a way to reach em’, he decides, since he is also bein’ made fun of by some unfriendly birds, that the grapes are not worth eatin’ …and that they must not be ripe enough or that they may be sour.
’

“
The Fox couldn’t fathom the idea that somethin’ could possibly be out of his reach… so he changed his whole way of thinkin’.
”

“No sir!” I answered the man. “There is a cave! But I don’t know about any stories that Colby might have told ya, or made up about it.” I suggested. “But there is a cave back at the old rock quarry.”

I had given them just enough information to make a decision about what Colby had told em’ without actually lyin’ to em’. I only hoped that
the way I had said it
would make this line of questionin’ go away.

I watched his eyes as the man sneered at me cunningly, but after hearin’ my words …he asked me no further questions about the cave.

However, the fact still remained that I was in that moment in time …right there in that room cause Colby had lied on me! He had lied to his parents and he had lied to his Principal! And he had even involved my school in the whole situation! But what was worst of all, he had put his mama in a position where she truly believed that her son was in danger! He had caused a collision between both of our worlds!

And it was like watchin’ a part of my Aunt Jemma dyin’ in those moments sittin’ there on that couch as she listened to me speak; tellin’ em’ how Colby had chiseled the chain off of that boat and how he’d been goin’ up and down that creek on it for more than a month now! But mostly it hurt her cause he had lied.

I wished that I didn’t have to hurt her. My aunt Jemma had always been really good to me. And it made me feel like a traitor. Sometimes I wished that I hadn’t given em’ all that information. I mean, without even so much as bein’ tortured for it!

But at the time I just didn’t see no other way about it!

Me and Colby never talked about what happened to him afterwards. And now that I think back on it, I don’t think that we ever even brought the subject up!

Colby had been my best friend for most of my life. And I guessed that it was alot like school was between us.

It was just another stone in the road.

Twenty Six

Beneath these Earthly Grounds

T
he map
was spread out before us upon my quilt. The length and the width of it nearly covered the entire surface of my bed! It was of old paper like parchment that crackled as you touched it with creases that remained on its surface forever. It had been dried from the moisture and kept safely between the weights of my mattress upon my box springs as I slept.

Me and Cricket looked at the map; studyin’ its lines and markin’s with heavy focus.

“This is written in French!” I said as I let go a heavy sigh. “How are we gonna figure this out?”

Cricket looked up at me and smiled, and then she tenderly reached out and touched the side of my face with her hand and said, “Ne t'inquiète pas ma chérie, je peux parler Français.”

“What?” I said as I looked down at her and wondered.

Cricket kinda laughed and then made a really
cute
face and said, “Don’t worry sweetie, I can speak French.” And then she ran her fingers through my hair.

Just then my mama walked into my room!

“What are you kids up to today?” Mama asked as we both jumped at the sound of her voice and Cricket put her hand back down to her side really quickly! “I thought you might like a snack.” Mama continued as she handed Cricket a plate full of cookies. “There’s milk downstairs if you want any.”

That was my mama’s subtle way of sayin’ that she could see us better if we’d go back downstairs.

“Thank you Mrs.
McAnully.” Cricket said as she took hold of the plate.

“Thanks Mom.” I said lookin’ at my mama like she was intrudin’ upon my space and that me and Cricket needed some privacy.

Mama looked us both up and down and pointed her finger back and forth between us and said, “You two
behave
yourselves up here. You hear me? You keep that door open! If I need to, I’ll send Anna up here to keep an eye on you both!”