Bent Heavens by Daniel Kraus

Author:Daniel Kraus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

18.

That birthdays still happened on the dark side of the earth surprised Liv. Doug was a Virgo, and she remembered a birthday seven or eight years back, as he read out of a kids’ guide to the signs, announcing with pride that he was loyal, analytical, kind, and hardworking. Virgos were “all work and no play”—that fun fact she remembered. Sitting there on the cool, patchy grass beside the Armory, gazing up at the stars, she wondered if there were, in fact, rules and orders even in these bent heavens.

Liv could see Doug’s car asleep and peaceful on the road, as well as the front bumper of the station wagon, fortified by a new battery Aggie purchased but couldn’t afford. The heat, so high yesterday, had bottomed out to an early-autumn chill, but Doug wore his usual shorts, which meant there was enough pale flesh exposed to see him coming from the house. He sat next to her, handed her a glass, kept another for himself, and planted a wine bottle between them. Liv stared at it.

“You think my mom won’t notice that’s gone?”

“One bottle? On a Saturday night? Aggie won’t mind.”

Doug had no idea what to do with a corkscrew, though, and handed it to Liv. She made a mess of it, but a little cork down their throats wouldn’t kill them. She poured the red wine, and they clinked their glasses together.

“Happy birthday, I guess,” she said.

“When you put it like that.”

They drank. He winced, not seasoned to the taste, and she winced, worried that she, like her mother, would like it too much. And she did like it. She gulped until she had to come up for air, and discovered all around her a night of unnatural stillness. The treetops looked like photographs. The clouds in front of the moon stayed in place like a shroud. Even without wind, her flesh tingled. She wished the wine were any other kind of drink. Wine felt celebratory, and celebration felt wrong.

“You get anything from your dad?” She was careful not to slur.

“A call. Caught me before I came here. He’s in Colorado. He said he’s got something for me, but won’t be by for a few weeks. He doesn’t have shit for me. Not that I care. Which reminds me: We’ll have to figure out how to handle it when he’s here. If I’m gone every night, he’ll think it’s weird. You know how he gets. He tries to make up for being gone; he gets all dadlike.” He paused. “It would actually help if…”

When he stopped talking, he seemed to vanish into dark waters. Liv held the wine in her cheeks so she could listen for any sign of a drowner’s struggle. She could feel the effect of the alcohol. Her emotions were truncated, and she was so glad. Finally she swallowed.

“What would help?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

“Just ask. It’s your birthday. I’ll probably do it.”

He sighed. “If I told him I had a girlfriend, he’d be cooler about it.”

Either the wine was acidic or her gut had other reasons to revolt.

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