Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson

Author:Genevieve Hudson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liveright
Published: 2020-03-28T00:00:00+00:00

THE JUDGE DROVE MAX, Lorne, and Price to his HQ to make phone calls. He was needed upstate for a campaign dinner. Before he let them out of the car, he prayed for the boys. They bowed their heads. Max felt the Judge’s palm hover just above his scalp. He fought the urge to clasp the Judge’s hand and thread their fingers together. He wanted to touch him.

Father God, said the Judge.

Another language bloomed in the Judge and pushed its way out. His words slurred. The sounds approximated words but were not words that Max knew. Price drove his knuckles into the back of the passenger seat and groaned. Thin white scars crisscrossed Price’s wrists. Price had been sent away to a rehabilitation program a few years ago for what Davis called the sad spells. The women who ran the program used horses to heal depression and rage. She claimed horses absorbed the ailments of those whoever rode them. The sad spells had receded. Price’s wrists had grown new skin.

The Judge’s voice lifted and fell. The mouths of the boys vibrated. But not Max’s voice. His teeth caged the sound in. His lips sank shut. Holy noises left the Judge and became Price’s voice. Lorne caught the end of the strange sounds. Max felt the Judge touch his head. Shivers spread through him. The Judge moved his hand over the crown of each of their heads. Price gasped, and the spirit fled him. Their prayer had finished.

Rise up, Alabama! Davis yelled when he saw Max, Lorne, and Price stroll into the office. Y’all look damn worn out. What’d y’all kill? Tell me. I want to relive it right here.

Max shot himself a magic bird that flew right back to heaven, said Price.

Damn. Look at you, Germany, said Davis.

I’m ready to make my calls, Max said, hoping to steer the conversation. His body still shook from the car prayer. The warmth of it hugged him. It gleamed in his mind.

Price punched Max in the breast and smiled.

Get you a Coke from the vending machine, Price said. Sugar up.

The college game played on the television set, muted. The players looked giant as they marched across the gridiron. The camera panned the audience to show the painted faces. Arms shook pompoms. Hands jabbed #1 foam fingers and threw rolls of toilet paper into the air. Max watched as an elephant mascot ran through the green field flipping himself and riling up the crowd. Max could almost hear the collective roar of the stadium. He’d been practicing this new sport nearly every day now, and he felt like he understood it, the fervor it stirred up in people. It gave them a common purpose, a good team and a bad one. People in Alabama, he had come to realize, needed things to be one thing or another. Their team or not. With them or against. He understood where the nickname for the team came from, because they did look like a crimson tide, sweeping over the landscape, covering everything in red, drowning anything that wasn’t them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.