Knee Deep by Karol Ann Hoeffner

Author:Karol Ann Hoeffner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Published: 2020-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

11.

Beano’s in love,” Gina reported as we ate lunch together on one of six picnic tables scattered outside the row of FEMA trailers. For five days after the incident on the riverbank, Beano had managed to avoid me. Evidently, he had also managed to fall in love.

“Love isn’t really Beano’s thing,” I said, because Beano swore that he was “relationship-saving-himself” for college.

“See for yourself,” Gina shrugged, gesturing to our friend walking with Lewis Sinclair, a sophomore from Lakeshore. They were holding hands, their fingers intertwined in an expression of ownership, as if to say, “This is my person. We are together.”

“I didn’t even know Lewis was gay,” I said.

“How could you not? He won the school trivia contest, because he knew that Eleanor Parker was the actress who played the baroness in the film version of Sound of Music,” she said. “Plus, he absolutely worships Patti Smith.”

Gina’s gaydar is impeccable.

I watched the two young men, heads together in whispered intimacies. I was so jealous I wanted to cry. The host body for my boyfriend had complicated everything by falling in love himself. I worried that his feelings for another could make him more resistant to Antwone taking over. I knew I was being selfish, but I couldn’t help myself. Beano was just flirting with the idea of love. I was committed to it.

I marched over to the table and demanded to talk to Beano—alone. He sucked in air like a diver about to go deep into uncharted waters and asked for Lewis to wait while he “dealt” with me.

As we walked away from the tables of cliques, I explained what really happened at Bayou Teche and at the river. As I told the story, I could see Beano waffling, torn between laws of this world and visions of the other. He recalled our embrace in the reeds.

“It was like I blacked out, like when you’re really drunk. And when I woke, all that was left were feelings, not memories.”

“And an enormous hard-on,” I added.

“We agreed not to bring that up again. Pun intended,” Beano said as he paced. “Look, I don’t want to be a pod for ghosts. What if other beings start entering my body?”

“Don’t be such a drama queen,” I chided.

“I can’t help it. I am a drama queen. Literally.”

“Touché.”

“Jeez, where did I even go?”

“I have no idea. But you came back.”

“This time.”

“You have to help me.”

“Do what?”

“Cooperate. Antwone’s stuck in purgatory and you and I are the only ones who can release him into the universe.”

“How? You got the secret code to open the doors to heaven?”

I lied. Getting Antwone into heaven was not part of my plan. My true intention was to keep him earthbound as long as possible, which I know makes me not a very good person.

“Go with me to St. Louis Cemetery tonight. We’ll ask Marie Laveau to summon Antwone’s spirit.”

“I don’t like the idea of going anywhere late at night anymore, especially not the cemetery.”

“Don’t worry. I have a knife,” I said, “and I know how to use it.

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