Moccasin Square Gardens by Richard Van Camp

Author:Richard Van Camp
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, short fiction, short stories, First Nations, Denendeh
ISBN: 9781771622172
Publisher: Douglas and McIntyre (2013) Ltd.
Published: 2019-04-26T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

So, long story short, I explained all of this to Carly when she came back to the head table. She leaned in and listened. It was like the time we bought a car together and had a finance meeting after the big “We’ll take it” moment. The money guy explained things as Carly and I huddled, the heat of her scalp ruminating with mine. She’d had to break things down for me, since I did not understand the terms and conditions. This time, it was the reverse.

I looked at Hank across the dance floor, and he smiled like a wish. He raised a glass. I turtled back in with my wife.

Carly, bless her, let out her deepest breath, and we huddled.

“And this is the promise you made?” she asked at the end. She had the best teeth, the sweetest breath. I couldn’t wait to snuggle after.

I nodded. “Sorry, Babe. We sealed it with Pop Rocks.”

My wife was used to my antics. Nine years of hilarity and foibles. She shook her head. “But he’s single. You know that, right?”

I shook my head too. “I know, Babe. For now. He likes redheads, though.”

She got crushes sometimes. She even told me.

I remembered lying on the carpet that day with Hank. All the times I’d tricked him. All the no-fair Academy Awards I’d won over the years.

Carly periscoped and looked at him again. I winced and prayed. My soul hiccuped.

“Jesus,” she said.

My palms hummed, like they do after you’ve fired a gun that outclassed and outreasoned you.

“I have considered it,” she said finally, squeezing my shoulders in the rented tux with the pockets that were just for show. “This simply is not going to happen.”

I nodded, sighed and took it like a soldier for all of us.

I limped across the dance floor towards Hank. He raised his arms. I orangutaned Hank, and Hank do-si-doed me.

His mom was talking to my mom.

People started dinging their glasses.

He was dressed in one of his fancy engineer suits, but he was still wearing the belt I’d got him when we graduated.

“And?” he whispered.

“No dice, fuck dink,” I said.

“Dammmmmn,” he said. He gripped me tighter. “She thought about it, though?”

“Maybe in the next life,” I said.

He held the back of my neck, wrestling stance, ape stance, brother stance, and kissed the top of my head. “You know it.”

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