The Knowing by Carolyn Mitchell Boykin

Author:Carolyn Mitchell Boykin [Boykin, Carolyn Mitchell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-19T16:00:00+00:00

Clyde crept around the main room of the shack he and Fannie shared, hoping not to draw her attention to him. He walked to the basin resting on the sink, picked up the thick bar of homemade soap, and began lathering his hands and arms to the elbow. His fear that Fannie would detect Mae’s scent lingering on him forced him to scrub harder, leaving his skin raw.

“Where you been, baby boy?”

Clyde kept his body still, his breathing even, his head down, studying the film coating the water in the basin.

“In the woods.”

Fannie stared at him for a long moment, stewing in a storm of emotions. He was different. He was hiding something from her. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but a wrongness resonated from him, a discordant chord between them. She snorted loudly, filling the air with her doubts.

Clyde let the words sit. They weren’t a lie. He had been in the woods but not alone. He kept the knowledge that he was with a woman named Mae deep in his mind lest she ferret it out.

Fannie continued to stare at him, suspicion itching her soul. She walked to the room’s only table and chair, pulling the big family Bible into her lap. After a moment, Clyde crossed the room to sit at her feet, his head bowed. He felt his mother’s fingers combing through his hair and heard her say, “Do us need to pray, baby boy?”

“Yes, ma’m.” He swallowed hard. “I sorry, Mama. I couldn’t stops myself.”

Fannie stilled her hand. She’d sensed it like she always did. “Tell me what kind of woman she be? Was she one like the Lord be showing you. One like might try to spoil you?”

He nodded at the look of smug satisfaction on Fannie’s face as he spun his tale for her, concealing his new truth. He felt the warm tingle of Mae’s presence gliding through him, holding the darkness at bay. He kept his head down where his mother would not see the slight smile curving his lips.

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