Thrown-Away Child by Thomas Adcock

Author:Thomas Adcock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2019-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

When she finished her stories of rain and rape, Perry’s heart was racing and his skin felt like it wanted to run away from the rest of his body. He realized his mouth was hanging open.

“Holy jump up and sit down!” he said. “How’s an angellooking girl like you learn about telling such unholy tales?”

“In church.”

“This here church, I guess so.”

Perry spooned up the last dab of Campbell’s tomato soup that Sister had heated for him in the kitchen at the back end of the church dining room and social hall. She had also made him a sandwich of bologna and butter, and before that showed him in to Minister Tilton’s personal dressing room, where he bathed himself under a steamy showerhead cast in twenty-four karat gold and afterward borrowed a pair of silk pyjamas and a matching silk robe.

“Every Sunday I sit there watch my Jesus window,” Sister said. “I be at peace when the sun throw the colors of heaven through the pretty glass. I don’t hear a word what Minister Tilton say. I hear it all before anyways.”

“You think about bad things that happened to you?”

“Don’t hurt to remember. Not with Jesus and the doves near me.”

“What your mama mean calling Hassie Pinkney a old snake lady?”

“Oh, you know, Auntie she one of them believe in all that hooey ’bout the mysteries. She keep that old machine of hers and record folks talking tongues. She keep the hoo-doo snakes, too. La, them things stink.”

“What snakes?”

“She snag up cottonmouths from the ditch and keep them in glass tanks back in her bedroom. Feeds them worms that rot in they bellies. Auntie’s room I remember it always smell maggoty and dead from wormy snake breath.”

Perry was quiet for a few seconds, wishing he had his notebooks. He asked, “Sometimes, you think about hating Zeb Tilton?”

“I sure do.” Sister crossed herself. “I like it if something happen to him.”

“Yeah, for what he done to you.”

“No, Perry. It don’t matter about that. Reason I hate Minister Tilton is he poison Mama and Daddy on me, convinced them they got to cast me out since I was spoil’t and unclean.”

“Shoo!”

“Minister Tilton, he tell Mama and Daddy he been hearing things about me—very bad things Auntie Hassie tell him. He say if not for me, why Larry wouldn’t be dead and Daddy never would’ve had to be locked up by the po-lice. Leastwise ’til the judge say to go on home, since he only defending his daughter girl. And he say Mama would’ve never gone a little round the fruitcake bend like she gone.”

“Tilton right there to scoop you up, right? Take you in after your folks be so stupid they listen to a conjure man can’t keep his pants zipped. Shame on your people for turning their backs on a little girl.”

“Like I’m good-for-nothing New Orleans dirt!”

“Something heavy’s got to come down. That’s what I’m thinking.”

“Perry, I don’t want nothing to happen to Minister Tilton like what Daddy did to his army buddy.

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.