Nowhere Is a Place by Bernice L. McFadden

Author:Bernice L. McFadden [McFadden, Bernice L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, African American, Contemporary Women, Literary, Coming of Age, ebook, book
ISBN: 1617751316
Google: WbO0epMt5CMC
Amazon: B00B0Y3SUE
Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 2013-02-05T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

He was headed for Myanmar, but never did get past Sandersville. Dead on his feet, the front of his shoes flapping and licking up dirt. His back aching and throat dry. Starving and seeing double when he stopped to lean against the wooden post.

No sun on that day, just a whipping wind, cold rain, and the memory of the last best place: two days in a farmer’s barn, hidden behind hay that had been pressed into blocks, and Willie wrapped in a forgotten quilt that stank like he didn’t know what, but serving its purpose and keeping the chill at bay.

No food and his hunger was bottomless, open and spreading into his dreams, devouring the red-haired beauty. And then the sound of horses, voices, and the “yuk yuk” laughter that told him the voices were white. Also, something about stoning, lynching, and gutting some “nigga baby” and then the “yuk yuk” again.

Willie could hardly wait till nightfall before slipping out of his hiding place and hitting the road.

That was two weeks ago, maybe three. He couldn’t quite remember, all his senses tuned now to what was coming up fast behind him. Death had been tailing him for at least three days. That he was sure of.

Walking closer to the road, hunger nudging him there, planting hopeful thoughts in his mind, coating his tongue with the memory of fatback and sweet corn, making the clouds look like biscuits and the soft insides of baked potatoes.

Stumbling along, passing a worn sign that meant nothing to Willie but stated, TOWN OF VALENCIA—his ears clogged from hunger, Willie didn’t hear the sound of the approaching horses, but felt the beat of them in the earth beneath his feet and scurried off and into the woods where he threw himself down to the ground and laid still. Very, very still.

There, pressed into the frozen earth, he watched as the horse-drawn carriage approached. It slowed as it took the bend and Willie could see the pale-pink face and the hoofed foot of the driver.

Death himself, riding high and capped.

Now Willie stumbled along again, careful to keep watch over his shoulder. He’d left a bit of his sanity back there in the woods of Valencia—either that, or he picked up a touch of madness.

Coming into the town of Ennis, he found shelter beneath a grove of chinaberry bushes. There he gathered dead leaves around his feet and tried to hug himself warm.

Dozing, dying—he wasn’t sure which, but when he shifted his weight and pulled his knees closer in to his chest, his eyes fluttered open and there staring back at him were eyes as pink as azalea blooms.

“Ooooh, Scratch, you done found me,” Willie whispered, his mind already failing him. And he squeezed his eyes tightly shut and mumbled words he’d heard the old women whisper on Sunday mornings.

“Baaa-aaaa,” responded the creature.

Willie, perplexed, slowly opened one eye and then the other.

“Goat? A goddamn goat?” he said out loud to the pink eyes that blinked back at him.

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.