We sit by the grave and the sun is going down and the kitchen light comes on now and we hear the door open and it’s Momma. “What you all doing out here?” And we both say “nothin’” and she says to come inside now to wash up and get ready for bed. While we is washing up together in the bathroom and cleaning our hands of the grave dirt, Daddy’s truck pulls up out front and we know that sound anywhere and don’t need to check to be sure. The door opens and there’s murmuring in the living room and it’s Daddy and Momma talking together and they’s not arguing I guess since I can't hear what they’re saying exactly, so me and Jacob stop washing up and dry our hands on the towel and there’s a streak of dirt on it now but we ain’t got time to wash up all the way since we want to hear what all Daddy’s been up to.
I rush out into the living room and Daddy says “it’s the ol’ Scamp! What you been up to ol’ Scamp!” And I say “not much Daddy!” And I give him a hug and Daddy says “Jacob! Get on over here!” And Jacob comes next and Daddy gives him a hug and Momma’s face looks like we interrupted something but Daddy likes this because he ain’t have to keep talking about what they were talking about. Momma says “ok now, you two get on to bed and I’ll be in to check on you in a minute” and she makes a shooing motion with her hands and we both groan and Jacob groans the loudest of course but we go in our room and close the door loud so Momma knows we’re in there, but they can't see the door from the living room so we open it back up real quiet and now we can listen at the crack.
Daddy says “I done got another job and I hope you’re happy” and Momma says she don’t believe him and he says “but I did! Loadin’ up trucks is what I’m to be doing and they just had someone quit and they need someone to fill in quick and they ain’t asked for nothing like no papers or the like, just that I show up tomorrow and to get started.” Momma says “ok, what time you supposed to get started” and Daddy says they ain’t say and Momma scoffs “they probably told you what time, you just ain’t want to get up that early” and Daddy says honest, they ain’t told him a time, just to show up in the morning and to get to work. Momma says “if they ain’t really give you a time and you’s supposed to be there in the morning, then you’re leaving this house at 6:30am and you're going to show them that you’s ready and willing to work. I ain’t messing around no more and we done got another electric bill today with red letters on the front.
I ain’t opened it yet but that’s the third one we got and it probably don’t say that we won a million dollars or nothing. We need this money, Ross. I know you ain’t like doin’ work, but this is how you get the money and that’s just the way it has to be.” Daddy says “don’t you worry, I’ll keep this one and the man seems goodly enough and he pays every day with cash so we can start paying’ those things you talked about.” I hear kissing in the living room now and we close the door so we don’t have to listen to that no more. We climb into bed and wait for Momma to come check on us but she don’t and this means we got free reign until she remembers to tell us to go to sleep, for she ain’t told us that yet, just to go to bed.
Jacob gets from under his bed a little brown tape player with big buttons on it and we get to opening it up and there’s a read along book in there about a mermaid and I like that one but that ain’t the one we like together. Jacob fishes deeper under the bed and comes out with a tape what ain’t got no writing on it and that’s our favorite tape. Jacob pops it in and hits the play button and it’s both of us talking like we is on TV and this tape player is special since we can record ourselves and listen back on it and speed it up and slow it down so we sound like chipmunks or monsters.
Jacob hits the play button and Jacob’s voice comes on then and says “this is Jacob TV and tune in now for breaking news” and I come on “this just in” then a farting sound made by lips and Jacob and I is laughing hard at this and Jacob’s voice comes on again “yes ladies and gentlemen, you heard it first on Jacob TV, and now a message from our sponsors.” Jacob and me listen to ourselves and we is laughing too loud I guess for Momma comes bustin’ in and says “what you all doing in here! It’s past one in the morning! You all get to bed! Now!”
We hustle to our beds and Momma is shaking her head “my God. You two do get up to some annoyances. I better not catch you awake in here again or I’ll take the lightbulb out.” And she turns off the light and closes the door and me and Jacob is laying in our beds and Jacob whispers “when you’re climbin’ up a ladder and you hear somethin’ splatter” and I whisper back “diarrhea” and we both laugh into our pillows.
The Park
Momma woke us up early the next day and the sun wasn’t even hardly up yet. She seems in a good mood and we ain’t seen Daddy in the house and his truck was gone so I expect Momma done made him get up for work early, just like she said. She makes us oatmeal and toast with cinnamon and sugar on it and sits us at the little table in the kitchen where we can look out on the backyard and the sun is just starting to shine in through the green curtains over the window and it takes on an alien glow and I like it best in here when the sun is shining through those curtains.
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I like to take my time with eating the toast since we only got the two pieces each and I dunk it in the oatmeal and nibble around the edges and Jacob is just wolfing his to get it over with since he ain’t like oatmeal too much. Momma meanwhile is packing some things in a bag and she’s putting an apple and some celery and some peanut butter in along with the book she’s reading and she says we all is going to the park today and she sure is in high spirits and I ain’t seen her this happy in a while. Jacob and me is still sleepy since we done stayed up too late last night but we start to get excited since we ain’t been to the park in a long while and only when Momma is feeling good enough to take us there.
I pig down the rest of my cinnamon toast since I like the park even better then eating toast and Jacob is already done so I guess that’s it, we is on our way. We ain’t got but the one car and that’s Daddy’s truck and it’s gone since he’s at work, but the park we like to go to is close enough to walk and it’s turning into a fine day and not too hot yet since the sun only just come up.
We is halfway there and Momma is commenting on some flowers she seen in someone’s yard and then I remember what all else is at this park we is heading to. Something which waits for me every time I’m headed there and I only think about it when we is getting close, otherwise I would have begged Momma to take us to the other park even though it’s further away.
This here park has a big ol’ metal slide and I’m powerful afraid of that slide. I know I’m bound to go down it even though I hate it and I can't but not slide down it, especially since Jacob is going to be there and he’ll call me a chicken if I don’t. I start to lag behind a little bit and Momma hollers for me to catch up otherwise we’ll never get there and I wish that were so. Jacob looks back at me with a shine in his eyes for he’s older than me and can remember things like that slide and he’s looking forward to seeing it. And he knows also that I hate it but am bound to slide it.
We get to the park and Momma finds a bench facing the sun next to the playground and right away Jacob runs right up to the slide and climbs the thousand-foot ladder and he’s an ant on the top of it and I cover my eyes for I can't look at what’s about to happen next. Jacob calls from a hundred miles away at the top and I peek through my fingers and he’s up there, waving on down at me and he says “watch this!” and grabs ahold of the railings on either side of the sittin’ place and he uses them to lunge even faster down the slide and now I think Jacob is a crazy maniac and wants to die before lunch. He’s screamin’ “Yee haw!” all the way down and his voice fades into the distance as the slide reaches the end of the earth and I know I ain’t never going to see Jacob again.
He comes up to me at a jog and says “boyy that sure was fun, looks like there’s just enough room for another person to get on up there and go for a slide too” he looks at me expectantly and I look down away from the slide and say that today I’m only going on the swings and maybe the teeter totter but only if he ain’t make me go too high and Jacob says “but look at that there slide, just waitin’ for the right person to climb on up and go down her real fast and I bet you can go about 100 miles an hour and catch some air and land about all the way on the other side of the field even” and the slide is taunting me and I feel its wrath from where it sits and against my will I know I’m bound to go on that slide.
Jacob says “here, I’ll go on up with you if you’re going to be a chicken about it and all” and I knew the chicken word was going to come up so I nod and I start to walk to my own death, again, before eating lunch and I was looking forward to celery with peanut butter on it. I get to the bottom of the ladder and it’s not as tall as it looks from where I was standing.
It's taller.
It reaches all the way into space and I’m liable to choke up there since there ain’t no air in space and everybody knows that. Jacob says “just like you done before, start climbin’ on up and keep your eyes on the ladder and don’t look down none, otherwise you’ll get struck with fear we’ll have to call the fire department and tell them there’s a cat stuck in a tree or something. If they catch wind there’s just a chicken on a ladder, they ain't going to come.” He’s right. I start to climb slow and I’m only looking up the ladder and not down and he’s climbing after me and kind of gives me taps on my foot from time to time to speed me up and I tell him to cut it out but that only makes him give me more frequent taps and this is going on forever.
My foot slips and I can't help but look down and Jacob is there smiling and past him I see a great abyss and if I were to fall now, I would put a hole in the Earth about the size of a house. I grab onto the ladder like life itself and Jacob says “aw c’mon, you’re almost there. Hey! If you get on down that slide right quick, I’ll even push you on the swings a little bit, give you an underdog and everything!” This is mighty big of Jacob since he ain’t like to push me on the swings none since he already knows how to pump his legs just right to get swinging and he ain’t know why I ain’t caught on to the trick yet. Says Jacob “you just get on to the top and when you do, only look at the top of the slide and nowhere else and then you cross your arms over your chest and shout ‘Geronimo!’ to show everything that you’re not scared and I’ll even give you a shove off at the count of three.
That work OK?” and I nod that this is OK and I somehow make it to the top and Jacob is there behind me and I done like he said, I only look at the top of the slide and I cross my arms over my chest and I can't look no more so I close my eyes and Jacob ain’t even count, he just shoves and them I’m sliding and it’s over, like it always is and I feel a great relief that I’m done and now Jacob is at the top and he ain’t look as small as he did before and he’s shouting “Geronimo!” and I forgot to do that before but it’s too late now I guess for I’m not getting back up there for nothin’. Here comes Jacob, barreling down at me and I dive out of the way just in time so as not to get clobbered and he’s laughing and I hate this slide and whoever made it.