Chapter Eighteen

Sweet Revenge

 

BY FIVE O’CLOCK Thursday evening, everyone was at the back door of our cottage waiting for my command. Except for Paige, who was at Cody and Callie’s cottage. I watched from the back door window and finally saw Uncle Butch disappear behind the shower curtain. I tapped Reds’ shoulder excitedly. “Okay, he’s in the shower. Let the snake out.”

I opened the back door and moved the curtains from the window panel so we could see in. Then I closed the bathroom door so the snake wouldn’t go in there. Straight ahead was the shower and behind the curtain was my uncle. Naked. Vulnerable.

I moved back so Reds could release our planned hell, and we watched as the snake poked its head out of the burlap bag. After a minute, it stopped moving, but I saw its forked tongue spit out, so I knew it was alive.

“Why isn’t it moving?” I asked nervously. Tommy and Julie were standing off to the side holding hands. Little did he know that his time with Julie was limited. I felt sorry for him and his stupid grin. He looked so happy. How could Julie be so mean? But in my heart I knew now that meanness came from somewhere bone deep in a person.

Reds pushed at the burlap bag to coax the snake out further.

The shower curtain moved, and Reds jerked the burlap bag releasing the snake fully. I tugged on Reds’ shirt for him to move away from the door. “Don’t let my uncle see you.”

Reds moved and I pulled the door closed.

Wendy and Owl went to the side of the house where the kitchen window was. They were on their tip toes looking in.

“Do you see anything?” I whispered.

“Mom’s in the kitchen,” Wendy said.

I looked back in toward the shower. “It’s moving,” I whispered. The plan was in motion, and there was no turning back.

Finally, the snake slithered toward the shower. It was slow at first and I waited while holding my breath. “Go into the shower,” I said, almost willing it to move.

“You can’t control a snake, Chris. Don’t panic,” Reds said.

“Finally! It’s going toward the shower.” I got goose bumps. The plan was working.

But it turned toward the kitchen instead of going into the shower.

Wendy gasped. “It’s in the kitchen where my mom is.” We all moved to the kitchen window to watch, barely seeing above the windowsill.

“Don’t worry,” Reds said mostly to calm down Wendy. “It’s not poisonous. It’s okay.”

We heard Aunt Lori through the screen. Since it was summer, and very few people had air conditioning, most of the windows stayed open to let the breeze in. When there was a breeze.

“Quit it, Oreo. That tickles.”

She swiped her kitchen towel at her feet as the snake slithered by her. “Oreo, leave me alone.” The snake continued to pass by her ankles, and she finally looked down.

The snake lifted its head and stuck out its forked tongue. One hiss and Aunt Lori started screaming, “Butch, come here quick. There’s a snake in the kitchen!” Careful to avoid the snake, she crept toward the shower, pulled open the curtain, and screamed, “Snake!”

We watched from the window, all struggling to see.

Uncle Butch appeared in the kitchen with a towel wrapped around his waist, dripping. He saw the snake and laughed. “Lori, it’s just a harmless little snake. Nothing to be afraid of.”

“Get it out of here; I am afraid.” She climbed onto a chair, watching from a safer distance.

“Okay, take it easy.” Uncle Butch disappeared. He reappeared with a broom in his hand. As soon as he hit the puddle on the kitchen floor, he slipped and fell, twisting his leg underneath him.

Wendy and Owl scattered, but I stayed by the kitchen window to see what was happening. Julie and Tommy walked off holding hands.

“Butch! Are you all right?” Aunt Lori leaned over him.

“Son of a bitch. My leg!” Uncle Butch said.

“Are you okay?”

“No! My leg,” Uncle Butch yelled.

“What do you want me to do?” She sounded panicked.

“I need help getting up.” He reached up with his hand and she tried to pull him up but it didn’t work. He was just too heavy for her.

“Help, somebody!” She looked around and we all ducked.

“Lori, help me get some clothes on first,” Uncle Butch said.

She disappeared into the master bedroom and returned with a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.

He took the shirt and pulled it over his head, but he couldn’t get the shorts on past his ankles. “It’s my knee. It hurts.

“Can you lift your legs up so I can pull them up?”

He lifted his legs in the air like a dead bug.

She inched them up to his hips. “Can you lift your butt so I can get them on?”

“I’m trying!”

She finally got the shorts on him and disappeared again.

I heard a knock and we walked to the front of the cottage. Aunt Lori was at the neighbor’s door.

Within seconds, Bob came out of his cottage.

“Bob, I need your help.”

“Lori? What is it?”

“A snake got into the cottage and Butch fell. He twisted his leg pretty good. I think he hurt his knee.”

“Well, I guess we better get him to the hospital.” 

We followed Aunt Lori and Bob into the cottage. I watched from the porch.

Bob lifted Uncle Butch up by his shoulder and helped him to his feet. Aunt Lori supported his other shoulder. The three of them walked together onto the porch like a choreographed dance routine.

“Do you need help?” I asked as they passed by me. I had to force myself from smiling. This was actually way better than I had planned.

“No.” Bob struggled to get Uncle Butch into the station wagon. With Reds’ help, he finally got Uncle Butch into the back seat and then got in on the driver’s side. Aunt Lori got in on the passenger’s side and rolled the window down.

I watched from the porch. Wendy and Owl were standing by the car.

“Wendy, I have to take your dad to the hospital. Watch your sister until I get back.” Bob didn’t wait for an answer before he drove away in a cloud of dust.

I thought about the snake loose in the cottage and cringed. I hadn’t really thought the whole thing through. “Reds?”

“Yeah?”

“We need to get the snake out of the cottage before it hurts someone else. It could even hurt Oreo,” I said.

“Don’t worry, it’s not poisonous.”

“Yeah, but we need to get it out of there.” My fear was rising.

“Okay, okay. I’ll go get it out right now,” Reds said.

I smiled at him. “Thanks.” I watched as he disappeared into the cottage on the hunt for the culprit.

Paige came out of Bob’s cottage with Cody and Callie and came over to us. “What’s going on?”

“A snake got in the house, and then Dad was trying to trap it, and well, it’s a long story, but he twisted his leg,” Wendy said.

“What if he broke it?” Paige asked.

“He didn’t break it, just twisted it,” I said.

I acted like I cared, but something had changed inside of me. I hoped he was as broken as I felt. I was Raggedy Ann, empty as my childhood doll, limp and sapped of life.

Wendy locked eyes with me and gave me one of those I-won’t-tell-if-you-won’t-tell looks and then I gave her an I’ll-never-tell look. I was getting good at keeping secrets.

 

BY EIGHT O’CLOCK, they were back from the hospital. Uncle Butch had a bandage wrapped around his right knee and he was struggling with his crutches. He was lousy and clumsy with them, and as soon as he got inside the porch, he flopped into his chair, his crutches spilling off to the side.

“Well, that was an ordeal,” Aunt Lori said, blowing her hair off her face and worrying around him. “Can I get you anything, Butch?”

“I’m starving. Do we have anything to eat?”

With that, Aunt Lori kissed his forehead, and went into the kitchen. “I’ll whip you up something real nice.”

Paige stood beside her dad, looking at the bandage. “Did it hurt?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“I’m sorry you broke your leg, Daddy,” Paige said, patting the top of his hand.

“I just twisted it, sweetheart, and I’ll be okay,” he said. “I hurt my knee a little, that’s all.”

Too bad for him. I shied away and sat at the kitchen table where I could see everyone and started playing Solitaire. Aunt Lori stirred a pot of macaroni and cheese while boiling hotdogs.

“Did you girls get anything to eat tonight?” she asked.

Wendy shouted, “No,” from the porch, and I shook my head when Aunt Lori looked at me.

Paige walked into the kitchen. “How’s Daddy going to walk with a hurt knee?”

“Oh, honey, don’t worry about Daddy. It’s just a little swollen and he can walk just fine. He has to get used to those crutches, though.”

Wendy joined us in the kitchen. She leaned toward her mother, taking her into confidence. “What about the Fourth of July dance Friday night? Are we still going to be able to go?” She kept her voice low, but I could hear it from where I sat.

“Well, of course we’ll go to the dance,” she said to us, then raised her voice so Uncle Butch could hear. “Honey, don’t you think you can at least go to the dance this Friday to watch?”

“Oh-my-God. The dance! How am I going to win the dance contest?” This seemed to be the first time he thought about it. I laughed inside and smiled my shit-eating grin.

Aunt Lori went to the porch and set the table. “Well, maybe it’s time we let someone else win for a change.” Her voice was sweet and understanding. “Honey, everyone here knows you’re the best dancer. Alice and Bob are good at the jitterbug. They might even stand a chance if we’re not entered.”

“Alice and Bob? They prance around the dance floor like ducks flapping their wings.”

“I’m just saying. I’m tired of entering the dance every year because we always win. Let someone else win.”

“I don’t want to let someone else win! It’s the only thing I look forward to all summer.”

“Keep your voice down.”

When dinner was ready, he hopped over to the table, ignoring his crutches. For such a great dancer, Uncle Butch wasn’t very coordinated without his dancing shoes. I smiled, happy in the knowledge that I put him out of commission, not only from hurting me again, but from dancing in the contest. The only thing I think he really loved. And I took it away.