Chapter 20

Jess raised an eyebrow at his mom’s frenzied cleaning. She’d pulled out the carpet broom and was huffing as she ran it across the carpet. The bristles were so short and compacted that usually a stiff broom swept away the crumbs and dirt. All the blinds had been pushed back, and the usual layer of dust on the windows had been wiped away and replaced with the smell of ammonia cleaner. The rain had started to come down hard, pummelling the packed dirt outside.

His mom pointed to the small coffee table, and he lifted it so she could vacuum underneath it. She usually worked the breakfast and lunch shifts at the diner. What was she doing home? “You okay?”

She stopped the vacuum and blew a piece of hair off her face. With one hand resting on her hip, she examined the trailer. “Yeah. Destiny needs tomorrow off, so she’s working for me today and I’ll do a double tomorrow.”

“What’s with all the cleaning?” Jess flopped down on the couch. Even the two velour pillows had been placed neatly in the corners.

She shrugged but pressed her lips together as if she was containing a smile. “You hungry? I got Hamburger Helper.”

Jess narrowed his eyes at her. “No. Ma, what’s going on?”

“Why? Cuz I’m cleaning?” she hooted. “Pretty sad when watching your mom clean freaks you out.” Shaking her head, she stuffed the vacuum into a tiny closet beside the bathroom. “Kokum wants you to go over.”

“She say why?”

“No.” Percussive thumps of rain rattled the windows.

“Can I go after the rain stops?”

His mom shrugged. “Up to you.”

He turned on the TV and watched as his mom sorted through a junk drawer and put away dishes. “Saw Tom Deerchild today. He looked rough. Said he fell off a quad.”

Jess snorted. A quad? “Where’d you see him?”

“Over at your kokum’s.”

Jess muted the TV, his hackles raised. “What was he doing over there?” It wasn’t unusual for his mom to go to Kokum’s for a cup of coffee on her day off. But Tom?

“Don’t know. He ran off when I got there.”

“What did Kokum say?”

She paused in her tidying and looked at Jess. “Why? Something going on?”

Jess put his feet on the floor and rested his head in his hands. Why was Tom dragging Kokum into this? “He played with fire and got burned.” His mom cast a sharp glance at him. “He got roughed up. Offered a gang something he couldn’t deliver.”

“Shit.” His mom slammed the drawer and the cutlery jangled.

Jess grunted in agreement.

She eyed him warily. “You’re already on community service. You stir up trouble…” She let her voice trail off. Jess knew he was only months away from getting tried as an adult. He jumped up from the couch and strode across the room in a few steps.

“I’m going to Kokum’s.” Jess grabbed a rain jacket and pulled up the hood. His rubber boots were tucked under the trailer. As he stuffed his feet into them, a fork of lightning seared the sky. He only counted to five before he heard thunder. Swearing as he ducked into the downpour, he took off to his grandmother’s.

She stood by the stove, warming up soup. The aroma of salty chicken broth flavoured the air.

“Shoulda waited till it stopped,” she told him as he hung his dripping jacket on the hook by the door.

Jess shrugged. He didn’t tell her his stomach had been in knots the whole way over. Was Tom using Kokum to get to him? How desperate was he to get the gang off his back?

He sat down at the kitchen table, sticky, cold and sweating all at the same time. A mug of warm broth appeared in front of him.

“Got some news,” she stated and sat down across from him, putting her elbows on the table.

Jess slurped the broth and set the mug down. “Mom said Tom was here.”

“That’s not the news.”

He waited. Heat from the mug seeped into his fingers.

“Got word from your dad. He wants to come back.”

Kokum watched him, unblinking. Her nostrils flared in and out as she breathed. Jess felt like he’d been turned to stone.

For once, she did the talking. “He’s sick.” She looked at her hands, the colour of dried oak leaves. “Friend offered to drive him home.”

Jess snorted at the word home. He didn’t belong here any more. “No.”

“Not asking you.”

“I won’t see him.” Jess stood up quickly and his chair tipped over. In three strides he was at the door, pulling on the wet rain jacket. Without saying good-bye to Kokum, he slammed the door and took off in the downpour.

Cleaning the trailer! He sneered. Even after all these years, his mom was still trying to play house with the guy who’d ditched them. His dad had balls to come back now. Jess’s fingers started to itch. He pressed them together hard in the pocket of the jacket, trying to make them numb.

He was almost home when he remembered why he’d gone to Kokum’s in the first place: Tom. Veering toward the river, he took an overgrown path back to the reserve. A canopy of trees protected it from the rain, and dry kindling sticks cracked under his feet. Gangs, the dam, his dad, a lot of shit to deal with. His breath came in short bursts, but he clenched his jaw to keep the emotions buried.

The scratch of a match igniting.

Heady scent of sulphur.

Sizzle and flare as the flame took.

Crackling heat as the fire grew.

Jess leaned against a tree and tried to steady his breath. The pull to set something on fire was overwhelming, like a thunderstorm rolling over him, and he felt powerless.