chapter 15

ZAVION

Water was filling up his mouth again.

And his nose.

And his ears.

Rain clattered from every direction.

His arms windmilled, frantic.

He opened his eyes.

He had been trying to swim up for air, but air was all around him.

Zavion willed his heart to slow down by counting his breaths in and counting his breaths out. His eyes darted around the strange room until he remembered where he was.

He had no idea if it was morning or afternoon or night.

And where was everyone else?

—

Zavion walked through the door that separated the living room from the kitchen. Ms. Cyn was in blue jeans and a t-shirt, her long gray dreadlocks tied back in a scarf, standing in front of a big cutting board.

“Do you need some help?” Zavion asked.

She whipped around so fast her hair slapped her in the face.

“Lordy, child!” she said. “You scared the living pee out of me!”

One of her dreadlocks had stuck to a piece of dough that was on her face, just hanging there, like it was glued on.

The skin around her eyes folded into wrinkle marks and she laughed.

“Did you have a good nap? No one had the heart to wake you.”

No, thought Zavion. He didn’t think he’d ever sleep well again.

“What time is it?” he said.

“A little after two. You wanna take over making this bread?” Ms. Cyn asked. “Here’s a secret.” She leaned in toward Zavion. “I despise cooking.” She said the word despise like it was two words. Deeee Spies. “And if I’m going to let you be witness to the whole truth, Zavion, honey, I despise the very kitchen itself. There, I said it. Amen.”

Zavion stood staring at the bread dough.

“It doesn’t like me, but it won’t bite you,” she said. “Go on.”

He wrapped his hands on either side of the dough. It was warm. He squeezed so it rose up.

“Push on it,” said Ms. Cyn.

It was stiff. Zavion got up onto his knees on the stool in front of him so he could put his whole body into it.

“That’s right,” said Ms. Cyn. She stood behind him and put her hands on his hands. “Now turn it, fold it, and push again. It’s called kneading,” she said. “And look at that. You’re hired.”

Push the dough, then turn it, fold it, and then push again.

He grabbed the rhythm like it was a life preserver.

“How many times do I knead it?” said Zavion.

“You’ll feel it get more elastic,” said Ms. Cyn.

“How many times?” he asked again.

“Maybe forty or fifty times.”

“Forty-five?”

“Yes, child. Forty-five.” Ms. Cyn took Zavion’s shoulder and gently turned him toward her. “Do you know what you’re doing right there?” she said. Her eyes were shiny. Zavion shook his head. “You’re making gluten.”

“What’s gluten?”

“It’s a protein that keeps the bread from falling apart.” She looked like she was about to cry. “It also helps create little air pockets that let the dough rise on up.”

Zavion liked the sound of that.

Ms. Cyn shook her head and clapped her hands. “How’s that gash on your leg healing?” she said. “May I?” She knelt down and pulled up his pant leg. “Nicely. Good.”

The kitchen door opened.

Osprey walked in wearing high-heeled sandals, a scarf, and large, round sunglasses. She was holding on to a leash attached to a watering can.

“Good morning to you! Good morning to you!” she sang. “Good morning, dear—” She paused and pulled her sunglasses up onto her head. “Good morning, dear new boy who I forget the name of! Good morning to you!”

“Uh—it’s not morning,” Zavion said.

“But that’s how the song goes.” Osprey pulled her sunglasses to the edge of her nose and stared at Zavion. “What’s your name again?”

“Zavion.”

“Well, Zavion, this is Flower.” She pointed to the watering can. “You have a pet?” said Osprey. She did a somersault on the kitchen floor. “A dog?”

“No,” said Zavion.

“I had a dog,” said Osprey. She spun in circles around Zavion’s stool. “I’m still teaching Flower how to do tricks, but my dog, Crow, he knew how to do all of them. He could roll over. He could sit with a piece of food on his nose and then flip it up in the air and eat it. He could play dead.” Osprey was making Zavion dizzy. “Now he’s dead all the time.” She stopped spinning and flopped on the floor.

Ms. Cyn grabbed up Osprey and hugged her tight. “You hungry, little glamour girl?” She kissed each of the lenses on Osprey’s sunglasses. Osprey giggled.

The kitchen door opened again.

“Dinner would be ready sooner if your Grand-Auntie Cyn had done her job,” said Enzo, leaning into the kitchen.

“Hello to you too,” said Ms. Cyn.

“You’d think the floor was made of snakes the way you’re afraid to step foot in this kitchen here,” said Enzo.

Zavion flinched. Water moccasins. In his kitchen.

“Now, you hush—” said Ms. Cyn.

“Come on outside and play with me, little angel girl,” said Enzo.

Osprey wiggled her way out of Ms. Cyn’s arms. “I gotta go take Flower out to pee and then we can play,” she said as she skipped out of the kitchen, dragging the watering can behind her.

—

Push the dough, then turn it, fold it, and then push again.

Twenty-nine.

Thirty.

Thirty-one—

—

And then rain.

Pouring down hard.

Zavion jumped off his stool.

All of a sudden, when his heart beat, it hurt.

The pain was unbearable.

—

Ms. Cyn rushed to his side.

She made a soft, clicking sound with her tongue against her teeth.

“It was just the sprayer on the kitchen sink,” she whispered.

“Foolish of me.”

This time she was crying.

—

Papa came in as Zavion began to knead again.

“This is a regular diner, all these people coming and going,” said Ms. Cyn. “Hello, Ben.”

“Any chance for some coffee?” Papa asked in his gravelly voice.

Ms. Cyn held up a mug. “Yah, Ben. Right here.” She poured coffee from the metal carafe and handed it to him.

“Bless you,” he said. “Move over, Zavion.” Papa sat on the stool as Zavion pushed the cutting board and bread dough out of the way and hopped up onto the counter.

“We have to figure out where we’re going,” said Papa.

Zavion sat the bread dough in his lap and squeezed it again. It rose up between his fingers like a mountain. He thought of Grandmother Mountain. That’s where they needed to be.

“We should go to a mountain.”

Papa reached up to tousle Zavion’s hair.

“Hey, are you getting paint in my hair?” Zavion asked, ducking out of the way. Papa had a slash of green paint across his hand. Leave it to Papa to somehow find a canvas when everything else was lost. “So what about a mountain, Papa?” said Zavion. He wiggled his legs. He was going to have flour all over the seat of his pants.

“What about it?”

“Can we go there?” Zavion asked.

“What do you mean, there? Just find some mountain? And what—live in a cave?”

“Can we go to Grandmother Mountain? Like Mama promised?”

Zavion saw Papa flinch. It was a tiny movement, a small ripple under his eyes. “I’m thinking we’ll go move near Gabe.”

“I don’t know Gabe,” Zavion said, his heart sinking. He had only ever met his uncle once.

“Well, it’s high time you did know him, then, don’t you think?” Papa said.

“You almost done with the breads, honey?” Ms. Cyn winked at Zavion.

“Almost,” he said.

“You’re making bread?” said Papa, raising his head.

“He’s good at it,” said Ms. Cyn.

“He cooks at home too—or, uh—cooked.” Papa paused. “I’ll bet he’s good at it. Let me get out of here so you can finish.”

“But, Papa—”

“Zavion’s a responsible boy,” said Ms. Cyn. She put a hand on Zavion’s shoulder as she said boy, like she was reminding Papa of something.

“He’s a good boy.” Papa walked to the door. Then he turned back. “We’ll figure this out, Zav.”

Zavion brushed flour off his pants and got back down onto the stool. He already had it figured out. They were going to Grandmother Mountain. That was the plan.

He kneaded the dough fourteen more times. There was that funny feeling again—like some creature crawling under his shirt. He pulled his hands out of the dough and scratched the base of his neck. “I think I’m done,” he said.

Ms. Cyn stretched a corner of the dough into a thin rectangle. “Perfect,” she said. “See that? The thin sheet? See how it doesn’t break? That means it’s ready to rise. You’re a natural. Now break the dough into two sections and shape them into rounds,” said Ms. Cyn, handing Zavion a wooden paddle with a long handle. “Put them on this, okay? Then all you do is wait and let them rise.”

Let them rise.

Zavion liked the sound of that.