Seven Years Old
Daddy left late last night, and Grandma arrived this morning. Those two things never happened, and while Jesse had promised to show her the new calf born on his land, Scarlett was hesitant to leave. Daddy yelled last night, and Mom had cried. Scarlett had done what she was told and stayed tucked in bed, not daring to dip a toe from beneath the covers. Not even when Jesse had thrown rocks at her window at midnight in an attempt to lure her to come out and play.
Mom sat at the kitchen table while Grandma poured hot water into two teacups. One for her, one for Mom. In the dining room, Scarlett was crouched into a ball in the corner. In a spot where they couldn’t see her, but she could see them.
“I don’t know what to do,” Mom said. “It’s not getting easier. It’s getting harder.”
“Men are complicated.” Grandma sat in the chair beside Mom and placed her hand over hers. “But you have to think of all the things that Bryant provides for you and Scarlett. As long as you stay with him, you and Scarlett will never want for anything.”
“I don’t know—”
“Do you want Scarlett to grow up like you? Always struggling to make ends meet? Wondering where your next meal will come from? Do you want to end up alone like me? Do you want Scarlett to end up alone?”
Scarlett shivered at the idea of being alone. She didn’t want to end up that way—she didn’t like the idea of no one loving her.
“Figure out what upsets Bryant and avoid those things. He works extremely hard, and it’s your job to make sure he returns to a happy, stress-free home.”
Scarlett’s nose tickled and though she tried squishing it to stop the sneeze, it happened anyway. Mom’s and Grandma’s heads snapped in her direction, and Mom started toward her. “Scarlett, I told you to stay in your playroom.”
Yes, she had, but she had wanted to make sure Mom was okay.
“Go play outside. I’ll even let you play with Jesse, but remember the rules.”
Rule number one: Don’t upset Daddy.
Rule number two: Be home by four, plenty of time before her father returned home from work. Daddy worried and needed to know where they were, at all times.
Rule number three: Don’t tell Daddy she played with Jesse. Since she started school, whenever he heard that she had been playing with Jesse, there was a pinched disappointment in his face that made Scarlett apologize to him immediately. She hated letting her daddy down.
Yet, she couldn’t stay away from Jesse, not even for her dad, so instead of playing together as much during the day, they snuck out to be together at night. She couldn’t explain this pull she had toward Jesse. It was a lot like needing to breathe.
“And don’t tell anyone that Daddy was angry. He’d be sad if we did.” With a gentle pat, her mom sent Scarlett out the door. Scarlett flew across the street and onto Jesse’s land. She bypassed his trailer and sprinted toward the barn in the west field. If a calf was born, that was where Jesse would be.
Over the first hill, a gust of wind blew through the trees. Scarlett heard a whisper; a voice in the breeze. It was a comforting voice, a lot like that of Jesse’s grandmother when she’d give Scarlett a hug. She slowed and glanced around. Besides the sun, the grass and the birds, she saw nothing. Not even when she spun to be sure.
Scarlett, the breeze whispered again, and she squinted as she tried to listen. No, the voice wasn’t on the breeze, it was coming from below her—from the land.
“Scarlett,” said a solid voice. From the tree line, Jesse’s older cousin Glory emerged from the shadows. “You need to go home.”
As always happened when Scarlett tried to talk, there was a great pause. She did her best to remember what her speech therapist had told her. How to take a deep breath before speaking and focus on forcing her tongue to form the words correctly. “Mom . . . Mom said I could play with Jesse.”
Not all the words came out right, but she was proud she didn’t fully stutter. She said the first word in a sentence twice, but her therapist told her it was okay. They would work on that next . . . right after she had a good handle on the “th” sound.
Lots of kids made fun of her for how she talked, but Jesse didn’t and that was all that mattered.
Glory walked toward her in her long shimmering skirt. “I know Jesse would love to see you, but you know how I’ve told you that I have angels who talk to me?”
“Yes.” Glory’s stories equal parts terrified and fascinated her.
“My angels have a message for you and then you need to head home.”
“W . . . Why?”
Glory lowered herself to Scarlett’s level and tucked her black hair behind her ear. She had a gentle smile that made Scarlett feel safe. “I don’t know why, but they came to me and told me that this is very important.”
Scarlett squished her mouth in disappointment, but she wasn’t going to disobey an adult.
“The angels told me that the land likes you, and if you let it, it’ll keep you safe when you’re scared. I’m curious, though—can you tell me what it is that scares you?”
Scarlett fiddled with the ends of her shirt because Mommy said she wasn’t allowed to talk about Daddy being mad. Glory reached to the ground and when she brought her palm back up, she held a fat multicolored caterpillar that crawled along her skin. “Do you know what caterpillars become?”
“But . . . butter-fies.” L’s were still difficult for her.
Glory offered Scarlett the caterpillar, and she happily took it in her hand. Girls at school squealed at bugs. She and Jesse actively searched them out.
“When you see this caterpillar again, it means that the land is waking up for you. It will be a dangerous time for you, but a time of much-needed change. When you see this caterpillar again, you need to find me if I haven’t found you already. There will be things I need to teach you. Do you understand?”
Before Scarlett could answer, Glory’s eyes widened. “Run home, Scarlett. Now.”
Scarlett turned and sprinted, her lungs burning as she didn’t slow, not even for the hills. Fear pumped into her veins at the sight of her father’s car in the driveway where her Grandma’s car had once been. He was home early. He never came home early.
She ran up the driveway, swung around back just as her father opened the back door and yelled out her name. She did her best to control her breathing as she said, “I’m . . . I’m here.”
The surprise on his face was better than anger. Was he surprised to see her or surprised her sentence was close to clear? Her mother came up behind him, placed a hand on her father’s shoulder and mumbled to him that she had told him that Scarlett had been playing around the house. Her father turned to her mother then, gathered her close and they hugged as her father whispered to her mother over and over again that he was sorry.
Her mom held him tight, and the look of pure relief on her mom’s face settled the uneasiness in Scarlett’s stomach. Everything was okay. Now they would never be alone.