Bent Road - Lori Roy [68]
“No damn thing to sleep off,” Uncle Ray says, pushing Daddy away. His cloudy eye is white under the bright lights. “I’ve been patient enough with you, Arthur Scott.” He points at Daddy first, swings his arm around, stumbles and points next at Aunt Ruth’s room. “That woman didn’t get nothing wasn’t coming to her. Feeding those Robisons after they aimed their God damned finger at me.”
Uncle Ray sways a few steps and shoves Daddy with both hands. Daddy stumbles backward, trips over Daniel who didn’t listen to Mama when she said to stay put, and falls on his hind end. Daniel falls, too, knocking his head against the gray wall. The crack his head makes when it bounces off the concrete is loud enough that Evie hears it. Mama hears it, too, and she jumps forward. This time Jonathon can’t stop her even though he holds up the same hand that turned her around before. She rushes down the hall to Daniel as Jonathon shoves Uncle Ray away from Aunt Ruth’s door. Daddy stands and tries to catch Uncle Ray as he staggers backward, but he misses and Uncle Ray trips over Mama and Daniel, who is trying to stand. All three fall to the shiny tile floor.
Elaine shouts out but it isn’t loud because she has one hand pressed over her mouth. With the other hand, she tries to cover Evie’s eyes, but Evie can still see. Daniel’s legs are tangled up with Mama and Uncle Ray’s legs. Mama lies flat on her back and Uncle Ray is spread out on top of her, his arms and legs straddling her, his chest pressing down on hers. Their noses would touch if Mama lifted her head an inch. Uncle Ray seems bigger again, lying face to face with Mama. She pulls her chin in tight and rolls her head away. Uncle Ray smiles down at Mama. Evie wishes he would go away. She wishes he were the happy man in her picture. She starts to cry as Daddy reaches into the pile and yanks out Uncle Ray.
“It’s moving day,” Uncle Ray says as Daddy shoves him. “You got no business doing what you’re doing, Arthur Scott.”
Evie chokes on her tears but she can still hear Uncle Ray shout. He doesn’t stop, not even when Father Flannery walks back through the double doors with two more men. Daddy holds up one hand so the three of them stand back and watch.
“You go on home, Ray. Your time with this family is done.”
The two men who came with Father Flannery push open the doors and Uncle Ray walks through, still mumbling. All four disappear.
Celia arches her back so Daniel can slip his arm out from under her but she doesn’t stand. Focusing on a blank spot on the wall, she draws in full, deep breaths until the feel of Ray on top of her, the pressure that he laid down on her, is gone. It must have been her imagination, his hips grinding into her. He didn’t have the time, couldn’t have had the presence of mind, to take the opportunity. But she did feel him, pressed against her upper thigh and into her hipbone. She closes her eyes and hopes she doesn’t cry. Next to her, Daniel sits up. She inhales, two deep breaths, pushes up on her elbows and reaches out to touch the spot where his head hit the wall. He pulls away and stands. At the end of the hallway, the double doors fall shut, swing back and forth and finally hang motionless. Above her, Daniel reaches down, offering a hand. Celia clears her throat, smoothes her hair and the gathered pleats on the front of her skirt and takes Daniel’s help.
Once standing, Celia tugs at her waistline, straightens her collar, and when she looks at Daniel, she realizes she is looking up at him. Surely she has been for quite some time, but suddenly it strikes her how much he’s grown, how close he is to becoming a man, and how, like a man, his ego is bruised. She smiles and reaches for him but he pulls away again and walks down the hall toward Elaine and Evie, where he sits in one of the chairs lined along the hallway and rests his head in his hands.
“My good Lord in heaven,” Reesa says, her voice shattering the silence. Wearing her blue flannel housecoat, a pair of galoshes and the brown hat that she normally saves for Sundays, she shuffles