Nether Regions (22 page)

“Can I ask you something personal? When did you know you were that way? I mean, were you young?”

He thought a long moment, then sighed and spoke carefully. “Actual, I never gave it much thought one way or t’other. I was, you know, by my uncle when I was little. It’s the way it’s always been for me. I was seein’ this older guy all through school so wadn’t much time for girls. Then I met Stephen and that was it. I like the boys and all…”

He blushed and paused to imbibe more coffee. The rich brew was working its magic and he felt like he might actually be able to work his shift.

“The boys? I thought you were with Stephen.”

“I know.” He had the grace to look sheepish. “I guess the devil gets in me. I’m gwine stop, swear it. I gotta stop.” He tucked his head and rotated his stool from side to side. “What about you. When did you know you was gay?”

“Shhh! Big ears in this place.” Delora glanced back toward the kitchen. “I didn’t know for sure until Sophie.”

“No shit! She is great, ain’t she?”

Delora’s smile was soft and mysterious. “Yeah, she is. So great she scares me.”

“How do you mean?”

“Like I might disappoint her or something.” It was Delora’s turn to blush.

“Y’all ain’t done nothin’ yet, have you?” he stated with keen insight. He squinted one eye and studied her. “You ain’t!”

Delora closed her eyes and reached for her cigarette pack. “I’m not sure that’s any of your business, smarty-pants.”

“Oh, honey, you got to get on that thing. What are you waitin’ for?” He puffed out his round cheeks and made a comical face.

Delora looked away as she lit a cigarette. Righteous grew serious.

“It’ll work out, Delora. Falling into another person is just about the easiest thing you can do. All you got to do is let it happen. Miss Sophie is puredee gold and just about the smartest someone I know. You ain’t got one thing to worry about if it’s her. Believe me on this, okay?”

Delora looked at Righteous and was impressed by his seriousness. “I think I do.”

“Good.” Righteous stood and laid two dollars on the counter. “I’m goin’ to work now. You behave yourself or, if you can’t, don’t get caught.”

Delora grunted as she lifted the money and headed to the register. “I got a long way to go to get in as much trouble as you do, Righteous. You have a great night!”

Righteous threw back his head and laughed as he left the restaurant.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Sophie slowed in front of Blossom’s Diner, Redstar’s finest low-priced restaurant. Delora stood by the wide glass doors, her face turned toward the stream of traffic passing by on Highway 65. Sophie gave herself a few minutes to enjoy the fineness of Delora’s profile before calling to her from the open car window. “Hey, over here. I came the back way.”

Delora turned when she heard Sophie’s voice, and Sophie wondered if she would always thrill to this woman’s sweet smile.

“Hello there,” Delora said as she slipped into Sophie’s car. “I was able to get the whole afternoon off, a rare event, let me tell you. So what is this big job we have to do?”

Her lemon scent washed across Sophie and Sophie realized that for the first time in a long time she felt completely happy. She remained silent, just studying Delora, a smile on her face.

Delora watched Sophie as well and the silence that fell between them was powerful. Their eyes explored one another with the curiosity and bliss of a new relationship. Delora laughed softly. “If you don’t drive, I may kiss you here in front of everyone.”

“Hmm. Doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me,” Sophie replied, but she did, with a sigh, return her attention to driving. “Okay. We’re going to heal people.”

“Heal people? I can’t do that.”

Sophie nodded. “Well, you’ve been asking me about my work so I thought I’d give you a firsthand look.”

Delora studied the road ahead. “There won’t be, like, gross stuff, will there?” She grimaced to Sophie.

The healer laughed. “Wouldn’t that be something—first time out and we get a situation like that?”

They talked about their lives as Sophie guided the car into the depths of Bayou Lisse. Sophie learned about how Delora met Louie, about her parents’ personalities and their cute quirks. Delora learned about Sophie’s mother Faye, about how she loved men and money and used them to escape the bayou. And they talked circumspectly about the powerful attraction they felt for one another and how it could be poorly accepted by a heterosexual world.

“Hey,” Delora said suddenly, peering out the passenger window. “Isn’t that your friend?”

Sophie followed Delora’s gaze and answered, “Sure enough. What the hell is he doing out here? Roll down your window.”

She slowed the car, and they pulled up next to Righteous who was jogging slowly along the side of the road.

“Well, Lord have mercy,” Sophie called through Delora’s window. “What are you doing out in this heat? Get in.”

Righteous, panting heavily and awash with a heavy sheen of sweat, opened the back door and fell clumsily into the car. “You gals sure are a welcome sight.”

Delora turned and grinned at the tall, thin black man. “I know you’re not out there trying to work off a few extra pounds.”

Righteous laughed and swabbed at his face with a soaked T-shirt. “Just tryin’ to stay healthy.”

“Why out here, though? You’re a long way from home,” Sophie pointed out as she pulled the car back onto the road.

He nodded agreement. “Yeah, just like the bayou is all. It’s awful pretty here. Better than the hot asphalt out my way.”

“Does Stephen know you’re out here? People have disappeared in this water, whether gators or Race’s hoodlums.” Sophie peered sternly at him using the rearview mirror.

“Race’s hoodlums?” Delora asked.

“Cheetah Race,” Righteous explained, apparently unwilling to talk about Stephen. “He’s our local mafia.”

“And one bad character if you get on his wrong side,” Sophie added.

“But I’m not on his bad side. We all went to school together, so no problem.”

“Still it’s too hot for you to be out here,” Sophie scolded.

“Easy on me, Miss Healer. Stop bein’ my doctor and be my friend. What are y’all doin’ out and about? Gettin’ a little lovin’ done, hmm?” he teased.

Delora laughed as she blushed and slapped his bare knee playfully. “Righteous!”

Sophie just shook her head. “I’m working, for your information.”

“Yeah? Who’s sick?” He leaned forward eagerly.

“Who isn’t sick?”

“Now, Sophie,” Delora chided.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” Sophie said, defending herself. “Firis Skope thinks she’s pregnant, and then I’m seeing the Weirtis girl, Imny.”

“Wasn’t she the one burned?” asked Righteous. He turned his attention to Delora. “You were burned too, right? You better now?”

Delora’s smile faded and she dropped her gaze. “I’m fine.”

Sophie could have kicked Righteous for opening his big mouth. She glared at him in the rearview. Righteous realized his mistake right away and changed the subject. “So who’s the father? She’s only what, sixteen?”

“She’s seventeen now and seeing the Adams boy.”

“So they gettin’ hitched?”

“Umhmm, I guess he’ll go to work for the oil refinery like his daddy.” Sophie navigated a difficult patch of road. They were going farther along the Bayou Lisse now, and the dirt road had grown deeply rutted with shallow pools of water filling the ruts. Trees interlaced above the car and Delora’s curiosity grew. She’d never been so far into the bayou’s interior before, and she found the scenery fascinating. It was almost like being on another planet.

Sophie noted Delora’s piqued interest and began to forgive Righteous his earlier
faux pas
. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

“Wow,” Delora responded. “People really live down here?”

“You’d be surprised.”

“Don’t you know about these people?” Righteous asked Delora.

“What do you mean?”

“Righteous,” Sophie said in a low warning tone.

“What?” Righteous responded. “She needs to know if she’s part of your life.”

Sophie blushed, feeling Delora’s eyes on her.

“What is it, Sophie?”

After a moment of silence, Righteous continued. “The whole bayou is full of people, but no one knows about them. You won’t find ’em on the census papers or voting or goin’ into town. It’s like they don’t exist.”

“But how do they live?” Delora asked. “I mean, don’t they work or buy food? How about school?”

Righteous leaned back and fanned his face with one hand. “It’s like tribal or something. They get by ’cause they help each other. They have their own Gypsy laws that have nothing to do with Redstar and they make things to trade with each other for money. I guess you figured out Sophie doctors them and they pay her in food and other stuff. They’ve lived this way, well, forever.”

“Out here?” Delora’s eyes were wide.

Sophie jumped in. “It’s just a way of life using old customs. It’s not so different from what you have in Redstar, it’s just not so nine-to-five. The kids, most of them, go to the public schools.”

“They party harder, too,” Righteous added with a loud laugh.

Sophie bristled. “Just what do you know about it, smartass? You’re not even one of us.”

“Everyone knows, Miss Sophie,” he answered wryly.

Delora laughed. “I didn’t know. I’ve just heard about the healers, off and on most of my life. My foster mother doesn’t approve. Says y’all are ‘Godless heathens.’”

Sophie grunted. “As far as I’m concerned, living with the bayou puts you a whole lot closer to God than most churches do.”

Sophie pulled the car to a halt in front of a small house made mostly of tarred paper and wood scraps. Smoke emanated from the crumbling brick chimney even though it was in the high nineties outside. A large mixed-breed dog circled the car barking with hoarse bursts of sound.

“Will he bite?” asked Righteous as he eyed the dog nervously.

Sophie looked at Delora and they broke into spontaneous laughter.

“What?” Righteous turned to look at them. “I don’t like big dogs.”

“I do,” said Delora as she edged open the door. The dog was there immediately, inserting his nose into the crack and trying to wriggle his way in. Obviously, this dog had never met anyone who wasn’t a friend.

“Hi there, big boy,” Delora said, opening the door and scrubbing behind the dog’s ears. He tried to jump in her lap as big dogs so often do, and Sophie’s voice rang out like a gunshot.

“Joe! Sit.”

The dog reacted with military precision. He fell away from Delora like rain off a roof, then whined as if in apology. Delora turned and saw Sophie had come around her side of the car, her backpack trailing from one hand.

Delora pondered this new side of Sophie, having never seen her raise her voice. It was a little frightening but also garnered respect. Slowly she swung her legs out of the car until her feet were on the ground. She turned and looked at Righteous who shrugged and opened his own door. Cautiously, Delora extended one hand and rubbed the dog’s ear. He did not rise, but his tail swept the ground gleefully. His tongue lolled and he appeared to be smiling. Delora rose and moved past him, and the dog eyed Sophie expectantly. She nodded and, rising calmly, he followed them toward the front porch.

An elderly woman wearing a tattered dress and a grimy white apron answered the door.

“Hello,
púridaia
. I’m here to see
tikni
. Arisel called me.”

The woman eyed Righteous and Delora with mistrust.

“They
Geyro, Geyri
are with me and mean no harm to
ken
. No
mumpli, narkri
.”

Still eyeing the strangers with cautionary eyes, the woman opened the door wider. Sophie entered first with Delora behind and Righteous last.

“Don’t say anything or look at anything too closely,” Sophie whispered to them as they passed through. “Please be careful.”

Frightened into silence, Delora and Righteous clustered close. They tried not to stare too obviously at the heavily furnished home. Though highly cluttered with belongings, the home was elegant due to the wealth of colorful hangings that draped the walls of the large, one-room home. Beds, situated around three of the walls, were partially recessed and draped with heavy tapestries. A kitchen of sorts had been built as an outcropping on one wall and a large wood cookstove emitted an uncomfortable heat into the room. The smell of spices and an odd smell, reminding Delora of how dry and scentless a cat smells, filled the home.

Two dark-haired children sat on cushions in the center of the floor, surrounded by wooden toys. They looked up expectantly when the trio entered. One child, the smaller of the two, looking to be about three years old, immediately draped one arm across half her face. Her body ducked forward from the waist as she tried to disappear from sight.

Sophie spoke softly to the older child, Lally, who might have been six, her voice a singsong of harsh gutturals and trilling lilts. Lally spoke to the younger and, taking her free hand, led her toward the door. The elderly woman spoke then.

“
Drabéngro, purochikni
?”

“
Dood
better. I must see,
dik dik
, to help the healing. We go to the front for light only, no
dur
.”

“
Kushti,
” the old woman agreed, nodding. She accompanied them onto the front porch. The small child hesitated coming through the door, and the grandmother and sister urged her onward with soft admonishments.

Delora’s eyes were wide as she watched Sophie turn the ravaged child into full sunlight. The child was pretty, with rust-colored skin and hair shining like coal in the afternoon light. She peered shyly at Delora and Righteous with her one good eye. The other, mostly hidden by her arm, was half-buried beneath skin that had melted along one cheek. The burn slashed across her face and onto her neck, and Delora wondered what could have caused such a thing.

“It was a bonfire,” Sophie explained as if reading Delora’s thoughts. She said it in a singsong voice as she playfully pulled the child’s arm from the burned area so she could see. Delora realized that the child didn’t understand English as Sophie started singing to her in that language of their people. Romany, was it? They were playing a game in which Sophie would sing a phrase and pull down the child’s protective arm. The child would respond with her own lilting phrase and, laughing, cover her face again, peering out at Sophie with her one good eye. Joe, wanting to be involved in the fun, came lumbering onto the porch, almost knocking Delora over. He raced around Sophie and Imny until Lally grabbed his collar and, slapping his haunches, made him sit still.