Another Kind Of Hurricane Part 31

"That always happen up here?" said Zavion.

"No," said Henry. "Only sometimes."

Not that night, he thought.

The memory flooded back to Henry.

- The bird on the wind swooped so low that the boys and Brae could almost feel its feathers. The last tree on the mountain, one of the red spruces just below them, rustled and they knew the bird had landed there, maybe settling in for the night.

Henry pointed at the bandanna. "Brae-" he said, moving his finger so he was pointing at Brae. Then he slowly moved his finger so it was pointing at the bandanna again. Brae grabbed the bandanna in his mouth.

"No, Brae," said Henry.

The tree rustled again. A lot. Too much movement for a bird to make. Brae got up off of the sleeping bag and trotted over to the tree, the bandanna still hanging from his mouth.

"Brae!" yelled Henry.

"You taught him to steal food?" said Wayne.

Brae bounded back to Henry and Wayne, his tail wagging, and then he doubled back to the tree. When he came back again, someone was with him.

"Awww jeeez," said Henry.

"Jeezum Crow," said Wayne. "Your timing is incredible."

"Did you actually follow us up here?" said Henry. Nopie was going to ruin the whole night.

"Nah, I come up here all the time-"

"Bull-" said Wayne.

"I do."

"Youre full of it."

"It takes three hours and twelve minutes to climb the mountain from my driveway to this spot. I can turn off my headlamp in three places, I know the trail so well-"

"Okay, okay!" said Wayne.

"I love being up here at night," said Nopie.

"We love being up here at night," said Henry. This trail was his and Waynes. This night was his and Waynes.

Brae whimpered. He still had the bandanna in his mouth, so the sound came out m.u.f.fled.

"Youre teaching Brae that trick all wrong," said Nopie.

"Huh?" said Henry.

"That trick. Youre trying to teach him to open a present, right?"

"Maybe-"

"The command has to be clear."

"It was clear-"

"Uh-uh. Just pointing at the bandanna is confusing-"

"What do you know about training a dog?" Henrys voice seemed to echo off the moon. "You dont even have a dog-"

"I trained my grandpas corgi to count," said Nopie.

"A corgis not a dog," said Henry. "A corgis a pig that eats dog food."

Brae whimpered again.

"Hey, cool it, Henry," said Wayne. "Brae thinks you just insulted dogs everywhere-"

"Watch," said Nopie. "This is how you should teach him. Squeeze your hand into a fist-"

"Like this?" Henry stepped toward Nopie, both fists in front of his face.

"Whoa, chill, Henry," said Wayne.

"Ill show you." Nopie turned to Brae. "Drop it," he said.

Brae dropped the bandanna.

"Dont tell my dog what to do," said Henry.

"Good boy," said Nopie.

Brae wagged his tail.

"Shut up, Nopie!" yelled Henry. And then he pushed Nopie hard, and Nopie fell backward onto the ground. He jumped onto Nopies chest and pinned him to the ground. He felt Waynes hands under his armpits, pulling him up. He stumbled to his feet, elbowing Wayne back.

No one spoke after that. Nopie looked from Henry to Wayne, the whites of his eyes shining in the moonlight. He shook his head once, a small erasing gesture, Henry thought, and then tilted his head up toward the night sky. Nopie turned on his headlamp, a circle of light talking to the circle of the moon. He stood up.

"Nopie-" said Henry.

"Have a good night," Nopie said, rubbing the top of Braes head.

Henry and Wayne watched him disappear into the darkness.

"You sure let him have it," said Wayne.

Henry looked down at his hands in disbelief.

"I dont know what happened," Henry whispered. He looked down at his hands. They didnt seem like they belonged to him. The moonlight made them seem larger than they were. Maybe they actually were larger. Like Waynes size. Hed never pushed someone like that before.

"I cant believe you did that." Wayne wouldnt let it go.

Henry couldnt believe it either. Henrys face flushed with shame. He shoved his hands into his pockets.

Wayne pulled something out of his pocket. "Here," he said, "it seems like you could use this now."

"What is it?" said Henry. But he knew.

"The marble. Here, take it." Wayne held the marble out to Henry.

The marble felt ice cold in Henrys hand. "I dont want it anymore," he said.

"What do you mean, you dont want it anymore?"

"Im done."

"But this is what we do. We pa.s.s it back and forth-"

"Didnt you hear me? Im done. Im done with this good-luck c.r.a.p." Chills ran through Henrys body. Like the wind was blowing across his bones instead of across his skin.

Brae picked up the bandanna and dropped it in front of Henrys feet. He sat, between Henry and Wayne, and looked from one to the other.

Wayne rubbed the circle on Braes head. "Henry-so what if Nopie was right about the trick-its okay, you know-maybe its okay if he helps you teach Brae-" Brae stuck his nose into Waynes palm.

"You have no idea what youre talking about!" Henrys chest felt hot. His eyes felt hot. "Im done with this marble." He felt like a broken blender, buzzing inside, overheating, unable to stop. "If you dont want it, lets just throw it off the edge of the mountain."

"Jeezum Crow, Henry. This isnt the way we do it. We pa.s.s it back and forth for luck. Im not going to give it back to you, you know," said Wayne. "Even if you want it, Im not going to give it back."

"I dont want it. It doesnt work. Its c.r.a.p." Henry shivered. "Its too cold up here to sleep. We need to go down the trail a bit." Henry picked up his sleeping bag.

"That wasnt the plan," said Wayne.

Henry walked close to Wayne. "Were changing the plan. Were changing a lot of things. Like this?" Henry held the marble up between them. "I dont need it." Standing there, eyes blazing in the night sky, Wayne did seem huge. "You dont need it either."

"Youre wrong," said Wayne. He grabbed the marble and walked away, like he was going to walk right off the face of the mountain, but then he turned around and came back. He picked up the sleeping bag and stuffed it into his backpack. "Youre dead wrong."

chapter 80.

ZAVION AND HENRY.

Henry told Zavion the whole story.

"We didnt talk much after that. And then we woke up and had the race and-" Henry squeezed his eyes shut. "I shouldnt have tried to win," Henry said, the words tumbling out. "I didnt have the marble. I wasnt supposed to win. It should have been like it always was. Wayne in front of me. Then I would have seen-then I could have stopped-" He scrambled up and stumbled over to the edge of the trail.

Zavion walked over to join Henry. Brae did too. The three of them stood at the edge of the cliff. The drop was steep, about fifteen feet to the ground. They stared over the rocky edge onto the top of a small tree, two jagged boulders, and dirt below.

Henry turned to face Zavion. "It was my fault. I said the marble was c.r.a.p. I didnt take it. I should have taken it-that was the rule-"

Zavion stared at Henry. His face was soaked with rain, but fear was still visible underneath all that wet. Zavion saw it clearly on Henrys face. He knew that fear. All of a sudden he remembered what Ms. Cyn had said to him the evening he left Baton Rouge.

- "You two are twins, you know."

Zavion laughed. "Youre kidding, right? Henrys white and Im black. Hes short and Im tall. Hes wide and Im skinny. Hes from the North and Im from the South."

Hes from a mountain and Im from a hurricane.

"He is sad...," said Ms. Cyn, "And you...are sad. Do you see that, Zavion?"

Zavion squinted through the kitchen window. Henry was sitting on the gra.s.s tickling Osprey. Tiger flew up and down, landing on Henrys knee, then Ospreys shoulder.

"Henry has the same sad blue thing you have," said Ms. Cyn, "and the same scared gray thing." She turned Zavion to face her. "If you can feel it in yourself, you can feel it in him."

- "Henry," Zavion said quietly, looking over the cliff, "it wasnt your fault."

The clouds were making a wider circle around the sun. Its rays filtered down through the trees and lit up the ground like it was singing its own sun-rendition of "This Little Light of Mine."

"You wanna hear something weird?" said Henry. Zavion nodded. "I felt more at home in New Orleans than I have felt anywhere else since Wayne died."

"I feel that way about this mountain." Zavion paused for a moment. "I sort of wish my mother had climbed it. I wish her face was carved across the pinnacle...."

The boys stood still. The woods seemed to stand still too. No rain falling. No wind blowing. Brae was on the ground between Henry and Zavion. He crossed one of his paws in front of the other and licked the mud from between his toes. His licking became the only sound.

- Henry unclipped the leash. "Wanna climb to the top?" he said.

Zavion touched the marble in his pocket, tightened his scarf around his neck, and nodded.

chapter 81.