Pearl River
an excerpt

My night’s destiny was all here in the cards. I gazed upon what I’d been dealt with a reserved confidence. I am not a gambler by nature. I do not enjoy losing money or swindling other people out of theirs. Sometimes I think this is a shame because I have one hell of a poker face.

Jason was up. He laid his hand with a waxy slap of the cards against the wooden table. Three eight’s now sprawled triumphantly over Nate’s pair of King’s. Nice one. I nodded my silent communication to my ally across the table. He beamed like a child on Christmas morning. Jason Smallwood had no poker face whatsoever.

I took my time eyeing my cards thoughtfully, a faux confusion creasing my brow.

“You wanna hurry it up, Black?” Nate jeered from the seat to my right. “I sure am thirsty.”

I let my gaze move calmly from Nate’s upturned nose back to my cards. My first move was a single two. This action made Matt spring up from his reclined seat to sweep the table clear. I had an open playing field. With a subdued flick of the wrist I produced two three’s, the last of my hand.

“Banyan’s president!” Jason announced to the table as if this fact had been lost on any of them. The returning grimaces from Nate’s cronies got worse as they realized what my final hand had set into motion. In the game of P&A, three’s are a skip. Laying two in a row insured that both Nate and Chris would lose their turn, leaving Jason next in line to play. He produced his final three cards onto the table. They were all ace’s.

“Welcome to the cabinet, Vice President.” A groan erupted from around the table as the realization settled that Jason and I would be giving out the drinks next round. I did not enjoy winning other people’s money but it sure was fun to make them drink.

“Freak...” Nate grunted. He leaned his seat onto the two back legs, precariously balancing his hefty weight. A cruel smile crept across his pink skin as his minions crawled all over themselves to congratulate him with slaps on the back and high five’s. Nate Thompson had been hurling the same insults at me since we were in grade school. After my grandfather died it had spread from the church to the beauty parlor that he was mentally ill. All over town people whispered about Henry Black and his invented friends. It didn’t take long for the kids my age to associate that with my inherent shyness, and then the names really started to roll out. Schitzo, nut job, and psycho...oh my.

At seventeen the names didn’t hold the same punch they did when we were all kids. I no longer yearned for their acceptance or felt rebuffed by their dismissal. I may never be prom king but I had carved out my own niche at Pearl River High. I still kept mostly to myself but it was a conscious choice. Jason had been my best friend for twelve years and that was good enough for me. Adolescence had transformed me from a gangly child to a lean muscled advocery. I stood a head taller than most of them, only Nate bypassing my six feet, two inches. Football had made them wide and tough. Running had made me agile and quick. It was enough to keep a boundary of respect in the physical sense, at least.

“I wouldn’t expend too much energy on being clever if I were you, Nate.” I kept my tone flat, laying it on thick. “You still have to count to ten and drink beer at the same time.” I tried my best at a mask of faux sympathy. All I was able to produce was a chuckle from Jason’s round face across the table.

I raked my eyes across the jocks waiting for another lowbrow retaliation. Their faces were a base coat of sexual interest, masked with an outer layer of elitist boredom. I knew that look. As if in answer to my thoughts Heidi’s high pitched squeal erupted from the living room. The Pearl High girls had arrived at their usually scheduled, fashionably late, cue. Heidi’s heavy floral perfume wafted through the kitchen making my stomach churn.

I stood up from the table deciding it was time for some air that didn’t smell like a Keystone Light meets Eau De Crap cocktail. I rounded the corner to head through the living room towards the back door. Jason was recanting the finer points of P&A strategy, flailing his arms excitedly as we walked. I was watching him and not where I was walking. That’s when I saw her.

“Ow,” she said softly, rubbing her shoulder where I had grazed her. “I may be new but I’m not invisible.” Her voice was clear, not like the jumbled cadence I’d grown used to hearing in Southern Louisiana. Each sound was emphasized in a breathy, Southern tone.

“Sorry.” I mumbled as I made my way through the throngs of people surrounding the new specimen. It turned out she was right about not being invisible. Every member of the male species had made themselves known to the new arrival. Some were blatantly chatting her up, attempting to be the first to nab her undivided attention. Others were basking in her peripherals, attempting to draw her eye without looking obvious. They were the tigers, and she the antelope. It was only a matter of time before that sensual strut became a pounce. I didn’t care to stick around and watch the mating ritual unfold.

The air outside crawled thick with humidity, as it always did during the summer. I could feel my thin t-shirt clinging to my increasingly sticky skin. Even so, it felt like a welcome relief to have a bit of peace and quiet. I let my gaze fall past the end of the yard to the trees pulsating with light. As if on cue to a private soundtrack, the fireflies’ light synced together in rhythm. The strobing swarm silently floated around the yard, arcing closer to me with every swoop.

“We call those lightening bugs back home.” I spun around awkwardly at the unexpected voice, causing the bugs to disband and fly off in all directions. “Careful there, one bruised arm is enough for tonight,” she said, her tone playful. Her full lips pulled up into a dazzling smile.

“Where’s home?” I asked casually.

“Oh. Texas,” the way she said this made it sound as if she was surprised the question came up. “I’m Edie, by the way.” She extended her thin hand toward me. “Edie Hall.”

“Banyan. Nice to meet you.” I smiled down at her and noticed how her green eyes shone, even in the fading light.

The banging of the sliding glass door broke my trance and I instantly felt foolish. I shoved my hand back in my pocket just as Chris and Heidi came stumbling out. I’m sure they will regale the new arrival on the inner-workings of Pearl River High politics. She will soon learn that the jocks are the kings of the castle, and that Banyan Black was bad news for her reputation. It didn’t matter much anyway. Girls were an unnecessary complication. My world was complicated enough.

“Well, have a good night.” I offered.

“You, too,” she replied sweetly.

I turned to leave and tried to maneuver my way around Chris and Heidi’s flailing limbs. I had almost made it to the door when I heard someone’s voice from behind me.

I wish you would take me with you, said the voice, soft and Southern twinged.

My brow knit together thoughtfully and I whirled around on instinct blurting, “What did you say?”

Edie turned around to face me, her head cocked to the side slightly like a puppy seeing something new and interesting.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Chris and Heidi burst into a heap of drunken laughter. Of course they would expect me to create some sort of awkward exchange with the new transplant. What else was to be expected?

I could feel my face growing hot as I plowed through the living room, through the front door, and into the night.