Read Online Blood Kin by Steve Rasnic Tem - Free Book Online

she was supposed to be staying away from.
    Lilly was among the darkest of the Gibsons, “almost a nigger,” Daddy’d always say, but not to where Uncle Jesse could hear it. Uncle Jesse was quiet most of the time; when he was drunk people’d say he was almost a poet. But sometimes he’d go mean, like something went bust inside all of a sudden, and you never knew what he might do. Daddy said he saw Jesse bite off a man’s ear one time, then try to wrestle out the tongue with his fingers. Daddy said they used to call Uncle Jesse “mad dog” when he was a boy.
    Sadie kind of liked the way Lilly looked and acted. Her aunt was beautiful, about the only woman in Morrison she’d ever say that about. She thought her aunt looked oriental, like some kind of princess in a story book. And she was quiet, too, but in a special kind of way. Like she knew about better things, but she wasn’t about to talk about them in front of the likes of Morrison folk. And she’d been smoking a long time, and got Sadie’s momma to start smoking, too. Lilly was like that, a leader. The other Morrison women would never admit it, but they imitated her.
    Aunt Lilly nodded at Sadie. She was all in white. Her eyes and teeth sparked against her dark skin.
    “Hello, Aunt Lilly.” Sadie felt foolishly like dipping her knee and bowing her head a little.
    “So where you’ve been, girl?” It was her momma speaking. For a moment Sadie thought to lie, wondering if somebody had already told what had happened.
    “I was just down to the town for a little. Stopped and talked to Granddaddy on the way.”
    “Yeah. He told me.”
    Granddaddy wouldn’t have volunteered that. Her momma must have asked him direct. He never said nothing to his daughter or son-in-law about Sadie’s doings, never could tell what might get her into trouble. Sadie appreciated that, but it must have been hard on her momma, her own daddy not trusting her like that.
    Her momma could be pretty if she wanted to be. Even in the gray housedress she was wearing now − it had orange flowers on it but they were so faded they looked like grease spots. She had a fine shape to her face, high cheekbones and a nose Sadie envied. Hers always felt swollen up. If she’d just do something to her hair, and if she’d eat better. Since she took up smoking she hardly ate at all, and never with the family, just a little on a plate by the stove. She didn’t even sit down to eat. No wonder she was always so nervous. Sadie was gazing through the kitchen door, past her mother’s head.
    “Your pa’s got his fool buddies over. No offense, Lilly.” Lilly just nodded and blew a line of smoke. Uncle Jesse was in there, then. “I swear if this house caught fire tonight there’d be more than one in this valley praising the Good Lord tommorry!”
    Sadie used to laugh at the smart-mouth things her mother said. They were certainly almost always true. But it didn’t make things any better for her mother, or for Sadie. So after a while it just made Sadie mad. That kind of talk just made you feel worse. Granddaddy said Sadie’s momma had gone hateful since the marriage. Sometimes Sadie wondered if her mother would have been so bad if she hadn’t had her.
    Sadie looked down the porch and through the screen: the sun was dropping fast. She needed to get into her room, but couldn’t figure how to leave her mother yet.
    “By the way, the Grans want to see you tonight. Uncle Jesse brought the message — dont know where he got it from. He’s been drinkin too much to get it outta him.” Her mother said it careful, like it meant something. And it did.
    It was too dark for Sadie to find her mother’s eyes. “Why?” She tried to ask it firmly, but it came out a whisper.
    “How the hell should I know? I aint seen them since the wedding, Missy!”
    That was true. Sadie knew her mother thought it was because she’d come from outside the family, and a lot of the Gibsons resented that. Dilution , was the big word