Read Online Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey - Free Book Online Page B

and to steal bouquets of flowers for her from the cemetery.
    Our first unspoken order was that we bois had to work together to convince Wendi to be our Mommy, to stay in our world, and most importantly, keep us as her own. Pan’s confidence and pleading made Wendi smile, bat her eyes, and primp up her hair. I don’t like to stick my nose in where it doesn’t belong, and I didn’t really know how Wendi felt about me or the rest of the bois, but it looked like, right away, she wanted something different, something romantic from Pan. She motioned for all of us to get up off our knees. I thought that she was going to issue some kind of a speech, but her words were forgettable. The gist of what she said was that she would stay, be our Mommy. I watched as Wendi kept trying to catch Pan’s eye, but he was beaming and looking proudly at us bois.
    That first night with her was a special one. Wendi spent the day inspecting Neverland, making note of what was outof place and what she needed to turn it into the kind of place that she could think of as home. John Michael seemed in a daze. She’d had her special time with Pan, and it’s none of my business, but I’d guess she forgot all about Wendi while she lay in her little nest sobering up. Now, though, John Michael saw that she truly was just one of us bois, and all the shit she’d done, her good grades and conferences, didn’t mean a thing. She seemed like she was in shock. Pan had given her a night, and in the afterglow she followed him around Neverland, trying to please him and get more of his attention, but it was no use. Pan had eyes only for Wendi that night.
    Us bois spent the day following Wendi around Neverland. Just as I’d known she would, Wendi turned bright red when she looked into our sleeping room; the pile of cocks was the first thing to go. Pan found them a new home in a few crates. Wendi did all the dishes and filled up half the dumpster with old takeout containers, bottles, and broken things that Wendi felt we shouldn’t hold onto. It was a long day as Wendi set us up with different tasks: scrubbing floors, doing dishes, or folding the clothes in the clothing pile. Us bois weren’t used to working like that; normally, we were in charge of our own days. The Twins kept whining about having to spend so much time cleaning. Curly told them to shut up and stop complaining. I reminded them that this is what it meant to be good bois for Mommy, and that was what we said we wanted.
    In the late afternoon, Wendi said she needed to go out to get supplies for our first family dinner. I worried that she wasjust making excuses to chase the Crocodile—I was worried and guilty about having shot her. All us bois watched as she pulled sneakers over her pink chipped toenail polish. The cut on her ankle looked angry, but Wendi was calm and smiling. I turned to Nibs and whispered, “Do you think she’s really going to the grocery store?” We mostly ate from free boxes and food pantries that sold dented cans for pennies. The thought of an actual grocery store was so foreign. “She keeps talking about cooking dinner,” I continued. “Do you think Wendi really means that? Maybe I should trail her to see if she’s going to find Crocodile?”
    Nibs laughed. “She wouldn’t know how to find her way down to the river. Besides, grrrls like that don’t try to drown.”
    I started to protest that he was wrong, that once the croc gets a taste for blood, it won’t let go, and how he should know that better than any of us. But Nibs cut me off. “I don’t know what that grrrl is up to. Maybe she’s going home to her parents. Or maybe she really does want to be a Mommy and play kinky housewife to Pan. I don’t know. I don’t care. I’m no little, and I don’t give a shit what this girl does so long as I don’t have to be involved.”
    There was no fighting with Nibs