I had trouble with the chair. They’re only cut to accommodate so much. My body was pinched. I strained to get myself in. I yelped a few times in the process.
— Please, Nabisase said quietly. Can’t you just try to relax.
— The seat’s too small and I’m too big, but forget that. I want to talk about what a girl like you should know.
But she was easily distracted, by couples, a family, a strong breeze, anything that came through those doors. Anyone besides me. Faint tunes played through the room’s speakers and the lights were up.
— Do you know about Toxic Shock Syndrome? I asked.
The previews began so the room was only half as bright as before. We were still visible. I saw her rub her forehead. — Anthony, please.
— Toxic Shock Syndrome, I said loud. No one hushed us; we were in the right theater for conversations. There were other couples talking nearby.
— I found this when I was cleaning out Mom’s room.
It was the instructions from a box of Playtex tampons. Along with TSS, it described how to insert one.
To her credit, my sister acted maturely. She stood up. She walked away.
She sat a few rows down and on the opposite side of the aisle. I saw her slip into an empty seat. I sank lower in my own, feeling defeated. I took the cork out and tasted that night in Miser’s Wend, Virginia. Uncle Arms, we’re even.
Behind me. The theater doors opened. Both of them. Letting in light so I looked back. Annoyed enough right then that I might even pick a fight. And it was him. Ledric Mayo. Standing at the door.
He started to walk along, leading with his strawberry-shaped nose. As if he was sniffing out my sister.
I’d thought he was going to be discharged tomorrow, but he was at the movies with us on Saturday afternoon. He hadn’t even dressed well. The guy was in his hospital gown. His front was covered, but it couldn’t be tied, so the back was open to discovery.
He walked slowly because there was an IV in his arm and no one else in the movies noticed him. The IV was on a drip so Ledric was dragging it along beside him. A dirigible of a man pulling a long thin silver pole down the middle of a movie theater.
Ledric passed me and sat next to her. Nabisase acted so happy that it was like she’d expected him. He stuck one fat foot into the walkway.
The screen blew on, kindling our faces. A bonfire.
I leaned far back enough in my chair that I felt like I was falling. This made a terrible creaking noise in the theater. When I popped back up I tried to find my sister and him again.
There they were.
No.
There.
His arm already over her, her right hand on his lap.
She squeezed his thigh.
I wished I’d sat farther back.
I tried to leave, but had wedged so hard into the seat that I’d need a little help to get up.
So I stayed.
I tried to watch the film.
When I looked at my sister again she had less of her left hand out. It was in his pants. Through the zipper. Rummaging as though untangling a wire.
He dipped his head to try and kiss her, but her face was still down, watching to make sure she didn’t fumble. Also his stomach made it hard for him to move around.
The screen seemed brighter because the music soundtrack was so loud.
Oh, what was that?
Was it out?
Why did my sister stroke it?
She bent his penis like a plastic straw and lucky for him it was still soft enough to twist.
Nabisase tried more. She did better. The screen lit them like I wished it wouldn’t.
He leaned back.
There’s never a good day to see your sister suck a dick.
I leaned forward less to vomit than to breathe. I couldn’t look away. The dark silhouette of Nabisase’s head moved slowly. Then Ledric pushed his toes forward and backward like he was pedaling a bicycle.
The more his leg kicked, the bigger his belly became. It grew to the size of a weather balloon, but neither of them floated. I couldn’t see much of my sister’s head after a point, just his inflatable belly swaying.
I wanted to tell her don’t be like that. Don’t be so nasty. Goodness Girl.
It was Saturday, November 25th, 5:00 PM. That’s the first time I was ever thrown out of a movie. Because I wanted my sister to stop slurping I raised a ruckus, nearly broke the noisy chair.
Leaning forward and back, once and again, hoping the squeaks would distract my sister, but it didn’t. She kept going. Ledric too. They were the only ones in the room not mad at me.
My waist felt sweaty and my feet were cold. I was so hyper that I finally had the strength to stand on up. I did and screamed my sister’s name.
— Nabisase!
When I was a boy her birth had been the momentous event of my lifetime. My father visited us once, when I was ten. He drank beer with me one afternoon, out of cans and on a park bench. He made me think a man in glasses could be handsome. He spent the rest of the trip chasing my mother. He left after a few days. Nine months more and my sister was.
Having her around had been like a promotion; from only child, from little boy. I hadn’t been so matured in one decade as that first evening I picked her up. Supporting the back of her head with one hand.
— Nabisase! I yelled again.
The doors in the back opened as an usher walked in, but I watched my sister stand up. Ledric had disappeared and I wondered how a fat man moved so fast. Nabisase ran to the other exit, below the screen. Her hands across her mouth and nose hiding her disgrace.
36
When I reached home, walking from the movies, my hands were so stiff it could have been a bone disorder. Our block, 229th Street, was subdued in the early evening. When I cleared my throat the sound was amplified.
— You out here, too? the President asked from his front steps. In silhouette that hedge looked the worse end of a knife fight.
— It’s just us, I agreed, then leaned against the fence though this was a lousy move as it caused the red Doberman to stir. It came from the backyard.
— Quiet, the President commanded. Quiet! he tried again.
To no end. The man had to call his son. Candan took the leisurely route. When he appeared he only said, — Viper, quietly. The dog stopped watching me and went to Candan inside the house.
— Why would you name a dog after a snake? I asked once Candan had gone inside, taking Viper.
— He named it for the car, the President said.
I wouldn’t say that this man enjoyed my company, but that his own son was no friend.
The President took off his glasses, which made the already awkward eyes go bobbling to the farthest reaches of each socket. I looked away so as not to laugh, because the man was alright.
— He works hard, the President admitted. Soon that boy’s going to make a lot of money and his mother and I need the help. He pays half the mortgage right now, the President said.
— Is that right?
— Hell yes. So he’s got to make some room for himself in the house. I can understand that. I tell myself to.
Candan came to the security door three times. I took this for jealousy, but then saw it as a territorial instinct. I had the feeling that Candan would keep his father in a jar if he could.
The President finished his beer. He had torn away the label. He plopped it down with two others on the stairs. I took those three to the recycling bin, and when I returned he said, — You have got to be the neatest nigga since Moses.
— He was neat?
— Who gives a fuck! I’m talking about you.
This didn’t seem like it was going to be much of a year for snow; that was all right because it saved on shoveling.