It was warm that night. Warm so the sweat dripped offa you, warm so your insides boiled like Mama’s pot on the fire. The blinds had all been shut, and the little house was cozy and muggily dark, with Da’s cigar smoke blending pleasantly with the smell an’ steam of Mama’s tuna stew.
But we’d eaten by then, and it was almost bedtime. Amos and Anna had already been put up in the tiny next room, and I could hear their little snores from where I was on the patched-up couch, so’s it almost made me fall asleep too.
“Liza,” said Da, tossing the end bit of his cigar into the fire and turning to Mama. They was sitting on the hearth-rug together, and I pretended I wasn’t there, hoping they’d talk ‘bout interesting things and I could listen. “Liza, have ye heard any news from the castle lately?” Mama worked up at the big place, on the cliff by the sea, and she nearly always had news, gossip I ate right up. I dunno, but I s’pose Da picked out the things that might actually matter at some point.
“Not much, no,” said Mama. She wasn’t so low-born as Da, she had a fancy bit of upper-class accent I always tried to copy. Said she was same as Da at heart, didn’t like bein’ able to read when he couldn’t, but it always sounded a bit like a lie.
Couldn’t be. Mama never lied.
“There’s been some hustle-and-bustle, talk of raiders coming along our way, but it’s been so long, no one really believes the rumors. Prince Aaron’s going to be crowned king next month, but of course, our sort won’t be worrying much about that.”
I yawned, and Da looked over, smiling a little in the firelight. “You still up, Addy? Thought I saws you go to bed arf an hour ago.”
“Am now, Da,” I said. There wasn’t much point in stayin’ up if all Mama had to talk about was princes and coro-whatsits, and besides, Polly had promised me we’d go berry-hunting the next day. Big girls who’ve seen eight summers like me need all their rest to go runnin’ about finding food for their families.
Pulling myself up importantly, I walked the way I thought a queen might across the rushes and the threadbare rug, smiling at Mama and Da as I went. “G’night milady, milord,” I said, and strode away into the bedroom as they busted up laughing behind me.
Ten minutes later I’d changed into my nightdress and snuggled in beside Amos and Anna, though I didn’t put on the cover, it was so hot. I lay and wondered what raiders were, and why Mama stuttered when she said it—were they a sort of rat? Maybe the big kind that sometimes got into our larder, with those flashy red eyes and dirty grey coats. The kind that bit Amy.
I gulped and blinked furiously in the dark. Dead’s dead, Da said. Ain’t nothin’ you can do about that.
It seemed a long time later that I heard Da banking the fire in the next room, Mama bangin’ about as she cleaned up the dinner things. Anna stirred next to me and I caressed her soft little head, whispering silly little things so’s she’d stay asleep. I was the big sister after all. Big sisters had responsities, so Mama said. ‘Specially to little kids like Anna.
Then there was a sound like a door slammin’ open, and Mama screamed real loud, the way the cats do some nights when they’re fightin’. I popped outta bed all of a sudden, and yanked open the door, bein’ a girl of acshun, like. There was Da on the floor, an’ his face was…wrong. He didn’t have a mouth no more, or he did, but it was – it was too big, went clear up to where his nose shoulda been. But it wasn’t, and blood, blood was everywhere—
“Addy! Addy, go and get Anna and Amos, get out through the window!” Mama yelled, and she looked frightened, frightened horrible, and there were two men at the door, one with a gun…
“Whaddya want?” I demanded, stepping forward, pretending I wasn’t scared. But I was, so scared I almost peed myself, and there was another man holding Mama back, smilin’ something awful.
The man in the doorway glanced over, looking at me the way someone might look at a flea or a cockroach. He barked something to the one behind him, in a tongue I’d heard before but didn’t understand, and the second man came forward, grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and dragged me out the front door like a sack of potatoes.
There was more yelling, and I heard Mama scream again, even out there in the muggy heat with the town all outta their beds, running through the dirty streets, chased by men just like the one still holding the back of my nightie. I was too scared now to move, too scared to struggle, so’s we stood there together, quiet, listening to the sound of cloth ripping and men laughing from inside.
Da, I thought. Da, why aren’t you getting your gun? Why aren’t you savin’ Mama, or Amos and Anna—or me? But Da didn’t come out, and suddenly the man was dragging me away from the screams and the house, dragging me down the street, muttering to himself, an’ never letting go of me.
We got down to the docks at last, and I tried to forget the things I’d seen, the courtyard where Hera Jackson and another bad man were wrestling around, and him laughing like anything—Mrs. Corburn and Tommy, lyin’ in the street, not moving, all messed up just like Da.
“What’s your name?” It was a rough voice, and I jumped, ‘cause I’d never heard it before, though I knew everyone in town. It was the man holding on to me, and his foreign blue eyes sparked as he looked down at his pris’ner.
“M-m-m-my n-name?” I sputtered, shivering as the humid wind blew through, pulling at me and ruffling his funny yellow hair. “A-Adelaide, s-sir. What’re they doin’ to Mama and Amos and Anna?”
He smiled, but it wasn’t a smile, it looked ‘s if he’d eaten somethin’ that didn’t agree with him, the way Da looked the day he scarfed down all those rotten tomatoes. My breath was comin’ fast then, and I remember he yanked me ‘round so’s I could see the big dark boat pulled in at the harbor, all the throngs of dark figures running down and bein’ dragged an’ cryin’ and—
Something hard hit me, right square in the back of the head, and then the darkness was total, like the hole where Da’s face shoulda been.
***
Thanks for reading! Just something that popped into my head today. I left out the italics because I'm lazy, but...what do you think? It's a first draft and rather sloppy, I know--just, should I write more, or leave it here, or what?
No nitpicks please! All constructive criticism greatly appreciated.
