and the Boy

[Guest guest]

Archetype! Hope the spacing comes thru!__________________________________

and the Boy

I was nine years old on the third of May

and I ain't nobody's fool. I'm a boy

judging by the contents of my pockets,

which is what Ma says all the time

when she's doing the wash.

The circus come last week to this here

village of Four Corners and set up over

in Farmer Boone's pasture at the foot of the hill.

Me and Josh cut school

just to hang around and watch the tent go up

like some grimy old flower.

There was new smell: sawdust mixed with zebra dung.

Did you ever see zebra dung? It's different.

There was new noises: lion belching, elephant screaming,

and roustabouts thumping on the big pegs

in the sunshine.

And new curses, real good ones, but I ain't gonna

say them, just in case --

Josh is older than me and parts his hair on purpose.

He ain't long for my friend at this point.

Anyways, he looks a lot older and stronger

than he is, so the men sent him for tobaccy

and not me, and he got a free pass.

I didn't.

That night just before the rising of the full

moon behind the sycamores, I climbed out

my window and went barefoot up Farmer Boone's.

I lay out a ways up the hill by the bull pasture

and heard the calliopes and the people

roaring and clapping and whistling

in the valley. I 'spect they was watching

the lion tamer and looking at the lady acrobats

and bareback dancers. Josh would be looking

at them, all right.

I mind I pulled on the weeds till a spot was bald,

and I was so mad I cried baby tears.

At the end, the band played a real lively tune

and the folks streamed out by firelight.

They looked like an orange snake

wiggling back to town on its belly.

The bull in Farmer Boone's pasture

come down snorting and pawing the ground

like he was waiting.

I figured I'd wait, too.

People was gone, and the circus folk

went to their wagons. Some of the acrobats, I guess,

looked twinkly in their fancy clothes.

like they was ghosts.

There was a clown in baggy pants

and he looked up at the moon and shook his fist.

I don't know why.

I guess I slept then, cos I never heard her come.

When I woke up, I was dewy all over spangles

on my sweater, so you see I wasn't dreaming.

The moon was climbing up behind the long, steep hill

like it meant something. A girl or lady

was leaning against the fence of the bull pasture.

I could see her breath when she spoke

and she was speaking mighty soft and

excited-like. She had on white pants and

tinsely ribbon in her hair. Looked

suddenly like she was having a fit,

sort of. This was something Josh

wouldn't never believe.

She kept making sweet noises and kisses

and I thought she was looking for a feller

real bad.

But no, it wasn't no feller come but

Farmer Boone's big mean old bull, Hiram.

Pretty as you please, right up to the fence.

She petted him, not even scared, and then

she climbed up the fence and talked sweet and low

and the moon rose a bit higher.

All of a sudden she pulled off her top

and scratched herself like it was

the most natural thing for a lady to do

on a summer's night. Mebbe it is.

Josh would know about that.

Anyways, she was bare and just beautiful!

Then old Hiram come straight up to her

after that and stood still as a statue

and then she -- I mean it, I swear it

on a stack o' Good Books - - she stepped

onto his back, and he snorted and

started up the hill. I was so scared

I couldn't of said nothing even if you

stuck me with a pin.

Round and round, slow they went, and she

commenced to dance on his back

doing handstands on his horns

and somersaults and everything.

My heart just stopped that's all.

When they was done, they come back to the fence

and she got off. But old Hiram, he walked

up to the top of the hill and left her.

He stood right still like he was dreaming

and the moon was caught like a live thing

between his horns

and I knew deep down inside me

I wasn't just a boy at all.

She jumped off the fence, put on her top again,

and lit a cigarette.

Then she saw me.

Me, I didn't move. I couldn't .

But she come over to me and laughed

and said: Remember, boy, all your life

that you got to see Miss .

That sets you apart.

I know it.

Now I can't never tell nobody.

Not even Josh.

a.o.howell