Free Bones & All by Camille Deangelis Page B

snake. I jumped, and he laughed at me. “Now,” he said. “Tell me about your first one.”
    I traced my finger along the quilting of Mrs. Harmon’s calico place mat. “It was my babysitter.”
    â€œYou remember?”
    I shook my head.
    He pulled out his flask and took another gulp. “Your mama found you?”
    I nodded. “What about you?”
    Sully chuckled to himself. “Ate my own granddad while they were waitin’ on the undertaker.” He licked his lips and tossed me a look as he screwed the cap back on the flask. “Saved my daddy near three hundred dollars.” After a moment he asked, “Why you on your own? Your mama left you?”
    â€œHow did you know?”
    He shrugged. “That’s why you’re here?”
    I nodded.
    â€œLet me guess,” he sighed. “You went over there thinkin’ you were gonna make some kind of a bargain. Then you got there and saw there was no way in hell you were gonna ring that doorbell.”
    I hated that this man, a complete stranger, had me all figured out. It had been easier to leave my grandparents’ yard thinking I might go back, but he was right. I couldn’t go back. There could be no asking forgiveness for what I’d done.
    â€œListen here,” Sully went on. “You ain’t never gonna feel nothin’ other people ain’t been through a million times before.” He frowned, remembering something. “I wanted to say goodbye to my mama. Slept in the woods for weeks, waitin’ for my chance.”
    I drew a deep breath and tried to push all thoughts of Mama out of my head. “Wasn’t it hard? Sleeping outdoors and finding all your own food and stuff?”
    â€œNah. It ain’t hard once somebody shows you how to shoot, and how to forage, and how to start a fire. I had a bow and arrow, and I used it to catch my supper. Rabbits, squirrels. My granddaddy, he taught me all that.”
    â€œBut wasn’t it hard to fall asleep outside?”
    â€œYour mama never took you campin’, I can see that.” He laughed. “Why sleep under a ceiling when you got a sky full of stars out there?” He gave a backward nod toward the kitchen window.
    â€œDo you always sleep outside?”
    â€œNot in a built-up place like this. You’re liable to get taken in by the cops and charged with vagrancy. It don’t matter if you ain’t stole nothin’, or camped on public land. If we were in the woods, I’d have cooked up that casserole on an open fire.” He sighed. “Ain’t nothin’ better in all the world than the smell of woodsmoke. If we was out in the woods, I’d find us a clearing and show you how to see the pictures between the stars.”
    I thought of Jamie Gash, and winced.
    â€œBut you set me off on a tangent, Missy. Like I was sayin’: I’d come back and watch my mama through the kitchen window. Tryin’ to get up the courage. I was gonna do it while my daddy was away.”
    â€œDid you?”
    He shook his head. “I had my chances, and I let every one of ’em pass. I knew she would’ve jumped like a rabbit at the sight of me, and the more time that went by, the more scared she’d have been.” His eyes were on his place mat, but I could tell he was seeing his mother’s face, framed in the kitchen window. “That’s the worst part,” he said finally. “When your own kin are afraid of ya.” He cocked his head and eyed me for a moment or two. “How old are you, Missy—sixteen, seventeen?”
    â€œSixteen.”
    â€œThat’s young,” he said. “But then, you’re never too young to be on your own. I left home when I was fourteen.”
    â€œFourteen!”
    Sully shrugged. “What else was I gonna do? My daddy didn’t want me home no more.”
    â€œWas it because of…”
    â€œNah. My daddy always used to say I