Free Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent Page B

what men do,” Momma had told me. But I couldn’t find a way to tell Luke that I understood. I couldn’t do anything but shake.
    Luke helped me take a few sips of the coffee, and I was grateful for it, even though I hated the taste of it. Anything warm was welcome then.
    The whole time I took those slow, hard gulps, Luke was telling me how sorry he was for yelling. Finally my shaking started to calm, and I was able to tell him in an unsteady voice, “I’m sorry for causin’ trouble. I didn’t know . . .”
    “’Course you didn’t know,” he told me. “How would you know about bad stuff like that? You weren’t meanin’ to get into anythin’.”
    “But what were they doin’? Why were they out there?”
    “Ain’t no knowin’ why they do what they do. They were holdin’ a meetin’ of some sort, I guess.”
    “They were prayin’,” I said. “To God. But what my daddy said those people do ain’t God-fearin’.”
    Luke leaned back in his chair and sighed. “They ain’t prayin’ to the God they think they’re prayin’ to. They don’t even know who God is.”
    We sat quietly for a few minutes before I asked, “You don’t suppose they’re figurin’ on doin’ anythin’ to my family, do you? I heard they forced Becky Luter’s daddy out of business ’cause he served colored people in his restaurant, and they had to up and leave town because of it. Those same people might try and hurt my daddy somehow too.”
    “They ain’t nothin’ to worry about,” he said adamantly, taking my hands in his. “They ain’t nothin’ but a bunch of cowards, and your daddy is a fine, respectable man. Your daddy prays to the real God. He’s watchin’ over him.”
    There was a moment of silence while I was thinking things over and then I asked, “You believe in God, Luke?”
    “Well sure I do,” he said, giving my hands a squeeze. “I was brought up on the Scriptures.”
    “But do you believe in God and Jesus . . . like my momma and daddy do?”
    Luke let go of my hands and leaned back in his chair. “Well now, Jessie. I expect maybe I ain’t never thought about it much.”
    “I have,” I told him. “I’ve thought about it a lot seein’ as how I hear about it all the time at home.” In my mind I saw those hooded men illuminated in firelight, and I shivered beneath the warmth of the blanket. “I don’t know what I think, but it makes me wonder when I see things like this. Seems to me if there’s so much evil in the world, then there needs to be an awful lot of good out there somewhere to win out over it.”
    “You can bet there’s good out there, Jessie. Don’t you ever go thinkin’ them men are what this world is made of. There’s plenty of good people out there.”
    “I know it.” I flashed him a smile that wobbled with my shivers. “You’re proof of that.”
    He ruffled my hair and made his way to his closet to get dressed again, and I settled back in the chair and relaxed, warmed by his presence.
    We did end up going fishing that morning just as we’d planned. Only we waited until well after sunup to go. Luke didn’t want us running into Walt or anyone from our morning adventure. The fishing wasn’t fun like I had been expecting, though. We were both quiet, thinking about that morning’s worries, and neither of us caught one little thing. We went home empty-handed around noon, and Luke and Daddy went off into Daddy’s shed to have a talk. I knew what they were talking about, and I sat down on the front steps to wait for them to finish.
    When they came out, Daddy had a tight look on his face, and he stooped down in front of me. “You okay, baby?”
    “Yes’r.”
    “Ain’t no one hurt you?”
    “No, Daddy. Luke took care of it.”
    “Well, ain’t no one gonna hurt you, neither. You hear?”
    “Yes’r.”
    That was all that was said. Daddy shook Luke’s hand, said good-bye, and went on inside, slamming the door behind him.
    “He’s mad,” I told Luke.
    “Not at you.