Free Nether Regions by Nat Burns Page A

intrigued by Myria’s elderly golden retriever, Sam, squirmed from Sophie’s lap and moved to see what the dog was stalking under an abandoned truck tire at the edge of the yard.
    “He is.”
    “I thought he was a good fella.”
    Myria brought over the full mugs of brewing tea and set one on the table in front of Sophie. “They’re all hoodlums, you know. All them young boys with their dicks in their hands. They only want one thing and they think my girl is gonna give it to them.”
    Sophie nodded at the truth of Myria’s words. “Is she using protection?”
    Myria sighed and settled her motherly body into the chair opposite Sophie. “Far as I know. She goes over to the free clinic and gets pills. They give her them rubbers too, so I guess she’s all right.”
    She turned her attention to her grandson. “Raleigh! You get away from there. Mister Water Snake might be out there looking for you.”
    Raleigh, typically obedient, lured Sam from the tire and into the clearing where he promptly sprawled his body across the dog’s tawny back. Sophie smiled.
    “I’ll take him over to the school for you,” she said. “I think I’ll stop in and see to the Tom kids and it’s on my way.”
    “Ain’t you the sweetest thing? One of these days I’m gonna have to get Carlton to teach me how to drive.”
    Sophie took a deep pull on her hot tea as she stood. “Don’t do that. Then y’all have to get another car. It’s not worth it.”
    “Raleigh! Get your shoes, boy. You’re going with Miss Sophie.”
    Kinsie crawled into Myria’s lap and slipped her thumb into her mouth. Raleigh stuck his head around the door. “Going where?”
    “To school. Your shoes are over there next to the bed.”
    Myria shook Kinsie into a more comfortable position before snuggling her as only a grandmother can. “Ain’t you just the prettiest little baby? Sophie, you see this beautiful baby girl I got?”
    Kinsie laughed and Sophie shook her head. “You do spoil them babies, Myria.”
    Sophie moved into the bedroom of the small four-room cabin. A thin mattress rested atop the wire supports on a rickety double bed against the east wall. It was probably the bed where Myria had been born. A faded quilt, frayed on one corner, no doubt by a puppy long gone, covered the mattress and extended a good six inches all the way around. The room held little more, only a scarred bureau and a darkly stained chest at the foot of the bed. Clothes on wire hangers hung from pegs fixed along two walls and a pile of dirty clothes spilled from a basket near the head of the bed. The air smelled of old cooking oil.
    Raleigh sat on the chest pulling on battered sneakers. He saw Sophie and favored her with his grandmother’s smile. “You takin’ me to school?”
    “Yep. Thought I would. You need help with that shoe?” She knelt to tie his sneakers.
    “What if I don’t want to go?”
    She let her eyes roam across his face as she tied. “I’d say what’s the reason? I thought you liked school, bucko.”
    “It’s all right. Cousin Tam’s boy don’t go to school, though.”
    “Well, he should, but he’s a lot older than you are.”
    “He says he don’t need no school ’cause he can make more money selling for Cheetah Race. Maybe I can do that when I get older.”
    Sophie tried to keep anger from racing a billiard ball path through her body. She wanted to snatch up Raleigh and shake sense into him. She’d seen so many kids like him, stepping off the cliff of innocence into the chasm of dead eyes and departed spirit. She snared herself into a corset of iron and willed herself to speak calmly and rationally.
    “That’s exactly what you don’t want to do, Raleigh. Cheetah is a gangster, pure and simple, and Tam’s boy is going to be dead within three years. He took that path of his own choosing. If you make that same choice you’ll end up there too. It all looks fine and mighty now, big bucks and better times, but you mark my words and pay