Free Echoes of a Distant Summer by Guy Johnson Page B

convenient that you can turn off your heart. It’s so simple for you!”
    His grandfather answered without inflection, “Don’t get it twisted. LaValle’s responsible for Jacques’s death. He has information that I need, then he’s fresh meat.”
    Serena paused for a breath and then shouted, “You promised me he’d be under your protection as long as you have the strength to provide it! We are talking about your remaining son!”
    His grandfather’s tone turned colder as he growled, “You know that white man’s boy ain’t my son. Never was. Because of you I only had one son. I would’ve had two, maybe three sons but we know that story, don’t we? It don’t matter either way, Serena. You know he’s weak and rotten through to his core. We both know it, don’t we?”
    “What kind of father are you? You agreed to give him your name! You agreed to treat him the same as Jacques!”
    His grandfather answered grudgingly, “He was yo’ child. You wouldn’t let me treat him the same as Jacques. You wouldn’t let me have a hand rearin’ him. You wouldn’t let me make him my son. And the way you done raised him wouldn’t do him justice even if he wore a skirt. Still, I won’t go back on my word. I won’t kill him, but I won’t let a coward and a traitor go unpunished either. He gon’ receive an ass-whipping every time I see him.”
    “You’re going to sit in judgment on your own son? Damn, if that isn’taudacity. You’re responsible for the death of one son, now you’re planning to maim the other! Who’s sitting in judgment on you?”
    “Who’s sittin’ in judgment on you, Serena? How many of yo’ own people have you killed for this boy? I know you ain’t lifted a hand in violence, but it’s like you pulled the trigger. Let’s talk about Della’s miscarriages, the death of Tini and her baby. Let’s talk about yo’ brother Amos and yo’ two sisters and why nobody else in yo’ family got any chil’ren.”
    “Must you always bring up this subject?”
    “Only when you forget Sister Bornais’s curse.”
    “LaValle has a weak constitution. You can’t measure him by the same standard.”
    “As usual, you’s defendin’ him without knowin’ nothin’ about what happened.”
    “I don’t know anything about what happened tonight, but I do know about a boy struggling for his father’s smile but not getting it, and all the while the attention going to his younger brother. I know about that!”
    “Seems to me, I just reminded you of yo’ part in that struggle. You didn’t think manhood had to be earned. You thought it was automatic. Well, LaValle is a testament that if a boy don’t get the right trainin’, he just get older and bigger. He don’t ever turn into a man.”
    “All right! All right! I made mistakes. Are you satisfied? I’ve owned up. LaValle shouldn’t have to pay for my mistakes. It was my fault, not his.”
    “You talkin’ like some white-bread head-shrink who’s mo’ interested in justifyin’ weakness than in helpin’ somebody be strong.” The sarcasm was heavy in his grandfather’s voice. “Life is all about dealin’ with pressure and responsibility, and makin’ hard decisions. You don’t help nobody tellin’ ’em they can run away from somethin’, ’specially when you know they can’t run away from nothin’ important. You got to show them how to deal with things, how to find the courage inside.”
    “LaValle had a weak constitution! From birth—”
    “That justifies him turnin’ traitor to the people that raised him? His weakness?” King’s sarcasm was sharp and jagged like the corroded edge of a razor. “Bullshit! The boy can’t cut it; never could, never will. He ain’t nothin’ but a mama’s boy, just sly and sneaky with no backbone. Thank God, Sister Bornais said he don’t have too long to live now, otherwise …” His grandfather left the room and headed for the back ofthe house. His grandmother stifled a sob and then exhaled