Goodbye Earl(78)

“Yep. My black daddy built this house, Trey, and you’re right. It is amazing. Come here and I’ll show you something,” she said to him, taking his hand and leading him out the back door. She pointed at the roof and told him about the rain barrels her dad had painted, but none of it registered one bit to Trey, because he was tripping balls on another planet. He was putting his hands all over her and Kasey let him, not worried he’d feel the knife.

Wouldn’t matter if he did.

Wouldn’t be much longer now.

“Whoops. Stars are spinning and I’m seeing all kinds of weird…like…glowing turtles. Did you see a glowing turtle up there? I think I need to sit,” he said, pointing at the roof, then down at the ground.

“Let’s do that, cowboy,” she said, pulling his arm toward the far end of the property where the water licked at the rocks. “Let’s go out on the dock and do it. It’s prettier.”



They walked up the steps and down to the edge. She sat first and tugged on his jeans so he’d sit too. Then, she climbed on top of him, laid him back and leaned down. He closed his eyes and kissed her.

She let him.

Wouldn’t be much longer now.

“Do you feel good?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said softly.

“Do you want to come with me no matter where I go?”

“Hell yeah, Kasey. Kasey Fritz. Your name feels so good to say. My mouth. Feels good in my mouth, Frasey Kritz.”

“So, let’s pretend to go to sleep so we can catch those turtles, okay? Let’s go swim with the turtles. It’s turtles all the way down. Will you come with me?” she said into his ear as a soft, weird snore escaped his mouth. He moved his head with his eyes half-closed and mumbled something about not being able to swim. “I know. That’s okay. I’ll go tell those turtles we’re on the way. They’ll take good care of us.” After waiting until it seemed like he was asleep, she stood and walked toward the farmhouse, pssting for Rosemarie and Ada.

They stepped into the moonlight.

“He’s completely out of it, so we need to get him in the water now,” she whispered to them.

“God, he’s huge, though,” Ada said.

“We don’t have to put him in far. It’s deep,” Rosemarie said.

“I’ll jump in with him. Come on,” Kasey said.

When they got to Trey he was kind of awake again and the expression on his face had changed into a smug half smile. He was moving his head back and forth on the wood like it felt good to do it.

Kasey remembered the ballcap in his back pocket and pulled it out.

“Trey,” Rosemarie whispered, “we’re your sirens, here to sing you a song about how you can’t get away with raping and beating women. Those women will make sure you can never do those things again.” She got close and, after taking the ballcap from Kasey, tucked it onto his head. Trey mumbled something but he was deep in the depths of bourbon LSD magic mushroom land.

They pulled and pushed him so he was sitting up. He slumped again and his ballcap fell off. Kasey turned and watched it floating there in the dark water, then it was gone.

“Okay, help me—” Kasey said to the girls, but she stopped when Trey sat up again and grabbed her leg.

“Don’t!” Ada said.

“Trey, relax. Let’s swim,” Kasey said to him. He got on his feet and put his arm around her.

“Sit down, Trey,” Rosemarie said coolly.

He turned to look at her. He didn’t ask what she was doing there. He didn’t react at all; he just obeyed.

“Sometimes the sirens get bossy,” Kasey said, relieved he’d let her go. She motioned to Rosemarie and Ada to stay back, and she sat next to him.

He looked right through her before he grabbed her hair and yanked. Kasey suppressed the scream.

It was happening again. Everything was going wrong. He’d kill her. He didn’t even know what he was doing and he was too strong. He pulled her hair again and held her arms.

The knife.

If he let go even for a split second, she could get the knife out of her pocket.

But he didn’t let go.

He wouldn’t.

She felt the girls move toward them. Trey shook Kasey so hard she bit her tongue, and he was mumbling something she couldn’t make out. She said his name with blood in her mouth and prepared herself to fall in the water.

She thought of ways to keep from drowning during a struggle, of ways to fight him off. She thought of her mom’s last moments. They were like this too, hopeless and scorching in the red-hot anger of a violent man.

She’d scream.

She had to! Someone could come and help them. Kasey opened her mouth to do it and turned her head. Suddenly, Trey let her go and Kasey moved behind him.

She watched Rosemarie put her foot on the small of Trey’s back and Ada lift a big rock with both hands. Ada brought the rock down on his head like an egg cracking on the rim of a bowl.

That quick, Trey fell forward and the lake swallowed him up with a gushy gulp.

“Ada!” Rosemarie said.

“Shit, Ada!” Kasey said.

“Kase, are you okay?” Rosemarie and Ada asked her at the same time.

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” she said, wiping blood from her mouth.

“I’m sorry…I was scared he’d grab you again…that he’d hurt you…I wanted to make sure…to make sure…he’d be dead,” Ada said too loudly, wiping her hands on her jeans. She had wild eyes and Rosemarie went and hugged her, pulled her head close, and shushed her so she wouldn’t make any more noise.