The Hero Next Door Read online

  We arrive at the 7-Eleven. We’re all excited and start jumping around. But we calm down because we’re about to go inside. Walk-a-Man says we can’t go inside until we remember the rules for going inside a store or public place:

  Walk regular.

  Hands to self.

  Don’t touch anything.

  One line, one love.

  Those are Walk-a-Man’s rules. Daisy’s is simple:

  Stay with your buddy.

  Walk-a-Man pushes open the door to the 7-Eleven and we follow him. One line, one love. It’s nice and cool when we step inside. Sumaya rattles her teeth on purpose to show how chilly it is. We both rattle our teeth and rub our arms. But it’s still nice to be inside.

  The man behind the counter smiles at us. He sees us every other day. From his smile, I can tell he likes the Minnows. I don’t think he likes the Sharks very much. The Sharks aren’t allowed inside because of what happened with the Sharks and the candy display. No more Sharks allowed in the 7-Eleven. But we are the Minnows and we’re allowed inside.

  “Lime!” I shout when Daisy asks which flavor I want. Sumaya says she wants blueberry, then I change my mind. “Blueberry!” Lime tastes good, but it doesn’t turn your tongue blue.

  Walk-a-Man raises his hands up and then presses them down against the air. “No shouting,” he says.

  I feel a little small when Walk-a-Man scolds us, but Sumaya giggles.

  Daisy and Walk-a-Man always wait until we’re standing outside in our two-by-twos before giving us our ice pops. It’s taking too long. I want my ice pop now! But we’re still inside the 7-Eleven and I know the rules for being inside a store or public place.

  I can almost feel the freezing tube of crushed ice in my hands. Even better, I can taste the blue ice on my tongue and feel how it will make my teeth rattle for real and turn my teeth, gums, and tongue blue. Sumaya’s, too.

  Daisy counts each ice pop as she hands them over to the clerk. Walk-a-Man takes money out of his pockets to pay.

  I can’t wait. I can’t wait. I can’t wait!

  But then Sumaya pushes into my side and I am about to say, Quit it! but I don’t.

  I look where Sumaya is looking.

  A zombie! Coming down the aisle toward us! He doesn’t smell bad but he looks like he is ready to zombie fall on us, so I grab Sumaya’s hand and pull her away.

  Then Daisy blows her whistle but not so loud, and Walk-a-Man pulls the door open and Sumaya and I start marching, almost running ahead, and mess up our one line, one love, but we have to get away. Daisy tells Sumaya and me to slow down. She stands at the counter with her whistle in her hand to keep the zombie from snatching us. If she wanted to, Daisy could tackle him like a linebacker.

  Sumaya and I are glad to get out the door, even though it’s hot. Maybe hotter than it was before we went inside the 7-Eleven. Walk-a-Man must feel the heat. When we look up at him, it seems like he’s close to the sun. He’s so tall. He smiles and calls out the ice pop flavors. “Lime! Cherry! Orange! Blueberry! Grape!” We jump up and down and shout out the flavors of our ice pops. Some of us rub the cold tubes on our faces and arms before biting open the tubes. Sumaya just holds hers. She doesn’t even bite hers open right away. She just looks inside at the counter where Daisy is standing.

  I look over, too. Daisy and the zombie are at the counter. He looks like he is falling over in slow motion. Just as he dips low, he rises up at the last second, but starts to fall all over again.

  Sumaya shouts, “Run, Daisy! Run! Run, Daisy, run!” All the Minnows laugh at Sumaya. But I don’t. They didn’t see the falling zombie coming toward them in the store. Not like Sumaya and me.

  Walk-a-Man doesn’t laugh at Daisy. He looks worried, like he wants to go inside to help Daisy, but he won’t leave us standing outside alone.

  I look at Daisy. She isn’t afraid at all. She is talking to the zombie. Then she puts a bottle of water on the counter and gives the clerk a dollar.

  Finally, Daisy is safe! She comes outside and Walk-a-Man gives us the signal to march.

  When we are far enough from the 7-Eleven, I say to Sumaya, “They must get thirsty, too.” I don’t say zombie, because she knows who I mean. For the rest of the day at camp it’s really quiet, even though there’s a lot of games and singing and we have our tangerine snack. I think it’s because I play with all the other Minnows. But I only really talk to Sumaya.

  When it is time for our parents and sisters or brothers to pick us up from day camp, Sumaya says to me, she says, “I miss Imiri. I hope he comes home.”

  One Wish

  Ronald L. Smith

  “Got a piece of corn bread, cuz?”

  The man’s voice was as deep as rolling thunder. Wiry black and gray hair stuck out from under his chin. He smelled like a wet dog.

  Sacky looked through the crack in the door. “Not today, Cuz. Maybe when my auntie comes home.”

  The man tipped his wide-brimmed hat and backed away from the door. Sacky watched him slowly walk down the steps and into the street, then closed the door and made his way back inside.

  Everyone knew who the man was. They called him Cuz, which was short for cousin. No one knew what his real name was. Some folks said he was a millionaire, and that he had a pot of gold stuffed away in an old broke-down mansion in Selma. Other people said he was so poor he couldn’t rub two coins together. Sacky didn’t know what to think. All he knew was that the man gave him the creeps, with his lanky, long-legged walk and his odd way of talking. Something about him just didn’t seem right.

  * * *

  —

  Sunshine shot down in long rays and bathed the backyard in lemon-yellow patches of light. Sacky sat with his back propped up against the pecan tree. He called it his Thinking Place, but never said that out loud. His auntie Florence said the tree was there when she was born and would still be standing when she was dead and gone. Sacky didn’t like to think about that, though. He just liked to eat the nuts that rained down when the crows jumped around in the high branches up above his head.

  He reached for a pecan and tapped it against a thick brown root. The secret to cracking pecans was to get a nice hairline crack so you could pry out the nut inside. Smash it too hard and the whole dang shell would break apart and you wouldn’t be able to pull out a nice chunk. Sacky considered himself an expert.

  His friend Auguster was supposed to come by so they could go fishing. He said he knew a spot in the Alabama River where there were so many blue catfish they’d pretty much just jump right into your boat. But Auguster never came when he said he would, so Sacky just waited and ate pecans and watched the white puffy clouds scoot across the sky.

  * * *

  —

  Sacky woke to the sound of a blue jay making a racket. “Dang birds,” he muttered, shaking himself awake. It was just getting to be dark. He must’ve fallen asleep without realizing it. His leg felt like it was stuck with one of his auntie’s knitting needles. She must be home by now, he thought. He got up and brushed pecan dust from his overalls, then went in through the back door, which led to the little kitchen. “Auntie?” he called.

  No answer.

  The house smelled like coal, bacon grease, and yellow cake. Sacky’s auntie had made the cake last night, and she’d said not to touch it or she’d whoop his behind. She’d said it was for a church meeting or funeral or some such thing. The cake sat on a platter on the table, tempting him. The smell rose in his nostrils and made his mouth water.

  Sacky walked over on his tiptoes, like someone was watching. God’s always watching. He heard his auntie’s voice in his head. I can just smell it, he reasoned. Ain’t no harm in that. He reached out with greedy fingers….

  Knock. Knock. Knock.

  He froze in his steps.

  Who could that be, knocking on the door?

  Sacky walked t
hrough the place where a door once stood and into the tiny sitting room. He opened the front door a crack.

  “Got a piece of corn bread, cuz?”

  Sacky sighed. “What do you want?”

  “Your auntie home yet?”

  “No, she’s probably at church.”

  The man called Cuz rubbed his whiskers and moved his lips around in a slack-jawed face. “Cuz is hungry,” he muttered. “You got anything to eat?”

  Sacky wasn’t sure what he should do. His auntie always said that he shouldn’t let people inside the house who they didn’t know. But everybody knew Cuz. He was harmless. Or so people said. But still, Auntie Florence never let him in, which didn’t really make a lot of sense, according to the Bible.

  “You can come in,” he finally said, “but just for a while. Okay?”

  A gleam flared in Cuz’s eye. “Thank you, little sir. Just need a place to sit for a minute.”

  Sacky opened the door wide and Cuz came through.

  Cuz looked around the small room, as if sizing up its worth—the silver candleholders, the good china kept in the cabinet with the glass windows, the silverware from Auntie Florence’s grandmother, and for a moment, Sacky thought he’d made a big mistake.

  Cuz’s eyes finally settled on Sacky. “Let’s make a deal,” he said.

  Sacky screwed up his face. “What kind of deal?”

  “I’ll give you a wish, if you give me something to eat.”

  Sacky shook his head. The man was fool crazy. “A wish? What do you mean? What kind of wish? Like magic or something?”

  “Some call it that,” Cuz said. “Now, let me sit down. My old bones are hurting. Been walking all day.”

  Before Sacky could say no, Cuz flopped down on the couch. Sacky didn’t know how his auntie would feel about that. She didn’t let anybody sit on that couch. She called it a chaise, whatever that was. Cuz took off his hat and set it on his knee. His shoes were dirty and full of holes. “Something to drink?” he said.

  Sacky sighed and went into the kitchen. He opened the little icebox and stuck his head inside. The cold air came out in a mist of white fog. There was a bottle of Coca-Cola, a jar full of corn liquor, some of Auntie’s cough potion, and a big block of ice. Sacky took a knife from the drawer and chipped off a chunk and put it in a glass, then filled it with water. He brought it out to the sitting room and handed the glass to Cuz, who took it with long, sharp fingers. Cuz tilted his head back and swallowed it all in one gulp, and then crunched the ice.

  “Ah!” he said, setting the glass down on the end table.

  “You gotta use the coaster!” Sacky half shouted.

  “Coaster?”

  “That little round thing.” Sacky pointed. “Right there on the table!”

  Cuz picked up his glass and set it back down on the coaster.

  For a moment, no one spoke. Cuz just stared around the room, like he had every right to be there. “About that food,” he finally said. “What you got to eat? I know your auntie’s got some catfish and hoecakes back there. I can smell it.”

  Sacky’s eyebrows rose in surprise. His auntie had made catfish and hoecakes the night before. How did Cuz know that?

  Sacky had to think. He had two choices. He could give Cuz some food or tell him he really needed to go.

  “Old belly’s rumbling,” Cuz complained, laying a skinny hand on his stomach.

  Sacky sighed. “So if I give you something to eat, you said I can make a wish?”

  Cuz nodded. “One wish. That’s all you get.”

  “How do you know how to make a wish come true?” Sacky asked. “You know magic?”

  “Old Cuz knows all kinds of stuff. People just never ask.”

  Sacky paused, thinking. “Okay,” he said. “Wait here, and don’t go stealing nothing.”

  “Cuz don’t steal. Cuz knows right and wrong.”

  Sacky got up and went into the kitchen again. He took the hoecakes from a plate on top of the stove and set them on a little saucer with flowers on it. Cuz wasn’t getting any catfish. They’d eaten it all the night before. You couldn’t just let catfish sit around. You had to eat it when it was hot. Nobody wants cold fish.

  Cuz sniffed like an old dog when he saw Sacky come in. “Here you go,” Sacky said, handing him the saucer.

  Cuz leaned his head over the hoecakes and his nostrils opened wide, like he could inhale the food just by breathing in. “Smells good,” he said.

  “My auntie knows how to do some cooking,” Sacky said. “She’s got the best yellow cake in the county.”

  But Cuz didn’t hear Sacky. He was busy shoveling the hoecakes into his mouth. Crumbs and grease filled his beard. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

  Sacky sat and watched the man eat. The house was quiet but for the sound of crickets and night birds outside, whistling their little songs. When Sacky’s momma and daddy first moved out here, Sacky was only three years old. The earth was dry and flat, laid out like a withered corpse, but they worked a little patch of land and called it home. Sacky was twelve now, almost a man grown. His parents had gone east to look for work and left him in the care of Auntie Florence, who was probably raising her voice in the church choir right this minute. Sacky liked her singing but not all the churchgoing. Folks around here went to church every day and twice on Sunday.

  “Burrrp.”

  Cuz leaned back and put his hand over his stomach. Sacky shook his head. Auntie Florence would throw him out on his behind if he made a burp like that. Cuz reached inside the folds of his coat and withdrew a little silver case. He clicked it open and took out a sliver of wood and began to pick his teeth. He stretched out his legs in front of him. “How about some of that corn liquor your auntie keeps back there?”

  Sacky squinted. This was getting to be too much. “How’d you know my auntie has that?”

  “Old Cuz knows a lot of things.”

  Sacky was getting tired of Cuz’s demands, but he was curious about the wish. Could he really make a wish come true? There was only one way to find out.

  A minute later, Sacky was pouring a small glass of corn liquor into the same glass he had used to give Cuz water. Sacky wrinkled his nose. It smelled awful, like it could burn a hole right through you. Auntie Florence didn’t drink it, but offered it to some folks who came by now and then. Cuz drank it down without stopping. Sacky was sure he’d cough and sputter, like Auguster did one time on a dare, but Cuz did no such thing.

  “Now,” Sacky said, “tell me about this wish.”

  Cuz breathed in real deep, and then let it out slow. “Need to go outside for that,” he said, and stood up.

  Sacky had never realized how tall Cuz was, but seeing him rise up the way he did made Sacky think of a giant in a storybook. When Cuz asked for food on people’s front steps, he was kind of worn-down and bent, like he carried all the troubles of the world on his bony shoulders. But now he seemed to take up all the air in the room and then some.

  Cuz followed Sacky out back. Lantern lights flickered in distant houses beyond the field. The moon cast light down through the weeping willow trees and made the stringy moss shine like silver. Cuz started humming then, a little song that sounded pleasant in Sacky’s ears. “What’s that song?” he asked.

  Cuz stopped his humming. “That’s an old song, before the mountains rose up and the rivers got filled with water from God’s tears.”

  Sacky didn’t know what that meant. It sounded like some kind of church talk. He sighed and stood in front of Cuz. “C’mon, then,” he said. “My auntie’s gonna be back soon. If she finds out I let you in the house, she’s gonna beat both our behinds!”

  Old Cuz must’ve thought that was right funny, because he threw his head back and howled. “Okay, boy,” he said. “I’m gonna give you your wish, but I gotta tell you a story first.”

 
Sacky groaned. “Okay.”

  “Sit down right there,” Cuz ordered, pointing to the gnarled base of the pecan tree. Sacky wondered what old Cuz was up to, but he sat down and rested his back against the tree anyway.

  Cuz raised his arms in the air, and Sacky thought they stretched out as long as the tree limbs, but it must’ve been a trick of the moonlight. “Listen,” Cuz started, “for I shall tell you a tale of a dark night, and what happened in the deepest paths of the forest.”

  Sacky looked up at Cuz. The stars twinkled behind him, and the wind rustled the leaves in the trees. Night creatures stirred in unseen places, hidden.

  “Long time ago, when the earth was still young, the wild things were the kings and queens of the forest. There was the mighty lion, with his bloodstained claws, the sleek gazelle, who could run faster than a swift river, and the elephants, whose footsteps sounded like thunder.”

  Cuz stopped and licked his lips. “And then there was the wolf.”

  Sacky shivered a little. Something about the way Cuz said that made him uneasy.

  “Now, the wolf was sly and quick, and could always find food where other animals couldn’t. He found it in the rock caves and in the wide fields, in the mountains and the desert, and one time he found it in a farmer’s field.”

  “What did he find?” Sacky asked.

  Cuz grinned. “He found some young chickens. And you know what he did?”

  Cuz’s eyes seemed to glow in the dark. Sacky shifted his back against the tree. Maybe he shouldn’t be out here in the dark with Cuz. “What did he do?” he asked.