Have Spacecat, Will Travel: And Other Tails by John Hartness (top ebook reader .TXT) 📕

little shirtless boy drinkin’ out of the garden hose

that never remembers to let it run cold first

before he spits out a big mouthful of hot

green plastic-tasting water.

I’m cutoff shorts and flip-flops

eating watermelon off a butter knife

with just a little dash of salt to go with the sweet

sweeeeeet juicy of every bite

after that big ol’ melon’s been sittin’ in the ice box all afternoon.

I’m sitting on the porch listening to my sister sing

while daddy picks a little on the front porch as the dog day storms roll in.

Thunder means God’s bowling

and rain when the sun shines means the Devil’s beating his wife

but who’d marry the devil anyhow?

I’m home —

I’m safe in momma’s arms while the lightning dances across the horizon.

I’m home —

I’m the smell of wood smoke in January with a load of firewood in my arms.

I’m more than a memory

that flashes like fireflies in Granny’s azaleas —

gone like mud puddles from yesterday’s rain

in the glare of all those tomorrows.

I’m

home.

21

Reunion

Oh, hell no!” Jessica Bates said as she looked at the plane ticket in her hand.

“Come on, Jess, it’ll be fun,” her boyfriend, business partner, travel arranger, and the current target of her ire Michael Sutton said. “You haven’t been back since you graduated high school. It’s time to show everybody how awesome you are now.”

“One, I was awesome then. Two, those fuckers didn’t deserve my awesome twenty years ago. And three, they certainly haven’t done anything to earn it now. I’m not going back there. I hated that place when I was in school, and I made myself a promise that if I lived through high school, I was going to get the hell out of Dodge and never look back. I’ve spent twenty years keeping that promise, and I don’t intend to break it now.”

“What’s the big deal, Jess? It’s just a gig, like all the others. Except this one is in your hometown, and we’re getting paid double,” Sam Chima, their tech wizard, said from where she knelt arranging her bags and cases of equipment for the flight.

“The big deal is you guys springing this on me at the goddamn airport because you knew it was the only way you could get me to go! You knew if I had any idea this shoot was in Jackson that I’d veto it.” Jess grabbed her bags from the sidewalk and turned to put them back in the van, but the minivan they’d hired to get the four of them to the airport was already gone. “I guess this was why you insisted on taking a cab this morning, too?” She looked at Billy Colgood, their chief camera guy and editor.

“Yep. We knew you’d pitch a fit, so we took a cab. We knew you’d be a pain in the ass about it, so we didn’t tell you until now. We knew you’d eventually come around when Mike explained exactly how much money your old hometown is paying us to do this investigation of the school and you realized that it’ll pay for both new cameras we want plus my new MacBook Pro with Final Cut Pro. So suck it up, grab your gear, and get on the plane.” Billy hefted a camera bag onto his shoulder and shouldered his way past the sputtering Jessica into the airport.

Jess turned back to Mike, who stood there with a wry look on his face. “I should slap those glasses right off your smug little face,” she said. Bring it in, Jess; you’re making a scene, and not the kind you want. Since the ParaNetwork had picked up their show last spring, they had to be careful of paparazzi, almost like they were real celebrities instead of paranormal investigators.

“But you won’t,” Mike said, giving her that little cockeyed grin that made the dimples pop out on his cheeks. He knew she couldn’t resist the dimples, so he deployed them mercilessly when she was pissed, like now. He even let a little brown curl fall down over one eye, making him look even more mop-headed and absent-mindedly adorable than normal. Jessica knew every bit of it was for effect, hell, she’d taught him the trick with the curl, saying it made him irresistible to the camera. Too bad it still worked on her, too.

“You’re lucky I love you, you bastard,” she said, giving him a light slap on one cheek.

“That’s true on so many levels, my dear.” Mike leaned in to give her a kiss, to retching noises from Sam.

“Gross! Straight people sex makes me want to vomit,” the avowed lesbian electronics tech said, but it was with a smile.

“But you’re carrying my bags, asshole,” Jess said, following Billy into the airport. She found him chatting with a security guard by a door marked “Charter Traffic.” Billy waved her over when he spotted her, and moments later the team of four were all gathered by the door with a cart for their gear and luggage.

“Everybody here?” the guard asked, and at an affirmative from Mike, he opened the door and led them through to the charter check-in area. Thirty minutes later their bags were stowed, the team was on board the small jet, and Jessica was rapidly slamming mini-bottles of vodka in preparation to return to her high school after twenty years.

The next morning saw a team of three paranormal investigators gathered around the breakfast buffet in the lobby of a Tennessee motel. Mike was working his way through a plate stacked high with waffles when Sam cleared her throat for the third time.

“You choking, Sammy?” Mike asked.

“No, just wondering when you’re going to answer the question.”

“And what question would that be?” Mike asked, his round face a study in bland innocence.

“Don’t give me that shit. It might work on your girlfriend, but no matter what fantasies you may be harboring, I’m not sleeping with you. So your masculine wiles are useless.”

“I think his masculine wiles are probably useless if you are sleeping with him,” Billy interjected. The thin editor held