Hard look the one he had the day he fought back.he raises his face and I almost feel hopeful almost think it's going to knock daddy straight into forever .The two by fours slam into the side of Iggy's head he groans dump is backwards for still grill in Crumble Like pile of dirty laundry .do you want to repeat yourself boy?Daddys face whistle and whip through the air find in iggy. face in his back and his freckled arms when he holds them up to stop the blows.
Everything is happening so fast I can't see what part of Iggy daddy is going to hit next and I can't remember which part of him he hit last s.and I Can't telll who is screaming no me or Iggy.and then daddy's footsteps feet into the house and he's gone he's curled up in the grass I wonder if he's dead my screams get caught in my throat finally it breaks through my lips come out a horse whisperer Iggy I stare at my brothers bloody face.his twisted hands the stillness of his eyelids Iggy?his body launches and he starts to shake and sob.he's not dead the blood that's pumping down his cheek is hot fresh,I raced to his side and hold him and say,I hate you daddy I hate you daddy daddy back in the house so he can't hear me but Iggy tells me not to hate because it will eat me up like the Hansel Gretel witch and I wonder where in gods name he come up with this stuff anyway why does Iggy certainly care if I hate daddy went 10 minutes ago Iggy were saying you hate him to?How can he not hate daddy after he did?we how to get into the sun falls behind the low Rollinghills cast orange light over the cornfield and golden grass Daddys boots stop stomping and we were hiding in his room now the way he does when he hitting is donewe know he will pass out soon we know he won't come out until morning.The summer heat still rages I worry that we will get ticks behind our ears from laying in the grass for too long Especially with the smell of iggy blood to attract them.some of the blood is coming from Eggy's eyes which is purple and swollen halfway shut I know ice is the thing for bruises and swelling so I take it he's here and help him up we tiptoe into the house into mommy's kitchen.she sitting there at the table her delicate clean hands folded neatly in her lap she stares at the pink roses on her white lace tablecloth she doesn't look up when we walk in.we need ice, momma I say is she not staying in slowly as if she's a beauty queen being caught the microphone to talk about starving children and how she love to feel there bellies with a nice warm milk,mamas move the wrinkles in her apron I wonder how her candy apple colored lipstick stay so perfect not a bit of it on her straight white teeth in his humidity.you OK sport?X is Iggy she reaches up to Tatsu his white colored hair in depth at the close of the blood with the corner of her starch apron.Ignotz and she smiles and says that's my boy she opens the freezer in a brief went to comes machine out cooling us down a little bit.Fanning her face with her mask and let fingertips mama slowly press is her breath out to her big lips in the way she does when she's smoking cigarettes it was a hot one out there today she laughs and then take the ice tray from the freezer asked if she intends to pop the cubes into a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade.fanning her face with her masculine fingertips mama slowly presses her breath out through her big lips in the way she does when she's smoking cigarettes it was a hot one out there today she laughs and then takes the ice tray from the freezer asked if she intends to pop the cubes into a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade I swear, Tiana ,I was never meant to be a Farmer's wife that much I know she size 4 and a chicken dish around the ice cubes.I should've gone to Albuquerque with my cousin when Jordan off to that cosmetology school,I I should've gone there too he makes $40 an hour now did I tell you that?I shake my head no ,well she goes on he does.and I'm not sure this life is suited to me.I think she's right she has a magazine girl hairs down and wipe all the fingernails she should be one of those women in the television ads that click click around the city house in fancy shoes and design jeans ,Justin things and declaring that they can never live in Momo without their swiffer mop she presses a dish cloth to Iggy Zies he can raise is a hair to hold it and when she sees the way his pinky finger stick straight out to the side her face crumbles like she's going to cry instead she paused it to go to say is I do declare Iggy stuff you kids get your self into sometimes.if I had my angel sore I will hit her over the head with him for being so dumb and blind she knew how Iggy got hurt maybe a good work with a fire a resort will get her thinking and talking straight across my arms in Steerhogs at her knowing that she's trying to make up for what daddy did.she wipes at Iggy's are into the blood is gone and she kisses him on the cheek and say you're the boy always want to Iggy if I could have any boy in the world for my pick it be you.eyes for like the August son like he has been waiting all his life to hear someone say this even though mama say it every time daddy beats him.mama takes Iggy by the hair and leads him up the stairs and took him into his bed he lets her mostly for he her shake that's how Iggy is always taking care of me and mama always trying to make mama believe she's a good mama even though she's fucking sucks.if she needs to treat him like he's forward to make up for what daddy did Iggy let her but it's not bringing him comfort I know mom expects me to go to bed too though she's so busy making them for eggs bloody eye and busted finger that she doesn't have time to say so she knows I'll do what's right without being asked because that's what angels do bestI huddle in my bag listen to mama trying to sing Iggy to sleep even though he's a full 17 year old when her shoes click clock down the stairs I tiptoed across the hall and quite to Iggy bed-hey sis he whispers in his hand finds mine and the dark we lay there together side-by-side watching in the window at the moon rises into the sky like a loose lemon meringue pie we don't talk and he will cry if he tries and if I talk I'll tell my secret for sure .and how will that fix anything?we fall asleep still with our hands still stuck together and Me thinking that everything will be all right in the morning mama will cook us breakfast and sing about clowns with their pants falling down how the world is a stage of entertainment the pink it will be warm and just the right kind of brown they won't be drunk anymore and he'll call me his rules but it's in the office quick kiss on the cheek and then I'll learn that flies carry so many germs it's a miracle that any of us feel the hooligans are still alive and scientists think that and is cancer in the lax on the wings in the snails on a throne and God's in his heaven of it all right with the world.iggy wakes up The middle of the night barfing and making this awful warm and sound it scares me I switch on the left just as he finish vomiting is everywhere on his bed on the walls on the rainbow colored rug mama bought them at Walmart it has even split it with some of the drawings I made for him which he has pinned to the wall the whole room smells sour it might piss me off with Iggy didn't look so scared so different You ok Iggy? I ask he just sits there shivering in his arms wrapped around his knees staring at the ceiling Iggy I say let's go to the bathroom OK?but he does it he just puked again right on his bed mama I holler and I have a minute later she comes In what is it?her hair is a mess her eyes are wild see you in the bath she stumbles towards Iggy my baby she says you feel sick honey?he just stares equals all like that for a long long time Mama and me XLe questions Iggy answered by barfing 🤮 and stareing Daddy must still be too drunk to hear anything because we're making enough noise to raise an army of dead man but he never comes in thank God the least thing we need is to do with his ugly face.it seems like forever before mama says get dress tiana why? I asked something tells me I should remember her words something in me knows they will change everything nothing will ever be the same again we're going to the hospital she says and chokes a little like she's going to cry but does she takes the medicine grandma made a gift from the chair in the corner and the wraps it around him come on baby she says let's get you to the doctor.she doesn't tell daddy we're going I worry I wonder what daddy will do when he finds us gone I wonder if he'll
