The Colours of August MxM (Staten Krown)

7

"It's going to be exciting, everyone's going to be out," June Bug is telling me, "Got my girl a dog tonight. She always wanted a greyhound."

I can see how June Bug talks about Mary Flannery. He really seems to like her.

"Did you give it to her yet?"

"Sure did. You should come down and see him. I named him July. Like us. Come on. Come down. Everyone's already downstairs. Even Carol..."

He winks at me as though I should care that Carol is downstairs.

June Bug is trying to get me excited about the party. We're in my bathroom. From the music flowing downstairs, I have a feeling the party has already started. I look in the mirror. I think a suit fits me. I don't get the chance to wear too many. I have my hair slicked back and gelled. My eyes were hazel today, which almost made me look older and more mature than I really was. Truth is I have this rolling feeling in my stomach that all of this is for nothing.

"Hey, June Bug?"

"Yeah?"

"You've known Carol for a while, right?"

"Of course."

"Do you think she is telling the truth about the rape?" I ask.

June Bug looks at me as though I have two heads or something like that. He seems a little amused that I asked him that question.

"Why would she lie about that?" June Bug asks.

"Maybe...I don't know. Maybe she was embarrassed about it or something," I explain.

June Bug gets quiet. He's thinking about it.

"Can't say I didn't think it was weird that she took you to a negro bar, to begin with," June Bug says, "People around here...we don't do that."

"Exactly. And she was..." I start out before taking a deep breath, "She was flirting with them June Bug..."

"Serious?" he asks.

"I swear."

I couldn't make this shit up. I haven't been able to sleep or anything like that since it happened. That night keeps playing in my mind. The cops keep dropping by to give updates on their search. Then there was all this stuff that was going on with Stevie and Chuck. It seemed like that one night had messed everything up.

"Man those are serious allegations," June Bug says, "People are going crazy out here. If those boys are caught they'd be lucky if they get a trial. They might just be shot on sight."

"What do you think I should do?"

June Bug pauses for a while, "Go back to the police. Let them know everything you know about the flirting that was going on."

"They won't listen..."

June Bug shrugs, "Maybe it'll embarrass Carol so much she'll just admit she's lying..."

June Bug had a point. The most I could do is tell the truth. I'm glad that I have at least one Crawford down here that wasn't batshit crazy. The more I was down here the more I felt like I had stepped into some strange world where everything was backward. It was nice knowing there was at least one Crawford who still had his wits about him.

It was a long shot but it was worth a try to go into the specifics of how Carol was flirting with those boys.

"You're right," I admit.

June Bug puts a smile on, "Don't let it stress you. You look nice. Any girl out there will be crazy about you. Maybe tonight you might find the one."