Underneath a thick yellow yoke of light, Peanut and Boo stood in front of the building where they lived. Peanut bright in a light blue summer dress and white pumps. Boo small, even for a seven-year-old. Looked more like a midget than a child. White cotton double-breasted suit. A red and white polka-dot tie. White loafers. A square house cut, like Lee’s. Sharp. As bright as a fresh egg. A cute midget.
Hey, baby girl.
Hey, honey.
They touched lips.
Hello, Mr. Christmas, Boo said. He extended a tiny hand.
Lee chuckled. Took the hand into his own. Hello, Boo. Aren’t you sharp today?
The boy squeezed Lee’s hand. He had a powerful grip.
We must go to the same barber. Lee tried not to concentrate on the pain in his hand.
That’s a real nice haircut you got, Peanut said. She kissed Lee on the cheek.
Thank you, Lee said. Ran his free hand over the privet hedge.
Boo didn’t crack a smile. Yeah. We must go to the same barber, Mr. Christmas.
Lee tried to withdraw his hand.
That’s a nice suit too, Peanut said.
Thank you, Lee said. His hand bubbled hot, deep in boiling wate r.
Boo withdrew his grip. Lee thought he had exaggerated the child’s strength. Still, there was no denying the throbbing in his hand. The sun glowed brighter, spreading a fan of light. Boo’s eyes, large and black, shining black. Lee took Peanut by the arm. Led her to the car. Boo walked beside them. Lee held the door open for Peanut. She slid into the front passenger seat. Lee shut the door quietly behind her. Held open the rear door for Boo.
Thank you, Mr. Christmas, Boo said.
You’re welcome, Boo. Lee’s hand throbbed.
I like yo car, Mr. Christmas.
Thank you, Boo. Lee shut the door behind the boy. Stepped quickly around the rear of his car. Opened his door and stooped into the driver’s seat. We gon have a fine time today. He hit the ignition. The engine gurgled, then spit to life.
Gon do my best, honey, Peanut said. She smiled. More pleasant than usual. Lee gave her a long look. Round face and a small mouth and freckles like seeds on both cheeks. Hair dyed to match her skin complexion. Combed forward into a pouf to expose the back of her neck. Her smile helped ease Lee’s tension. It even made his hand feel better. But some feeling flowed up from his belly in soft surges. Wet his chest.
Better keep yo eyes on the road, Peanut said.
Lee swallowed. I got eyes all over my body.
I just bet you do.
Lee put both hands on the wheel. Eased up on the gas. Pulled the car into the middle of the road.
The sun roared without pause. This sun is something else today, Lee said.
Yeah, it is sort of bad, Peanut said.
Is that sun bothering you, Boo? Lee asked.
I’m all right, Mr. Christmas. The voice rose from the backseat.
I don’t know how you can stand this sun, Lee said to Peanut.
Is that all you gon talk about? The sun?
Even Boo can’t stand the sun. Lee watched the child’s reflection in the rearview mirror. The cute midget sat stiff and straight, hands folded in his lap, legs dangling over the edge of the seat. Eyes closed to the sun.
He didn’t say that, Peanut said. God. I don’t want to hear bout no sun.
Okay, Lee said. The sun bothered him.
Peanut looked into the mirror. The sun don’t bother Boo. He just meditating like a lil ole man and whatnot. He always do that.
Well, he sho is a quiet one. Lee frowned into the sun.
You ain’t give him chance to say nothing yet. You keep talkin bout the sun.
I’m sorry. Here he was, apologizing in his own car.
Boo ain’t quiet.
Lee looked in the mirror. Boo still had his eyes closed. I don’t see how you can say that.
Look. He jus stoical.
What?
Boy, you dense. He stoical and whatnot.
Run that by me again.
Peanut rolled her eyes. Boy, I tell you. Boo like a lil ole man. Ain’t cried but once in his life, and that was when he was born.
I don’t believe that, Lee said. He couldn’t explain why he didn’t believe it.
Look, I’m tellin the truth. The only other time he cried is when I whupped him with a extension cord.
You hit him with an extension cord?
That’s right.
But he’s just a child.
Yeah, that’s right, but I tore his butt up too. Didn’t I, Boo? She glanced back over her seat.
Yes, ma’am. Boo didn’t open his eyes.
He wasn’t actin right, and I tore his butt up. You got to discipline yo kids.
Lee didn’t say anything. He didn’t want Peanut to get angry.
And let me tell you something. When Boo got circumcised, he didn’t bat an eye. And weren’t but two, three, months old.
Lee found this hard to believe. I once saw a ghost, he thought. Why do I find this so hard to believe? The doctors must have had him sedated, he said.
They don’t sedate babies when they get circumcised and whatnot.
Who told you that?
Everybody know that. Anyway, nobody had to tell me. Seen it for myself. I had to watch. I wasn’t gon let no doctor hurt my baby.
Why would a doctor want to hurt a baby?
Boy, you don’t know nothing. Doctors are sadists.
Lee had to force his laughter back down his throat. Now, come on, Peanut, he said.
Don’t you know anything about doctors?
I guess not.
Anyway—
She missed Lee’s sarcasm.
— Boo jus like a lil ole man. One time I gave him a whupping wit a belt, and he jus looked up at me and said, Mamma, see if you can’t whup me a little harder.
Lee considered the likelihood of this.
And he won’t go to bed at night until he had a good whupping. Ain’t that right, Boo? She glanced back over her seat.
Yes, ma’am. He didn’t open his eyes.
I be so tired from whupping him, I just fall across the bed and go to sleep.
He ain’t normal, Lee said. It had slipped out. He mentally slapped himself.
What you mean, he ain’t normal?
Lee could feel her eyes burning a hole in the side of his face. I mean … he’s special. Gifted.
That’s right. He do real good in school. He always thinkin. Sometime he be jus as quiet as a Buddha on a shelf and whatnot.
I see.
They reached Turtle Avenue. Lee turned onto it.
Hey, pull up over at the sto. She pointed to Cut Rate Liquor half a block away. I need to put in some lottery numbers.
I didn’t know that you played the lottery, Lee said.
Of course. Pull over.
Okay. Lee drove past the store.
You passed up the sto and whatnot, Peanut said.
I’m going to get that spot over there in the shade.
Are you talking bout the sun again?
No. I just want to get a shady spot.
You and yo shade.
Lee drove half a block past the store and parked in a space beside a tree. Disappointed to discover that it did a poor job of blocking the sun. Its leaves few and thin, the space between them like the space between the spokes of a wheel. They mainly dropped over the sidewalk.
What’s yo birthday? Peanut asked.
What?
Silly, I’m gon play yo birthday.
Oh. Ten five … You guess the rest.
Ain’t you Mr. Secretive.
That’s me.
Boo, keep Mr. Christmas company while I’m gone.
Fear moved inside Lee’s chest.
Yes, ma’am, Boo said. He didn’t open his eyes.
Peanut kissed Lee on the cheek. He didn’t feel comfortable kissing in front of the kid. Had actually shivered when Peanut kissed him. He hoped that she didn’t sense his uneasiness. Peanut got out of the car. Shut her door. To show her that he was at ease with himself, confident, Lee leaned over the passenger seat and called after her through the car window. Hey.