Iona Moon Read Free

wanted—” She choked on her words. “You said you had a surprise.” Matt didn’t laugh at her. “I just wanted to see something.”
    He knelt beside her. She’d been sucking on her hair and he pulled the wet strand from her mouth. “I’ll show you something,” he said.
    He knew a secret place, a cave he’d dug in the earth at the edge of the woods. He took her there and no one found them. They barely fit down the narrow mouth and had to lie chest to chest, not moving, faces close, legs entwined. The hole was damp with decaying roots and leaves; it smelled like the inside of an animal, her father’s bloody hands, a calf just born. She liked being swallowed. She liked this boy with sour breath and skinny arms. He held her tight but didn’t rub against her, didn’t make her jeans chafe her thighs, didn’t bruise her ribs the way her brother Leon did when he paid her a dime to lie down with him.
    Days later, she tried to find the cave alone, but a hard rain had made the roof collapse and filled the opening with silt. They could have been buried alive. She thought about that a lot. When Mama swore or Daddy pulled his belt from the loops, she said to herself: I could have died .
    Willy knew his mother blamed Horton for the whole thing. “You never should have cuffed him,” she said.
    â€œI wanted him to understand.”
    â€œWhat if it had been your boy?”
    â€œI would’ve whupped his ass.”
    â€œYou should have taken him home instead of locking him up.”
    â€œHow was I supposed to know his folks would leave him there all night?”
    â€œYou shouldn’t have told them the lights cost so damn much. The boy was just pulling a prank.”
    â€œI don’t make the laws, Flo. I just follow them.”
    â€œWhy not chop off his hand?”
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œEye for an eye, Mr. High and Mighty.”
    â€œI wasn’t the judge. I didn’t send him to that school.”
    â€œYou cuffed him like a man. Took him to jail. You called it a felony.”
    â€œI do my job. I do what I think is right.”
    â€œAnd if some boy loses his head because you’re doing what you think is right, well that’s just the price of justice.”
    â€œI can’t see the future, Flo.”
    â€œYou can’t see your own hand in the dark.”
    â€œWhat’s that supposed to mean?”
    But there was no explanation. Willy’s mother put on her coat and said she was going for a drive. Horton sat down at the kitchen table, his head in his hands. Willy wanted to go to him, wanted to sit beside him in the dark and say: Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his hands . He knew the words from Sunday school, knew that all men were sinners, all were dirty. Only by God’s grace would the chosen few be spared. He wished he could tell his father what he’d seen Iona Moon do with Matt Fry. If anyone touches an unclean thing, he shall be guilty . Why should decent folks feel any pity for people like that?
    Willy’s sisters sneaked up behind him while he stood watching his father. Lorena grabbed his legs and Mariette knocked him over. They pinned him to the floor and started tickling. They weren’t strong, but they were both fat. Once they were on top of him, he couldn’t move. Willy heard the back door snap. Horton wasn’t going to have any of their nonsense tonight. But his father’s presence was still in the house. Don’t hurt your sisters , Willy . Lorena was crushing his bladder. Never hit a lady . Mariette shoved her fingers into his ribs, not tickling but jabbing, making him writhe. A man is stronger than any woman. Stronger in his body, stronger in his mind . He had to pee. Lorena had her big butt right on his pelvis. His arm was twisted behind his back. He felt tears sting his eyes, the hot shame, his bed wet again. Jesus, Willy . His