“We ain’t never had any before,” Peter said, as we gazed at the small, framed chalkboard behind the counter, with the available flavors listed in large white printed letters.
“What flavor do you want, Lizzie?”Oscar asked, gazing up at the words on the board.“There’s vanilla and chocolate.Why, there’s even lemon,” he said, with such a casual air that I blinked with surprise and couldn’t help the smile that formed on my face.’Twas because of me, and because of Oscar’s hard work learning his letters and practicing, that he could read those words, and I was more’n proud.He turned to glance at me, and his smile matched mine.Then he looked down at Lizzie.
Her eyes had gone wide at the thought of the special treat.She looked at Oscar, her mouth open as if she wanted to choose but couldn’t possibly.Peter seemed equally overwhelmed.
“Why, I think I’ll have the chocolate,” I said.
“You want chocolate, Lizzie?I was going to have vanilla, but I think I’ll have what Jimmy’s havin’,” Oscar said.
“Okay,” Lizzie said, in a very small voice.“Me, too, please.”
“Peter?”Oscar said.
“I’ll have vanilla, please.”
Oscar ordered the sweet treats from the shopkeeper, and soon we were sitting around the corner on a bench, the children licking the cream from their cones with dazed and happy expressions on their sweet faces.
I couldn’t keep my gaze off Oscar’s tongue as he licked his chocolate ice cream, and then our gazes met, and I felt a jolt of arousal go through me.But now was not the time, so I averted my gaze as he smirked, and Lizzie uttered a startled cry.
I looked o’er to see little Lizzie staring down at her scoop of ice cream, which had fallen onto her brand-new dress that, of course, she’d insisted on wearing.
She started to cry before any of us had time to react.
“I’m sorry.I’m sorry,” she sniffed.“I ruined my new dress!I should have been more careful.”
Peter flashed me a panicked look, then put a hand on Lizzie’s shoulder as we rushed to reassure her.
“But ’tis myonlynice frock, the other one gots blood all over it and t’was my favorite.That’llnevercome out, so momma burned it up.”
Oscar and Trick and I looked at each other, as Peter tried to shush the sobbing child.
“What do you mean it’s got blood on it?”Oscar said, crouching down to be at eye level with the distraught youngster.“How did your dress get blood on it, Lizzie?”
Peter seemed uncomfortable and said, “She got too close when Pa chopped the rooster up, that’s all.”
“No, I didn’t!”Lizzie whispered.“You know I didn’t!You know what the blood’s from.Youknow, Peter!You saw it, just like I did.”
An icy shiver of dread sliced down my spine.
“Lizzie, shush!You know Momma wouldn’t want us sayin’,” Peter said, in the same hushed voice, as if what they were referring to was something secret and private.
Lizzie’s next words, uttered in that same low whisper of shame and despair, made everything clear in one, fell swoop, like an axe cutting through a sheep’s skull.
“She chopped him up.’Twasn’t the rooster and Pa, ’twasMommaand Pa…in the barn.”Lizzie hiccupped and took in a shuddering breath.“And I’mgladshe did it, Peter, ’cept it stained my best frock, and now I’ve ruined this one, too!”
Peter looked like he wanted to grab Lizzie and run, but he realized ’twould be futile.Instead, he stood stock still, staring at the ground for a moment before raising his gaze to mine.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.“Momma didn’t want us to tell.”
I looked at our surroundings.We were fortunate that there weren’t any townsfolk near enough to overhear the alarming conversation.Then I met Oscar’s gaze.He looked the way I felt, like everything had become clear, but ’twas nothing we’d ever expected or knew how to handle.
“It’s all right, Lizzie,” I said.“You ain’t done nothing wrong by telling us.”
Lizzie’s sobs increased.
“Is Momma gonna be locked up?”she said, in the smallest voice.And Oscar jumped into action.
He crouched down and clasped her slim arms, so he could get her to look at him.“No.No, Lizzie, your momma ain’t goin’ nowhere.We ain’t gonna tell no-one, so you can stop cryin’.And now you’ve gottwonew dresses, and we can get the ice cream mark off this one easy.Don’t you worry.It ain’t ruined at all.”
