Saving Cicadas Read Online Free PDF Page B

nothing, but Mama said it was no real risk to us if it did happen to fall. Plus, it gave us shade and Rainey liked it. That was the end of that.
    I saw Rainey’s bare foot sticking out of the hollowed-out part. For some reason, she was blessed with the most flexible joints ever. It came with having an extra chromosome, I guess. She liked to sit cross-legged with one foot over her shoulder, leaning facedown. Maybe it made her feel like she was in Mama’s belly again. That’s what it looked like anyway.
    Mama’s belly. Ugh.
    I approached the tree carefully. Rainey retreated here when something was bothering her. One time it was because this silly lady wouldn’t let her take her groceries to her car. That was her job . The lady obviously wasn’t a regular shopper at Jerry’s Supermarket or she would have known that you always let Rainey Dae Macy walk your cart to your car. She took her work in this world very seriously. Rainey ended up squabbling over the cart with the lady, screaming, “I can do it! I can do it myself!” You never told Rainey she couldn’t do something. She’d always prove you wrong.
    â€œRainey?” I said, announcing myself. Her foot stirred. “You in there?”
    She sighed real loud.
    I scooted to sitting on the dirt and on the buckling roots in front of the hole. Rainey’s head was down, foot over her shoulder.
    â€œIs something wrong?” I asked.
    She lifted her head and sat up, pressing her foot down into the ground. She looked like she’d been sleeping. The cavern around her was dark, and I knew for a fact that bats lived in the upper part of the hole. I’d seen them. And one time we saw a real live skink in the bottom part. How she could love being in here, I just didn’t know. It creeped me out.
    There was a baby doll lying naked in Rainey’s lap, its tiny dress lying in the yellow grass behind me. The sight of it hurt me.
    â€œIs that your baby?” I said.
    â€œUh-huh. It like the baby Jesus. He like God. I listen for God in here.”
    â€œYou’re listening for God in a hollowed-out tree?”
    â€œYeah. ’Cept for the bats squeak sometimes. God don’t squeak.”
    â€œWell, what does he say? What does he sound like?”
    The wide space between her almond-shaped eyes grew narrower, and she squinted up into the void at the hiding bats.
    â€œHe sound like the wind.”
    â€œHuh,” I said. I did not know that.
    â€œYou feel like coming out now? Mama made a truckload of egg salad.”
    â€œNo thanks. I had cheese toast.”
    â€œOkay.” I thought of going back inside, but I didn’t really want to be alone. “Mind if I sit here with you? I promise I’ll be quiet.” I leaned up against the bark and closed my eyes with the sun on my face. It felt so warm, and the backs of my eyelids turned orange and glowy. “Let me know if you hear from God again,” I added. “Tell him I have a few questions for him.”
    â€œOkay,” she said. From the rustling in the tree I could hear her moving back into position. After a minute or so she sat back up again. I startled when something cold pressed into my arm.
    â€œGod said you want the baby, so here.” The bald-headed doll’s little eyes stared up at me from my forearm.
    â€œNo, Rain. You keep it.” I pushed the doll away, leaned back and closed my eyes again. “Let me know if he says anything I don’t already know.”
    â€œOh. Okay,” she said. And we sat in silence for an hour or so—until Mama came to check on us. She left the door open and let the screen swing shut. I got up to talk to her, to put my arms around her or something, but I could hear she was on the phone.
    â€œOh, hey, Alisha,” she said. Mama worked with Alisha. She wasn’t my favorite person. She drank too much and smoked, and sometimes when Mama’d been hanging around with her, going