Рита Браун - Tall Tail

“What do you mean?”

“The administration and the coaches believed that if a student was known to carry sickle cell, they might suffer discrimination. They were responsible about it and went to all this trouble because of the recommendations by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.”

“Western Albemarle is a high school,” Harry responded.

“It might as well be a junior college. It’s not like when we went to high school. Those coaches watch these kids with a hawk eye. If anyone looks a tad peaked, they sit them down. They’re real bears about concussions. I never worried that my kids would suffer. The coaches were vigilant and so were their teachers. Luckily, my two didn’t take drugs and made good grades.”

“Much of that due to you and Ned.”

“Thanks, Harry, but remember when we were in junior high and high school? It was all our peers. Fall in with the wrong crowd and down you go.”

Harry pulled the more recent diagram to her, comparing it with those of the ancestors. “Susan, what if your grandfather was trying to trace a hereditary condition?”

Susan’s eyes widened. “Sickle-cell anemia?”

“Exactly. And there is discrimination. Sickle cell was considered a black person’s disease. In the old days, if your grandfather had it, they wouldn’t tell him. They never told any white person. Doctors always said the white patient had leukemia.”

Susan whispered, “Maybe Dr. Fishbein did tell him. It’s a different time now.”

Harry murmured, “And maybe the governor began to figure it out on his own. Susan, it’s a different time for some of us. Plenty of people are trying to hold back the clock.”

“Dr. Fishbein only told the family G-Pop had leukemia.” Susan now wondered about this. “Harry, this is so upsetting and so confusing. If my grandfather knew he had sickle-cell anemia, I think he would have told us.”

“I think he would, too. Maybe he was on the cusp of truly knowing it to be true. Maybe that’s why he crawled to the graveyard, to the Avenging Angel. It’s in the graves, in the family.”

“Dear God.” Susan began folding the papers back together.

“For a lot of people it wouldn’t matter anymore, but for some, sickle-cell anemia would still be a stigma. If you’re African American and you carry the trait, who will marry you? And what if the person you hope to marry has the trait? Big decisions. If a white person has it and being white is really important to you, if you’re also carrying that taint of racism, sickle-cell anemia could be considered a disaster.”

No sooner was that out of her mouth than Susan blurted out, “Eddie!”

Harry pondered this. “Given his political base, it would create huge problems. And given his ambition, who knows what he would do? I’m trying not to believe it.”

Mouth tightening, Susan replied, “What is the old saying? ‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ Not that Eddie has absolute power, but he is a rising star, he speaks to overflow audiences.” She paused. “I don’t know. I don’t really understand it.”

“If we did, I suppose we’d be in politics,” Harry realistically said.

“Car!” both Tucker and Owen barked.

Susan hurried down the hall. “It’s Eddie! Put everything away!”

Just as Eddie entered the hall, Harry closed the large side drawer of the desk.

The cats and dogs sat with Harry and Susan as they had raced to the sunroom.

Susan and Harry waited for Eddie to find them.

“What are you two doing here?”

“I could ask the same of you,” Susan fired back.

“Thought I’d see if G-Mom was here.”

“Eddie, you know she runs errands on Tuesday.” Susan fought to control her emotions, which worried Harry.

“What’s wrong with you? It’s not a crime to drop by and it’s not a crime to forget her schedule.”

“Bull, Eddie. And who are you to talk about crime?”

His eyes narrowed. “Susan, you’re off your nut.”

“I didn’t kill anyone, Eddie. You did.” Enraged, Susan had let the cat out of the bag.

Sitting on the back of the sofa, the two cats prepared to fight or flee.

Eddie waved off Susan as though she were a bug. “I don’t need to listen to this.” He turned to Harry. “I hope you don’t believe this nonsense.”

“What I believe,” Harry calmly stated, “is that your craving for power has warped you. The funny thing is, Eddie, I don’t think you believe half the stuff you’re saying. You’re throwing red meat to the reactionaries. You don’t care about women’s advancement, gay marriage, abortion, all that social stuff, any more than you care about cleaning up the toxic dumps we have in the state. You just want votes.”

His face reddened. “I do care. I care about giving away free money to people who sit on their asses. I care about all of it. And when I’m elected, you’ll see.”

Susan stood up to face him. “You will never be elected senator. You killed Barbara Leader because she knew G-Pop had sickle-cell anemia, not leukemia, and you have the trait as well.”

Shocked, he took a step backward. “How do you know that?”

“Research.” Harry stood up next to Susan.

Eddie backed up, reached a large umbrella stand by the sunroom door filled with umbrellas and a few canes. He pulled one out, then advanced on them. The big silver ram’s head would be lethal.

“Run!” Harry opened the door for Susan to bolt, then followed.

Eddie charged out the door after them. The two friends had a head start, but he was gaining.

“Susan, run to the cemetery,” Harry yelled. “We can dodge around the tombstones.”

“I think I can make it to the car.”

“If you don’t, you’ll be clubbed to death. We can keep him busy in the graveyard.” Now alongside Susan, Harry said, “He has that club, but it’s two against one. All one of us has to do is get behind him.”

Trusting Harry just as she trusted her to hand her the right club on the golf course, Susan put on the afterburners. The two women reached the cemetery, put their hands on the low stone wall, and vaulted over it. The cats followed suit. The dogs ran to the wrought-iron gate, where Owen lifted the latch. Just as the two corgis dashed into the supposedly peaceful last resting place, Eddie shot over the stone wall as though it was a high hurdle in track.

Susan and Harry split up. He moved toward Susan, swinging the cane like a maniac. She dodged just out of reach, but sooner or later he’d connect. Harry came back around. Knowing she was behind him, he whirled to swing at her. One close swing forced her to duck, hit the ground, and roll away. He jumped on her. Eddie tried to pin Harry with his left hand while raising his right hand with the cane.

Tucker leapt up, seizing his right arm in her powerful jaws. Owen grabbed his calf.

Screaming, Eddie didn’t let go of the cane. Instead, he tried to use it on the dog hanging on him.

Claws at the ready, Mrs. Murphy climbed up his back, ripping Eddie’s shirt, biting as she progressed. Pewter latched on to Eddie’s leg with Owen.

This gave Harry more time to roll farther away, and Eddie crashed down on the ground with the cane just missing her again. Even though Tucker hung on, Eddie was strong.

Susan, now behind her cousin, was angrier than she’d ever been in her life. She jumped on his bloody back as best she could, wrapped her right hand under his jaw and jerked as hard as she could. She heard his neck pop, but it didn’t break.

Harry, scrambling to her feet, ran up to Eddie, put both her hands together in a double fist, and smashed into his mouth. Jagged teeth came out.