Cynthia Bond - Ruby

She lay upon the wet earth, still as the world around her. He slowly peeled back her sheet and draped it over a branch.

AS CHAUNCY stood, watching the spindle of her sex begin to turn, he felt a prickling along the back of his scalp. He draped his shirt and jacket over a branch, and said low enough for only the nearest blades of grass and stones to hear, “Rub your nasty for me.” She paused. For a moment. Then she pushed the palm of her hand down her body, stopping to slowly cup her breasts. He took a good long moment to admire her, as he grew thick and full. What with the house a clean and proper playground, and now that Ephram had trussed her up like a fat hog for a mayor’s Easter supper, Chauncy would take her in ways he hadn’t imagined when she was lying in ditches and peeing in streets. The burial would last a good two hours, given the hoots and breakdowns the sisters were sure to have. That would give them plenty of time.

The crow flapped above her in the tree, its caw mournful and plaintive.

THE DYBOÙ watched from the trees. The land was a banquet, sweet and salted. He saw his ox standing above the whore. Watched the way he savored, instead of wasting her skills with haste, as any other man might. He smelled the tall man’s gluttony like bacon frying in cast iron, and he stretched across the sunless land until he reached the two.

RUBY THOUGHT of Ephram, the man who had lured her halfway out of madness, the sweet crook of his smile, and knew that he was best not here. None of the killing sweetness and respect ladled upon her, drowning her. She ignored the sob balled up in her throat as she let her hand fall lightly upon the soft black tangle. She knew through wizened experience not to enter, but to gently stroke in preparation. Then her hand, on its own volition, stilled. To her surprise she found that, try as she might, it would not move.

IN SPITE of the rain on his wide shoulders Chauncy felt the warmth of the pit fire. He felt the swell of shadow surrounding him. His arm, the one he must have bitten while having a nightmare, ached. The bandage had begun bleeding through in his fight with the fool Ephram. It did not matter. He felt his might and strength as he watched her hand hovering, tempting. He held on to that — the painful sweet of waiting. Then a misted weight dropped upon him, pushing into him. He remembered in flashes. The Dyboù filling his firm muscles the night before, wearing him like a well-made suit. Chauncy suddenly realized that Ruby had actually stopped. A strength jolted into Chauncy as he swooped down, grabbed Ruby and pulled her up by her hair. He gave her a good slap across the cheek and pushed her to her knees. The Dyboù was fully inside of him now.

RUBY FELT blood in her mouth and suddenly saw the clouded emptiness of a ghost filling Chauncy. The scent of smoke. She had felt the Dyboù inside of her before and knew he wanted more than her body, so she began to fight. Hitting, trying to stand.

The Dyboù and Chauncy pushed Ruby down again; a dot of red wetted her lip. They would as soon kill her if they hadn’t wanted her mouth on them — taking them, drinking them. Chauncy swiftly unzipped his pants.

In one gliding rush, Ruby felt the Dyboù falling through her, melding, joining, reaching for the graves of her children. Ruby pushed with all of her might and Chauncy fell back. The Dyboù was clinging to her, threading through her as she jumped onto the porch, then leapt, sailed into the house, away from her children. Chauncy was on her in seconds, hooking his elbow through her and crashing her to the floor. He did not hit her. He held her shoulders down against the clean wood and simply said, his voice like iron, “Quit.”

Her children safe, Ruby did just that. Her back on the kitchen floor, Chauncy straddled her face, pinning her with the weight of his body. He was angry. Ruby knew it would be difficult to breathe in this position, with this much rage, but certainly possible.

Seconds before he pushed into her mouth, Ruby heard her name in the air. It took her a moment — then she knew. It was Ephram.

Chauncy leapt up and zipped his pants. Remarkably unscathed, he wiped his mouth as the Dyboù slipped from his body. Ruby scrambled into the bedroom, blotting the mud from her skin. The Dyboù hovered against the ceiling, then pulled back, seeped out of the front door and drifted back into the piney woods.

Chauncy tipped carefully over the entrance, then walked leisurely into the yard. Ruby wrapped the robe around her that Ephram had bought at P & K, then went to the doorway as she saw Ephram turn the corner.

He walked towards the yard, suitcase and plastic bag in hand. His face seemed to fall into confusion with each step. By the time he reached them, Ruby saw his arms taut, his jaw tight. Chauncy stepped right up to Ephram, his hand outstretched, a look of sincerity painted across his face.

“Hey man I was hoping to find you here.”

Ephram just stood there waiting, letting Chauncy’s hand hang in the soft rain.

“Yeah man, figured you wasn’t stayin’ round there with all that foolishness.”

Ruby saw Ephram set down his bags as he listened.

“I come out to ’poligize for all that ’bout your mama. Men gone be men but don’t nobody need to be draggin’ all that back out to light. It ain’t right. Me, I’m gonna have a talk with both Sim and Percy. They ought to know better.”

Ephram turned to Ruby and said low and steady, “What’s he doing here?”

Before Ruby could answer, Ephram hauled back and hit Chauncy square on the jaw. Chauncy staggered back, a look of shock washing over him. Ephram charged again, punching Chauncy in the face, once, twice, until the two men went tumbling.

Ruby rushed to them, screaming, “Y’all stop! Stop! ” She turned to Ephram. “Ain’t nothing happen! Stop! He come here to see you about something so I wait inside.”

Chauncy jumped in, honesty stirred into every word. “Man, hold on now! I was trying to get you to come back with me for the reception. Damn! Ain’t no need for that! Past is past with us. What kind a’ man I be to trespass in the here and now.” He gathered himself and added the truth that always makes a lie more plausible, “Mama asked for you special. ’Sides, I needs you to explain to her why I ain’t there at the burial on account how you got sick all over my shirt!” He strode to the tree, grabbing his shirt and jacket, proof of his sincerity. He waved them about as he walked back. “Look what you done, man! Now you know somebody’s got to answer for it. You know what she’s like. She ain’t gonna believe nothing I say. Gonna have my hide. Hell, she try to cut a switch for Percy just yesterday.”

Ruby looked at Chauncy and realized that he was the best liar she had ever seen. Even she almost believed him.

Heaving, Ephram looked into the man, searching, then he calmed and said, “Yeah, Supra don’t play. But I can’t help you. I wasn’t there neither. Left right after you.”

“So you coming?”

“No, I’m done for today.”

“Don’t make me beg.”

“I can’t help you,” Ephram said.

“All right, I’ll have to settle for that.” Chauncy said finally, “I was wrong today, man, at that grave. We all was. I’m sorry for that.”

When Ephram turned away, Chauncy winked at Ruby. He then half trotted down the road past the bend and was quickly out of sight.

Ephram looked into Ruby. “What happened to your face?”

“I fell against that chinaberry while I was playing with my babies.”

Ephram took a step back so she answered his feet, “Hell, man, I’d tell you. I’ve got nothing to hide. You ain’t my boyfriend or nothing. I do as I please, so why wouldn’t I tell you.”

“You — he didn’t do nothing?”