Steve Katz - Kissssss - A Miscellany

When she spotted Lenoci and Negger strolling along the wharf she immediately coiled up the bow rope and called out to them. “Catch this, Lenoci, Negger. We're drifting.” Negger immediately released Lenoci, and caught the rope in his big right hand, and pulled the bow into the wharf. The dispute between Eukan and Ajieck seemed to end when they both saw Lenoci. Neither of them had ever had the thought that anyone could be so thoroughly punctured. It was as if such a miracle could be a balm against conflict.

“Is that your friend?” Eukan asked, waving the trombone at her. Nonawi, then Dojie, climbed out of the boat. Ajieck grabbed his trombone.

“Why did she do that to herself?” Ajieck asked, as the two girls ran over to greet their friends.

Dojie turned back to look at her brother and his friend. They suddenly seemed very young to her in that big boat. “Gruel number one,” she said, pointing at her brother. “And gruel number two.” She turned back to her friends, and they all walked away.

Everything he had once called home was suddenly strange to Eukan, his room and all his stuff, as if nothing could be his any more, nothing belonged to him any more, not even the precious baffler coat his father had given him on his fourteenth birthday, not even the Tighovnoj trilogy that he had wanted so badly to read again. The Kerpar Yespo suction sandals, that would be so useful in a boat, seemed to belong on other feet than his. The heavy sweater he'd inherited from his sister, that even shed water, seemed an artifact from someone else's life. Everything from his past had been drained of himself, and he felt this hollowness at the core of his being. He attributed his deep disorientation to the fact that he had decided to go against his parents' wishes. But he had a right, an obligation to save his own life. He thought that, but then he thought that maybe this was the wrong thing to do, maybe he should stick around to see what pünkscheit was all about. How could it be so bad? He had always loved his parents, and was not like some of the gawks he knew, who threw up when you mentioned a mom and a dad. But Nonawi's story of her brother's head turning on a plant stand was too powerful a warning. Winter narcissus? He didn't even know what that looked like. Life is bizarre; at least, that's what he was finding out. He couldn't imagine his mom and dad barbecuing his body, or anything like that. If it wasn't for Dojie he would probably stick around, even if it was true, and he knew they did intend to make him into meals. How weird that sounded. He was their one son. He was only young. How could they do this? He couldn't go against their wishes now, when he'd always been so obedient. What was life worth if he had to abandon his mom and his dad? He didn't want to oppose the will of his father, disappoint his mother? So many other boys had faced their fate, why shouldn't he? Some had even survived. He wanted to live the rest of his life. His mom and dad loved each other. They loved him too. He was sure of that. Abraham loved Jacob. He was sure of that too. All this stuff, he thought, as he packed his duffle. All this stuff doesn't belong to the person who will carry it away. Without the parents none of it would even be here, and neither would I. He looked in the mirror. “Who are you?” he asked, but he got no reply, nothing to encourage him to do this, nor to discourage him from doing that.

Very early in the morning, Sitund emptied the last of twelve bags of charcoal into the freshly dug pit, and sprayed it all with charcoal starter. Yerml, who was watching from the doorway, crossed the yard to take his hand. It felt sweet, to lean against each other. “We'll light it now,” Sitund said. “And keep it burning through tomorrow so we're sure all the bitter fumes are seared out of the freshly dug roots, and it'll seal the ground underneath, and then everything will be ready for the goose, and for whatever else attends our barbecue.”

They both looked up at the window of Eukan's room. “Did you see that?” Yerml asked, agitated.

“What? That?” He pointed at the window.

“Yes.” They'd both seen a shadow cross the shade pulled down over Eukan's window. “He's home.”

They turned to each other and embraced, kissing deeply. “He's home,” they said in unison. “He's a good boy.”

“I hope you got some crispy puffducks,” Yerml said. “I want Dojie to enjoy herself, and she always can eat a roasted puffduck , even now, though she's such a fussy one about food.”

“Good idea. I'll go get some.” Sitund looked up to Eukan's window again. His heart yearned for his son. “Perfect boy.”

“He will be perfect, by-and-by. Perfecter and perfecter,” cooed Yerml.

Sitund and Yerml aimed at perfection. That was their goal as parents.

That afternoon, Sitund added more charcoal and raked the coals across the pit. He liked to get an even glow overall, though it was pleasing to see the intensity vary as a light breeze played across. He looked up at the fence around his yard and saw his son dragging a duffel, trying to hide behind the sparse shrubbery. Sitund ran around to confront his boy at the gate.

“Eukan, where have you been?” asked Sitund, in a pleasant tone.

“I've been to the mountains,” said Eukan, staring at the ground.

“Alone, my son? To the mountains?”

“Alone, sir. I was alone as I went there,” Eukan said, and then mumbled, “and here I am alone as well.”

Sitund gripped the boy's thin arm with his big hand, and pulled him into the yard, towards the barbecue pit. “My son, you are still a child. You must not do something like that without permission, without our supervision and advice.”

“I am sorry sir; but I had no choice.” Eukan felt his father's grip. The pain was a revelation, pressing down to the bone. His father dragged him closer to the pit. They made him feel confused and desperate. “What have you done here, sir? For whom are you burning these coals?”

“This is our barbecue pit, my son.” The coals sparked and reddened, though no wind had crossed the surface. A wave of heat engulfed them.

“Father,” the boy shouted, so loud that he startled Sitund who lost his grip on the arm. Eukan sprang back. His son had never addressed him so formally before, had called him “dad” and “pop” and even “sir,” but never “father,” and never so loud. “Father,” the boy brayed. A wave of confusion crossed from son to father, a premonition of remorse. He reached out for the arm again.

Eukan jumped back. “Father, what do you roast in this barbecue pit?”

“We will… ” His father lunged at him again, and missed. His voice faltered. “To… mmmorrow we will see… n… n… nnothing today.”

“Eukan,” Dojie shouted, as she stepped from the kitchen door, then she bounded into the yard, wearing only her bikini underpants. Sitund gazed at his daughter, and was amazed. This was his daughter, and she was a woman. She had finished the teal tint on her legs, and had figured a design of orange flowers on a pale green vine, starting from her ankles, and opening onto her thighs. She found she had a talent for this, and it was going faster even than she had hoped it would. In her mind she had a picture of the animals she wanted up her back, and across her breasts. She would need help for that.

“You should cover yourself, daughter,” said Sitund, staring at her. “What have you done to your legs?”

“My legs?” she said, happy to see that she'd distracted her father long enough for Eukan to run back to the gate, grab his duffel, and disappear. “I don't understand. What about my legs?”

“Your legs have that peculiar color on them.”

“Well, Father. That is my color from now on.”