Day 2 of being a mammy. Children stank which means that shit in hay which should be good, but it ain't. I found some loose paper in the barn under clean hay but had no pencil.
Clayton and I seem to be friends and he isn't full of the devil. I found out that despite being a horse he doesn't actually neigh.
He meows.
That's just how mangles work. Clayton went inside the Church of Admissions and gave me a book that was from the school. "Thank you." I said. He lay in clean hay and I sat the book down while I cleaned up the children.
Tel would not stop insulting me to the point, I assumed she was really yelling at God. "Uma, shut the fuck up!" Clayton demanded. "This shit is annoying!"
"You said you wanted to be a mermaid!"
"I am ugly!"
"John 15:7 - If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." said Clayton.
"'iidha astaqarrt fy, wathabit kalami fik, askut!" she stuck out her tongue. "saqay ealiqatan mean , hadhih alkalbat lan taqtulani. ya! hal tashumu mithl yu mama?"
I don't know arabic like that. I'm mixed. "You have a hole for an ass, little girl."
"Put your fist in it!"
"You are nasty." I pat her stomach. I changed the hay and after I was done, I went ahead and gave them chicken feet. "You can use the house." he pointed out. "Get some hay and put it in the burner. I'll give you some matches."
"Why don't you do it?" Not trying to be rude. "I've done it. Raquel ran off. There was a third one."
That's haunting. "How old was she?"
"Shit. Alexis was 10? So maybe... they was almost the same age."
I'm disgusted.
I head to the church house and walk through the shattered glass of the door. Maybe because it's barely morning, I can see.
I have a bucket of chicken feet and fill the burner with hay. Set the hay on fire and put the pan that didn't have roaches crawling on it. Even if they did disappear.
Fried chicken feet ain't bad. Could have some green beans with potatoes. Maybe potato salad with cornbread.
I just wanna be happy.
In the corner of my eye, a shadow walks to the corner slowly. My heartbeat is rapid, it reaches for me and disappears.
I stir the chicken feet. I don't care if they done or not. It came from a room.
I put the chicken in the bucket. And even if my heart is about give out and needs a desperate nap.
What the fuck is in that room?
I put the bucket on the counter and go into the room where the shadow came from. It stank and there are bathtubs but the one next to the window had a body in it. The feet are bone and sticking up out of the bath.
I peer inside the tub and the face is deep down in this black water. "They drowned me."
I hate the GHETTO!
Lord do not let me ask who, when, what, why, or fucking how. I don't give a shit.
I exit so fast just to see the window gone. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" I scream. I'm no priest, bishop, pope, or other. Let me be free!
"You are a witch." I hear that feminine ghostly voice. "I am... training?"
"No need. Just practice. Or... take this charm in my tub."
"Charm?" And I really go back to the room to do God knows what. I approach the tub and remember I missed my baptism.
I hover my hand over the water. And dig until I feel something like a large button. I dig it out and the body that was there retracts its legs and arms; the water bubbles and I see it slip into the drain.
What does this do?
This charm is brown with little groves around the rim. I don't know what to do with it now, I'll ask Clayton.
I carry the bucket and go back to the barn. I want to faint.
.
.
.
"Clayton, do you know what this is?" I show him the charm. His eyes get big. "Beulah?" he looks at me. "Feed the kids... Uma won't shut up."
"Get in here bitch!" Tel yells. "And Jessie just took another shit!"
"What if I did?" I squint. "No," says Clayton.
I fed the disabled child from hell and gave Nerelim who is Jessie, some food as well.
"You saw Beulah?"
"Who is that?" I carry Nerelim. He is so sweet but ugly. "Technically, Beulah is Janna's aunt."
I groan. "I don't wanna ask no more about him."
"He'll probably be back tonight."
"Where did he go?"
"The gangsta's ball. That's where Adonijah went there, it's for the cult."
"That's great, freak meeting."
"It's ran by the cow. Which why we have heads." he grabs my shoulder and I bask in the heads on the wall and attached to the pole that holds up the wall."
"Abner? From the tv show?"
"It was made here." he says. "Wanna watch a tape?"
"No."
"You could learn about this place."
"Clay, I want to leave."
"If you make it like Cedrica. Kill me first." he sits down outside the barn.
"What about this charm?" I show him. "Beulah." he turns from me. "And!"
"She made a charm and Adonijah called her sinner! Karolina had one and he put her in a tree!" he snaps. "Nas was here, and Lucant! Q-Tip! He was fucking with Yoc!"
"Yoc?"
"The damn cow--Fucking--" he puts his head in his... hooves? But they human hands. Clayton takes deep breaths, "That breast."
I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to summon anything. "Clay, I'm sorry."
"Lucant and Beulah used to date but fuck that relationship."
"Why?"
"Because the nigga lame." he hisses. "Are you part cat?"
He turns to me with his mouth open. "Yoc is a beast created by Adonijah, Henri. He also made the beast in the pit, Manolo."
"They praise a former Idol?"
"Because of the snake it doesn't matter. We don't like Aleigha."
"What?"
"Listen." he glares at me. "We don't like Aleigha!"