"So!" said Lucas. He sniffed. Wiped his nose once on the back of his hand.
"Uncle said - this one happened, one night, he said it was when the rain was comin' down when he was out hunting. He had to take his boat back with this huge deer on it, you know?" A blank on his face as he held his hands apart. This big. "And everything was all covered up under a tarp, but he wasn't - he was just sitting there on it, with the rain so heavy and all in his eyes and stuff so he basically couldn't see anything."
Lifted a hand. Flapped it in the air with some kinda intent urgency. Swung it out through the air. "But then he did see something! It was something like, uhh... a heron. Just a heron, just - standing there. Right by the water. Right there!"
He pointed out starboard side someplace. Zoe scooted and careened to look out into the dark swamp.
Not a dang thing there.
She withered a little, looked back at him with a little bitty frown. She didn't know if she'd been pranked on purpose.
Knew how Lucas would take it. Sure enough, he breathed a li'l laugh, wiggled side-to-side on his feet.
"Made ya look.
But uhh - anyway, agg - !" He strained and bit into another shove of the rowing stick. " - And you - and you wouldn't think that's weird, right? But that's 'cause you don't think about how it was dark, and it was all rainy and hard to see crap. It was big, and like, it was glowing."
"And that's cause it was glowing!" Downright gasped. He shook his head almost like she'd called him a liar. "It wasn't a heron; it was this - kinda bird-shaped space in the trees or the roots or the plants or somethin', and there was this - weird, weird light behind it! Kinda like a flashlight light. And so he says - 'evening!'" He waves his arm. "Or something like that."
"Was it one of those things that Mama talks about? One o' the light ghosts?"
She couldn't quite remember the name. Either way, it was a mild kinda preemptive dismissal. She knew that monsters weren't real. Nonetheless, Lucas ignored her. Not a single sign he'd even heard.
" - And then the light suddenly goes out." He clapped the side of his arm, gave a nod. "Just like that! He thinks that's kinda weird, but okay, whatever, he just keeps going. 'Cause nothing stops Uncle Joe.
"So he keeps the boat going, but then sometime..."
He turned to her again. Stared at her way too long until she scowled, lightly, again. No tiredness, just a wordless bid to stop teasing. He narrowed his eyes, jerked in at her, held his arm forward. Popped his eyes and jerked a nod up. She took a quick take back over her shoulder at the water behind the boat. Nothing there, but whatever, she'd humor him.
Worked, apparently. He smiled once wild toothy, and then nodded hard. Continued, " - the motor goes out! So he turns around to start revving it back up, and then there's that light again! He thinks, 'oh - so I guess it might be someone else's boat!' And maybe they didn't hear him try to say hi over the rain, or something. It's not a real big deal.
"So he gets back to going home. He parks the boat and he wraps up the deer or whatever it was, and he picks it up, and it's all like everything's normal, see - ?!" He paused mid-row. Performed an odd sort of stiff "hug" in the air, lookin' like a pelican. " - held up and stuff. But then while he's turning around to get to the door, then there's the light again! And it's basically closer. I don't know how he could tell, but it's closer. And not a lot of people go that far out for that long and stay there, right? Or it wouldn't have been the spot where he put his house! And he's kinda ticked off, but he thinks maybe they're following him for directions or something because the rain's so bad.
"And he's not goin' in until he knows what their deal is. So he stands there, and he yells out something about the rain. Real loud. Of course, maybe they could hear him. Uncle's loud and stuff! But if they said anything back, he couldn't hear 'em, so he stands there for a little bit waiting for the light to get closer, but it doesn't - it just starts moving away and off to the side, to go kind of behind the trees."
"When does it get scary?" Zoe asked. Stiff as a thin and creaking board.
He scoffed once again. A "pffhuhhh - " and a crinkle in his nose.
Then he bent that into a smile with a squint. Game on. "What, how does that not creep you out? Some guy following Uncle around in the swamp where only he goes? Wouldn't that creep you out?"
"Was it really a monster?"
She knew not to call his bluff. He wasn't above changing the story to put something real in it.
For a sec, though, he weren't even smiling. "You want me to tell you about the really scary stuff?" he said. "Well, all right.
"So there's the light behind the trees, and there he is, watching it move around until it goes away." He'd begun speaking a little quicker. He waggled a finger around like he was pointin' out a gnat. "'Cause it actually does this time - it was really bright before, but he can't see it through the rain no more. He doesn't know if it's hiding or anything or if it was just a coincidence. But still, he wants to get a look at what's goin' on! And he doesn't wanna get rid of the deer, in case a gator or something grabs it while he's gone. He goes walking along the shore in the way it went, with a - big freakin' ol' deer still right over his shoulder."
He stomped in front of her in a lunge, and she jumped back with a squeak. Hands drawn up. His eyes went all big and pale again. Breathing getting all bigger and swoopier.
"And then something goes and pulls it away from behind." He brought his rowing hand in a little to make mimed movement in the air like breaking a wishbone. Pushed back, stood taller again, free arm out, hand lightly waving in the air. "And he pulls back and turns around! He went out hunting in the rain for it and it was gonna be a big dinner! But it gets pulled right outta the tarp and there's a trail of blood and guts and everything going on back around the house - and he runs after it and he keeps on going, and then he sees there's a leg. Not like a person's leg, but a deer's leg. And then there's another one. He keeps on walking and then he sees it through the trees again. There's the light.
"And there's guts everywhere." He leaned forward with that intense ol' hush. Palms down, swept 'em apart. Laying a floor.
"He's mad and freaked out and all but he goes back in. He's got all his weapons and stuff in there. If it's some super strong guy with a light or some sorta big freaky animal with a light on its head, like an anglerfish, it's fine! He can blow it up or something for stealin' his deer.
Somethin' tugged in Zoe's head. She blinked. Leaned over the edge of the boat to scan the water for lights and wiggly fins and big white eyes. Did anglerfish live in the swamp...?
Jumped back to attention once Lucas kept talking. He was shaking his head with his eyebrows lifting, mouth open way too much.
"Nothing ever turns up, though. Not again for the whole freaking night.
"There's just these noises as it starts getting darker. Like the birds are getting upset."
"The light ever show up again?"
"Nah-ah." He shook his head. One of his little growly whines to it. Sure enough, there it was - a scrunching to his nose and a fixed flare to his nostrils. Lookin' at her like she was a bug that bit him. "Why, are you judging me? Uncle told me that one 'cause I asked for a scary story, what's wrong with it?"
"That actually scare you? For real?"
"I'm not scared of anything." His eyes went so wide she could see his whites in the dark. Muscles in his face stretching and pulling around his smile. "Scary stories are cool!" A wipe of his wrist against his nose and one sharp sniff. "I bet you're gonna be really scared if we gotta sleep out here, though! With all the deer-stealing monsters."
"There's no such thing as monsters."
"What about weird people in the woods who steal deer? What if it was a murderer or something?"
"You said Uncle saw a light. You're not gonna be able to freak me out over the story because you don't have a flashlight."
"How you know I don't?"
Showin' his hand.
"'Cause we were supposed to be at Uncle's already. You didn't know we were gonna be out until nighttime."
He deflated. A quiet little noise behind it like he was a ripped balloon.
Meanwhile, the bottom of the boat scraped over a bed of roots. The stick clacked against the trunk. Lucas's eyes fell heavy.
And he sat again. Broke out an "mmh".
She allowed herself another moment. Her brows knit up and roofing. Her eyes all the dewier.
Bad vibes, she could tell. And was half-sorry.
He saw it and scowled. "I just wanna rest for a sec," he said. "My arms are tired."
She wasn't gonna challenge that. He didn't care that she was worried they're never gonna make it back home. He just didn't worry.
'Bout anything but one thing.
"You're no fun," he said.
"I'm just tired, too," she lied, half checked-out.
"No, you ain't." A little of a snip to it. He shuffled his knees apart, rested his elbow on one, grabbed his chin and leaned forward. Looked out into the swamp. An all-performance I don't wanna talk to you anymore. "I been doing all the work, here."
"You didn't want me to row."
"Shhhhhut the hell up," he said, all sighing, hand rubbing up his face, squeezing at his forehead.
"You're not supposed to say 'hell'." It was a reflexive sort of parry move - someone aims a bunch, and you block.
"You said it." Hand down, half-yellin'. Eyes lamps on her again. "You want me to tell Daddy when we get home?"
"He ain't gonna care when you're the one who stole the boat."
The wood of the boat ground and creaked as he quick-stumbled back to his feet, grabbed the rowing stick two-handed, reeled back with it. She seized, pulled back a little bit. Looked up at him with great big glassy eyes.
She didn't flinch nearly as much as she coulda. She kinda meant that, kinda just let it happen. It was trust, partly. Partly knowing he wasn't gonna do a thing.
Was clear he was thinking about it, at least. He gawped back on down at her all heated. Breathing so hard his shoulders moved up and down, hands all in fists around the stick.
And eventually, eventually, he started to make a face like he'd twisted his arm funny. Full-throated "huoohhhhhh..."-ed a sigh, and collapsed on the boat again so hard it splashed and rocked. She shuddered, caught herself at the sides for balance.
And he, takin' a little win back, apparently, giggled for a moment. Looked back out off the side, scooped his hand through the water to aim a little splash her way. Barely hit her, but she drew her hands up all the same. Limbs all pulled in close to her, looking at her with a hint of a sorrow. It followed, though, she guessed.
It was the best way to apologize to her brother, she'd gathered. He never believed it when she said "sorry". Pretended he didn't, at least.
And the stick tunked back against the tree. He slumped forward again. Took one long breath in, then out. Began rising up a smile.
Zoe's chest began to internally wring.
"You remember how the, uh, the fi follet? The thing Mama's story was about?" He set back to tracing that gnat line in the air. Rocking and tapping between the soles and heels of each shoe. "You remember how it's like a kind of vampire, right?"
His voice had gone all creaky like the boat.
She nodded. Let herself tentatively push a mental pin across to him, tilting her head. To see, if none too heavily, where he was going with this.
He shuffled a couple times a little faster - scooting himself forward a tad. "Here's the kicker about Uncle's story.
"All those guts comin' out of the deer?" A tip of his head one way, and then the other. Jokingly quizzical. "There was aaaaalllll that guts...
"And no blood."
He'd pinched his eyes narrow to grin like an imp. Hands up, fingers wiggling, missing nothing but an oooooooooooh...!
She went and put him at a standoff. Nothing but silent disapproval.
And this point, she didn't need him to hear her say that she knew he was just making it up. He'd said there was blood before - that Uncle had, in fact said that there was blood. Blood and guts.
He pushed back with just a tad enough pressure to balance things out all the way. One more tiny tense between the middle of his brow and the bridge of his nose. His lower eyelids pushin' up from below.
"Remember how it's kids' blood they like the best?" he mock-hissed. "Huh?"
"You don't know they won't eat you first," she said, in a tiny mumble that she lowered into a balled-up hand. One little spark in her head behind eyes almost glazed.
Spark caught.
Lucas "pffffkhh"-ed. Laced his fingers, rocked side to side. "You wanna make bets?" he said. "Your allowance versus mine?"
She nodded hard, as if by a puppet's string. And he pulled a teeth-showin' grin long and hard into one side of his mouth.
Better playin' for now than not.
