8
Seven
Anaphylaxis. I don't know what it means, but the doctor says it to Beall as he leans over Gus's body. I peek into the room in which they had put his cot only two days ago.
"You can never tell if they will have a reaction, until they're bitten," says the doctor. "Had he been exposed to the viper's venom before?" Beall does not answer. "Well, I've heard that adders have been found in the sewers, but I've never seen one above ground, much less in a building. Perhaps you should find someone to check for more. They may have been here for quite some time." Beall holds a handkerchief to her eye and sobs. The doctor sighs. "Usually these bites aren't so bad, but they can turn fatal in children. Maybe if I had been called sooner - " He stops as Beall wails loudly. "I'm sorry, Ms. Beall, I didn't mean that. I'm sure you got to me as fast as you could. I know you have other children to take care of." He timidly pats her on the back and waits for her to compose herself.
"Thank you, doctor, for all you've done," she says. "About the payment - "
"We'll discuss it later," says the doctor. "I'll come by next week." He heads toward the door, and Beall nods.
"Thank you, again, doctor. I will see you to the door." I scurry away as the door opens and sit in the common room, pretending to study a deck of cards. Most of the children seem unfazed by Gus's attack, but I notice that they all avoid me, Lex and Dusty especially. I sometimes catch them whispering to the other boys, glimpsing occasionally in my direction.
Beall enters the room with the doctor, and she points him toward the door.
"Children," she announces, sniffling. "Why don't you all come sit by me?" She settles into her rocking chair, and we slowly make our way to her, some of the busier children straggling behind, looking back reluctantly at their projects. I know that not all of us are here. Beall is old, and she is not good at keeping track of us. As long as we're back by bedtime, we can sneak out any time during the day. I do it all the time, preferring to leave through a broken part of the fence in the backyard.
We all sit around her chair, and Beall takes a moment to breathe.
"Gus passed away this morning. He was very sick from the snake bites. I am very sorry. All of you are brothers. You are family, and losing family can be very difficult. I know many of you have been concerned and may be very sad right now. It is perfectly fine to cry, and if any of you need to talk, I am here."
"Where'd he go?" asks one of the boys.
"What does 'passed away' mean?" another wonders.
"It means he's dead, stupid," says Dusty. The boys gasp.
"Can we see his body?" says the first boy, his eyes shining. The others chime in.
"No!" Beall says, outraged. "No, you may not. This is a very sad occasion, boys. Your brother has died."
"He was mean to me," Little Billy mumbles.
"Me too!" yells another boy. Some of them laugh, and others just look confused. Dusty and Lex seem a bit upset, but they are not sad. Both of them look over at me. They seem to be trying to tell me, or ask me, something.
"That's enough, boys!" Beall raises her voice. "There will be no more of this talk. We do not speak ill of the dead. We must be respectful." She huffs and rises from her chair. "I have a headache, children, so please behave yourselves, and I will be back soon to serve lunch." She strides from the room, her skirt trailing behind her.
The boys have stopped laughing, now, and most of them give me frightened looks. Lex and Dusty approach me.
"Min - I mean Tea - Martin," says Lex. I study them coolly.
"What do you want?" I ask them, leaving my face blank.
"Can we be in your gang?" Lex continues. My gang? I don't even have a gang, but I guess I'm entitled to one, now that I've killed off Gus. I grin. Maybe this isn't so bad, after all.
"I guess," I say, nonchalantly. "What skills can you offer?"
"Well, we're both good at fighting," Lex says. "I like hitting the best, and Dusty has little, sharp teeth, so he's good at biting." Dusty bears his teeth, his lips peeling back over his gums. They do look sharp. "We can help you out with stuff or do stuff for you..." He stops to think. "...or steal stuff and keep secrets. We can do that, too." Oh, I see.
"Did Gus have you keep secrets?" I ask them, narrowing my eyes.
"Oh yeah, all kinds of them," Dusty says, eagerly. "He stole one of Beall's brassieres from her room. He said it was just for fun, but we saw him wearing it, sometimes." He giggles.
"And we saw him cry, once, after a dog knocked him into the mud," says Lex. "He was afraid of dogs, even the little ones." I grin. I wish I had known this when Gus was still alive.
"Okay, you can be in my gang," I tell them. "And you stay loyal to me until the day I die, just like you did with Gus." They nod, and my heart jumps. Suddenly, I'm looking forward to the future.
I play cards with my new thugs for the rest of the day, and it is time to go to bed. I test Lex and Dusty out by telling them to lock Little Billy in the toy chest, and they do it quickly and efficiently. Billy hardly has any time to scream before he's closed in there. I hear him weakly pounding on the lid and crying, and I wander innocently into the bedroom, Lex and Dusty right behind me. They sleep on either side of me, kicking my usual neighbors out of their cots, and I relax, looking up at the ceiling and enjoying the sound of Beall struggling with one of the boys, but soon my mind starts to wander to Gus and the viper. I turn my head toward the place where Gus was bitten, and the memory of that night rushes into my head. I close my eyes, trying to block the image out, but it is there, too. I can hear him screaming and pleading as the rest of us laugh, completely indifferent to his pain. I wonder where the snake is now. I never want to see it again. The joy of the day slips from me, and I am left feeling empty.
Beall finally gets the boy to bed and finds Little Billy. After walking him to his cot and comforting him for a while as he cries - he says he misses his "mommy", and I roll my eyes - she heads toward the door.
"Goodnight, boys," Beall says, turning out the lantern, and now, the room is dark. I turn over to sleep, but I can't stop thinking about the snake. Its image forms in front of my open eyes in the darkness, and I cry. Like a baby, I cry myself to sleep only to have the snake greet me in my dreams, slithering over Gus's swollen corpse.
