House of Blues

cannon.
    "Then it got really weird. When I think back on
it, it doesn't make sense. Reed picked the gun up, and Daddy tried to
get it from her. I mean, that's not the part I don't get—that was
just like Daddy. A hundred percent like him." Her face twisted
with dislike.
    "Controlling goddamn bastard. You know how bad
he is? When I was in high school, we got this new electric can
opener. So I came home one day and said, ‘How do you work this?'
Grady showed me—he was always handy with stuff like that. You know
I have a brother, Grady?"
    Skip nodded.
    "But Daddy was in the kitchen, see. Getting some
iced tea or something. I started doing it, and I was a little slow
catching on. I didn't put the can in right and it was opening crooked
or something. I took it out and put it in again, but it still wasn't
quite right. Grady said, ‘That's right, you've just got to move it
a little to the left.' So I reached up to do that, and I felt someone
come up behind me, cover my body entirely with his body, so I
couldn't move, and just take the can out of my hand.
    " It was Daddy, of course. He said, ‘Neither
one of you can do a damn thing right,' and he stood there, with me
trapped between him and the kitchen counter, and opened the damn can.
What do you think of a man like that?"
    Abasolo said, "Ummm." Skip shook her head,
as if in disbelief.
    She thought: How awful to have spent thirty-odd years
being a father and have nothing more to show for it.
    "Back to Monday night," she said.
    "Well, I've had pretty much time to think about
it, see it from Reed's point of view, and I swear to God I know how
she felt. I swear to God I'd have done the same thing if it had been
me."
    Skip waited, heart pounding.
    "Anyway, he said, 'Give me the gun,' and he
reached for it, but she kind of waves it and says, 'I'll handle it,
Dad. Keep out of the way.' So he yells at her: 'Give it to me, Reed!'
and she turns to him for a minute, which is good for me—I'm
thinking maybe I can make some progress while she's distracted.
    "What happened was, she says, 'It's my kid. Get
out of the way.' I mean, she yells it, actually. Let's face it, we
were all getting pretty excited.
    "So what do I do, I take advantage of the
situation, get to Sally, grab her, and then I hear the gun go off I
think I'm dead, right? And Sally starts in like somebody's tearing
her apart. But I don't feel a thing and I look over there, and
blood's coming out of Daddy's leg like a fountain—way high up—I
mean, like right at the crotch. And he looks—I can't even describe
it—he's just got the most surprised look I've ever seen on a human
being. Somehow—I'm not sure what happened exactly—but the table
went over, and then I heard another shot. And Daddy went down."
    She stopped, but Skip prompted. "Then what?"
    "Well, something weird. Dennis said, 'Reed!' in
a weird voice. You know what voice I mean? Like when a kid's done
something wrong. You know, like you say, 'Sally!' if she throws her
supper on the floor. You know what I mean? Like Reed was a real bad
little girl.
    "Anyhow, he said that, and then Reed yelled
back, 'Goddammit, he should have gotten out of the way.' I figured
they were going to argue for a while, so I took Sally and split."
    "Taking the gun, of course."
    "Are you kidding? What did I need the gun for?
And how the hell was I going to get it? I just turned around and ran.
Wouldn't you have?"
    "Who shot your father, Evie?"
    "What?" Evie looked bewildered.
    " You're lying. What really happened?"
    Comprehension dawned in her eyes, but puzzlement came
out of her mouth. "Goddamn, motherfucker." It was an
expression of amazement, not an epithet. "You don't believe me."
    "Why should I believe you? You're a drunk,
you're a junkie, you're a kidnapper—you're a murderer too, aren't
you?"
    "I haven't been a junkie in years, goddammit!"
    "But you are a murderer."
    "You're trying to fuck me, aren't you?"
    "Get real, Evie. You weren't the only one in
that room."
    " Oh." Evie let that sink in a minute. "That
bitch Reed wants to let me take the rap. Just when I
thought—goddammit! or course they'd play it that way. Of course. I
was always dirt to them and I still. A tear formed at the corner of
her eye. "Fucking Dennis too, I guess."
    Skip felt unbearably sorry for her. She almost didn't
blame her for snatching Sally: A baby doesn't judge and doesn't
betray. As long as you feed it, it has to love you. There's nothing
else in its world.
    Evie didn't speak for a
while,