Louisiana Lament

classroom, I can’t remember why—maybe we both came back for something we forgot. Maybe even on purpose. But I do remember what happened in that room. When she was leaving, I touched her on the arm and said, ‘Take care,’ and all of a sudden we just started talking—but, you know, not really. Just in that kind of moony way embarrassed kids do when they’re attracted to somebody. Next thing you know I kissed her. And then I said I was sorry and she ran away. Then she sent me a note asking me to meet her, and that was when it started.”
    “Wait a minute. What about Donny Troxell?”
    Richard nodded. “I’m gettin’ to that. Her parents were real racists—maybe you know about that—and they threatened me; wouldn’t let us date. Well, hell, we were kids! We thought we were tragic heroes and everything, but we thrived on tragedy. We cried awhile and then we let it go. And that was when she started going out with Donny. The whole thing was over for a year by then—and nobody in that school knew a thing about it. Nobody. I’d stake my life they didn’t.”
    “Well, Marshannon didn’t. Or Ebony Frenette.”
    “Ebony! Well, yeah, I guess I was going with Ebony about then.”
    “She remembers you too.”
    He shook his head, as if in disapproval. “Don’t pull that woman thing on me. This isn’t the usual teenage shit. What happened with Clayton was a life-altering event—you understand?”
    It sure was for Clayton,
Talba thought.
    “Well, here’s the part where I got used as a patsy—or maybe not. I just don’t know at this point. To say things got complicated’s pretty much of an understatement. See, Donny started cheating on her, and there she was, the sweetheart of the rodeo, humiliated in front of everybody.”
    Talba thought,
His mama didn’t know that. But then, who was going to tell her?
    “Maybe Clayton wanted to make him jealous. All I know is, she came back to me. One night when the family was asleep, she let me in the back door. Only somebody wasn’t asleep—and the Pattersons had a shed out back where they kept tools. They have a fishing camp that I guess needs clearing now and then—and you can guess what they used to clear it.”
    “I’ve got a bad feeling you’re talking about a machete.”
    Richard nodded briefly and then started talking faster. “So, look, I’ll just tell it from my point of view. We were making love, you understand?”
    Talba thought,
What’s to understand?
She nodded politely.
    “And I heard something and I turned my head to look. That is, I started to turn my head—at that point I never even saw it coming, but if I hadn’t moved, that thing would’ve split my head wide open. I mean, I probably would have been killed. But when I moved my head, I uncovered Clayton’s face, you understand? I saw the thing coming down, and grabbed the guy’s arm, but it was too late. I mean, it probably saved her life, but he still got her. Oh, yeah, he got her. He got all of us that night.”
    “
Who
got her?”
    “Her little brother, Trey. I swear to God I still don’t know if he thought I was raping her or if he just had some crazy idea of doing what his racist daddy thought was the right thing. God, all hell broke loose. You ever heard three terrified teenagers screaming at once? You should of seen it when Mr. and Mrs. Patterson came in and there was their little darlin’ in bed with a black kid, butt-naked, both of us, their son holding a bloody machete and precious princess losing about a gallon of blood a minute—you
know
how much a scalp wound bleeds?”
    Talba nodded, trying to envision the scene. “I read about it in the transcript. The phrase ‘hanging by a thread’ comes to mind as well.”
    “I guess that’s an exaggeration, but I don’t know… Anyway, her scalp wasn’t flapping in the breeze. It was lying down like yours or mine at the time, just with buckets of blood coming out from under it. But I don’t know—maybe when they started to sew it back—I just don’t know. Kind of gives you the willies to think about, doesn’t it?”
    Talba tried not to think about what Clayton’s life would have been like if her scalp had actually been sheared off—assuming she’d even survived it.
    “So what happens is, Mr. Patterson and Trey grab me and hold me and that makes Clayton so mad she won’t even go with her mama to take care of the wound, but she’s yelling so loud everybody thinks she isn’t gonna die or anything. But, man, that