by Unknown
He helped Jenny put on her own fuzzy pink cotton gloves. Then he shook out her little yellow Cuddle Mask and slid it slowly down over her head, taking care not to tangle or pull her hair. He straightened the mouth hole so Jenny could breathe, and then the eyes holes so Jenny could see.
Now he could pick her up and set her in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face in his shirt, listening to his heartbeat, smelling his stale sweat. Her sobbing finally began to subside.
“See, Jenny?” He rubbed the back of her head, through his glove, through her mask. “It’s okay now. That was a diamondback rattler, a big one. You got to stay away from snakes, especially the rattling kind. Okay? They’re poisonous.”
“What’s poze-nuss?” Jenny asked into his chest.
“When something bites you and it makes you sick. Some things are poisonous if you just get too close to them. Like poison oak.”
Jenny lifted one small, fuzzy-pink-gloved hand and looked at her fingers.
“I’m poze-nuss,” she said.
He took a long, deep breath. He kissed the mouth hole of his mask against the crown of her mask.
“You ain’t poisonous to me, Jenny.”
“Yes I am! I’m poze-nuss all over!”
“You just got to stay careful.”
“Never touch people,” Jenny whispered quickly, like a student who’d learned by rote.
“Not with bare skin,” he said. “And never, ever play with snakes!”
“Never play with snakes,” Jenny repeated, adding this one to her catalog of “Nevers.” Like: Never touch people. Never talk to anybody but Daddy.
Daddy lifted her from his lap and set her down beside him on the couch. He picked an open beer can from the table and shook it next to his ear. A little liquid sloshed inside, so he drank it down. Then he lit one of his Winstons.
“I wish your momma was still alive,” he said. “I don’t know what the hell to do with you. Little snake-killer.”
About J. L. Bryan
J.L. Bryan studied English literature at the University of Georgia and at Oxford, with an emphasis on Renaissance and Romantic period literature, and screenwriting at UCLA. Between 1/15/2011 and 3/15/2011, you can win a Kindle, the Haunted Library, and other prizes through his Haunted E-book Blog Tour for the release of his fifth novel, The Haunted E-book. Also watch for his new short story collection, Dark Tomorrows, featuring bonus stories by Amanda Hocking. Learn more at www.jlbryanbooks.com.