Burntown

by Jennifer McMahon

  And as she says these last words, golden butterflies come out of her mouth, fluttering through the air, and the crowd claps, they clap as loud and hard as thunder. The ground shakes.

  And it’s all for her.

  It’s so beautiful, she starts to cry.

  “You’re the one,” Miss Abigail says in her ear over the roar in her own head. “The one we’ve been waiting for. Welcome home, Miss Pru.”

  Necco

  She and Theo are sitting on the bank of the river, which, in the darkness, is as black as newly poured tar. Theo is smoking a cigarette, and Necco is watching the way Theo’s face is illuminated by the orange glow each time she takes a drag. She’s still wearing the bowler hat; cocked to the side, it looks kind of perfect. Necco is wondering why Theo has stayed even though Necco knows she no longer has anything to offer her. No bag, no money, no drugs. Still, she’s here, sitting beside Necco in her silly hat with their legs practically touching, the filthy river churning in front of them, and the occasional car crossing the bridge above them. Above them where the real city lies. Where the police and Good Samaritans are out searching the streets for Necco, the Fire Girl, Killer at Large.

  While Necco would never admit this out loud, she’s glad Theo is here. It’s been a long time since she had a real friend. She had her mother and she had Hermes. There were other girls, in the time Before the Flood (there is no flood, stupid, let it go), that she played with from time to time, girls in pigtails she played Barbies with, or listened to music with, but there’s been no one since she came to live on the street. None of the kids from the Catholic school were her friends—they just wanted to see the Fire Girl do her trick.

  She recalls her mother’s dire warning that she should trust no one, that anyone they befriended would be in danger. She wishes her mama was here, so that she could tell her sometimes it was worth the risk. Sometimes people surprised you, were more than they seemed. But Mama was right about one thing: knowing Necco had put Theo and Pru in terrible danger. Hermes, too. And look how that had turned out.

  It’s nearly one in the morning and Necco should be exhausted, but she’s too pumped up, has too many thoughts flying through her brain like uncaged birds. Behind them, Pru is telling the other Fire Eaters about her snuff-induced visions: a circus, an elephant, how she believes the circus must be made real. “There were butterflies,” she is saying. “And, oh, the costumes. You were all in such beautiful costumes.” Pru is cooing, ecstatic. And the other women have embraced her, invited her to join them, to become a Fire Eater. To take Mama’s place as the fifth woman. It all feels so unreal, yet meant to be at the same time. Necco often feels this way when she’s with Miss Abigail and the other Fire Eaters. Like everything happens for a reason, the good and the bad.

  “Tell us,” Miss Coral says to Pru. “Tell us more. Tell us everything.”

  And Pru begins to tell them about her own small circus, how she sees now that this has just been preparing her for something larger. “Do you have paper?” she asks them. “And a pen? I can draw it all out—what I saw.” Someone fetches her a notebook and she starts scribbling.

  Necco picks up a small stone, throws it into the water. She hears the splash, thinks of all the things this river has swallowed. The blood from Hermes she washed off her clothes just yesterday morning.

  Her mother.

  Her father.

  She wishes the river could speak. Maybe if she took the snuff, she’d be able to hear it. But the snuff has never chosen her. And now she’s got the baby to think about. It was foolish to even consider. She probably shouldn’t even be sitting here, breathing in Theo’s smoke. She puts a hand over her belly, tries to imagine a tiny person inside. Half her, half Hermes.

  Theo notices this small gesture. “How far along are you?”

  Funny expression. Like pregnancy is a journey.

  “I’m not sure,” Necco admits.

  “Have you been to a doctor or anything?”

  “No.”

  Theo nods, doesn’t hassle her or tell her what a crappy mother she’s already being. But Necco almost wishes she would. Wishes for someone to take her by the shoulders, shake her, and say, “Do you have any idea what you’re doing? This is not some game! This is another human being’s life we’re talking about here!”

  She thinks about her own mama, the lengths she went to in order to protect Necco, building a cage of carefully woven-together stories and lies to keep her safe inside.

  “Are you…” Theo hesitates. “Are you going to keep it? To go through with the pregnancy, I mean.”

  “Yes,” Necco says before she’s even had the chance to think about it. No hesitation whatsoever. Yes. She is going to have this baby. She is going to find a way. She will be a good mother. She will do her best. She will protect her child in whatever way she can. Just like her own mother did.

  “Did he know?” Theo asks. “Hermes?”

  The question, and just hearing his name, sends a jolt of sorrow through her. “Yes,” she says in almost a whisper. “He was happy about it. He said he’d take care of us. That we’d be a real family.”

  She feels the hot burn of tears in her eyes and looks away, back down at the river. Then, she feels Theo’s hand on her arm.

  “I’m sorry,” Theo says. She doesn’t move her hand. She just leaves it there and they sit together like this for what feels like a very long time.

  “I never thanked you,” Necco says at last. “For helping me in the store today. I mean, I thanked you in my head, but not out loud.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “You didn’t need to do that,” Necco says. “And if you hadn’t, if they hadn’t taken that picture, you wouldn’t be in this mess at all.”

  “Maybe not. But I’m plenty good at making my own messes.” Theo turns and smiles at her. “And besides, I wanted to help you. It wasn’t just about me hoping you still had the bag and the money and all that. It just seemed like…like the right thing. Like what I was supposed to do. Like destiny and fate and what all those women behind us are talking about while they snort their red berries and spit out fire.”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you your bag,” Necco says. “What are you going to do?”

  Theo stubs her cigarette out on the ground, puts the ruined filter in her pocket, not wanting to litter. “I don’t know. If it was just Hannah, I could talk to her. Work something out.”

  “But it’s not. This Jeremy guy sounds bad.”

  Theo shakes her head. “I think part of me knew Hannah was lying all along. Telling me what I wanted to believe. But I went along with it anyway. Doesn’t that make me the dumbest fucking person on earth?”

  “No,” Necco says, thinking of Mama and her stories. How she’d listen with rapt attention when Mama spoke of the Great Flood, of the water that swept away their house, drowned Daddy and Errol. “It just means you put love first. Above truth, even.”

  Theo laughs. “Right. And now I’m gonna lose my left kidney or spleen or something to her psycho boyfriend. If I don’t end up in jail first as an accessory to murder.”

  Necco flinches a little at the word murder. “You’re not going to lose any body parts. And neither of us are going to jail. We’ll figure something out.”

  “Right,” Theo says. “You, me, the cafeteria lady, and the women tripping their brains out on snuff.”

  Necco smiles at her, then says, “You never know. My mama always said it’s the people no one notices who are the most full of surprises.”

  Theo nods, eyes on the dark water of the river. “True enough. I just wish Jeremy and that cop weren’t harassing my mom. My poor mom. She’s worried sick.”

  “You should let her know you’re okay,” Necco says.

  “And how am I gonna do that? I smashed my phone.”

  “Maybe the Fire Eaters can help,” Necco says.

  Theo laughs. “What are they gonna do, send her some kind of psychic message? Smoke signals, maybe?”

  Necco stands. �
�Be right back.” She leaves Theo by the riverbank and goes to find Miss Abigail. She is staring into the fire while Pru does sketches of large elephants and sequined dresses.

  “Miss Abigail,” Necco says. The old woman smiles up at her. “I need a favor. A big one.”

  “Tell me, child,” the old woman says. And Necco tells her. She leans down and whispers it in her ear so the others can’t hear. Miss Abigail sits and listens, stone-faced. She doesn’t give an answer. She’s considering. Maybe waiting for the snuff to tell her what to do.

  “Whatever you decide will be the right thing,” Necco says, kissing the old woman on the cheek. Miss Abigail nods, her eyes on the flames. Then Necco goes to Miss Stella, and asks her for a favor as well. Miss Stella nods. “Of course,” she says.

  When Necco gets back to the river, she sits down beside Theo and hands her a cell phone.

  “Where’d you get this?” Theo asks.

  “Miss Stella. She’s kind of a tech geek.”

  “You’re kidding, right? I thought they all lived down here surviving on nuts and berries, totally cut off from modern conveniences.”

  Necco smiles. “Stella says the cell’s safe—it’s a crappy burner phone and it’s blocked so anyone you call won’t be able to see the number or call back. You can text your mom. Let her know you’re okay.”

  “I don’t believe it,” Theo says, taking the phone. She types in a quick text, then hands it back. “Thanks. Now at least my mom will know I’m alive and okay.”

  “I’m sorry,” Necco says. “About not telling you about Errol. About lying when you asked me if I saw anyone while I was gone.”

  “It’s okay. It must have been strange. Seeing him like that. And I don’t get it, you haven’t seen him in years, you think he’s dead, then all of a sudden there he is and you only spend a few minutes with him? You just let him walk away?”

  “I didn’t want to. But he said it wasn’t safe. Whoever had trashed the Winter House might come back. And we couldn’t be seen together. Someone had been following him, and he knew the police were after me. He asked me to meet him tomorrow and said he’d explain everything then. He told me to be there at noon. To come alone and be sure to wear a disguise.”

  Theo frowns. “Where does he want you to meet him?”

  Necco feels a hard lump growing in her throat. “Our old house.”

  “But you said it was destroyed! Not there anymore.”

  “I know, that’s what my mother told me, but Errol, he said it’s still there. I guess I’ll see for myself soon enough.”

  “I don’t like it,” Theo says. “What if whoever is looking for you guys is watching the house?”

  “I don’t think Errol would have asked me to meet him there if it wasn’t safe.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Theo says. “I’ll stay out of sight, just keep an eye on things. Be your backup just in case.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “But I want to. Besides, at this point, with the cops waving a picture of the two of us around, you and I are in this together. Coconspirators.”

  Necco grimaces, but Theo touches her arm again.

  “Hey, you want to know a secret? I always kind of wanted to know what it was like to be a bad guy. To be on the run.”

  Miss Abigail approaches slowly, shuffling her way in the darkness. She squats down in front of them, puts her hand on Theo’s shoulder, and looks into her eyes.

  “Hi,” Theo says, sounding nervous, unsure what the woman has up her sleeve.

  “I understand you are in some trouble, girl.” Before Theo can answer, Miss Abigail takes the younger girl’s hand, opens it, and places a pouch of snuff in the palm. She wraps Theo’s fingers around it. “You take this. But you take it under one condition.”

  Theo holds the bag up, realizes what she’s just been given. “I—I never—”

  “No more drugs. Selling the things you have been, making money on poison, it’s bad for the soul. The Great Mother has a better path in mind for you.”

  “No more. I promise. I can’t thank you enough.” Theo stands up and hugs Miss Abigail.

  Miss Abigail accepts the hug and gives Theo a gentle pat on the back. “You’re a good person. I can see that. And most importantly, you’re a good friend to Necco. You keep on being a good friend to her. She needs someone like you.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Theo says, letting go of Miss Abigail. “I promise.”

  Theo

  They spent the night in the Fire Eaters’ camp, sleeping on musty bedrolls in Necco’s old shelter. Neither of them slept much, a few minutes here and there. Pru stayed up talking with the fire-eating women. Theo could hear them out there all night, speaking in hushed tones. Occasionally, Theo would catch a few words: Great Mother, purpose, reason, believe. And Pru’s voice chortled out things like circus and golden elephant. Theo heard Pru sobbing, saying, “You have no idea what it’s been like.” Then, Miss Stella comforting her, saying, “You’re not alone anymore.”

  Theo got up at dawn and found her knitting bag, pulled out the yellow angora yarn, and sat by the river knitting because that was the one thing she knew that might calm her thoughts.

  “What are you making?” Necco asked when she came to find her later.

  Theo held up the trapezoid shape that hung from her needle. “It’s going to be a hat. For your baby.”

  And Necco’s eyes got teary. “Wow. I don’t…I don’t know what to say.”

  “It’s okay. You don’t need to say anything,” Theo told her. “Besides, the hat might not turn out too great. It might make the poor kid look like a sticky Lemonhead covered with lint.”

  Necco smiled. “It’ll be perfect.”

  Now, it’s nine a.m., and Theo is driving Pru’s car around town. Theo had been nervous about asking for the keys, but this new, easygoing Pru with red stains under her nose had happily tossed them to her, asking only that Theo take good care of Mabel.

  “They used to be all over the damn place,” Theo says, desperately searching for a pay phone. “What happened to them all?”

  She wishes now that she’d asked to use Miss Stella’s cell before they left. It hadn’t occurred to her how hard it would be to find a pay phone.

  “I guess people decided they didn’t need them anymore,” Necco says. She’s put her wig and sunglasses back on, along with the blue fringed jacket. “Maybe you should just show up at Hannah’s place, talk to her there.”

  “Jeremy’s probably there. And he’s so pissed off that he’d probably rip both my fucking arms off just for fun, even if I came with all his money.”

  “Right. Getting her alone would be better.”

  “Oh my God, I think I see a phone! An actual phone!” Theo pulls into a convenience store parking lot, the tires of Pru’s huge car squealing a little as they bump over the curb. “Land ho,” she says, putting the car into park and hopping out. She goes to the pay phone mounted on the brick wall on the side of the store, dumps in change, and dials Hannah’s number.

  “Hello?”

  Hannah’s voice is like an ice pick in Theo’s chest. She almost can’t speak, can’t breathe from the sound of it.

  “Anyone there?” Hannah asks. Then, “Theo?”

  “It’s me,” Theo says.

  “Theo, my God, where are you? What’s happening?” She sounds like she cares. Like she’s worried. But it’s all a ruse. She wants her money. She wants to keep her boyfriend happy.

  “What if I could get you guys Devil’s Snuff?” Theo says. “About half an ounce of it.”

  “Devil’s Snuff? You’re kidding, right?”

  “Would the slate be wiped clean? Would that make us even?”

  “Shit, Theo, you know what that stuff is worth. It’s like powdered gold. Ground unicorn horn.”

  “Well, I’ve got some. Meet me at the diner we went to that first day. Come alone. No Jeremy. I’ll give it to you and then we’ll be done.”

  “Theo, I—”

  “Half
an hour,” Theo says and hangs up. She can’t listen to Hannah’s voice another second.

  She goes back to the car, and her hands are shaking a little as she puts them on the wheel.

  “You okay?” Necco asks.

  “Yup,” Theo says. “Fine. I told her to meet me in half an hour.”

  “And we’ll do it just like you said,” Necco says. “Watch from across the street. Wait for her to go in first, make sure she’s alone. And I’ll be watching the whole time to make sure there’s no surprise visits from Jeremy. If he shows, I’ll be in there in a flash.”

  Theo smiles at Necco. “A no-fail plan,” she says. She thinks of Necco coming blazing into the restaurant, of her showing Jeremy her knife, telling him she’s a wanted killer so he better back the fuck off now. Theo takes in a breath. Tries to channel her inner Necco. When she goes into that diner, she needs to be just as badass (or at least fake it). Theo’s mom used to have a really dull boyfriend named Mr. Candles, who was into AA and full of those cheesy slogans. One of them was Fake it till you make it. That’s just what Theo has to do right now.

  It’s breakfast rush time and the Koffee Kup is crowded.

  “My mom and I used to come here,” Necco says.

  “They have good milk shakes,” Theo tells her.

  “We always just got coffee,” Necco says, nodding at the sign in the window that says BOTTOMLESS CUP OF COFFEE ONLY ONE DOLLAR!

  They’re in Pru’s car across the street, watching the front door and waiting. So far no Jeremy, no Hannah. Theo is smoking a cigarette, blowing the smoke out the open window so Necco won’t breathe it in. She’s got Pru’s bowler hat on and a pair of sunglasses. She’s touched up her lipstick. Put on extra-dark eyeliner. She’s ready for battle.

  “Is that her?” Necco asks, pointing.

  Sure enough, there’s Hannah, making her way down the street. She’s alone, wearing jeans and her old fisherman’s sweater. Her hair is pulled back in a loose ponytail, and she’s got huge sunglasses on.

  Seeing her, Theo feels less sure about the plan, about her ability to face Hannah.