Page 38 of The Corruption of Hollis Brown

Sign.

Suddenly Hollis had access to his fingers. Not even the entire hand, just the fingers.

What the fuck . . . ?

There had to be some sort of leverage Hollis could get out of this. He thought quickly.

“Right there, boy, we don’t have all day,” the officer barked.

If I sign this, you have to promise not to hit on Yulia. Ever again. Any of my friends actually.

Done, Walt said without hesitation. Do it.

It was hard to write; it felt like he had a plaster cast on the rest of his arm, but Hollis managed.

The officers picked up the paperwork and drained the rest of the coffee from their cups.

“Thank you for the coffee, hon,” the tall officer said as he rested a hand on Mrs. Brown’s shoulder, familiar and imposing. “You tell that man of yours I said hi.”

Mrs. Brown was standing stiff, but she nodded and found her smile.

Their shoes tracked soil and grit across Walt’s freshly washed floors.

“And, Hollis? Get your ass back in school.” The door shut crisp. “Bright and early, Monday morning!”

Mrs. Brown flinched at the sound of their car door slamming before they peeled out of the road.

Hug her. Can’t you see she’s upset? You can’t just leave her like that.

Walt folded Hollis’s mother into his arms.

Birth

Let me show you something, Walt said.

He dressed them warmly and headed out. It was 1:00 p.m., too early for kids to be out of school, but late enough that most people were at work.

He took them to the bus stop and used some of Hollis’s hard-earned money to ride to the edge of the community, in the opposite direction of Rose Town, close to where they met. Until the abandoned houses crowded out the full ones, getting shabbier and shabbier.

Then they walked for another mile, until the green crowded out man-made things and trees grew tall and the shadows beneath them dark.

Walt stopped in front of a small hill with dark green grass, strange for this time of year. He rounded the side of the hill, and Hollis was faced with a hole.

It was half the size of a man and dug deep enough to climb into.

This used to be a place that you could bathe in. Stayed warm all year.

Walt crouched to his knees and pulled them into the hollow, ducking Hollis’s frame until it fit, curled up like a child.

Heat radiated from the soil in wisps of steam. Enough of it to feel like he was sitting by a radiator. Enough to not feel winter chill.

You slept here?

Before you.

Hollis didn’t know what to say.

Walt closed their eyes and leaned back into the grass.