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Elro opened his eyes and stopped singing. “Jesus!” he said. “Come here.”
I stepped toward the bed, still hesitating, hoping to save a moment or two. “Elro,” I said, “what do you know about Little Richard?”
“Huh?”
“You know, the singer. You were just humming his song. Who is he?”
“I don’t know. Who cares. Some nigger probably. Who cares?”
I climbed onto the bed. My knees sank into the soft mattress. “I was just wondering.”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. I was on top of him, and his arms were around me. He kissed me with his mouth open, and I could taste the mustard from his hot dogs. He rolled over on me and put his mouth near my ear. “I love you, I love you,” he whispered. He thrust his left leg between my thighs. He pressed himself against me. It was hard to breathe. He rubbed against me, his hips moving up and down.
“Oh, Elro,” I said, though I didn’t feel anything. I just wanted to be part of it.
“Ohhhh,” he moaned. His pumping became furious. His leg was wrapped tight around mine. He paused for a moment and reached down to unbutton his pants, but he couldn’t wait. He gave up and went back to pumping, harder and harder, so hard the side of my leg got raw from rubbing against his jeans.
Finally, he stopped. His whole body went limp and sprawled over mine. He was incredibly heavy. His face was turned away, and I couldn’t feel his breathing. I wondered if he were dead. We lay that way for what seemed like an hour. I stared up at the ceiling. It was white and cracked, and huge flakes of paint were curling down. A water spot made rust-colored circles just over the bed. Outside, in back, an occasional group passed through the frog hole, always laughing as the ball ran up the tongue, always waiting in silent excitement as it clunked down through the huge frog body. Elro started to snore softly. I fell asleep.
I woke when he rolled off me. He swung his feet over the side of the bed and put his head in his arms, rubbing his eyes.
“I gotta go,” he said.
“Go?”
“My father’s gonna kill me for takin’ his truck.”
“Oh.”
“Here.” He reached in his pocket and took out his wallet, then he counted out eight ten-dollar bills, dropping them on the bedspread. “You can have the money.” He thought for a moment and took one of the bills back. “Well, let me have this to get home.”
He stood up and tucked in his shirt. “You ought to go home, too. They’re just gonna catch you. This whole idea was crazy to begin with. They just would’ve found us and taken us back.”
“I can’t go back.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“I don’t know. I’ll figure it out.”
He stomped around the room, as if looking for something. Finally, he picked up his suitcase, which was right beside the door, exactly where he’d left it when he came in. “My father’s gonna kill me,” he said again.
I suddenly felt a chill, so I slid between the sheets. They were starched and clean. I thought of a hospital, though I’m not sure why—I’ve never spent a night in a hospital. Elro walked over to the bed.
“Another thing,” he said slowly. “That stuff with Sissy that I told you about—it didn’t happen quite like that.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“It was sorta like that, but I really didn’t drown her. She drowned herself, really.” He stared at me. “You believe me, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
He put his suitcase down. “It was mostly like I said. She really did want it. She was watchin’ me all the time. It was obvious. The guys were teasing me about it, even my brother. The day of the picnic, she and I were out behind the float, and no one was there. I kissed her, and she got scared or something and started pullin’ away. She panicked. It was like she thought I was gonna rape her or something. She swam away and then she started wavin’ her arms and splashin’ up the water. And she splashed up a wave that just swept into her mouth. Her mouth was open for a scream, and the wave went right in. Then she started chokin’, and she sank. I knew she was dead because she sank like a rock. It was real scary. We were together, and then, all of a sudden, I was all alone. There was nothin’ else on the water, and it was real quiet.”
“What did you do?”
“I swam around tryin’ to find her, but I couldn’t remember where she’d been. The top of the water all looked the same. I dove down a couple of times, but it was no use. Finally, I just swam under the float and sort of sneaked back to the beach. No one noticed. And then, a while later, someone spotted her.” Elro rubbed his forehead with his hand, an old man’s gesture. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”
“I’m never going back to Katydid.”
