A Tree Born Crooked Read Online Free Page B

drag ‘round. Didn’t stop him none. He was still at the store every day. Still drinking, still carrying on. Still smoking.”
    She paused and gave James a knowing look. He didn’t understand.  
    “Well, he liked to go sit out in the orchard on evenings. Like he always done. Go out there, sit on that stupid old stump way back near the fence. Far enough away that he could make like he ain’t hear me when I was shouting and needing something. So he’d been drinking, maybe a little too much, and went out there. Just like always. He usually didn’t take that tank out there with him. Said it interfered with his thinking. What in God’s name that means, I don’t got a clue. He just hated that oxygen thing.”
    James crossed his leg over his knee and his foot started shaking. He wasn’t aware of it.  
    “Where’s this going?”
    “I don’t know if maybe he’s better off now. Sure did hate having to pull that contraption ‘round. That night he weren’t feeling right, I don’t think. He’d been drinking that afternoon at the store, and that’s nothing new, but then he took his oxygen with him out to the orchard. I guess he were having trouble breathing, but he went on out there anyways. Course, I seen him smoke on the oxygen before. Doctor told him it was dangerous, but you know Orville couldn’t go more’n twenty minutes without having him a smoke.”
    “Mama. You better tell me what happened right now.”
    Birdie Mae crossed her arms, irritated that James couldn’t figure it out on his own.  
    “Can’t you guess? He blew himself up. And three tangerine trees back there, too. The fire truck even showed up.”
    James’ eyes were wide. He gripped the corduroy armrests, digging his nails into the upholstery.  
    “Not that it did no good. Still lost them trees. And your daddy, too. Ambulance men said he was gone in a second. Not a whole lot of pain, considering. I guess there’s something to be thankful for.”
    James leaned forward until he was at the very edge of his seat.  
    “Are you trying to tell me that his oxygen tank caught fire?”
    “Isn’t that what I just got done saying? Jesus. It were really more of an explosion, though. Neighbors said they could hear the boom all the way down the road. It were a pretty big fireball. They said he must’a turned the knob too high or something. Said something ‘bout maybe he were feeling out of breath and didn’t pay no attention to the numbers. Maybe he had been drinking too much. Doctor warned him ‘bout trying to smoke ‘round that damn thing. Orville just wouldn’t listen to nobody.”
    James stared at Birdie Mae with his mouth open. He had been expecting to hear about a heart attack or a car accident. Who the hell blows themselves up in the middle of a tangerine grove? His daddy, that’s who. James got up quickly and walked into the kitchen. There was still no beer. He stopped in the middle of the linoleum and put his hands into his hair. He pulled for a second and then let go.  
    “When’s the funeral?”
    He hadn’t turned around, so he couldn’t see Birdie when she answered. For that, she was grateful.
    “Two weeks ago.”
    Her voice was flat. Not apologetic, not anything. He whirled around, incredulous, but she eyed him back with a blank stare. Her cigarette had gone out in the ashtray. He took two long strides toward her, unsure what he was going to say. What he was going to do. Birdie Mae’s pink lips began to part, but before any sound could come out, the trailer door rattled open. He twisted his head, still incensed, and was prepared to let loose a fury on whoever dared to interrupt him, but the face his eyes met changed everything. James’ breath caught in his throat as a man banged through the door and stomped his dirty Converse sneakers on the flowered welcome mat.
    “Mama, did you know there’s a piece a shit truck parked out front that looks just like—”
      He froze when he looked up from his shoes and saw James, but