Part 10 (1/2)

chapter 21.

ZAVION.

Zavion had to get to Grandmother Mountain. That one thought was crystal clear in his mind. As crystal clear as the white lines running through the middle of his wis.h.i.+ng rocks.

Somewhere there was a person who could take him there.

But before that, Zavion had a debt to pay. He had to find a way to get money. He had to find a way to get Papa to take him back to New Orleans. He had to slow down his heart.

marble journey part III

PIERRE DUCHAMP.

Pierre opened the bag of clothes from the New Orleans Salvation Army.

s.h.i.+rts.

Socks.

Boxer shorts.

Sweats.h.i.+rts.

A pair of blue jeans.

He knew the people who came in to his Salvation Army. The Baton Rouge branch. He thought of them as his people.

They were certainly more his people than his own family.

- His own family opened their arms wide in the middle of winter, heads thrown back to the sky, mouths open, drinking in the wet, cold snowflakes. The more snow the better. They wors.h.i.+pped it. His brother s...o...b..arded. His sister skied. His sisters son played ice hockey, and her daughter did too. She was only ten, but she was already on a team. Had even won a few medals.

And his mother-well, his mother stayed home and made the hot chocolate. She couldnt watch any of them. Couldnt stand to watch the speed. Downhill, across the ice, or falling fast from the sky. Ever since her husband, Pierres father, had been killed in an avalanche back-country skiing. She couldnt bear it that all her children had been born with their fathers deep devotion to the snow and speed. She worried for them just as she had worried for her husband.

But she was also proud. She saw her husband in each of them.

Except for Pierre. Because Pierre hated the snow. Even before it took his father away, hed hated it. Hated how it melted into his skin and numbed him on the inside. And after his father was killed, he hated how it reminded him of his father.

So he had left the snow behind, left his family, and moved down to Louisiana.

He loved the thick, warm air here.

He loved the thick accents and the warm people.

He felt at home.

Even during Hurricane Katrina he had loved the city. In fact, he had found his bravery in that very storm. Saved a little girl who had been sucked into the water and carried away from her house.

Calm-bodied and clearheaded, he had stayed in the rising river for a good part of that first night, helping to rescue people.

- The bell rang above the front door of the store.

”Hey, Tavius,” said Pierre.

”Hey there, Pierre. How are you?” said Tavius.

”Happy to see you,” he said-and then he blushed. ”I heard a few more folks have come to live with your brother,” he added quickly.

”Yup.”

”A boy and his father?”

”You have some magical antennae, dont you? I was just saying to Enzo, that youre like a b.u.t.terfly-”

Pierre blushed a second time.

”Dont they-dont b.u.t.terflies-they have an ability to smell with-you know-with their antennae?” said Tavius. ”Not that you really have antennae...” He trailed off as he put two fingers on either side of his head. He wiggled them and laughed. Pierre laughed too.

”The b.u.t.terflies are at the peak of their life cycles this time of year,” said Pierre.

”They sure are,” said Tavius. There was a pause.

Pierre put his fingers up to his head too, and wiggled them. ”I like being a b.u.t.terfly,” he said. ”Peak of my life cycle. I like that.”

Tavius beamed.

”Here,” said Pierre, taking his antennae down and picking up the garbage bag. ”Take this bag of clothes. It just came from Cora in New Orleans. Theres some good stuff in here. Im betting the boy who just came to live with you could use it.”

Tavius reached for the bag. His hand grazed Pierres as he took hold of it. Pierre looked up at him and smiled. Tavius was his people, that was for sure. Maybe even his one person.

”Hey,” he said. ”Before you go home. Do you want to get some coffee? Or go for a walk?”

chapter 22.