“Oh, goodness,” Mrs. Tanner whispered.
Luke and Isaiah, the oldest and the youngest, appeared at the door to the boys’ room. Isaiah opened his mouth like he was going to speak, but Luke covered Isaiah’s mouth with his hand.
“He done brought the Devil into this house!” Mr. Tanner yelled. He was still whipping Tommy, but he was losing steam. After a few more smacks, he turned his attention back to his dead father. He knelt by the old man’s corpse.
“You think we ought to call the ambulance?” Mrs. Tanner asked, in her quiet voice.
“Can’t do him no good now,” Mr. Tanner said.
“We ought to call somebody.”
“Then you go and call somebody!” Mr. Tanner roared. “When did I tell you to get out of the bed, anyhow?”
“I’m sorry!” Mrs. Tanner turned and scurried away to the bedroom.
“Get in the bed!” Mr. Tanner called after her, and then he turned to stare at Tommy. Tommy cringed against the wall, hurting all over, his arms hugging his knees.
“This is the Devil’s work,” Mr. Tanner whispered. “And the Lord demands a special retribution for those who help the Devil do his work.”
Tommy shivered and looked at the floor.
“I’m gonna pray on it,” Mr. Tanner said. “You just stay right there, Thomas.”
Mr. Tanner turned back toward his bedroom, and Luke and Isaiah ducked out of sight. Mr. Tanner slammed his bedroom door and began shouting at his wife.
Tommy stayed where he was, like he’d been told, staring at Pap-pap’s dead body sitting against the wall. An expression of horror was carved into Pap-pap’s face, his eyes stretched wide and his toothless mouth gaping open, as if the old man had died in the grip of an unspeakable nightmare.
Tommy couldn’t stop crying.
Chapter Two
The ambulance came in the night. Tommy cowered in his room while the other three boys went out to watch the circus of emergency medical workers and police. He lay in bed, shivering, as red and blue lights pulsed in the window.
They would come for him, Tommy was sure of it. Mr. Tanner would tell the police it was all Tommy’s fault, and then Tommy would go to jail for life. The end.
But it didn’t happen. The police and emergency people eventually went away, and Mrs. Tanner brought the other boys back to the room. Tommy lay in his bed, eyes closed and head turned aside, and pretended to sleep.
“Does Tommy really have the Devil in him?” Isaiah asked.
“Only God can know,” Mrs. Tanner said.
“Mr. Tanner thinks he does,” Luke said. “He said so.”
“Then you’ll have to talk that over with Mr. Tanner,” Mrs. Tanner said. “Now, into bed, all of you.”
Tommy listened as the three boys got into bed.
“Back to sleep, children.” Mrs. Tanner turned off the lights. “God watch over you.”
“Hey, Mrs. Tanner?”
“Yes, Isaiah?”
“Do we gotta say our prayers again?” Isaiah asked.
“No, just go to sleep.”
“Mrs. Tanner?” Isaiah asked. “How come you always call your husband ‘Mr. Tanner?’ Don’t you know his first name?”
“I’ve always called him Mister Tanner,” she said. “Ever since I was his foster daughter. There was a different Mrs. Tanner then, but she’s gone now.”
“What happened to her?” Isaiah asked.
“Stop trying to put off your bedtime, Isaiah.”
“But I don’t want to sleep in the same room with Tommy. He’s scary.”
“There are scarier things in the world than him.” Mrs. Tanner closed the door.
The room was silent and dark for a minute.
“You know what I think happened?” Jeb whispered. “I think Tommy gave him nightmares. Until he died.”
“But the doctor said heart attack,” Isaiah whispered. “Right?”
“That’s what a heart attack means, stupid,” Luke said. “It’s when something scares you so much you die.”
“Yeah, stupid,” Jeb echoed.
“Ohhhhh,” Isaiah said. He was quiet for a second. “Do you think Tommy can do that to us?”
“Maybe,” Luke said.
“Or maybe just you, Isaiah,” Jeb said. “Cause you’re a little kid and a scaredy-cat.”
“Why would he kill me?” Isaiah squeaked.
“Because you won’t shut up and go to sleep,” Luke said.
“You wouldn’t let him kill me, would you, Luke?” Isaiah whispered.
“I would,” Luke said. “I’d watch him do it, and I’d laugh.”
Jeb laughed.
“Shut up, Jeb,” Luke said. “Everybody shut up.”