Play@YSDC

The house is well on the outskirts of town with little more than a roughly beaten horse-worn track that links it to town but that's the way her papa always liked it when he was still around. The house, itself, is big and damp and creaky and was falling apart shortly after the family built it. Mama's in the kitchen, cooking something up that smells like boiled potatoes and rabbit, and the guts of that rabbit and its skin is still sitting outside near where the trap had been pulled in. She's humming and smiling for the first time in a long time like she's suddenly happy and knows what to do. Well, that's what she said, anyway. That she knows what to do now. That she knows how to bring papa back. Maybe that's true, maybe not, but at least she's smiling. Who knows where everyone else is? Her brother's playing hide and seek again. He always seems to be doing that.

Franklin, where is he? He always runs to play before dinner...

For a brief moment Cynthia considered asking mamma, but then mamma never really seemed to care where Franklin was. Also, it was the first time she's seen mamma cook in sometime and so she decided not to bother..

I need to find him..or she'll be mad..

"aww.."

Cynthia nearly cries out as she stabs herself with a needle. She is working on mending a Sunday dress for one of the town's more prominent families. A drop of blood falls and pools out over the pink flowers. She attempts to muffle her own cries because mamma would be mad if she saw the mess she had made..

They'd make us pay and we don't have anything...

She puts the dress down and goes to fetch her brother.

Her brother isn't out in the wood shed or the old, dilapidated barn with its constantly creaking frame, but he could be down at either Lake Toluca or the little graveyard that's a few minutes away.

He was always a bit morbid like that. Always interested in the dead.

Or staring at the glittering lake.

It's not like he had as many chores to do. Mama always treated him best of all.

Maybe he wanted to go visti gram and grandaddy...?

Cynthia Ann walked the hastily cleared path through the birch trees that led to the cemetary.

Granny always like the white flowers..

Walking on along the path Cyntia Ann keeps her eyes out for the flowers her grandmother always loved, but she could only find find some rather droppy looking marigolds.

With the petals of the bright flowers being the lightest point in the forest she makes her way to the cemetary. When she arrives she will walk to the grave of her grandparents while keeping an eye out for Franklin.

Franklin sits on the base of a big, white statue, swinging his legs and humming along to himself.

He perks up as he sees his sister. "Oh, good morn' Cynthia, mama's happy today, isn't she?"

"Mama said to me she'll see daddy again soon. He's comin'. She said that, for sure."

"I know Frankie, I want daddy back too."

He's dead, but he still believes he'll come back for us..

She walks over to their grave and drops the flowers near the base of the tomb stone.

"They always loved us..."

She turns and walks towards Franklin.

"We better get back the stews almost done.."

She puts one hand on his shoulder and motions back towards the house.

Franklin shakes his head. "I don't know, Cynthia. Is Mama mad at us? Something 'bout her scares me."

"I been feelin a little jiggy about her too.."

Cynthia's hands fall to her side.

"But she make some rabbit and potatoes. Besides why you got to be worried? Mama always let you off easy like duck soup. She make me whacked every night!"

She looks up towards the sky and the sun's rays make her squint.

"The lake sure did sparkle on my way to get cha though"

She smiles even though she's exhausted from sewing all day.

He shakes his head sadly. "I-I don't know, sis. She talks to me sometimes and ... I don't like what she's saying. I don't know, but she says papa will be back soon. She can make him come back but she gets this bad look in her eye ... I don't know."

"I know a lotta people wanna send mama out to the looney."

She sighs and leans up against a near by tree.

"She's gone and lost it since daddy died.but it's gettin worse huh "

"Uh huh," says the boy, staring up at the sky. "What we gonna do? Mama's gonna come callin' for us but I got this bad feelin' about it all."

"Well where else we gonna go, Frankie?"

She moves away from the tree.

"Pappa is gone so is gram and grand daddy."

Cynthia Ann tries to think of aunts or uncles near by that the could stay with for even one night.

Frankie sighs and shrugs. He opens his mouth to say something when:

"Children! Foods on the table!" comes their mother's voice, high and shrill through the tree tops.

"Mama spent a lot on the food, more'n usual," grumbles Frankie, hopping down from the statue.

"Ya she been workin hard all day and it sure does smell good. I'm not sure when the last time we had rabbit was. Seem like every day it be corn bread and peas."

The shrill voice of their mother makes Cynthia Ann nearly leap into the air.

"I be she gonna be made if we late to dinner.."

Frankie grabs her hand. "D'you love me, sissy?"

"I always love you, Frankie"

And she had since she was for the most part the one to cook, dress and otherwise provide for him since papa had died.

She tames his hand and squeezes back like she will never let go.

"I love you too," whispered Frankie, and he follows a step behind, slowing her down as they make their way back.

For a brief moment Cynthia Ann considered taking her btother's hand and leading him into the forest. To where? It didn't matter. Even starving or freezing or falling victim to animals might be easier than watching their mother go crazier and crazier. However strong those thoughts were it was too late because it only took them that moment to make it back to their rinky dink old shack.

The smell of rabbit stew filled the air on their way back home. With cookin like that maybe pa would be home?

"Come on, dears," said their mama with uncharacteristic sweetness. "You two should come in and have a sit down meal." She leads them into the old tired kitchen where three stumps and a rickety stool stand guard around a crate covered in an old sheet. "C'mon, dears, take a seat. Mama'll have the table all set in a ready instant."

Frankie's eyes remain downcast as he takes a seat on one of the stumps.

Mama starts ladeling stew into bowls and rips off some crusty, buttered bread, fresh from the oven, that she puts down beside the bowl -- first before Frankie, then in front of Cynthia, before finally setting a place before herself. At least this time she didn't set anything down before papa's stool.

They all sit down to say grace.

But the grace turns out to be a little different this time, as Mama grips their hands with an iron strength and intones: "Oh, Crimson Mama, whose hands lift her favor sons and daughters up to the Heavens, bringin' them peace and joy, hallow be thy name! For you are the true Queen of all and we bow before yer might. As them men said when I asked 'em, you's there for us when none of them rest of them are, and when that Christian God ain't either, but let all disbelievers quake 'cause I know the righteous path!"

Cynthia Ann's clasped hands start to tremble at first just a small shake but it becomes uncontrollable the further ma continues her 'prayer'. Pa had always been a good Christian and attended Church ever Sunday. Her mother's typical rambles she could handle but not this.

"Mamma those rats done give you a crackpot idea. This still daddy's house and so it's a house of God too!"

She vaults up and throws her bowl across the table.

There's a dead silence, broken only by Frankie's nervous slurping, as she awaits the beating that is bound to follow.

Instead, her mama's benevolent smile is somehow far more frightening in its unpredictability. "Shame about your stew, but that's just fine. More'n the pot and another bowl too. Why not you go fetch yourself more to eat? There's plenty where that came from."

Frankie gulps.

Cynthia Ann crosses her arms and turns away.

"I ain't hungry anymore!"

The unsettling smile sends jitters through her stomach. She turns to Franklin and gives him a pleading look in her eyes.

"Come on Frankie, let's skidoo on out here!"

Her mama's arm clamps down on Cynthia's hard enough to hurt. "No, you don't, dear. You gonna eat the meal and have your Happy Day because there ain't many more that you can be assured of." With that, she drags her over to the stove. "Now ladle yourself some more to eat."

Cynthia Ann instantly breaks into a fit of sobbing when mama grabs her.

"Mam-ma ple-as-e Im sorry, I don't mean to be a goop just a ji-g-gy came over me. I clean up the mess I promise!

Her resistance falls limp as her mama grabs her and she spoons out the soup as she's ordered.
Ain't many more days..?

"Mama I wanna spend all our days with you and Frankie. Please, don't send me away!"

"Jes eat your stew like a good, little girl," said Mama, sitting back down on her stump.

Still crying, Cynthia Ann begins to stir the spoon into the bowl of rabbit. The way the meat sinks in and out of the broth and the aroma make it appealing, but she still feels nervous like something worse awaits her. Her tears mix into the soup, but she continues to eat anyway.

"Ok, mama, I can be good."

"Now, you both love yer papa, don't ya? You'd do anything for your papa, right?" asked Mama.

Frankie just nodded his head. He's crying too, but silently.

Still sobbing, Cynthia Ann barely manages a response.

"Yes, mama, but he's gone just like gramma and grandaddy!"

"He not gone for good," said Mama. "He gonna be right back soon. You'll see, both of ya. Now eat up. I got an extra nice surprise for you out by the lake."

Cynthia Ann eats the rest of her dinner without a sound when she is finished she gets up to clear her spot.

"Mama, may I go get ready to go to the Lake? It's cold and I want to grab my coat."

"Yes, dear, you may," said Mama with an approving smile. "Go and help Frankie get ready too. You wanna look all good for Papa, yeah?"

She will take her brother by his hand and lead them into their room, when she gets there she will dress Franklin and herself as warmly as she can and will look for her largest needle or anything else she can slip into her pocket. When she is packed she will kneel down to Frankling and whisper is his ear.

"I want you to nod when im done. Mama has gone bunk..she crazier than before, we have to run to town, Frankie, Maybe the pastor or police can help us. But we have to go.."

"C'mon sissy, she's our Mama," he whispers back. "We can't go rat on her. And what'll they do, anyway? They'd drop us back in her lap. Asides, we can't hurt Mama more. We should just go with her and make sure she don't do anything silly to hurt herself."

Hope faded from her deep brown eyes as Franklin spoke, there was no way he was gonna leave mama. For a brief moment Cynthia Ann considered running without Franklin, but there was no way she could leave him alone and sadly mama probably knew that.

"Ok, Frankie I'll come wih ya.."

She clasps his hand and leads him back into the kitchen.

Mama standing there, beaming at them, her smile so big it looks like her face might burst. "C'mon, kids, not long till we all get to see Papa again."

She takes them by the hands, grinding their fingers in her enthusiasm, and starts out along the pathway toward the lake.

Holding hands with her brother and mother she walks silently towards the lake. She takes in the view of the trees, plants and any animal that happens across their path as they walk. She also silently fidgets with the needle in her pocket.

It's a cold, miserable, fog-shrouded day with the sun hidden high above some gloomy, grey clouds. The birdsong sounds muted as though the birds themselves were afraid of something moving in their midst. Somewhere, somehow, she thought she could vaguely make out papa humming one of his old work songs and mama smiles triumphantly as she hears it. "Y'hear that? He's here. He's waitin' for us and boy does he miss his darlin's'..."

For a moment she smiles, but it soon fades because Papa is gone and there is no way he could be singing it.

"Mama, is that papa? He's gone though..he's gone to heaven.."

"It's Papa, dearie, it's Papa. He's come to come and get us and take us with him but first we got to go down in the lake." At her Mama's words, as if by magic, the path ends to reveal the banks of sparkling Lake Toluca, framed on all sides by more tall pine trees. "Come now, chil'ren, less go down and play in the water." Insistently, Mama tightens her grip on them and leads them down to the water's edge.

Cynthia Ann momentarily pulls away but submits to the will of her mother before she becomes more angry.

One of my last days....

The tone of her mother's voice and the words she used with her earlier at the dinner table makes Cynthia Ann begin to tremble.

Mama leads them down into the lake, her grip tight, but she doesn't stop at the water's edge. She starts stepping into the water, ignoring the cold as it slips into her shoes and coats her ankles. She doesn't seem about to stop anytime soon. "It be all right. Now don't you struggle any. It be all right soon. You gonna meet Papa soon. We all gonna meet Papa soon."

Once again the words of her mother during their meal rang through her head.

She means to kill us, drown us in this lake..

No longer can she stay silent and still, she attempts to pull away from her mother while reaching into her pocket for the needle which she intends to thrust into the wrist of the now insane woman who was her mom.

"He ain't comin back!"

Her eyes flare with an intensity as the struggle for her life begins.

Cynthia jabs at her mother's hand but the needle skews left and right anddoesn't manage to hit anything vital enough to really hurt.

"Now, now, there ain't no need to be naughty," said her Mama, implacably moving forward until the water rises up over Cynthia's waist.

"Mama, no, I'm scared," wailed her brother, not quite sure enough to fight yet.

"NO! IM NOT GOING IN! YOU'VE GONE BONE HEADED LOONEY!"

Cynthia Ann will attempt to pull away as much as possible and reach forward with her mouth to bite down with her teeth into her mother's arm.

"RUN FRANKIE! Please!

Cynthia can't get a real grip on her mama's hand.

"I can't!" cries Franklin. "She's too strong!"

Moments later, her mother kicks out his feet out from under him and drops him under the murky water before planting a foot on his back.

Cynthia Ann will desperately try to bite her mother again in hopes that she releases her grip on her.

"PLEASE! You can't do this, daddy is already dead!"

There's no sign of Frankie as Cynthia struggles and fails to pull herself loose. Her mama starts humming their papa's song, all the while she has a foot planted on Frankie's back. "Now you best behave or your papa won't want nothin' to do with ya over on the other side. And that won't be good, will it girl?"

"Mama, you're hurting him please let him go.."

Her last vain words were nearly a just a whisper as Cynthia Ann realized just how little she could fight the will of her mother. For the first time since she was first abused by her mother's new friends it felt like she rose above her body and the pain and torment of years of abuse seemed to be washed away from her by the waters of Toluca. Her frail body fell limp in her mother's hands and all resistance stopped.

Maybe that was papa signing..

Soon her Mama took her shoe off her brother's back, letting him float up, limp and unmoving, at the lake's edge. With slow determination, her eyes so soft, face so carefree, so calm and unlined by pain or anger, Mama took hold of her daughter's head and pushed her down beneath the water. It doesn't take long for instinct to take over where reason gave up, and Cynthia struggled in her grip with wild, animalistic abandon. All she wanted was air.... All she needed was air.... Her lungs burned for it. Her heart pounded for it. Her limbs kicked and struggled to reach it. Her hands broke the water's surface and she grasped the air that her lungs so desperately needed until, finally, her body took one last, hopeful breath and filled her lungs with that hateful cold, soaking it into her lungs, and throwing herself headlong into death.

And with that, Travis comes back to himself.

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