“Every Sunday night after dinner, my mother would go to her bedroom and turn the television on high. She’d let my stepfather punish me. My stepfather would take me into my bedroom, read off the list my mother made of my “sins.” After he read the list, he would make me take my clothes off, then spend the rest of the night raping me.”
Reaper heard Suki give a low whine.
“He and my mother told me that if I ever told anyone, especially Freddy, my stepfather would sneak into my dad’s house and kill him and me.”
“Did you father find out?” Reaper asked gruffly.
Silas turned his face from the sky to look at him. “Has Ginny told you what Freddy’s gift was?”
“Some. Greer, toss me another beer.” Reaper was careful with what he said, not wanting to get Ginny in trouble with the little she had told.
Greer took two beers out, handing him one, then took his plastic baggie out. “I’ll be taking another myself. I’m lighting a second one of these bad boys up, too.”
Studying Greer closely, Reaper could tell from his reaction that he had been unaware of Silas’s abuse.
Silas waited until Greer had the joint lit.
“Each member of my family have separate and distinct gifts, except Freddy and Fynn. Freddy could read the skies like you and I read books. He knew when things were going to happen and when to intervene within reason. If he interfered in someone’s life, it put the book out of whack. Chapter ten would happen in chapter six, or events were skipped ahead to chapter fifteen. That wasn’t even the worst. Freddy said some events wouldn’t appear at all. They were deleted. Only one member is born in a generation with Freddy’s gift, and usually toward the end of the previous generation’s lifetime. When Fynn’s gifts became apparent, Freddy knew it was a matter of time before he passed on.”
Reaper stared down at Suki as he continued stroking her fur. Gavin understood why Silas was describing Freddy’s gifts. “Freddy knew you were being abused.”
“One Friday he came to pick me up. When we got to the house, as I was getting out of the car, he asked if I wanted to go for walk before dinner. We walked to where Moses’ house is now; there’s a big rock not too far from there. He said, ‘let’s rest before we head back.’ So I sat down on the rock with Dad, thinking we were taking a break before heading back to the house. As we sat there, he looked down at my shoes and asked why I wasn’t wearing the new tennis shoes he bought me.”
Reaper heard Greer begin to cough. “You okay, Greer?”
“Yeah,” he rasped out, handing him the joint.
Silas waited until Greer stopped coughing before continuing his story. “I told him that the whole class had been making fun of the way Greer’s shoes smelled. Freddy asked me if I was one of the kids making fun of him. I told him I was. Then I told him how Greer followed me into the bathroom and stole my shoes when I was taking a shit.”
Reaper took another hit of the joint. He wasn’t stupid; he knew the men were trying to steer the conversation into him sharing what had happened to him. He had no intention of giving in to the sneaky maneuver. Still, his interest was caught as Silas’s story unfolded.
“You swapped shoes with Silas?”
“I was pissed.” Greer glared at his cousin. “He was always on my fuckin’ back.”
“We were both dicks.” Silas gave a crooked smile. “I grew up. I’m still waiting for Greer to. Looking back, most of it was acting out because our home lives were shit. I hadn’t told my mom about my shoes, because it would give my mother another excuse to punish me.
“I expected my dad to tell me that he would get me another pair. Instead, he told me it wouldn’t hurt for me to walk in Greer’s shoes for a while. I started crying because I knew my mother would see Greer’s old shoes before we went to church. Freddy started crying, too. ‘Son, no matter how hungry you get when you miss dinner or miss lunch, you’re never going to feel true hunger until you experience it yourself. You have a girl in your classroom whose father was laid off from the mines and hasn’t had anything to eat in two days. No matter how sorry you feel for her, you don’t understand the hunger pains that eventually go away because your body has given up hope of being fed. When I look at Greer’s shoes, I see his parents don’t have enough money to buy him a new pair. I also see parents refusing to take a handout. The sole is worn down on them. It’s a chilly day. Are your feet cold?’ he’d asked me.