Warpaint

“Sorry, Winky, I just couldn’t do any more bumps,” I said, holding my injured forearm in front of me with my other hand.

“I understand. Anything I can do?”

“I’m going to jump in the swamp and get this shit off me. You could make sure no gators eat me in the process.” We walked down the dirt road, my feet dragging.

“No problem. Just call me your friendly neighborhood gator wrestler.”

I tried to smile, but it was too painful. It felt too wrong to find humor in our world right now.

“What happened back there? Is everyone okay?” I asked.

Winky shook her head. “I’m not exactly sure what happened with everyone. Fohi and Rob blew up the front of the house and got a few of the canners inside with it. The canners had a lot of gas and stuff stored in there, so the place just started exploding once the grenade went off. The place is going up in flames right now.” She reached up, twisting her hair into a bun and then letting it drop, keeping her eyes on the ground as we walked. “I poisoned those dogs, but only after I saw them rip into some kid. I think it was that Sean guy. They left him for the poisoned meat, and he ran off. I don’t know where he went, but he’s not with us.”

“What about Bodo?” I was almost afraid to hear her answer, but I had to know. My heart was spasming in pain.

“I saw Bodo fighting with another guy, but I had to leave because two others were chasing me and Jason. Kowi got into it too and took a slice to the gut. Everyone has knife wounds except Paci, who you saw get shot in the leg. I think he’s going to be okay if he doesn’t get an infection. It didn’t hit an artery or anything.”

“So Bodo’s not in the truck?”

Winky looked at me sadly. “No. He’s not.”

“Is he … ?”

She looked back down at the ground and shrugged. “I don’t know. He didn’t show up at the truck. We couldn’t wait for him anymore. Some of the canners got away and they have those spies … ”

I shook my head, dismissing her unspoken apologies. “I know, I know …” I couldn’t even wrap my head around the idea that Bodo wasn’t with us. He had to be okay. He just has to be. I refused to accept the idea that he could be dead.

“Did anyone look for him? Maybe he’s injured and that’s why he couldn’t get back.”

“Yeah. We looked where we last saw him. He wasn’t there. If he ran back into the house, well …” She didn’t finish her sentence, but her meaning was becoming all too clear to me.

“When did they blow the place up?” I asked, praying she’d say it was before she saw Bodo fighting.

She answered me in a quiet voice. “After the last time anyone saw Bodo.” She reached into her pocket and held something out to me.

“What’s that?” I said, knowing exactly what it was when I saw the shiny silver surface but not wanting to believe it.

“It’s Bodo’s harmonica. I found it in the grass when I went back to look for him. It must have fallen out of his pocket when he was fighting the canners.”

I started to cry, almost not wanting to touch it. I stopped walking. “Was he winning? When you saw him? Was he winning the fight?”

Winky stopped too, turning to look at me. “He was doing okay. Yeah, he was doing pretty well.”

I reached out and took the harmonica from her, running my fingers over the etched scrolls on the side that had faded in places from being handled so much. I put it up to my lips but then quickly took it away again. No way in hell was I going to blow on it. It was Bodo’s, and he was going to come back and blow it himself. He just has to.

I shoved it in my back pocket and strode away wiping tears angrily from my face, leaving Winky behind.