Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson (ebook voice reader TXT) 📗

me since Dad died. I was pretty fucking sick of working in the cannery. Didn’t want to go back home and have Mom tell me this wouldn’t have happened if I’d kept my whore of Babylon legs shut. I didn’t care about you then. You were an ugly reminder.”

Screw my organs, Jared thought, and took the vodka bottle from her.

“Then it became very clear that you had magic.”

“Like how?”

“You liked salmon. All the salmon in the house would end up in front of me. You wanted sweets. Everyone around us—family, strangers, random dogs, everyone—would bring us sweets. And you know Mave. You were a force of magical nature and she was blind as a fucking bat to it. I couldn’t see her raising you and it ending in sunshine and lollipops. So I called Mom.”

Maggie took the bottle from him. She swigged then offered it back. He shook his head.

“Mom thought you were Wee’git. I didn’t get that at all. You were this happy little shrimp with a sweet tooth. But we agreed that Mave couldn’t raise you. So I told Phil I was pregnant and let him think you were his. Mom had a massive freak-out ’cause, you know, Phil’s mom is Sophia. Shit hit the fan. Words were spoken. Lawyers. Tears. Mave told all the authorities what an awful mother I was going to make. So, naturally, I threatened to drown her in the bathtub the next time I saw her. Me and Phil played house. God, he was father material. I did not expect to be anyone’s little woman, but he made us a family. And then nothing. You didn’t show any power. I could’ve left you with Mave and she would’ve been okay. I kept telling myself I was going to dump you because Sophia could handle you, no problem. Or even your Granny Nita. But, you know, here we are.”

“You dumped me a lot,” Jared said.

“Yeah. I really thought you’d run to Sophia. Thought I’d make it easy. I’m no prize, Jared. You’re not winning the lottery having me here. You’d have been better off with Sophia or Mave.”

“I have been told by many people,” Jared said, “that I am an annoying fuck. Maybe you’re the only person in the world who could survive all the shit I’ve put you through.”

She laughed. “You are a handful.”

“You’ve got a bit of a temper.”

“We’re having a moment here. Don’t make me throw you out the window.”

“I love you, Hallmark.”

“I love my Shithead.”

They lay side by side on the bed. His mom put the vodka bottle on the nightstand.

“I know you loved Phil, and I know that’s why you kept his last name, but you’re going to have to change it to Moody. Quietly. No big fuss. Sophia Martin’s in a murdering mood. We need to tiptoe away or we’re going to get squished.”

“Okay,” Jared said.

“Good,” his mom said.

—

Crying jag number two: Crawling around the floor, his mom trying to get him to stop banging his head on it. Can’t get the memories to leave. Can’t get the screams out of his head. Can’t stop imagining what the coy wolves did to Phil. Knowing what they did to David. What his mom did.

—

Normal puking in the toilet. Just bile and booze. He was finally able to sit back, resting against the tub while his mom smoked on the open walkway in front of their room. He could hear her talking to the guy from the room next door, buttering him up because she didn’t want him complaining to the front desk. They laughed, and then Richie came stomping down the walkway and he could feel his mom’s annoyance like a prickle.

More puking. Then a quick finger rinse to get the taste out of his mouth. Jared studied his swollen-eyed face.

The hiss of David’s hand hitting the deep fryer. The world is hard. That doesn’t mean it was any less rape. Lying weasel.

He clipped the corner of the sink as he went down, clunk, and he lay on the cold tiles looking up. There was gum stuck to the bottom of the porcelain.

I’m in a bathroom, he thought.

He could feel Sarah, passed out and dreaming. He didn’t want to go into her dreams. There were lines and then there were lines.

A flicker of another mind, the dry wind of the world Georgina was stuck in, and then the mind was gone.

—

Richie and Maggie brought him back to the bed. Something darted through the wall and hovered over his feet. When he could focus, he saw Huey, the floating head, who crossed his eyes, and Jared laughed. He wasn’t as solid as he’d been the last time Jared saw him, meaning he’d expended too much, but he was still Huey, helpful, helpful Huey. He rolled around, looking back, a sign that he wanted Jared to follow him.

“Huey! Huey, I love you!”

Huey rolled around the room, excited.

“Jared,” his mom said. “Send your friend home.”

“Mom’s maaaaaaaad,” Jared said.

“I’m gonna head back to the other room,” Richie said.

“Jared.”

“Mother.”

Huey flew through the ceiling and disappeared. He was never away from the apartment building for too long. His little cousin Eliza had said he was bound there, but she didn’t know how. Jared could feel him getting farther away and it set off jag number three, which started with Jared laughing like he was stoned and then crying and crying and crying.

—

His mom ordered Chinese for supper and brought him a Styrofoam bowl of won ton soup. She ate her beef and broccoli at the desk while scrolling through her phone.

“I don’t think I need to eat anymore,” Jared said. “I don’t think Tricksters eat.”

“I paid good money for that.”

“I can’t taste anything. It’s just texture.”

“Wee’git eats.”

“Maybe it’s just a habit.”

“You’re sobering up, that’s all. Sip the broth, at least.”

He put the bowl on the nightstand beside the empty bottle of vodka.

She put down the phone. “Why didn’t you tell me David was escalating?”

Jared shrugged. “You were finally happy. I didn’t