Fire Solves All Problems Perfectly pt 51

C’mere, Danny, your grandfather says, sitting at the picnic table, pouring Jack Daniels into his pink plastic tumbler glass. He makes motions with the bottle and pieces of wonder bread, turning to look at you with one eyebrow arched in a way that makes you laugh, and finally he hands you the sandwich, which turns out to be cheese and mustard, your favorite. This sure is good whiskey! you say with your mouth full.

Jimmy, you’re not giving him liquor, are you? Grandma Shirley says. Your grandfather cusses under his breath so that only you can hear, and stirs the ice in his glass with his finger; your father is watching you from where he stands with Uncle Steve on the bank tying lures onto fishing wire. A month before you moved to Fire Town, during a night when it was storming and your parents were fighting and you were in the kitchen reading How To Eat Fried Worms, your grandfather came over with his rifle: he came in the kitchen and yelled for your father to come outside and face him like a man – your father pushed him back outside and your mother locked it behind them, and shut off the light and you sat by the window trying to see into the yard, only able to do it when lighting made everything white and blue. Your grandfather and father were standing nose to nose, water running down their faces and dripping off their clothes. Bastards, all of you were bastards, your grandfather shouted, none of you were mine, and he pointed the rifle at your father, and your mother squealed and grabbed your arm hard. Stop it, your father said, and he took the gun away from your grandfather. And then he started crying; it was awful watching the way his mouth stayed wide open and his eyes were squeezed shut, just like a baby. Your father put the rifle against the house and walked his father back to his car and drove him home, the taillights of the Mustang lost in the lightning flashes. Your mother turned the lights back on and said, Sometimes Grandpa thinks it’s a long time ago, as if this explained anything to you.