Maybe I shouldn't've.
— Outa Here
Being on your own isn't cheap. I figured I couldn't leave Tonawa for good until I graduated high school. In the meantime, the only thing I cared about was making money. Mostly legit. That meant working as many shifts as they'd give me at The Brass Buckle.
Butch was one of the regulars. He was a redneck with an attitude, and he'd recently been dumped by one of the bartenders. Mary Jane. She'd had enough of his shit, and she wasn't the first.
I don't understand women who go for bad boys. Both halves of that term should be a clue. Bad means bad, and boy means not a man regardless of his age.
The night after Mary Jane dumped Butch, he showed up at The Buckle, and I could tell he wasn't right. Billy was working the bar, and he wouldn't serve him because he could tell too.
Butch was making his usual fuss about how awful people are, and he muttered something about Mary Jane as Billy showed him the door. I shot Billy a look, and he said, "Don't worry about it. Butch is just being a pain in the ass," but it was more than that. I could tell, and I was concerned.
Anybody who knew Butch's history should have been.
First, there was the incident at the Fowlers' house. He took their grill without asking and was pissed when they made him return it. The next time they had a barbecue, flames shot twenty feet high and burned down their gazebo. They were planning on replacing it anyway, and Mr. Fowler's eyebrows grew back.
Then came the incident at Sheila's house. She was Butch's girlfriend at the time. Everybody knew that wasn't an accident or a prank, but nobody had the guts to say so. Instead, they said it was a chimney fire. I used it as a distraction while I raided the neighbor's kitchen, so it wasn't like I could say anything either. Don't judge. A girl's gotta eat.
But this was different.
Mary Jane had a little boy, maybe four years old. If Butch couldn't control his temper, it meant her kid could be in danger. And she wasn't exactly in the best condition that evening.
I saw her at the Buckle that night, after her shift. She and Butch had been fighting, and she started hitting the cheap stuff pretty hard after work. Tequila, mostly. After she left, Butch showed up. He was in a rage, so Billy threw him out.
Then the lady who babysits Mary Jane's kid dropped by the bar. That meant Mary Jane was home, and it was only a matter of time before Butch showed up there.
I told Billy to call her, and give her a heads up, but he said it's bad for business to get involved with people's drama. I felt like I had to do something, so I left early. Billy didn't need me working that night anyway. The place was dead.
By the time I got out of the bar, it was too late to follow Butch. I hoped I was wrong, but it seemed obvious where he'd go, so I headed straight to Mary Jane's house.
When I got there, everything looked fine. The whole place looked dark except for one of the upstairs windows. I was about to walk away when I saw a flicker of light downstairs, and then another. It was a different kind of light.
Then I saw her kid in the window upstairs.
I looked at the downstairs windows again, and I saw it.
Fire.
Butch's car was nowhere to be found.
I ran to the door but it was locked, so I smashed the dining room window. Cut my hand up pretty good too, and tore my jacket while jumping through.
The fire was bad. It was mostly in the living room, but it was moving fast through the curtains, and smoke was already getting thick. I noticed a wastebasket right in front of the curtains, which sure seemed like an odd place for it to be. I couldn't help wondering what Butch put in it. Maybe paper and a few lit cigarettes, to make it look like an accident?
There was no way I could put the fire out, so I ran upstairs to get her kid. The first bedroom I passed was Mary Jane's, right at the top of the stairs. Her door was open and she was sprawled across the floor, not moving. The smoke already got to her. She was gone. There was nothing I could do, so I ran into her kid's bedroom to get him. His door was closed, so the smoke wasn't bad in there yet.
I burst into the room and told him I was a friend of his mom's. "I'm Dandy. We gotta get outa here. Take my hand, okay? I need ya to watch your feet as we go. Don't look anywhere but your feet."
I didn't want him to see what I saw. No matter what, this night was gonna stay with him forever. No good could come from seeing his mom like that.
"C'mon," I said, "We gotta go!"
I tried to stay by his side as we went down the hall, so he couldn't see into her room. I led him through the smoke, and down the stairs.
"Gotta go, gotta go," I said. "You're doin' so good. Keep watching your feet 'cause I don't want you to trip, okay?"
I also didn't want him to see how bad the fire was, but by the time we got halfway down the stairs, it was everywhere. We were gonna have to go through it.
He stopped and grabbed the railing.
I said, "C'mon! We gotta go!!!"
"I can't," he wailed. "I CAN'T!!!"
"Yeah, you can. You and me. We can do it! We're goin' straight to the door. Then we're gonna roll around in the yard, okay? Pretend it's a game! Get to the grass. Drop and roll. Ready? GO!"
"Where's mom???"
"Come on, kid! RUN!!!"
I tried to yank him away from the railing, but he wouldn't let go, so I said, "Well, I'm outa here. If you're staying, you're staying," but there was no fucking way I was leaving that kid behind.
He screamed, "WAIT!!!" and he grabbed my hand.
"Gotcha! Let's go!"
I pulled him down the rest of the stairs and through the foyer as the flames were eating up the carpet and the walls. We made it through. It was bad, but we got out.
We were rolling in the yard when the neighbors came running over. Those bastards were asking about his mom before they even checked to see if we were okay. I was still trying to figure out if our clothes were on fire.
"Where's Mary Jane?"
"I got him out," I said, in a desperate attempt to shut them the fuck up.
"But where's Mary Jane?!?"
"She's upstairs."
"Jesus Christ girl!!! You left her in the HOUSE?"
OH. FUCK. THAT.
"I saved the kid's life, asshole!"
Maybe I shouldn't've.
Maybe I should have stayed at The Buckle.
Kid's probably gonna grow up to be just like the rest of 'em.