Davey leapt down from a rock outcropping as Alan made his way home that night, landing on his back. Alan stumbled and dropped his school bag. He grabbed at the choking arm around his neck, then dropped to his knees as Davey bounced a fist-sized stone off his head, right over his ear.He slammed himself back, pinning Davey between himself and the sharp stones on the walkway up to the cave entrance, then mashed backward with his elbows, his head ringing like a gong from the stone’s blow. His left elbow connected with Davey’s solar plexus and the arm around his throat went slack.He climbed to his knees and looked Davey in the face. He was blue and gasping, but Alan couldn’t work up a lot of sympathy for him as he reached up to the side of his head and felt the goose egg welling there. His fingertips came back with a few strands of hair blood-glued to them.He’d been in a few schoolyard scraps and this was always the moment when a teacher intervened—one combatant pinned, the other atop him. What could you do after this? Was he going to take the rock from Davey’s hand and smash him in the face with it, knocking out his teeth, breaking his nose, blacking his eyes? Could he get off of Davey without getting back into the fight?He pinned Davey’s shoulders under his knees and took him by the chin with one hand. “You can’t do this, Danny,” he said, looking into his hazel eyes, which had gone green as they did when he was angry.“Dowhat?”“Spy on me. Try to hurt me. Try to hurt my friends. Tease me all the time. You can’t do it, okay?”“I’ll stab you in your sleep, Andy. I’ll break your fingers with a brick. I’ll poke your eyes out with a fork.” He was fizzling like a baking-soda volcano, saliva slicking his cheeks and nostrils and chin, his eyes rolling.Alan felt helplessness settle on him, weighing down his limbs. How could he let him go? What else could he do? Was he going to have to sit on Davey’s shoulders until they were both old men?“Please, Davey. I’m sorry about what I said. I just can’t bring her home, you understand,” he said.“Pervert. She’s a slut and you’re a pervert. I’ll tear her titties off.”“Don’t, Danny, please. Stop, okay?”Darren bared his teeth and growled, jerking his head forward and snapping at Alan’s crotch, heedless of the painful thuds his head made when it hit the ground after each lunge.Alan waited to see if he would tire himself out, but when it was clear that he would not tire, Alan waited for his head to thud to the ground and then, abruptly, he popped him in the chin, leapt off of him turned him on his belly, and wrenched him to his knees, twisting one arm behind his back and pulling his head back by the hair. He brought Davey to his feet, under his control, before he’d recovered from the punch.“I’m telling Dad,” he said in Davey’s ear, and began to frog-march him through to the cave mouth and down into the lake in the middle of the mountain. He didn’t even slow down when they reached the smooth shore of the lake, just pushed on, sloshing in up to his chest, Davey’s head barely above the water.“He won’t stop,” Alan said, to the winds, to the water, to the vaulted ceiling, to the scurrying retreat of the goblin. “I think he’ll kill me if he goes on. He’s torturing me. You’ve seen it. Look at him!”Davey was thrashing in the water, his face swollen and bloody, his eyes rattling like dried peas in a maraca. Alan’s fingers, still buried in Davey’s shiny blond hair, kept brushing up against the swollen bruises there, getting bigger by the moment. “I’llfuckingkill you!” Davey howled, screaming inchoate into the echo that came back from his call.“Shhh,” Alan said into his ear. “Shhh. Listen, Davey, please, shhh.”Davey’s roar did not abate. Alan thought he could hear the whispers and groans of their father in the wind, but he couldn’t make it out. “Please, shhh,” he said, gathering Davey in a hug that pinned his arms to his sides, putting his lips up against Davey’s ear, holding him still.“Shhh,” he said, and Davey stopped twitching against him, stopped his terrible roar, and they listened.At first the sound was barely audible, a soughing through the tunnels, but gradually the echoes chased each other round the great cavern and across the still, dark surface of the lake, and then a voice, illusive as a face in the clouds.“My boys,” the voice said, their father said. “My sons. David, Alan. You must not fight like this.”“He --!” Davey began, the echoes of his outburst scattering their father’s voice.“Shhh,” Alan said again.“Daniel, you must love your brother. He loves you. I love you. Trust him. He won’t hurt you. I won’t let you come to any harm. I love you, son.”Alan felt Danny tremble in his arms, and he was trembling, too, from the icy cold of the lake and from the voice and the words and the love that echoed from every surface.“Adam, my son. Keep your brother safe. You need each other. Don’t be impatient or angry with him. Give him love.”“I will,” Alan said, and he relaxed his arms so that he was holding Danny in a hug and not a pinion. Danny relaxed back into him. “I love you, Dad,” he said, and they trudged out of the water, out into the last warmth of the day’s sun, to dry out on the slope of the mountainside, green grass under their bodies and wispy clouds in the sky that they watched until the sun went out.
Davey leapt down from a rock outcropping as Alan made his way home that night, landing on his back. Alan stumbled and dropped his school bag. He grabbed at the choking arm around his neck, then dropped to his knees as Davey bounced a fist-sized stone off his head, right over his ear.
He slammed himself back, pinning Davey between himself and the sharp stones on the walkway up to the cave entrance, then mashed backward with his elbows, his head ringing like a gong from the stone’s blow. His left elbow connected with Davey’s solar plexus and the arm around his throat went slack.
He climbed to his knees and looked Davey in the face. He was blue and gasping, but Alan couldn’t work up a lot of sympathy for him as he reached up to the side of his head and felt the goose egg welling there. His fingertips came back with a few strands of hair blood-glued to them.
He’d been in a few schoolyard scraps and this was always the moment when a teacher intervened—one combatant pinned, the other atop him. What could you do after this? Was he going to take the rock from Davey’s hand and smash him in the face with it, knocking out his teeth, breaking his nose, blacking his eyes? Could he get off of Davey without getting back into the fight?
He pinned Davey’s shoulders under his knees and took him by the chin with one hand. “You can’t do this, Danny,” he said, looking into his hazel eyes, which had gone green as they did when he was angry.
“Dowhat?”
“Spy on me. Try to hurt me. Try to hurt my friends. Tease me all the time. You can’t do it, okay?”
“I’ll stab you in your sleep, Andy. I’ll break your fingers with a brick. I’ll poke your eyes out with a fork.” He was fizzling like a baking-soda volcano, saliva slicking his cheeks and nostrils and chin, his eyes rolling.
Alan felt helplessness settle on him, weighing down his limbs. How could he let him go? What else could he do? Was he going to have to sit on Davey’s shoulders until they were both old men?
“Please, Davey. I’m sorry about what I said. I just can’t bring her home, you understand,” he said.
“Pervert. She’s a slut and you’re a pervert. I’ll tear her titties off.”
“Don’t, Danny, please. Stop, okay?”
Darren bared his teeth and growled, jerking his head forward and snapping at Alan’s crotch, heedless of the painful thuds his head made when it hit the ground after each lunge.
Alan waited to see if he would tire himself out, but when it was clear that he would not tire, Alan waited for his head to thud to the ground and then, abruptly, he popped him in the chin, leapt off of him turned him on his belly, and wrenched him to his knees, twisting one arm behind his back and pulling his head back by the hair. He brought Davey to his feet, under his control, before he’d recovered from the punch.
“I’m telling Dad,” he said in Davey’s ear, and began to frog-march him through to the cave mouth and down into the lake in the middle of the mountain. He didn’t even slow down when they reached the smooth shore of the lake, just pushed on, sloshing in up to his chest, Davey’s head barely above the water.
“He won’t stop,” Alan said, to the winds, to the water, to the vaulted ceiling, to the scurrying retreat of the goblin. “I think he’ll kill me if he goes on. He’s torturing me. You’ve seen it. Look at him!”
Davey was thrashing in the water, his face swollen and bloody, his eyes rattling like dried peas in a maraca. Alan’s fingers, still buried in Davey’s shiny blond hair, kept brushing up against the swollen bruises there, getting bigger by the moment. “I’llfuckingkill you!” Davey howled, screaming inchoate into the echo that came back from his call.
“Shhh,” Alan said into his ear. “Shhh. Listen, Davey, please, shhh.”
Davey’s roar did not abate. Alan thought he could hear the whispers and groans of their father in the wind, but he couldn’t make it out. “Please, shhh,” he said, gathering Davey in a hug that pinned his arms to his sides, putting his lips up against Davey’s ear, holding him still.
“Shhh,” he said, and Davey stopped twitching against him, stopped his terrible roar, and they listened.
At first the sound was barely audible, a soughing through the tunnels, but gradually the echoes chased each other round the great cavern and across the still, dark surface of the lake, and then a voice, illusive as a face in the clouds.
“My boys,” the voice said, their father said. “My sons. David, Alan. You must not fight like this.”
“He --!” Davey began, the echoes of his outburst scattering their father’s voice.
“Shhh,” Alan said again.
“Daniel, you must love your brother. He loves you. I love you. Trust him. He won’t hurt you. I won’t let you come to any harm. I love you, son.”
Alan felt Danny tremble in his arms, and he was trembling, too, from the icy cold of the lake and from the voice and the words and the love that echoed from every surface.
“Adam, my son. Keep your brother safe. You need each other. Don’t be impatient or angry with him. Give him love.”
“I will,” Alan said, and he relaxed his arms so that he was holding Danny in a hug and not a pinion. Danny relaxed back into him. “I love you, Dad,” he said, and they trudged out of the water, out into the last warmth of the day’s sun, to dry out on the slope of the mountainside, green grass under their bodies and wispy clouds in the sky that they watched until the sun went out.