Strange Weather Page #5

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the low-lying parishes

the water's rising real fast,

folks.

So I need ask you,

what would you take from home

if somebody gave you

just 30 minutes to evacuate?

Hey!

How do I go about

getting on that road?

- Where are y'all headed?

- Simone city.

No, you can't

go down there, ma'am.

The whole damn parish

is flooded out.

But I got somebody I gotta meet.

Well, you got to turn around

and go back the way you come.

Take a left down

at the end of this road.

Uh-huh.

Then follow it all

the way down till it ends again.

Then ask somebody where

the Saint Luke church is.

- All right.

- All right then, yeah?

- Thanks a lot.

- Y'all be careful.

Buford lapierre?

Any of y'all know

a buford lapierre?

Do y'all know when you

can get some shelter?

Church is full up.

They said they're gonna

bus us somewhere.

- Buford lapierre!

- Who wants him?

They told me my grandpere

was coming on the next bus.

But we ain't seen him.

My baby's hungry.

My wife's trying to get

her asthma meds.

What I'm trying to say

is that right now,

I can't be bothering about

something out of the past.

Ain't no concern of mine.

I-I know, it's just...

I drove all this way

to speak with you.

So I'm just...

I'm asking you kindly

if you'll recollect

- anything about my boy...

- I recollect what matters to me.

No! Please wait.

Try to remember how he happened

to walk out of that room with

a box of bullets in his hand.

We were partying that night.

What can I say about that?

I'm straight edge now, though.

I got nothing to do

with that stuff.

I don't even like

to think about it.

I will say I never liked

that guy mark.

Real superior.

I didn't like it that his daddy

bought him that house

and I had to pay rent on it

neither.

It was like that guy mark

saw the weakness in your boy,

saw he was hurting

in some sense.

He had so much money,

never could figure out

why he wouldn't

just lend him some.

Wait, Walker was trying

to borrow money?

Yeah, so he could graduate.

He didn't think

he was gonna make it.

He was like a cat

playing with a mouse,

poking at the bleeding spots,

saying stuff like,

"seems like you in a lot

of pain, you in pain,"

and, "sometimes a tunnel

is just a tunnel,"

that kind of sh*t.

I thought it was just

the drugs talking,

but later I figured

that that guy saw

some kind of door opening up,

just got Walker out of the way,

he could step right through it.

So when he drove Walker back

to town later that night...

Wait.

Mark Wright drove Walker

to my house?

None of the rest of us had cars.

Look, I don't like to say it,

but why'd anybody do that

to his own mama

in her house and all?

Hey!

Drought conditions

continue all over the south and southwest.

Cleanup is well underway

in Saint John the baptist

and Jefferson parishes

this evening

as localized flood waters

continue to recede...

Hey, hey, baby.

Crank that ac up higher,

would you, byrd?

Hang on a sec.

Ohh...

Okay.

Getting crazier by the minute.

What else is new?

No, worse.

I can't.

It's one more day...

- I can hear you, goddamn it!

- Hang on.

Why would you elect

to sit out here

instead of staying inside

where it's cool?

Wanted to give you some privacy.

- How's geri?

- Ticked off at you.

I'll take you both out

to the chatterbox for dinner

when we get back, my treat.

You know, today when I was

talking to buford,

I was trying to get him to

remember something about Walker,

and it put me back

into that room that night.

I started...

Remembering his toes.

They were all curled up,

and I was standing

at the foot of his bed

trying to straighten them out,

and they...

They would not straighten.

I guess I stood there

for a long time, but...

Maybe it was only

a couple of minutes,

the way he was laying there

and all the blood, and...

And me looking for a note,

and there wasn't a note.

And...

One side of his briefs

were kind of pulled down,

and I could see...

His birthmark,

that weird brown mark.

- That was shaped like a smile.

- Huh?

- Nothing.

- No.

You said his birthmark

was shaped like a smile.

That was...

...in a real private area

of his body.

How would you know that?

Well, I saw him changing when

we went swimming at the shore.

Uh-huh.

And that's it?

What else could it be?

Well, I don't know, birdie byrd.

You tell me.

Nothing to tell.

Okay, okay, okay.

There was this period of time...

Oh, my god.

Oh, my god.

It wasn't like he was a kid.

He was 23.

So that made you what, how old?

I don't know, 32, I guess.

Look, I didn't know how to talk

to you about it when it happened,

and then Walker passed,

and now...

I never wanted to tell you.

I knew you'd blow your stack.

So this is about how I'd react?

Jesus Christ, byrd!

You've been in that truck with

me for how many hours,

and didn't think to...

Oh, now I get it.

Now I get it.

You were just coming along

for the ride

because you were atoning.

No, no, what the hell would

I need to atone for, Darcy?

- Isn't it obvious?

- No, no, it is not.

Here's some news for you...

Other people cared

about Walker, too,

and they had their own reasons.

- Not everything has to do with you.

- Excuse me?

You don't think I had to ask

myself some questions

when Walker died?

I didn't even realize

how much he was keeping from me.

He talked to me about

the stars and the moon

and theories of the universe.

For god's sake, do you know

how many times I had to

ask myself why he didn't come

over and see me that night?

- I was right across the street.

- No, you were not.

When I called you,

you were at your sister's.

That was a whole day later.

So how did it...

How'd it get started?

I don't want to get into that.

I'm sorry.

I gotta know.

Well, not that I think you have

any right to this information,

but look, I was lonely.

Walker was lonely, too.

He was starting to get

those mood swings,

and I think maybe at first,

he just needed the company.

And you were all caught up

with Clay, in case you forgot,

and you didn't really

want Walker around too much,

- also in case you forgot.

- So I wasn't supposed to have a boyfriend?

And Walker wasn't

supposed to have

his own life, his own feelings?

He wasn't carved out of stone

in your mirror image, you know.

We were like two peas in a pod.

That's exactly

what I'm talking about, Darcy!

It's like the way you see the

world's the only way to see it.

It's like some cardinal truth.

But that's just the story

you've been telling yourself.

That doesn't mean that's

how it actually was.

I was there.

Sometimes Walker hated your guts

just like any kid does.

Sometimes he tried

to make himself

as different from you

as he could.

Is it any surprise his apartment

only had brand-new stuff in it,

nothing old or remotely antique?

Is it any surprise

he voted republican twice?

So what you're telling me

is I was a shitty mother.

- No.

- Just say it then.

Say I was shitty and selfish

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