Sugarfoot and Tadpole I

“Sugarfoot, baby get on in here and help me like I asked you.”

Granny B was in the kitchen, Sugarfoot could hear cabinets opening and shutting and pans being shuffled around. Sugarfoot ran for the kitchen, His too big for his body, bare feet squeaking on the linoleum when he turned the corner into the kitchen.

Granny turned on him with a grin, “Wash your hands baby, help me cook dinner and set the table. Do you know where Tadpole is?”

“He was on the front porch playing cars with Shingles.”

Shingles was the big tomcat that lived on Granny B and Grandpa Willy’s farm. He was orange and white with his right eye missing and his left ear chewed down to a nub from a fight with Grandpa Willy’s old hound dog, Tick.

Granny stuck her head in the living room and yelled toward the front porch, “Tadpole, Tadpole.” After a second, she yelled again “Tadpole, Henry Leroy Lewis, get in here.”

A second later Tadpole came running in the living room. At five, he was two years younger than Sugarfoot, but was almost as tall. Both boys were much bigger than any of their schoolmates or other kids their age. The two boys together were always such a contrast. Tadpole was as dark and tanned as most every other kid in their town, brown from days in the summer sun, and a layer of dirt that seemed to cling to him no matter how often he was forced into the bath by Granny B.

Sugarfoot, Christopher William Lewis, by birth, was as pale as porcelain, from head to toe. His hair was snow white. The only color on his body seemed to be his eyes, so brown they looked black from a distance.

“Tadpole, run out to the shed and tell Grandpa Willy it's time to get cleaned up for dinner, he has been out there working all afternoon and needs to come in now.”

Tadpole shot out the back door, Granny raised an eyebrow when it slammed shut behind him but didn’t call him back.

Sugarfoot started setting the table while Granny B cooked. She took the pan of seasoned ground beef out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter next to a small dish of flour, a bowl of eggs whipped with Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper, and a shallow pan of crushed saltine crackers mixed with a generous pile of Granny’s special seasoning she used on everything.

He removed the placemats and laid them on the sideboard. Granny was patting out the burgers and dredging them through the flour and egg wash before patting them into the crackers and laying them into her big frying pan where bacon grease popped and sizzled. A big bowl of fried potatoes sat on the counter already. It seemed like Granny always had a bowl of fried potatoes on the counter, day or night. That was ok though, he really liked fried potatoes. For him, there was no better way to eat a burger than one of Granny’s fried burgers, with ketchup and onion. It was probably his favorite thing in the world to eat. Maybe even better than chocolate.

“Sugar, don’t just slink around behind me, sing baby, you know I love when you sing to me. Music just makes the work go easier and you singing is my favorite music.

Granny B asked him to sing a lot. While she was cleaning sometimes, she had him just follow her around and sing. He liked to sing, it made him feel like a part of something bigger when he was singing. His daddy had left last year to go find work in Nashville, wherever that was. He was supposed to be gone just a while then send for him and Tadpole and their mom and they would all join them. A few months later, Sugar and Tadpole woke up for breakfast on a Saturday morning and found their house empty. They couldn’t find their mom, or Uncle Roger, mom’s friend that came around on the weekends. Or anyone else. They were just alone.

After half a day of trying to figure out how they would survive without any grownups to buy food or get them to school or church, they walked next door to Charlene’s house, their neighbor. Charlene got them some snacks and walked next door to look around. After a few minutes, she came back and got on the phone. Thirty minutes later, Granny B and Grandpa Willy showed up and packed them in their old car. While they were loading up. Uncle Ricky and Aunt Avis and a few other people that Sugar didn’t recognize showed up and started hauling stuff out of the house and loading it into trucks. When Granny B got back in the car with them, she turned and offered them a smile.

“Well boys, looks like we got some good news and some not as good news. First the good news, your daddy is doing real good down in Nashville and found work and a place for Youns to live. The not as good news, your mom had to move down there first, and you boys are gonna have to stay with Grandpa Willy and me for a spell. Now I know that’s not as much fun as moving with your mama and daddy right now, but you have school to finish and at least you won't have to change schools mid-year. You just come stay on the farm with us for a bit and it won't be long at all, and we will have you on your way to Nashville.

Since then, the school year had gone and summer was almost over and so far, no one had mentioned anything about them moving down to Nashville with their parents. School would be starting again soon, and they needed to get moving if they wanted to be settled before the new year started.

Sugar sang while he worked and wondered if he should mention the new school year starting. He never wanted to seem ungrateful, sometimes it felt like Granny B might be the only person in the world who really loved him and his brother. Everyone else just left, or really didn’t pay them no mind when they were around. So, he sang while he got out the rest of what they would need for dinner. The sliced onion and tomato from Granny’s garden, ketchup and mayonnaise, and a loaf of the white bread from under the counter.

They didn’t have any cheese, but Grandpa Willy had some kind of allergy or something that made him sick if he ate cheese, Sugar didn’t know why that meant no one was allowed to eat cheese in the house but it did. Tadpole had asked about it once and Grandpa had slapped the back of his head so hard that he fell out of his chair. Sugar was so mad he started to cry, but not Tadpole, he just stared at Grandpa Willy, through the rest of the meal that night, he just stared. Sugar knew what his brother was thinking, he wanted to hurt Grandpa Willy, Grandpa was cross a lot and could be real mean, especially if he had spent the night uptown with his friends or the whole night in the shed. He would come in loud and yell at everyone until Granny sent him to bed. But the only thing meaner on the farm than Grandpa was Tadpole. Sugar knew that if he was a grownup, Tadpole would be happy to whup Grandpa for a change. He was worried one day Grandpa would see the look on Tadpole’s face and really get mad, but so far, he never seemed to notice or worry about it.

As he was daydreaming and singing to Granny the back door crashed open again, Granny yelled this time without even looking up, “Henry Leroy, if you slam my storm door one more time, I’ll tan your hide myself.”

Suga looked at Tadpole’s wide and staring eyes and interrupted his Granny for the first time ever. “Granny, no, look.”

She spun around to face the boys and saw the fear and shock on Tadpole’s face and the stain of red on his hands and darted right to him, snatching the boy up and heading to the sink.

“Baby, are you hurt, where’s Grandpa?”

Tadpole shook his head “Not my blood, The whole shed is covered in blood, I could not find Grandpa or Tick Dog. Tick and Grandpa must be together somewhere, right?”

“Yeah baby, come on let's get that blood off you, then I want you boys to get started on these burgers before they get cold, and I will run down and see if I can find out what Grandpa Willy and Tick got up to now. You know those two are always causing me some kind of mess.”

Sugar sat across from Tadpole in their usual spots, neither really eating but just picking at their food, waiting for Granny to return with Grandpa and Tick Dog.

“What did you see out there Tadpole? Where did all that blood come from?”

Tadpole looked at his plate and swished his ketchup around with his fork, not eating. “I, I don’t know Sugar, it was dark in the shed, and hot and I could hear the flies buzzing when I walked up to the door. I tried to see in without going all the way in, usually there's light coming from the windows but not this time, it was like they was painted all over with red paint. So, it was real dark in there and smelled bad too, worse than normal. I called and called for Grandpa Willy and Tick, and he didn’t answer so I stepped in and slipped and caught myself on the table and when I got my feet, I realized that everything was wet, I stepped back out and my hands and feet were covered in that blood, like when Grandpa let us help clean that deer, only way more of it.”

Sugar looked up at the sound of the door opening and Granny B making her way into the kitchen. Both boys jumped up and ran to her.

“Now, now, you boys get back up at that table and finish your dinner. I found Grandpa and Tick, those old rascals went fishing and got into a whole mess of Crappie. He was cleaning them fish in the shed, that’s where all the blood came from that you found, Tadpole. I pulled a knot in his tail for cleaning fish in the shed and not out back by the hose and trash. So now he and Tick are headed back to the Crappie hole to get the rest of what they can out of that spot, so we have some left to freeze when he is done. So, you boys eat up and clean up the kitchen a bit when you’re done. Don’t worry about washing up the dishes, just get everything put away and I will finish after I call and plan to get some freezer space over at Aunt Avis and Uncle Ricky’s house. When you’re done with that, I want you both in the bath, Tadpole you first. Sugar, you get out pajamas and pick out a story for you to read to me when you are both cleaned up and if Youns get everything done without fussing or me asking again. I have some cookies burning a hole in the cupboard and you can each have one. But it's all or nothing, so help each other out.”

With cookies on the line, neither boy needed to be told twice.