Moth Prayers

The news hit Glynn suddenly and hard, like a punch to the gut. Lonnie Comeaux, the head cashier at the Handy Shopper, broke it to him: Will Dresser flipped his LeMans in Galveston and was now hanging on for dear life. Of all the older boys, Will was the only one who ever treated Glynn with any respect. Lonnie stood there staring, drinking his beer. His big ears made him look like Topo Gigio, the cartoon mouse. Glynn was in shock, and all he could see were Lonnie’s ears.

    Glynn wandered to the parking lot where his best Friend Luke was waiting with the Bikes. Luke casually chewed a piece of bubblegum he’d just peeled from a pack of baseball cards. Hmm.. Jim Palmer, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose  he mumbled. He stood straddling his Stingray bike, his face illuminated by the harsh fluorescent lights of the parking lot. He blew blew a gum bubble, popped it and smacked his chew."He'll probably die soon," Luke said.

Glynn’s anger flared, a hot, sudden thing. "You don't know nothin'," he said, his voice tight.

Luke froze, the gum stuck mid-chew. "What's wrong with you? Let's go smoke a cool by the creek." He nodded toward the drainage ditch.

Glynn didn't answer. He just turned his red Western Flyer and rode out of the lot, pumping the pedals hard. He disappeared into the darkness of the bamboo grove at the edge of the lot. Luke watched him go, a slow chew returning to his jaw. "I wonder what got into him,”?

The moth where your heart should be — 48”x48” oil on canvas ©2018 Francis X Pavy

Glynn dodged cardboard boxes behind the strip mall. In the dark It was like an obstacle course. He pumped his bike furiously, the kickstand clanging with every rotation of the crank. The sound was a loud punctuation mark to his rage. He veered onto Winton Avenue, and two blocks down, he turned toward home on Vine. The streetlights flickered on and off, revealing glimpses of humble, wood-frame houses with peeling paint.

The anger at Luke slowly gave way to worry for Will. Glynn’s feet stopped pumping, and he coasted, the crank and kickstand now silent.

Their house was a gray-green shotgun shack on brick piers. As he got closer, Glynn smelled—Gramma cooked dinner. He could hear her loudly reciting her evening rosary. He parked his bike quietly, the crunch of the gravel under the kickstand muted. A cloud of white moths fluttered on the screen door, drawn to the light inside. He opened the door gently, the moths flew in circling around the overhead light.

His grandmother was sitting down  in her rocking chair with eyes closed.,her rosary in her hands. She was praying repeating, rattling of the Hail Marys  quickly over an over like a mantra. The fan between them was garbling  and warping her devotions. ”Him Mary for grace the Lord is with thee bus’are thou mong women and bliss the froof thy room Jee-su. Whole Mare moth of god pray for us  is and is now dour death when. Hay mary fuller grace t’lord  is with three bless is d’fur u thy womb Jes-uh. Hey Mary…

Glen thought about Will and slowly sank to his knees overcome with fear and concern.  He tensed up and burned with a prayer for Wills life. “Womb Jez-is” He took a breath and prayed some more. God! ”At t’hour of hour debt”, his own prayer mixing with Gramma’s.

He then had a premonition. This room expanded and was big and small at the same time. He felt he was floating outside of his body. His spirit floated down to a bed  and he was laying in a dark room. He could see the sunlight in the next room coming in through the doorway. Small white moths were flying around his bed. He could hear voices, children’s laughter and splashing in the distance. “Jesus! Amen!”. He opened his eyes. His grandmother had finished her rosary and was looking at him a little puzzled. “Glynn! s’late. go take you bath and I’ll get you sumpin’ t’eat”. She groaned, struggled to get up and shuffled off to the kitchen. Glynn went to his room laid down and fell asleep immediately.

      The next morning he woke up to the Jays screeching outside his window. He could hear his mother  softly talking to Grams. “Got hit and flipped” Glynn got up and opened the door. “been in the hospital” he heard down the hall. He walked a few steps and heard. “Gonna make it but he’s paralyzed.” Glynn was perplexed. His prayers worked but the outcome was different that  he thought might happen. He felt guilty. His prayer had been for Will to live, but had it also, somehow, been for this?

FXP

Study for The moth where your heart should be — 33”x42” oil on canvas ©2018 Francis X Pavy