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Family Pet

By Zee

F, from St. Louis, MO, United States

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Lee slid the boa constrictor from his own shoulders and draped it over Jade's. As the warm, rustling bulk settled, Jade cupped the snake's tiny head between her hands and looked into the pale eyes that were like painted-over windows.
"LulaBelle is so big now she could probably squeeze either of us to death," Lee said, laughing. "Too lazy, though. Too well fed." He walked over to his bed and picked up a bulging backpack. A sock hung out between the zipper's teeth.
"Take good care of her," said Lee, and before Jade had time to ask why she should, since Lee always did, Lee was gone. He didn't come back that night. He didn't come back at all.
"Why did he leave?" Jade asked her mother.
"I told him if he's not interested in finishing school, he can find another place to live. So he left. His choice," her mother said, voice muffled by the armful of sheets she had just stripped from Lee's bed. "He's grown now, he makes his own decisions."

* * *

"Jade...Jade..."
Her mother's voice shattered the memory of those last few minutes with her older brother. She put her hands over her ears and stared at the carpet as she tried to re-assemble the broken pieces. Maybe, if she remembered everything, every word Lee said that night, every time he looked at her, every single thing he stuffed into the backpack, him walking out and never coming back would start to make sense. School couldn't possibly be that bad, could it?
"Jade, look at me, please." Jade's mother bent down, put her hand under her chin and tilted her head up." I need your help. Do you think LulaBelle's carrying cage will fit inside that old baby carriage?"
"Why?"
"The carrying cage will be too heavy for me with LulaBelle inside, so I'm going to push it in the baby carriage."
"Where are you taking LulaBelle?"
"I'm selling her. I already told you that. Remember?"
"But you can't sell her. She belongs to Lee."
"Lee doesn't want her anymore, love. Anyway, look at her, she's getting too big for her cage. A man saw my online advertisement the other day and he's happy to pay what I asked. A ten foot female albino boa constrictor named LulaBelle is exactly what he wants."
"You're making that up. He doesn't care that she's named LulaBelle. And she belongs to Lee."
"Jade, I am selling her. Lee left her behind, and he's not coming back. You need to help me get her into the carrying cage."
"I'm not helping you steal her. I promised Lee I'd take care of her." Jade pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
Jade's mother bit her lip. She pushed up the saggy cuffs of her mustard-colored sweater. "Just help me get LulaBelle into the carrying cage."
Jade shook her head. "I'm sorry, Mom. I just can't."

* * *

Jade hadn't seen Lee for almost a year but that afternoon she walked to the store for a packet of gum and when she came back, there he was, standing in front of the house.
"Lee," she said. She stuffed fists into the pockets of her purple jacket and studied him. Lee's head was shaved, and he looked much thinner than he used to be.
"Jade! How are you, little sister? How's Mom?"
"She might still be at work."
"Aren't you glad to see me?"
"I'm not sure." Inside her pocket, she played with the packet of gum and the house key. It was on a piece of plastic-coated wire, and she twisted the wire round and round the gum and wondered if Lee was glad he was grown up and making his own decisions.
"Ok," Lee sighed. "I guess that makes sense, especially if you've heard the "Don't Drop Out Like Lee Did" lecture from Mom a few times."
For a moment, Jade thought he looked sad, but then the look was gone. Maybe she imagined it.
A dark-haired man with a red jacket walked up and stood beside Lee.
"Hey, Lee's Little Sister!" he said.
"Jade, can we come inside for a few minutes? I need to ask you something," said Lee.
Jade studied the red-jacket man, and then looked back at her brother. "Just you."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean just you can come in. Not him." She pointed.
"Oh, come on. This is Rasheed. He's a friend, it's fine if he comes in."
"No."
"You were right when you said your sister is a few cards short of a full deck," said Rasheed.
Lee's face turned red. "I never said that."
Rasheed rolled his eyes and laughed. "Oh, yes you did. Maybe not in so many words, but..."
"That's fine, Rasheed doesn't need to come in," Lee continued. "You can help me bring LulaBelle out. That's why we came, actually. To get LulaBelle. By the way, look at this," Lee said.
He held his right arm out toward Jade, unbuttoning his sleeve and rolling up the faded black shirt. Tattooed on his inner wrist was the head of a boa constrictor, and the snake's body, covered with tiny scales, wound round and round his arm until it disappeared under his sleeve.
"The tail ends here," he said, touching the top of his shoulder. "It's her." Lee smiled at Jade.
Jade meant to say, "I don't have LulaBelle anymore." Instead, anger and panic, hot and cold, suprised her, and "No, you can't come in!" she shouted.
Rasheed stepped closer. "Lee said you were keeping the snake for him and he could come and get it whenever he wanted."
"No," said Jade.
"Listen, Jade," Lee broke in, "We really need the snake. I'm working at this auto repair place now. Yesterday the owner, Mr. Browning, dropped by. Rasheed and I were moving some other cars around and bumped into his. Crunched the front bumper. The car is a bright orange Lambourgini and it probably costs as much as, I don't know, this whole neighborhood." He waved a hand around. "I don't have money right now. I don't have anything to make it right with except LulaBelle. Mr. Browning would love an albino boa. He collects things like that. Beautiful and rare and strange. If I give her to him, maybe we won't be in quite so much trouble. Maybe we can keep our jobs." Lee smiled at Jade, but his face was still tense.
Jade was going to say that LulaBelle wasn't a thing, she was a member of the family, but she was Lee's snake and he could do whatever he wanted with her, when Rasheed lunged forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her toward him. "Give me the key," he said. Jade kicked him in the knee, and Rasheed yelped.
"Rasheed! Stop it," Lee said.
"Sure," Rasheed twisted the house key out of Jade's hand and held it up. He pushed her away, unlocked the door and went inside.
"I'm sorry about Rasheed, I really am," said Lee. His shoulders sagged. "But we do need LulaBelle."
"Leave now or I am calling the police," said Jade.
"No snake in here!" Rasheed called.
"You haven't had time to look," Lee called back. "She's in the bedroom."
He went in and Jade followed him. She remembered she couldn't call the police yet because she'd left her phone on top of the dresser in the bedroom.
"I assume the snake should be in this big cage, but it's empty," said Rasheed.
"What?" Lee's mouth dropped open. His eyes went round.
Jade felt ashamed. As she slid her phone off the dresser she glimpsed her own face in the mirror above, gray eyes, narrow nose, straight dark hair. The shame didn't show. On the dresser, beside the phone, was a note: "Meeting buyer at red pavilion in park. Be home by six."
"Jade, did she...die?"
"No. She was stolen."
"You're joking. How would...I mean, who could have..."
"Mom."

* * *

They could see the mustard yellow sweater and ancient, squeaky baby carriage a long way off, going up the little hill to the red and white painted pavilion that overlooked the carp pond. LulaBelle's little traveling cage must be inside, with LulaBelle in the bottom like a huge coil of unbaked dough.
"Mom," Jade called "Mom, wait!"
Her mother paused, one hand on the handle of the baby carriage, but when she turned around, she looked only at Lee. She whispered, "How have you been, love?"
Lee wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans. They stood staring at each other.
"Mom, I need my snake."
She sighed. "I'm sorry, Lee. There's a man already on the way to pick her up. If I thought you'd ever come back for her, I wouldn't have agreed to sell her."
"Mom, it's important," said Jade. "Lee has to take her because--"
Lee reached over and squeezed her arm. "Shhhh."
"Well I suppose when he comes then I can just tell him I've changed my mind and won't sell. At the very last minute. After hiking half an hour down here with a massive boa constrictor in an antique baby carriage." She blew out her breath and ran her fingers through her short, graying hair.
"I'm really sorry Mom. I tried to call before I came over to get her," said Lee.
"Aren't you still sleeping at the garage? Where are you going to put a cage with a ten-foot boa in it?"
"I'm not keeping her. I'm going to--"
"Sell her?" his mother exclaimed, her eyebrows drawing together. "And pay your sister back for the cost of feeding her this past year?"
"Mom," Jade broke in, "Let him explain." Could she not see that Lee was worried?
"Jade, stay out of this," said Lee. "I'm giving her to Mr. Browning."
"Why?" said their mother. "Why him, of all people, Lee?
"I damaged his car. Well, we did, Rasheed and I. If I want to keep my job, I need something to make him happy, fast. The other day I heard him talking about how he installed one of those big glass display tanks in his sitting room..."
A tall man with curly gray hair walked up behind them. Lee's face flushed when he saw him. Jade's mother's eyes went wide.
"Sorry to be late, ma'am. I have your cheque and I assume you have...Oh, Lee. It is Lee, right? And Rasheed. Of course I remember you two. My beautiful car." He smiled at them.
"Mom, please," Lee whispered.
Her hands tightened on the handle of the baby carriage. Miles Browning bent over to admire the snake inside.
"Thank you," he said. "She's worth every penny. Glorious."
Rasheed reached for the cage handle. "Actually, the snake's free, Sir. Don't worry about the cheque. A gift from us...because of your car." He jerked the cage handle but it stuck under the carriage's hood and the whole thing lurched out of Jade's mother's grip. She grabbed at it, Rasheed grabbed at it, and the carriage went bouncing away down the path. It tipped over onto the grass and the cage door sprang open and LulaBelle, frightened, uncoiled and poured herself onto the grass, and before anyone said anything, or moved, the long loops of her body were sweeping toward the pond.
Jade ran after her, caught up with her just beyond the edge and they splashed in together. Millions of tingling, humming bubbles swirled and broke all around them. She went down, down, pushed off against the muddy bottom and shot up again, gulping air and water. The water wasn't very deep, her toes could just touch, but LulaBelle was winding herself around Jade's chest, and shoulders, and neck. The next breath was a half breath, and the next one was only a quarter. She thought maybe she was underwater again. She strained her hands above her head, as high as she could reach, and someone grabbed them and dragged her out onto the concrete with a gush of mud and fishy water. She worked her fingers between neck and snake and pushed.
LulaBelle's big body rippled, and tightened, and then Jade had no strength to push.
She saw the reddish blur that was Rasheed reach into his pocket and toss something to the black blur that was Lee. Then Lee was bending over them. Jade grabbed at Lee, grabbed, grabbed, but her fingers couldn't close on his hand, or his arm, or the fabric of his shirt.
Then Jade was walking alone through the park, away from the pond, with a roaring wind at her back, blowing so hard it blew the ground clean of trash, and leaves, and dust, and it was just lifting her off her feet when her mother said, "Jade, Jade, can you hear me?"
Her head and shoulders were in her mother's lap. The mustard yellow sweater was soaking wet and they both smelled like pond slime.
Jade sat up, soggy and squelching water, and rubbed her neck. Lee was standing over them, an open switchblade in his hand. When he saw Jade looking at it he closed it and put it in his pocket.
"You didn't hurt LulaBelle," said Jade. It came out flat, like a statement. That was wrong. She tried again, staggering to stand, fists clenched, she yelled at Lee, "You better not have hurt your snake!"
Lee rubbed his hands across his face, across his stubbly head. He sighed.
"No. She's fine. When she realized there was no danger she let you go all on her own. But Jade, I would have done anything to keep her from hurting you."
Jade looked toward the red pavilion. Rasheed was helping Mr. Browning slide LulaBelle back into her carrying cage. Something dark and heavy settled from her chest into her stomach. Now their household would be missing two members. Jade started to cry.
Jade's mother took Lee's hand in both of hers and squeezed it. "We miss you a lot," she said. "You're nineteen. It would only be one more year..."
"Mom," he said, "I've moved on. I only wish this job had lasted a little longer."
"I wouldn't take the cheque," said Lee and Jade's mother. "LulaBelle is your gift to Miles Browning."
"Thank you, Mom," said Lee. "Thank you."