Page 172 of Restless
Dad sat Mom in her seat to his right, then took his place at the head of the table. He frowned at the puddle of water on the table, looked at Rule’s tear-stained face, then glanced between Rebel and Tabitha.
“What the fuck’s goin’ on?” he demanded, firmly on the side of almost perfect speech tonight.
Rebel sat next to Mom, then leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Tabitha and me were just getting some things straight. Rule needs a blood sacrifice.”
“A what?” Mom asked.
“A. Blood. Sacrifice,” Ransom yelled, enunciating each word.
“Why the fuck you yellin’, boy?”
“So Mom can understand.”
“I’m right here, son,” she said.
“Yeah, she like my fuckin’ ass, wonderin’ what the fuck Rule need a fuckin’ sacrifice for.”
Mom nodded to Rebel’s water glass, since neither she nor Dad had place settings.
She took a sip as Rule said, “I sacrificed a bird and Mom got better.”
Mom choked, and Dad’s suddenly dark look chilled the room. Luckily, Mom’s coughing distracted Dad, else Rule might’ve been in grave danger.
“You fuckin’ up animals ain’t what saved your ma, Rule,” Dad growled, once Mom calmed. “Medical knowledge did.”
“And prayers,” Rule insisted.
“Ain’t denyin’ that,” Dad said flatly. “But prayers would’ve worked without motherfuckin’ blood sacrifices. That’s just your fuckin’ excuse to fuck up something.”
“That isn’t true, Dad. Leviticus chapter seventeen, verse six says, ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement’.”
“You know that verse by heart?” Mom asked, brows lifted.
“He knows the whole fucking bible by heart,” Rebel complained.
Dad scowled. “Don’t curse the bible, baby.” He focused on Rule again. “How long it took you to learn the bible?”
“I’ve memorized some of it over the years, then when Mom and Jo…” Tears glistened in his eyes. “I didn’t know what to do. I would’ve done anything to save her. I-I mean them.”
“What would you have done if your prayers and sacrifices didn’t work, Rule?” Mom asked gently.
Even though Mom sat in her chair with her hair in a ponytail, looking more rested than she had in weeks, Dad still swallowed at the question and pain slid across his face.
CJ glanced at his empty plate, not wanting to think of that possibility.
“I don’t know, Mom,” Rule admitted. “I was just so scared.”
“What else did you do?”
Clenching his jaw, Rule looked away.
“Burned incense, chanted, beat his own ass.” Rebel sniffed. “The list is endless, Momma. He read to me for hours on end.”
“What did you read, Rule?”
“What do you think, Momma?” Rebel said in exasperation. “The bible. For hours and hours and hours.”
Alarm filled Mom’s eyes. “You read nothing else, son?”
