“Did you hear what I said?” Graham shrieked. “Come back inside now! It’s just a stupid toy plane, and it’s burned up besides. It won’t fly again.”
Balfy’s eyes grew wide as the gutter groaned and gave way. He tried to grab the roof, but the gutter was ripping from beneath him.
“Help me, Graham!” Balfy was reaching toward him with panic in his eyes.
Graham tried to grab Balfy’s hand, but it was too late. All he could do was watch Balfy’s face, frozen in fear, as he fell to the ground and landed facedown with a thud. Graham leaned out the window, staring down at his little brother as the airplane Balfy had been trying to rescue unfastened itself from the tree and spiraled to the ground like a wounded butterfly. It landed just beside Balfy.
“Balfy?” Graham leaned out farther, repeating his name again and again, hoping Balfy would turn over and start laughing, as if it had all been a joke. His brother had a habit of doing things like that just to scare the tar out of him.
Then Graham saw a pool of blood by Balfy’s head, just as his mother and Queenie came running out the front door. When his mother turned his brother over, Graham thought he was going to heave. There was nothing left of his face. Then Graham heard a bloodcurdling scream. It wasn’t until much later that he realized the scream had come from his own mouth.
Queenie looked up at him. “What happened, Master Graham?”
Graham stared down at her, not knowing how to answer without sounding guilty. “We were just playing airplanes. He—he fell from the window.”
Fannie was holding Balfy’s head, kissing his bloody face in such a frenzied way, it scared Graham. When she looked up at him, there was desperation in her eyes.
Fannie waved a frantic hand. “Quick! Somebody call an ambulance, Queenie!”
Norwood came running out of the house and bent down next to Fannie. “For the love of God, what happened?”
Fannie glanced up at the window again. Her eyes were cold this time, so cold they tore through Graham like an ice pick. He knew in that instant that his mother blamed him for the accident.
His father looked up at him. He must have seen how distraught Graham was.
“It’s okay, son,” he said. “Don’t be scared. Come on down here.”
Graham shook his head.
“Son,” his father said in a calm voice, the one he used when he was trying to get Graham to do something he didn’t want to do. “We need your help. Bring some towels.”
Graham tore down the steps, grabbed towels from the bathroom on the second floor, and ran as fast as he could down the last set of stairs and out the door to where his parents were huddled over his little brother. When his father moved aside to take a towel from him, he saw Balfy’s face. His eyes were still open, as if he were screaming, and his mouth was filled with blood. His wheat-colored hair was tinged in red. He wasn’t moving.
“Balfy!” Graham jumped forward, trying to hug his brother.
“It’s too late, son.”
Graham could feel his father’s hands shaking as he pulled him back.
“Don’t say that!” Graham screamed. “He’ll be okay. Balfy, wake up. Wake up!”
Fannie was holding Balfy close and whispering in his ear, rocking him back and forth. “I love you, son. I love you. Remember that. I love you. Don’t leave me. I love you.”
“Balfy, wake up!” Graham shouted.
Queenie came bounding down the front steps as the ambulance pulled up to the house. “How is he?”
Fannie shook her head.
Queenie started to moan. “No. Can’t be. Can’t be. Lawd no. Not Master Balfour. No, Lawd.”
Norwood jumped up and whispered to Queenie, “Look after Graham. I think he’s in shock.” Then he headed to meet the medics who were coming up the walkway toward them.
“It’s all my fault,” Graham whispered.
Queenie pulled him close. “Weren’t your fault, Master Graham. Were an accident. An accident, that’s all.”
Queenie hugged him so hard he couldn’t breathe. She was steering him away from Balfy toward the house. He tried to break loose, but she was gripping him so hard that he couldn’t move his head.
“Let me go,” Graham said, trying to push her away.
“No, baby, you stay right here with me.”
They fought for a few moments until Graham gave up. Queenie was still holding him in a bear hug, but he could see underneath her arm as a medic listened for a heartbeat and then shook his head. Graham started crying, heaving sobs of disbelief.
“Now, now, Master Graham, it’ll be all right. Queenie’s gone take care of you.”
Graham watched his brother’s body being placed on a gurney and covered with a sheet. The ambulance driver spoke with Norwood for a few minutes. Then the medics rolled the gurney toward the ambulance. As soon as they closed the door, Fannie sank to the ground.
“Mama!” Graham called after her. He reached his arms out, wanting to run to her, but Queenie held him back.