Bloodbrothers by Richard Price Page B

buttocks, revealing a huge white pulpy larva.
    Marie fell out of bed and vomited on the floor. She was trembling so badly she couldn't stand up so she just rested on all fours on the puke-spattered rug. She moaned. Her stomach heaved and convulsed in shuddering waves. She tried to wipe her chin, but when she lifted her hand she fell forward on her elbow.
    "M—Mommy!" Albert stood in the bedroom doorway pop-eyed in horror.
    She snarled at him, "Help me!" Albert backed away from her. "Help me, you little bastard!" Sobbing, Albert ran to his room. She heard him slam his door. Marie steadied herself, then leaned her arms and head against the side of the bed as if she were saying her prayers. She rested like this for a minute before struggling to stand up. She tried to take a deep breath but the back of her throat was raw from vomiting. She wiped her face on her sweat-soaked nightgown before staggering to the bathroom.
    After a scalding shower she felt a little better. She brushed her teeth twice and gargled with Listerine. Her legs were still rubbery as she walked out of the bathroom in Tommy's raspberry terry robe. Passing Albert's bedroom she remembered in a flush of rage his running away. She clenched her teeth and swung open the door so hard that the noise of the doorknob smashing against the wall sounded like a gunshot. Albert squealed and jumped to his feet. A furious cartoon battle was raging on television, with animals sailing across the screen and crashing somewhere out of sight.
    "I—I I'm's—sorry," he sputtered, spraying spit, "M—Mommy." The sight of Marie standing in the doorway, chest heaving like a steaming Medusa, made him wet his pants. He stared with horror at the spreading stain, then at his mother with a mute, pleading look.
    "AN-NI-MAAAL!" Marie shrieked, bounding across the bedroom to grab Albert's hair, pulling his head up so that he almost stood on tiptoe. Albert screamed and in a spasm of terror started pumping his legs up and down, running in place, Marie's fingers entwined like snakes in his hair.
    Wildly, Albert looked around the room but dared not move for fear of Marie's tearing his hair out. His eyes became wet and he didn't know what to do with his arms. "M—Mommy, puh—please." Albert tried to stroke her cheek above his head but she snapped her head out of his reach and yanked his hair even harder. "I'm's—s—sorry, s—s—sorry," he gasped. Marie's face was quivering, her eyes nearly closed, her top lip disappeared into a thin white line of tension. She could feel his emaciation. The sight of his ribs sticking out even beneath his polo shirt chilled her with disgust. She wrenched him away from her, hurling him onto his bed, but he was up like a shot, flattening himself against a wall like a hunted animal. The cartoon on television exploded in star patterns, which cleared away to reveal a gunpowder-blackened coyote.
    "Turn that goddamn thing off!" she screamed. With a wail Albert dove for the set, clicked it off and raced back to his spot. "Why do you hate me,
all
of us so much? I say, 'Albert, eat, Albert, eat, Albert, eat, please, Albert, eat, you're so skinny.' The doctor, no! No, you break everybody's heart, everybody who loves you, you break their heart. They look at you, and they wanna puke! Yeah! Yeah! Do you know last week your Aunt Phyllis was in
tears!
In
tears!
She said God forgive me, Marie, every time I see him so skinny like that I wanna vomit."
    "No!" Albert screamed. The vision of his favorite aunt in tears over his selfish skinniness made him bray in anguish. He sank to the floor, rocking back and forth.
    Marie's voice dropped to a whisper. "Why do you do this to us, Albert? What pleasure do you get out of torturing us? I beg you to eat. I cook for you anything. I walk and buy and I cook and pray to God please God let him like it, let him eat." Marie knelt on the floor, raising her clasped hands to the ceiling, threw her head back and bellowed, "God! God! What did I do,