The Reckless Oath We Made(72)

“Do you remember what my dad used to say? I was born on a Thursday, but it wasn’t last Thursday. Do I look stupid? People coming around at night. You up all night. The stink. The fact that you have fewer teeth than your father. Meth much? I don’t give a shit what you’re up to. Doesn’t interest me at all. I’m just here to talk to Uncle Alva.”

“You ain’t fucking talking to him! You need to go in the house, get that weird-ass boyfriend of yours, and get the fuck out of here.”

“Or what?” I said. “Are you threatening me, you peckerwood?”

“You goddamn right I’m threatening you!”

He was shouting by then. We were both shouting. He reached out and put his hand on my chest, pushed me until my back was pressed against the side of the truck. I lost my grip on Yvain, and the book landed in the gravel.

“You don’t get the hell off my property, I swear to god, you’ll wish you had.”

“It’s not your property,” I said.

“It will be. Old man ain’t gonna live forever.”

The things I wanted to say. I had a whole mouthful of them, but looking past Dane, I saw Gentry, more wild-haired than usual, coming across the yard, not even pussyfooting on the gravel in his bare feet. We’d woken him up. He was scratching his neck with his left hand, and his right hand was in a fist.

“Tell you what,” I said to Dane, wanting to end the argument before it got worse. “When your dad comes back, I’ll ask him what I want to ask him and then I’ll go.”

“Master Dane,” Gentry said, about fifteen feet away and still coming. Dane let go of me and turned around. “I will not allow thee to outrage thy cousin.”

“Fucker, don’t come at me. You gonna find out I ain’t a pussy like my little brother.”

“Come. Let we two fighten. I am ready to meet thee.”

“I ain’t gonna fight you, faggot.” Dane backed up to put more distance between Gentry and him, but Gentry closed the gap, so they were only a few feet apart. It worried me how Gentry kept his head tilted to the right as he looked Dane over, like he and the black knight were doing the math on how to fight Dane.

“Put thine hand upon the lady again, and I shall fight thee whether thou wilt or not.”

Dane took another step back, and Gentry took two steps forward. I put my arm out, not close enough to touch Gentry, but to signal him to back off. From what I could see, Dane didn’t have a gun on him, but I didn’t want to find out.

“I’m serious,” I said. “When Uncle Alva comes back, we’ll talk, and then I’ll go. You’re the only one trying to make trouble, Dane.”

He took a few more steps back, shaking his head. He pointed at me and then at Gentry.

“You—you better not fuck with me. You have your little chat with Dad, and then get the hell outta here.”

Dane kept backing up, like he was worried Gentry would jump him from behind. Then he finally turned around and headed toward his trailer.

“You okay?” I said, but Gentry didn’t answer. He walked around his truck, running his hand along it. I figured he was having a conversation with one of his voices, so I left him alone. He went around the truck a second time, and stopped at the rear quarter panel, a few feet away from me.

“Thou art well?” he said.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m sorry we woke you up.”

He squatted and picked up Yvain. After wiping the dust off on his T-shirt, he held the book out to me in both hands, like an offering.





CHAPTER 35





Alva



That damn girl looked just like my daddy, with that same wide mouth and wild copper hair. Built like she could hunt bear with a stick, she was like the ghost of my daddy in more ways than one. Come to call me to answer for my misdeeds, remind me of the obligations I needed to put to paid before I died.

With the land paid off and the boys grown, I wasn’t particular broke up at the idea of dying. I was ready to meet my maker and, knowing what Tess had went through, I wasn’t of a mind to put myself through that, no matter how bad the coughing got. All the same, I figured it was best to know how much time I had left to put things in order, so I gone to see my doctor.

After my appointment was done, I had Dirk drive me to the convenience store up the other side of the valley.

“Why you wanna go there?” he said.

“Because they don’t know me.”

“Why you need to go somewhere they don’t know you?”

“Just drive, boy.”

I swear, he was dumb as a box of hammers. I made him wait while I went into the store and bought a prepaid phone. Clerk was one of them Paki fellas. Wasn’t even sure if he spoke English, seeing as how he didn’t say a word to me. Took my money, gave me my change. When I come out, Dirk looked over at the phone package like he figured to ask me another stupid question, but he musta thought better of it.

The first call was the easiest. To a man I did six years with. Like me, he’d moved on after he served his time, but he hadn’t got himself as far away from Van Eck as I had. We spent a few minutes shooting the breeze til I worked my way around to telling him why I’d called.

“Maybe you heard what happened to my niece, who was took hostage over at El Dorado while she was volunteering,” I said. “I’m real worried about that, you can imagine.”