Hours before the dawn, Jack was awakened by the front door slamming shut and the sound of Boots walking across the porch. It took him awhile to realize where he was. Laura was in the bed with Molly, and he had taken the couch. His eyes adjusted to the darkness as he rolled off the cushion, moved to the window, and peered outside.
He watched as Boots stepped off the porch and strolled out into the light of a gibbous moon. Into the front yard where there was another man standing in the dust.
The man wore a black button-up with pearl buttons, an obnoxious silver belt buckle with the standard Wrangler jeans. His black hair was greased back. His cowboy boots appeared black under the layers of mud and dust caked to them.
Behind this mystery man there seemed to be a void in the horizon, as if cloud and shadow swept his footprints as he walked. Now he stood there, waiting for Boots to saunter up to the fence post where he was standing. Jack strained to hear them talk through the pane of glass.
“It’s been awhile, Boots.”
“I reckon it has.”
“I can’t believe you’re still living out here. Place is a dump . . . but I guess that suits you.”
“What do you want, Seth? I ain’t got the patience for you right now,” Boots said as he spat on the ground near the man’s feet.
“Come on now, can’t we just have a good ole heart-to-heart?”
“Speak. It’s late and I’m tired.”
“Word on the vine is that you’re tinkering around again. Now, Boots, I thought we all had an arrangement that we were supposed to follow. We get to do what we want, and you stay out of the way.”
“Naw, that ain’t the way I see it.”
“Hmm. Let me just tell you something. Things are a lot different than they used to be. I don’t think you really have what it takes to step back in. So take my advice. You stay out here with your rocks and dust, and leave the world for us who know what to make of it.”
Boots relaxed his shoulders and put his hands in his pockets. He chuckled and sneered back at Seth. “Ain’t your place. You have a hard time rememb’ring that, don’t you?”
“Where’s the girl, Boots?”
“What’s that?”
“Where’s the girl?”
“What girl?”
“It’s funny, you acting like you don’t know anything.”
“I know enough. I know your boy had no claim on her. Ain’t had no claim on anything he’s been doing.”
“Suppose I send him down here to see if you ain’t got her tucked away. He’s real determined.”
“You know how that would end . . . he’d be dead before he knew anything.”
“You really had no business, Boots. That boy was just having a little fun. Now what is he supposed to do to pass the time? He gets cranky real fast these days.”
“Ain’t my concern.”
“Nothing is ever your concern, old man. It’s your excuse for everything.”
“You come down here just to hear yourself talk?”
The man glared at Boots, then at the cabin, then back at the old man. “I see you got some company?” Seth said, licking his bottom lip as he stared up at the house and let his eyes settle on the window Jack was looking out of.
Jack swung himself back against the wall, a sudden chill running down his spine.
“I guess you can say that.”
“Come on now, Boots, you can’t lock people up against their will.”
“I ain’t lock no one up against their will.”
“Really? From what I see, that man in the window doesn’t want to be here at all. We saw what you did out there. That highway bit? Real nice. Ain’t fair, but real nice. Make them waste out there for a while so they look at you as their savior. From the sounds of it, you almost left them out there too long. We almost took them in. You know, to help them out. Why don’t I just go ask him if he wants to get out of this prison?”
Jack ducked back from the window again, his heart racing in his chest.
“He’s doing just fine. I’m looking out for him. You don’t need to worry.” Boots spat again, but more out of attitude than necessity.
“Listen,” the man said, straightening his spine. His hand still rested on the fence post, but the air behind him began to move in Edvard Munchian waves. “You can’t keep him here if he doesn’t want it. By all accounts you should kick him out. Them the rules. You going to go breaking the rules now? Huh?”
“Don’t talk to me about no rules, Seth. What do you know about rules? You get what I give you.”
The man growled, but he released his tension without saying a word. Mimicking Boots, he tucked his hands in his pockets, his shoulders relaxed, and the air stood still. “You’re right, Boots. I get what you give me. And soon enough, you’ll give me him. He doesn’t belong here and you know it.”
The man turned on his heels and started walking off into the night. He turned back to find Boots still standing firm, a small pool of spit forming on the ground in front of him and his hands still resting in his pockets.
“You’re a has-been, Boots. Ain’t no one want you around here no more. Pretty soon, you keep meddling, a world of hurt is going to come down on you.”
“Maybe so, but I’m still here.”
The man disappeared into the dark. The stars, which were unnoticeable before, began to shine brilliantly as if a curtain had been rolled back. Black cloth slipping from a tabletop.
Boots stood staring off into the night.
“I’m still here.” His loud whisper carried to Jack’s ear.
Boots stepped back into the cabin, slowly, like thick oil poured from a can.
“Who was that, Boots?”
“Him? Oh, you don’t need to worry about him. As long as you’re here, ain’t nothing to concern yourself with.”
“Nothing? Nothing?” Jack asked emphatically.
“That’s what I said.”
“He shows up in the middle of the night, asking about the girl and us, and you say it’s nothing?”
“He’s harmless, like I say, as long as you’re with me.”
Jack’s stomach turned, his confusion, anger, and fear mixing toxically in his gut. “What did he mean by the highway?”
Boots was silent as he walked to fetch some water.
“Don’t turn your back on me! What did he mean by leaving us out on the highway?”
Boots spun on his heels with fire in his eyes. “What do you want me to say, Jack? You looking for something to ease your mind about the way you drove yourself to the brink of dying? Take a good hard look at yourself. Deep. The way you been going, that road really seem like too much of a stretch? Totally didn’t see that coming? Naw, you did that to yourself. You been doing that for a long time, from what I can see.”
As quickly as the dagger was stuck into Jack’s heart, the old man’s mood shifted. His face eased and he looked sympathetically at the confused and broken man before him.
“It’s late. You need to get some sleep. Now, don’t worry about any of this. What’s done is done. You’re here now. That’s all that matters. Tomorrow, things will look better. Promise.”
The old man patted Jack on the shoulder, decided against the drink he had been going for, and went back outside to sit on the porch. Jack, left to himself, sat on the couch but didn’t sleep.
The cycle was wearing on him. Mystery, anger, guilt. It always came back to guilt.