Title - Could It Be?
By: IKnowWhatIWantAndThatsWhatIGet
The light in my room was bright and warm as I stay lying in my bed. I turned over to my side pulling the quilt to my face curling up just enjoying the feeling of lying there and being comfortable. I breathed in heavily and exhaled, finally looking out the window across from me and seeing birds flying around in the warm summer air. I got up and walked to my window opening it and seeing Jack walking off down the road most likely to Crickets.
"Bye Jack!" I yelled down to him and he swiftly turned around waved to me and then started walking again. I smiled at him and turned to my vanity mirror. It wasn't anything special but I could see myself well enough to put my wavy brown hair in a bun and make sure my face was clean enough. I then walked to my small chest of draws and picked out some female trousers and a white blouse with some ruffles on the chest. I picked out some black heals that matched my pants and made my way down stairs.
As I walked down stairs there was the sound of the radio playing softly in the background and I could hear a song playing making me want to just start dancing all over the room, but now wasn't the time. I hadn't even had my coffee yet! I knew that with the radio on Forrest was bound to be up and if he wasn't in his office he was in the shed. I knew Howard was up stairs sleeping off his hangover from last night. That crazy bastard was always drinking alcohol like it was water.
I went ahead and poured myself some coffee and headed to the office where I was most certain that Forrest would be. The door was open and he had his back turned to me but I knew, that he knew, I was there. That's just how Forrest is; he just knows when someone approaches him. He can sense danger a mile away and he always knows when someone's starin' at him. That's why it always makes it so hard for me to admire him; but I do anyway.
He's got the most amazing grey eyes on the face of this planet, I swear. The way he just looks right through you and it's like he already knows your darkest secrets before you can even tell him yourself. But they're also so filled with kindness and gentleness; but also they can be filled with anger and this knowingness of how cruel the world can be.
Oh and then there's his hands. Oh his hands can do wonderful things and terrible things. They can hold you and protect you; but they can kill men without hesitating. They can hold a door open for you; but they can hit you at any second barred with brass knuckles as armor.
But I pulled these thought from my mind as Forrest turns in his chair to face me. I stayed where I was, leaning against the frame of the door, and I looked at him with my brown eyes.
"Do you want any coffee Forrest?" I asked him. My hands and feet always got so cold when I talked to him and my heart always thumped so hard in my chest I thought he could hear it too.
"Yeah that'd be nice." He said turning back to his books.
I went and got him his coffee and set it down next to him and walking behind him peering over his shoulders to look at his books. I took a sip of my coffee and noticed that some of the numbers were wrong.
"No Forrest that's wrong." I told him pointing down at the numbers from last night.
"What you talkin' about, they're right." He said his brows scrunching together in confusion.
"Howard drank more then two bottles last night I guarantee it." I said sipping my coffee again. Speak of the devil, Howard could be heard walking down the stairs. "Come on lets all go to the shed and I'll bet $5 that he drank at least four jars last night." I said with my hand out for him to shake and take the bet.
He stared at me for a little while and I just gave him a look that said you know I'm right but you're gonna take the bet anyway. After a while he must have decided that $5 isn't all that much money and he could take the bet. We got some coffee in Howard before we headed to the shed to count our jars. Howard actually ended up drinking exactly four jars last night and I won the $5 dollars.
During all that counting Jack had come back from Crickets saying how he saw a shoot out or some shit like that. Never would have believed him if he didn't come back with those shell casings. Forrest and I were walking back to the station and Forrest had the boys take care of something else before they came back in.
As we walked in we saw this lady with short red hair smoking a cigarette at the bar. She had on a bright blue dress and I envied her. I wanted to look pretty too, so Forrest would notice me too. I noticed Forrest took off his hat and was staring at her.
"Forrest Bondurant?" She asked standing up.
"Yeah." He replyed stepping forward to meet her in the middle of the room; I could feel the tears pricking at my eyes.
"I heard around town that you were looking for someone to help out around here, that job still vacant?" She asked taking a drag of her cigarette.
"If you don't mind me askin' why's a lady like you, doin', in a place like this?" He asked her minding his words as to not offend her.
"The big city moves too fast, I needed a change, somewhere quiet." She responded putting out her cigarette. At that moment Jack and Howard burst through the back door making a whole lot of racket and I took that as my opportunity to leave.
I didn't really go anywhere but it was nice to get out of that station. Just sitting out here on the porch was nice while Forrest and Red talked. I can't say that I don't like her 'cause I don't know her but I can say that I'm jealous of her. She hasn't been here more then five minutes and she's already got Forrest attention all on her.
I lit up a cigarette and sat down on one of the rocking chairs. Only seconds later did Red walk out of the door and down the steps. She glanced back and I think she was surprised to see me there and so she looked again and walked back up the steps and walked in front of me. She held out her hand and I think she wanted me to shake it.
"My names Maggie, I'm going to be working here now." She said with a small smile. "I saw you in there earlier and I just figured I should introduce myself to you." She said with her hand still out.
I didn't shake her hand but I did nod my head in understanding. "Names Louisa, most call me Luie but whatever works for you I guess." I said in a non caring tone so she didn't know that I didn't right care for her too much.
"Well it was nice to meet you; I'll see you tomorrow morning." She said in her most likely Chicago ascent and proper words and walked off to her car.
When she drove away I felt much better. I almost felt threatened while she was here and I wasn't looking forward to her coming back.
A few days later I was sitting down with Forrest talking about our production of moonshine and how we could maybe get it to move a little faster so we could stock up some more products. And then here comes Jack running up to us like he just got a million bucks.
"So guys are you sure I can't get you to try some of my moonshine?" He asked desperately.
"You mean moonshit?" Asked Howard laughing as he sipped from his jar.
"Jack you know we're doin' just fine with what we've got, no sense in taking in somethin' new." I told him and Forrest nodded in agreement. But Jack wasn't happy with that and he pulled out his own jar.
"It looks like river water Jack." I told him taking the jar from him and uncapping it looking inside.
"I know it don't look the best and it might not taste the best quiet yet, but I need to know your opinion." He said looking as desperate as a puppy wanting in from the cold.
I sighed looking at Forrest and he just shrugged his shoulders. So I took a sniff and it didn't smell all that bad so I took a gulp from it. Bad idea, it had me running to the sink to throw up and Forrest ran with me to rub my back. It gave me chills but I still couldn't get over the fact of how awful the drink was. It just tasted like bad cheep liquor and I wasn't going to sell that to my customers.
"Jack what the fuck is this shit?" I asked him when I got back to the table looking at it and giving it back to him.
"Our new recipe, is it really that bad?" He asked me and all I did was nod my head.
"Did you even try it?" I asked him and he nodded his head yes. "How the hell did you not throw up?" I asked him amazed.
"Well, honestly we've cooked up worse." He gave a large smile and I chuckled along with Forrest and Howard. All the while I knew Maggie was watching us waiting for her moment to join in our close nit group.
As the weeks went by I noticed Maggie was always trying to do stuff for Forrest that I would normally do for him. For example give him coffee in the mornings which is fine it is her job but it still sorta bothered me. But then she started to try and put his hat away when he already had it where he wanted it, but what gave me a stitch was when he would put it back the way he had it before. I could tell she was trying really hard for his attention but for some reason she wasn't getting nearly as much attention as she did on her first day of arrival. It made me happy that Forrest wasn't as interested in her as I thought he was.
It was a sunny day out today and it was warm too but I put on my sweater anyway. It was comfortable and it didn't make me too hot in this weather. It was a bit early in the morning so I didn't really expect anyone to be up yet but I saw that Luie was already up and making coffee. I smiled at her even though she didn't even know that I was lookin' at her.
She always made me smile, especially when she was really focused on what she was doing. She just looked so beautiful when she forgot the world around her. I ended up walking behind her and reaching up into the cabinets for a cup and I brushed up against her; it made my insides warm and I liked that feeling. I wanted more of it but I honestly didn't think she wanted me the way I wanted her.
"Sorry." I said and poured myself a cup of coffee.
"It's fine." She said in a quiet voice and continued reading her paper.
I couldn't help but watch her as she read her paper. She just looked so perfect just the way she was right now. Her brown hair was shining from the sun and even though she looked so good with her hair up I wished she would wear it down sometimes. Now, Luie isn't exactly lady-like but I wouldn't say her to be manly either. She was more of a survivor who knew exactly what she wanted and she wouldn't take no one's shit if they didn't like what she was doing.
She was always cursing, smoking, drinking, fighting, and wearing those pants she just seems to adore so much. But I honestly couldn't see her wearing a dress anyway. I used to tease her and say she would be wearing pants at her own wedding but she always said that she would wear a wedding dress despite what I thought. I'm not sure though, she looks awfully good in those pants. They're high wasted and they showed off her hips and her small waste. She always wore a slightly low cut blouse so everyone knew she was still a lady and that included her heals; she never wore anything she could run or fight in and that made me smile a bit.
Speaking of fighting that girl could fight anyone who ever came up to her, she just had this way of getting them real close before she strikes. Kinda like a snake do I guess. But she did always keep a knife in her pocket and you would never guess it by looking at her, but she uses it a lot. I mean I think I use my brass knuckles more then she pulls that knife out, but it was more times then a lady should have to. And more times then I would have liked.
But oh how I wish I could make her my Luie. Ever since she moved in when she was just 14 I have wanted to make her mine. She moved in after her Pa died in a farming accident and her mother up and left. Our parents heard of her just roaming the streets at night digging through garbage cans and so they invited her into our home; and when me and my parents got the Spanish Lady Flu she took real good care of us.
I thought that after my parents had died and I got better she would have just left us and find some place else to live, but she didn't. She stayed right by my side and helped me take care of my brothers cause Lord knows they can't do it themselves. Even when Howard went off to the war she stayed by me and helped take care of Jack, and when Howard got home she took care of him. Better then I think I even could and I was his own flesh and blood.
And when the prohibition hit and the jobs around town became hard to find and money got real tight the saw mill had to be put on hold cause no one was buying. That was when Luie sat me down one night and explained her crazy plan. Believe me when she first told me that we should be bootleggers and sell off moonshine to everyone I was completely against it. But then I thought of how we could make a lot of money off of it I reluctantly agreed to be her partner. However in the peoples eyes I was the leader of the business, and I guess in a way I was. I took care of the money and the books and I made sure every transaction ran smooth. But it was her daddy's old recipes that we sold and she was the one who got Howard into making the damn moonshine. It gave all of us something to do and it gave us a great deal of money during these hard times.
Suddenly the door opened and I could hear heals on the old wooden floor of the café. Maggie was hear no doubt about it, you could smell her sweet perfume a mile away. I didn't turn around to look at her there was no need I knew what she was doing. She was putting up her red coat and was putting on her apron. I could hear her walking around the bar to walk into the kitchen. She brushed past me and she knocked into Luie's shoulder. I wanted to say something but I knew it wasn't my place.
I tapped Luie's shoulder and I nodded my head out the door and started walking. I didn't look back to see if she was following me, I heard her small heals on my tale and so I walked out the door and to the barn. I turned to her with the key in my hand and I gave it to her. She gave me a soft smile and opened it.
After we had gone over everything in the barn Forrest and I heard some cars pull up. We took our time walking over to them and made sure we locked up the barn nice and tight before I handed Forrest my gun and I placed my hands in my pockets where I put my hand over my knife. As we walked over there together I saw the Sheriff, his deputy, some greasy man and someone else in the car that I couldn't see.
"Hey Forrest, Luie." Said the Sheriff.
As we walked over to the group of men I saw Red out on the porch pealing potatoes and I wondered if she could handle watching something go down if it did happen. Was she as strong of a woman as I was? Or would she crumble as soon as someone got hurt? Time would only tell I guess.
Forrest threw out his cigar but I kept my cigarette burning. I even took a drag and pointed it too the man with the black greased back hair. He didn't even look at me or Forrest just kept his eyes somewhere else. His nose was turned up and I knew that he thought he was better then us.
"This here is the new special deputy, he been brought in from the city to help us out. Make sure things go smooth" Said the Sheriff looking me and Forrest in the eyes.
"What things might they be?" Forrest asked looking around a bit when the Special Deputy laughed. "Something amusing to you?" Forrest retorted back as quick as a whip.
He took in a long sigh before he said anything. "My name is Charley Rakes I'm from Chicago." Oh his voice was low and smooth and I know he thought he was tough as nails but I knew things that would make his squeal like a pig at slaughter.
"That damn brother of yours, he somewhere about?" Asked the deputy; Forrest looked at me with a pissed off look and just did that for a while, I was never much of a talker during these kind of things but I felt like sooner or later I would have to say something.
"Who's in the car?" Asked Forrest.
"That there is the new Common Law Attorney Mason Whidell. He wants to work it out so everybody can do some business." Just then there was a tapping on the car window and it already had me put in a bad mood. "Henry go see what Mr. Whidell wants."
That's when the greasy Special Deputy started making his was over to Forrest and I. He walked up real close to Forrest's face and Forrest just gave him a look. Then I finally spoke up.
"Pete who the hell is this son of a bitch?" I asked him bored and irritated with everything that has been going on in the last five minutes.
"Me? I'm the one who's going to make your life difficult if you don't watch the way you talk to me you little bitch." He said very smoothly to me before turning to Forrest. "And if you don't follow the line, little boy." He said poking Forrest chest very hard.
"Don't you ever touch me again." Forrest said and Rakes let out a little laugh before the Sheriff tried to get everyone calm.
"Forrest, Luie, it's set, the whole county is going to get on board soon. Start at $20 dollars a week, $30 dollars a load. That gets you free passage throughout the whole county and nobody will bother you."
"No body bothers us now." I told him looking at Rakes who was walking up behind me. Forrest noticed it too and I saw him stiffen a bit, but then when he heard Red laugh about something he walked up to her and just stared at her and she stared back.
Henry was holding out some money to us when the Sheriff took it from him and then handed it to Forrest. However Forrest saw Rakes walking up to Maggie and just watched him for a few seconds and I watched Forrest. I threw out my cigarette and ripped the money from Forrest's' hands and walked up to the car. I heard Forrest tell Maggie to get inside as the man in the car rolled down his window.
"Can I help you girl?" He asked me.
"Yeah." I paused for a second before I continued talking. "You try to sink tie us again I can guarantee you'll be digging a clever out of your fucking skull you understand?" I asked him forcefully putting the money into the pocket of his shirt.
"Your going to regret this Luie."
"She's already regretting it; she's just too ignorant to know it yet." Rakes said in his too calm voice.
I began to walk up the stairs when I stopped and Forrest was right beside me. I looked at the ground for a while because I was pissed that anyone thought they could buy us out. We were Bondurant's…. well the boys are at least and they won't lay down for no one, and nether would I.
I looked at that son of a bitch wanting to put a bullet through his head. He laughed at me and that just made me want to even more, god damn son of a bitch was underestimating me. "Are you thinking of drawing on me?" He asked and even though I could reach for my gun that was hidden behind Forrest's sweater I knew it was a bad idea. Maybe in the future I could kill him but that day was unfortunately not that day. So I just walked away with Forrest right beside me.
Later on that night me and the boys went to a meeting with other bootleggers. They were all huddled together around a burning trashcan trying to stay warm while they waited for our arrival.
"Say it quick Jimmy I got a business to run." Forrest said which meant he was taking control tonight. He was probably still upset with me from earlier and didn't want me to speak for the group any more. I probably fucked up, knowing me.
"Alright Forrest we got a good chance to make a good stack of money while the gettin's good. Let things run smooth. We got to give this a chance."
"Yeah I hear what you're saying Jimmy and umm, we go back a long way so I'm not going to make a big deal out of this but, I'm a Bondurant and we don't lay down for nobody." Oh thank God he said that because I thought I fucked up real bad. "We continue to operate free and clear as always. Me? I'll never pay no money to no Mason Whidell, I never have and I never will."
"I'm sorry you feel that way Forrest."
"Jimmy do you have something you really want to say to me?"
"You can't do it that way no more."
"Tell me where are your balls Jimmy." Howard said and I chuckled a little before Forrest put a hand on my lower back and I stopped laughing immediately.
"Well I guess we'll see what happens now. Gentlemen." Forrest said tipping his hat to everyone and guiding me away from the group with his hand still on my lower back.
That night I couldn't stop thinking about what Forrest had done. He has never intentionally touched me like that before and it gave me some kind of weird feeling in my stomach; but I liked it. He seemed to be closer to me since Rakes came by earlier and checked me out before I talked to Whidell. It made me smile to know he at least cares about me, but who knows what's actually going through his mind.