1. Lavon
Lavon Hayes was on a mission. He had sat back & watched this thing play out for months - but now Wade had gone too far. He had tried not to get involved but this latest stunt was impacting everyone. Moving off the plantation for God's sake – whatever about Zoe, HE missed Wade! He missed his friend & had had enough of seeing his other friend moping around being sad & miserable.
As he reached the old firehouse, the sound of an electric sawer got louder. It was a fine building & just needed some love & attention to be brought back to a use of some kind. Lavon paused for a moment, if Wade was doing what Lavon thought he was doing, then this may be one of his smarter ideas. He manouveured past some new wooden planks & a large pile of rusted metal to make his way in the old side door where the noise was now deafening. He saw Wade bent over, concentrating on carving up some wood & waited for a break in the activities.
'Wade' he called at the first opportunity. Wade looked up in surprise & hesitated before pushing the protective goggles back on to the top of his head, turning off the machine & slowly walking over to his friend. 'Hi there' he countered wthout looking Lavon fully in the eye. 'Do I need to ask?' inquired Lavon gesturing to the building, the machinery & the general air of productivity around him. 'Probably not' said Wade, finally looking up. Now that he could see him properly, Lavon could see that his friend looked tired & distracted. 'Really? Are you really going to do this? Here?' wondered Lavon out-loud as he took a second, slower glance around the old building with its beaten wooden floorboards & old stained glass windows. 'What's wrong with here?' asked Wade defensively. 'Absolutely nothing! My friend' Lavon quickly reassured – 'In fact, this is inspired, really inspired – but', and he looked back carefully to where Wade had still taken a defensive stance, reluctant to insult his friend any further, 'well, eh, who's funding this?'. Wade paused for a moment & rested himself against the nearest large object.
'Well' he started slowly, 'It seems I am ...' and he looked up with a small smile & shrugged his shoulders. 'After I left the gatehouse' he hesitated, not looking up, 'I went to stay with Earl for a night or two & we got talkin' & I kind-of mentioned my big plan to open my own bar & explained how we hadn't had much luck with the bank..' – again, Wade's eyes stayed focused on a pile of sawdust on the ground in the corner – 'and Earl just gets up & goes out in the garden & starts diggin' up jars of money ...'. Wade looked up & gave a small laugh at the look of incredulity on his friend's face. 'I know, I know ...' as he shook his own head & raised his eyebrows with a small smile: 'It was a quite a surprise for me too. Turns out he was keeping all the handouts I ever gave him – goin' back years!'. Wade raised a hand to the side of his head & threw it out in wonder. 'We dug up almost 50 jars – over 6,000 dollars!' finished Wade with a final shrug of his shoulders. It looked like he still hadn't fully taken his good news in himself.
'Wade, my boy' shouted Lavon quickly covering the distance between the two & grabbing his friend into a warm embrace. 'This deserves a celebration' he declared slapping his friend on the back. Wade gave a small laugh & shook his head. 'I'd rather keep on working if that's OK with you' & he gestured around to the labour that had been interupted by Lavon's visit. 'Throwing yourself into your work?' suggested Lavon quickly – suddenly remembering the reason why he had tracked his old neighbour down. 'Wouldn't be avoiding anything or any-particular-body would you?' he accused.
The smile went from Wade's face & he turned & started walking back to his work. 'Nope' was all that Lavon heard from his retreating figure. 'Wade, Wade, what are you doing?' Lavon's voice raised as he launched into his slightly-but-not-fully rehearsed speech: - 'You go off camping & come back & say you are off again & you don't tell me where – or for how long - & you also fail to inform your landlord that you've broken up with your girlfriend & that I'M going to have to deal with her sniveling & moping around the place wonderin' what she done wrong!' Lavon's voice was rising as he got towards the crux of his argument but there was no reaction from the silent young man in front of him.
'Wade, I've put up with the two of you mooning & flirting & bickering with each other for months. You've been rollin' into my kitchen straight from your bed & bringing your pillow talk with you. I put up with it ALL & do you know why?' Lavon, barking loudly at this point, tried to slow down to make sure some of what he was saying was penetrating the subborn blonde head in front of him. 'I liiike you Wade – you're a good guy' he explained slowly & carefully, deciding that simple was the way to go. 'and I liiiike Zoe, & you liiiike each other. She's making you happy & you're making her real happy & most of the time, I'm enjoying living with all that lovin' around me. Not all the time mind ...' he made a point of clarifying. 'And now what?' he continued as he threw his hands out in exasperation 'I'm down one friend – and a caretaker in case you have forgotten! – and my other friend is moping around, not sleepin' & not talkin' & lookin' like someone drowned her puppy in the creek. 'She's also eating all my ice-cream' he threw out to re-inforce his case. But he was digressing & tried to focus back on what his point was, 'I don't know what happened but she's sure to be sorry, Wade – talk to her! You've got to man-up & work out these problems – not run away & hide in the town fire station!'.
Wade still had his back turned & was resting both hands on a table with his back tense through his loose t-shirt. 'Listen Lavon' he said quietly, slowly turning around to lean back on the equipment, 'I know you mean well but me & Zoe', he paused, 'Whatever we had?' he questioned calmly - 'it's over. It really wasn't that much to begin with – just s ...'. He stopped & raised his hand to rub the back of his head in frustration as he carefully, in a restrained voice, continued: 'I dunno what's up with Zoe' he said quietly, 'but it's not me, honest. She is perfectly happy with the situation, believe me'. He was unable to keep a hint of bitterness out of the last comment. Wade looked up briefly at Lavon to re-inforce his message. It was a quick glance but enough for Lavon to see a flash of pain in his eyes. Jeez, Lavon realised, his friend was hurtin' bad.
'Wade!', Lavon pleaded, 'Much as I love her, Zoe Hart can-not be trusted to know whether or not she is "happy with a situation". 'Practice medicine?' he explained, 'This she is qualified for. Read her own mind? No Wade, at this stage you're probably better qualified at that than she is!'.
His words were met by silence. Lavon paused & mentally threw out the rest of his speech. He sighed & looked over at his friend trying to think of some comforting words. How could these two fools have got their wires so badly crossed? Didn't they talk at all during all those hours they seemed to spend in bed? He flashed back to Zoe at breakfast this morning looking up hopefully when the kitchen door had opened in the wind. Why did Wade not know how she felt about him? But then, Lavon wondered exasperatedly, did Zoe even know how she felt about him? Smart as she was, she was capable of being pretty stupid when it came to knowing her own heart ...
'Listen Wade', he spoke up finally, 'I'm going to head on home & let you get back to transforming this place into something special. I'm real proud of you & what you're trying to do here. Glad too, that you have a distraction for yourself...' '...whether you need it or not' he added hastily. He put his hands in his pocket & took a few steps forward to say his good-bye adding as an after-thought: 'I'm sorry yourself & Zoe hasn't worked out. I thought you were real good together'. 'Real good' he repeated shaking his head sadly.