Val, Earl and I are out by a few cliffs, working on some fencing. I don't really work with them but I still help out as much as I can. We spent the night out here because it seemed pointless to drive into town and then drive all the way back out here. I was just waking up when Val came back from the cliff for some reason. He had a scrunched up look on his face.
"What the hell's matter with you?" I ask.
"I got a damn wedge." Val responds. "Hey, hop off the truck. I gotta try something."
I do what he says and he walks over to a sleeping Earl. "Good morning, Mr. Basset. This is your wake up call. Please move your ass."
I try hard not to laugh. I see Val look over at a few cows and get a crazy smile on his face. The same smile he gets when he gets a stupid idea. Val jumps on the side of the truck and starts bouncing it, screaming, "Stampede! Stampede, Earl! Get out of the way, get out of the way!"
I join in and start bouncing the truck until Earl crawls out of it and lands on his back. He starts breathing heavy but stops when he sees we're messing with him. "You dumb shits."
"Hey, like brother like sister, huh?" I laugh as Earl glares at me.
We both jump off and start laughing out loud. Earl started ranting. "I was in a stampede once. 300 heads going—"
"Going hell-bent for the horizon." Val and I finished. "Now exactly how many cows are required for a stampede, Earl? I mean is it like three or more? Is there a minimum speed?"
"I wish a stampede up your ass."
I just laughed at the two. They acted like brothers. They were getting some smokes out. I didn't smoke. I didn't like the smell and it wasn't good for you plus I was way too young. Earl needed to borrow a cigarette and lighter from Val. They both had their cigarettes lighted and Earl was giving Val a hard time. "No breakfast?"
"I did it yesterday. It was baloney and beans."
"No. It was eggs. I did eggs. Over easy."
"The hell you did. Baloney and beans. It's your turn."
Earl raised his fist, waiting for Val. He did the same and they did rock paper scissors. Earl did scissors and Val did paper. Val turned to me and we did the same. I did rock and he did scissors. He lost. He turned and talked to Earl. "Well, I guess when I'm your age I'll forget what I eat too."
Earl and I were just sitting by the truck, waiting for Val to make us breakfast. Sure Val was a good brother but he never asked me what I wanted and never really took care of me. Earl took care of me and made sure I was ok when I got hurt or was upset. The only time Val and I hang out together is when we are pulling a prank or both acting like little kids.
"Don't worry. You know he cares about ya, Charlie. Just got to give him some time." Earl exclaimed to me. He's like a father to me sometimes.
Next thing I know we're in the middle of nowhere, putting up barbed wire fences. Earl was holding them down while Val nailed them. I was making sure they were tight enough so they wouldn't be to lose.
"Owe! God Damn it!" Earl yelled. Looks like he just scraped himself on the wire. Again. "Let me ask ya. Where's a job for intelligent men?"
"Hey!" I say.
"Sorry. A job for intelligent people."
"Well show me some; I'll ask 'em." Val said.
"No I mean if we were real serious about money, we'd quit being hired—"
"Handy men, Earl, we are handy men." Val explains.
"People!" I say again.
"Yeah, yeah. We could quit this job and find ourselves some real employment."
"Now are you really gonna give up all this personal freedom? I don't know." Val questions. He starts hammering on the nail 10 times but missed every time except the last hit. Earl and I had to look at it to make sure it went in.
I'm now in the bed of the truck while the boys are in the cab. The road is so bumpy I can't stay still for a millisecond. I turned around to face ahead and opened the back window.
"Hey, boys. What are we doing today?" I ask.
"Garbage day." Earl said.
"Oh, man. Already? Hey what's Nester paying us?" Val questions.
"$50. Now that's $47 bucks more than we got." Earl responds.
"Damn. We're poor bastards." I butt in.
"Well ain't you just a little ray of sunshine." Val stated. "Burt and Heather's place is closer. How about we do the linoleum today and the garbage tomorrow."
I just shake my head, knowing it's not gonna work. Earl confirms it. "Nester's not home tomorrow. We don't dig today, we don't get paid today. Damn it, Valentine, you never plan ahead. You never take the long view. Here it is Monday and I'm already thinking its Wednesday… it is Monday, right?"
Val ignores him and we're just about to pass someone. Val speaks up first. "Hey, who the hell's that? That's not the grad student, is it?"
"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'.
"Nah, he graduated. Must be the new one."
"New one? That's supposed to be a girl." Val looks excited and turns quickly to go meet her. I start bouncing all over the place and Val starts listing off the things he looks for in a girl. "You will have; long blonde hair, big green eyes, world class breasts, ass that won't quit, the legs that go ALL the way up."
He stops suddenly and the dust is all over my face. I grab my hat and start swinging it in front of my face to clear the air a bit. I start banging on the window, "Damn it, Val. I can't breathe."
"Sorry." He responds. He sounds upset. I turn around and I see why. The girl is nothing what he hoped for. Pretty much the opposite.
The girl looks up and comes over to us. "Hi. I'm Rhonda. Rhonda LeBeck. I'm up here for the semester." She shakes hands with Earl.
"Yeah, uh, Geography." Earl guesses.
"Geology." Val rolls his eyes.
"Seismology." I know I'm right because I pay attention.
She smiles at me and nods her head. "Yeah, seismology. Earthquakes. You three must be Val, Charlie, and Earl. I've heard all about you."
"We deny everything."
"Hey listen, I got a question for you. Do you know if anybody's doing any drilling, or blasting, or any of that kind of stuff." Rhonda asks.
"Around here? No ma'am." Val laughs.
She looks a little offended at be laughed at but covers it up. "Well, I'm supposed to be reading these seismographs and I've been picking up some strange readings. We've never recorded anything like this."
"Well, we'll ask around, see if anyone's heard anything." Earl offers.
"Thanks. Anyway, sorry to bother you." She says.
Val starts the truck back up and starts to drive away. Earl shouts out, before leaving, "No problem. Hope you get everything sorted out."
She seemed nice. Smart and different from all the other girls I've met. Sure she and Val were completely different but you know what they say. Opposites attract. The boys start a conversation again but they forgot that the window is open so I can hear them.
"You know we could, uh take a look at those seismographs for her." Earl suggested.
"The hell do we know about seismographs?" Val asks.
"Nothing." Earl says plainly. "But sure is a slick way to get to know her."
"Why?"
"Damn it, Valentine. You don't go for any girl unless they fit that stupid list of yours from top to bottom."
"Well sure."
"Yeah and it's dumber than my hind end. They're all the same. Dead weight. Oh, I broke a nail." Earl shivers. "Makes my skin crawl. Why don't you go for a girl that can help out with Charlie? She never had a woman role model and it must suck for her to put up with everything we do all the time."
"What? Are you shitting me!? She can take care of herself. Charlie doesn't need anybody to look after her or take care of her. She knows how to cook and clean. Besides she's barely acts like a girl." Val nearly yells.
That pissed me off. "Well gee, thanks, Val!" I slam the little window shut.
They were yelling so I could hear them over the wind from outside. Earl sounds ticked off as well. "You see what you just did? Why the hell are you so stupid!?"
"Hey, I didn't mean it like that! I meant that she's like one of us! She doesn't even dress or talk like a girl. She acts like one of us. There ain't nothing else. Charlie has us, she doesn't need anybody else!" Val snaps back.
As we drive the long way back to Perfection, my anger went away. I was just a little hurt that Val thought that I didn't need anybody. We turned a corner and stopped at Chang's store. We saw Melvin hitting a car with his basketball. He might be a pain but so am I at times so we still get along with each other. We call ourselves twins, we're so close. As we all got out Val yelled to him, "Hey pizza face!"
"Melvin. Melvin! Touch that truck and die." Earl threatens.
"Oh, man. I'm really shaking." Melvin torments.
Earl just glares at him for a second before opening the door for me. I give Melvin a smile before entering the store. He gives me a small smile back. We both enter and sit down next to Val, who is sitting by Burt and Heather. Burt was talking about the bullets he ordered.
"Hi, guys. How's it going?" Heather asked. She's always nice. Especially to me, she acts like a sister sometimes even though she's way older.
"Well, uh, ran into that college girl, Rona." Val complained.
"Rhonda. She's having some trouble with her… uh… things." Earl forgot what they're called.
Burt was talking all about things I didn't understand until I heard Val say, "Yeah, Burt. The way you worry, you won't be able to survive World War 3."
Burt just laughs and responds, "We'll see, we'll see."
Chang asked us to fix one of his machines but Earl says we have to go. I start to head out to the truck and I heard Val say, "Oh, yeah. See, we plan ahead. That way, we don't do anything right now. Earl explained it me."
I rolled my eyes and walked out the door, waiting for the boys. How much more stupid can Val get? Earl walks out and gets in the driver seat. Val soon follows and looks up at me. He looked sorry. "Hey, Charlie. I'm sorry what I said back there. I didn't mean for it to offend you. I don't realize how hard it is for ya."
"It's alright. Some people don't mean half the things they say."
He smiles at me and gets in the truck. I smile to myself, knowing everything's ok now. Boy was I wrong. It was only the beginning.