Chapter 10
July 1
Bobby made it back from Texas in one piece. He gave me this fantastic picture of him in a cowboy hat, western shirt, bolo tie, boots, and sporting a ridiculously huge belt buckle on his jeans. He said one of the cops down there used to ride rodeo and it was his buckle from an old competition he won. I have to say, looking at it now, Bobby makes a fine cowboy.
I've realized I've been depressed for a while now. Probably a month, at least. I haven't felt like doing much around home, and I guess that's why all the thoughts of Joe, and of Mom. I've got to pick myself back up, get back on track. Maybe I'll start by cleaning out that old storage unit.
"Thanks for letting me do this, Bobby."
He shrugs. "We're in the neighborhood."
I walk over to the locked door and fumble with my keys until I find the right one. The padlock pops open and I remove it from the latch. Then I pull the door up from the ground and watch it fold into the tracks along the ceiling. The place is floor to floor boxes. I haven't seen it since I moved after Joe died. A lot of this stuff was his.
"You're planning to clean this out?" Bobby asks me.
"Yeah," I say.
He whistles, long and low. "Looks like you might want some help."
I am intimidated by the task, but I know there are some very, very personal items in here. Things that were just mine and Joe's. "No," I say. "I think I need to tackle it by myself."