Coming Home
Chapter 5: Summer Storm
It was a few days after his conversation with Karen when Jack turned on his old television set to investigate the weather channel, searching for enlightenment. Not that he expected to find any, especially not on the weather channel, but hey, he could dream, couldn't he?
All thoughts relating to Karen and his confusing revelation about Cliff were immediately shoved to the back of his mind by something much more demanding of his immediate attention, namely, the nice weather lady announcing the imminent arrival of a rather large hurricane.
"Hurricane Grant will hit our shores early tomorrow morning. Make sure to lock up all your animals and livestock for the coming storm. It's going to be a tough one, folks!" she went on to outline Hurricane Grant's projected path of devastation, using big, meteorological words which Jack did not care to puzzle out at the moment. Despite the fact that the hurricane wasn't due to arrive until the next day, he still hurried outside into the clear, calm morning to round up his animals. No use taking any chances, he told himself as he guided his new sheep, who he had decided to name Toyota, away from the grass he was munching and towards the safety of the sturdy barn. Once inside, Jack put enough fodder in Toyota's feed box to keep him happy for the day, and reminded himself to put more in this evening before he went to bed, in case he was unable to make his way to the barn tomorrow.
After repeating the procedure with his three chickens, Jack let out a small breath of relief, despite the fact that he really had nothing to worry about at this point in time. In fact, the animals would no doubt be fine on their own for most of the day, but he didn't want to take that chance. Straightening his shoulders, he began whistling in an out-of-key sort of fashion, and went to gather up the eggs left behind in the chicken pen.
Jack awoke the next morning to the sound of the wailing, gusting wind pounding the side of his cabin like an angry god. Jiro was huddled at the foot of his bed between his feet, holding very still, his eyes darting back and forth across the room. Jack sat up to give the dog an encouraging pat on the head, which was accepted with a small whine of appreciation. He couldn't help but smile at that.
"No worries, boy, it's just the wind," Jack assured him, as he swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood. Making his way over to the corner where he kept his ration of rice balls, Jack paused to turn on the TV. There was no reception, which really didn't surprise him a whole lot. Shrugging, he turned it off again and continued onward to his food.
The day passed agonizingly slowly. When he'd still been in school, he would've killed for an opportunity to do nothing at all for an entire day. However, when he was still in school he'd also had a lot of ways to kill time that did not involve sitting on his bed and alternately staring at the threads in his worn comforter and counting the splinters in the ceiling. As such, he was not enjoying this enforced time off nearly as much as he would have five or six years ago.
After his first attempt to open the door to his cabin had been foiled most expediently by the raging winds and pounding rain outside, he had resigned himself to a day spent alone with Jiro and his thoughts.
And what thoughts he was having. Between realizing that he needed an indoor bathroom and that Jiro had had an accident in the corner by the door, his thoughts mostly centered on the seemingly random conversation he'd had with Karen the other night. What had provoked that, anyway? Karen didn't like him, did she? Oh, Goddess, what if that was the reason she'd started grilling him about who he liked? Karen was a great person, and a good friend, for all he'd only known her since the spring, but he simply could not conjure any romantic feelings towards her, no matter how faint. In fact, he couldn't really conjure any romantic feelings about any of the girls in town. That didn't mean he didn't like them, of course. They were each very nice in their own way, even Ann, who seemed rather rough around the edges.
Of course, he was dancing around a very delicate and as-of-yet undeveloped admission, which his brain simply refused to focus on. Not that he was encouraging it, of course. In fact, both he and his brain seemed to be in agreement that said delicate and as-of-yet undeveloped admission was quite taboo, and therefore, not open to debate. Not that that would make the thought go away entirely, of course. So to blockade it off, he distracted himself by thinking of other people, who were, thankfully, both quite abundant and not subject to these weird thoughts he was having. Unfortunately, no matter how he tried, he couldn't force his thoughts entirely away from the five admittedly attractive young women living in the village. Even as he tried to avoid it, the realization that he had never found a single woman in his life, no matter how attractive she was, to be anything more than a possible friend squirmed its way through his thoughts.
It's getting time for you to admit some stuff about yourself, Jack-o the little realization whispered to him.
Not today, it's not, Jack argued.
He paused.
I'm arguing with myself. he realized. That can't be a good sign, Sometime around noon, Jack happily fell asleep, and remained that way through the remainder of the day and throughout the night.
The fish had been practically swarming at the beach this morning, and Cliff was very happy with how quickly so many large, healthy specimens had risen to his bait and sacrificed themselves to his now overflowing basket. He'd weathered the hurricane yesterday in the cave behind the carpenter's cabin. Not really a bad place at all, it had to be said. The cave was dim, but very dry, and provided plenty of shelter from both beating wind and pounding rain. Pretty ideal, all things considered. And he'd even been able to scavenge some of the edible herbs that grew near the entrance, so he hadn't gone completely hungry, either.
Cliff whistled happily to himself as he made his way along the cross-roads back into the mountain, where he intended to smoke his catch and enjoy a nice, peaceful breakfast by the river. A familiar green cap caught his eye, and he turned to look over at Jack's farm, intending to wave if Jack happened to be looking in his direction.
Jack was not facing him, but his fields, which Cliff could see had been pretty badly beat up by yesterday's hurricane. Something about the slump in Jack's shoulders made him pause for a moment, wondering if the other man was alright.
Apparently he was not, for only a few moments after Cliff had stopped to stare at Jack's back, Jack's legs sort of fell out from under him and he seated himself rather abruptly on top of the shipping bin. More than a little concerned, Cliff hurried onto the property, and setting his basket carefully down by the dog house, moved over to Jack.
"Hey," he said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Jack, who seemed quite dazed, didn't even start at the sudden contact. He turned to see who had come up behind him and gazed at Cliff for a moment with a dull, disconnected gaze before blinking in recognition.
"Hey, Cliff," he said, attempting some semblance of his normal cheerful attitude. Cliff stared at him for a moment in concern, mind reeling. He'd never expected Jack, cheerful, bubbly, happy Jack, could ever feel depressed. Admittedly, he hadn't known Jack for all that long, but in that short time, Cliff had never seen him unhappy. Witnessing this new side of Jack caused Cliff's stomach to do funny things, which he didn't really like.
"Don't go anywhere, I'll be back as fast as I can," he said after a moment, squeezing Jack's shoulder before turning about. He gently disengaged Jiro from his basket; the dog had taken the opportunity to begin investigating the fish while Cliff was distracted. Basket in hand, he hurried off.
Jack barely registered him leaving. He just turned back to stare out over his once pristine fields. Rubble he had worked so hard to remove had returned, flattening large patches of grass. The fences of his animal pens were broken in multiple places. Worst of all, huge bits of his crop fields had been uprooted, the dying plants spread around the field like so much litter. All the time and energy he had poured into planting and tending the corn and tomatoes wasted. There were still many plants left standing, but what appeared less than half of what he had originally planted remained - and those were very bedraggled and weak-looking.
"I'm back," a voice announced. Jack turned his gaze away from his devistated fields to regard Cliff, who was quickly approaching him. He was carrying something large and heavy-looking in his left hand. As he drew closer, Jack saw that it was a 12-pack of beer.
"C'mon, let's go inside," Cliff said, putting his right hand on Jack's arm and pulling him to his feet with surprising strength. "No need to look at this anymore today," he said, maneuvering the surprised but cooperative farmer into his cabin. After allowing Jack to drop onto one of the two stools set before the small table in the middle of the room, Cliff plunked the case of beer down on the table. He opened it, removed the first can from the top, and offered it to Jack, who accepted it with the grace of a blind man.
"Where'd you get this?" Jack asked half-way through his second can.
"Zach," Cliff said with a smile.
"Should'a known," Jack grinned, causing Cliff to smile back. It wasn't up to his usual level of cheerful-ness, but Cliff was pleased that it was definitely more sincere than Jack's earlier attempt.
"I really ought to get to work..." Jack said after his third can. He was frowning slightly now, in a vaguely drunken way, causing Cliff to wonder if he'd even eaten breakfast that morning. "Hey!" Jack said suddenly. "You're distracting me!" Eyes which had become wide at this sudden revelation became wider still when Cliff easily agreed.
"No sense in staying depressed," he said amiably, offering another can. Jack almost looked as though he wanted to refuse, but accepted anyway. "You stay here, I'll be back in a few minutes," Cliff said as Jack opened the new can. So saying, he stood and hurried from the cabin. Jack, now more than just a little inebriated, wasn't sure how long the other man was gone. Ten or fifteen minutes at the most, he guessed, as Cliff stepped back into the cabin.
"Where'd you go?" Jack asked, trying not to slur his words too much. His gaze moved from Cliff to the now empty can in his hand. Was it his fifth, or his sixth? Blearily, he tried to focus on the open cans standing in crooked rows on the table, and saw that there were six. So that would make the one in his hand number seven.
"I went to feed your animals," Cliff said, settling himself down again.
"Oh," Jack said. Then, "Thanks," a moment later.
"No worries,". They sat in silence for a moment.
"I'm really drunk," Jack announced.
"Want to go to bed?" Cliff asked.
"I think that might be a good idea," Jack said, blinking. Beer on top of an empty stomach on top of depression was not a good combination. He made his way over to his bed with minimal trouble, then collapsed on top of it, half his legs hanging off the edge. In a moment, he was snoring gently. Cliff stared at him for a long moment. Once he realized he had progressed from passively staring to actively ogling, he shook his head, and moved over to pull off Jack's boots. Lifting up his legs, Cliff maneuvered Jack more firmly onto his bed, where he immediately settled into a more comfortable position. Smiling to himself, Cliff quietly gathered up the empty cans and remaining beer, then silently left the cabin.
To Be Continued
Author's Notes: I had actually intended to put a second part to this chapter, but it was already this long before I realized it. So the second part, which will no doubt be equally as long, will become its own chapter. In the grand scheme of things, that probably doesn't matter too much. Apologies for the somewhat awkward phrasing in some places. I couldn't think of a better way to put some things, so they shall remain until the day I can come up with something better. Comments and Criticism welcome! See you in Chapter 6.