Walking on the Tracks Chapter 16
"Suck my fat one?" Chris said before turning to me and adding "whoever told ya you had a fat one Taylor?". "Your mother" I replied smiling brightly at him and at that moment the intense vibe was broken as Chris stifled a laugh and patted me on my shoulder saying "yeah".
We then stopped and slowly turned to face Brower who was completely oblivious to what had just happened. Teddy and Vern returned to our side and Chris gave them a curt nod, I guess he was a little pissed at them backing off but to be sincere I couldn't honestly blame them for it. "Are we gonna take him?" Vern asked Chris softly, "No we shouldn't..." Gordie replied and I agreed with a nod. "But we came all this way" Teddy argued "we were supposed to be heroes".
"Not this way Teddy" I told him.
Ray Brower wasn't a prize to be won. He wasn't our cheap shot at fifteen minutes of materialism fame and praise. He was a son, a brother, a grandson and friend. I am so thankful I learned that through our journey to find him.
His body was found but neither gang got the credit for it, in the end we decided an anonymous phone call was the best thing to do.
We headed home and although many thoughts were racing through our minds the journey was done in silence. We walked through the night and made it back to Castle Rock by just past five o clock Sunday morning. The day before Labour Day.
We hadn't been gone that long but after what we went through that weekend, our small dreary town seemed smaller and more dreary.
"Well..." Vern spoke when we walked into the empty still street "see you in school". "Yeah" Chris said smiling at him, "see ya in Junior High" Teddy said, Vern gave us a small nod and turned and headed home. He stopped and bent over and picked up a small object before turning over to us with a smile. "Penny!".
We smiled and shook our heads at him. "Well guys I better get home before my mom puts me on the most wanted list" Teddy told us and started to walk off, he stopped and looked over. "Hey Chris...no hard feelings eh?". Chris shook his head in reply, "no way man". Teddy gave a slight smile and walked home humming 'The Ballad of Paladin'.
As the years went on we saw less and less of Teddy and Vern until they eventually they became two ghosts of the past. It happens sometimes, friends come in and out of our lives like busboys.
I heard Verno got married out of high school,had four kids and is now working as an operator at some lumber yard some place. Teddy attempted several times to get into the army but his eyes and his ear kept him out, last I heard of him he was in jail and was doing odd jobs around Castle Rock.
"I'm never gonna get out of this town guys" Chris whispered as we stood under the treehouse overlooking the town we all saw as a grey prison. "You can do whatever you want man" I told him, "yeah you'll probably be the first to get outta this place" Gordie added. "Yeah..." Chris smiled at us sadly "give me some skin". We exchanged our handshake with him before I said "we'll see ya". "Not if I see you first" and with that Chris Chambers turned and left.
"I've got a lot of faith in that kid Taylor" Gordie told me as Chris gave us one last look and wave, "me too" I said smiling at the shrinking Chris. "Well my folks'll probably flip if I'm not home soon so I'll get going" Gordie said patting my shoulder. "Take care LaChance" I smiled at him as he walked off. "Gordie?" I asked and he turned "this would make an awesome story...might outsell Lardass the Pie Puker". Gordie grinned at me, "I hope so".
Gordie, Chris and I did get out. We all enrolled in the college courses together, we all found it difficult especially Chris but he gutted out like he always did. Gordie left school and became a writer with a lot of stories to tell. Chris became a lawyer after college and was extremely successful, last week he entered a fast food joint where two men got into a fight and one pulled a knife. Chris being the brave peacemaker he was tried to break it up.
He was stabbed in the throat.
He died almost instantly.
Such a great guy, killed within seconds because of two asshole strangers bickering.
I hadn't seen him for five years but I'll miss him forever.
What happened to me? Well I pursued with my interest in cinema and attended film school. I'm now a director of independent drama films. And hey who knows? Maybe I'll make a film adaptation of Gordie's novel version of this story if he ever publishes it.
It would be great to see him again, Teddy and Vern too. I'm hoping to see them at Chris' send off. The gang back together one last time.
Man, I never had any friends like the ones I did when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?