Guthrie and I left off our scuffle at the doorway of Butch's. He went back to hang with Trent, and I went to sit beside Lori, on one of the tall wooden
bar stools that Butch has sitting all around.
"Sorry," I told Lori. "I was trying to talk to Kristen."
"She's really going dark," Lori said, tipping back her Coke and taking a long drink from the bottle.
"I guess she is," I agreed, reluctantly.
After that, I tried to forget thinking Kristen and just have fun. We hung out with a whole group of kids, playing ping pong, and eating French fries and
hamburgers. When it was getting close to eleven, and Butch was making his usual walk thru the crowd of teenagers, telling everybody to get ready to head out,
Lori and I prepared to leave. We walked out with Trent and Guthrie, and Trent said, "I'll give you girls a ride to Lori's."
It was warm out, and there were kids all around, calling out to each other. I wouldn't have minded the walk back to Lori's, but I could
tell she wanted to ride with Trent, so I went along with it.
Trent drove, with Lori next to him, pressed to his side, which left me next, and then Guthrie, against the truck door. Squished next to
Guthrie, I thought about elbowing him in the ribs again. We stayed quiet during the ride, and then, at Lori's, Trent got out and Lori hopped out after him.
They stood together, arms around each other, talking softly. After Guthrie got out, I scrambled out and we stood there, just sort of waiting.
Into the silence, I said, "You going home now?"
"Yeah. Before too long," he said.
I peered up at him, under the street lamp that was in front of Lori's house.
"I don't want to argue with you," I said.
"I don't, either."
"You need to trust me that I'm not stupid enough to take any pills like that," I said.
"I trust you, Har. It's just-Kristen can be convincing."
I thought that was a strange comment. I stepped closer to him. "Did she convince you?"
At that, Guthrie gave me a sharp look, and said, "No!"
"Well-I-" I began.
Lori bounced over, holding onto Trent's hand.
"We better go inside," she said. "Before my mom has a heart attack because we're still out."
I told Guthrie goodbye, and Lori said goodbye to Trent, and the two of us went inside the house.
The living room had a lamp still on, and just as we came in, Lori's mother came to the bottom stair from the upstairs.
"I heard a truck," she said.
"Trent dropped us off," Lori said, in explanation.
After that, her mom fussed over us a little, making us some popcorn to take up to Lori's bedroom, and then she finally took herself
off to her own bed.
Lori and I watched a movie on the small television that she has in her bedroom. We ate the popcorn and drank Pepsi and finally we both fell asleep.
7
The next morning Lori and I slept until after eight, and then her mom fixed us breakfast. Eggs and pancakes, and ham. I thanked her for letting
me come over, and left after we ate. I told Lori I'd see her at school the next day, and drove away from her house feeling glad that I had her for a friend.
I cruised slowly down the main street, and then drove a bit further, out by Daniel's building. His truck was there, as was Evan's.
I stopped on an impulse, parking beside Evan. I went inside, and I could hear them talking from the back of the building. I wandered back
that way, and found them, with their heads bent over a fuse box, arguing in a good natured way about something to do with it.
"Hi," I said, in greeting, and they both raised their heads to look at me, and then looked back at the box again.
"Hey, squirt," Daniel said, in greeting.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Tryin' to figure this mess out," Evan said.
I stuck my head closer to theirs, looking at the fuse box as though I understood anything at all about it.
"Should you guys be working on this?" I asked, jokingly. "I mean-maybe you ought to have a professional electrician, or whatever."
"We're perfectly capable," Evan said.
"I just don't want you guys to electrocute yourselves or anything," I said, tongue-in-cheek.
Evan paused, and straightened up. "Why don't you make yourself useful, and go down to the cafe and pick up some cinnamon rolls or
somethin' from Marie."
The way he said it, it wasn't a suggestion, really.
"Okay," I said, agreeably. "Give me some money to pay for them."
Evan reached into his front jean pocket, and pulled out some money. He handed me a ten dollar bill, and I said,
"Okay. I'll be back," and tucking the money into my own jeans pocket.
I went back out and drove my truck down to Marie's, going in with the bell jingling over the door. There were a few older men
in there, sitting at the tables, drinking coffee and talking ranching stuff.
Marie came out of the kitchen area, drying her hands on her apron as she walked.
"Honey-girl!" she said, beaming at the sight of me. Just her gladness to see me made me feel warm inside. She really is a special
sort of lady.
"Hi, Marie," I said, going to give her a hug.
We talked for a couple of minutes, and then I told her about Evan's request for cinnamon rolls. Marie went off to put some in
a box, coming back and handing it to me.
"I put in some long johns and pumpkin donuts, too," Marie said.
"Thanks." I handed her the ten dollar bill, and she took it, tucking it into her apron pocket.
"Is that enough?" I asked.
"Plenty," she said.
Marie wanted me to sit down in a booth with her for a few minutes, so I did that. I would have felt badly just rushing off after not having
seen her for several weeks.
We had a nice talk, until it started getting busier, and Marie had to get back to waiting on customers. After that, I drove back to the the building, and
went inside, carrying the box of sweets. By now, Nancy's car was parked there, too.
Nancy was on a ladder next to one of the walls, peeling off wall paper that was stained and ripped.
"Hey, wild child," she called out in greeting.
"Hey," I said, coming over to stand next to the ladder.
"Finally," Evan said, coming from behind me. "What took you so long?"
He opened the box I was holding, and reached into it, taking out a cinnamon roll. "Long johns, too," he said, sounding approving.
"Marie put those in," I said.
"Coffee break time," Nancy said, coming down from the ladder. She looked towards the door, which was propped open to let the sun and air in.
"Isn't that your friend?" she asked me, with a nod.
I looked and saw Kristen standing just outside the door, looking inside.
"Yeah," I said, and handed the box off to Evan, walking towards Kristen.
"Hi," I said.
"Can I talk to you?" she asked me.
I nodded, and she said, with a motion of her hand. "Out here."
I followed her outside, and she walked over to where my truck was.
"Everything okay?" I asked.
"No. Not really," she said, and turned to face me. She looked bad. She looked as though she was exhausted. There were dark circles under her
eyes, and her hair needed a good brushing. If I was remembering right, she was wearing the same clothes she'd had on the night before.
"How did you get here?" I asked her.
"I got dropped off," she said, sounding evasive.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I just-I wondered if I could borrow a little bit of money," she said.
I hesitated, thinking. Wondering what she needed it for, and also trying to remember how much I had in my wallet in the glove
compartment of my truck. It wasn't much, I knew that.
"How much?" I asked her.
"Whatever you have will be okay," she said, brushing her hair away from her face.
That sounded so vague. "I'm not sure how much I've got," I said. "Let me look." I went around to the passenger door of my truck, and
opened it, reaching, and looking in the glove compartment, and sifting thru my wallet.
"I've only got about five dollars," I said.
"Oh," she said, sounding disappointed.
"What's wrong?" I asked, again. "Did something happen?"
"Nothing any more than any other day," Kristen said. "I just-I need about twenty, actually."
So-even though she'd said whatever I had would be fine, she actually did need a more specific amount.
"Oh," I said. "Well, I can go ask Nancy, or Daniel. They're inside."
"Do you have to tell them it's for me? Can you just ask to borrow it, and let them think it's for you?"
"I guess so," I said, slowly. "What difference does it make?"
Kristen shrugged. "I just don't want them to know I'm borrowing from you."
"Okay," I said, thinking it wasn't that big of a deal, really.
"Can you give me a ride, too?" she asked me.
"Yeah. I can. To your house?"
"No. To Dean's. To his grandmother's house. That's who he lives with."
"Okay," I said. I had about a half tank of gas, I knew.
"Crane's not going to show up any minute, is he?" she asked.
"I don't know. He might," I told her.
"Well, can we go, then? I don't want to run into him."
"Okay," I said, and left her standing there, going back inside. Nancy was back on the ladder, and back to her task of taking down
the wallpaper. Neither of the guys were in sight at the moment.
I paused beside the ladder. "Hey, Nanc," I said. "Could I borrow a little from you?"
Nancy looked down at me from her perch. "Oh, girl, I don't think I have a dollar on me. I left it at home-"
"That's okay," I said.
"Ask Evan," she suggested.
I followed the sound of Daniel and Evan's voices. This time they were outside the back door, where Daniel and I had talked the day
before. I paused in the doorway, as they looked thru the lumber stacked up.
They stopped talking, and Daniel looked over at me.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Could I borrow from you?" I asked.
"Which one of us are you asking?" Evan said.
"Either of you. I can pay you back. Sometime."
"Sometime. That's sort of random," Daniel said, but he was smiling at me. "You need some gas money?"
I hesitated over my answer. Not to lie, I said, "Well, I'll need gas before long." There. That was true.
Daniel stepped over to me, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. "How much?" he asked me.
"Fifteen?" I asked, tentatively.
"Fifteen, huh?" he asked, eyeing me, and then he pulled out a twenty dollar bill, and handed it over to me.
"Thanks, Daniel," I said.
"You're welcome." He stepped back over to Evan.
"I'm going to give Kristen a ride, and then head home," I said.
"Alright," Daniel said, and that was all. His mind was obviously back on the task at hand.
I went out, telling Nancy I'd see her later, and Kristen and I got into my truck, and I asked her which direction to head, that
Dean's grandma lived.
7