* * *
Ben saw his son’s smile disappear when he arrived. Virginia used to be able to get them to talk without all the stupid father-son tension. He remembered when Gil came back from Alaska after the accident up there. It wasn’t easy for him to come back, either. Apparently he had been out on one of those damned dangerous fishing boats that everyone thinks are all romantic because they’re so damned dangerous and what was even more damned dangerous was that Gil was on the damned thing so, of course, the damned thing went down and took everyone but Gil with it. Gil’s bad luck generally wasn’t as bad for Gil as it was for everyone else around him and it always seemed to get worse for people the farther away from Stansbury the boy got. People in town had enough of their own that his didn’t seem to work on them as much. But for Gil to get work doing the most damned dangerous thing you could do…well, Ben always felt that Gil bore some amount of responsibility for that boat going down. Ben was sure that Gil felt it more. Ben was also sure that the capital “U” Universe had taken Gil’s arm in a desperate attempt to keep everyone outside of Stansbury safe from him.
Ben turned the car off and made his way over to the group. The man in the guayabera was obviously enjoying himself more than anyone else there. Ben nodded to him and then looked to Jenny.
“Long time, no see, Jenny.”
“Everything’s under control here, Ben.”
“Really? Really?” Gil had that frustrated look on his face that Ben had unfortunately seen way too many times. The boy looked back and forth between Ben and Jenny. “He gets to call you Jenny?”
“Professional courtesy,” she smirked.
“But he’s not a professional anymore.” Gil spat the words out at his father.
“We in the law enforcement community respect the service of all our brethren, on the job or retired.” Jenny looked to Ben for his approval. Ben had a really hard time giving it to her in front of his son.
Ben regretted stopping. He hated being this close to the bridge. Nothing good ever came of it. He rarely stopped in at Gil’s store and not just because the boy held him in such contempt. Gil never understood why Ben let Sheriff Tom win and he should have understood more than anyone. Gil knew more about that damned bridge and the history of the town and the darkness than anyone else and he knew why Ben had to stop being sheriff.
“Looks like Kurtz tried to drop a tree on the bridge.” Jenny looked like she was enjoying herself a little. That made Ben smile.
“Did you call it in to Sheriff Tom?”
“He said he was otherwise occupied and asked if I could go down and see if there was any reason to pay the kook a visit.”
“There’s no reason to be mean, Officer Kennisaw.”
Jenny didn’t acknowledge Gil. “Do you care to come down and take a look with me?”
“I told you nothing happened to the bridge. Nothing ever happens to the bridge. A meteor could drop out of the sky and destroy all of New England and that thing would still be there.” Gil turned to the tourists and managed to put on a smile. “The best part about Vermont is that so little happens here, our state troopers have to investigate every tree that falls in the woods.”
Jenny didn’t acknowledge Gil and headed down the path. “Coming, Ben?”
Ben didn’t want to go. He looked at his son, though, and saw everything that the boy was feeling. There was so much locked up in there, but mostly frustration. This thing he had with Jenny would never be finished and, sadly for Gil, he always finished everything he started or just kept at it. Right now, for Gil, nothing he started this go around, from Jenny to the Lakebridge, would ever…could ever end well for him.
Ben looked over to the couple. “You folks enjoy your visit.” The old man nodded back at him and the woman smiled. Nice folks. Ben hoped they would make it out of Stansbury without incident. But then again, they had stopped at Gil’s so they were fair game to whatever force it was that the boy unintentionally inflicted on those around him.
For a moment he moved towards his car to leave, but something drew him to follow Jenny. For no good reason, he went along with her.
Lakebridge: Spring (Supernatural Horror Literary Fiction) Page 16