“I wonder if the Tallahatchie River was this muddy when Billy Joe McAllister jumped in it?” Arlene asked. She looked over at Levi. He had such a confused look on his face that she just had to laugh.
“Who?” he asked.
“Billy Joe McAllister,” she responded. “The Tallahatchie Bridge? Ode to Billy Joe? Bobbie Gentry?” she shook her head. She suddenly felt much older than her walking companion. “Never mind.”
The only thing that filled the silence was the rushing water beneath them. And a dog barking in the distance.
Arlene stood there, lost in the soothing rhythm of the water, when the noise of tumbling rocks caught her attention. She turned her head quickly to her left to see Levi seemingly running backward in place as the rocks beneath him gave way in a mini avalanche. Apparently, his curiosity had gotten the best of him and he had stepped from the relative safety the crossties had to offer and onto the unstable rocks.
He fought to regain his footing, but it was quickly starting to look like he as fighting a losing battle. Arlene reached out and grabbed him by the back of his collar and, with a sudden tug, pulled him back onto the crossties and out of harm’s way. She had solid footing and surprising strength.
Levi, who now stood up straight, had that crooked grin on his face as he looked at Arlene. “Damn,” he said while exhaling a deep breath, “I didn’t know I was travelin’ with Diana Prince.”
Now it was Arlene’s turn to look confused. “Who?”
“You know,” he answered, “Wonder Woman.”
Arlene squinted her eyes as if in deep thought and then slowly shook her head side to side.
“Diane Prince is Wonder Woman’s alter-ego,” Levi offered. Arlene continued shaking her head. She knew full well who Diana Prince was. She had actually named her first-born daughter after her. There was no way in hell she was going to admit that to Levi, though. It was sacrilegious to have never heard Ode to Billy Joe. And he was supposed to be a country boy?
“Well,” Levi said, “thanks for bein’ my knight in shinin’ … um … terrycloth.”
Arlene laughed.
Levi bowed and offered his hand to the lady. She reached over and draped her arm in his and they turned and started walking east. They looked at each other, bent at the waist and started skipping on the crossties. “We’re off to see the wizard,” they began singing in unison. Finally. Something both generations had in common.
If he only had a brain.
It must have been a couple of hours later when they reached the point they had been dreading. The time passed by quickly as they talked about everything from their favorites (songs, movies, foods) to what had really happened with the emp and how it was going to affect everyone.
When they realized that they were now at the bypass; one road leading toward Caney Head and the other to Buna, they decided to stop and have a little picnic with the food Lynette had packed for them. Arlene was surprised when she opened the cooler and discovered how much food had been packed in it. She gave Levi a sandwich (which he immediately took a huge bite out of) and a bag of chips (Lays). She also grabbed one of each for herself.
She reached in and grabbed one of the water bottles and held it out to Levi. She pulled it back before he could take it, though. He looked at her and cocked his head a little. She sat the bottle on the crosstie next to her. Then she reached in and slowly pulled out one of the Dr. Peppers. The look on Levi’s face was priceless when he saw the unmistakable coloring of the label on the bottle.
Oh. Emm. Gee.
Life couldn’t get any better.
“Yes!” Levi shouted at the top of his lungs. He took the bottle from Arlene’s hand as if it were a sacred relic. You could literally see the drool at the corners of his mouth as he sat and admired the bottle.
“Pssssst,” the lid of the bottle said as it was opened. That, my friend, was music to his ears. And when he took his first sip … tastegasm!
Arlene smiled as she watched the young man before her enjoying a simple thing in life when everything around him was so complicated. The world as they knew it had dramatically changed less than 24 hours ago – probably forever, and here he was perfectly content to sit on a lonely stretch of railroad tracks with a much older woman, eating a ham sandwich and drinking a lukewarm Dr. Pepper.
“God,” she silently said, “Please let me never forget to appreciate these simple blessings life has to offer. Thank you for sending this young man to lead me home.”
The silence that grew over the next few moments was palpable. They looked at the highway that lie beneath the overpass they sat on for a couple of minutes.
“Arlene,” Levi finally broke the silence, “why don’t we stay together until we get to Silsbee? The tracks split there and head over to the Neches River. You know as well as I do that it would be much safer for you to travel on the tracks instead of the highway.”
She looked at him thoughtfully.
“It’d make me feel much better if you didn’t take the highway,” he pleaded. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
He was right. The tracks would be safer.
“OK,” she said. “But I really have to get as far as I can before nightfall.”
The crooked grin returned to Levi’s face.
The two gathered up their things. Levi made sure to pick up the plastic baggies from the sandwiches and chips and the water bottle and empty soda bottle. He placed them in the cooler, along with the remaining food.
Don’t mess with Texas.
A light rain began to fall. Levi and Arlene opened their umbrellas and held them above their heads as the started walking east. There wasn’t much conversation as they each got lost in their own thoughts.
Arlene thought about how sad it was going to be to tell Levi goodbye. He had been there for her when she really needed someone. He was a good kid. She wished that he could come to Buna. She knew that Victoria, her youngest daughter, would fall in love with this young man the minute she laid eyes on him. He was good looking, and his smile was to die for. She was going to miss him.
Levi was torn. He knew that he should get home and check on his things. He knew that Betty Jo was waiting for him and he remembered how soft she was in his arms. It would be good to hold her. But he also knew that he should not keep going straight through Silsbee and turn toward the river instead.
He knew that Arlene could make it home on her own; she was the strongest woman he had ever met. But he also knew there was more going on with this lady than she had told him. What she did tell him was enough to convince him that she had been through a rough patch for a while now and was still in the thick of it. She wanted – no, needed to be with her daughters so bad and he knew that it would be wrong of him to not make sure that it happened. He had to see her all the way home. Besides, Betty Jo had her family to take care of her for the couple of days it would take to make the trip to Buna and back.
“Who knows,” he thought, “maybe I’ll be able to catch a ride somewhere along the way.” He decided that he wasn’t going to say anything, just make the turn with her in Silsbee and surprise the heck out of her. She would like that.
Two people walked along the railroad track. One was smiling, the other not. Arlene looked over to Levi. He was the one smiling. Here she was … her heart ripping out of her chest with separation anxiety and he was walking next to her … smiling. “Children can be so annoying at times,” she thought as she picked up her pace. She was not a happy camper at this moment.
For the next few minutes Levi enjoyed messing with Arlene. He kept trying to pick at her, hoping to make her smile. He knew that she was getting pissed off with every step, but when she found out what he was going to do she would get over it pretty fast. He had learned that much about her. He was almost having to jog to keep up with her.
“Arlene, wait,” he whined. She walked on without slowing down one bit. “Arlene. I have to pee.”
He did, too. He hadn’t drunk much in the past few hours, so he didn’t h
ave to worry about his bladder while he and Arlene walked. However, once he filled his bladder with the nectar of the Gods a short way back he was now feeling the effects. Bad.
Arlene walked on for another half-mile or so before she finally decided to stop and let Levi relieve his bladder. She had to go herself, so she knew how he must feel. Even though he had been torturing her for the past hour, she figured she had tortured him enough. For now.
She could see the figure of someone else walking toward them on the railroad tracks. It looked like a little girl. She spun on her heels and was staring right into a pair of dreamy brown eyes. Levi was right there. Nose to nose. She stepped back one step.
“Hurry up,” she said, pointing down the embankment at a small opening in the underbrush. “There’s someone coming. You don’t want to go exposing yourself to people, do you?”
“No, ma’am,” Levi said as he turned and looked at the makeshift bathroom. He knew calling Arlene ma’am would grate on her nerves. He smiled at her and carefully made his way down the embankment.
- - -
Bailey thought about what the grey-haired firefighter had said to her as she walked slowly toward home. It didn’t take long before she knew she had made the right choice to take the tracks instead of the highway; it was much quieter this way and she could hear if anyone was following her on her rocky path.
She really wasn’t frightened about what the emp would cause; she didn’t have a computer and was used to living without electricity. Heck, she probably spent over half her life in the dark because her mama couldn’t afford to pay the electric bill most of the time. When she was forced to choose between lights or cigarettes, her mom would choose her smokes every time.
Really, the only bad thing about not having electricity was not being able to play her radio. Music was the only thing that drowned out the constant yelling and bickering between her mom and Bear. They never shut up. Never.
“Your family is the most important thing,” the word the man said echoed in her mind. “You need to be with people you know and trust.”
She knew her mom. She knew Bear. She knew that she didn’t trust either one of them as far as she could throw them. They were both big people.
Really, really big.
They were the only family she had ever known, though. As bad as they were, when nobody else wanted her they did. Even if it was just to get their cigarettes or a glass of water, they needed her.
Speaking of water, the two bottles she was carrying were starting to make her fingers go numb. She stopped walking and downed the rest of the Dr. Pepper in one long drink. She tossed the empty can, sending it clanking across the rocks. She moved one of the bottles to her now free hand and continued walking.
Just ahead, coming around the bend, were a couple of people walking her way. For a second, she was afraid it was the two men from the nursery. It was quickly obvious that one of the people was a woman. There was a guy with her. She couldn’t really tell who he was from the distance, but he looked familiar. It looked like they were playing some kind of game – like Red Light, Green Light.
The woman stopped and turned around. It looked like the guy had made it to home base because he was right up on her. Bailey stopped and watched the couple. The woman pointed down to the side of the tracks and the guy walked down to the trail. It looked like they were right at the trail leading to her house.
All of a sudden, the lady took a gun out of her purse and fired three times toward the trail. “Pow, pow,” the shots rang out, “pow.”
“What the hell,” Bailey said as she dropped to a crouching position. Instinct told her that she would be a smaller target if she hugged the crossties between the tracks. That’s exactly what she did in one fluid motion. She lay quietly as she watched the scene unfold before her.
The lady stood firmly, aiming the gun off the side of the tracks. In a few seconds the man stumbled up the rocks, reached out and took the gun from the woman’s hand. He turned slowly and sat on the track. The lady knelt beside him.
“Oh my God,” the lady shrieked. “Levi!”
Shock took over Bailey as realization swept over her. Levi. That was Levi Kirkendall, her old neighbor. He was a good man that had been very kind to her when they lived next door to him a couple years back. That lady just shot Levi Kirkendall!
Throwing caution to the wind, Baily got up and ran toward the two people. She knew the lady had just shot her friend, but it looked like he was alright. He still had the gun in his hand. When she approached them neither of them even noticed. She looked down the embankment and saw a five-foot cottonmouth with two gaping wounds in its body and half its head blown off. The lady had gotten him with all three shots.
“Levi,” she said. “You ok?”
He looked up at Bailey. Bailey looked over to Arlene. Arlene was looking at Levi’s leg. Bailey followed her gaze and saw that the snake had gotten Levi before the lady got the snake.
“Hey, Bailey,” Levi said. “What you doin’ here?”
“Oh,” she answered, “I just thought I’d take a little walk and enjoy the quiet.”
Arlene was confused. Totally confused. This was just too surreal. Levi had just been bitten by a poisonous snake and here he was carrying on a calm, everyday conversation with some pretty little girl, that he apparently knew, who had come from nowhere. What the heck?
“Oh, where are my manners.” Levi said, still in a calm tone. “Arlene, this is Bailey. She’s an old friend of mine from a way back.”
“Ma’am,” Bailey said evenly as she extended her hand toward Arlene.
“Pleased to meet you, Bailey,” Arlene said as she took her hand and released it.
“You do realize that you’ve been bitten by a snake?” Arlene turned her head toward Levi as she spoke. The area around the bite was beginning to swell. Instinctively she reached for her first aid kit to get the snake-bite kit from it, but it wasn’t hanging from her shoulder.
“Oh, no,” she said, “those jerks took the first-aid kit.” She felt Levi’s hand on her shoulder.
“Calm down, Arlene,” he said. “The best thing to do in a situation like this is to remain calm. Right, Bailey?”
“That’s right,” Bailey said. “Calm.”
“What’s goin’ on out there?” someone shouted from the other side of the wood line. It was Bear’s voice.
“Wait here,” Bailey said to the people sitting on the railroad track. “It’s me. Bear,” she turned and shouted as she walked to the trail and eased around the dead snake. She ducked into the woods and emerged on the other side, in her own back yard. She walked up the hill to the side of the house.
When she got on level ground, Bailey took a deep breath. There, in her driveway, was the green pickup truck and the two boys that she had seen earlier. Bear was leaned up against the front door jamb sipping on a Pepsi.
“Hey boys,” she said as she slowly approached the house. “I could sure use a lift. My friend got bit by a snake over on the railroad tracks and we need to get him some help.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, lil’ lady,” said the boy who was the passenger earlier. “This here man seys he’s yer brother an’ that ye’d give us a kiss if we gives him that there soda pop.”
Bailey looked over to Bear. Bear took a swallow of the Pepsi and rubbed his exposed, fat belly. He grinned at her as he let out a long, loud belch.
The boy licked his lips and took a step toward the Bailey. He had to refocus his eyes as the glint of a silver .38 appeared over her left shoulder.
“You might want to stand real still,” Bailey said coldly. “This lady just shot a little bitty snake from about 15 yards three times without missing a shot. You should’ve seen how much that really small bullet took off that snake’s head.”
Arlene stood behind Bailey, propping Levi up with her left arm as she trained the pistol on the scraggly little man.
“She ain’t lyin, boys,” Levi said. “This is one bad-ass woman.”
“Now boys,” Arlene f
inally spoke. “Since you aren’t gentlemanly enough to extend this young lady a ride I’m afraid we’re just going to have to separate you from your truck and give her a ride ourselves. You don’t have a problem with that, Do you?”
“Click-click,” the sound of the Remington echoed in the air.
“Them boys don’t mind a bit,” Bear said. “Hey, Levi.”
“Hey, Bear,” Levi replied. A cold sweat was breaking out on his face.
The two boys stood in their tracks as Arlene helped Levi into the cab of the truck and then climbed in the passenger seat beside him. Bailey walked toward the driver side door.
“Beetle,” a shrill voice from the darkness of the house bellowed, “take ‘im over to yer Uncle Harold’s place. If anyone has what it’ll take to save that boy, it’ll be him.”
“Yes, mama,” Beetle said as she slammed the truck door. She turned the key, started the truck and spun the tires on the wet pavement as she headed toward town.
Chapter 14
Simple man
Two toddlers sat on the floor drinking milk from a sippy-cup while their mother sat with a cup of coffee in her hands. Kay was in her place at the table. Roxie sat in her usual spot. Harold stood, leaning on the cabinet neat the sink.
“So, what you think really happened?” Ashlyn asked. “You think we’re at war?”
Harold shook his head. “I’m not sure,” he said. “I figure it’s either ISIS, Iran or North Korea. They’re the only groups that are extreme enough to do something like this. Russia or China would have too much to lose by taking us down. It would take someone completely off the deep end to pull something like this.”
“I thought things were going pretty good with North Korea,” Ashlyn said.
“So did I,” Harold said. “But Kim Jung Un has a history of saying one thing and doing another. The North Koreans have had the technology to build a bomb capable of creating an emp since 2004. And they have two satellites circling the earth right now. Those satellites are about 300 miles up, just the right distance for an emp to be most effective. They could have sent a nuclear warhead up with the last satellite they sent up. If they detonated it while it was over the middle of the country we’d be in the position we are in right now.”
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