by Riley Moreno
Whatever foreboding he felt, he shook off in the bathroom during his rubdown. He was feeling better, and was intent on looking dapper as he oiled his hair, and slipped into his two piece suit. He kicked his trusty Ford into gear, the engine no longer creating echoes in the no-longer lonely house as he eased it out of the compound.
Night was already upon the city when the truck pulled up in front of the dimly lit house. Daniel, flower bouquet in hand, took a deep breath before trying the knocker on the door. Tyrone answered the door. If he was surprised to see Daniel at the door, his face did not show it. His face did not show much of anything these days; his eyes always seeming a little glazed-sober or not.
“Yes!” Tyrone asked. The antagonism not so well masked in his voice.
Daniel ignored his tone, “Julianne in?”
“And who wants to know? You?” Tyrone continued, “Who do you think you are, coming into my house?”
“Julianne?!” Daniel called out into the house. He had seen enough of the world to recognise a crack head when he saw one.
Tyrone was just about to continue his rant when, Julianne’s dainty hands firmly pulled him aside. “Okay Ty that’s enough.”
Julianne seemed able to handle her brother, for he struggled, but eventually gave way growling. Daniel was grateful for his departure; realising that one of his hands was already bunched into a fist.
Daniel felt his breath fail him as Julianne finally showed herself at the door. She looked astonishing in the light pink gown that hinged across one shoulder, and then sloped down across her chest tantalisingly leaving an exquisite glimpse of forbidden delights. The delicate cut of the dress accentuated her curves, and did wonders for her figure. Her coal black hair, plaited in an elaborate curl on the top of her head, had one strand dropping across her chocolate face; the word goddess sprang to mind.
Daniel cleared his throat, and made a show of handing over the bouquet, “Milady” he said with a small bow. His heart leaped for joy in his chest to see the genuine delight in her eyes, “I had hoped tulips were still your favourite. I remember you used to walk beside the gardens at the church compound.”
“They’re lovely Daniel,” she exclaimed as she sniffed the bright coloured petals. Daniel stepped into the house as she went in search of a suitable pot to store them in. He walked in on Tyrone’s wary glare. There was no love lost between them as they appraised each other in a stare that would have frozen fish.
Daniel left Tyrone seating in a chair, and cast his eyes about the neatly, but not elaborately furnished room. The chairs were old, but comfortable, and arranged in such a manner that had an easy chair, a long sofa, and a shorter one in that order, forming a quarter circle, opposite a wide television screen, which Daniel suspected was rarely used. It was an arrangement that was designed as an invitation to sit, and it would have been a welcome invitation had Tyrone, eyes glazed, not been sitting in the easy chair that faced more of the door than the television.
Julianne hurried back, she did not want to leave Daniel and Tyrone alone for too long. She suspected that her last entrance had been timely in preventing a full blown fist-fight.
Tyrone sneered as Daniel took Julianne by the hand, and led her outside towards the truck. Nobody paid attention to him as he opened the door to the house to slam it loudly against its post. It was with this air of exclusivity, of them being the only two people in the world that they drove off.
Julianne touched and caressed Daniel’s suit appreciatively as they rode on, and Tyrone thought he had never been happier. He took her to a classy restaurant among the high rises of the town. Seated there in the top floor of a fifteen storey building, bathed in the golden candle lights, with the wind playing with the playful curl across her face, they caught up on the last twenty years.
She was intrigued to hear the different things he had been involved in since he had left; the army, the cattle range, the university. The last part really surprised her. He had a rough, dangerous edge about him that set him apart from that usual crowd. This was part of the reason she had been afraid to leave him alone with her cantankerous brother.
“So you were almost married?!” He asked surprised
“Hmmh yeah! Quite recently in fact.” she answered, her lips glistening from sipping wine at the table. “Did not work out though; he was just not it for me. I needed something more, something he couldn’t give me. I don’t think I ever really loved him, maybe I was just in love with the feeling; you know what the psychologists say about these things.”
“Huh, and here I was fantasizing I was the only man for you!”
“Oh don’t be jealous; I know you had a lot of female cadets jumping all over the obstacle course for your attention-handsome you!”
Daniel grew pink, “Well not exactly as you put it, but it was always you Julianne, even in the darkest moments; bullets whizzing around my head, it didn’t matter.”
There in a corner of the restaurant, beside the ledge over which cars were visible far below, they were partly hidden from view, and he caressed her jaws tenderly, and she kissed his hand in return.
They felt, rather than saw Tyler Blackford; his hands coming down hard on the stretch of table between them, slamming on the surface, and tearing into their fantasy like lightning.
His trademark white two piece suit was just as attention pulling as the slam on the table. Ordinarily, he oozed charm and bonhomie, which explained why he was one of the most popular men in the city, but today there was no trace of the usual upon his slim face.
“What do we have here?” he asked, his sophisticated voice carrying far in the rarefied night air, “I come here every Friday to enjoy a decent meal with some decent folk, and who do I see?”
Julianne could feel the muscles in Daniel’s hard hands grow tense at Tyler’s intrusion. She signalled for them to leave. The last thing she wished for was for things to escalate at the restaurant.
But Daniel would not budge.
“I see my old friend Daniel Hellas, whom I have not seen for twenty years! Can you believe that?” Tyler asked no one in particular as he spread his hands out theatrically, “Maybe it’s because of some history we have together, but I don’t know it’s been twenny years; surely it’s water under the bridge by now!”
“Let’s go Dan, please!” Julianne implored as she saw the tense setting of his jaw all of a sudden, “it’s not worth it please!”
Daniel stayed rooted as Tyler continued with his theatrics, hands on his light-brown leather belt now, the center of attention for the onlookers at the other tables nearest to the drama.
“I mean I can forgive you not going to see old McGrady over at his house after everything you did to him and his all those years ago, but to move in and try to steal my girl is plain unforgiveable-you hear me? Unforgiveable! And you Julie! Is this the reason why? You been holding out all that chocolate goodness from me to give it to this-“
Daniel was out of his seat in a flash, cutting the rant off with the sheer speed of his movement. He was up in Tyler’s face, inches away and yet as cool as ice. Tyler stayed quiet though, and with good reason; Julianne could see the ice cold blue nature of Daniel’s eyes and for a second, feared Tyler would have to learn how to fly fast or hit the streets below.
“I don’t care what happened between the two o’ you, and you can say all you want about me Tyler,” Daniel hissed, his voice barely above a whisper, “But don’t you ever-not here, or anywhere, ever disrespect my woman; it’ll be the end of you.”
Tyler gulped, but kept his eyes level in a show of bravado. His slim face looked pale in the night lights of the restaurant, “you can’t do shi-“he began before he doubled over, and dropped to his knees before Daniel, his face fire red and contorted in pain.
Daniel had kneed him square in the crutch, and now extended his hand to a shocked, yet smiling Julianne who gratefully took it, manoeuvring around the writhing figure on the floor to join him by his side.
They paid no heed to the heads turning as
they made their exit.
Chapter 6
“What are we doing here?!” Julianne asked, a naughty smile spread across her face. She reached across and grabbed Daniel by his collar and pulled him close to her, kissed him fully across his lips, “I am ready to wake up in your bed now Dan.”
Daniel could feel his temperature rise a few notches. The pure sensuality of the moment, of her perfume; the primal nature of his make-up since sticking one at Tyler Blackford all tumbled forth in one kissed her back, just as passionately, there in the semi-darkness of the truck, under the silence of the moon. He pulled away, and kicked the truck into gear.
The tyres screeched on the kerb as they drove off, high as kites, away from the gloomy front of her house wherein Tyrone sat waiting, on to the house at the edge of the city where untold pleasures could be unfurled.
They rediscovered themselves in each other’s arms that night, gently caressing the layers off. By the end of the night, they lay panting side by side in the grey stage of the morning, nothing between them; each of their souls laid bare for the other to see.
They were married three months later in a small ceremony for family and friends, which meant for Daniel that the Yalows were in attendance, in a ceremony comprising no more than fifteen people.
The reception took place in the great barn within which the tractor normally resided, with the corn just starting to flower dancing in the wind nearby, and for a whole day at least, Daniel and his new bride had not a care in the world.
In truth life had been bitter-sweet leading up to the wedding. The farm had thrived, and every evening, Daniel, Stanley and often Julianne had developed a habit of strolling through the acres of corn, enjoying the feel of nature responding to constructive human input. On the other hand it had become increasingly difficult to engage the local population ever since the altercation with the popular Tyler Blackford. Somehow the story had changed from what had actually transpired to a fist fight in which Tyler had valiantly stood his own, leaving Daniel no choice other than to storm off, spewing death threats.
Tyler had put his popularity and cowboy charm to work, as he spread his rumours throughout the framework of the city, and it had been only a matter of weeks before the county had rallied around him. Pretty soon stories had resurfaced of the boy who had sent beloved Sheriff McGrady Sr. to the wheelchair. However, Tyler steered clear of mentioning anything directly disrespectful about Julianne. Maybe that was a fight he did not want a part of.
And while crowds at the grocery store pointed and whispered as Daniel passed by, and occasionally at Julianne, Stanley took up the gathering of provisions for the farm, and for the house whenever he could which was often. So in the midst of adversity, the farm flourished and their romance flourished; Julianne always reassuring Daniel of the fleeting nature of human perceptions, and bolstering his confidence towards his goal of establishing himself.
“Whatever happened, happened years ago, and most people don’t even remember with that generation dying out slowly. As for Tyler, he’s gonna get what’s coming to him.”
Presently, at the reception Stanley appeared to have had too much to drink and wobbled all over the place, he wobbled across the room, creating a nuisance of himself among the small group before climbing up the stairs, towards the hay pen, which was cluttered with boxes loaded with equipment usually employed in the rearing of livestock.
“Stanley is such a perfect gentleman; I didn’t know he would have a problem with the drink?!” Somebody said, laughing from within the crowd.
It was all so conspicuous, somewhat embarrassing, and his mother, Grace, made to put a stop to the spectacle but her husband put a restraining arm against her; his lined face, sombre, “Let the boy be; he has to be allowed to make his own mistakes,” The quizzical look on Grace’s face went ignored.
At that moment, Stanley came out from behind a high stack of boxes, and stumbled over to the balcony overlooking the barn beneath, wobbling precariously along the railing. Daniel, trim and proper in his wedding suit, set out at once to get him before he hurt himself.
“Dan! Julianne is gonna give you nothing but sugar from now,” He said, his voice barely coherent, and sounding loaded with drink, “Well here is my own sugar to you great folks!” and with that he hurled, ten metres to the ground, a white plastic sack he had been carrying, “Sugar for everybody!” he screamed as the bag split open upon impact on the floor, spreading a thin film of white powder in all directions
Daniel caught up to him the next second, reeling him off the edge, “It’s okay folks. Stanley is just having a little too much fun that’s all.”
The small crowd, comprising of hard men and women of the south, and one junk head, laughed at the spectacle, but thought nothing. Eventually, the crowd thinned out and there remained only the newly-weds and the Yalows, who eventually separated on their way to the house.
Chapter 7
Daniel dressed in black khaki pants and a black bodice, was totally invisible from his vantage point in the tall, still stalks of corn. It had been a windy day, and the moon was shrouded in the clouds, further reducing visibility. Daniel took a swig from the decanter he had lying beside him in the bushes, and resisted the urge to put on his flashlight to make sure he was not missing anything. He felt his breath ran cool even as his temperature rose due to the whisky he had laced his coffee with and he thought of his brave bride, spending her wedding night alone as he played soldier spy in the bushes. He shoved thoughts of her aside, and forced himself to concentrate.
He pointed his binoculars towards the very edges of the farm, tracing the boundaries right up to the Yalow’s residence before returning to the barn where the wedding reception had taken place earlier. He resisted the urge to go scouting in the night, in the hope of finding hidden passages into his barn.
He squinted at his watch, but could not be sure of the time; maybe 2am-just after maybe. He was wondering about this when, and cursing himself for not getting a glow in the dark watch when he thought he saw something just off the edge of his vision. He looked up to see a mole dash across to disappear in the shadows around the barn. He was still looking about at other possible sources of movement when he saw two shadows emerge like wraiths from the edge of the corn farthest from his vantage point.
Daniel grew very still, his alert at the two moving figures, ten seconds later he realised he had been holding his breath. He released it gently, and waited to see if there would be any other shadow following on the heels of the first two, and then he crept forward on his belly as the figures entered into the barn. He eventually got up and bounded off at a trot, head down over to the wall beside the open door of the barn. He could hear the sound of two men shuffling around in the barn.
“I’m telling you Ty, I saw him toss a bag of powder calling it sugar all the way to the floor! They must have cleaned it up. They know I tell you!” One of them said.
“I knew we should have moved this stash before now. Check the stuff to make sure it’s still there.”
Daniel could clearly hear the voices of Tyler and Tyrone, on the surface, the strangest of bedfellows, but deep down it was difficult to tell who was more rotten. He knew they would be fidgeting with the floor boards as they tried to get the huge stash of cocaine deposited underneath.
Daniel risked a glance round the edge of the door. He saw both men gingerly ripping out floor boards and drew back to gather his fief before moving in on them, when he felt a blow at the back of the head. He lost consciousness in a bright multi-coloured flash behind his eyelids.
The two shadows turned towards the door in apprehension, when they heard the sound of shuffling, but relaxed to see Sheriff Vincent McGrady, dressed in black coveralls, “Look what the sheriff dragged in.”
It took a while for the stars dancing before his eyes to go away, but even after this, his head felt like he had borrowed it, and screwed it on wrongly. Shutting his eyes did not make the pain go away, so he kept his eyes open, and he could not help groaning even thoug
h a part of his mushy brain insisted that silence would have been the better option.
A shadow came over, leaving the other two at the boards, and kicked him hard in the belly with cowboy boots that still managed to gleam even in the dark; Tyler, Daniel guessed, “That is for kicking me in the crutch, you piece of shit!” he hissed, the menace in his voice open and blatant, now that the crowd had gone home.
Daniel was too dazed to scream so just writhed on the floor like a fish out of water. Tyler kicked him again, harder the second time, the sharp tip of his boots connecting with bone. Daniel grunted in pain.
“You know Daniel all you had to do was stay away like you had done for the last twenny years and everything would have been fine, but you had to come back, and you had to settle, and you had to start a farm, and you had to discover our stash-two million dollars’ worth of powder right under our feet.”
“We got the boards out, Ty” Tyrone whispered in the darkness, “come help us get it out.”
Tyler grumbled on his way back, clearly not pleased at the interruption, obviously enjoying his monologue. Daniel touched the base of his skull, flinching at the soreness of the mountain-sized bump he encountered. His head no longer swam, and now he cursed inwardly for not waiting a little bit longer for the possible third person. His heart sank, but he was not surprised when he realised that his pistol was not at its holster. He threw his head left and right helplessly, aware that he was as likely to find his weapon in the darkness as he was as likely to find a needle in a haystack. His left side hurt where it had received punishment from Tyler, but he began to crawl towards the wall that lay to the right, of the gaping mouth of the barn.
He had already crawled one metre when Tyler saw, and came rushing over. Beside the door, and under the partial view of the stars, Daniel saw the gleaming approach and caught the malicious boot. Twisting with all the might he could muster, he heard Tyler scream in agony, and felt his knees buckle.
Daniel tried to shake off the weight of Tyler off him, and tried to limp the remaining distance but McGrady tackled him, catching him across his body, and slamming him into the ground with a muffed thump. Daniel tried to put up a fight, but he went unconscious again in a flash.