“Jason’s is similar, but I ask him personally to give up the booze. I remind him how our father and mother both abused it, and asked him to consider how different all our lives would be if we’d grown up in a home where one or the other wasn’t in jail all the time.”
They’d left on that note, hoping against hope, appealing to the humanity in both of Josie’s brothers in the hopes they’d do what was right instead of doing what was their new normal.
And Josie was straight with both brothers.
She really did fully expect to go back for Eddie, when the world was a warmer and better place.
Now, apparently, she wouldn’t have to.
From the front passenger seat she listened to Frank’s conversation with Eddie.
“Eddie, you shouldn’t have crawled in here. You shouldn’t have come with us when you weren’t invited. You know that’s very disrespectful, and it’s just not acceptable.”
Josie couldn’t see Eddie’s face, but correctly imagined it. She knew he was looking down at the ground and was very sad.
Just like any other five year old boy being chastised for doing something bad.
And he tried to justify his behavior, to try to talk his way out of the situation.
Just like any other five year old boy in trouble.
“But, Mr. Frank, I thought you just forgot to invite me, that’s all. I was sure you were gonna invite me to come with you, on account of I’d be scared back there without you and Josie. I don’t like anybody else back there except for you and Josie.
“And I know they don’t like me. They look at me like I’m different than them.
“And I know I am. I’m not stupid, you know. I know I’m not as smart as ever’body else.
“But you and Josie don’t look at me like that. You and Josie look at me like I’m just as smart as you are. And not like you wanna hurt me or something.”
Frank felt like a father when his child was in a bad place and hurting.
“Eddie… what would you have done if you hadn’t seen us packing up and we were able to leave without you?”
“I don’t know, Mister Frank. I guess I would have put on my bestest coat and went out in the snow and tried to follow you.”
And there it was.
Frank’s eyes started to tear up as he realized how close he and Josie came to losing the young man.
But he had nothing on Josie.
She was full-out bawling.
-7-
Eddie sat in the back seat of the Hummer with a bit of a smile on his face.
It had absolutely nothing to do with getting one over on Frank and Josie, for he wasn’t that way. He never gloated, for it wasn’t in his heart to do so.
And in his life he had precious few things to gloat about anyway.
No, the slight hint of a smile on the corner of his mouth was there because he was way more comfortable than he’d been just a few minutes before.
Stowed away in the back, deathly afraid he’d be discovered, he dared not move or make a single sound.
He’d buried himself beneath MREs, and they didn’t exactly make a good blanket with their thick plastic outer containers. Moreover, they tended to make a lot of noise when they shifted even a little bit.
They blocked most of the heat and he was chilled. His nose was itching and he’d fought a sneeze for over an hour.
Worst of all, his leg and his left arm were both asleep and were becoming quite painful.
Now he was comfortable, but still worried.
He knew quite well the only friends he had left in the world could take him back to Plainview.
While Eddie was basking in the heat the big engine created Josie and Frank were out in the cold, tightening the wooden plow blade and discussing his future.
Frank wanted to invite him along, but didn’t want to say so lest Josie disagreed with him.
Josie wanted desperately to bring him along, but didn’t want to verbalize it because she was certain Frank, ever the practical one, would insist on taking him back.
It was like two politicians who wanted the same thing but who were doing the diplomatic dance, trying to get the other to admit to it first.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea to try to back this thing to Plainview,” Frank started.
Josie’s eyebrows raised up, a puzzled look upon her face.
He explained.
“Well, we’ve got a single lane of traffic behind us, with a wall of snow several feet high on either side of it. I can’t turn around. I’d have to back all the way back to Plainview.
“I don’t know if the transmission would hold. I mean, it’s a great vehicle and a mechanical beast, but vehicles aren’t made to back up for more than forty miles. Plus, I’m not sure my neck could take it.”
It was Josie’s turn to lead.
“Frank, we don’t have keys to get in. And they wouldn’t work anyway. After they took over the place Jason reached outside of each locking door and shoved toothpicks into each keyhole to keep the police from trying to get in.
“Once we got him back there we’d have to beat on a door and get somebody’s attention to let him back in.”
Frank finished her thought for her.
“I’ll bet instead of opening the door they’d fire a volley of shots through it.”
“But we could yell through it and let them know it was us.”
Frank paused and thought for just a moment, then repeated his comment.
“I’ll bet instead of opening the door they’d fire a volley of shots through it.”
He’d made his point.
“You’re right. I doubt we’re welcome there anymore.”
Frank inspected the mountain of snow at the side of the road, pushed there half an hour before by the plow blade.
Because it was just put there it wasn’t iced over by passing storms.
“I suppose I could work on pushing this over some more. If the blade held up I might be able to make a space wide enough to turn around.”
Josie inspected the snow herself and sadly said, “Yeah, maybe.”
Then they locked eyes and realized they were kidding nobody.”
“Frank…”
“I know, honey. I know.”
He stopped tightening nuts and held her.
“Are you going to tell him or am I?”
“How much longer before you’re finished?”
“Two more bolts. Maybe five minutes.”
“Let’s wait and tell him together. He’ll be as happy as a little boy diving under the Christmas tree.”
A few minutes later they were back at the cargo bay.
Frank put his hand on the hatch release and started to open it, until Josie put her hand on his.
“Frank, I know this is going to make a difficult trip even harder. But it’s the right thing to do.”
“I know it is, honey. I’ve become kind of attached to him too. I’ve kind of come to regard him as my son. I was never comfortable with leaving him behind.
“Out here his odds of survival might be a little less, but I feel much more comfortable with you and I trying to protect him than hoping John and Jason would do it.”
“I love you, you big lug. Did you know that?”
“Of course I do, you little pipsqueak. You couldn’t not love me. I’m a loveable guy.”
The two returned to the warmth of the Hummer and had a talk with Eddie.
“Eddie,” Josie started out. “We’re going to a place called Junction. It’s very far away. It’s going to take us a long time to get there.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know, Eddie. Maybe days. Maybe weeks. We just don’t know.”
“Is there a TV there, and cowboy movies?”
“Eddie, listen. We’ll talk about all that kind of stuff later, okay? Right now I want you to listen to me. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Now, the trip is going to be long and very hard. And there might be some times when we have to ge
t past some very bad people. It’s important that when we tell you to do something, you do it immediately without asking any questions, okay?”
“Okay.”
Then, “Hey, Josie?”
“Yes, Eddie?”
“Does this mean I’m part of your family now? Yours and Frank’s?”
“Yes, Eddie. That’s exactly what it means.”
-8-
At the same time in Plainview, John was reading the letter Josie had left behind on her bunk.
Jason had already read his, and it was making the rounds, being passed from hand to hand among the others.
Some in the clan were angry.
Jacob grumbled, “Shit! I guess now that Frank’s gone we’ll have to go back to taking turns doing the chores.”
He looked at his Aunt Stacy and said, “I ain’t cleaning after those stupid dogs of yours. I did that enough before Frank got here. You can clean up after your own damn dogs!”
Others were more pragmatic.
Josie’s cousin David said, “Well, at least we won’t have to worry any more about Eddie accidentally burning the place down or something. At least they’ll make sure he doesn’t harm himself or somebody else.”
Jason felt guilt, and a little bit of shame.
“This is my fault. I chased away the only sister I had. First I beat the hell out of her, then I chased her away. We’ll probably never see her again, because of my stupidity.”
John, the eldest of the siblings, lived a life of blaming others for his own problems.
“No, Jason. This isn’t your fault. It’s that damn Frank’s fault. He came here and filled her head with all kinds of crap about a better place somewhere else.
“Hell, she had everything she needed here. She had a safe place to live, plenty of food to eat, relatives to watch out for her. She should have stayed with her own.
“Instead he came and talked her into leaving.
“If they ever come back, even to visit, I swear I’ll shoot that bastard the second I see him. I don’t care if she loves him or not.
“As for Eddie, I say good riddance to him. All he ever was was a damned nuisance.”
Aunt Stacy, never much concerned about anyone but herself, made a grand announcement.
“I want their tent.”
John said, “But you already have a damned tent.”
“I don’t care. Theirs is bigger and nicer and has a divider in the center. I’ll have a room for my dogs and a room for me. They can have their own bed to sleep on.”
She looked around, making eye contact with several of the others.
“Anybody gonna challenge me for it?”
The other eyes lowered and nobody else said a word.
Truth was everyone else, even John, was a bit afraid of Stacy.
To quote Josie’s description of Jason, Stacy was a loose cannon. She was as mean as a wolverine and one never knew who she was going to turn on or when.
Or why.
The rest of the clan generally walked on eggshells when Stacy was around.
Or they bent over backwards to accommodate her.
Everyone knew that Jacob, as soon as he could catch Stacy alone, would go to her and tearfully apologize for disparaging her dogs. She’d likely forgive him, but only after he agreed to feed and water and clean up after them for a few days.
Stacy, you see, was the only one in the clan the others really feared.
She was small in comparison to the rest of them.
Five foot nothin’, she freely admitted.
But dynamite comes in a small package and packs a powerful punch.
So did Stacy.
They’d all seen her blow before, and it wasn’t pretty.
Truth was Stacy was the only one of them capable of sneaking into someone’s tent in the middle of the night and slashing their throat.
And all of them, to a man, would have preferred that Frank and Josie took Stacy with them and left Crazy Eddie behind.
At least Eddie, as defective as he was, was a gentle soul with a kind heart.
The rest of the drive into Lubbock was slow going. Frank tried to baby the blade to reduce the vibrations and the loosening of the nuts.
The only way to do that was to lower his speed and reduce the pressure of the snow against the blade.
Five miles an hour was a snail’s pace.
But he found that driving at the lower speed helped get better traction on the ice beneath the snow.
“This is probably a better speed for us anyway once we get to central and south Texas,” Frank explained.
“In this part of Texas, as flat as it is, sliding off the road is no big deal.
“The closer we get to Junction, though, the more mountainous it is. If we slide off the road just north of Junction it’s a different story altogether. We’re talking a sheer drop of two hundred feet or more.”
Frank forgot they had another set of ears listening in from the back seat now.
He heard an audible gasp.
“Oh, no, Mister Frank! I don’t wanna do that!”
Then it occurred to Eddie he didn’t have a clue what Frank’s comment really meant.
“Mister Frank, how much is two hunnerd feet?”
Frank and Josie looked at one another. Both of them smiled.
As frustrating as dealing with Eddie could be, he was still often endearing.
“It’s a long way, Eddie. But you don’t have to worry, because we’re not going to fall that far.”
“Do you promise, Mister Frank?”
Frank sighed.
“Eddie, I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll promise you we won’t fall that far if you’ll promise not to call me Mister Frank anymore. Just call me Frank, okay?”
“But I’ve tried calling you just Frank. I keep forgetting.”
“Okay. I’ll promise you we won’t fall that far if you promise to try to remember to just call me Frank. Deal?”
“Okay! That’s a deal, Mister Frank!”
-9-
Frank Woodard was a man with many friends.
He wasn’t a collector of friends for personal gain, though, as some people are.
Some people make friends with people, but are never really friendly, if that makes sense. Say they meet someone at a cocktail party who’s an investment counselor, for example. They might ask for a card, and then stash that card in the back of a wallet or in a desk drawer.
They might invite that person over for a drink or a round of golf occasionally, just to stay in touch with them.
That person might not be a friend. He’s just someone who is held in reserve until the day comes when he might be asked for financial advice. Or to recommend a stock purchase.
He’s not really a friend.
He’s nothing more than a coupon that hasn’t been redeemed yet.
Some people “collect” so-called friends in such a manner.
Frank wasn’t that way.
Frank had many friends, in the true sense of the term.
For one thing, he’d always been a very friendly guy.
Dating back to his early days, he was the guy on the playground all the other boys hung around with.
The above average athletes hung around him because he was one of them. He was naturally gifted physically, one of the best in the school in any sport.
The below average athletes hung around him too, because he didn’t make fun of them for not being able to catch a pass or hit a baseball. Instead, he was patient with them. He gave them tips and helped them get better.
The geeks felt comfortable with him because he was as smart as they were.
And because he protected them from the bullies.
The fat kids, the shy kids, the kids who felt they just didn’t fit in… they all found a friend in Frank because Frank treated them with kindness.
Oh, yeah… the girls… they all flocked to Frank, even back in grade school, because even back then he had movie star good looks.
The girls found him “dre
amy.”
So there was that.
Frank never changed, all the way through high school.
Not only was he a star player on his high school football team, he was also the class president and salutatorian. He was voted most popular, most likely to succeed and most likely to win a Nobel Prize.
He never achieved the last one, but he did pretty well for himself.
So there was that.
Lastly, he was a member of several fraternal organizations and clubs.
He was a former United States Marine.
That made him a life member of a highly exclusive club.
Every man and woman who’d ever worn the uniform was now a brother or sister of sorts. Two Marines who never met will team up in a bar fight and win. Every single time.
Then they’ll drink beers and trade stories deep into the night.
So there was that.
He was also a former police detective and sheriff’s deputy. Two more exclusive clubs.
Everybody wants to be friends with former cops. Not only do they have the best stories to tell, but they’re also trustworthy. They can hang around your beautiful wife and behave themselves. They can be trusted to housesit for you while you go on vacation without stealing your silverware.
And they will come to your aid, instantly and without question, any time you need them.
The “blue” fraternity is like the Marine fraternity.
Every former cop is a brother or sister to every other former cop.
So there was that.
Add all that together and it equaled a man – Frank – who had a lot of friends spread out all over the country.
One of them happened to live in Lubbock, Texas.
“I want to go by the police station while we’re in Lubbock,” he told Josie.
“Okay, but why?”
From the back seat a third voice joined the fray. “Do you think they’ll let me ride in a police car, Mister Frank? Do you think they’d let me do the siren?”
Frank said, “Probably not, Eddie. Sorry.”
To Josie he said, “I have a good friend there. Ronnie Rosco. He was a fellow officer when I was with SAPD. Transferred to Lubbock and retired there.
“Last I heard he was a prepper.”
“Okay. Is this a social visit?”
A Perilous Journey Page 3