She grinned, “Oh, it’s a bunch of fun. Just wait and see. It’s like being waterboarded but different.”
He wasn’t amused. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes then he asked, “So who is this Jason guy to you? And Tony?” he asked her.
“Tony is one of my brother’s best friends. I’ve known him since we were babies,” she recalled fondly. “Jason, well I worked with him I guess you could say.”
“Work? Where? You were a cop?”
“No, I wasn’t a cop. I was an investigator. I helped him solve his cases; homicides mostly.”
“That’s frickin’ awesome,” he said. “So why do you hate him so much?”
“Because he’s an arrogant, pompous jerk,” she continued, “he cared about his career more than people.”
He could just look at her expressions and body language or listen to the tone of her voice and know what she wasn’t saying. And he called her on it.
“So your relationship with him went beyond work?”
“What? No, it wasn’t like that. I mean, I don’t know what it was, but that’s what made the things he did even worse.”
“So, it was personal?” he reiterated.
While they were chatting Tobi walked in. “Allen will be here in a minute. Here’s something for the pain.” She handed him some pills and a glass of water.
He swallowed the pills then pointed to Maia, “Would you check her feet while we’re in here? Her shoulder and her nose too.”
“No, I'm all right, Tobi. Really.”
“What’s wrong with your feet? Put them up here. Let me see.”
Reluctantly, she sat on the bed beside Caleb and carefully removed her shoes. Tobi peeled the bandages off to get a better look.
“They were a lot better this morning before we left. I think I irritated them again,” she told her.
“Well, they look great but when was the last time you had a tetanus shot?”
“Oh, gosh. It’s been a while. I don’t even remember. I need one for this?”
“Yes, especially because of how wet the soil is and how much it seeps into your shoes. The bacteria that causes tetanus lives in the dirt and with this many open wounds on your feet I wouldn’t chance it. We had two people die from it already. We didn’t have the meds or equipment to treat it. We have the vaccines now though.”
“What’s happening in here?” Allen asked busting through the door. He couldn’t help it. He was a husky man with a rough demeanor.
Tobi grabbed her chart, “Caleb needs three days worth of antibiotics, a steroid injection, and an EpiPen. Maia needs a tetanus vaccine and some of the blister patches. She can’t keep walking on her feet like this.”
“What kind of deal can we make, darlin’?” Allen asked leaning his back against the wall.
Caleb objected, “Make your deals with me. I’ll be responsible for it.”
Allen shook his head no in response, “No offense but I don’t know you from Tinkerbell. I know Maia. I only make deals with her.”
Not backing down, Caleb asked again, “What’s your offer?” His head pounded even more.
Allen directed his attention to Maia, “The powers that be tell me it will be a while before we can have electricity again. I’m already in the process of setting up solar power, but that takes time too. Since your pesky chiren’ seem to be able to find anything, I need an old-time sewing machine. The kind that doesn’t need electricity. I also need two of those old push lawn mowers. The kind with just the handle and spinning blades, you know what I’m talking about? And the girls want some kind of rollers for their hair. Can you handle that?”
She winced as Tobi inspected the gashes on her shoulder. “I can’t promise that they can find all of it, but we’ll try,” she told him.
“What’s the time frame?” Caleb asked.
“I think four weeks is plenty time.”
Caleb looked at her and nodded yes then told her, “But only if we can renegotiate if there is something we can’t find.”
“Sounds good,” Allen said patting her on the back. I’ll see you two for dinner after you get taken care of and have a shower.
After Allen left Tobi finished treating Caleb and then turned her attention back to Maia, “Since you have more walking to do tomorrow, I can put some blister patches on you before you leave. They act as sort of a second skin. For now, these will work. Your nose looks good, and that shoulder just needs to be cleaned, apply some antibiotic ointment and re-bandage it every day until it’s healed,” Tobi said as she finished wrapping her feet.
Caleb was in the corner sulking. Apparently, the only thing he liked worse than pouring water into his nose on purpose was an injection in his hip.
“That hurt,” he said, pouting. “It was like my vein exploded after she pulled the needle out. And that’s after she nearly drowned me!”
“Awe, poor baby. You want a sticker?” Maia said mocking him. “We’ve already been in here almost two hours. Let’s go. I need to find out about my brother.”
Tobi said, “Oh, Jason asked me to tell you that he put your bags in the trailer and him and Tony had to go out on another run. They should be back in a couple of hours.”
Chapter Nineteen
Tobi walked the two of them to their home for the night. “I’ll see you at dinner. There’s some snack food in the cabinet if you’re hungry now.”
When she walked away, Maia shook her head in disappointment. She thought she was only minutes away from finding out the information about her brother, not hours. Jiggling the door handle, she turned to Caleb and said, “Occupy my brain so that I don’t stress over this for the next two hours, please.”
The door was locked so they had to knock then attempt to guess a one in a million combo password before Caleb finally got irritated and yelled for the kids to just let them in already.
“Where’s your dad?” Caleb asked Junior.
“He brought us back here and told us not to open the door for anyone but y’all then he went somewhere with that Kat lady,” he informed them.
“Oh really?” Maia said.
The two of them grabbed their clean clothes and toiletries and gave the kids instructions before they headed to the showers. Tobi had snuck Maia some pain medicine too so at least she was feeling a bit better. She hadn’t realized how sore she was until the pain was relieved.
Maia couldn’t help but notice Caleb was grinning from ear to ear. “What are you smiling about?”
“Who's the cat lady?” he asked, still grinning like a schoolboy.
“No, her name is Kat as in Katrina or Katherine or something,” Maia corrected him. “I don’t know I only hung out with her a few times. Such a shame, I liked her.”
“And you don’t now? Because she’s with Tye?”
She immediately got defensive, “No, that’s not what I meant. I just don’t understand how these people can have sex with somebody they just met.”
“Maybe they’re not,” Caleb countered. “They could be taking inventory of bullets or playing Yahtzee.”
“Or maybe they’re role-playing, and Tye is duct taped to the bed right now,” she continued, “I know these people here. It’s what they do. Allen thinks it will protect them if he gives his friends who visit the time of their lives. It doesn’t matter. Tye can do what he wants. I’m not his keeper.”
“Uh, huh. Nobody would think less of you, you know. You’ve known him for a long time. You’ve spent every second of the last few days with him. Isn’t that like the equivalent of a month of dating? You trust each other. And he’s definitely into you.”
“No, he’s not,” Maia argued. “And I’m not interested, and I certainly don’t care what people think of me. And he is not into me. Why would you say that anyway?”
He pointed at her and grinned. “I knew it! You like him!”
“No, I don’t! You know for a forty-something-year-old man you sure can be childish. You’re making something out of nothing. We’re good friends, that’s it.”
“Men don’t just hop into the beds of women they’re only friends with. We’re friends. I don’t get to sleep in your bed. Where has he slept for the last few nights?”
He could see she was getting irritated. “I’ll stop. I just like to mess with you. I guess I see what you two don’t want to see.”
“There’s nothing to see. We’re just going through the same things is all. And I’m not jealous of Kat. I just don’t want to ruin this thing we all have going. We’re starting to make a great team. What if he likes her a lot and decides to stay here? There goes our group. That’s what I’m worried about,” Maia explained.
“Sure. Perfectly understandable. And duct taped to the bed? Is that something you’ve tried?” he said being facetious.
“Shut up, punk.”
Caleb just laughed. He could push all her buttons, and five minutes later she was fine, no grudge, ready to spar again. He loved that about them. There was such a comfort between the two; a rare relationship in the sense that neither of them felt the need to be wholly guarded around the other and yet they felt the need to poke the other’s armor constantly. It could be compared to a sibling relationship if they hadn’t just met. The only difference was they had no history together before a few days ago.
Caleb breathed in deep. It was refreshing to be able to inhale clean air especially after inhaling a pile of ash earlier that day. The shower was great too. It didn’t even matter that the water had been cold and made him scream like a school girl when it came on or that the soap smelled like flowers.
And now, all along the dirt road of the RV park were people. They were laughing, drinking, kids were playing. For that brief snippet of time living felt natural, almost normal again.
They were a few campers down from the one where they would spend the night when they heard a familiar laugh. As they got closer, the laughter turned into talking. It was Tye and Kat. Then the talking stopped. When Caleb and Maia came upon them, they were in the midst of a heated kiss.
Tye heard them kicking up gravel as they walked by, “Hey. I’ll meet y’all in a few,” he said smiling and holding up a bottle of beer. Kat stood in front of him rubbing his chest, and her lips planted firmly on his neck.
Caleb gave him a thumbs up. Maia turned her head and ignored them.
Hearing the sounds of the kids arguing and their subsequent whining was a welcome distraction. They were getting restless probably even more so than the adults. The camper certainly didn’t offer much space for recreation. It was much smaller than Charlie’s storm shelter.
There was a removable table at the back with two benches that folded down into a small bed only slightly larger than a twin. Just in front of that on the right side was a rollover sofa that folded into a bed about the size of a full bed. Adjacent to the sofa was a small kitchenette with a single bowl sink and double burner stove. The side man door was at the other end with a wet bath tucked behind a pocket door just to the right of it. That was it.
Caleb looked around and noticed the lack of places to sleep. “Am I missing something or does this camper only have two beds?”
“That’s what it looks like. We’ll have to figure that out,” she replied.
“You, Tye and Sadie could fit in the smaller bed, and the rest of us can sleep in the bigger one.”
Maia gave him a look that meant she’d rather eat dirt.
He was almost laughing, “You have got to be kidding me. Seriously?”
“What?”
He walked over to her and quietly, he said, “He can’t sleep in the same bed with you now? Are the two of you not friends anymore because earlier you said—“
“I don’t want to hear it. Really, wherever you want me to sleep is fine. Can we just drop it?” she replied just as Tye was walking through the door.
“What’s going on?” He put his arm around Maia. “You okay? Did something happen?”
It was evident to him that she was upset. He didn’t know if she’d received bad news about her brother or if one of the people here had said or done something to her.
“I'm fine,” she said as she pulled herself out from under his arm then stomped out the door.
Tye watched through the window as she stormed off. “What was that all about?”
Caleb put his hands up. “I don’t know, man. She’s probably just tired of waiting to hear about her brother. Let her go cool off.”
Tye shrugged his shoulders then looked over at the kids. “Ms. Kat told me there’s a place up by the main house where everybody gets together to eat and hang out. They have ping pong, foosball, and Legos. Y’all wanna go?”
Of course, the kids were thrilled to be able to leave the confines of the little bitty camper. They probably would’ve opted for an insurance seminar over spending five more minutes holed up inside.
As soon as they walked into the community area, Elex headed straight for the Lego table while Junior decided to join some other guys playing foosball. Sadie eyeballed every corner of the large building but found no girls who appeared to be even close to her age. She clung to her dad instead of venturing off.
The trio walked over to the bar where a petite woman with honey locks and a big smile offered them a beer.
“A charismatic, obviously Irish, brown-haired hunk full of swagger…you must be Caleb,” she said popping the top and sliding him a cold beer. “And you must be Tye, the chiseled, charming guy with a little bit of Latin flavor,” she said doing the same for him.
“I’ll drink to that,” Caleb said.
“Ahhh, there is nothing like a cold beer,” Tye remarked while watching his friend pour the whole bottle of brew down his throat.
“Damn, that was good,” Caleb said looking at the empty bottle. “I don’t remember the last time I had a cold beer. I thought y’all didn’t have electricity here?”
“We have generators for this building,” the bartender replied.
“Cold beer and cold showers. It seems like you’d want a hot shower when it's cool outside,” Caleb replied.
“Yeah, they pretend the showers are warm. That water isn't warm. If we could have both, we’d want both, but we only have so much fuel, so we make do. Since we had to choose, we voted on it, and the consensus was that we’d rather a cold beer, hot food, and a warm gathering place. The shower is quick and temporary. Besides, they constantly boil water for the jacuzzi so you can warm up after showers if you want.” She continued, “Or, there are other ways of warming up too,” she winked at Tye.
“I guess word travels fast around here,” he replied. He appreciated that she was mindful of her words around Sadie.
“That’s what happens when you only have thirty-four women in a community with a hundred and twenty some men. We tend to talk to each other…a lot. Besides, you obviously made an impression on her.”
“What’s your name?” Caleb asked her.
“Sunny, and my last name is Day. And no that isn’t a joke,” she smiled. “My sisters’ names were Misty, Stormy, Windy, and May. My parents were hippies who never figured out the birth control thing.”
Amused, he replied, “It’s nice to meet you Sunny Day. Full of swagger, huh?”
“I heard you walked around with the spirit of a lion.” She gave him the once over and smiled. “I think they were right.”
Tye rolled his eyes. “Not to interrupt you while you're inflating his ego, but is there a limit on the beer or how does that work?”
“The first ones on the house. After that you can pay outright, one bullet is good for two beers or one shot, or you can earn it. I can radio to the guys in security if you don’t know how much ammo you had with you. Or, if you want to earn it, you have to speak to Allen.”
“I don’t think we should give up any ammo,” Tye said. Caleb nodded in agreement.
Sunny raised her hand to flag Allen over to them. The brute man made his way over to the bar, working the room the whole way. He reached the bar and without hesitation began negotiating. This was second nature t
o him.
“Tell me what you have to trade or what skills or talents you guys have. Maybe it’s something we can use in exchange for setting up a bar tab.”
Caleb said, “If we go by your established costs of beer and shots, that’s about $7.50 a shot, and I’m being generous. My boy here is a three-time welterweight UFC champion, and he used to teach $50 an hour self-defense classes. I know you’re a man who takes care of his people, especially the women. Wouldn’t the thirty-one women here be better off if they had that kind of training?”
“Why would they need that? We got a hundred men here at all times who protect them, and they got guns,” Allen replied.
“I don’t think I have to tell you about threats coming from inside or the possibility of someone breaching your security. Don’t you think its wise to at least prepare them to defend themselves and the kids, just in case?”
Allen was thinking about it, but it was evident he wasn’t going for it yet. Caleb could talk a dog off a chuck wagon, but Allen was no easy sell. He was a shrewd businessman too, and unless he could see how it directly benefited him, there would be no deal. That meant tackling it from a different angle.
Caleb continued, “I’m going to assume that you all don’t get to much action inside this campground. These people are probably craving some entertainment. How ‘bout you pick out one of your guys and let Tye go a couple of rounds with him?”
Tye held his hand up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa.”
“Now that is worth at least a fifty dollar tab. That works for me,” Allen said stretching out his hand to shake Caleb’s.
“Three rounds or less, five o’clock?”
“Seventy-five dollar tab, three rounds or less, five o’clock,” Caleb countered.
“Agreed,” Allen replied.
They made the deal. Allen walked off to find his contender. Tye downed his beer and stared Caleb down while shaking his head to communicate his disapproval. Unfortunately, he was used to Caleb’s tactics.
Women automatically make the most ridiculous faces when applying cosmetics. It’s as if it was programmed into them to do the “O” face when putting on eyeliner or duck lips to apply blush.
Amitola: The Making of a Tribe Page 18