She turned to Beth as she opened the jar and slathered a good amount onto her bread.
“My dad used to say there only two types of people in the world. Mayonnaise people and Miracle Whip people. And that mixed marriages seldom worked out.
“He said it in jest, but I think it’s largely true. Nearly all of my friends had one or the other in their homes, but seldom both of them.”
“I never really used either one,” Beth said. “I grew up putting mustard on everything. But Silas swore by Miracle Whip. He even ate it all by itself, on bread with nothing else.”
She grew melancholy.
“I sure do miss that man.”
The levity left the kitchen table and the three of them finished their meal deep in their own thoughts.
Missing the silly things their lost loved ones did, the humorous family traditions and habits they shared, they all missed the good ole days.
The days before the power went out and ruined life as they knew and loved it.
-33-
Red and Jacob had a habit of showing up in Blanco in the hours just before dawn.
But that was okay, because it was the most peaceful time of day to be in Blanco. The dew was freshly fallen, the birds were singing their morning songs. Most of the town was still in bed, since there wasn’t much to do anymore. No real reason to get up. No work to go to. No morning paper to read, no internet to check.
One of the few people who was up this time of day was Luke, taking his early morning stroll down a farm to market road just a bit south of town.
It happened to be the same farm to market road that fronted Butch Poston’s house. And Luke, as was his peculiar habit, was as naked as a jaybird.
The second night on the trail had been a bit more trying than the first.
Red had consulted with Beth about the condition of her older bay.
“We can leave her here to graze away the rest of her days,” Red said. I can lead her to the meadow just east of here. There’s green grass and a stream. Somebody will likely eventually come across her and take her away or shoot her, but then again maybe not. The meadow is kind of out of the way.
“That’s one option. Or, we can pull her off the team and replace her with Jacob’s horse. He’s strong and capable and will pull more than his share of the load. That’ll take the stress off your other bay. We can tie the injured one onto the back of the wagon and let her walk empty to Blanco. Then we can retire her at Daddy’s house.”
Beth waxed nostalgic.
“That was my horse, given to me by Silas on our fortieth wedding anniversary. We used to ride together sometimes when we were healthier and didn’t have to worry about losing our balance and breaking something. I know it’s hard to believe in the state I’m in now, but I used to be an expert on a horse. As good as either of you. I’d ride like the wind on that horse.
“Then we both got old and weak…”
Red made the decision for her.
“You’ve got too much history to leave her behind. We’ll take her with us, and you can continue to be her best friend until the day she dies.”
Jacob’s horse didn’t take too kindly, at first, to pulling the wagon. He’d never pulled one before, and took it as a personal affront.
Jacob tried to coax him, but to no avail.
Red had a bit more luck, but had to walk beside him for the first couple of miles, stroking his neck and talking to him the whole way, to get him used to his new role.
The whole fiasco set them back a couple of hours and they had to scratch their plans to be at Butch’s farm before first light.
But then again, if they hadn’t been delayed, Red wouldn’t have been able to say hello to her good friend Luke and learn what was going on in town.
Red had taken off the night vision goggles half an hour before as the sky lightened enough to see without them.
She was still riding point, though, having switched off with Jacob a couple hours before.
Jacob was on the bench, steering the wagon solo, since Beth had retired to the back several hours before to get some sleep.
She was now in that fuzzy place between sleep and awake, when one struggles with the decision whether or not to open one’s eyes.
When she heard Red call out to someone on the road, she opened her eyes and sat up to see who it was.
“Well hello there, Luke. How are you this fine morning?”
“As I live and breathe, it’s Red Poston. I’m fine as wine, my friend. How are you? It’s nice to see you home again.”
“I’m fine as well. Allow me to introduce my friend and new partner, Jacob. We’ve been traveling together for the last couple of weeks. Or maybe it’s three. Kind of hard to keep track of time crossing the prairies.”
Luke looked to the young man on the wagon and nodded the traditional “man nod.”
Jacob was still a bit skeptical about the odd man and his choice of attire.
“Pardon me for saying so,” Jacob said, “but I couldn’t help but notice your tallywacker’s hanging out.”
It was a bit more blunt than it had to be, but he did have a very valid point.
Luke, for his part, took it in stride. He’d been one of the town’s eccentrics, and its only nudist, for many years. The townsfolk had long before regarded him as harmless and decided he wasn’t a danger to anyone, and let him do his thing.
And he’d heard comments like Jacob’s many times over the years.
“Living life without the bonds of clothing is a freedom in itself, young man. A freedom like no other. You shouldn’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”
While the two were debating Luke’s lack of clothing and the freedom of walking in public naked, Red stole a glance at Beth.
And she chuckled just a bit.
Beth, trying her best to maintain her composure as a prim and proper lady, covered her eyes with both hands.
At the same time, though, her curiosity got the best of her and she was peeking between her fingers.
She noticed that Red was looking her way and was smiling, almost certainly on to her.
So she decided to drop all pretenses.
And her hands.
Red took the opportunity to introduce her to Luke.
“Beth, this is my good friend Luke. We’ve known each other for years.”
Luke nodded to Beth and said, “It’s very nice to meet you, ma’am.”
Beth, still a bit flushed, stammered.
“It’s nice to see you… I mean, to meet you too, sir.”
A Freudian slip if there ever was one.
-34-
“Luke, can you fill me in on what’s been going on in town?”
“You’d best watch your back, Red. There’s a couple of strangers been coming and going lately. They’ve been seen meeting with Savage after hours at his bank. I’m not sure what they’re all about, but if they’re doing business with Savage they’re probably up to no good.”
“What do they look like?”
“One’s Hispanic, tall and thin. Wears a black Stetson. The other wears an old blue Yankees cap. He’s white, a bit shorter than his partner.”
“On horseback or afoot?”
“Afoot, both of them.”
“Anything else?”
“Sloan is gone. Checked out of Mrs. Montgomery’s boarding house a couple of days ago.”
“Which way did he go?”
“Don’t know. You’d have to ask Mrs. Montgomery about that. We’re not on good terms anymore.”
“I thought Mrs. M was sweet on you. Met you behind her boarding house at sunset sometimes with a picnic basket.”
“Yeah, well, not any more.”
“What happened? I was getting ready to start planning your wedding.”
“Darned if I know. She just all of a sudden got a burr up under her saddle one day and don’t talk to me much anymore. Damned if I’ll ever be able to figure out women.”
He turned to Beth and said, “No offense, ma’am.”
“None taken, sir.”
Luke turned back to Red and said, “You might want to check in on Judge Moore. He’s come down with the flu. A visit from you will cheer him up a bit.”
“Oh, no…”
“Hey, whatever happened with Jesse Luna? You ever find him?”
“Yes. I did. You won’t see any more of that animal.”
“Can’t say I’ll miss him. Did he confess before he died?”
“Wasn’t so much a confession as confirmation. The three of them were wrapped up in it. He and Sloan were working together, and Savage was the money man. He tried to play it off as being all Sloan’s doing. That he was merely along for the ride. But he was a bad liar.”
“What’s your plan now?”
“I plan to exact some justice on Mr. Savage and go after Mr. Sloan. I made a promise to Russell and to my daddy. I swore I’d avenge them. I aim to keep that promise.
“But first, I have some other business in town I need to do.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“Just keeping me filled in on what’s going on is plenty, Luke. Thank you for that.”
“Not a problem, Red. It’s what friends do. If there’s anything else, let me know. I don’t have a horse and I’m not much good with a gun, but I’ll certainly try my best.”
“Thanks, but Jacob and I have everything under control. You just keep doing what you do best, and let me know if you hear anything I need to know about.”
“I’ll certainly do that much for you. And again, welcome home.”
They rode away, headed for Butch’s house. The house Red grew up in, the one still chock full of memories for her.
Luke continued his walk in the opposite direction.
When Luke was out of earshot, Jacob asked Red, “So what’s his story, that guy?”
“No story to tell, really. He’s a real nice guy, and I’ve known him since I was a young girl. He just woke up one day, many years ago, it was said, and decided he didn’t like wearing his clothes and wasn’t going to do it anymore.
“Dad said the town gave him a hard time about it at first. Tried to arrest him over and over again, and said he was bringing the town down. But he said Luke never stopped being the great guy he was before he started going naked. That he was the same guy, there was just more of him to see. He was still a good friend to everybody in town. Still went around doing yard work for the old people who couldn’t do it anymore. Still had a kind word for everybody he saw.
“At some point it dawned on the old police chief and the judge and the mayor that he wasn’t harming anybody. He was just being who he was. And that it was a few of the busybodies in town that were making him out to be some kind of a dirty old man, and he really wasn’t. He was just a guy who saw things differently than most of the rest of the town.
“They stopped arresting him after that. They decided it was the busybodies who were trying to make it into something dirty, not Luke. He was just going about his business, being himself.
“Eventually everybody got used to him. A lot of the families kept their kids away from certain parts of town where he tended to be seen. Some other families took it as a learning opportunity. They used it to teach their children that the human body is in itself not an obscene or dangerous thing. That God made us all that way, and that it was Adam and Eve who took it upon themselves to feel ashamed and to cover up.
“Now, he’s just another of the town’s eccentrics. We have Luke, who most people just refer to as ‘the naked guy.’ Then we have Mrs. Simpson, who walks out of her house and into the street every hour on the hour, looks up at the sky, and then goes back inside.
“We have Mrs. Martinez, who goes out and catches stray cats, knits sweaters to put on them and then lets them loose again.
“Or Mr. Schuler, who walks the streets muttering to himself all the time. If you say good morning to him, he’ll yell at you, ‘You… you’re one of them communists, aren’t you?’
“We did have Crazy Eddie, the prepper. He was a pretty good friend of mine before Luna killed him and stole his horses. He was always driving his motorbike up and down the streets warning everybody that the world was going to end soon and that they’d better prepare.”
Jacob observed, “Wow. Sounds like this little town has way more than its share of lunatics.”
“On the contrary. They’re all just people, like you and me. Yes, some of them have some peculiar habits, but we all do. Some of us just hide ours better. Despite the eccentrics we have, this little town is still the best place in the world, in my opinion.
“At least it will be. When we rid it of the plague that John Savage has brought upon it.”
As they spoke, Luke continued his walk, now half a mile away from them.
A lone rider on horseback rode up to him. A tall man on a tall horse.
Luke, ever the friendly town greeter, called up to the man.
“Good morning, stranger. How are you this fine day?”
-35-
Jacob drove the wagon around the side of Butch’s house and to the back door. Other than Luke, they’d seen no one else out on the early morning streets. And they were in all likelihood unlikely to, for the rear of Butch’s house was completely hidden from view from street traffic.
Jacob helped Beth to the ground, where she stretched and thanked the two of them for the thousandth time.
“Shoot, you don’t have to thank me,” Jacob said. “I was kinda just along for the ride myself.”
“What are your plans, Jacob? Surely you’re not moving on, are you? If this town is just half as nice as Debbie says it is, then it’s a wonderful place to ride out the storm. To wait until the world becomes normal again.”
Red had been unloading boxes of jarred fruits, vegetables and meats that Beth had insisted they bring, and overheard the conversation. She paused just long enough to catch Jacob’s words.
For she too, was curious about his plans. He hadn’t been very forthcoming regarding his future. Where he planned to settle after Red’s mission against Sloan and Savage was finished. Whether he had an interest in meeting Red’s best friend Lilly.
And whether there might be a future for him and Lilly.
He went on, “You know, I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. I have a plan, and if it works out, it’ll involve me staying in Blanco.”
“That’s good, my new friend. I’ve come to care for you, even in the short time we’ve been together. I’d hate to think of you out there in this big bad world, with no one there to care for you.”
Jacob looked at Red and said, “There’s nothing out there for me anymore. My ties were to Lubbock, but they’re all broken now. Everyone I want to be around is right here in Blanco, so it’s the logical place for me to take root.
“At least it makes more sense to do it here than anywhere else.
“So what are your plans?” Red asked.
He merely smiled at her, and elaborated no further.
Instead of answering, he took the trunk from the back of the wagon and hefted it over his shoulder.
“Right now I plan to lug this thing into the house and up to Beth’s room, if you tell me which one it is.”
But Red wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily. She was a bit peeved and didn’t like it when someone ignored her direct question.
She knew the trunk was heavy, and that he was trying to show off for her by displaying his brute strength.
She nonchalantly said to Beth, “I’m not sure exactly where to put you, dear. How are you at climbing stairs?”
Beth said, “All of the bedrooms at my own house were upstairs.”
“Yes, but if the stairs have been a struggle for you in recent years, you have an option. Dad’s old library is downstairs. It has a veranda and an outstanding view of the forest east of the house. It has a locking door and would make a great bedroom for someone who’s tired of climbing stairs.”
Beth suspected that Red was intentionally stalling for time to mess with J
acob’s head. And as much as she liked Jacob, she had a playful side as well.
She was game.
“Oh, my… that does sound tempting. Do I have to decide right now, or can I think about it for a few minutes?”
“Oh, take your time, dear. There’s absolutely no rush at all.”
“Can I look at the den before I decide?”
“Sure. That’s a great idea.”
Red turned to Jacob and said, “Hold that pose, strong guy. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The women looked at both rooms: the library as well as the guest room adjacent to Red’s old room.
“Well, which one do you think will work better?”
“I think the library, if you’re sure you don’t mind. But please, don’t move the books somewhere else. That’s a lot of work. And besides, there are many things I can’t do anymore. Or things which are a lot more difficult than they used to be. Climbing stairs is one of them.
“Reading, on the other hand, comes as easily as it always did. I noticed your father had an exquisite taste in books. A taste very consistent with my own. I think that reading as much of his collection as I can before I die would be delightful.”
“But… it might be rather crowded if we don’t move anything out of the room.”
“I don’t take up much space, Red. I’ll ask Jacob to bring the bed down from your guest room, if you don’t mind. And the bedside table. He can set it up on the east wall of the library, the one not covered with book shelves. That’s really the only space I need of my very own.”
“Very well. Speaking of Jacob, we’d better get back out there before he collapses under the weight of your trunk.”
They rushed out the back door to find that Jacob realized he’d been had.
He’d put the trunk down and was now sitting atop it, smoking a Marlboro.
“So, what’s the verdict?”
“The library. It’s just off the den, on the east side of the house.”
“Okie, dokie.”
Red got a funny look on her face, leading Jacob to ask, “What? What’s wrong?”
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