[except] it's not an alibi you need just yet, oh no, it's something for those beads of sweat
“Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you’ve got a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies- goddamn it, you’ve got to be kind.”
- Kurt Vonnegut
It’s only a matter of time before something slips- before I tell Jayma about Solomon because it would be wrong not to, or before I say something to Shannon to make him remember; fear doesn’t erase the affection. For now, though, I keep her bad dreams between us, and pretend that it affords her some small bit of peace.
News of my episode at the Echo whispers its way down the lane in less than a week, which was about as fast as I expected. We’d settled into a rental on the periphery of sprawling township somewhere in Nebraska, the kind of place where half of the population is transient and no one so much as batted an eye when we set up temporary residence. According to the sign, the property was originally intended to be a ranch, but the former owners had either lost interest or ran out of money before completing it. The south wall of the barn was missing, and the fence only encircled about half of the corral. Our landlord, gloating around a mouthful of tobacco, informed us that the place had been dirt-cheap. A steal.
“An absolute treasure,” Alex had drawled, before Jones pulled her away to keep him company while he unloaded the van. Oblivious, the landlord continued beaming as Jayma graciously sacrificed herself for the grand tour.
I took a self-guided view later that evening, wandering the property with no particular aim other than finding out the lay of it. I thought, idly, about a time when I would have scouted the place out strategically, located sources of weakness, and the points at which it was most defensible. I made a note to myself, here and there, but the need wasn’t pressing, and I lost interest in strategy we wouldn’t be using. Sundown found me braced against the cross-beams, at the point where the fence trailed off into nothing, and the bluffs rose in the east. The south wall was missing, the windows all had cracks in them, and Jones had to sleep on the couch in order for there to be enough room for us all, but goddamn, the place had a view.
The night was coming down, the wind was picking up. I might not have known Shannon was coming up except for the shadow. On the ground I watched his progress, the long, lean shadow getting shorter and shorter the closer he got until it matched mine, dual silhouettes leaning on a fence that never kept any horses.
- Kurt Vonnegut
It’s only a matter of time before something slips- before I tell Jayma about Solomon because it would be wrong not to, or before I say something to Shannon to make him remember; fear doesn’t erase the affection. For now, though, I keep her bad dreams between us, and pretend that it affords her some small bit of peace.
News of my episode at the Echo whispers its way down the lane in less than a week, which was about as fast as I expected. We’d settled into a rental on the periphery of sprawling township somewhere in Nebraska, the kind of place where half of the population is transient and no one so much as batted an eye when we set up temporary residence. According to the sign, the property was originally intended to be a ranch, but the former owners had either lost interest or ran out of money before completing it. The south wall of the barn was missing, and the fence only encircled about half of the corral. Our landlord, gloating around a mouthful of tobacco, informed us that the place had been dirt-cheap. A steal.
“An absolute treasure,” Alex had drawled, before Jones pulled her away to keep him company while he unloaded the van. Oblivious, the landlord continued beaming as Jayma graciously sacrificed herself for the grand tour.
I took a self-guided view later that evening, wandering the property with no particular aim other than finding out the lay of it. I thought, idly, about a time when I would have scouted the place out strategically, located sources of weakness, and the points at which it was most defensible. I made a note to myself, here and there, but the need wasn’t pressing, and I lost interest in strategy we wouldn’t be using. Sundown found me braced against the cross-beams, at the point where the fence trailed off into nothing, and the bluffs rose in the east. The south wall was missing, the windows all had cracks in them, and Jones had to sleep on the couch in order for there to be enough room for us all, but goddamn, the place had a view.
The night was coming down, the wind was picking up. I might not have known Shannon was coming up except for the shadow. On the ground I watched his progress, the long, lean shadow getting shorter and shorter the closer he got until it matched mine, dual silhouettes leaning on a fence that never kept any horses.