FanFiction
Reconciliation - part eight
In light of just how many friends' lists have links to this community I thought it might be time to insert a disclaimer/instructions/explanation. 'Reconciliation' is fanfiction based upon the fanficitons 'Human Interest' and 'Two Crows Joy' pieces which were/are written/being written by MadLori. Those series are based upon the movie/story 'Brokeback Mountain' and create a rich AU of what would have happened Jack and Ennis had built that sweet life together of which Jack always dreamed in Farmingdale, Vermont.
So some of the characters herein belong to Annie Proulx and others to Lori Summers and some just wandered out of my head. This story starts about two years before 'Human Interest' and due to the events in this story people and events in those stories would be different. (which means that while Lori is more than welcome to have her way with any of the OCs in this, events/people here will not be influencing or altering anything she plans in that world)
And if you just stumbled across this on a friend of a friend of a friend's page and haven't yet read 'Human Interest', why haven't you? Really, it's not addictive - not addictive at all! ::hits refresh key ninety times to see if new chapter is out::
Reconciliation - part eight
:late March 1982:
Thunder crashed and sounded as close as the kitchen. All the power cut off and then came back on; Ennis looked at Jack and said, "That was a close one."
Jack looked around as if expecting a portion of the roof to be missing and replied, "Yeah. I don't like the kids-" The front door burst opened and boys poured through, drenched to the skin. Lighting ripped across the sky. Visible through both the door and the large front window its flashes strobed one after the other.
"The sky just opened up," Bobby said. "And, well - suddenly holding all that electrical stuff didn't seem like such a great idea."
Ennis headed down the hall and came back with towels which he tossed to the dripping teens. "Go on," Jack said, "you all get dry."
Half hour later water was still pouring in a deluge outside, but the thunder was transformed into a muted rumble slowly moving east. Ennis and Jack had settled back down to watch the movie. A local network was running back to back John Wayne movies in the evenings all week. Merc, Quasar and Bobby had filed out to the kitchen and had set up the hot-air popcorn machine Lureen had given Jack and Ennis for Christmas on the center island. Their conversation rose and fell against the muted popping only occasionally distracting from the antics of Lee Marvin on the screen.
"What exactly do you think we're doing here? This isn't about killing time; it's not a stupid video game." Bobby's voice rose unexpectedly.
"I didn't think you were that serious. It was bad enough playing in front of half the town, you can't seriously be thinking of going on the road - you sixteen!" Quasar said.
"It's not exactly on the road. The shows would be local, mostly in Vermont. There's a big summer fair circuit, it wouldn't pay much but we'd get experience and exposure," Bobby sounded reasonable. Jack knew he'd thought it through. They'd talked a bit about who to contact and Bobby had written and received information regarding what was involved with booking bands at many of the local county fairs. Bobby had pointed out with the size of Vermont and some of the surrounding states they might be able to travel to quite a few. He had even kicked around the idea of living out of the truck. So far, as far as Jack was aware, that part of 'the plan' - capitalize as needed - was all still on the drawing board.
"Twist you are out of your mind if you think my mom is going to let me….Frack you know she doesn't like all the time we spend out here as is. She would never let me go overnight, not with you," Quasar said.
Ennis' head whipped around at that comment. Jack placed his hand on Ennis' thigh and squeezed. Jack whispered, "Leave it be." Jack glanced toward the kitchen just in time to see Heph, who had obviously been delayed by a shower as his hair was loose and wet, enter the kitchen
"Would it help if we assured her, she won't get you narrow white ass deflowered without shelling out some serious cash?" Heph said and pushed Merc out of his way.
"Very funny, she already thinks you're a thug," Quasar said. "Besides I have plans this summer."
"Plans? What plans? This is Farmingdale - keggers in a field or the drive-in on a weekend. The only thing to do once the 9 o'clock show in Middlebury lets out is to go tipping cows." Merc said.
"You tip cows?" Bobby asked.
"I have a line on a job at that new arcade they're putting in at the mall. And I'm going to a Science Fiction convention in New York City for three days in June - they're having the guys who worked on 'Tron' do a Q & A," Quasar said. "You may think I'm a geek but that's going to look better when I apply for colleges than living the life of a Carney.
Jack headed out to the kitchen to get a couple more beers. Bobby was finely chopping raw peppers, onions and what looked like the leftover cauliflower. He had a baking sheet covered with some flat bread with some sort of thick white cheese mixture covering it. The dough had come from a tube but Jack was getting used to Bobby's Home Ec things and was hoping for a taste of whatever he was making.
"No, I don't think you're a geek - I think you're a moron!" Merc threw up his hands and then ran them back through his hair - pulling it. "Arrgh! You're going to scrap this for a SciFi convention? Jesus, do they even have girls there? Any? Any at all?"
"N...Ah… Some. There are some girls there," Quasar said.
"Okay," Merc turned back and leveled a look on Quasar worthy of Heph, "Any of these alleged women, when they're in the audience listening to the guys who draw -- on film -talk - about *drawing* on film. They ever lift their shirts and flash their tits at the stage?"
"God dammit, Owens!" Quasar said, "How do I explain this in terms you can grasp? You're not Bo Duke, you're not the Bandit; you're from Vermont. You're not going to be some sort of hillbilly-rock star."
Jack tried not to laugh. He grabbed two beers and said, "It's not letting up out there. You're all welcome to stay if it's alright with you mamas."
Merc looked at Heph who shrugged and nodded. Merc said, "I'll tell her," and headed for the phone.
"Thanks, Mr. Twist," Quasar said, he looked down and blushed. "My mom's kind of-"
"Controlling?" Bobby asked.
"Creepy." Heph said.
Merc added loudly from across the room, "wants to sleep with you?"
"I understand," Jack said and with a nod he headed back into the living room.
Bobby watched Heph watching Jack walk back into the living room and sit beside Ennis. Now that he was paying attention more he'd caught things like that a couple times. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He wasn't sure teasing Heph would be a good idea. Quiet as he was most of the time, Heph could be quick witted and Bobby wasn't sure he was up to the sort of verbal sparring that often went on between the brothers being directed at him. He'd been so busy pondering the matter he almost missed Heph saying, "Either that umbilical cord is going to get real inconvenient soon, or you're going to turn into you mother."
"I don't know why you're giving me all this felgercarb. You all tell me I play like a trained monkey. You do nothing but bitch." Quasar cast a guarded look out toward the living room and hissed at Heph. "Maybe your mom doesn't think there's any thing wrong with you two being out here all the time, but if one of you turns queer because of them-"
He got no further. As soon as he started Heph had shot Merc, who had finished his phone call, and unreadable look. Bobby was too stunned to speak. He almost cut himself and cast a quick glance to the living room, worried that his daddy would hear Quasar's… what was it? An accusation? As if either Ennis or Daddy would even look at a kid, he couldn’t wrap his mind around such a thought let alone find the words to shut up such filth.
Fortunately Merc was never at a loss for word, especially when his brother was there to smack down anyone he pissed off. "I always knew your mom was checking out my ass. How many of your friends *has* she slept with? Am I the only one she hasn't got to yet?" He squared his shoulders and tilted back his head as if daring Quasar to take a swing and asked loudly, "She put the moves on you yet, R.J.?
Ennis looked at Jack, Jack looked at Ennis. They rose as one and headed toward the kitchen. This didn't sound like the normal tough talk. That was usually between Merc and Heph. The grappling between those two was always kept outside and always looked much worse than it was. Ennis had nearly tried to break up a couple of their shoving bouts that degenerated to full out wrestling matches until Jack had pointed out that even when Heph was pounding on Merc he would cradle his brother's head with his other hand to keep it from hitting concrete, brick or hard wood. This, however, sounded ugly, and they both were worried that they were going to witness the Owens boys 'pack up', as Bobby called it, because something had just made Quasar prey.
Quasar was red and shaking when he barely whispered, "what the fuck?"
"Well, does your mother like men? Or is she queer?" Merc said.
"She's not- Where is this coming from?" Quasar gasped.
"You tell me," Heph said and circled behind him.
Trying not to let either of the Owens behind him Quasar ended up inching closer to Bobby.
"What they're trying to get through your thick skull, asshole," Bobby hissed.
Jack was startled. Bobby got indignant, Bobby got sarcastic, but he had never seen his son mad enough to throw a punch. Right now, he sounded that mad. Jack was glad to see the boy had set down the knife.
Bobby continued, "is that just because your mama sleeps with men, don't make her dangerous to have around boys, does it?
Quasar had turned at the first sound of Bobby's voice and stood frozen. Bobby never broke the hard glare he'd leveled on him. He waited in the growing silence and then added, "or does it?"
"No," Quasar gasped. Jack was looking at Ennis, they had both missed the beginning of this argument but the implications were pretty clear. He didn't know what to say. Quasar was all but trembling, the Owens brothers were vibrating with barely controlled violence and underneath his son's anger Jack could see the boy looked like he was going to be sick.
"I can't believe I didn't see it…" Bobby whispered. "You're such a hypocrite."
"What?" Quasar looked from one face to the next, studiously avoiding eye contact with either Jack or Ennis.
"Whatever. Maybe you're just blind." Bobby now just sounded just tired. "Go play your video games, or dungeons and dragons or whatever it is you do while you waiting for real life to start. We'll get by without you."
"And don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out," Merc said.
"Fine. You guys are just deluding yourselves anyway." Quasar said. He went out into the rain. The wind had let up but the rain was still heavy. The TV drowned out any noise after the slam of his car door.
Jack didn't know what to say. He'd felt the sting of such pettiness a time or two and always felt it was a small price to pay for having Ennis every day and every night. But now that the lash of such scorn was hitting his son it didn't seem so petty. He wanted to say something, anything. He felt Ennis' solid presence beside him. They were just kids, and kids talk trash on each other all day long, but he knew Ennis was always waiting for the stones to be thrown, always expecting what they'd built here to be ripped away.
"That ready?" Merc leaned over and reached for a piece of green pepper. Bobby shooed him away and dumped half of the chopped vegetables on top of the cheese covered bread.
After cutting it into wedges he said, "now its ready." Jack found himself reaching for a slice as Bobby bent over and pulled another sheet covered with the ready made dough out of the oven.
"Doesn't seem right," Merc said. "Making vegetables into pizza - or whatever. Is kind of underhanded, disguising them as snack food."
Jack caught Heph's eyes as he reached for another slice. Looking first down, and then back up through partially lowered lashed, Heph smiled and shrugged. Ennis came over and tried a piece, lifted his brows in surprise and said, "ain't bad."
"Guess you gotta find a new drummer," Merc said to Bobby, hovering close as he spread the cheese mixture on the second bread base.
"Me? Why me," Bobby asked.
"It's your band," the brothers said together. Jack wondered if they had rehearsed dropping all the responsibility for the band in Bobby's lap or if they had picked up the line from him. Jack had, in the hopes of making the idea of going to college more appealing, often used that phrase on his son when it came time to deal with the less glamour side of a career in the music business.
"Oh, no problem," Bobby's voice just dripped with sarcasm. "I'll just place an ad in 'Rolling Stone'."
"Might want to look a little closer to home," Heph said, taking another slice of the vegetable thing.
"Sure, he can just go to the Farmingdale musicians guild and hold auditions," Merc said, getting a laugh from Bobby.
"Wasn't that Russell Twopony's little brother playing drums for Middlebury in the Christmas parade?" Heph said.
Merc started to reach around Bobby for another slice and said, "Yeah, but he's a band fa-"
He was cut off by a sharp elbow in the ribs from Bobby, which prompted a raised eyebrow from Heph. Shrugging, Bobby said, "figured you couldn't reach him."
Merc, to Jack's obvious amusement continued while rubbing his now sore ribs, "Didn't Menthu break Russell's nose?"
"Yeah, but I don't think it was personal," Heph shrugged.
"How'd you impersonally break someone's nose," Jack asked.
Heph blushed and looked down and mumbled, "He did it for Ares."
"Wait," Merc said. "I thought Russell made a pass at Morrigan - are you saying he made a pass at Ares?
"No." Heph glared at Merc. "Morrigan, like every woman in our family can find a man's crotch with her knee under the most adverse conditions - he just used that as an excuse." Looking from Jack to Ennis he continued, "Mum is real big on us all being well adjusted, having peers who are going through some of the stuff we're going through - she's a real big believer in groups. So the elder gods had to go to this Native American group thing every Saturday in Birmingham. Well once the twins were about to graduate, it would have been just Ares going there by himself. So…getting kicked out seemed like a good idea."
"Worked too," Merc added. "That's how I got out of the whole kids with cancer thing."
"So you can call this guy?" Bobby ventured.
"It's your band," they said together again.
"I never met him," Bobby said.
"Actually," Heph said "That works in your favor."
"As opposed to 'Hi, remember me, my brother broke your brother's nose' - they gotta be in the book, just call and say 'I'm R.J. Twist, that guy with the band'," Merc said. "Tell him you're looking for a drummer. The worst he can do is laugh."
"Well, I can't ask to speak to Russell's little brother, what's his name?" Bobby asked.
The question was met with blank looks.
They spent the rest of the night watching the end of 'Donovan's Reef' while Bobby dithered over the fact that there were three listings for Twopony in the Middlebury section of the phone book. Bobby ended up deciding it was too late to call and possibly have to explain to someone's mother that he wanted to talk to someone whose first name he didn't know.
End part eight
In light of just how many friends' lists have links to this community I thought it might be time to insert a disclaimer/instructions/explanation. 'Reconciliation' is fanfiction based upon the fanficitons 'Human Interest' and 'Two Crows Joy' pieces which were/are written/being written by MadLori. Those series are based upon the movie/story 'Brokeback Mountain' and create a rich AU of what would have happened Jack and Ennis had built that sweet life together of which Jack always dreamed in Farmingdale, Vermont.
So some of the characters herein belong to Annie Proulx and others to Lori Summers and some just wandered out of my head. This story starts about two years before 'Human Interest' and due to the events in this story people and events in those stories would be different. (which means that while Lori is more than welcome to have her way with any of the OCs in this, events/people here will not be influencing or altering anything she plans in that world)
And if you just stumbled across this on a friend of a friend of a friend's page and haven't yet read 'Human Interest', why haven't you? Really, it's not addictive - not addictive at all! ::hits refresh key ninety times to see if new chapter is out::
Reconciliation - part eight
:late March 1982:
Thunder crashed and sounded as close as the kitchen. All the power cut off and then came back on; Ennis looked at Jack and said, "That was a close one."
Jack looked around as if expecting a portion of the roof to be missing and replied, "Yeah. I don't like the kids-" The front door burst opened and boys poured through, drenched to the skin. Lighting ripped across the sky. Visible through both the door and the large front window its flashes strobed one after the other.
"The sky just opened up," Bobby said. "And, well - suddenly holding all that electrical stuff didn't seem like such a great idea."
Ennis headed down the hall and came back with towels which he tossed to the dripping teens. "Go on," Jack said, "you all get dry."
Half hour later water was still pouring in a deluge outside, but the thunder was transformed into a muted rumble slowly moving east. Ennis and Jack had settled back down to watch the movie. A local network was running back to back John Wayne movies in the evenings all week. Merc, Quasar and Bobby had filed out to the kitchen and had set up the hot-air popcorn machine Lureen had given Jack and Ennis for Christmas on the center island. Their conversation rose and fell against the muted popping only occasionally distracting from the antics of Lee Marvin on the screen.
"What exactly do you think we're doing here? This isn't about killing time; it's not a stupid video game." Bobby's voice rose unexpectedly.
"I didn't think you were that serious. It was bad enough playing in front of half the town, you can't seriously be thinking of going on the road - you sixteen!" Quasar said.
"It's not exactly on the road. The shows would be local, mostly in Vermont. There's a big summer fair circuit, it wouldn't pay much but we'd get experience and exposure," Bobby sounded reasonable. Jack knew he'd thought it through. They'd talked a bit about who to contact and Bobby had written and received information regarding what was involved with booking bands at many of the local county fairs. Bobby had pointed out with the size of Vermont and some of the surrounding states they might be able to travel to quite a few. He had even kicked around the idea of living out of the truck. So far, as far as Jack was aware, that part of 'the plan' - capitalize as needed - was all still on the drawing board.
"Twist you are out of your mind if you think my mom is going to let me….Frack you know she doesn't like all the time we spend out here as is. She would never let me go overnight, not with you," Quasar said.
Ennis' head whipped around at that comment. Jack placed his hand on Ennis' thigh and squeezed. Jack whispered, "Leave it be." Jack glanced toward the kitchen just in time to see Heph, who had obviously been delayed by a shower as his hair was loose and wet, enter the kitchen
"Would it help if we assured her, she won't get you narrow white ass deflowered without shelling out some serious cash?" Heph said and pushed Merc out of his way.
"Very funny, she already thinks you're a thug," Quasar said. "Besides I have plans this summer."
"Plans? What plans? This is Farmingdale - keggers in a field or the drive-in on a weekend. The only thing to do once the 9 o'clock show in Middlebury lets out is to go tipping cows." Merc said.
"You tip cows?" Bobby asked.
"I have a line on a job at that new arcade they're putting in at the mall. And I'm going to a Science Fiction convention in New York City for three days in June - they're having the guys who worked on 'Tron' do a Q & A," Quasar said. "You may think I'm a geek but that's going to look better when I apply for colleges than living the life of a Carney.
Jack headed out to the kitchen to get a couple more beers. Bobby was finely chopping raw peppers, onions and what looked like the leftover cauliflower. He had a baking sheet covered with some flat bread with some sort of thick white cheese mixture covering it. The dough had come from a tube but Jack was getting used to Bobby's Home Ec things and was hoping for a taste of whatever he was making.
"No, I don't think you're a geek - I think you're a moron!" Merc threw up his hands and then ran them back through his hair - pulling it. "Arrgh! You're going to scrap this for a SciFi convention? Jesus, do they even have girls there? Any? Any at all?"
"N...Ah… Some. There are some girls there," Quasar said.
"Okay," Merc turned back and leveled a look on Quasar worthy of Heph, "Any of these alleged women, when they're in the audience listening to the guys who draw -- on film -talk - about *drawing* on film. They ever lift their shirts and flash their tits at the stage?"
"God dammit, Owens!" Quasar said, "How do I explain this in terms you can grasp? You're not Bo Duke, you're not the Bandit; you're from Vermont. You're not going to be some sort of hillbilly-rock star."
Jack tried not to laugh. He grabbed two beers and said, "It's not letting up out there. You're all welcome to stay if it's alright with you mamas."
Merc looked at Heph who shrugged and nodded. Merc said, "I'll tell her," and headed for the phone.
"Thanks, Mr. Twist," Quasar said, he looked down and blushed. "My mom's kind of-"
"Controlling?" Bobby asked.
"Creepy." Heph said.
Merc added loudly from across the room, "wants to sleep with you?"
"I understand," Jack said and with a nod he headed back into the living room.
Bobby watched Heph watching Jack walk back into the living room and sit beside Ennis. Now that he was paying attention more he'd caught things like that a couple times. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He wasn't sure teasing Heph would be a good idea. Quiet as he was most of the time, Heph could be quick witted and Bobby wasn't sure he was up to the sort of verbal sparring that often went on between the brothers being directed at him. He'd been so busy pondering the matter he almost missed Heph saying, "Either that umbilical cord is going to get real inconvenient soon, or you're going to turn into you mother."
"I don't know why you're giving me all this felgercarb. You all tell me I play like a trained monkey. You do nothing but bitch." Quasar cast a guarded look out toward the living room and hissed at Heph. "Maybe your mom doesn't think there's any thing wrong with you two being out here all the time, but if one of you turns queer because of them-"
He got no further. As soon as he started Heph had shot Merc, who had finished his phone call, and unreadable look. Bobby was too stunned to speak. He almost cut himself and cast a quick glance to the living room, worried that his daddy would hear Quasar's… what was it? An accusation? As if either Ennis or Daddy would even look at a kid, he couldn’t wrap his mind around such a thought let alone find the words to shut up such filth.
Fortunately Merc was never at a loss for word, especially when his brother was there to smack down anyone he pissed off. "I always knew your mom was checking out my ass. How many of your friends *has* she slept with? Am I the only one she hasn't got to yet?" He squared his shoulders and tilted back his head as if daring Quasar to take a swing and asked loudly, "She put the moves on you yet, R.J.?
Ennis looked at Jack, Jack looked at Ennis. They rose as one and headed toward the kitchen. This didn't sound like the normal tough talk. That was usually between Merc and Heph. The grappling between those two was always kept outside and always looked much worse than it was. Ennis had nearly tried to break up a couple of their shoving bouts that degenerated to full out wrestling matches until Jack had pointed out that even when Heph was pounding on Merc he would cradle his brother's head with his other hand to keep it from hitting concrete, brick or hard wood. This, however, sounded ugly, and they both were worried that they were going to witness the Owens boys 'pack up', as Bobby called it, because something had just made Quasar prey.
Quasar was red and shaking when he barely whispered, "what the fuck?"
"Well, does your mother like men? Or is she queer?" Merc said.
"She's not- Where is this coming from?" Quasar gasped.
"You tell me," Heph said and circled behind him.
Trying not to let either of the Owens behind him Quasar ended up inching closer to Bobby.
"What they're trying to get through your thick skull, asshole," Bobby hissed.
Jack was startled. Bobby got indignant, Bobby got sarcastic, but he had never seen his son mad enough to throw a punch. Right now, he sounded that mad. Jack was glad to see the boy had set down the knife.
Bobby continued, "is that just because your mama sleeps with men, don't make her dangerous to have around boys, does it?
Quasar had turned at the first sound of Bobby's voice and stood frozen. Bobby never broke the hard glare he'd leveled on him. He waited in the growing silence and then added, "or does it?"
"No," Quasar gasped. Jack was looking at Ennis, they had both missed the beginning of this argument but the implications were pretty clear. He didn't know what to say. Quasar was all but trembling, the Owens brothers were vibrating with barely controlled violence and underneath his son's anger Jack could see the boy looked like he was going to be sick.
"I can't believe I didn't see it…" Bobby whispered. "You're such a hypocrite."
"What?" Quasar looked from one face to the next, studiously avoiding eye contact with either Jack or Ennis.
"Whatever. Maybe you're just blind." Bobby now just sounded just tired. "Go play your video games, or dungeons and dragons or whatever it is you do while you waiting for real life to start. We'll get by without you."
"And don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out," Merc said.
"Fine. You guys are just deluding yourselves anyway." Quasar said. He went out into the rain. The wind had let up but the rain was still heavy. The TV drowned out any noise after the slam of his car door.
Jack didn't know what to say. He'd felt the sting of such pettiness a time or two and always felt it was a small price to pay for having Ennis every day and every night. But now that the lash of such scorn was hitting his son it didn't seem so petty. He wanted to say something, anything. He felt Ennis' solid presence beside him. They were just kids, and kids talk trash on each other all day long, but he knew Ennis was always waiting for the stones to be thrown, always expecting what they'd built here to be ripped away.
"That ready?" Merc leaned over and reached for a piece of green pepper. Bobby shooed him away and dumped half of the chopped vegetables on top of the cheese covered bread.
After cutting it into wedges he said, "now its ready." Jack found himself reaching for a slice as Bobby bent over and pulled another sheet covered with the ready made dough out of the oven.
"Doesn't seem right," Merc said. "Making vegetables into pizza - or whatever. Is kind of underhanded, disguising them as snack food."
Jack caught Heph's eyes as he reached for another slice. Looking first down, and then back up through partially lowered lashed, Heph smiled and shrugged. Ennis came over and tried a piece, lifted his brows in surprise and said, "ain't bad."
"Guess you gotta find a new drummer," Merc said to Bobby, hovering close as he spread the cheese mixture on the second bread base.
"Me? Why me," Bobby asked.
"It's your band," the brothers said together. Jack wondered if they had rehearsed dropping all the responsibility for the band in Bobby's lap or if they had picked up the line from him. Jack had, in the hopes of making the idea of going to college more appealing, often used that phrase on his son when it came time to deal with the less glamour side of a career in the music business.
"Oh, no problem," Bobby's voice just dripped with sarcasm. "I'll just place an ad in 'Rolling Stone'."
"Might want to look a little closer to home," Heph said, taking another slice of the vegetable thing.
"Sure, he can just go to the Farmingdale musicians guild and hold auditions," Merc said, getting a laugh from Bobby.
"Wasn't that Russell Twopony's little brother playing drums for Middlebury in the Christmas parade?" Heph said.
Merc started to reach around Bobby for another slice and said, "Yeah, but he's a band fa-"
He was cut off by a sharp elbow in the ribs from Bobby, which prompted a raised eyebrow from Heph. Shrugging, Bobby said, "figured you couldn't reach him."
Merc, to Jack's obvious amusement continued while rubbing his now sore ribs, "Didn't Menthu break Russell's nose?"
"Yeah, but I don't think it was personal," Heph shrugged.
"How'd you impersonally break someone's nose," Jack asked.
Heph blushed and looked down and mumbled, "He did it for Ares."
"Wait," Merc said. "I thought Russell made a pass at Morrigan - are you saying he made a pass at Ares?
"No." Heph glared at Merc. "Morrigan, like every woman in our family can find a man's crotch with her knee under the most adverse conditions - he just used that as an excuse." Looking from Jack to Ennis he continued, "Mum is real big on us all being well adjusted, having peers who are going through some of the stuff we're going through - she's a real big believer in groups. So the elder gods had to go to this Native American group thing every Saturday in Birmingham. Well once the twins were about to graduate, it would have been just Ares going there by himself. So…getting kicked out seemed like a good idea."
"Worked too," Merc added. "That's how I got out of the whole kids with cancer thing."
"So you can call this guy?" Bobby ventured.
"It's your band," they said together again.
"I never met him," Bobby said.
"Actually," Heph said "That works in your favor."
"As opposed to 'Hi, remember me, my brother broke your brother's nose' - they gotta be in the book, just call and say 'I'm R.J. Twist, that guy with the band'," Merc said. "Tell him you're looking for a drummer. The worst he can do is laugh."
"Well, I can't ask to speak to Russell's little brother, what's his name?" Bobby asked.
The question was met with blank looks.
They spent the rest of the night watching the end of 'Donovan's Reef' while Bobby dithered over the fact that there were three listings for Twopony in the Middlebury section of the phone book. Bobby ended up deciding it was too late to call and possibly have to explain to someone's mother that he wanted to talk to someone whose first name he didn't know.
End part eight