"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..."
Ecclesiastes 3:1
By Atonia and Jo
Jo writing Maximus, Caroline, Bud, Marie, Lachlan, Hope, Cort, Daisy, Ben, Mae, Rusty, Emma
Atonia writing Terry, Dee, Alex, Linda, Jack, Tarwyn, John, Bethany, Dino, Max, Sophia
PART 19:
Terry finally got the text messages sent out to all his brothers. He realized he wasn’t as tech savvy as Max, who relied on his phone for most everything he couldn’t accomplish on a laptop. He admired that and vowed to bring himself up to speed. He now had the latest equipment to work with. All he needed was the time. Time…
Already Dee was giving him an eye and he understood her feelings on the matter. He was stretching himself pretty thin. If all hell broke loose with K&R then that’s where he would go and HAWCO… well, it would just have to ride till he got back. No…what he needed was help,
a right hand man. He didn’t know who would step up for that. Alex would have been good,
Max was already involved…Bud or John…ahh. John was out of it for awhile. He and Bud had their own thing going. That left Rusty. If he was up for it. Maximus and Jack were leaders in their own way but for a company like HAWCO…no, it required a modern man.
“You’re deep in thought.” Dee hung on the door frame to the spare bedroom.
“Am I? I was just thinking about HAWCO and about all this new equipment I’ve got.”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know where the on switch is located?” She smiled and came in to kiss the top of his head.
“Too many damn on switches.”
“You need to find an off switch and take me to dinner. I’ve decided I’m not cooking.”
“Oh, you have? Well, guess the next move is mine.”
“You got it, Sir.”
Rusty smiled across at Emma, whom he’d just picked up.
“What did you do with your loose ends this afternoon?” she asked.
“Bought a bike.”
“A bicycle?”
“A Harley.”
“You are an interesting man of many facets, Mr. Crowne.”
“I’ve got facets I ain’t used yet, Emma, but I plan to.”
When he parked at the restaurant, he came around and opened her door, then took her arm to walk inside. Slipping some cash to the maitre de, he nodded toward a table tucked in a far, private corner, and they were promptly escorted there.
“You know how to handle yourself, don’t you, Rusty?”
“Practice,” he smiled.
They ordered dinner, taking their time with it, sipping brandies afterwards. She told him a
lot about the theater troupe and he listened, interested to get a handle on the people he’d be working with. What he really wanted to know about, though, was her.
“What did you do in London, before you got married and came here?”
“I was a docent at Buckingham Palace, guided people around, explained what was what. In
my off-time I studied ballet, did some acting. I met Jeremy when he came to tour the palace.
He was very…Texan…very different from the sort of men I was used to.”
“And what sort of men would that be?”
“London men.”
When Rusty thought of London men, Max came to mind. Max had been a real prick at the beginning of his movie. “Pricks?” he suggested.
She laughed. “Some of them, yes, but not all.”
“What about now?”
“Texas men all over the place, coming out of the woodwork. Nothing different about a Texas man now, I’m afraid.”
“What about me?”
“Well, you’re no Texan. I’m waiting to see if you turn out to be a prick.”
It was his turn to chuckle. “I will make my best effort to avoid that.”
“Since you like to act, Rusty, do you go to movies often?”
“I like movies.”
“Do you like Russell Crowe movies? I ask because you remind me of him.”
“I’ve seen them.”
“What do you think?”
“I think he’s one hell of an actor.”
“Do you ever try to pattern yourself after him, how he does things?”
He sipped his brandy, wanting a cigarette. “No, Emma, I don’t pattern myself after him.”
“Why not?”
“I have my reasons.”
“You’re dodging the question.”
“I know.”
Alex got up from the table and poured out two margaritas from a pitcher on the side table. They’d just finished a well cooked Tex-Mex dinner. He’d already told her about his work with Terry and Dino.
“I had a few beers with Rusty this afternoon. You’ll know him as Zack.” He handed her a salt rimed glass.
“You lost me, Alex…Rusty?”
“Yeah,” he took his seat at the table and lit a cigarette. “He’s not Zack anymore. He’s regained his memories of who he is. He’s Russell Crowe around the time he made me. He has no connection to Zack now. Of course he can’t go around as Russell so he’s adopted the name of
Ira Crowne, calling himself Rusty. It fits him. He’s trimmed his beard and cut his hair. We had
a long conversation.”
“Well, I can’t wait to meet the new Rusty.”
“You’ll meet him on Friday. He’s, ah, interested in something to do. A job, a day job, since he can’t be who he is and make movies. I think he might be your man.”
“Really, and what does Terry think about that?”
“I didn’t ask Terry. Maybe they can work together. I think they’ve got a common bond somewhere along the way. Terry’s up to his ass anyway. He’d never say no to you. That’s his problem, he can’t say no.”
“Do you think that’s a real problem for Terry? I mean, is he going to be able to do what is required of him?”
“Not without help. He would but the man would never sleep. Dino thinks once they get up and going again, they’re going to bring in some new customers and that means things might heat up for them. Terry’ll be on the first plane out with his camos packed. That’s who he is, Linda.”
“I’m always glad for your insight. Well, we’ll see on Friday, won’t we?”
Cort, Daisy, Hope, and Lachlan had spent most of the afternoon house hunting. Their last appointment had been to see a house in the neighborhood where John had once lived and where Terry and Dee were now staying. As they pulled up to the curb where the agent was waiting for them, Hope smiled.
“Oh, Lachlan, I love it!”
It was two stories, made of pale stones in almost a brick size and with a rolled-edge English roof that looked very much like thatch. Dark green ivy climbed up around the front door and even further up the wall to the left.
“Well, darling, if it’s as nice inside as it is out, I say let’s go for it.”
It was. It was just as enchanting inside as the outside had suggested and there was just enough time left to go back to the office and write a check for it. The house came with appliances, but they would have to furnish it.
“Can you come back, Daisy, Daddy, and help us with that?”
“You want us to? I don’t want to intrude,” Cort replied.
“We’d love to have your input, truly we would.”
“I agree,” Lachlan smiled. “Both Hope and I are new at this.”
“What if we have dinner at the hotel and you two can describe what kinds of things you’re thinking about for the house?”
They drove there and Lachlan checked at the desk to see which room Rusty was in, only to be told he’d checked out. He’d left an address there for any family who might ask after him.
Cort looked at it. “That’s just a couple of blocks from where your new house is.”
“Looks like we really did pick the right house,” Lachlan grinned.
John rolled himself under the table and waited for Bethany to set his full plate before him.
“You can’t imagine how special this is, Baby. You don’t appreciate home until you can’t get there. This looks good. Thank you.” He pulled her down for a kiss.
Bethany was happy to be home and away from the hospital, too. She’d made a quick run though the grocery but the nice thick pork chops were just perfect for John’s homecoming. He certainly didn’t get anything like that from the cafeteria.
“You know, I got a text message from Terry today about a meeting at the new HAWCO offices.
I don’t reckon I can make it but maybe you can go in my place.”
“What kind of meeting is it?”
“I think it’s just to make it legal that we’re all partners in the company.”
“Will you work for them?”
“Not right away. Maybe when I get on my feet again, we’ll see. I don’t even know what kind of work it is. Besides, me and Bud’s got our thing.”
Beth put her fork down and looked at him a minute. “If you sitting there in that wheel chair is any indication of what your ‘thing’ is with Bud…I’d say you can hang that up, John.”
“Honey, this was my own fault. I did a stupid thing and this is the result. I know better now to try and do anything by myself.”
“What happens if Bud decides to do a stupid thing? You two together worry me.” She picked her fork up and stabbed a little red potato.
“Why?” John looked up in all innocence. “We ain’t quite so stupid when we’re together.”
She looked up at him and continued chewing her potato, saying nothing.
Bud was feeling better and helped unpack some of the boxes today, though it was hard still for him to lift anything heavy. He’d done a stupid thing, going in the blue house alone like he had.
“What are you thinking about?” Marie asked, noticing the crease between his eyebrows.
“Just how stupid it was, what I did at the blue house.”
“I’m glad you realize that, my darling man.”
“I had good intentions.”
“Good intentions often lead to bad demises.”
“I know. I could’ve got Cort and Terry and Dino killed, too.”
“You guys always go in after the one in need. Like you did for John.”
“Yeah, John and me. We’re quite the pair.”
“You are quite a pair, both decent men who love justice…”
“Truth, justice, and the American way,” he interrupted.
“I understand Russell filmed a movie as Superman’s father.”
“Keeps making more of us. This is the first alien.”
“Sid’s sort of an alien, wouldn’t you say?”
“He’s alien to everything I believe in, for sure,” Bud growled. “I’m glad he’s staying away. I hope he never comes back.”
“Maybe he’s simply outgrown us lesser beings and has no further use for us.”
“That’d be nice. I hope the shitbird has.”
“Tarwyn,” Jack came into the kitchen where the good smells had been coming from for some time. He had his phone in his hand but he tipped the lid of a large pot.
“That’s chicken and dumplings.” Tarwyn answered the unasked question.
“It smells good and I’m sharp set.” He remembered what he’d come in for. “This thing keeps singing to me. Make it stop.”
Tarwyn took his phone. “You have a text message from Terry.”
He waited for an explanation of a text message.
“See, if you go to your messages…there it is. He says you’re to attend a meeting on Friday at 11:00 downtown at the new HAWCO offices. He gives the address.”
“Hmm, right.” He looked uncertainly at Tarwyn.
“It’s about getting your part of the company, honey, a formality.”
“Well…what shall I do with it?”
“Whatever you want…you can actually attend meetings and whatever is needed of you or you can be a silent partner. I think that’s the way Max explained it earlier.”
Jack walked back toward the den still looking at the phone. He was wondering what he could contribute. “I suppose if they need a sailor, I’m their man.”
Tarwyn tilted her head and looked at his broad back and that shank of blond hair tied back. “You so underestimate yourself, Jack.”
He turned with a little smile and picked up the TV remote, finding his place, a place he knew how to navigate, he flopped back on the sofa to await dinner.
No one had explained texting to Ben, either. His phone had made a noise and he picked it up. “No one’s there,” he said, putting it back down.
“That didn’t sound like a regular ring,” Mae commented. “Maybe it was a text.”
“What is a text? I ain’t never got one of them there things.”
“You’ve never had a text? You mean you don’t text?”
“How can I text, Mae, if I don’t know what it is?” he asked reasonably.
She gave him a strange look and picked up his phone. “You know somebody named Terry?”
“He’d be one of my brothers.”
“Well, your brother has sent you a text. See.” She held the phone out to him.
He took it and frowned. “You mean a text is like a phone call you read?”
“That’s a fair way of putting it.” She’d read it herself. “You have a meeting Friday?”
“Me an’ my brothers, yes. Got to sign somethin’, I guess.”
“Your brothers are in business with you? I mean other than the two out here who have land with yours?”
“Yeah, all of ‘em. Well, not one, but he’s gone an’ we hope he don’t never come back.”
“That’s kind of harsh, isn’t it, considering he’s your brother?”
“You ain’t met him. You meet him, you’d think the same.”
“How many brothers do you have, Ben?”
“Don’t know right off. I’d have to count.”
“You’re pulling my leg. People don’t have that many brothers.”
“I do. Let me see…there’s Maximus an’ Cort out here; there’s Max at the winery an’ Alex at Linda’s ranch. In town there’s Terry an’ Bud an’ John, an’ there’s Jack an’ Lachlan. That’s probably all. Oh, yeah, there’s Zack.”
“You have ten brothers!”
“An’ Sid, but he ain’t nobody I’d ever wanna call ‘brother’.”
“You had a busy mother.”
“Didn’t,” he replied rather curtly and got up to get a beer.
She followed him. “You don’t like to talk about your mother?”
“Don’t.”
“But I…”
“Don’t pry, Mae. If there’s somethin’ I want you to be knowin’, I’ll tell you.”
His phone rang, a real ring, not a writing ring. “Hello.”
“Ben, it’s Cort. I’m in the car drivin’ home an’ it hit me you’ve not been filled in on the latest with the family.”
“Somethin’ goin’ on?”
“A number of things, yes. Probably the most important an’ what you need to know before Friday’s meetin’ is that Zack is now Rusty.”
“Cort, that there don’t make no sense at all.”
“Just wait till you see him, Ben. He only looked like Zack because of the beard an’ all. What Canfield said was possible turns out to be true. He’s not from a movie. He’s Russell.”
“I thought you just said he was Rusty.”
“Nickname for Russell. He can’t be usin’ that name because Russell is around an’ still makin’ movies, so Terry rigged him out with Ira Crowne as his legal name but we’re all callin’ him Rusty.”
Ben ran a hand through his hair. “How’m I supposed to keep up with all this, Cort? I’m still gettin’ used to who’s who an’ now there’s name changin’ goin’ on?”
“Rusty never said he was Zack. We told him he was, but he’s not. I’m glad you’re comin’ Friday so you can see him. You are comin’, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
“You want to ride with me, come on over Friday mornin’. I’m pickin’ up Maximus, too.”
“How’s he doin’? I ain’t talked to nobody much the last few days.” He looked at Mae.
“He’s a lot better. He an’ Caroline have hired some men with bulldozers to come in an' deal with that area disturbed by the mud flow.”
“I’m guessin’ a bulldozer ain’t really a type of cattle.”
Cort laughed, “You’d be right, Ben. It’s a big machine you drive that pushes dirt around.”
“I might like to see one of them there things in action. Let me know the day they’re comin’ out an’ I’ll mosey on over.”
“Oh, an' John’s gone home from the hospital. He’s still havin’ a hard time gettin’ around an’ probably will for a while, but he’s a lot better. Lachlan’s stopped fightin’ World War II an' he left the hospital today. He an' Hope have bought a house. Bud’s moved into his new house but he still has to take it easy after the blue house collapsed on him. Terry’s K&R outfit, complete with Dino, has moved up to the city since the hurricane wiped them out in Houston.”
“The blue house fell on Bud?”
“Yeah, the pines an' even the water tower fell on it an’ he decided to go in an’ see if he could pull out some stuff for Hope an’ Lachlan. While he was inside the rest of it collapsed an’ he dropped into the basement. Bed saved him. Terry, Dino, an’ I went in after him an’ the tank started to spurt water so we had to get him out of there pronto.”
“Nobody else hurt doin’ that?”
“Nah, well, I sliced open my left palm on somethin’. Seems to be takin’ its sweet time healin’ up. Nothing big, though. Well, let me know if you want to ride in with us on Friday.”
“I’ll be talkin’ to you, Cort. Give Daisy my greetin’s an’ thank her again for the clothes. I’ll be getting’ ‘em back to you soon’s I get ‘em all washed up.”
Mae had been listening, of course, since she was right there in the room. Ben didn’t know what a bulldozer was, or a text? Or the microwave? Something was really strange about that but
she didn’t ask, not right now, not after he’d cut her off about his mother.
“You goin’ to ride in with your brothers?” is what she asked.
“I got to go to this meetin’, Mae. You want to come?”
She looked down at her hands in her lap and didn’t answer.
“You not up for meetin’ folks, is that it?”
“Pretty much.”
“You gonna tell me why?”
“Maybe…if you tell me why you don’t know about a lot of things like texting or bulldozers or microwaves. Everybody today knows about those things.”
“I ain’t everybody, Mae.”
“I’m realizing that more and more.”
“Guess we’ll be waitin’ a bit, then, on the tellin’.”
“You look about as relaxed as I’ve seen you in ages. It’ s a good look, Terry.”
“Don’t let looks fool you, luv. No, I am relaxed. I feel good, that was a good meal, the wine is good. I have no complaints and nobody looking over my shoulder.”
“Except the waiter.” Dee sat back in her chair.
Terry told him to bring the tab. Later when they were outside the restaurant and walking home, he put his arm around her. They swayed back and forth and laughed.
“People will think we’re intoxicated.” Dee grabbed a kiss.
“Do we care what people think?”
“Not me.” She stopped in front of him and slipped her arms around his waist. “I don’t care at all.” He kissed her soundly.
“Mmm, how far is it to home?” She leaned against his chest.
“Not far, but you have to walk it, Nolia. I need to conserve my strength.”
“Whoa, I’m all for that!” She righted herself and held his arm.
A block later, “You know, this is not a bad neighborhood. I’m beginning to like it. I can walk
to that little market back there and buy most everything we need and then there’s Walmart for the rest.”
“What are you buying at Walmart? I didn’t think you liked to shop there.”
“I don’t normally but for Dino and Rusty, well, it was a one stop shop. They needed sheets and towels and basic kitchen items. I bought them a few groceries. They can have breakfast if they want.”
“You’re a good sister.”
“Sister, I guess I am a sister-in-law many times over. It’s good because I never had any sisters and now I do.”
Terry grabbed her hand as they crossed the street. “Not far now, Princess.”
“Why, Ben, why are we waiting?”
“On the tellin’?”
“On…everything.”
“Mae, I been tryin’ to be a gentleman around you.”
“I know, and you have. What if I’d rather you weren’t?”
“Ain’t you a lady, Mae?” he smiled.
“I’m a woman, Ben, and I know you’ve noticed.”
“Kinda hard not to notice such a thing when you lyin’ in the shower no clothes on.”
“Shower with me.”
“Mae…I…”
“You want to. I can see it in your face.”
“I…”
She took his hand, leading him to the downstairs shower. “Sit,” she said, pointing to a bench
in the large bathroom.
She had one of her Walmart dresses on and she slowly unbuttoned it, letting it puddle around her feet. Toeing off her shoes, she stood there in just a form-fitting pink slip, then turned and started the shower. It had a glass door and, still wearing the slip, she went in, letting the warm water soak her so the slip plastered against her skin. Then she turned back to the glass door, raising her arms and pressing her palms against it. “Please,” she smiled.
How was he supposed to resist such an offer? There was no reason, so he quickly disrobed and joined her, pulling the wet slip up and off her then tossing it over the glass door onto the tiled floor. She handed him a bar of soap. He made love to her in the warm water, then still hungry for more, picked her up and carried her to his bed.
Afterwards, with her wrapped in his arms, his chin resting atop her head, he said softly, “Tell me why, Mae. Tell me all your why’s.”
“You’ll ask me to leave.”
“No I won’t.”
“Yes, you will, Ben. You won’t want me anymore.”
“You got to trust me on that, Mae. I need to know.”
She buried her face in his chest. “I did something bad.”
He smiled. “An’ what would that be, darlin’?”
“I stole a car.”
“You get caught?”
“Uh huh. Grand theft auto. I was in jail for a while.” He was silent and she made a sound down in her throat. “I knew I shouldn’t…”
“It’s the gettin’ caught, Mae. You got not to get caught.”
“What? Why would…?”
“In a minute. What happened…after the jail?”
“I served my time, was released a couple of months ago. Just been kinda wandering around
ever since, not feeling like I belong anyplace. I’d hitched a ride down into Texas and they let
me out somewhere…I don’t know just where…but I started walking and then the storm came…then you came.”
“Why you steal the car?”
“He said he needed it, said it’d make things all right.”
“Who?”
“Marty. He’s my brother. He got himself in trouble selling drugs and stuff and he owed these men a lot of money. Said if I stole this car he pointed out, said he could sell it for a lot of money and they wouldn’t hurt him.”
“Why didn’t Marty steal the car hisself?”
“He said it wasn’t safe for him to be seen, that they’d find him and hurt him bad. He told me
if I did this one thing for him then he’d go far away and never be trouble to anybody again.”
“You never stole nothin’ before?”
“I had no idea what I was doing. I really bumbled it and hadn’t gotten more than ten blocks before the police got me.”
“You need to leave the thievin’ to professionals.”
“What do you know about such things, Ben? You seem to have money. You’ve got this big ranch, this house.”
“You want to see?”
“See what?”
“Me. I can show you me but it’s goin’ to be mighty hard for you to understand.”
He gathered her up in the covers and carried her out to the living room, sitting with her partially across his lap, him still undressed, and he started playing 3:10 to Yuma.
She didn’t understand at first why he’d show her a movie at that point in what they were
talking about, but when Ben Wade first appeared onscreen it was so obviously him. She
watched in fascination, looking from time to time away from the screen to his face.
“How…?”
And so he explained it all to her, the whole thing, and all his brothers, who they were, why they were. He did it so well that somehow it made sense and she couldn’t get past the fact that there he was, right there, and she was sitting in his lap. She lay back fully onto the couch.
“Love me again,” she whispered.
And he did.
ON TO PART 20
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