The southwestern wind toyed with the high school that lay on its wide north-Texas runway, whipping along the earth\u2019s surface toward the brownstone building, gaining speed until the last instant, when it veered around and over the cube.<\/p>\n
Beside the school lay a large asphalt pond with a huddle of cars in its middle, four young men beside a refurbished \u201994 Chevy pickup smoking cigarettes in the February cold.<\/p>\n
Jody stood with his back to the others, his open denim jacket flapping in the wind. He stamped out his cigarette and, turning to the other three leaning against the pickup, addressed the blonde one, who also wore a denim jacket, buttoned closed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s going on, Lammy? Y\u2019ain\u2019t saying much.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI gave Cindy a hard time last night for no reason,\u201d Lam said. \u201cI don\u2019t know, just feeling uneven.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jody gazed at him, focusing on his contorting face as he sucked the cigarette, eying the neat lines of combed-back hair, looking for the spot that caused the unevenness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s that bullshit doctor telling you?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWaiting to see if the medication shrinks it or if they need to take it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know they\u2019re going in after it,\u201d Jody said.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnock it off, Jody,\u201d Lam said.<\/p>\n
Jody bent forward to light a cigarette in cupped hands. \u201cHey,\u201d he said, straightening, waiting for Lammy to meet his eyes, \u201clong as Cindy\u2019s still bowing down before your Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other two laughed, and Jody turned to gaze out over the empty playing fields beside the school.<\/p>\n
\u201cAin\u2019t no doctor going to fix nothing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat they\u2019re saying now is good,\u201d Lammy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t matter what they\u2019re saying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lammy turned away with a sigh, ducked down to light a cigarette, and Jody moved to the cab of the truck, opened it, and removed a 12-gauge shotgun from the rack behind the seat, held it out before him. He pulled a bandanna from his jacket pocket and buffed the wooden stock.<\/p>\n
Lam turned to the other two. \u201cBout that time,\u201d he said, stamping out his cigarette, stooping gingerly, bending at the knees, to stash the butt in a pocket.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re coming to The Hole, right?\u201d Jody said to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust let me show my face in math.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jody stood by the pickup and watched Lammy and the other two move off toward the building leaning into the wind, ascending the walkway to the main entrance. As if cued by the feint chiming of a bell, Jody returned the rifle to its rack and slid in behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
When Jody had turned eighteen and quit school the year before, he\u2019d done so without remorse. Then, when he\u2019d gotten arrested for armed robbery and his parents had kicked him out of the house, saying they could not abide the path he had chosen, what had always been a hunch hardened into firm knowledge, the very idea of paths, of one thing leading to another, being nothing more than something folks concocted to make themselves feel better, nothing more than puffery.<\/p>\n
After spending 30 days in the county jail, he had moved in with his fellow parolee, his older cousin, Bartley, not because of any path or plan, nor even in defeat or resignation, but as an act of mute acceptance.<\/p>\n
Jody started the truck, lowered his window, and sat there squinting at the school, squeezing it with his eyes, until the side door opened, and Lammy\u2019s slim figure emerged and jogged toward him.<\/p>\n
Lam got in the truck, breathing heavily.<\/p>\n
\u201cBullshit medication,\u201d Jody said.<\/p>\n
Lam shook his head and rolled down the window but, feeling a rush of cold air suck through the cab, quickly raised it, Jody immediately using the button on his arm rest to lower it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you ain\u2019t gonna feel the cold,\u201d Jody said, \u201cain\u2019t no sense being in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lam turned up his collar, relit the saved half-cigarette, and placed an arm on the back of the seat. Two years earlier when he\u2019d started smoking, Jody had tried to talk him out of it, but the effort had had the opposite effect, making Jody, whom Lam was emulating in the first place, seem even more grown up.<\/p>\n
Lam drew heavily on the butt, exhaling smoke for two breaths. \u201cMy house first,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter have something to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be something,\u201d Lam said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShit,\u201d Jody said, smoothing back his hair with his left hand, gripping the wheel with his right.<\/p>\n
They reached Lam\u2019s house, an aluminum-sided ranch with a waist-high chain-link fence around the property. Lam hopped out, Jody following at a distance, reaching Lam in the kitchen where he was removing items from the refrigerator.<\/p>\n
Jody stepped past him to the sliding doors, through which he could see the circular half-above-ground pool, its green plastic cover partly blown off, revealing a few feet of standing water. As behind him Lammy lay slices of bologna and cheese on bread, Jody lit a cigarette and stared out at the pool before the small yard with its single birch tree standing bare beside the metal fence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should go in,\u201d Jody said.<\/p>\n
Lam huffed, returned to the refrigerator for the mustard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m serious. That water ain\u2019t even froze.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGo ahead,\u201d Lam said. \u201cLay out there and get a suntan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s got to be both of us,\u201d Jody said, Lammy spreading mustard on two slices of bread.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the middle of February,\u201d Lammy said.<\/p>\n
He flipped the bologna and cheese from one piece of bread to the other, spread mayo on the bare side, and closed the sandwiches.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike when I\u2019m driving,\u201d Jody said, peering out at the empty yard, \u201csometimes at the last second I\u2019ll turn left instead of right, just to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lam placed the sandwiches in a paper bag, turned back to Jody, eyed him a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do say cold water\u2019s good for your immune system,\u201d Lammy said, and he began unbuttoning his shirt.<\/p>\n
They each stripped off their clothes and as Jody pulled open the sliding door, Lammy raced past him hooting, leapt in feet first, sliding beneath the surface and popping up to stand in the thigh-high water, gasping and grinning.<\/p>\n
Jody splashed in beside him, sank beneath the surface for a good fifteen seconds, coming up red-faced but breathing evenly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are definitely leaking some oil,\u201d Lam said, lifting himself from the pool. \u201cLet\u2019s get inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jody hoisted himself from the pool and strolled across the deck, the wind blowing dry his pallid body.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lam set the bag of sandwiches on the seat, placed his 12-gauge in the rack beneath Jody\u2019s, tugged his door closed, and Jody accelerated onto the road, tires spinning in sand, chirping as they gained traction.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe,\u201d Lam said, \u201cyou ain\u2019t got no oil left to leak.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re right there with me,\u201d Jody said.<\/p>\n
They left the gridded streets of the development and headed up Route 136, then north onto 207, with each rise crested, another longer, straighter stretch appearing before them. Lam pushed through the radio presets, settling on WKMG-Amarillo, the disk jockey reading an ad for a gentlemen\u2019s club, Linky\u2019s Undercover, the ad ending with a squeaky-voiced Linky offering, \u201cthe most generous pours in the panhandle and the most sumptuous dancers. Night or day,\u201d he concluded, \u201cit\u2019s always dark at Linky\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that dude is terminal,\u201d Lam said.<\/p>\n
With the truck\u2019s added suspension, Jody having replaced the coil springs, 65 miles per hour felt like a crawl, and both Jody and Lam repeatedly checked the speedometer, the needle trembling, dropping on the inclines to 60, then releasing to 70, 75, before they began to climb again, reaching the highest point and beginning the gradual descent into the Canadian River Valley.<\/p>\n
Jody slowed and turned onto a dirt road that continued at an angle down an escarpment, leading to an isolated depression separated from the general valley by rising land on one side and a series of small buttes on the other. They squeezed between a wash of boulders, entered a circular clearing of crusted earth peppered with scrub, and pulled off of what was now barely a track.<\/p>\n
In The Hole, the sky was smaller, the sun hovering just above the ridge, a growing lake of shadow encroaching from the west. The wind had lightened to a gentle breeze.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo how\u2019d you get out of math?\u201d Jody asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSaid I had to go to the bathroom. Just didn\u2019t say where.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe you do get it,\u201d Jody said. \u201cAbout being free in the meantime.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLike having a fistful a fifties in a whorehouse,\u201d Lammy said, grinning.<\/p>\n
\u201cAin\u2019t no joke,\u201d Jody said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the hell is wrong with you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about letting go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow bout we let go some buckshot?\u201d Lammy said.<\/p>\n
Jody lifted his rifle from the rack and slid out of the truck. He removed a bag of shells from the toolbox in the back, threw two to Lammy, and they loaded the guns and walked out into the open.<\/p>\n
Jody pinned the rifle against his shoulder, tilted back until he aimed straight up at the sky, and squeezed the trigger, the shot reverberating against the surrounding protrusions of land. He turned back as Lammy raised his rifle and fired into the open air. Jody again took aim, squinting at the precise center of the sky, and shot.<\/p>\n
After a dozen or so rounds, a car appeared on the opposite bluff, its chrome bumper glinting in the rays of the hidden sun.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho\u2019s that?\u201d Lam stood still, watching as a black SUV descended the slope and cut toward them.<\/p>\n
\u201cSheriff,\u201d Jody said, recognizing the gold lettering across the front and bull bar over the grill.<\/p>\n
Jody took Lammy\u2019s shotgun, stepped around the Chevy\u2019s far side, and leaned both rifles against the driver\u2019s door.<\/p>\n
Dressed in a khaki shirt and grey pants with a confederate stripe, the Hutchinson County sheriff removed himself from the vehicle a leg at a time, and placed his hat on his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfternoon, boys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething wrong?\u201d Jody said.<\/p>\n
The sheriff squinted at Lammy. \u201cYou\u2019re the Wilson boy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes sir,\u201d Lam replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow you feeling today, son?\u201d the sheriff asked him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been some trouble at the Gulf station in Pringle,\u201d the sheriff said. He shifted his eyes from Lam to Jody. \u201cLooks like a robbery gone bad. Old man Corback\u2019s dead; his boy\u2019s in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe come out here to eat lunch,\u201d Jody said.<\/p>\n
The sheriff held his eyes on Jody, who shifted his weight, gazing away, toward the bluff that blocked the sun.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I know you?\u201d sheriff said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouldn\u2019t say,\u201d Jody said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, y\u2019all see or hear anything, give us a call.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes sir,\u201d Lammy answered.<\/p>\n
The sheriff stood a moment. \u201cProbably be a good idea to head on home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFree country, last I checked,\u201d Jody said, still gazing at the crease the sun had slipped into.<\/p>\n
\u201cAin\u2019t demanding, just suggesting,\u201d sheriff said.<\/p>\n
He stepped back to his car, installed himself behind the wheel, backed around in a tight half-circle, and rumbled back up the trail.<\/p>\n
\u201cOld man Corback,\u201d Lammy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis place,\u201d Jody said, pausing until Lammy met his eyes. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing more than a dot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy old man knows, knew, Corback,\u201d Lam said.<\/p>\n
Jody exhaled, turned away, and turned back. \u201cI\u2019m saying there\u2019s more.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Lammy stood there processing Jody\u2019s words, another vehicle appeared on the bluff. Windows sparking orange in the hidden sun, it descended into the shadow and emerged into the dusky half-light of The Hole\u2014a tow truck, letters across its side spelling out the word, CORBACK\u2019S.<\/p>\n
Jody turned and faced Lam. \u201cWe\u2019re nothing but ants,\u201d he said, peering into Lam\u2019s eyes. \u201cYou hear me?\u201d<\/p>\n
The truck roared up and shut its motor, a single helix of dust looping up above the shaded hills toward the pink sky, heavier dust settling around the truck\u2019s wheels.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait here,\u201d Jody said.<\/p>\n
He walked over to the driver\u2019s half-lowered window, exchanged some words, and returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cSaid for us to follow him over to that patch of brush.\u201d Jody gestured toward a stand of dwarf pi\u00f1on and creosote. “So he can ditch the truck.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what?\u201d Lammy asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSaid he wants to get it over with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019d you say to him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jody attempted a smile but his lips barely moved. \u201cTold him it\u2019s easier once the sun goes down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGoddam,\u201d Lammy said, \u201cyou talked him into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe I did,\u201d Jody said.<\/p>\n
The two returned to the pickup and followed the tow truck over the dirt and brambles to the far side of The Hole.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome with me,\u201d Jody said, opening his door.<\/p>\n
Lam hesitated, then pushed his door open with both hands and followed Jody toward the tow truck.<\/p>\n
Several paces before the truck, Jody touched Lam on the shoulder, stopping him, and tilted back, gazing up at the sky, clouds at the edges but clear in the center.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see the bull\u2019s-eye?\u201d Jody said, his voice a hard whisper.<\/p>\n
Lammy leaned back to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cClouds swelling up with pink,\u201d Jody said, \u201cbut straight up there\u2019s nothing, just a window.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jody took a step away, then another, nodding at the driver as Lammy gazed up, a report bursting from the window of the tow truck, Lammy falling on his hip, then dropping back, his head snapping against the ground.<\/p>\n
Jody peered into the dark cab of the truck, then turned back to Lammy who lay motionless, eyes open, reached down, grabbed a heel in each hand, and began dragging him toward the truck, blood streaming from the wound in the chest.<\/p>\n
After a few steps, Jody stopped. \u201cBartley,\u201d he called, \u201ccome hold his head!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the hell for?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tumor,\u201d Jody said. \u201cHold it off the ground while I drag him.\u201d<\/p>\n
They dragged the body to the tow truck, lowered themselves to the ground, and shoved Lammy\u2019s body beneath it with their feet, a dust-edged puddle of blood working its way back into the open.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
They drove Jody\u2019s truck back up the trail the way they had come, turning north at the highway, away from town. Slumped in the passenger\u2019s seat, Jody lifted his collar and stared out the lower corner of his window as they headed toward the Oklahoma panhandle beneath a darkening sky.<\/p>\n
\u201cWasn\u2019t supposed to be trouble,\u201d Jody said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOld man pulled out a pistol,\u201d Bartley said. \u201cGood thing the register was full, cause I never saw no safe. Got enough to get us to Topeka, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
The truck crawling along the flat earth at 70 miles per hour, Jody peered out at the passing land, faint shapes of hills rising up between darkened gulches. His eyelids growing heavy, he lowered his window to bathe in the icy wind, saw Lammy standing there in the rushing air combing his hair back over his uneven scalp.<\/p>\n
Jody released a long stream of air and rolled up the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeast your buddy ain\u2019t gonna suffer no more,\u201d Bartley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn\u2019t suffering,\u201d Jody said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said the tumor was malig\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSaid it might be,\u201d Jody said. \u201cWhich was just as bad, maybe worse\u2014kept him hoping.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBullshit hope,\u201d Barley said. \u201cDoes nothing but fuck you over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot now it don\u2019t,\u201d Jody said, and he lowered his head against the passenger window, his eyes sagging halfway closed.<\/p>\n
\u201cShoot,\u201d Bartley said, \u201cI almost forgot,\u201d and he reached forward to flip on the headlamps, which bore a tunnel before them into the night.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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