them.'
Bill nodded. 'I should've known it was something like that.'
Street put away the board, and the three of them walked out of the house and down the road to the cafй as they always did after these chess matches. The night was clear, the air cold and brisk. It felt good, and Bill exhaled as he walked, trying to blow smoke rings with the steam of his breath.
'Saw your article on Bill,' Street said. 'You made him sound almost articulate.'
Ben grinned. 'That's my job.'
They laughed.
'I'm not too keen on The Store, either,' Street admitted.
Bill shook his head. 'That building'll totally fuck up the character of the town.'
'Not just that, it's going to cut into my business. The Store sells electronic equipment. Stereos and radios and tools and wire and adapters. And they can probably sell it cheaper than I can. I'm not exactly rolling in dough as it is. I don't know how I'll be able to survive once they come in.' He glanced over at Ben.'I was thinking maybe you could do some type of story on how The Store will affect local merchants, try to drum up some support for us. I know the town council and the construction companies are all gung ho for this, but none of us in the chamber of commerce are thrilled. A lot of us are just hanging on by a thread. The Store might finish us off.'
'Sure,' Ben said. 'I don't know why I didn't think of it myself.'
'I won't shop there,' Bill said.
'You never shop in town anyway. You always go down to Phoenix.'
'I shop at your place.'
'That's true,' Street conceded. 'That's true.'
'Maybe I'll start shopping here more.'
'It's about time.'
They reached the cafй, walked inside. A family was seated at one of the booths next to the window, a teen- aged boy and girl at another. Buck Maitland and Vernon Thompson, the two old men who seemed to live at the cafй, were sitting on stools at the counter, full coffee cups and empty french fry dishes in front of them.
Street waved to Holly, the waitress behind the cash register, and the three of them sat down in the booth closest to the door. Holly stopped by, menus in hand, but they said they just wanted coffee, and with a look of annoyance she retreated behind the counter to pour their orders.
Street and Ben were already talking about something else, some suspense movie they'd both seen on cable, but Bill wasn't listening. It had taken him only a few seconds to determine that the two old men at the counter were talking about The Store, and he tried to tune out everything else and zero in on their conversation.
'Yeah,' Buck was saying, 'my son's working on that project.'
'How's it coming?'
Buck shrugged. 'Don't seem too happy.'
'Why not?'
Buck took a sip of his coffee. 'Don't rightly know. But it seems like a hard job. You know how some jobs just go smoothly? Everything kinda flows together? Well, this ain't like that.'
'I heard there's been a lot of accidents,' Vernon said. 'My brother-in-law knows the blaster on that job. He's a powder monkey from way back, worked on Boulder and Glen Canyon, and he said the same thing. Said they've had more accidents on this job, which should've been a cakewalk, than they had on that stretch of highway they blasted through Pine Ridge. Said this is the toughest blast since the canyon.'
'You heard about Greg Hargrove, didn't you?'
'Yeah,' Vernon said. 'The cliff road.' He shook his head. 'Guy was an asshole, but he didn't deserve to die that way.'
'That's why I'm not real happy with my son there. Like you said, a lot of accidents.'
_Accidents_.
Bill felt cold.
'Earth to Bill, Earth to Bill.'
He turned to see both Ben and Street staring at him.
'Are you back on this plane?' the editor asked.
He laughed. 'Sorry. I was thinking about something else.'
'Everything all right?'
'Yeah,' he said. 'Yeah.'
But he still felt cold.
3
Ginny stopped by the farmer's market after work.
She did most of her shopping at Buy-and-Save, but the store's produce was consistently poor and she preferred to purchase her vegetables from the local growers who sold at the farmer's market. The prices were a little higher, but the quality was a hundred times better and she would rather her money go to local farmers than to some anonymous produce supplier.
She bought tomatoes and tomatillos, lettuce and onions, then drove home, where Shannon and Samantha were both lounging around the living room, watching TV. 'Where's your father?' she asked as she dumped the sack of vegetables on the kitchen counter.
'Music store,' Samantha said. 'He told us to tell you he was bored and restless and needed some new tunes.'
Ginny sighed. 'He must be in the middle stretch. He always gets antsy when he's halfway through a manual. Did he say when he'd be back?'
'No.'
'Well, we're having tacos for dinner. If he's not back by the time I finish chopping the vegetables and cooking the hamburger, he's on his own.' She started unloading the produce sack.
Samantha sat up, then stood, walking over to the kitchen. 'Need any help?'
'No. But change the channel. I want to hear the news. If you guys want to watch something else, do it in your rooms.'
'Mom!' Shannon said, but she switched the station.
Samantha pulled out a stool, sitting down at the counter, watching her mother fold the sack and put it in the cupboard under the sink. 'I think I'm going to go to ASU next year,' she said.
'I thought you wanted to go to UC Brea or New Mexico State.'
'Well, unless you or Dad win the lottery, chances of that look pretty slim.'
Ginny laughed. 'Glad you finally see it our way.'
'The thing is, I'm going to need money. Even if I get a scholarship -- and I probably will -- my counselor said that'll only cover tuition. After that, there's books, room and board. I'll need transportation, too.' She glanced out the window. 'I figure if I start saving up now I'll be able to afford to afford a used car by the end of next summer.'
Ginny nodded. 'Your father goes to that car auction in Holbrook during the summer. Maybe you could find something there.'
Samantha nodded. 'It's worth a try.' She paused. 'The thing is, I want to work at The Store --'
In the living room, Shannon laughed. 'Dad'll love that.'
Samantha looked at her mother. 'That's why I was hoping you could sort of smooth the way for me. Maybe if you brought it up . . .'
Ginny held up her hands. 'No. This is between you and your father.'
'Come on, Mom. Please? You know his brain snaps on that subject. And if I bring it up he'll automatically say no and that'll be that. You can pave the way for me, get him used to the idea.'
Ginny opened the top drawer, took out her chopping knife.
'Mom?'
'He's not going to want you to work at The Store.'
'But you could hint around about it, soften him up.'
'Why can't you work someplace else? George's? Or Buy-and-Save? Or KFC?'
'There aren't a lot of jobs in this town, in case you haven't noticed.
