Hunter lay awake in bed and peered between the drapes where the frosted windowpane tinted the outside world white. The constant snoring from his roommate woke him up early, making further sleep impossible. The first snow would soon fall and then he’d be trapped in town for the winter. The thought disturbed him, and he found no consolation from the warm body snoring next to him.
He repositioned his pillow in a restless attempt to regain his interrupted dream. A short pause in the snoring quickly renewed with greater gusto. Molly’s arm dropped across his chest and the contact sent him over the edge. He cringed, ready to tear out of his own skin to escape. He rolled out of her grasp and his toasty feet slapped the freezing hardwood floor.
Molly stirred and wrapped herself inside the covers, including the ones he just vacated. “Where are you going?” Her eyes remained closed.
“To the bathroom.”
Hunter frowned and pulled on jeans, sweater and a pair of wool socks. He hurried from the room before she could entice him to stay, which was always an easy thing for her to accomplish. He wandered downstairs and stoked the coals in the fireplace and added another log. Then he fell on the unoccupied sofa, curling up into a ball with hopes of a few more hours of dreaming.
Moments later, feet pounded on the front porch. His eyes popped open in agitation. The front door swung wide, followed by a frosty gust. The chill spread a rash of goose bumps over Hunter and set his teeth to clacking.
Frustrated, Hunter hammered his fist into the back of the sofa several times when the owner of the pounding feet failed to enter right away.
“Hurry up and shut the door! You’re letting the heat out!”
“In a second,” Scout called. “Better yet, give me a hand.”
Hunter growled and pushed himself off the sofa. He reached the doorway and shivered. Heavy clouds packed the sky, barring any chance for the sun’s warmth.
Scout stood in the back of a truck, wrestling with a bulky object lying in the bed. He brought one end up and over the side rail and then pushed the rest of a large rolled-up rug over the rail and onto the porch.
Hunter folded his arms from the biting wind and shook his head, dismayed at yet another one of Scout’s finds. He brought everything home. “Where the hell are we going to put that?”
Scout flashed a big grin and hopped to the ground. “Grab that end and help me get it up to my room.”
Hunter slipped on his boots by the door. “Where’d you get it?”
“I found a farmhouse to the northeast last week that had a bunch of good stuff. Mark and I took the truck this morning to get some things. There was a really nice crib set for little David and I got myself a new rug so I don’t freeze my feet on the hardwood all winter.”
Hunter peeked into the truck bed, but he saw nothing he wanted. “What did you get me?”
“I didn’t get you anything,” Scout said, slipping in front of Hunter like he was hiding something. “Why, what do you need?”
“My own bedroom,” he said.
Scout smiled. “Well, I know where there’s an abandoned farmhouse, minus baby furniture, one rug.” Scout lowered his voice. “And some sewing supplies for Ginger, but don’t tell your girl about that.”
Hunter bent down to tie the laces on his boots. “Don’t worry, we don’t really talk much.”
“Gotcha.” Scout said.
Hunter stopped tying and shook his head. “Cut it out. I didn’t sleep much last night.”
“Now you’re just bragging.” Scout winked.
Hunter dropped the topic altogether and took one end of the rug. He frowned when he realized his choice forced him into hauling the thing upstairs backwards.
They hefted the rug through the door and up. Hunter cursed when he fell over the top step. He fought out from under the heavy roll and then pulled the rug and Scout up the rest of the way. They negotiated the corner into Scout’s room and dropped the bundle with a loud flop. Hunter hoped all the noise hadn’t woken Molly.
Scout’s room was a montage of nostalgia, without any apparent theme. He was a hoarder and proud of it. Shelves lined every available wall space and were filled with all sorts of things from toys, miniatures, books, stuffed animals, framed pictures of dead movie stars, bobble-heads, metal cars, laptops, e-readers, videogames, cameras, a variety of cell phones and MP3 players, pocketknives, comic books, action figures, board games, baseball cards, baseball gloves, bats, and balls, Frisbees, Yo-yos, dog collars, trophies for various sports— especially bowling—and finally, an assortment of busted clocks with their hands set at 3:30.
Hunter thumbed at the clocks. “What’s up with the time?”
Scout looked over and flashed a smile that quickly found its way to his eyes. “School’s out. Time to grow up.”
Hunter nodded with a grunt. School for them was out the moment they were big enough to ride their motorbikes. They were never Vanessa’s best students. Hunter didn’t like to admit that Scout was smarter, but Vanessa was her little brother’s live-in tutor at the time. When Jimmy arrived home from the fields, he was always too exhausted to help Hunter calculate math problems or quiz him on his spelling words.
Hunter traced his finger through a layer of powdery dust amassed on the shelves. “I see your collection is growing. You’re going to have one hell of a garage sale someday.”
“What’s a garage sale?” Scout asked as he wound an old clock that worked if there was an accurate source for the correct time.
“You’re kidding, right? You don’t know what a garage sale is?”
Scout placed the clock back on the shelf. It was ten in the morning according to Scout’s internal timekeeper. “Hunter, if I knew what it meant I would be in on the conversation. What’s a garage sale?”
“It’s when you sell stuff you don’t need or want any more out in your garage. My mom used to set up shop in our garage every spring. I lost all my Transformers one year when I wasn’t paying attention.”
Scout look horrified. “Why would I want to sell my stuff?” He faced a section of shelves and stretched his arms wide, protectively guarding his treasure. “You never know, we might need all this again someday. Besides, we didn’t have a garage where I grew up. Plus, we didn’t have a lot of stuff that we’d even consider putting up for sale.” Scout slid his hand inside a baseball glove and punched the leather pocket with his fist. “Someday I’m going to give all of this to David.”
“David?” Hunter asked. “What about your own kids?”
Scout laughed. “You’re the one working that angle, not me. I like being on my own too much. You’re the next daddy around here. I’m not stepping into that trap.”
Hunter chewed on a fingernail. The idea of having a baby with Molly was even scarier than the approaching winter that would kill his freedom for the next four to five months. Luckily, Samuel had given him a little ‘sex pep talk,’ as the older boy referred to the embarrassing chat. Afterward, Hunter rode straight for the nearest drugstore and cleaned the place out of condoms. So what if they were expired. Better safe than sorry.
Hunter realized none of this really mattered. “We’ll all be dead before any of that happens.”
Scout brushed away Hunter’s comment with a wave of the baseball glove. “You’re as morbid as your brother. The plague is over.”
“No one’s turned eighteen since Greg. That doesn’t mean it’s over. And I am not my brother.”
“Can’t you just enjoy being fifteen and having a hot, older girlfriend? If this were back in the day, she wouldn’t cross the street to kick you in the balls. And you definitely wouldn’t be getting any loving. So what if you have a kid. Somebody has to keep the population going, plague or not. Use your survival instincts.”
Hunter glanced down the hall and closed the door. He lowered his voice so Molly wouldn’t overhear. “Man, a kid is the last thing I want. And the second to the last thing I want is to be cooped up here, sharing my bed and practically every waking second with the princess. I’m telling you, Scout, I’m going to freak out if I don’t get a break from her soon.”
“What’s wrong with you, dude? She’s so hot looking and for some reason she’s into you big time.”
“Yeah, but you don’t know what it’s like hanging out with her every day. It was fine at first because I was still able to get away and do my thing. I built up time to actually miss her—couldn’t wait to get back. But since this cold weather rolled in and we can’t travel out that far, I don’t know how much more I can stand. She’s got me all wrapped up.”
