"Anyway," Frank continued. "No. Nothing at all happened last night. Not even the noise that they usually make. I didn't see anyone, and I didn't hear anyone either. Stay quiet back there?" he indicated the down-town district by wagging his finger in the general direction.
"I don't know about quiet. Most everything was sort'a quiet, I guess. That Ira was pretty much talking all night. I don't think it does any harm, you know, but... Well, I can't put my finger on it. I guess I sort'a think it might be doing some good," he shrugged his shoulders noncommittally. "I guess, Frank, I'm in the same boat you are. I ain't totally convinced one way or the other. The only thing I am convinced of is that we're on the good side. I mean," he seemed slightly embarrassed, "the side of good."
"That's about my feeling," Frank said, "you can bet your ass if it wasn't I wouldn't still be here. I'll tell you something about Ira though, something that makes me want to believe him," Gary raised his eyebrows as if asking what, "he doesn't talk like a Bible-thumper, or a... What's the word I want? I don't know, I guess he doesn't sound like one of those guys that come knocking on your door telling you, you need to be saved or something. I think that, for me at least, swings me toward the believing side; you know what I'm saying? Another thing, he makes no excuses at all. I mean he isn't saying higher power, he's saying God. Period, no maybes, but God. At the least I think he's convinced, and you gotta admire a man with convictions that strong; that unshakable. It swings me a hell of a lot closer to believing it, but at the same time pushes me away. I guess I always thought that I'd know somehow. That somehow I'd be able to tell one way or the other, but I can't. It's pretty damn confusing to me, and I can't tell what the hell I even feel about it...Help me out here, Gary."
"No need to, Frank, you're doing fine on your own. I ain't got any great insight into it that you're somehow missing. I'm in the same boat you are. I don't know, and I don't know how to know. I guess what I'm saying, for me anyway, is that I need a little more proof. I believe, and I mean this sincerely, that we all, those of us who stayed behind that is, made a choice the other night, no doubt there at all, how 'bout you?"
"I'll give you that, not grudgingly either," Frank said, "I knew I was making a choice. No doubt at all, and I knew it was a choice for good, or the good side. That still doesn't completely clarify it for me though, but it does makes me pretty sure that I can at least make an uninfluenced decision. At least I don't think I was influenced. I mean, Annie was right there next to me, and I can't tell you how... Afraid I was... Well, honestly, I was afraid; you know that she might go. But, I made up my mind that even if she did, I wasn't. I was staying. I guess... Well, It isn't like it's a big secret, and it also isn't something she and I are trying to hide... That we... Well, that we care for each other," Gary nodded his head. He had seen it, probably even before the two of them had realized it. That's the way it goes though, he told himself. It's always easier to see a thing if you're on the outside looking in at it.
Aloud he said, "Yes I saw that, and I have to say honestly I wasn't too sure which way you were going to go. I watched you, and you looked to be torn between the thing. Tough position to be in, Frank, for sure, I ain't so sure I would have wanted to make that kind'a choice. I ain't sure how it would've gone, I guess."
"It was close for me, for a second," Frank admitted reluctantly, "it's been an awful long time since I've cared one way or the other about a woman. I really thought, to be honest, that I was done with that part of my life. Standing there though, I realized I wasn't. I realized I didn't want her to go. Not that I think she feels the same, I-I don't really know," he seemed confused for a second. "I guess I'm kind of dense when it comes to women. I mean, I don't purposely try to be, it's just that I can't tell. How do you tell what a woman's thinking, Gar?"
"Don't ask me. I believe men are made stupider, is that a word? Well even if it's not, I guess you get my meaning. I don't know any more than you know. I suppose though that it's the same for a woman. How do they know? Intuition or something?" Gary shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Seems to me though, that the feelin's mutual," he smiled again as he saw Franks face flush deep red, but looked away after a second, and switched the subject back to the barricade.
"So...nothing at all last night, huh?"
Frank took a deep breath, glad that Gary had changed the subject.
Frank Morgan was a thoughtful and kind man, even a good man, although he did not always think so. But his feelings had always been a hard thing for him to get a handle on. "It was dead quiet, like I said. It sort of spooked me, I had this rifle," he hefted the machine gun that he still held
