Another head scratch. “The tire-swing by Cally Creek.”
“That’s not brave.”
“You try it with one hand.”
She almost smiled.
“My mother birthed me without pain relief. Bravery is passed down, right?”
“Shit, Thomas Noble. You must’ve weighed a couple ounces when you were born. Probably shot out when she sneezed.”
He went back to pulling, squinting the whole time.
“Where are your glasses?”
“I don’t even need them.”
“You’re pulling the fucking bluebells. I happen to like bluebells.”
He gingerly lay the bluebell carcass back on the bank. “It’s not always easy to be brave, you know. I’m not like you. You see the kids laughing at me. They’re in a group, a head taller, bigger, they’ve got muscles.”
“It’s not about how big you are. It’s the way you sell it.”
He thought on that. “So I act like I can fight?”
“And then you don’t have to.”
“This man looking for you. Will it work on him?”
“No. You see him and you tell me right away.”
“Alright. But maybe you should be more worried about that kid you threatened. Tyler. He has an older brother and he’s looking for you.”
She waved a hand. “Fuck him and his family. Now pull that big weed and then be on your way. It’ll be dark by the time you make it home. And you can ill afford to get hit by a truck and lose use of another limb.”
He stood with reluctance.
She watched him walk, pick up his bicycle and set off toward the gate. She waited till he was out of sight before she spit out a mouthful of tobacco, shuddered, and scraped her tongue with her fingers.
24
THE IVER COUNTY PARADE.
Main bustled. A boy roping straw bale calves, cursing as he missed the top. Girls tossing bean bags into hoops. There was a stall selling hotdogs, a ramp for skateboards nothing more than ply resting on an upturned plant pot. Hal took Robin to get his face painted. Duchess sat on the sidewalk and watched the floats. Mount Call Insurance, Trailwest Bank. Little girls with tiaras, waving to the flash of a couple of cameras.
She saw Thomas Noble and his mother. Mrs. Noble. She was tall and striking, heads turned as she strolled. Beside was an old man, short and thin and white.
Thomas headed over.
“Your mother doing charity? Help the aged or something.”
Thomas Noble followed her eye. “That’s my father.”
She frowned. “Jeez, what’s the attraction there, financial or fetishistic?”
He tugged her arm. “I’ve got something to tell you. It’s urgent.”
She stood with reluctance as he led her from the crowds. Now Duchess could only guess at what Thomas Noble deemed urgent, and her guesses ranged from him believing his mother was fooling around with the mailman, to feeling certain his withered hand was getting stronger, and that he’d soon be able to crush cans with it. He had a thing about crushing cans.
“This better not be about your mother fucking the mailman.” Her relationship with Thomas Noble had blossomed into the kind of one-sided friendship where he confided in her and she used his secrets against him, without mercy.
He wore a sunhat, took it off and fanned himself with it as they moved beneath the shade of a maple tree. “That kid, Tyler. His brother is here and he’s looking for you.”
“You thought that was urgent?”
“You don’t understand. He’s big. I think you should head home.”
“Where is he?”
Thomas Noble swallowed.
“Don’t be a pussy all your life, Thomas Noble. Take me to the big boy so I can hand his ass to him.”
He led her, shaking his head, wiping sweat with a trembling hand. Word spread, kids clustered in the alleyway behind Cherry’s Bakery.
“That’s him.”
Duchess glanced at the kid, Tyler, the boy that had pushed Robin over. And then she looked to the kid beside him, taller, fatter, uglier. He wore shorts that stopped at his calves, pale legs like trunks, Converse worn and faded. Dark hair, bowl-cut, a little acne on each cheek.
Tyler pointed her way and the bigger kid came toward her.
“Who the fuck are you?” Duchess said, fixing the bow in her hair.
“Gaylon.”
“Shit. I guess you had to grow up tough.”
“You messed with my family.” He stepped forward.
She rolled her eyes.
“You threatened to hurt my brother.”
“Actually I threatened to behead that motherfucker.”
A dozen kids now, blood in the water.
“You apologize to him.”
“Shut the fuck up, fat boy.”
Collective gasps as kids backed up a little, Thomas Noble no longer beside her.
Gaylon took another step, clenched a fat fist.
And then she heard it. Part war cry, part girlish scream. The crowd parted for Thomas Noble as he sprinted through. He’d loosened his shirt and, for reasons Duchess did not dare comprehend, tucked his pant legs into his socks.
Thomas Noble moved fast, boxed shadows and switched feet, circling Gaylon as he bobbed his head back and forth.
Duchess brought a hand to her face and watched through her fingers as Gaylon laid him out with a single punch.
And then the back door opened. Cherry taking out a trash bag. The crowd moved fast, Tyler and his brother disappeared.
Duchess walked over and assessed the damage.
“Did I win?” Thomas Noble said, as she helped him to his feet.
“It’s the taking part that counts.”
He touched his eye gingerly. “I’ll have a black eye.”
“It’s already black,” she reasoned.
“Maybe a blue eye then.”
“Come on, I’ll get you some ice.” She took his good hand in hers. Despite the pain, he managed a wide smile.
“That was brave, right?”
“More stupid than brave.”
It was as she turned onto Main she saw it.
Black Escalade.
Her blood drained.
Darke had found them.
She let go of his hand and moved along trucks. Bumper stickers, SWAN MOUNTAIN and MONTANA ELK, DISTRICT NINE. She thought of Darke, trying to blend between, his soulless eyes giving him away.
Duchess saw Hal’s truck, the windows rolled down. She popped the door and slipped into the passenger seat. Thomas Noble looked on as she opened the glove compartment and slid the Smith & Wesson from its place inside.
She tucked the gun into her jeans.
Thomas Noble, the fight left him before it even arrived.
They moved
