JR squinted and stared straight ahead as she digested Sam’s thoughts.
“The main reason I let you handle that rapist this morning,” Sam continued, “was because there will likely be similar incidents in the next few years. In this new world, There Will be Blood. It’s a given. We both need to be hard enough to deal with deviate people in order to protect each other. Today, and in the future, we are the law—police, judge, jury, and executioner. Gradually the frequency might decrease as the worst outlaws are eliminated, but the danger will still be there; it will always be there. Bad behavior will manifest itself in other people of this generation as well as future generations. Previously that behavior was mostly contained by law enforcement, the judicial system, and by religion, and peer pressure. Now, I believe the ratio of those societal rouges may have increased drastically since most law abiding people have left or were eliminated. Their wanton cruelty is a fact we’ll have to deal with the rest of our lives, or we’ll be overcome by them. Consider we’re back in the old west; only there are no Texas Ranges to act as vigilantes and dole out punishment. We have to do it ourselves.”
“Thank you. I needed to hear that and know you understand. I love you more each and every day. What bothers me most deeply about the whole incident is the racial slur. Darrell Hopper noticed I’m a Native American and was going to enjoy raping the squaw. That was like pouring acid in an open wound. I wanted to kill him for saying that as much as for the actual sex act he was ready to perform. I’m afraid that with these unchecked violent animals racial prejudice will again be rampant.”
They embraced and kissed before Sam said, “I’m in love with you too. I have the same feelings for you, and I’ll protect you with my own life.”
JR fetched two fresh beers from the stream, and they sat in awe of the fading gray-orange sunset. Smokey lay against JR’s foot with his head on his outstretched paws. Sam realized he had never before thought about sacrificing his life for the love of another person. JR was the sole reason for that change, and he realized it was because he recognized his deep devotion to her. It seemed impossible they had only known each other such a short time—a matter of weeks. The yearlong period he dated Ari had been the superficial want of a boy needing to attach himself to someone deemed desirable. That attachment had been for all the wrong reasons. Since meeting and falling in love with JR, he realized Ari had been pretty, but shallow, demanding, and self-centered. Her abandoning him hurt at the time, but he now saw that loss as a minor hardship compared to the thought of losing JR through some tragedy.
That night JR cried out several times in her sleep. Sam woke and held her and comforted her until she drifted into a troubled sleep again.
Sam finished the closet the next day. He’d thought about building a doghouse for Smokey but didn’t relish the idea of leaving him outside in the winter while they were warm and dry inside. JR solved the problem that night by putting a heavy blanket on the floor across the room and telling Smokey to stay on it when they went to bed. In their most passionate throes of lovemaking, when she was at her loudest, they heard Smokey growling and slinking toward their bed. They paused for both to tell the dog to get back on his bed and stay there. After three admonishments, he obeyed, and they continued to blissful satiation.
Near the week’s end they made a run to Charlie’s for lumber and wire fence material to build a fence around the chicken house to keep foxes, lynxes, or wolverines out at night. JR drove.
A mile before reaching Charlies Place, JR took note of a faded painted sign she’d seen several times before in passing. It suddenly had new meaning. “Look Sam. Hooper’s Auto Salvage. An arrow points up that hill on that gravel road. I wonder if it’s the same Hoopers we encountered the other day?”
“Don’t know, but I bet we’ll eventually find out if it is.”
A small graveled parking lot beside the old, weathered sign held two old, beat-up, abandoned cars with space for three more. Door glass high weeds had grown thickly to encompass both old hulks.
At Charlie’s place JR drove past the fuel pumps, then turned in toward the lumber storage shed and parked well past the store’s back entrance. After finding fence staples they planned to load the wire and treated fence post. No other vehicles were around. They had agreed to enter Charlie’s private area above the store later to take anything they could use from there. Sam entered the dim store alone while JR squatted beside the truck and poured water in her palm for Smokey to drink.
Inside, Sam walked single-mindedly toward the area where nails and screws were shelved. He thought about starting the smaller generator but passed on that because he would only be inside a few minutes. A flashlight lit his way through the semidarkness and would be needed to sort through the various sized fasteners. He needed staples to attach the fence material to the wood frame and post he’d build. He was a fourth of the way down an aisle when two bearded men stepped out from shadows at the end of the aisle. In the flashlight beam, the men’s clothes matched their overall grubby appearance. One was tall and heavy, the other shorter and thin. Both were grim. Tall and heavy said, “What are you after?” Short and thin stared with a nasty smirk.
Sam remained calm. Both men were armed. Tall and heavy had a holstered handgun and short and thin cradled
