The Farm

'That's for everybody's peace of mind especially yours. We have high aspirations for you, Jett. I never thought I'd have some body to carry on the Smith tradition.'

'But I'm not a Smith.' Jett wondered if Gordon was stoned on something himself, because he was making less sense than she was. From the way he hovered over her, she could see straight up his nose to the black, wiry hairs inside.

'We're still a family. I know things have been a little rough on you, having to make new friends and acclimate yourself to this old farmhouse. It's a major transition from Charlotte to Solom.'

'Yeah, they don't have no goats grazing along Independence Boulevard.'

Gordon's lips quavered as if he were trying to smile and failing. 'That's 'any' goats.'

'Any goats. Like, what's their deal?'

'Deal?'

'Your goats act like they own the place. I know they're supposed to be stubborn, but they're kind of creepy.'

'They're more pets than anything. They won't hurt you.'

Maybe they won't hurt you. But you're part of this place. Maybe they think I'm some kind of alien freak, come in from the outside world to threaten their way of life.

As soon as the thought arose, Jett dismissed it as silly. The goats were weird, that was for sure, but they were just shaggy, cloven- hoofed, goofy-eyed animals when you got right down to it. Nothing to be afraid of. Even if they ate your dope and looked at you as if you were a germ under a microscope.

'Your eyes are bloodshot,' Gordon said, sniffing the air and causing his nostril hairs to quiver.

'Yeah. I'm not sleeping very well.'

'I thought you'd be settled in by now.'

'Bad dreams. There's this man in a black hat who—'

Gordon took an abrupt step backward and accidentally kicked her backpack with his heel. The zippered section was open, reveal ing the dull glint of her pot Baggie. She expected Gordon to give it a once-over, but he regained his balance and said in a near whisper, 'A man in a black hat?'

'Yeah, and an old-timey suit that's all black and worn out, like it had been picked over. I can't really see his face, it's like the brim of the hat throws a shadow over it.' Jett didn't mention that she'd seen him three times: in the barn loft, in English class, and in the boiler room at school. If the man was Teal, then Gordon might know something about him. But if Jett's acid trips had eaten a permanent hole in her brain, she didn't want to arouse any suspicions or she might end up in lockdown at a psychiatric ward. Not that a vaca tion would be all bad, but Mom was already a basket case and that might send her over the edge. And good old Dad would probably drop his job and his new girlfriend and make a beeline to Solom to straighten things out, fucking everything up in his usual bumbling way.

'I won't lecture you on the chemical changes caused by substance abuse,' Gordon said. 'Drugs can do permanent damage. Hallucinations, confusion, memory loss.'

Jett nodded absently, focusing on the brittle grind of Trent Reznor's voice leaking from the headphones. And don't forget that good old side effect of 'fun. So quit fucking lecturing already.

'Okay, Gordon. I promised you and Mom I'd stay clean. No sweat.'

Gordon reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, as if he'd been studying parental techniques in a textbook. 'Hang in there, Jett. We'll make this family work.'

'I know. But I'd better get back to this homework.'

'The satisfaction of academic achievement is the best drug of all.'

Whatever.

He paused at the door. 'Dinner in fifteen minutes.'

After he left the room, Jett locked the door and popped the Nine Inch Nails out of the Walkman. Hitchcock's 'Element of Light' was the ticket now. She retrieved the Baggie from her backpack, sprinkled a pinch of grass in her aluminum-foil pipe, and carried it with the lighter to her window. She eased the window up and the evening chill sliced its way into the room. If she took small puffs and exhaled through the gap, then even Gordon's big hairy nose couldn't detect the scent.

Beyond the glass, the world was dark and still. Even the insects were tucked away, as if hungry predators roamed the night. The stars were scattered like grains of salt on a blue blanket, the quarter moon sharp as a scythe. The mountains made sweeping black waves along the horizon. She had to give it to Solom on that count: it had Charlotte beat all to hell on scenery.

She was about to thumb her lighter when she saw movement out in the cornfield. The tops of the dead stalks stirred. She expected a wayward goat to walk out from the rows. The animals were renowned for breaking through their fences. The Fred-faced fuckers never seemed to get enough to eat. They probably chewed in their sleep.

But it wasn't a goat. It was a man. In the scant moonlight, she could just make out the brim of bis hat. The brim lifted in her di rection, as if the man were staring at the window.

She looked down at the dried leaves in the curled bowl of the pipe. 'Hallucination, my ass,' she said.

Jett sparked the lighter and touched the flame to the weed, in haling deeply. She planned on losing her mind, at least for a little while. Because if her mind was gone, then she wouldn't have to re member. And if she didn't remember, then the man in the black hat didn't exist.

Drug problem.

Oxymoron.

Drug problem equals no problem.

She closed her eyes and let the smoke seep out her mouth into th e Solom sky.

Odus took a drink of Old Crow, the best four-dollar bourbon around. Preacher Mose didn't bat an eye as the man pulled the bot- de from the hip pocket of his overalls, though it was the first time anyone had ever brought liquor into the church during his tenure. Mose almost reached for the bottle himself, but figured now wasn't a good time to let his principles slide. They sat side by side in a front pew of the church, staring straight ahead as if expecting a ser mon from the silent pulpit.

'Now do you believe me?' Odus asked.

'I believe in the Lord and just at the moment, that's the only thing I believe in.'

'That was him. Harmon Smith.'

'People don't come back from the dead.'

'I thought that was what the Bible was all about. Hell, if you don't get resurrected, then why miss out on all the fun of sinning?'

'That happened in the Bible,' Mose said. 'This is real life.'

'Fine words, coming from a preacher.'

Mose still had the hammer in his hand. He hadn't relaxed his grip since the mysterious figure had appeared at the church door. The man in the black hat stood there for the space of three heart beats, his head tilted down, face hidden. There were holes in his dark wool suit, and the cuffs were frayed. The flesh of his hands was the color of a peeled cucumber. He turned up one palm, like a beggar seeking alms. Neither Mose nor Odus had spoken, and the man finally lowered his hand and stepped out of the church without turning.

Or moving his feet, Odus thought. Except now he couldn't be sure what he'd seen or if he had merely imagined the whole scene. By the time he'd finally unlocked his muscles and run to the door, the strange man was nowhere to be seen. Despite his poor church attendance and his fondness for illicit activities, Odus was true to his word, which was why his reputation was good among the peo ple who hired him for odd jobs.

'What are you going to do about it?' Odus asked.

'Do? Why does anything have to be done?'

'You know the stories.'

'That's just a folktale, Brother. I can't give it any credence. I'm an educated man.'

'Well, a preacher has to believe in miracles, so what's to say a bad miracle can't happen now and again?' Odus sipped the bourbon again as if he'd been giving the matter a great deal of thought