Daniel said without hesitation, ‘The river.’
Wild Bill looked startled. ‘Maybe,’ he said. He considered a moment and then repeated, ‘Maybe.’
Daniel said, ‘Volta claims that’s high praise from you.’
‘He does, huh?’ Wild Bill said distractedly. ‘You know, I should piss you off more often.’ He smiled. ‘Mudflaps. It’s all I could do to keep from laughing all day.’
Daniel smiled with him.
The next morning Wild Bill surprised Daniel yet again, announcing, ‘It’s my turn to quit. Actually, I’m going on vacation for awhile, which means you’re on vacation too – free to do whatever you want as long as you pull your weight on the ranch.’
‘I must have done really well or horribly poor last night,’ Daniel said, finding himself unsettled by the sudden changes.
‘Naw, you’re just ready for other angles, and we’re both tired and need to unbend. Like it says in the book, “Take care, from time to time, to unbend your mind from its sterner employments with some convenient recreation, otherwise your spirits may be weighed down, and you might lose heart for the continuation of the work.”’
‘What book is that from?’
‘
Playfully, Daniel said, ‘I didn’t even know you could read.’
‘Used to all the time, but I started losing heart so bad I almost destroyed myself on the “convenient recreations.”’
‘Are you going to see Volta?’
‘I hope not,’ Wild Bill said. ‘Jenny Sue is more like it.’
An hour later Wild Bill set out down the dirt road, his banged-up rucksack on his back, humming a marching song for the occasion, a lyric that made up in heartfelt emotion what it lacked in scansion:
In Wild Bill’s absence, Daniel, like most students, screwed off. He converted the morning and dream meditations into sleep, and the evening meditation was reformed into fishing. In his free time he tied trout flies, read among his promiscuous selections from the library, or played cribbage with Owen. May warmed into June and June drowsed into July without word from Wild Bill. Then, on the fourth of August, what was left of him returned.
Daniel grimaced when he opened his cabin door and saw Wild Bill sagging against the frame. Both eyes were black, his left ear hideously swollen, a front tooth was chipped, and there was a neat row of stitches above his left eye.
‘Holy shit,’ Daniel blurted. ‘What happened?’
‘Aww,’ Wild Bill mumbled, ‘bunch of guys stomped the piss outa me.’
‘Why?’
‘’Cause that’s what I was trying to do to them.’
‘What about Jenny Sue or whatever her name is – your girlfriend?’
‘Last time I looked, she was helping them.’
‘Do you want me to take you in to the hospital?’
Wild Bill touched the stitches on his forehead. ‘I just got out.’
‘You want to come in and lay down? You look like you could use some rest.’
‘Kid, any more rest would fucking kill me. Pack up whatever you plan to live on till next spring. We’re going to the mountains.’ He reached into his shirt pocket with a scab-knuckled hand. ‘Here’s a list of stuff you’ll probably need. Another thing – we ain’t comin’ back for visits, so you’re not gonna be hearing from Volta or anyone else. You can call Volta tomorrow to see if there’s any news. You’ll be wasting your dime,’ cause you’d of heard if anything was happening. If you don’t want to go, I’ll go without you and we’ll call the teaching done. If you want to go, be ready in the morning.’
‘What about Owen and Tilly? They need a hand around here.’
‘There’ll be folks along to take care of that.’
‘Why the mountains? Are we hiding out?’
Wild Bill snapped, ‘No. We’re getting serious.’
His vehemence startled Daniel. He didn’t reply.
‘You want Volta’s numbers or not?’
‘No,’ Daniel said, ‘it’s okay.’
‘Get shaggin’ then. I want to get the fuck out of here.’
‘Not till you tell me what happened. What the fight was about.’
‘No secret. I said the bottle never ran dry. The bartender and his buddies said it did.’
