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Authors: Sheryl Nantus
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everyone’s got a stake in this. Business on both sides split up and start bidding against each other, stealing construction contracts.”
“Eventually the two men die.” I moved the timeline along. “So it moves down the line to the kids. Jake and Mary. The new family heads.”
Red inspected the cup. “Jake’s got one younger brother who isn’t married yet, still looking for a woman willing to take on the job. Jake got a good wife and she gave him a good family, boys and girls.” He squinted. “You know Lisa. Good kits, all of them from what I hear. Now on the Chandler side you’ve got Mary and her—” He poked a finger inside the cup. “Darned bugs. Get into everything.”
I resisted the urge to look into my own mug.
“Mary and her sister, they’re angry. Poisoned by their da from the day their mother Laura died. Get married and start raising kits as fast as they can but play it safe and make no direct challenges to any Middlestons or their kin, spreading rumors and doing what they can to screw them over through business deals and getting people to not like them.” He smiled. “Ain’t hard to hate Jake Middleston after a night of drinking with Mary Chandler, if you get what I mean.”
My head began to spin. Too much information and it wasn’t getting me any closer to finding the two kids and figuring out what to do.
“How do you know all this?”
He tapped his temple. “I listen. I don’t stay here all the time, I get out and walk around. People talk, family talk and some of them give me a dollar here and there to make themselves feel good.” Red grinned. “They buy me coffee and want to chat, talk ’bout things they can’t tell anyone else, things they don’t want others to know their opinions on. I listen.”
“Why didn’t anyone stop this before now? The Board, the Council—”
Red snorted. “You can’t make people like each other. And after a bit of time it’s easier to hate than admit someone was wrong.”
“This is ridiculous.” I shook my head. “Insane.”
Red scratched his chin. “To you and me, yes. But how many things have you seen that ain’t sensible?”
I swallowed hard, thinking of the many unusual things in my own life. Suddenly a family feud didn’t seem so silly.
I stood up and handed him the mug. “Thank you for the drink.”
He nodded. “Sorry but this is old folks’s camp. Ain’t gonna find your kits here. Too quiet for them.”
I started to dig out a business card then paused. “Do you have a phone?”
Red’s eyebrows rose. “Of course.” He pointed to the west. “There’s a pay phone over there by the store, one of the last ones in the world. Owner’s a good man, lets us pick through the Dumpster after dark as long as we don’t make a mess and keep quiet.”
I handed over the card. “If you see them please call me. Or if you need something.”
“‘Something’?” Red cocked his head to one side.
“We’re family.” I cleared my throat, trying to ignore the lump that had suddenly come up. “You need help or something, you call me.”
He laughed, a nervous chuckle at the end. “Okay, Susie. I’ll call you when the aliens attack.”
Red took my hand and led me through the makeshift shelters back to the hole in the fence I’d entered by. He patted me on the head and guided me through the gap, pulling the warped wire up so it wouldn’t drag on my leather duster.
“You be careful out there.” He wagged a finger at me. “Lots of bad blood out there. Splashes on the innocent and the guilty the same.”
Then he was gone before I could answer, blending back into the lengthening shadows.
I headed back out onto the street, a little shaken by the encounter. I’d never thought about finding family in a place like this.
It was both terrifying and strangely reassuring to know we could be just like anyone else, choose the path less taken.
A little voice at the back of my mind pointed out this could have been my reality, my
“Eventually the two men die.” I moved the timeline along. “So it moves down the line to the kids. Jake and Mary. The new family heads.”
Red inspected the cup. “Jake’s got one younger brother who isn’t married yet, still looking for a woman willing to take on the job. Jake got a good wife and she gave him a good family, boys and girls.” He squinted. “You know Lisa. Good kits, all of them from what I hear. Now on the Chandler side you’ve got Mary and her—” He poked a finger inside the cup. “Darned bugs. Get into everything.”
I resisted the urge to look into my own mug.
“Mary and her sister, they’re angry. Poisoned by their da from the day their mother Laura died. Get married and start raising kits as fast as they can but play it safe and make no direct challenges to any Middlestons or their kin, spreading rumors and doing what they can to screw them over through business deals and getting people to not like them.” He smiled. “Ain’t hard to hate Jake Middleston after a night of drinking with Mary Chandler, if you get what I mean.”
My head began to spin. Too much information and it wasn’t getting me any closer to finding the two kids and figuring out what to do.
“How do you know all this?”
He tapped his temple. “I listen. I don’t stay here all the time, I get out and walk around. People talk, family talk and some of them give me a dollar here and there to make themselves feel good.” Red grinned. “They buy me coffee and want to chat, talk ’bout things they can’t tell anyone else, things they don’t want others to know their opinions on. I listen.”
“Why didn’t anyone stop this before now? The Board, the Council—”
Red snorted. “You can’t make people like each other. And after a bit of time it’s easier to hate than admit someone was wrong.”
“This is ridiculous.” I shook my head. “Insane.”
Red scratched his chin. “To you and me, yes. But how many things have you seen that ain’t sensible?”
I swallowed hard, thinking of the many unusual things in my own life. Suddenly a family feud didn’t seem so silly.
I stood up and handed him the mug. “Thank you for the drink.”
He nodded. “Sorry but this is old folks’s camp. Ain’t gonna find your kits here. Too quiet for them.”
I started to dig out a business card then paused. “Do you have a phone?”
Red’s eyebrows rose. “Of course.” He pointed to the west. “There’s a pay phone over there by the store, one of the last ones in the world. Owner’s a good man, lets us pick through the Dumpster after dark as long as we don’t make a mess and keep quiet.”
I handed over the card. “If you see them please call me. Or if you need something.”
“‘Something’?” Red cocked his head to one side.
“We’re family.” I cleared my throat, trying to ignore the lump that had suddenly come up. “You need help or something, you call me.”
He laughed, a nervous chuckle at the end. “Okay, Susie. I’ll call you when the aliens attack.”
Red took my hand and led me through the makeshift shelters back to the hole in the fence I’d entered by. He patted me on the head and guided me through the gap, pulling the warped wire up so it wouldn’t drag on my leather duster.
“You be careful out there.” He wagged a finger at me. “Lots of bad blood out there. Splashes on the innocent and the guilty the same.”
Then he was gone before I could answer, blending back into the lengthening shadows.
I headed back out onto the street, a little shaken by the encounter. I’d never thought about finding family in a place like this.
It was both terrifying and strangely reassuring to know we could be just like anyone else, choose the path less taken.
A little voice at the back of my mind pointed out this could have been my reality, my
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