- Hard Fall (27 page)

"Do you want me to let your Sheriff know that it's all done?" His voice was gentle. "And that I think you shouldn't have any repercussions off this?"

"You don't have to, sir."

"I know I don't have to." The judge barked it out like I was hard of hearing. "Do you want me to?"

"I don't know what to say, sir."

"You say, 'yes, thank you.'"

I could feel my own smile tearing cross my face, "Yes, sir.

Thank you, sir."

Now Judge Creek stood. "You're welcome." As he walked off the bench he added, over his shoulder, "Court is adjourned. And Muriel, call Higgens' office and arrange a date for that other yahoo's trial. I think he plumb forgot to get it in all the excitement."

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Hard Fall

by James Buchanan

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244

Hard Fall

by James Buchanan

Ketchup dripped from the end of the fries I used as a pointer. "Oh man, I thought I was dead." I wasn't dead, I wasn't in jail and I could probably afford the fine I just paid off. An infraction wouldn't affect my POST certificate, least not the same as a misdemeanor conviction. The Periodic Review Committee might still take issue, but the last officer that lost his certification for fighting actually racked a shell in his shotgun and threatened a guy. I didn't go nowhere near that far.

Life wasn't looking awful at this point.

We'd stopped off in the oldest diner in Panguitch for a
Joe's
not in jail
party. All of us, sitting at the counter dressed in our Sunday best and eating stuff that just wasn't healthy. Heck of a shin-dig.

Nadia skipped actual lunch and went for a malt and a slice of pie. For a celebration meal, couldn't fault her. "Why would you think that, Sugar?" She purred as she sucked on her straw. I swear, if it weren't for the NPS khaki shirt and green trousers, she'd been a poster girl for a fifties diner. I'd always thought of her type of gal as bikers and truck drivers. She was tough. She had a core of steel that would make any man sweat, but I could see her holding her own at some ladies auxiliary.

I shook it off and crammed the fries in my mouth. "When the Judge said he'd seen me through the church," I never ate like this. Fries, lemonade, hamburger with cheese and 245

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everything—my stomach was gonna hate me tonight. "I figured he'd take it out on me."

"Well," Kabe talked around a mouthful of Monte Cristo sandwich a little bit of strawberry jam leaking out the side of his mouth, "you know the Morons..." he snickered, "uh, I mean Mormons are known for that."

I reached across over and popped him on the side of his head with my fingers. "You talk like that again and I'll slap you back to last week."

He took another big bite of the ham and turkey mess fried up like French toast and drenched with sugar and jam.

"Promise?" The damn thing looked sweet enough to rot my teeth out. Thank goodness I wasn't eating it. Kabe, still in those high-end clothes, looked sweet enough to rot my teeth as well. Him, I'd take a bite of.

Nadia rolled her eyes and bumped my hip with hers, "So when is the Teddy Bear Picnic?"

"You stop." I turned and glared at her good. "I get enough from him." Chawing down another mouthful of fries, I took a big old gulp of lemonade to wash it down. "I don't need you on top of it all."

"Aww, Sugar," she pouted, "you don't love me no more?"

The lemonade I'd just swallowed started to come back up as I laughed.

That got her Kabe teasing back. "You don't come with fringe benefits." It came out so camp that I choked on it.

Nadia flicked the wrapper from her straw at him. "I certainly should hope not, Sugar, that would require an entire rearranging of my anatomy." She stretched and flexed, 246

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mocking the pose of the gal in the vintage Coke sign on the wall. "I kinda like it where it is." Between her age and uniform and the over the top batting of eyelashes and all, I busted up.

It weren't all that silly, but somehow it was; I guess when you're happy things just seem funnier. Kabe rolled his eyes and, pretending disgust, went back to his food. He held it for about three seconds before the laughs got him, too. It'd been a long time since I just let it go like that, laughing so hard that tears hit my eyes.

In the middle of it all, a real cold touch, like water outta the creek in winter, rolled down my spine. I looked up. Next to us, glaring down, was my soon to be former Bishop. "Well,"

the sight of Pete Sampris with his pinched face and thready soul shut it all down right quick, "it is a den of iniquity here."

Our laughter died in our mouths. Nadia didn't even know the man and just stilled.

There was some air about him that just sucked the fun outta people.

I set my glass down and thought a moment. Real slowly,

'cause I wanted him to know he didn't mean nothing to me no more, I said, "No, Pete," I picked up a few fries and shoved then in my maw, "it's a lunch café counter." Talking while eating, ain't much I knew ruder. Well, I knew ruder things ...

they'd just earn me another citation to appear.

"Yeah, dens of iniquity," Kabe crammed half his sandwich in his mouth while talking, "tend to have crappy lighting, booming sound systems and condoms in the bathroom."

I damn near choked on my fries. Nadia snorted and I swear her malt came out her nose. The three ladies who'd 247

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come up behind Pete, sisters from the Relief Society I figured, looked like they might just have coronaries right then and there. "Excuse me?" Pete sputtered it out.

If'n I hadn't been trying to breathe and swallow at the same time, maybe I could have stopped him. Kabe licked a bit of jelly off his lip and smiled. "Yeah, you know." I'd never seen him so wicked. "Evil gay bars where they serve booze and I can suck some guy's dick while he's playing pool."

Finally I sputtered out, "Kabe!" and shot him a glare that would peel paint.

All innocence looked back at me. "What?" Then he rolled his eyes and huffed, like he knew what I was on him for.

"Ladies, I'm..."

Pete cut him off. "You are the Devil incarnate. Destroying a good, God-fearing man, leading him down that sinful path."

His voice rose to a preacher's wail. "An unrepentant Sodomite like you, you'll rot in hell, boy. All the faithful will be there to watch it." A few of the people in the place stared at us. Most seemed to just pretend we didn't exist.

"I was going to apologize for being rude to the ladies,"

Kabe set the mess down then real slow like, licked his fingers.

His shoulders and neck tensed. He wasn't big, but he was roped with pure muscle ... every single tendon popped into relief as he turned. "Now, though," he hissed it out, "you can kiss my ass."

"That there," Pete sneered and pointed at Kabe, "that's perversion." He was loud enough to hush the whole diner. He trembled in what might look like righteous rage, but I could smell it, fear. The man was terrified of what he'd awoke in 248

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Kabe, that that pretty boy was gonna come off that stool and snap his neck clean off. "You're gonna have
that
around your family, Joe Peterson. I'm sure they'll love you for it."

The only thing I ever did wrong was what I did right ...

loving someone like Kabe.

Sure'nuff, I'd thought that. Couldn't believe I had. Nothing like loving someone ever crossed my mind until just that moment. I never saw myself with no one, not permanent like.

I don't know as I saw myself permanent with Kabe. What I saw was an
it might happen
. That was farther than I'd thunk through before. And I figured just the possibility was something worth fighting for.

I was done with Pete Sampris and his attitude. I was done with his prissy ways. Turning half on my stool, I stared Pete down. "You know, Pete, with my parents on their retirement mission in Russia ... when they get back in another year you can tell 'em all about it." My voice could have cracked stone it was so hard. "And heck, I ain't seen my oldest sister, Tina, in three years, not since they moved out to Billings. She's the only one I talk to regular."

It hit me that none of my family, outside my parents, would really care what I did with the church ... nothing deep down. "Samuel's somewhere out in Alaska with his work.

Tucker, Lacy, James ... naw we don't talk but once a year.

Christmas cards maybe." Not that my family didn't love each other, we just weren't all that interested in the day-to-day. I guess it was 'cause there was so much gap in all our ages.

"So you get them all together they're probably going to be so busy catching up, what with the kids and the grandkids, 249

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they'll plumb forget what their baby brother is up to." Not like I'd ever asked 'em about anything else I'd done with my life, they'd all just have to figure out how to roll with this.

I drew in a breath and hit Pete with the worst thing for him

... an attitude that said
I don't care.
"You can just take your prejudice and shove it where the sun don't shine." One of the hardest things I'd ever said. Took every ounce of will in my body to get it passed my teeth. Yet, once it was spoke, I felt so much lighter. This big, iron ball just rolled off my chest.

"I ain't even going to pray for you no more." He sputtered and his eyes bugged out. "You'll rot in Hell," was his parting shot. I turned away, like I was gonna eat more, just sat there with my hands to either side of my plate. Kabe's knee brushed mine, and I figured it was on purpose.

Kabe leaned back against the counter, trying to catch my eye, by ducking down and looking up. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"Naw." I smiled a little. Felt like I'd been gut-kicked, but good all the same. I reached out, like I ain't never done in front of no one, and slid my hand along his jaw. Then I pulled him in, so our foreheads touched. "Ain't worth it." I whispered. "Won't do no good and would just drop me down to his level."

Not a muscle on that boy moved. "Okay, Joe." He breathed it out, kinda scared, maybe by the touch.

"Hell," Pete hissed as he walked away, "rot in Hell." I held on to Kabe, like my life depended on it, didn't breathe again until the jangle of the bell above the door said Pete'd left.

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Kept Kabe there for a while, so he'd know I hadn't done it just for show.

Nadia finally broke it, "If you're gonna start kissing, let me know and I'll sell tickets."

With a snort, I let him go and shot her a glare. "Well, I think, on that note, it's time to head on home." I stood up, my hand trailing cross Kabe's shoulder. "Packed in enough fun for three days into one, I think." Nadia and I fought over the check for a bit ... least until she reminded me I still was on suspension and had no pay. Kabe, well, he didn't have a job, so neither of us expected him to offer, although he did throw down the tip while we weren't looking.

I shaded my eyes as I walked outside. Bright afternoon sun cut down Main Street, throwing shadows on all the frontier-style buildings. Could have been a dead ringer for the old west, 'cept for the asphalt road and concrete sidewalks.

Looking east my eyes went straight to the Panorama Mountains. 'Course, pretty much anywhere I looked I was surrounded by rock reaching to the sky. It hit my heart and hit it hard. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't be cradled by the hills.

Nadia sidled up next to me. She followed my gaze out past the town and the valley to where the big black rocks called to me. "When are you going to go?"

"Huh?" I looked down at her.

"Your staring at those hills like a drowning man stares at land." With a laugh she jerked her head toward Kabe. He stood, hands jammed into his pockets, staring at the other 251

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vista. "Both of you. Take a day, go crawl up a cliff or something."

"I don't know..."

She scuffed her boot for a moment and then turned her face up to give me one of those polecat scowls. "Don't mean to remind you, but Joe, you're on suspension, what else you got to do?" Settling her hat on her head, the scowl seeped into a grin. "You didn't, however, die. Don't sit around your cabin and mope." She poked me in the ribs, prodding more my mind than my body. "Take him out and
really celebrate
.

You, he, the mountains and nobody out there to watch."

The burn hit my face and I knew she could see it flushing my cheeks. "Nadia." I couldn't do more than stutter out her name as a rebuke.

"What? Oh come on, Joe." Nadia smacked my shoulder. "I wouldn't be teasing you if I didn't think y'all could handle it.

And in a weird twisted way, I think that boy is good for you."

Sometimes I felt so small out here. This was one of them times, I guess. All that big open expanse and little me standing there with my hands in my pockets and my throat all choked up. "I don't know." I'd kinda figured to not get all touched by him. That meant staying back aways. But I couldn't do it. Every time I turned around, I ran into Kabe.

Each time he wrapped himself around my heart a little more.

"'Course you don't." Nadia chided me. Sounded a lot like my mom when she did. "Nobody does. Let go. Give in. Take a chance. I think you'll find it's worth it."

About that time, Kabe sauntered on by. When he popped the trunk on Nadia's patrol car, my curiosity got me by the 252

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balls. I ambled up next to him and growled. "What are you doing?"

He looked up from rooting in a pile of gear. "Getting my things." The boy had a wily streak as big as the Sevier River.

I was gonna have to watch him good from here on out.

"What you mean, your things?" First coming on down to the courthouse when I hadn't asked, now presuming by hauling over his stuff. I wonder how much was his own doing and how much came outta Nadia's brain.