Wilson Harp - EMP

“Is that true?” someone in the crowd asked.

“Was Brent Talley a thief?” another voice called out.

“If he hanged a thief, then good!” a woman yelled.

McDaniels waved the crowd quiet. “I told ya’ll what I would do if it were my choice, but our good mayor has decided the council that his friend has set up will decide. Does that seem like justice to you?”

Some of the crowd yelled in support of killing Kenny right then, while others shouted the council should decide.

A crack in the air like thunder had me drop to one knee by instinct. Others had fallen prone and several in the crowd were crouched. Most, however, stood where they were and looked around. Ted stepped through the crowd with his rifle held high in the air. I hoped he wasn’t foolish enough to have fired his gun into the air as that bullet had to come down somewhere.

“Thank you Deputy McDaniels. I understand you have taken the statement and have examined some evidence,” Ted said as he walked toward Kenny and the law man.

Anne was part of the group that followed in Ted’s wake through the crowd. The council stood in a rough semi-circle around Ted, Kenny and the deputy. Anne came and stood by me.

“Is it true?” she asked quietly.

I nodded. “I think so.”

“Alright, let’s take the prisoner over to the mayor’s office,” Ted said. “I think we will need a trial to decide what should happen.”

Ted saw me as he turned to leave.

“David, you and Anne need to go up to my place. Tell Tom you are the ones that are going to help us.”

“Okay, Ted,” I said. “Is this going to change anything?”

“This changes everything,” Ted said. He sighed and for the first time he looked tired and weary to me. “I wish he had come to us with his suspicions or evidence. I knew he was going to go looking for the thief, but I had no idea what his plans were if he caught him.”

“What will happen?” asked Anne.

“I guess we’ll find out,” said Ted.

I felt empty as I watched the crowd melt away as Kenny, Ted, and the others headed across the square to the city offices. My eyes were drawn to the body under the sheet laying in the street. I had seen too many dead bodies in the last few months. Before the event, I had only seen a dead body in a coffin at a funeral. The queasy and uncomfortable feelings I had experienced even in those circumstances were a distant memory. And yet looking at the lumpy outline of Talley’s body, I felt sick and my heart ached. Not for the thief who threatened my parents life. Not for the thief that callously put himself before all others. But for Kenny who did what he thought was right and now must see if others agreed with his decision.

“Come on, David,” said Anne. She put a hand on my shoulder and turned me to her. “We need to go. We can’t do anything here.”

Anne was always pragmatic. While I often slipped into the miasma of ‘what if’, Anne had always looked at the choices before her without sentimentality. It was a life I couldn’t imagine, and to this point was one I didn’t think was better. Right now, it was better.

I turned and followed her as she led the way toward the library where Bonnie stood saddled and ready.

“They are still using Clyde to help augment the tractors,” she said. “Honestly, I think he loves it. I think he likes working hard alongside so many people.”

“It’s strange, isn’t it? Who would have thought an animal would find work like that enjoyable?” I asked as I walked with her. My eyes drifted to the small building that housed the city offices.

“David, stop looking,” Anne chided me. “You will just get worked up. Ted asked us to go to their house and help Sophia with something. I don’t think we need to mention what happened here today, and if you sink into melancholy, they will ask you what’s wrong. So slap on a smile and let’s get this done.”

She mounted Bonnie in a single motion. I was surprised when she offered her hand to me.

“I’ll just walk along side,” I said.

“No you won’t. I want to get there within the hour, and it will take twice as long if you walk.”

I took her hand and pulled myself up behind her.

“There, now just don’t grope me and you won’t have any reason to feel guilty.”

I stammered as I tried to defend myself. “I don’t feel guilty. I mean, there is nothing for me to feel guilty about.”

Anne shook her head and sighed. Then with a click of her tongue and a touch of her feet to Bonnie’s flanks, we were trotting down the road out of town.

“David, I wish I could convince you it’s alright if we’re friends,” she said as we made the turn onto the highway.

“I know that.”

“Do you? Because for the last twenty-two years you have pretended I wasn’t part of your life.”

“I’m not the one who said I didn’t want to speak with you again.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I was an angry seventeen year old girl and you were the boy who wouldn’t fight for me.”

I didn’t know what to say. Those days were behind me, buried beneath years of life. I didn’t want to dig them up again and fight with ghosts from my past.

“I just don’t want to deal with it, Anne.”

“I bet,” she said.

I could hear the venom in her voice. She was upset and it was going to be a long ride out to Ted’s place.

“Is this why you and Lexi are on the outs? You just don’t want to deal with it?”

I jerked back as if she had burned me. Bonnie felt my shift and slowed her gait.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

“Your dad told me you were going through a rough time with her. Let me guess, she is all mad at you and you just ignore her to stop from fighting.”

“Dad told you? I didn’t tell him.”

“People can see, David. They have eyes and they know you. They know when you are hurting and they can figure out what the issue is by the way you don’t talk about it.” She yelled the last five words from over her shoulder at me.

“What am I supposed to do? Have fight after fight with her? I don’t even know what she wants.”

“Yes, fight with her. Have her express what she is unhappy about. Express to her what you are unhappy about.”

“I don’t want to yell at her, I love her.”

“Then be strong enough to let her yell at you. She doesn’t want to be quiet, does she?”

I realized I had started to sulk. I didn’t like when I did this, but I never knew what else to do.

“No, she is quite verbal with her displeasure,” I said finally.

“And when she is displeased, do you let her just be displeased or do you try to fix it?”

“I try to fix it.”

“She wants you to tell her she is just going to be displeased, David. She knows you can’t fix everything and it frustrates her when you try. Just tell her it isn’t anything you can fix but you will get through it together.”

That didn’t make any sense to me. And how did Anne know what Lexi wanted anyway? They never met each other. Well, maybe once or twice just after we were married.

“Have you talked to Lexi?” I asked.

“Don’t be stupid, David. I’ve never spoken to Lexi except once many years ago.”

“Then how do you know what she wants?”

“It’s what I wanted, David. I know how you deal with conflict. And it isn’t the way I want you to. I assume you picked a girl somewhat like me, at least that’s what your dad says. And if that is true, then I understand what drives her crazy about you.”

“Is that why you got mad at me? Because I wouldn’t yell at you?”

She was quiet for a few minutes.

“Yes. That was part of it. My father had no right to threaten you. You weren’t bad for me and he knew that. He just didn’t want to think of his little girl growing up.”