17
HE HAD STAYED OUT RIDING. WIDE-ASS AWAKE WITH THE ADRENALINE of the first day of freedom and he wanted it to go on and on. Three in the morning. Bought some more beer after he left her house. No reason to call it a night. Her smell on him and if he tried hard he could feel her on top of him as if she were straddling him now with her dress over her hips and her knees burying into his sides. He drove down to Fernwood and to the truck stop and he sat down with a roast beef poboy and when he was done he drove out onto Highway 48 and toward the lake. He heard the sirens and saw the flashes coming up behind him and he slowed and eased onto the side of the road and the cruisers roared past and he knew it had to be something bad. The highway ran straight and he saw them hit their brakes and turn off at a road about half a mile before the lake road and before he could get there an ambulance approached from the other direction and turned in behind the cruisers. Russell stopped and he didn’t see what they were after but he saw the barrage of lights circling in the night sky so he followed after them.
In a mile or so he found them. The cars from the police department and the sheriff’s department and the ambulance and a huddle of men standing around in the headlights talking to one another. Whatever had happened appeared to be over. Russell stopped the truck and one of the deputies saw his truck and pointed and then the other men looked and Russell felt like he shouldn’t be there. He tried to back up and turn around but the road was too thin and it took a couple of tries and before he could get gone a deputy had called out for him to hold it right there. He carried a flashlight with him and he shined it into the truck cab and Russell didn’t move. A man in street clothes accompanied the deputy.
“Get out of the truck and show your hands,” the deputy said.
Russell did as he was told and the deputy told him to walk around to the front of the truck and put his hands on the hood. Russell obeyed. The deputy gave the light to the other man and he walked behind Russell and patted him down and asked him what he was doing out here.
“Riding around,” Russell said.
“Riding around where?”
“Around here.”
“Doing what?”
“I told you. Riding.”
“You got ID?”
“In my wallet back there.”
The deputy took Russell’s wallet from his back pocket and opened it. He pulled out Russell’s driver’s license which expired eight years earlier.
“I’ll be damned,” the deputy said. “Stand up and turn around. Didn’t know you with that stuff on your face.”
“Boyd Wilson,” Russell said and he broke into a smile and they shook hands.
“Holy shit. You never know who you might find in the middle of the night.” Boyd was roundfaced and his forehead and hair seemed greasy slick in the flashing lights. His neck and cheeks had swollen with the years but Russell couldn’t miss those squinty eyes and the crooked nose that had been broken twice during their senior football season. Russell shook his head at Boyd.
“When did you get home?” he asked.
“About noon.”
“Noon today?”
“Noon today.”
“Don’t guess it’s today no more but you know what I mean.”
“I do.”
“Well. Damn.”
“Damn,” Russell said.
“How was it?”
“About like you’d think.”
“Like in the movies?”
Russell forced a smile. “Yeah. Except worse. In the movies somebody has a happy ending. I didn’t see many of them.”
“You’re out. That’s a happy ending.”
“We’ll see. How’s Lacey doing?”
“Aw hell. Not bad.”
“She still turning backflips?”
“God no. She couldn’t put her right leg in that old cheerleader outfit now. Two kids later and Jesus H. if shit don’t change. Gotta love her, though.”
“How old are them boys?”
“Fifteen and thirteen. You wouldn’t believe how much they eat. Oldest starts varsity ball this year.”
“He been running?”
“Running. Lifting. Both of them. They ain’t like we used to be, running up and down the roads all summer and then getting ready a month ahead. They got them doing something year-round. Junior high and high school. Get pissed at them if they miss a workout in March, much less August.”
“That’s good. They don’t need to be like we used to be anyway,” Russell said.
“That’s what Lacey keeps telling me. I just ain’t sure they’re having much fun. But it don’t seem to bother them none.”
“They got a daddy with the department. They could get away with damn near anything.”
“They might figure that out before too much longer.”
Boyd slapped the other man in the chest and then pointed at Russell. “This son of a bitch could fly back in the day. Couldn’t catch for shit but if you threw it up he’d outrun you to it.”
“I caught a couple. You gotta catch it every now and then to get laid.”
“Speaking of, Lacey’s sister split up with her husband not too long ago. She might be as hard up as you.”