Trick Pony
Chet brought Duke by to visit Oscar.
“Hello sir.”
“Hi.” Oscar squeezed out. The medicine he was on impaired his ability to focus. He could barely hold his eyes open.
“Sheriff here told me what you said ‘bout me and I wanted to thank you.”
“What’d,” Oscar had to think hard about what he was going to say. “Did they decide?”
“I can’t go back to school. They kicked me out. I will have to get my G.E.D. I’m under house arrest until the hearing. Because of all the nice things you said, the county attorney is gonna try to get me parole and community service. Sheriff tells me that if I screw up next time I’m gonna go under the jail.”
“Duke,” was all Oscar got out before the medicine pulled him back under.
When he woke again, Esther and Chet were talking. Her smile was blurry.
“Hello.”
“Hi.” She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. “The doctor says when you get up and walk around he will let you go home.”
He smiled a weak smile.
Oscar was sitting on the couch staring out the window at his beloved snow. Not even it could lift his spirits. His side stung. He wasn’t able to get Duke out of this mess. The relationship with his family was clearly over. Good, bad, hurtful, necessary all at the same time.
“Hot chocolate for your thoughts,” Esther handed him a cup of hot chocolate.
“I thought all the men that you knew that enjoyed hot chocolate were gay?” He teased.
“I know this amazing man; love him actually, that enjoys a good cup of hot chocolate.”
He smiled, “just reflecting on past events.”
“I’m sorry honey.”
He inhaled deeply at the contents of the cup. Too deeply, he closed his eyes concealing the sharp pain he had created. “What’s next?”
“For you to get well so I can shag you rotten.”
He got chocked, “really?”
“You know it.” She giggled. “There are so many things I want to do to you.”
“Like teach me a new way to eat oatmeal.”
She winked.
“When would you like to put the Christmas tree up?”
“Whenever you feel up to it?”
“You never did tell me why your nickname is trick pony.”
She blushed, “when I was a student at EKU, there was a local criminal everyone called Pony. The town rumor was that he had relations with a pony, hence the nickname. I was at the station when a domestic call came in. It was Pony. He barricaded himself in the house with a female and her 3 children. Two officers had already gotten shot by the time we got there. No one wanted to shoot inside the home. I talked the officer in charge into letting me try to talk to this fellow. No one liked the idea. But in the end, I did. I was an unarmed female. He thought it was hilarious that all these big brave cops sent a child (in his opinion) into the fire. He allowed me to approach the house. I sat under the window where he was, listening to his drunk rant for hours. All he wanted was for someone to listen to him. He went about it in the wrong way. But that’s what it all boiled down to. I kept his attention while the family was snuck out of the house. And he was arrested.
“Everyone started calling me Trick Pony because they said, ‘I tricked him’. I kept his attention focused on me and the conversation so they could do their jobs.” She sipped at her hot chocolate. He gave her a sheepish grin. “You think I’m making that up.” She playfully threw a marshmallow at him.
He shrugged, laughed and trying as best he could to dodge it. “You are something else.”
“I told you to stick with me, I’d change your life.” She winked.
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