Eyes play tricks

     Rebecca decided she would give the hippy grocery another try. Simon was working. He had this man Chris helping him. It was good for everyone involved that Chris lived right across the road. She was a little miffed that Simon hadn’t introduced Chris. But she was trying to do better. Now, she was thrilled that he was working. It seemed odd to her that the house was filled so quickly after Evelyn moved out. There was a snake in the grass and she would find it. Without Simon’s help of course. 

     As she drove past, the car that was in the drive looked so much like the one Evelyn had been driving. But now she was drivin’ her dad’s beat up old truck. ‘Why?’ She thought. ‘Did Evelyn take the old man’s truck.’ That was just cruel. 

     That homeless couple was still coming to church. Though, the entire family seemed to be healthier. Happier. Church gossip was Jack Rice got the husband a job at the mill. Why hadn’t Jack done that for Simon? However; if Simon would have gotten a job at the mill, would they have met to marry?

     She didn’t question Simon about D & E Farm, anymore. When summer break started she would do some diggin’ of her own. Find her own answers. ‘D & E Farm’, she scoffed. ‘That just sounded stupid’. Simon rarely talked about work. She couldn’t get two words out of him about what he was doing. “Renovatin’,” was all he would say. 

     When she stopped at the stop sign, a sheriff suv drove past. She bet it was that weasel of a sheriff. Her blood ran hot for a minute. He’ll get his. It shocked her socks off that Sunshine Sue hadn’t made more of a stink over Cattail’s death. She guessed the sheriff finally won her over? Havin’ talked to Sue, she thought Sue had more integrity than that. 

     As she pulled in the parkin’ lot, her mind was a million miles away. ‘Why did she come here again?’ Oh yeah, Simon was workin’ and she was bored. When she walked through the door, it felt like there was a collective gasp. When she was safely behind a shelf, a look around told her she was being paranoid. No one really gave a crap that she was in here. 

     There was a sales rack. It made her laugh to herself. Their sales prices were in line with what you would pay for something in Perkinsville. Her opinion of this place wasn’t changing. 

     She rounded a corner, coming face to face with Evelyn. Rebecca grabbed her chest, faking shock, blushed her best blush. “I’m so sorry.” Evelyn didn’t move. Her basket was in the floor at her feet. Arms straight down by her sides. And she was lookin’ forward. Rebecca waved her hand in front of Evelyn’s face, “hello.” Oh, the mean things she could say. She gave Evelyn an honest look. Her skin was ashen. Her pupils were dilated. And her lips were takin’ on a pale blue color. “Hello.” She called again. 

Shared grief

     Dillon couldn’t pour a cup of coffee. His hands trembled every time he tried. Evie gently placed her hands over his. “Let’s go to church.” She caressed his cheek. He nodded okay. 

     Pastor Sam stood behind the pulpit. When he looked up and took stock of the congregation, the sermon he had prepared left him. Evie thought he was staring at Dillon. He went to open his mouth. No words came out. He shook his head, hiding his face. As he looked back up. It was obvious he was losing the battle to maintain his composure. He did this, three times. Looking at the congregation, then looking away. Finally, he sat on the top step of the stage, next to the pulpit and wept. 

     Dillon leaned over. He was going to be sick. He thought. Evie placed her hand on his back. He never told Evie why he stopped going to church. If he had, it was a half truth. God letting her leave him was the half truth. Yes, he was bitter over that. But Pastor Sam refused to preach either of his parent’s funerals. He never gave Dillon a reason. When Evie first moved back to Sunshine Valley, she had asked Dillon when he lost his faith? Satan had been slowly chipping away at it. He saw that now. 

     Dillon turned to Evie, his eyes heavy with tears. He kissed her on the cheek, resting his forehead on hers. 

     They heard a thunk, pulling their attention to Pastor Sam. He was now on his knees. His arms were outstretched and he was still crying. “I’m sorry!” He wailed. “I’m sorry.” He wrapped his arms around his head. 

     Dillon whispered in Evie’s ear. “I love you. I needed to be here today.” He walked toward Pastor Sam, kneeling in front of him. 

     Pastor Sam raised his head, putting his hands on Dillon’s shoulders. “I’m sorry. I have sinned out of pride. I HAVE SINNED.” He shouted. Dillon wrapped him in a hug. Which seemed to cause Pastor Sam to cry that much harder.

     One by one, the residents of Sunshine Valley went to the front of the church. Bradley, Patty, Sarah. Other deputies Evie recognize but didn’t know their names. Sara and her family. Della and Bill. Simon. Chris and Kim holding their baby. Everyone was crying. Some old hurts were being addressed. Some new ones were being let go of. 

     Jack leaned over to her, “go on hummin’ bird.”

     She kissed her dad on the cheek before walking to the front herself. God filled her with the urgency to sing ‘Amazing Grace’. And she did just that. 

Facing the smoke 

     When firefighters arrived, Dillon was fitted with a respirator. He and Bradley went into the smoke. Either he or Bradley would come out carrying someone. Well, not Bradley. He would help them out on their own power. 

     Authorities never really had an accurate census of the people living in Coal Town. It could be anywhere from a few hundred to a 1,000. Evie remembered at Christmas they counted 500 people they fed. She prayed there wasn’t 500 people here. 

     Day turned into night. The smoke was starting to turn gray. Fire fighters only fought the blaze where they knew people could be. Their primary concern was getting people crushed by rubble. The central fire was in what had been the headquarters building. Many of the old frame houses had fallen. Crushing folks. 

     Transportation workers set up construction lamps to light the night. Evie’s heart sank as Dillon shuffled out of the smoke carrying, at what first glance, looked like a  bundle of rags. He fell to his knees a few feet from her. She went to his side removing the respirator. No longer able to contain his sobs, he fell into her. The tears streaming down his face and the ring made by the respirator, were the only 2 clean spots he had. He finally blurted out, “it’s Pam.” She and Chico had been crushed when one of the old houses caved in. 

      “Please rest for a while. A group from Perkinsville just showed up. Let them.”

     Dillon gave in. EMS took the bundle from his arms. “Leave the dog with her. It needs to be buried with her.”

     “Yes, sir.”

     100 people were killed that night. As Coal Town burned, more help showed up. It lifted Dillon’s heart that so many people showed up to support those that had lost everything. A small piece of him was a little bitter. Where was all this love when these folks were alive? These were people. Human beings, who had a bad patch. Had no where else to go. Down on their luck. Life had a way of kickin’ your ass when you were down. 

Getting close to…

     Dillon and Evie were sitting on a little hill beside a dirt road, watching the lumber mill. It was a peaceful day. 

     “Do you think we should have tried to keep the baby?” He finally asked, staring at the ground. 

     “What do you think?”

     He pulled at a piece of road side straw. “Sometimes I think it would be amazin’ bein’ a parent. But the overall fear that I will be the kind of parents mine were, freezes me in my tracks.”

     “Havin’ a girl would be the worst.” Evie smiled. “I still have flash backs of my mom lordin’ over me tellin’ me that ‘you’re not pretty enough. Sit up straight. Beauty is pain. If you eat dessert every night with dinner, you’ll get fat as a hog and no man will want you’. I can see me spewin’ that filth. All it does is destroy your self esteem. And create hard feelings toward that parent.  Life is so fragile.”

     She scooted closer to him, angling her body toward his, wrapping her arms around his knee. “Are you okay?”

     “Since the box,” he paused. How was he gonna say this? “I’ve been dreamin’. The same type of dream. I’m in my uniform and a child and I are walkin’ hand in hand up the driveway. The child has on a backpack so I assume he just got off the bus.”

     “A boy?” Evie asked sweetly. 

     “I think so.”

     “Is this why you’ve been wakin’ with a start some nights?”

     He was a little stunned, ‘she felt that’? “Yeah.”

     “Is a child something you want?”

     He looked at her face for a long moment. “I think I’m just feelin’ my age.”

     “Pray about it.” 

     “I thought,”

     She gently continued, “if this is a path God wants us to walk down, I will need for you not to live at work. Even though I work from home, it’s not fair that everything be on my shoulders. I understand that you have a stressful job with massive amounts of responsibility. Your priorities will have to shift in a major way.”

     She was right on all counts. “Pray,” he smiled, then sighed, “I did something I wasn’t supposed to do. ‘Cause of the comment you made, I asked Patty to do a DNA test on the baby.”

     “Deek was the dad,” Evie answered.

     “Yelp, I will end up deputizing you yet.” He sighed then smiled.

     “So Calvin found out he wasn’t the father, discovered who the real father was and did a little private justice?”

     “That is how it appears on the surface.”

     “Where is the mom?”

     “I’m guessing Coal Town. We have been camped out at her mother’s and her grandma’s, hoping she will surface.”

     “Why not go to Coal Town if you think that’s where she’s at?”

     “That is very complicated.” He sighed, “you have such insights on this, do you feel like you know who has been harassing you?”

     “It’s not Doug.” She answered flatly. 

     “Then who?”

     “I haven’t worked that out yet.”

     “Haven’t been here in a while. Sometimes I just come here and sit. Think. Close my eyes and listen to the sounds of the mill.” He smiled a sad smile, “have even fallen asleep.” He trailed his thumb across her cheek, “To answer your question, I’m okay, happier than I’ve ever been in my life.”

     She was about to speak, when the ground shook violently. Her gut reaction was the squeeze his knee tighter. “What?”

     Off to his left, thick black smoke boiled up. It looked like an angry monster against the peace of the bright blue sky. 

     Dillon hissed, “Coal Town.” They ran to his truck as he drove at a high rate of speed toward Coal Town. Panicked voices flowed from the c.b. He picked up the receiver, telling the dispatcher he was on his way. 

     To get to Coal Town, you had to drive across a bridge.  Once across, the bridge was surrounded by shrubs and litter. Overflowing trash cans covered with graffiti. The smell was overwhelming. 

     Dillon slammed the truck to a stop, slightly out of the way. More help would be arriving as he told the dispatcher what he saw. “Send in the calvary.”

     Coal Town had once been a busy hub for the largest mine in Sunshine Valley. At its height, it had employed thousands of people. Many lived right here. They lived in company housing. Saw the company doctor. Got paid with script issued by the company. And shopped in the company store. It was a separate economy all on its own.

     Over time as the mine stopped producing. The old timers called it ‘dried up’. People moved away. Many to big cities like Detroit to work in the car plants. They would come home driving their big shiny trucks. Some waggin’ boats to show off to their families. Some, like Dillon’s dad, couldn’t make it. Came home with his tail between his legs and crawled into a bottle. His dad never made it to Coal Town. But his mom did. 

     When Dillon came to Coal Town, he never made it past where his truck was parked. This disaster was going to force him back into the belly of the beast. The image of his mother flashed across his mind as people started limping from the smoke. Some carting wounded people. Others, holding hurting body parts on their own frames. 

     Dillon and Evie started helping those they could with what they had. He knew better than to run head long into the smoke. He would only be creating one more victim.