Ancient History (2 page)

“I don’t know about you, Garth, but I’m going to crawl into my sleeping bag.”

“Yeah. It got kind of chilly all of a sudden.”

We put our stuff in the tent and again I made sure my .357 was within reach. We hung up one of the lanterns in the tent for light. I took off my boots and climbed into my bag. Garth did likewise. Reaching into my backpack, I pulled out a novel,
Any Human Heart
, and began reading.

After a few pages, I looked up and saw Garth playing a game on his phone.

“You might want to save that. No electricity to recharge the battery.”

“No reception out here.”

“Still might want to save the battery.”

“I suppose you’re right. You usually are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Sorry I said it.”

I turned back to the novel, although now I had no desire to read. Truth be told, I was pissed. I was willing to forget Amy, forget the two of them cheating on me behind my back. After all, maybe it was all my fault. But Garth’s comment? It could only mean he was still hanging onto the stuff from our childhood. Could I help it if I was, in fact, right most of the time and he wasn’t? Garth made bad decisions. It was as simple as that. Always had. More than once I had to bail him out of some disaster he’d created and being kids I made sure he knew how stupid he was.

This trip was a bad idea. I could see that now. I should have left things as they were. Dead. At the moment, though, I could do nothing about it. The rain was coming down cats and dogs. We were stuck here for the night. In the morning, though, it was back to the car, back to the house, put Garth on a plane, and once and for all get him out of my life. Still hanging on to all that crap from when we were kids and I was willing to forget him and Amy. All I could do was shake my head.

Off in the distance, I became aware of something watching us. I couldn’t tell what it was. The shape was indefinite. If I had to guess, I’d say it looked human. Somewhat human.

I looked around. Where was I? There was no light other than that emanating from the shape and, oddly enough, emanating from me. And the air was cold. Very cold. I couldn’t move my arms or legs. My muscles didn’t respond.

The shape slowly approached. Now it looked human for sure, although I could see through it. And when it was a dozen feet away, I could see it looked like a young man of maybe twenty. Then it opened its mouth. Wider and wider. Until all I saw was mouth. And slowly the mouth began to swallow me up. I screamed. Unable to fight it off.

I felt a shove and heard my name.

“Ron, you alright?”

I opened my eyes and saw Garth looking at me. He must’ve rolled me onto my back.

“You were moaning and groaning.”

“Uh, yeah, Garth, I’m okay. Must’ve been dreaming. A bad dream. I’m okay.”

“You want something to eat?”

“Uh, yeah, probably a good idea.” I looked at my watch. Half-past seven. I’d slept away the afternoon. The hiking must’ve tired me out.

“It’s still raining. I put out a couple of pots from the kitchen to catch water. At least we’ll have something to drink once I filter what I’ve collected.”

“That was a good idea, Garth.”

“You were dead to the world and I had to do something.”

“Yeah. Well, you had a good idea. We’ll need water.”

“The pots are probably full. The rain’s been streaming through the roof in quite a few spots. In another couple years, these buildings will probably collapse from water damage.”

“Probably. Let’s get the water.”

“I put them out in the kitchen. Couple real good streams coming down in there.”

We went to the kitchen, flashlights in hand, and retrieved the pots. They were overflowing. Garth pumped water from the pots, through the filter, into our camel packs. There was water remaining and he retrieved another pan from the kitchen, wiped it down with an alcohol wipe, and filtered the remaining water into it.

While he was doing that, I got the Sterno stove going, and mixed some of our freshly purified water to reconstitute the dehydrated beef stew, and then heated it up.

Garth looked at the packet. “That’s not vegetarian. Neither was the chili, come to think of it. You falling off the wagon?”
 

I smiled. “More like jumping off. Since it’s a self-imposed restriction, I’ll just climb back on when I’m ready.”

He laughed. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to corrupt you.”

“You haven’t. I’m corrupting myself.”

“Uh, Ron, I’m sorry. About earlier. I know you apologized for all—”

“Forget it. Ancient history.”

There was a pause and then he said, “Why did you arrange this outing?”

“It’s been a long time since we’ve done anything together. Too long. We’re not getting any younger, you know.”

“No, we’re not.”

“The stew is heated through. Let’s eat.”

We each dished up a plate of food and went into the tent to eat. I made no attempt at conversation. I suppose I was still pissed at his earlier comment. After a time, Garth did.

“Why did you never re-marry?”

“You have to ask?”

“Sorry.”

I don’t know what it was. Just being together. The oppressive weight of the gloom. The bad dream. Whatever it was, the dam broke.
 

“Let’s face it, Garth, I ruined your life as a kid, treated you like crap and wasn’t the big brother I should’ve been, and you ruined mine as an adult. I think you won. Okay? This was a bad idea. Really bad. Nothing is going to fix us. Nothing.”

I slipped on my boots and got out of the tent, taking my half-eaten plate of food with me. However, I’d lost my appetite and set the plate on the table by the stove. The enormous room felt tiny, claustrophobic. I walked to the door of the dining hall and stepped outside.

A light rain was falling. The pines provided some protection. The night was dark. Like being in a closet with no light on. I turned on the flashlight and then turned it off. I just wanted to be in the dark. Alone in the dark listening to the rain fall.

Light filtered past me and I heard footsteps. In a moment, Garth was standing next to me. I didn’t look at him, just continued staring into the night.

“Look, Ron, I’m sorry. I really am. I’d like nothing better than to be more than brothers in name only. That’s what I’ve always wanted. As you said, we aren’t getting any younger and what’s more important than family?”

I didn’t say anything.

He continued. “If I could undo the past, I would. But I can’t. What I did was wrong. I suppose I wanted to hurt you like you hurt me. But two wrongs don’t make a right. Don’t give up. Please. Let’s try to fix things.”

I looked at him. All I saw was a face barely illuminated by the flashlight beam. From the tone of his voice, he seemed sincere.

I let out a sigh. “Okay, Garth. Let’s go in.”

We walked back to the tent. The flashlight beams forming moving pools of light, which glinted off the little puddles of water on the floor.

“We can wash the dishes in the morning, when there’s some natural light,” I said.

“Good idea.”

We entered the tent. I took off my boots and crawled into my sleeping bag.

“So they never found the Land Cruiser or the driver?” Garth asked.

“No. Speculation by the locals was that it was somebody driving through town. No one local or from the surrounding area. Just some stranger. Or maybe strangers. I think there had to be at least one other. Don’t think one guy could’ve offed two strapping young men.”

“How would the killers have known about this place?”

“Good question. I don’t think they could’ve. Which makes me think, now that you mention it, maybe the young local fellas were looking for a joy ride or some, back then, illicit fun.”

“The whole thing seems odd. Doesn’t it?”

“It does. Although, to me, the oddest part is killing someone.”

“You’ve never wanted to kill someone?”

“No.”

“Not even me?”

“No, Garth, not even you.” I paused, waiting for him to say something, and, when he didn’t, I continued, “It’s just, I don’t know. A stranger picks up two other strangers. They have sex, willingly or unwillingly, and then the person kills them. It just makes no sense.”

“We’re sinners, Ron. I know you don’t believe in sin, but that’s what it is. Cain killed Abel. That made no sense either.”

I ignored his comment. No sense getting sucked into a fruitless religious discussion. Instead, I said, “We are a funny species. We value life and yet we destroy the very thing we value. Makes no sense. We, as a species, make no sense.”

“We were made in God’s image. It’s sin that’s ruined everything.”

All I could think was if we were made in God’s image, then He too made no sense. Instead of saying that and getting Garth to mount his evangelical high horse, I circled back around to the beginning of our discussion.
 

“No, they never found the Studebaker or who did it.” I paused and then added, why, I don’t know, “A black car. It was like a black cat. It was those young men’s black cat.”

“That’s an odd thing to say.”

“Yeah, it is. The image just popped into my head. Funny how the mind associates things. I think I’m going to get some sleep, Garth. I’m tired.”

“Sure thing, Ron.”

I turned over and went to sleep, although it seemed I’d no sooner closed my eyes when Garth was shaking me awake.

“Ron! Ron! I saw it. The Studebaker! I saw it!”

“What?”

“The Studebaker, Ron. It’s here.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Garth?”

“I saw it. I went to take a leak and I saw it.”

“If it was here, they’d have found it years ago. Check your bag and make sure you didn’t pee it. You were dreaming.”

“That was mean, Ron. You really don’t want this to work, do you?”

I sat up. “Fine. Let’s go take a look at the goddamn Studebaker. Maybe then I can get some sleep.” I slipped on my boots, grabbed my flashlight, and, as best I could, stomped out of the tent. I slipped on my poncho.

Garth was right behind me. I stepped aside and waved him on. “After you, Little Brother.”

I followed him outside. He turned to the left and walked along the side of the building. About halfway down he stopped and pointed towards the trees.

“I went over there to take a leak. I looked towards the back of the building — and there it was!”

“It’s dark as pitch. How did you see it? The car itself was black. Remember?” I couldn’t see his face and he wasn’t saying anything. I pressed on. “Well, let’s go to the back of the building. It’s either there or it isn’t.”

We walked to the back of the building. Following the little pools of light our flashlights made. Behind the building there was nothing other than weeds and grass and trees. No tire prints. No footprints. Nothing. I cast the light in his direction. He looked puzzled.

“There!” He pointed. “The weeds look flattened there!”

“Garth. Are you serious? With all the rain we’ve had you expect them to be standing tall?”

I saw him deflate. “It looked so real, Ron. I swear I could have touched it.”

“Well, there’s nothing here. Let’s go back inside.”

No words passed between us on the walk back. All I could think of was Garth and I as kids. We entered the dining hall.

“What the hell?” I blurted out.

Our tent was tipped over and it was dark inside. A breeze was blowing from somewhere and the air was chill.

“Must’ve busted the lantern bulb,” Garth said. “I think I have a spare.”

“Where the hell is that breeze coming from?”

We played our flashlights around.

“There!” Garth’s flashlight beam illuminated a window. It was broken and glass was lying on the floor.