Donners Bend (33 page)

“Whiskey.”

“Whiskey?”
Phillip
shrugged, “Whatever you say.”

A few hours later, and quite a few more whiskies, both men were completely drunk
. 
Neither meant for it to happen, but somehow their glasses seemed to never stay full for long
.

They now sat on opposite chairs in a dim
ly lit
parlor room
. 
Phillip
lounged across one brown leather couch clad in a navy velvet robe
that
he’d found in a closet
,
as well as a pair of tasseled slippers
. 
His normally very tidy light brown hair had flattened in some areas and began to stick out in others
. 
The emerald green eyes so many women lost themselves in were now bloodshot and glazed.

Across from him lay Jamie on a similar brown leather couch
. 
Sitting up, his feet were flat on the floor, his elbows on his knees, and his head once again buried in his hands
. 
Black locks ran through his shaky fingers, and a single strip of smoke drifted up from the cigar Jamie had put out moments before
. 
Phillip
still held his with a jittery hand.

It wasn’t uncommon for them to be smoking; most men in
Donners Bend
committed the act since they found no health risks or any other reasons not to
, but
the drinking would certainly have
been looked down upon by
Donners Bend
’s gossiping “hens.” But if it hadn’t been for the gossiping ladies, they wouldn’t have been drinking in the first place.

The
y’d been speaking of random, insignificant
things again, for they couldn’t concentrate on much else in their horrible drunken states
;
but
then there was a silence and when it was broken
,
the topic was much less lackadaisical and carried out in earnest.

“God help me,” Jamie whispered under his breath, dropping his head into his hands.

Phillip
looked up at him curiously
. 
His voice slurred as he asked, “Somethin’ wrong, Jame?”

“
I
…
I
think I’m in love.” Jamie stammered, rubbing his temples and closing his eyes as though he’d just stated a sin.

“How
in the world
did that happen?”

Jamie shook his head, “Don’
t
know.”

“Well what’d
ya
go and do a
stupid
thing like that for?”

“Don’
t
know.”

“Whoever invented love was a fool, that’s all I’ve got ta say,”
Phillip
added as he leaned back on the couch and took another puff on his cigar,
“
c
ause
ya know what
? 
Love’s a
stinkin’
curse
. 
It’s a curse added on to man’s list of anxiety for absolutely no reason at t’all,
except
so the world
can
‘ave
a laugh
. 
A
big old chuckle
at how foolish people are
.
”
 

“Love’s a
stinkin’
curse
…
a
curse
. 
Just another thing to torment and plague silly guys like you, Jamie boy, that just let it go and bother ‘em and make’em feel like they’ve already reached
the bottom with nowhere else to go and no way out.  It’s a bottomless pit that ya can’t get outta.  What ya go
and
do a
stupid thing like that for
? 
Love’s a
stinkin’
curse
. 
That’s all I hafta say.”

Jamie just kept shaking his head, “I don’
t
know how it happened
. 
I don’
t
know why it happened
, but
it’s true
, a
nd I can’t deny it any longer or I swear I’ll go mad.”

Phillip
raised his eyebrows, “You’re already mad in my opinion.”

Jamie ignored him and admitted the evident truth, “I’m in love with
Eliana
Mae
Henderson
.”

“Are you sure?”
Phillip
questioned, “
Don’t say it out loud. 
You’re quite dr
u
nk at the momen’ and you never know, maybe you’re just makin’ this all up as you go along
. 
Maybe you’re havin’ some sorta drunken rage
or horrible nightmare
, an’ you just don’ realize it.”

“But I’m not.”

“How do you know
? 
You’re not even in your right mind.”

“But I am in my right mind and I know I’m not so delirious as to say I love someone when I don’
t
.”

“Ya never know.”

“I love ‘r and I’m not just speakin’ nonsense,” Jamie assured him, “I love Wendy Ev’son and that’s all there is to it.”

“’er name’s
Ellie
, you know.”

“Right, right
, j
ust a little mixed up there
. 
I love,” he paused, thinking, “
Ellie
Ev’son and
that’s
the truth.”

“There, now you’ve got it right.”

“But I’ll never ‘ave her,” Jamie said solemnly, “I’ll bet
O
l’
Smithton
proposed to ‘er hours ago.”

“Hours and hours ago,”
Phillip
repeated.

“And I’ll bet she said yes.”

Phillip
nodded, “I reckon’ so.”

“And I bet they’ll live
a
‘appy, perfect little life in their cute little cottage.”

“Cute cottage.”

“And I’ll bet she’ll
forget
all about that mad
Rhodes
man she once met.”

Phillip
chuckled, “Mad
Rhodes
.”

“And I’ll be left to live alone for the rest of my life,” muttered Jamie, “In complete and utter misery.”

“Complete misery,”
Phillip
agreed
, but
then he suddenly got a light in his eyes and he sat up as he said, “Unless
...
”

“Unless what?
  C’mon
,
say it man. . .
”

“Unless
Smithton
didn’t ask ‘er today
;
t
hen you’ve still got a little chance
, a
nd you can ask her to marry you
.
 
And you won’t have to live alone in misery!”

“I can ask her to marry me,” repeated Jamie, thinking over the words carefully before adding, “Of course,
that’s it. 
I’ll have to make sure I’m not drunk when I do
. 
I don’ want to be speakin’ nonsense to ‘er.”

“That’d prob’ly be a good idea.”
             

Although he may have been drunk, and although he may not have spoken in proper English, Jamie’s intentions were sincere
. 
He truly did love
Ellie
;
and if he hadn’t been drunk he would have ridden over to her house that very instant and proposed.

The following day, after Jamie had completely gotten over the effects of the vast amount of alcohol he’d consumed the previous night with
Phillip
, he tidied himself up a bit: washed his face, combed his dark hair, and even trimmed his fingernails
. 
Then, he dressed
. 
Wearing a clean charcoal-colored suit, shiny black shoes, and his black fedora, he felt quite handsome
. 
Without letting anyone know where he was off to, Jamie snuck out the back door and over to the stables
. 
Sitting atop a large chestnut-haired horse with a silky black mane, Jamie was just about to head off when a little boy with dark curls stopped him.

“Where are you going, Jamie?” Wesley asked.

“Out for a bit,” Jamie replied vaguely, “But I’ll be home soon.”

“Can I come too?”

“Not this time, little man
. 
Sorry.”

“O-tay,” Wesley replied, obviously not too hurt by the refusal, “Bye, bye Jamie!”

“Bye, Wes-man!” Jamie gently kicked the horse’s sides and they were off, leaving young Wesley waving behind him.

It was a beautiful day
. 
The sun was shining and a light layer of snow had fallen the day before, creating a winter wonderland of
Donners Bend
’s hills
. 

Before long, Jamie had reached his destination: the house of
Jon
Smithton
. 

It was a quaint little residence
. 
On either side of the wooden house were the mere structures of two large trees with no leaves visible
. 
It looked to only contain around three to four rooms; far different than the type of abode Jamie was used to
. 

Straightening his tie, he hopped off the horse and walked up the way to the door
. 
He knocked twice before it was answered
,
and there stood
Jon
.

Strange was it to see two so vastly different men as these:
Jon
was a simple, small town boy, while Jamie was a brilliant, yet from time to time arrogant and contentious man with a youthful side to him
. 
Jon
had no riches or wealth to speak of, while Jamie had lived in a mansion since he was a boy
,
for the
Rhodes
were one of the wealthiest families in all of
Donners Bend
. 
Jon
wore a collared, plaid shirt and khaki pants
;
and his whitish-blond hair was, as always, slightly out of place
. 
Jamie wore an expensive suit
and
fedora and his dark locks were neatly combed
. 

D
espite
their obvious d
ifferences, the two men had one thing in common: their adoration of Miss
Eliana
Mae
Henderson
.

“Hey Jamie,” said
Jon
, quite confused as to why this man was at his door, “What can I do for you?”

“Could we sit down for a minute
? 
I’ve got something I need to discuss with you,” Jamie replied.

“Of course.”