High Desert Barbecue (14 page)

R
ena nodded in satisfaction, sending a wobble through her goosebump-covered breasts.

“
Yep. It was grazing on public land. It’s good to make a political statement that tastes good, too.”

J
ason nodded, grimaced for a moment, and then finished his piece of jerky.

S
amantha shivered slightly. The ground was damp from the day’s rain and a light breeze stole the heat from their bodies.

“
Are you cold?”

“
A little chilled from the rain.”

J
ason pulled a light, metallic emergency blanket from his pack, identical to the one Ray now sported as a loincloth, and wrapped it around Samantha and himself.

S
amantha smiled.

R
ay scowled and Terry continued his thousand-mile stare.

“
Guys. It looks like it’s going to be a chilly night. Let’s all gather ‘round and share our warmth.”

B
ob and Rena eagerly moved to form a circle. Terry joined, slowly, when nudged.

R
ay’s scowl deepened.

“
What’s this group hug crap?”

“
Don’t you want to be warm?”

A
rumble and flash announced the return of the rain. Around the group, dark blotches once again appeared on the rocks in a tightening pattern. The sky, which just a few minutes before had been speckled with early stars, now showed gray and featureless.

R
ay’s eyes bulged and his face reddened, but he moved forward to join his colleagues.

“
Just don’t fucking ask me to sing ‘Kumbaya’.”

S
amantha snuggled closer to Jason, who sighed, softly, in contentment.

Chapter 30

T
he rain sounded a steady drumbeat on the tarp, beneath which Scott and Lani lounged, warm and dry in their sleeping bags.

B
arely visible, just feet away in the gathering dark, Rollo sat cloaked in his blanket, with the edge of his groundcloth pulled up over his head like a cloak.

“
I’d volunteer to stand guard duty,” Rollo offered. “But somehow, I don’t think it’s necessary.”

“
Are you sure?” Lani asked.

“
Nope. But I think any rangers stumbling around in the rain and the dark are more likely to need rescuing by us than to be a threat to us.”

“
Sounds like there’s water flowing in the creek bed,” Scott added. “It’s a good night to drown in the desert.”

T
hey fell silent for a moment. The only sound was that of rain falling on rocks, brush and fabric.

L
ani shifted positions, leaning her weight against Scott, who brushed his hand through her hair.

“
Rollo, can I ask you something?”

“
Sure. But I can’t promise that I’ll answer.”

“
You live out in the desert, and you don’t work at anything steady that I know of. But when you come to town, you always have money for beer and hookers. How do you manage that?”

S
cott laughed.

“
Yeah, buddy. How do you manage that?”

T
he older man grumbled.

“
Scott knows how I manage that.”

“
Oh yeah?” Lani turned her face upwards toward Scott’s barely visible features. “How come you never told me?”

“
It’s Rollo’s business, not mine.”

“
And a good business it is. Go ahead and tell her what I do.”

S
cott cleared his throat.

“
This old bum is a big-time drug kingpin.”

“
What?”

“
Oh crap, I’m fucking well not!”

“
Well, you grow dope.”

“
What?”

“
Yep. That part’s true.”

L
ani sat straight up, brushing her head against the bug netting that draped down from the tarp.

“
You’ve spent all these years out in the forest just so you can grow dope?”

A
n agitated rustling cut through the patter of rain.

“
Oh hell no! I grow dope so I can buy supplies and have a little fun when I come to town. I’ve spent all these years in the forest to get the hell away from my wife.”

S
cott chuckled.

“
That was Toni, right? I thought there was a little more to it than that.”

“
Well … yeah. There was the house and the wife and the job. The house was one of those cookie-cutter deals in a quaint-by-decree town. Y’know, your fence can’t be higher than five feet and you can’t change your oil in the driveway and the neighbors come in three different flavors of pain-in-the-ass. It was perfect for Toni.”

L
ani leaned back against Scott, who nuzzled the top of her head and copped a feel—gently slapped away—under the cover of darkness.

“
So, why’d you marry her?”

“
She was a real looker when she was 24. There’s no denying that. The sex was unbelievable.”

“
This seems to be something of a theme in your life.”

“
I know what I like. But when I married Toni I hadn’t yet realized that a decent piece of ass could be had on a short-term rental basis; I didn’t need to take on a long-term lease.”

S
cott successfully stifled a laugh, but Lani could feel the spasms through his touch and shot an elbow into his ribs.

“
Jesus. I was just starting to like you.”

“
Can you tell he used to be a car salesman?” Scott asked.

“
Bullshit. I sold insurance. What a racket.

“
Anyway, Lani, if it makes you feel better, I didn’t go over too well in that cookie cutter town either.”

“
Who’d ever guess?”

“
Yeah. One of the town councilmen called me a ‘menace’.”

“
Did you proposition his wife?”

“
Nope. I just threatened to pour a load of concrete down his chimney. Him and his chums passed an ordinance banning new fireplaces. I just figured he ought to give up his own if he was gonna go and pass a law like that.”

L
ani reached back and stroked her boyfriend’s cheek.

“
Suddenly, I understand why you and Scott are friends.”

“
That’s it,” Scott joined in. “Rollo and I share a certain constructive disrespect for authority.”

“
No shit. But you’re better than me at making up your own rules while making people think you’re living by theirs. You blend in and subvert the system. I need to do things my own way, but there’s not a lot of room left for that.”

S
cott hoisted his drinking tube aloft—a nearly invisible gesture in the dark.

“
To Rollo, the last of the mountain men.”

“
So,” Lani asked. “Did you do it?”

“
What?”

“
Pour concrete down the councilman’s chimney?”

“
Heh. I ain’t telling.”

A
papery rustling interrupted the conversation. Scott thrust something into Lani’s hand. She smelled the sweetness before she tasted the candy bar.

“
Want some chocolate, buddy?”

“
Sure.”

S
cott brushed the bug net aside. He launched the piece of candy into the darkness.

“
Ow! Son of a bitch.”

“
Sorry. Your big head was the only thing I could see.”

T
he night was filled with the sound of chewing. Eager molars crunched down on chocolate, peanuts and caramel.

“
Damn that hit the spot.”

“
So,” Lani began around a mouthful of partially chewed candy. She stopped, chewed some more, and then swallowed before beginning again.

“
So, how’d you get from a life you hated to farming dope in the national forest?”

“
Oh that. Well, my escape was always camping and hiking. Toni came with me at first. But she never much liked it and did it to make me happy. Later, she didn’t much like me either, so I went off on my camping trips by myself to get away from things.”

“
Did you divorce her and decide that life in the woods was better than life in a model town?”

“
Technically, I’m still on my last camping trip. It’s going on six years now, so Toni and my boss have probably figured out that I’m not coming back. Hang on …”

T
he sound of a zipper cut through the night.

“
Yep, here it is in my pack. I still have the airport parking receipt for my car. What a piece of shit. D’ya think it’s still there?”

H
e chuckled and continued without waiting for an answer.

“
Even buying nothing but occasional supplies, I ran out of cash pretty fast. And there wasn’t anything left for an occasional blow-out in town. It wasn’t long before I turned to a little part-time agriculture. Hell, it wasn’t hard. That stuff will grow anywhere!

“
Anyway, that’s enough about me. What made you decide to torment kids for a living?”

I
n the distance a coyote howled, and was quickly joined by others of his kind. Silent until now, curled up at the feet of the sleeping bags, Champ responded with a low growl.

“
I’ll tell you—if you have a joint to share.”

Chapter 31

T
he small circle clustered even more tightly as the coyote chorus continued. Jason snugged up against Samantha, Terry huddled between Bob and Rena, and Ray found himself pressed between the group’s nominal leader and the mammal-hating fireplug. Damp and chilly under the thin, crinkly mylar of his now-tattered emergency blanket, which he’d spread out as a body-covering poncho, Ray inched away from his comrades. Almost immediately, he felt Rena’s breast back in place against his arm. He shot a quick glance at her, and found his look returned by a sharp scowl.

“
Can’t we have a fire,” Terry asked. Just a small one, maybe.”

J
ason briefly dragged his attention from the woman sitting next to him.

“
Umm … I don’t think that’s a good idea. Ray, you’re the law-enforcement guy. What do you say?”

R
ay sighed.

“
It might just make us a target, and they’re obviously armed and willing to fight. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for one of us to stand guard, if anybody is willing to volunteer.” He looked around the circle.

E
verybody found someplace else to direct their eyes.

“
Or not.”

R
ay glanced back at his neighbor and found her looking at him again. He felt a sudden flush of warmth—uncomfortable warmth. The coyotes chose that moment to raise the volume.

“
Uh, I guess you guys don’t like coyotes, right. I mean, they’re mammals and all.”

“
Oh, that’s not true. After all, they eat other mammals. I think that’s pretty cool.”