Houseboat

by Paul Shadinger

  Walter continued, “Considering some of the shit he did, it’s no wonder the military came in and told your police friends to forget the whole thing and took his body with them. When I knew him, he called himself Price, Denny Price. He was a sadistic wacko, and his way of getting information out of prisoners was truly warped. He always seemed to get a real kick out of it.

  “Price was from the Deep South when the Army drafted him. A sergeant in our outfit had been in the same basic training company at Fort Knox as Price and sorta knew him. According to this sergeant, Price was amazing with a rifle. Back home, when Price went off to school, his daddy would give him one bullet. On the way back from school it was Price’s job to shoot something for dinner. If he missed, the family went hungry. Because of this, Price got genuinely good at shooting.

  “Anyway, back in basic training the first day they had to qualify with their rifles, Price had the highest score anybody had ever achieved, ever! The cat had a perfect score.” I looked over at Walter, half-expecting that he was pulling my leg, but the look on his face showed me he was serious. “Really!” He kept nodding his head.

  Finally he continued his story, “The next day there was a bunch of high-ranking officers and a couple of dudes in suits. Price scored perfect that day as well. The next morning Price was gone; Sarge said he was gone, and all of his stuff was gone. The Sargent said someone asked him to call the company together, and a one star general addressed them. The general said everybody in the company was to forget they ever met Price. From that point on, he didn’t exist. In addition, if anybody discussed Price, they’d find themselves brought up on charges and end up in a military prison. When Sarge saw Price in Nam, he was going to say hello, but then he remembered the general and the warning, so Sarge decided he didn’t want to say anything.” Walter sat for a while looking off into the distance. I could tell he still had more to say, I just had to wait him out.

  “Price was also gay. Back then we called them faggots, or whatever, but I guess he’d be called bisexual nowadays. I knew he had a girlfriend in a village a few clicks away, and he’d go visit her off and on. When I saw her the first time, I noticed that she was very small. In fact, I thought she looked like a boy. Anyway, another dude showed up in the unit, and they seemed to hit it off big time; We called them “butt buddies.” Price didn’t go as often to the village to see his girlfriend after that. The new guy’s name was Heyward Hollis. Hollis would be the other man I’d consider as frightening.

  “If Price was weird, you’d call Hollis certifiable. Like I said, they met in Nam, and they became really close, if you know what I mean. They didn’t care who knew about it.” I nodded my head. Walter continued, “They made sure they went on as many missions together as they could. Because they kept bugging the powers above us to give them more missions together, they gave them the nastiest, the ugliest missions, and those guys loved it.

  “The last time I saw the two of them, Hollis was holding Price in his arms, and I’d have sworn Price was as good as dead. We were shutting down an outpost, and everybody was busy. Both of them had just returned from a mission. We noticed that Price was not his normal self. His head was not on straight. The deal was, as soon as we finished with our job cleaning up what they told us to take care of we were to grab the next chopper out. So I never knew if Hollis got Price on a medevac chopper out of there. From the looks of the photo here, I’d say they got back to somewhere.”

  Walter sat there, staring off into space; I could tell he was trying to remember something. Finally he stirred in his chair and spoke, “I thought I heard once some things about Hollis, and from those comments I thought he found a way back home.” Walter shrugged his shoulders and chuckled, “One thing, I thought I heard once was he was a “mechanic.” Back in my drinking and druggin’ days, one time when I was at the VA hospital, I ran in to one of the guys from the old days. He informed me that, or at least I think he did.” Walter held his hands up looked at me, and muttered, “Shit, Matt, you know how things were for me back then. Some things I think I remember, and I wonder if they’re true, some things I hope ain’t true. I’m sorry, I ain’t being much of a help.”

  “What do you mean, ‘a mechanic’? You mean he worked on cars?” I asked Walter.

  Walter laughed, “No dope. He was for hire—a hit man. I can’t remember who even told me that, like I said. Hells bells, maybe I just dreamed it. When I think about him becoming one, it was not something that would have surprised me. If one of them became a hit man then both of them would have gone the same way, if you catch my drift?”

  I remembered when Walter lived back in the ID it was not a good place. He’d been drinking very hard, and I knew he’d take any kind of drug just to take the edge off things. The abuse continued over a long time. Sometimes when the two of us start to reminisce about the old days, I’m surprised he remembers as much as he does.

  The silence grew between us again. All of a sudden, I felt Walter was back in the jungle again. From time to time, it happens to all of us, and I just knew it was best to let him come back on his own. We both had experienced combat in the jungles, and both of us knew the confusion and horrors. We’d both been wounded, and we both were physically and mentally scarred. It was at least half an hour before he grunted and looked over at me. “You know you once saw the two of them?”

  “What?” I was startled by his comment.

  “When I found you all fucked up and brought you back, you and I were waiting on the chopper to come in and take you out…”

  I interrupted, “I don’t remember too much from that day. I’d had several pain shots by then.”

  Walter chuckled, “Yeah, you were very fucked up. As they were carrying you to the chopper, a brand new guy arrived at the unit, and the other one had just returned from the field. The major ordered them to come up and help put some guys in the first chopper out, and then they helped me pick you up, do you remember?”

  “I remember being carried to the chopper, and that you were beside me, so there must had been others carrying me…”

  “Two of those guys were Price and Hollis.”

  “No shit?”

  “No shit. That was the day when they met each other.”

  “But I don’t remember a thing about what they looked like.”

  “When they put you in the chopper, one of them accidentally banged your leg against the side of the door, and you hollered, ‘Watch it faggot, that hurts.’ Later, when I found out about them and their preference for each other, I cracked up laughing thinking about what you’d said. You had no way of knowing of course, but it was funny.”

  I sat there, again trying to remember. I had very disjointed memories from that day. It was like in bits and pieces rather than the whole. That day seemed as if it was a series of snapshots. The main thing I could recall was thinking I was going to die, then out of nowhere Walter showed up, and packed me back to the zone. And of course, there was the pain; that blurred everything else that day. Finally, finally I felt those wonderful shots. I recall hearing the chopper coming in to take me out of that hellhole, and the being carried up to the landing site. Honestly, I didn’t remember saying anything to anyone. If I said what Walter said I said, I sure didn’t remember. Moreover, as to the faggot remark, we said those things all the time. We never meant anything by them.

  The conversation had now sent both of us back into our memories, and I found myself immersed in old remembrances. Suddenly Walter’s chair came crashing to the deck, and he exclaimed, “What the fuck was Price doing in your backyard?”

  Walter was back. “I came home and found him in my apartment.”

  Walters turned in his chair, and he looked over at me, “The fuck you say. What happened?”

  “I came in, BJ started to bark, and I guess he kicked her. I heard her squeal, so I ran to the back of the apartment. When I arrived, he was running across the vacant lot when he slipped and broke h
is leg. I went back to find a phone and I heard shots, and by the time I got back to the lot, Price was dead and a car was taking off.”

  “You came home and Price ran after he heard you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Bullshit!”

  “What?”

  “Bullshit! You know he’d never run. Something ain’t right.”

  “That was my first thought. He’d never run, but times change, things change, yeah?”

  Walter looked at me, “Matt, look at it this way, if things were reversed and Price came home and caught you, would you split like that?”

  I sat for a long time with my feet up on the railing. A lot of time has passed since the old days and honestly, I don’t know what I’d have done. If I got in a nasty situation, I’d like to think that the old training is still there and would keep me alive, but I really didn’t have a good answer to give Walter.

  Finally I started, “Walter, honestly, it’s been so long, I really don’t know what I’d do. Maybe he just felt it was better to leave than have to deal with me. You said you had heard Hollis was for hire. What about Price?”

  “Like I said if they asked one of them to do something, then both of them were up for doing it. But, yeah. Why?”

  Walter looked over at me. I asked him, “Did you ever do any missions with them? I never knew them, of course. What were they like in the field?”

  “Yeah. We had a couple of missions together. Both of them cats were like, cold. Really cold. And Price was something else with a knife.”

  My blood turned frosty, and I stared at Walter. I asked, “Like how?”

  “One time we got trapped by some slopes while we were out on patrol. I saw Price stab one in the chest with the knife in his right hand, rip the knife out, then flip the knife to his left, and catch another dude just as he started to lunge at him. Then he pulled out the knife, and threw it at a third dude as he was trying to run away. Nailed the sucker square between the shoulders, and the knife went in about halfway.” Walter shook his head back and forth, “Damn it was impressive. Weird, but so impressive! I doubt if he could have done the same thing with a gun.” Walter turned to face me, “Price told me one time he loved to stick people, said it was ‘cause he could let out all the hate and rage he had trapped inside of his head. I asked him why he had so much hate and he told me to mind my fucking business.”

  Walter turned to face front and was quiet again, as he relived the moments over in his head. He grunted and then turned back to me, “I mean, I knew they were a couple; buddies, you know?” I nodded my head, “But when they were on mission, they were all business. You’d never know they were lovers. I always wondered how they kept that part of their lives so isolated in their heads.

  “One thing I do know. One night I heard one of them make the other one promise that if it became necessary to leave him behind, he wouldn’t be left alive. Then they both swore to that pact. Under no condition would either of them leave the other behind, alive.”

  Suddenly it hit me. Now my chair crashed down on the deck. “That’s it!” I exclaimed.

  “You ok, man?” Walter asked.

  “Yes…don’t you see…it makes sense now? Hollis was the one who put the hit on Price that night. Hollis knew Price was dying from the cancer. It was like the old days; they were on a mission. Price was down, and there was no way that Hollis could get him away from the back lot. So in the end, Hollis finished the job that he’d promised years before. He snuffed Price.”

  Walter stared at me wide-eyed, “You never said anything about cancer. Price had cancer?”

  I nodded my head, “The autopsy said he had maybe two or three months left to live. From what I’ve learned, by ending his life Hollis actually did Price a favor. All that Price had to look forward to was a shit load of pain.”

  It was growing dark now, and when I looked over at Walter I could see him staring off in to space. His silhouette was just a relief in the receding dusk. “Damn…” he muttered, “Damn, he fulfilled his promise. Now Hollis has taken on the hit, Hollis will keep on until you put him down, or he finishes the hit. I wonder who was the target? And most of all, who hired him?”

  “I have an idea, a very good idea.” I responded. I told Walter it was time to move on, that I needed to return to Seattle, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He didn’t think it was wise of me to try to wander back to the parking spot in the dark. Walter told me he had a great spare bedroom, and the decision was final, I was going to spend the night.

  Walter’s wife chimed in I was not going to head off in the dark. I was going to spend the night.

  So, BJ and I spent the night.

  CHAPTER 26

  The morning mist was just starting to clear and I could almost see the ocean, off in the distance the roar was a constant presence. When Walter asked me to stay for another day I could see no reason to say no. Thien was so sweet and when I said I would stay an extra day, the joy on her face made me happy I was able to do something to bring out that great smile. We had a great time and for a whole day I hardly gave any thought to the houseboat or Slim or Price and Hollis. I had a one day vacation and it was wonderful.

  It was now Wednesday morning and I was sitting on Walter’s front deck with my feet up reflecting how well he had done for himself. I thought about his lovely home and his sweet wife when Thien brought me a cup of coffee. I beamed at her thoughtfulness. “May I sit?” she asked as she smiled down at me.

  “Of course, and thanks for the coffee.”

  Her smile warmed me as much as the cup of coffee. It was easy to see why Walter was so in love with this delightful woman. “May I speak freely?” Thien asked.

  “You’re silly, you know you don’t have to ask.”

  “I’ve thanked you in the past, for what you did for Walter—and for me as well. I really don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say you saved his life,” I started to speak, but she raised her hand, “Hush. Please let me finish. Yes, I know he saved you back in the jungle and you feel a sense of obligation. Nevertheless, what he did was just part of what he viewed as his job, what you did was out of love and concern. You’re a good man, Mr. Preston, and that’s why I want to talk to you. I see the sorrow in your eyes. You need a person in your life. I feel you have somebody, but you’re afraid to let her become a larger part of your life. True?”

  I thought of Sharon and the changing relationship we were now going through. I nodded my head affirmatively at Thien. She continued on, “Do you love her?” I nodded. “Then why are you afraid of her? Why do you not let her more into your life?”

  This was becoming a difficult conversation. “Thien, I’ve had two previous marriages.” I paused, “And they didn’t go well...either time. You don’t know this, but I’m a selfish man, and I’ve become set in my ways over the years. I live my life the way I want to, and I don’t want to change. I don’t think a lot of women out there would put up with me.”

  “Do you feel you’re more difficult to live with than Walter?”

  I thought about her question. Walter had come a long way because of Thien, perhaps she was even more instrumental in saving his life than I’d been. I guess it was a toss-up. But could Sharon put up with me? Could Sharon accept me the way I am, or could I change enough to make things work with her?

  It was a long time before I could give Thien an answer. “I don’t know if we could make it work. At her job, she’s usually the one in charge, and I don’t know if she can put that aside when we’re together. I’ve been alone for so long it would be difficult to share with her what I’m doing in my life. I know I care more for Sharon than any other woman I’ve known. However, I don’t know if I could change enough to make a marriage work with her.”

  “The fact that you’d even consider changing for her is a step in the right direction. In the past would you consider changing for a woman?” I looked down at the deck as I shook my head no
. “Then there’s hope,” then she laughed.

  Walter stepped out on the deck, and asked if I was ready to head back. I said yes, but before we left, I gave Thien a hug. With her arms still around me, she leaned back, “Please bring your friend here. I want to meet her.”

  “I’ll ask her.”

  Thien put a slender finger on my lips to silence me and then repeated herself, “Please! Bring your friend here. Please?” I nodded my head and smiled down at her lovely face. “Promise?” I nodded my head again. She mouthed the words “Thank you,” and then responded by giving me a strong hug.

  Walter and I headed off in the morning dew, returning to the parking place where I’d left my truck. Our pace back was a lot faster than when we’d hiked up to the cabin. In a way, I was now in a hurry. I had more information before I came over to visit Walter, and because of that, I now had many things to do. I was finally was starting to get a handle on things. I just hoped the handle didn’t fall off too quickly.

  I’d been around Walter enough so that I could read his moods. When we got to the parking place I could sense that something was troubling him. I knew there was no point in asking him, he would bring it up when he was ready and not before. After I put my stuff in the truck and collared BJ, I said I needed to go, and even though I knew better, I asked him if there was a problem. As usual, Walter was quiet for a spell as he gathered his thoughts.

  “Matt, I don’t have a good feeling about any of this. Over the past two days I’ve told you how I feel. You know I want you to drop this whole business, but I can see you aren’t going to listen to me.” Walter took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I think…no, let me change that, I’m positive Hollis is crazy and extremely dangerous. If you doubt my words, look at what he did to Price.” I started to say something and Walter held up his hand. “I know it was all part of an agreement they had, but face it, you have to be a little crazy to blow away your lover, regardless of what the two of you had planned, or promised to each other.”