Many Waters

by William Woodall

  Chapter Thirteen - Cody

  On a night in late July, I dreamed again for the first time in weeks.

  This time was nothing like the crystal cave I saw before. I saw a pitiless desert scene, harsh and bright, and a white silver plain writhing with copperhead snakes. One of them was larger than the rest and devoured the smaller ones until none were left. Then it looked at me with glittering eyes and would have devoured me too, but in my hand was a shining star which held it back.

  The next morning I told Lisa about it.

  “I had another dream last night,” I said.

  “A true one?” she asked.

  “I think so. It was weird, but then I guess they always are,” I said.

  “So tell me about it,” she said.

  “It was horrible. There was a sandy desert full of copperheads, and one of them ate all the rest and then tried to eat me, but it couldn’t because I had a star in my hand. Then I woke up,” I said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure, but I know who we can ask,” I said.

  “Who’s that?” she asked.

  “His name’s Brandon Stone; he lives over there in Ravanna,” I said.

  “Brandon Stone?” she asked.

  “That’s his name. I wondered if he was some kin of yours, but I didn’t think to ask,” I said.

  “I don’t know of anybody with that name, but you never can tell. My father had more girlfriends than Carter’s got liver pills. He might even be my brother for all I know,” she said, and I was sure I detected an edge to her voice which wasn’t usually there. Not that I could blame her, if that’s how things had been.

  “You don’t have to go, if you don’t want to,” I said gently, and she sighed.

  “Yeah, I know. But I might as well bite the bullet. Mama always told me not to be a mouse,” she said.

  “All right, then. We’ll go see him tomorrow,” I said.

  So that’s what we did, and I don’t think Brandon expected to see me again so soon. But at least he didn’t stick a shotgun in my face this time when we showed up.

  He was still wearing those same dirty overalls he’d had on the last time. He was sitting on a cypress log next to one of those decrepit old wrecks, doing something up under the fender well with a wrench. I couldn’t help thinking he was crazy if he thought he’d ever get any of those vehicles running again, but I kept my opinion to myself.

  He set down his wrench on the log and watched me come closer, nodding when I got within earshot. I did notice that he smelled a little nicer than before, so maybe he’d had a bath since we last met.

  “Cody,” he said, a simple acknowledgement and no more. He didn’t get up to shake hands or even wave at Lisa, still waiting in the truck.

  “Brandon, I need your help again,” I said.

  “Yeah, I’m sure you do. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t. Spill it,” he said.

  From then on out the ritual went pretty much like before. I told him my dream, he prayed, and then told me what it meant.

  “This is what God is saying to you. The snake is the same person as the skeleton you dreamed about before. A deceitful enemy who will destroy you if possible. You’ll meet on a white silver plain, empty and lifeless, where your enemy has already destroyed many others before you. Be faithful and true, and your enemy will flee from you for a while,” he said.

  “But-“ I said.

  “That’s all I know,” Brandon interrupted, waving his hand dismissively.

  “Thanks,” I said, not sure what else to say.

  “Uh-huh,” Brandon said, picking up his wrench and going back to whatever he was doing to that old truck. I left him some money on the end of his log, held down with a rusty brake rotor to keep it from blowing away. I don’t even know how much it was; whatever was left over in my pocket.

  “Not a very friendly kid, is he?” Lisa said while we bumped and splashed our way back out of Brandon’s driveway.

  “Oh, he was an angel compared to how things went the last time I was here. I thought he was fixing to blow my head off with a twelve-gauge,” I said.

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Yeah, really. He’s tough as nails,” I said.

  “What’s a kid that young doing living out here in the middle of nowhere like this, though? Where are his parents?” she asked.

  “He said they were gone. As to what he’s doing here, I couldn’t tell you. He seems happy, though,” I said. Well, maybe happy was a bit much; Brandon never seemed exactly happy, but satisfied anyway.

  “So what did he tell you?” she asked.

  “He said the snake was a deceitful enemy that I’ll meet on a white silver plain where many others have been destroyed before me, but if I’m faithful and true then he’ll flee from me for a while,” I said, shaking my head.

  “Well, that shouldn’t be too hard for you,” she said.

  “So you think. I just wish he could speak plainly, you know, instead of giving me all these puzzles and riddles,” I said.

  “I’m sure he gives you what you need to hear,” she said, and I guess maybe she had a point about that. Sometimes the simplest answer is not the most useful one, even if it might seem that way at first.

  We got to play at a high school chili supper in Linden that night, which was nice since we didn’t have to go far. They only paid us fifty bucks, but at least we did get to eat as much free chili as we wanted. So we played them some country dance music since that’s what the kids had asked for, and I even had time to dance a few songs with Lisa myself. Those are my favorite kinds of gigs, I think, even if we don’t really make all that much. When the crowd cheers and claps and loves what you’re doing, that’s really an awesome feeling, you know. It reminds me of why I started playing music in the first place.

  We finished up with Lord Have Mercy on a Country Boy, one of those old songs everybody and their hound dog knows the words to, so the kids could sing along and end the whole shebang on a high note, so to speak.

  We left the parking lot in pretty high spirits not long after that, happy that things had gone so well. I wish every day could be that good.

  But things don’t work that way, of course, and if the dreams were to be believed then I knew we had to be drawing near to the end of our happy times, and therefore I should expect some kind of trouble with money pretty soon.

  Oh, joy, I thought to myself, wondering how things could possibly get any worse in that respect than they already were.

  No doubt I’d find out soon enough.