by Martha Woods
“If he didn’t want to be shown up he shouldn’t have challenged me in the first place, if he’s going to be a baby about it then that’s not really my concern is it?”
“Look, I’m just going to be honest ok? Matt’s been here a long time, I wasn’t born here, but I’ve been working with him for going on ten years now, and he’s always been the big dog around town, you know?” He looked around, making sure the dog in question wasn’t listening in from nearby. “You know what dogs do when they’re threatened right? They start lashing out, biting, you know?”
“That’s what you think he’s going to try?” Shane asked, “You think he’s rearing up to bite?”
“I don’t know ok? Genuinely, maybe he’s just pissy and he’s gonna let it all blow over in a couple days, but if he doesn’t… I just wanted to give you a warning, make sure that you were ready in case he decides to come at you, I think you’re a decent enough guy now that I’ve spoken with you for a bit.”
Shane hummed, resting on the handle of his ax and letting his head lol to the side, “He’s into something isn’t he? More than just chopping trees down for a living, what’s his side gig?”
“Look, we’re right on the border here, you know? If the snow wasn’t so thick you might be able to see it a few miles north up there, and sometimes people on the other side want to get things in or out, that’s all. He just handles delivery, nothing bad, but it does make him… antsy sometimes. So just don’t push your luck with him, stay out of his way, don’t piss him off, and if we’re lucky then he’ll let it all go in a few months.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Shane asked, picking up his ax and tightening his grip around the wood, “What then?”
Todd looked down, then up at the look in Shane’s eye, and he couldn’t help but gulp. “I would say that you should probably just skip town, but I have a feeling that’s not exactly in your playbook, is it? If he does something stupid, and I’m not saying he will, but if he does, then it’d probably be best if you shut it down and didn’t escalate it, there’s a lot of people that depend on him for money and if he goes then they might get angry.”
“Are you one of those people?”
“I just work with him, that’s all. But even still, I don’t think I want him gone gone, you know what I’m saying. And like I said, probably all just going to blow over in no time, no big deal, right?”
Shane stood there for a few moments, tapping his fingers until they were nearly drumming the wood, before he slammed the blade of the ax into the side of the tree and wrenched it free, watching the tree starting to tumble away from them and collapse into the snow with a puff of white dust, Todd looking between the fallen tree and him as he hung the ax over his shoulder and smiled.
“Come on, we’ve got plenty more trees to deal with huh? No point in wasting it talking about some dumbass.”
“Y-Yeah,” Todd said, shaking his head and matching Shane’s pace, “Let’s get to it.”
“So seriously, where are you from?” Todd asked, the two of them sitting on one of the recently felled trees and sharing a thermos of coffee, “I can’t really tell what your accent is, is it… Kentucky?”
“Not even close,” Shane laughed, “I don’t really know where it is if I’m being honest, I just packed up my shit and got out of there years ago now, didn’t look at any of the signs until I was a few states over, and by then I didn’t know where it was anyway.”
That was a lie, he knew exactly where he’d come from, right down to the coordinates of where they’d set up their camp, but he wasn’t about to reveal that little detail to someone he’d just met. If he was right and Matt could be vindictive enough to try something then it wouldn’t do to put a location to his face, things might have ended poorly but he wasn’t about to put them in any potential danger. Or at least any more than they were already dealing with.
“So, you just get more and more mysterious huh? Alright, I can deal with that, you don’t get to be thirty years old working at a logging company without knowing some guys with some secrets. Wait, how old are you?”
“Twenty two, last I checked. Haven’t really checked in a while though.”
“Twenty two? No offence but… you look older than that.”
“Is it my face?”
“No, it’s the fact that you’re built like a brick shithouse,” Todd laughed, “Shit, you’re even bigger than I am, how am I not supposed to assume you’re the same age?”
“I’ve been working a lot!” Shane grinned. “Maybe you and your small-town slackers aren’t familiar with that, but I’ve got things to fill my day.”
“Oh now we’re going in with the insults, that’s just fantastic.” Todd slapped him across the back, pouring out another cup of coffee and watching his breath steam in front of him. “You know, you’re still pretty weird, there’s no denying that. But I think maybe you’re growing on me.”
“Well that’s just lovely Todd,” He replied, tapping his cup against his, “I’m glad that I’m basically a fungus to you.”
“That’s a step above some of the people in this town, they’re more like a… viral infection, but there’s some that are alright.” He drank his coffee with a sucking sound, before he hummed and gestured aimlessly while he finished his mouthful. “How did things go with uh… Holly last night? You looked like you were giving her some serious bedroom eyes, unless I was just drunk.”
“I wasn’t giving her bedroom eyes, I was giving her friendly introduction eyes, there’s a difference.” Shane waved his hand in dismissal, trying to discern if he really had just been giving bedroom eyes. “Anyway she’s nice, told me some of the ins and outs of town, I left a tip. But that’s all.”
“A regular gentleman,” Todd laughed, “She’ll be grateful for that, you should see some of these other idiots once they’re five drinks deep and ready to get their hands on something, you do not want to see what happens when someone tries.”
“That bouncer by the door?”
“Oh he’s there to separate them after she busts one of them in the arm with that pipe she has behind the counter, put one of our guys out for a month because of a fracture in his tibia. Most everyone learned to keep their hands to themselves after that, but every now and then someone needs a reminder.”
That would explain some of the definition that he saw in her arms, if she could swing a pipe hard enough and accurately enough to fracture someone’s tibia when they’re trying to grab her then that sounded like she knew what she was doing. She was getting more and more interesting by the second.
“Think she’ll mind if I keep going back?”
He shrugged. “Everyone else does, she’ll probably be glad for a new face. Just make sure that you don’t say anything stupid, or act too familiar ok? If there’s one thing that she hates it’s that.”
“No worries there,” Shane said, screwing the cap back onto the thermos and standing up, “Come on, let’s get back to work. We’ve only got a couple more trees to go before we can punch out, I’ll buy you a drink.”
“You won’t have to buy me anything, the bets are good for at least two nights in a row.”
“Really?” He asked, chuckling to himself, “Yeah, Matt is really going to hate me.”
An hour later they were bundled into Shane’s car with the heat going full blast, Burnie having given his blessing to let them off a few hours early in reward for the work they’d done that day. Given that everyone else was still hungover and not the bastion of speed, it wasn’t hard to look impressive, but they’d still managed it anyway.
“So what kind of jobs have you worked since you left home?” Todd asked, leaning back in the passenger seat and resting his eyes, “Someone as built as you probably worked construction, maybe did some demo work once upon a time?”
“I tore down buildings for a few months when I first left, but I ended up leaving that job after a while, wasn’t really much left for me to do, and it was getting kind of boring.” And you got run out of town because of a s
tupid bet, and you’re determined to do that again. “I’ve done construction, worked in the mines, worked in a factory for a few weeks before I saw how much of an asshole the manager was.”
“Oh assembly line work?” Todd huffed, “I did that a couple years before I moved up here, never again. Break your back and ruin your lungs for what? I’m not making that mistake again.”
“I found out that the manager had been skimming off the top of everyone’s wages to pay off his gambling debts, so I turned him in and skipped town before they could get to me.” He held his hands up with a smile. “I’m not about to rat any of you guys out for whatever it is you do in your own time, so long as none of the little guys are getting screwed because of it.”
“I hear that, maybe if I’d had a couple guys like you back then I could’ve made something of that job. Fuckin’ management.” Todd leaned forward, patting his hands along the dashboard in rhythm to the music. “So you’ve been pretty busy over the last couple years then, no jail time or anything like that?”
“Got close for sleeping places I wasn’t supposed to, but nothing serious, you?”
“A few months here and there when I was a kid, just minor stuff, you know, trespassing, being drunk, never really that serious. Some of the other guys up here did a couple long stretches, but they don’t really like to talk about it.”
“And Matt? Did he do any long stretches?” He looked over at Todd when he didn’t get an immediate answer, raising his eyebrow in question. “Come on, he can’t be that big and bad.”
“He uh… he killed a guy, a few years before I got up here. Apparently, it was outside one of the other bars in town, they got drunk, they got to arguing, and somewhere in there someone pulled a gun. Apparently he got lucky, gun went off and killed the other guy, he does two years for manslaughter.” Todd scratched at the back of his neck, jittery all of a sudden. “Don’t tell anyone I told you that alright? I don’t like talking about anyone’s business, but you’re the new guy and I figured you should know.”
“No harm done Todd, I won’t say a word.” Shane looked ahead at the road, chewing lightly on his lip. “How’d he deal with it. Killing someone’s no small deal.”
“He’s… fine, I think. Doesn’t use it to throw his weight around, so I think he’s just trying to move on from it, you know?”
“Yeah, I get that.”
Todd looked over at him, mouth slightly open with a question on the tip of his tongue, before Shane cut him off.
“You might want to think about whether you want to ask that question, or if you just want to have some drinks tonight, alright?” He looked over at him with a shrug of his shoulders, “Maybe I’ll let you ask it some other time, but let’s just give it a rest for today, ok?”
“Yeah, y-yeah that’s… that’s fine. Let’s just have a good time.”
“Good,” Shane sighed, relaxing in his seat. There were many things that he wanted to talk about, and there were even more that he didn’t want to talk about. What he’d done in that war between his clan and the other was absolutely on the list of ‘do not want to talk about’, and it was likely to stay there for the foreseeable future. Though he’d had a prickly feeling in the back of his skull for days now, ever since he’d read about those mass migrations, and it just wasn’t letting up. Maybe he would have to do some thinking about it whether he liked it or not.
“It’s over here right?” He asked Todd, who pointed ahead to the bar they’d spent the last night at. Pulling into the parking space, he turned off the car and took a deep breath, pausing with his fingers on the door. “Hey I don’t want to make you think that I don’t want to talk to you or anything, it’s just… you know…”
“I get it,” Todd said, nodding in understanding, “You’ve got your shit to deal with, and I’ve got mine. That’s just how it is, I get that.”
“Good.” Shane stepped out into the cold, slamming the door shut and walking towards the bar. “Now let’s have Matt buy us some drinks.”
Since it was four in the afternoon the bar wasn’t packed, aside from one or two of the regulars that seemed to be fixtures of the bar itself. As soon as their footsteps echoed on the wood flooring Helga and the bouncer looked up, expecting more to come walking through the door after them but breathing a sigh of relief when it was just the two of them.
“I was worried we’d run out of drinks with you being a part of the group, but I guess we might just have a chance tonight.” Holly smiled, placing her hands on the counter and leaning forward. “What’ll it be?”
“Just a couple beers, I’m not looking to fall over tonight.”
“I doubt that you’d ever do that at this rate, get comfortable, I’ll be back in a minute.” She walked to the other side of the bar, grabbing two glasses and placing them under the tap. Shane watched her go, eyes perhaps lingering just a moment too long before he leaned back against the bar and looked over at the bouncer, raising his hand in acknowledgment.
“I don’t think we properly met,” Shane said, “What’s your name?”
“Paul,” He replied, holding his hand out and nodding his head when it was shaken, “And you’re Shane, you’ve already made a pretty big impression.”
“I wasn’t trying to, but who really does that ends up doing it right?” Now that he thought about it, he’d felt that peculiar tickling on the back of his skull when he’d stepped through his door last night, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to ask. “Hey, has anyone weird been through lately? I got a weird feeling up at my cabin last night.”
“Not so far as I’ve seen, a couple people passing through town and getting a drink, but that’s about it.” Paul narrowed his eyes. “You’re not expecting anything are you?”
“No, no nothing like that. You just hear stories about what goes on in forests you know? Just figured I should make sure, just in case.”
“If you’re that worried then I’d recommend that you buy a gun, that’s what everyone else does. I have one at home, being big and tough only goes so far.” Paul looked up at the sound of a glass breaking, rolling his eyes as one of the regulars started walking towards the other, broken glass in hand and clearly ready to do something bad with it. “Excuse me.”
“Oh, you’re going to like this,” Todd said, patting Shane on the shoulder, “Watch, he has this really special trick that I love to see.”
As they both watched, soon joined by Holly, Paul grabbed the drunk by the wrist and twisted him around until his cheek was pressed against the table, teeth clenched in pain as he twisted the joint and forced the broken bottle to fall from his grip, before he was easily tossed backwards onto the floor. “Now get the hell out of here, and don’t come back until you’ve got your shit straight, you hear?”
“Yeah! Yeah I got it Paul, no worries!” He whimpered, scurrying out the door with Paul at his heel and running away down the street. Paul took his seat next to the door, just in case he decided to come back with friends to ruin everyone’s night.
“Pretty cool right?” Holly said, placing their drinks in front of them, “You should see what he can do when he gets really angry, you wouldn’t believe it.”
“I hope I’m not on the other end of it then,” Shane said, taking his drink and gulping down a mouthful, “You expecting a big group tonight?”
“We were actually going to close down early, not really feeling it tonight, and you already got us enough of a profit to stay afloat for the week. So looks like you’re the last two customers that we’ll have for now.”
“We won’t hold you up for too long then,” Shane said, smiling with the side of his mouth and taking another sip. After a moment of silence from beside him he looked over at Todd, pursing his lips as he asked, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to have a drink?”
“You know what? I think I’ll just have the one and head on home, I’m not really feeling up to it tonight.” He leaned his head back as he swallowed his beer in one long gulp, side-eyeing Shane in a way that he understood instantly. “Well, tha
t’s me I guess. Don’t you two stay up too late alright?”
Watching him walk away, Holly and Shane sighed and laughed, shaking their heads as their eyes met again. “Has he been doing that all day?”
“Oh yeah, you wouldn’t believe it,” Shane said, “I’m not just hanging around here because I’m trying to score or anything like that, though I guess that’s what I’d say if I was just trying to score…”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got a pretty good sensor for bullshit, I know when someone’s trying to just get into my pants and when someone actually gives a shit, you’re in the clear.” Pouring a drink of her own, she flipped her legs over the bar and took the seat that Todd had just vacated. “I don’t know what it is about you, but you are very interesting. I guess that’s because there’s so much that we don’t know about you.”
“Who’s we?”
“Before you came in last night the others talked about you sometimes, how you just came out of nowhere, how you work all day and night without a word, you sounded kind of like a cryptid just wandering through until you drifted off in another direction.” She leaned closer, a faint smile dancing at her lips as she swiped her thumb across her chin. “But now that you’re here, you just seem… normal. And with everything else that just makes you seem even stranger.”
“Sounds like I don’t really have a chance to win doesn’t it? I’m always gonna be weird at this rate.”
“Probably,” She laughed, “But your kind of weird is at least refreshing. The others in this town are just… odd, you know?”
“I’ve been through enough small towns to know exactly what you’re talking about, trust me. And what about you? What’s so weird about you?” He dared to brush his shoulder against hers, tilting his head in question. “You say that you grew up here right? That must have been… enlightening, given I haven’t seen a school or… really any children around at all.”
“It’s only a town of two thousand, and would you want to let your kids out of your sight in a place like this? Most of the kids here get homeschooled, it’s easier that way, and it keeps you out of the streets for too long.”
