A Tree Born Crooked

by Steph Post

  “Well, what’d you know? I thought you looked familiar when you walked in. But I ain’t seen you ‘round town in ten years or more. You don’t remember me, do you?”

  “I feel sorry to say that I don’t.”

  “That’s okay. You weren’t but just ‘bout to hit high school when I moved to Memphis with my first wife. Guess I don’t gotta tell you that one ain’t work out. I coached you and Rabbit at Little League.”

  “Well, hey there, Mr. Redding.”

  “That’s right. But call me Hollis. I reckon you’re old enough now.”

  Hollis wiped his fingers on his shirt and reached over the bar to shake James’ hand.

  “You taught me how to slide.”

  “Thought your mama was gonna come down to the field one day after the way I had to bandage you up.”

  James lowered his head.

  “Well, Mama wasn’t always paying the best attention.”

  “Still, it’s good to see you again. Sorry to hear ‘bout your daddy. I didn’t know Orville so well as some, but he was always a fine man when he came in. Real fine. Here’s to that.”

  The bartender and James raised their glasses and drank. James felt the burn go down his throat and wondered why he hadn’t started drinking liquor sooner. It made the whole scene around him just a little more bearable.

  “Rabbit was in here earlier, but left with that cousin of yours, Delmore.”

  James set his glass down and licked a trickle of liquor off the side of his hand.

  “Yeah, I’d heard Delmore got outta State.”

  “If you ask me, that boy just doesn’t set right. Rabbit’s okay, always was. But Delmore’s got this look on his face all the time, like he’s trying to figure out how he can con you outta your own shoes or something. Just shifty. Doesn’t tip, neither.”

  Hollis nodded to a man waiting down at the end of the bar and started scooping ice.

  “You happen to know where they went? Or if Rabbit’s coming back?”

  Hollis poured well vodka with one hand and sprayed soda out of the gun with the other. He stuck a cocktail straw into the glass.

  “Don’t know where they went, but Rabbit’s always in and out of here on Sunday nights. Usually winds up trying to croon Garth Brooks to some blonde. Just give him a bit and he’ll be back. You want another Bud?”

  In the back of the bar, someone had cranked up the karaoke machine and a squeal of feedback pierced the air. A girl’s nervous laughter echoed over the microphone.

  “Skip the beer. Better stick with the hard stuff. Turkey this time, on ice.”

  Hollis grunted and made James the drink. The man at the end of the bar started yelling. Hollis set James’ glass in front of him and picked up the vodka soda.

  “I’m coming! Shut your pie hole, Wilbur.”

  James pulled the tiny straw out of his glass and leaned over the bar to throw it in the trashcan. As he did, he glanced in the mirror again and saw the same girl still trying to make eyes at him. Only this time, she had someone with her. That someone smiled and James, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, knew that he was going to have to talk to her.

  “I was thinking you was never gonna turn ‘round and say hi.”

  “Hi, Addie.”

  The other girl got up to go talk to a man half her age at a table across the room. Adelyn Branch scooted over and sat down on the bar stool next to James.

  “That it?”

  James tried to smile at her.

  “Hi, it’s good to see you. You’re looking great.”

  It was a lie. Adelyn was two years younger than James, but looked five years older. Her dull brown hair had been badly highlighted and hung in limp strands to her shoulders. It was the kind of hair that looked best pulled back in a ponytail. Or kept underneath a hat. James remembered her having brown eyes, but now her eyes were an unnatural green, tinted by cheap contacts purchased over the Internet. Her mouth and nose were small, and pretty, but her complexion had seen better days. She tried to mask the scars from a late bout of acne with thick concealer, but the makeup only brought more attention to the tiny scars and pockmarks across her chin and cheeks. She reached out a hand and laid it on James’ wrist. Through the layer of clear, glittery nail polish he could see a line of grime underneath each nail.

  “Thanks. Wow, it’s been what, like, forever? Three years?”

  “A pretty long time.”

  She kept her hand on him. He wanted to move his arm away, but knew that she would only inch closer. He kept still, tracing the fingers of his other hand up and down the side of his glass.

  “At least fifteen since we had a chance to catch up. Really have some fun together, right?”

  “At least.”

  Hollis walked past them, his eyes going back and forth between the two. He shook his head slightly. James couldn’t tell if Hollis found the situation amusing or just pathetic. Adelyn yelled at him.

  “Hey, Hollis!”

  She leaned over the bar and her bare shoulder brushed against the sleeve of James’ shirt. This close, James could clearly smell the combined stink of alcohol and menthol cigarettes.

  “What’d you need, Addie?”

  Hollis slapped a wet bar towel over his shoulder and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he spoke to her. James decided that he was amused. He had a smile cracking at the edge of his lips.

  “I want another drink.”

  She turned to James, this time resting her hand on his upper back.

  “You want a drink?”

  James leaned forward slightly. He pointed at his almost full glass.

  “I’m good.”

  Her mouth turned slightly. James could tell that she was at the stage of intoxication where her mood could twist from hostile to euphoric, and back again, without a moment’s warning.

  “How ‘bout a shot? I want an Alabama Slammer. Remember we used to drink them shots all the time?”

  James could not ever recall drinking anything that sounded like a place where someone got locked up and whistled the theme song from Deliverance when he dropped the soap.

  He leaned away from her hand and rested his elbows on the bar.

  “I’m good. It’s a little early, you know?”

  Her face was pouty again.

  “You used to be a lot more fun.”

  “Like I said, it’s still early.”

  He meant it as an offhand remark. The kind of thing he would say to a stranger who was giving him a hard time for not drinking fast enough. Harmless. James instantly regretted it, though, when he saw Adelyn’s face light up. She had taken it to mean something else. Hollis picked up a cardboard coaster and tapped it on the bar mat.

  “You want that shot or not, Addie? I got customers waiting.”

  She sat up straight, finally giving James a reprieve. He took the opportunity to shift farther away from her.

  “No, I guess not. It’s no fun doing shots alone. Just another rum and Coke for now. And don’t forget the cherry this time.”

  Hollis shrugged and started making the drink. James looked around, hoping to catch sight of Adelyn’s friend. She was still at a bar table and appeared to be engrossed in whatever line the man with the mustache and Dale Jr. hat was feeding her. Adelyn snapped her fingers in front of his face.

  “Hey, you in a hurry or something? You ain’t seen me in years and now you don’t got nothing to say?”

  James sighed and resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to put up with her.

  “I’m just looking for my brother. He was supposed to meet me here. You seen him?”

  “Rabbit? Not tonight. But he’s usually in here Sunday. We did a duet together a few weeks back. That one with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. I can’t remember the name of it. He can’t really sing, though. Tries too hard. Me now, I love to sing. Remember when I sang that Donna Fargo song at the talent show? Funny Face? And you thought it was ‘bout you?”

  James remembered the song, but not thinking that it was abou
t him. They had broken up three months before James graduated high school. He couldn’t recall if Adelyn was a good singer or not. All he remembered from the talent show was getting drunk with Rabbit and his best friend Kyle in the teachers’ bathroom outside the auditorium.

  “Why, I got a funny looking face?”

  Adelyn tittered and used a straw to try fishing the maraschino cherry out of her drink. She was having a hard time with it.

  “Man, I sure do remember singing my heart out that night. I was singing for you. Not the funny face part. But the parts about being all wrapped up in you. Damn, you were my whole world, baby.”

  James had known it was coming. Adelyn didn’t want to drink with him, and she didn’t want to make small talk. She wanted to go over their entire relationship that had ended almost sixteen years ago. It happened every single time he ran into her and couldn’t find an excuse to get away. She would review their whole high school experience, then maybe cry a little and, in the end, try to make a move on him. The last time he had seen her, at Janie’s wedding, she had gotten worked up to the point that she was crying snot tears and grabbing for his crotch at the same time. She had been so drunk that as she went in for a slobbery kiss, she had vomited on his dress shirt instead. Despite the stain, James thought it was a much better way to end the night.

  “Well, now, I don’t know ‘bout all that.”

  “No, seriously. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive you for breaking my heart. You left me, and then I got married to that loser come down from Tennessee. Wasted the best years of my life ‘fore coming to my senses and leaving his broke ass.”

  James fumbled with his pack of cigarettes before remembering that he had already smoked his last one. He crumpled the soft pack in his fist. Adelyn kept talking.

  “Remember that one time when we all went down to Sunshine Lake and ended up skinny dipping?”

  James leaned over and looked down the length of the bar.

  “Hey, Hollis. You sell cigarettes here?”

  “All I got left are Crowns. That work for you?”

  “Sure.”

  Hollis slid the cigarettes across the bar to James. Adelyn pursed her small lips and crossed her legs.

  “Are you listening to me?”

  James slowly unwrapped the cellophane and tried to keep his eyes away from her. He wasn’t sure that he was going to be able to sit through this tonight. Where in the hell was Rabbit?

  “Yeah, I’m listening.”

  “Well, then look at me.”

  James tossed the pack down and ran one hand over his forehead and into his hair. He looked up at the Miller High Life clock hanging behind the bar. The girl swung back and forth on the moon-shaped pendulum, doling out the time. It was almost nine. He would give Rabbit twenty more minutes. That was it. James wiped his palms on the thighs of his jeans and turned to face Adelyn.

  “I’m sorry, I’m listening. The time we went to the lake. I remember. We had some fun times back then.”

  James did remember the lake. He remembered Adelyn in her pink striped bikini and straw cowboy hat. She had been cute. A much different girl than the one sitting next to him now.

  “And you remember prom? When you wore that powder-blue suit that matched my dress? We ain’t even planned it that way. I think I still got a picture somewhere.”

  Behind James, the first singer of the night began belting out Life is a Highway. The man’s voice cracked and his buddies cheered him on, whistling and clinking beer bottles. James was grateful for the background noise, no matter how terrible the singing was.

  “I don’t think I even went to prom.”

  Adelyn twisted around on her stool looking for Hollis. She raised her glass and rattled the ice cubes. He nodded, but didn’t seem in any hurry to start making her a new drink. He was standing in the doorway at the end of the bar that led to the back room and it looked like he was talking to someone while he kept one eye on the customers. When Adelyn turned back around, James caught Hollis’ eyes over her shoulder. He was rolling them and shaking his head. James tried not to grimace as Adelyn chattered away.

  “Oh, well, maybe it was homecoming. I don’t know. I just knowed we had a good time. A real good time. Right?”

  James turned his attention back to Adelyn. Her eyes were glassy and she was starting to slur her words. Now a girl was singing Shania Twain on the karaoke machine. Not too badly, actually. The crowd around her was getting louder, though. James raised his voice.

  “Yeah, I guess so. Look, that was years and years ago. I’m sure we had fun together.”

  “I know we did.”

  “But we were only together for what, a couple of months?”

  “Six months. Don’t try and make it out like it weren’t a long time.”

  Adelyn’s voice was snappy. Clearly the conversation was not going in the direction she had hoped. Hollis set another rum and Coke down in front of her. He picked up her old glass and slung the ice into the sink before turning to James.

  “You want another?”

  James glanced back up at the clock. He felt Adelyn’s hand rest on his leg for a moment.

  “You got any idea when Rabbit will be back?”

  Hollis shook his head.

  “Nope. He’s usually here for the start of karaoke, but who knows with him. I’m sure he and Delmore are getting into some kind of trouble. Probably drinking out at someone’s house, then gonna come in here piss drunk and give me a headache.”

  James moved away from Adelyn. She narrowed her eyes at him and began chewing on her drink straw. James sighed.

  “Yeah, might as well give me one more. That’s it, though. If he don’t show soon, I’m just gonna leave and he can come find me if he needs to.”

  James watched the amber liquid splash into his glass. Behind Hollis, a woman came out of the back room. She had a stack of receipts in one hand and a bottle of Budweiser in the other. She surveyed the crowd and then disappeared. James had caught just a flash of her.

  Adelyn was sulking now, stirring her drink around and around with the straw trying to make a little whirlpool. Either she was mad or trying to get James to think she was mad and act like he cared. Fortunately, Adelyn’s friend returned just in time. She was even sloppier than Adelyn and hanging onto a man with a bull neck wearing a tight, black T-shirt. The guy looked bored. The friend smacked her gum and put her arm around James’ neck.

  “I tell you who I am yet? My name’s Trisha. But you get to know me better, honey, and you can call me Trish.”

  She winked at him and James tried to shrug her arm off.

  “Hi. Nice to meet you.”

  “So, this is James, huh?”

  “That’s who I am.”

  The woman came out the doorway again and James tried to angle himself so as to look past Adelyn and see the woman’s face, but before he could, she turned around as if she had forgotten something.

  “Adelyn was telling me ‘bout you, when we was sitting over there. ‘Fore you saw us.”

  Trisha swayed and James seized the opportunity to shift her so that she was leaning fully on the other man.

  “Well, there ain’t much to tell.”

  Trisha craned her neck awkwardly to look at the man holding her up.

  “Now, Frank here. It’s Frank, right? He was in the Marines. Can you believe that? I mean, saving lives and shit.”

  Trisha was addressing Adelyn now and James was able to lean further away from the small group. For a brief moment they forgot about him and Adelyn busied herself with stroking the marine’s chest and telling him how brave she thought he was. James kept his eyes on the doorway. He didn’t know why he was so interested in the woman in the back room of the bar. He hadn’t even seen her face, but it was something about the way she moved. Easy, like she was gliding through water and nothing could touch her. At this point, though, he would have been interested in just about anything that didn’t involve his high school ex, a marine, and the drunk girl fawning over him.

  A
delyn rubbed the man’s arm and purred.

  “I just think that’s something else. I mean really, you rescuing all them children like that. It just gets me right here, you know? Right in my heart.”

  They were still ignoring him. James waved Hollis over and leaned across the bar to whisper.

  “I can’t take much more of this. I’m gonna step outside so I can breathe for a second. Just hold my tab, I’ll be right back.”

  Hollis winked at him. James stood up and immediately Adelyn was on him.

  “Where you going?”

  “Just outside. I need some air. I’m not leaving yet.”

  “You want some company?”

  Her eyes were hopeful and for an instant James felt sorry for her.

  “Nah, I’m good. I’ll be right back.”

  The cool night air washed over James and it was the best thing he had felt in days. What in the hell was he doing back in Crystal Springs? It was the same town, with the same people telling the same stories. The same person, even, telling the same story. James felt sick to his stomach. He should have just lit out last night after hearing that he hadn’t even been invited to Orville’s funeral. He didn’t want to talk to Rabbit. He didn’t want to talk to his mama. He wanted to run away, get out of there as fast as he could, and drive until the sun came up and Crystal Springs was just a bad hangover memory.

  Instead, he lit a cigarette, cupping his palm around the flame in the darkness, and started walking aimlessly around the side of the bar, kicking broken pieces of glass and chunks of asphalt as he went along. He could still hear the music coming from inside, but it lessened as he walked around the back of the building. He entered a small gravel lot with a dumpster and a pile of broken-down beer boxes leaning up against it. Two rusty lawn chairs and a bucket of sand stood outside the back door. The small lot was glazed with faint neon orange coming from the streetlight. James moved to put his cigarette out in the bucket and saw her.

  In the shadows, sitting on the hood of a beat-up Jeep Cherokee, was the woman he had caught a glimpse of behind the bar. In a dark jacket and jeans, she sat with her knees drawn up to her chest, one arm wrapped around them, the other stretched out behind her, holding her up. She was wearing scuffed cowboy boots, the toes curling up from the rusted metal of the hood, and her long, dark hair covered the side of her face so that he couldn’t see her eyes. He didn’t think she knew he was there. Her head was tilted upwards slightly, as if she were looking up at the few stars burning through the cloudy night sky. As he watched her, she picked up the bottle next to her by the neck and held it out to him.