by T. K. Chapin
Curious, I asked, “Why won’t you go see Dad, Bro?”
“That’s out of left field… But if I went out there, what would I even say?” He asked.
“I don’t know… but you know he’s dying and-”
Chris interrupted me. “Wait a minute, wait a minute… You mean to tell me because the guy is dying that I need to go visit him? After everything he has put us through?”
“Dad’s going to die, Chris.”
“So?”
“That’s harsh…”
“No, it’s not, Dylan! It wasn’t too long ago you were checking out our front window to see if he brought his gun and now you are bugging at me about seeing him… I just don’t get it.”
“We might never have another chance on this earth to see him… I’d hate for you to have regrets after he does kick the bucket.”
“He’s hurt me, hurt us, far too much in this life to just forget about it and move on like nothing ever happened. I can’t just forgive and forget like that.”
“I am forgiving, but I’m not forgetting, Chris. I love Dad, despite the way he chose to treat us. People need second chances…”
Shaking his head, he looked at me with narrowed eyes, “I think he’s faking it, Dylan. I don’t think he’s dying. You talk about how good he’s doing and all this… it just irks me.”
“He got saved a few weeks ago, he’s doing better, Brother. Ill or not, he’s a different guy,” I replied.
“Whatever. I’ll see if the change sticks before I start going out of my way to see him. And if he’s not really dying, that’d be messed up.”
“I know it’s hard, Bro. But he isn’t lying. I talked to Lenny, he’s in charge now. It’s real.” The server came over; it was Elly. Awkward silence filled the air for a moment before I broke it. “Hey, Elly… Surprised you didn’t have someone else fill in for our table.”
“Unfortunately, nobody else is available at the moment to take your table. This is a rather small town, ya know…”
“I see… In that case, I’ll take water to drink.”
“And a pitcher of beer for Chris, got it.” She stormed off from the table.
“Woah…” I said, watching her leave. “You got her pretty upset, eh?”
“Yeah, she thinks I have a drinking problem…”
Nodding, I smiled. “Weird, don’t know why she’d think that.”
“Whatever. I’m sick of you and everyone else trying to tell me what I’m doing wrong in my life!” He snapped at me.
“That was abrupt.”
“I’m just tired of it…” Chris leaned across the table, and said, “Even if I drink a little more than I should, how’s that hurting anyone? I don’t drive when I drink and I keep my cool.”
“Fighting is not keeping your cool.”
Shaking his head, he said, “Fighting only happens when people stick their nose where it doesn’t belong or say something they shouldn’t. You remember that last fight me and you were in? Those guys were insulting us, and on purpose!” He laughed as he continued shaking his head. “I don’t pick fights, they just… happen, ya know? Gotta right the wrong in the world.”
Nodding, I was done trying to talk any real sense into him. “Okay.” He relaxed back into his seat and seemed to take note of my annoyance with him. Trying to lighten the tension I sensed between us, I asked, “How’s the assistant manager gig going?”
“It’s good. Haven’t done a whole lot, I did handle a customer complaint the other day about our windows having streaks on them from the glass cleaner.”
I laughed. “Really? What’d they say? Who was it?”
He smiled. “It was Polly, from down the road from us. She said that she could see the streaks and that business would probably pick up if we kept the windows in nicer condition.”
I laughed. “She’s so nitpicky.”
“I know,” Chris replied. “I assured her we would get on it. Then I had Tyler go clean the windows when he got in that afternoon.”
“That’s awesome,” I replied. Chris smiled and nodded.
Elly came back for another round of awkwardness and took our orders. She was cold the entire time, even to me. After our meal, Chris elected to stay behind and watch the game on the TV in the bar.
“I’m going to take off,” I said as I walked with Chris towards the bar section of the restaurant. “How are you meeting up with Trisha? You came with me. You got a ride?”
“I’ll just watch the game until she gets off and hitch a ride with her.”
“Okay,” I replied. “Have a safe night.”
Chris nodded back to me as he turned and went into the bar. I worried about him and I wanted to find out if there was more to the story between him and Elly. I knew Jess and Elly were best friends so I headed towards Roy’s place to go find out the truth.
Arriving out at Roy’s, it was just after seven o’clock that evening. I was heading up the sidewalk when I heard a faint whimper from over near the hillside that led down to the creek. Cutting through the lawn I came over to the hill to see it was Sammy sitting on a ball of snow.
“What’s going on Sammy?” I asked, bending a knee to meet him at eye level. The light pole in the front yard didn’t stretch over to the hill, but the glow from the house helped to see him slightly through the darkness of the evening.
“Liv wouldn’t help me build a snowman.”
“Sounds rough,” I replied with a nod. “Why don’t you just wait for tomorrow when it’s light out?”
“I want to build a snowman now.”
“Sometimes you don’t get what you want.”
“Why not?”
“You can’t make people do what you want.” His cheeks looked rosy red from being outside in the chilly wintery air. “Come inside and warm up.”
“I want to build a snowman!”
“Tell you what, why don’t you come inside with me and I’ll do that magic coin trick for you.”
Sammy smiled. “Okay.” He hopped off the ball of snow and we headed into the porch. Helping him out of his snowsuit, we went into the kitchen where Jess and Levi were sitting at the table. He must have forgotten about the coin trick as he darted through the kitchen and headed off to the living room.
“Hi, Dylan,” Jess said from the kitchen table.
“Those babies look like they’re about to come out!” I replied.
She rubbed her belly and smiled. “I’m ready for them to!”
“What brings you out?” Levi asked as he took a drink of his coffee.
Taking a seat at the table, I sighed. “My brother. I’m getting worried about his drinking.”
“It seems to be worse lately,” Jess said.
“I know, it sucks…” I paused for a moment as I chose my words. “Did Elly talk to you about what happened between them?”
“Yeah, she said his drinking just got to a point where she couldn’t deal with it anymore. He’s not even the Chris she remembers…”
Nodding, I replied, “That’s kind of what Chris said. Did something happen?”
Jess looked over at Levi and he sighed. “Tell him,” Levi said to her with a nod.
Jess narrowed her gaze at me. “Do you know how bad his drinking is?”
“I know he’s drinking a lot on days off.”
She shook her head. “He’s always drunk. Literally from the moment he wakes up and until he goes to bed. He even wakes up in the night to take swigs. Elly said it’s horrible… He needs help, Dylan.”
“Wow, I guess I didn’t know the extent.”
“He’s even drinking while he’s working…” she said softly. “He’s going to drink himself to death if something doesn’t change.”
The phone suddenly rang, pulling Jess away from the kitchen. Levi leaned his arms on the table and said, “I’m sorry about your brother. Wish there was something one of us could do. We’ve been keeping him in our prayers.”
Nodding, I thought about it. “Thank you. I’m going to tell him he has to move out.
”
“He doesn’t pay rent?” Levi asked.
“He owns it with me, but if I tell him I’m buying him out of his portion and want him gone, he’ll leave from the awkwardness of the situation.”
“You really think he’ll leave? If he owns part of it with you?”
Nodding, I said, “I know my brother. He won’t be comfortable being around. He’ll move out.”
Levi nodded. “Well it might be best if he left.”
Jess came in from the other room. “Dylan…” Her voice was shaky and she had a fearful look in her eyes. “You need to go down to the Wagon Wheel…”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s Chris. He’s fighting.”
Shaking my head, I said, “No. He needs to figure this out on his own.”
“It’s not like that this time. A group of gnarly looking dudes just took him out to the parking lot and Missy ain’t there. Elly’s worried.”
“You should go,” Levi said.
Coming into the kitchen, Sammy asked, “Can you show me the coin trick?” as I rose to my feet.
I bent a knee and smiled at him as I retrieved the wooden coin. Sliding it behind his head, I let it slide down my jacket sleeve and revealed it was gone. He smiled. Rubbing his head of hair, I said, “I’ll teach it to you some day.”
“Promise?” he asked as I stood up.
“Yeah,” I replied. Looking to Jess and Levi, I said, “I’ll go down there and get him. I’m going to give him an ultimatum tonight. Get his act together or move out.”
“It’s for the best,” Levi said.
“You’re going to just let him go live on the streets?” Jess asked worried.
“He has a job; he won’t be on the street.” Opening the porch door I said, “Thanks for the talk.”
Looking up at the kitchen entrance, I saw Ally walking in from the dining room. “What’s wrong?” she asked with a concerned look as she must have been able to read my demeanor.
“Chris got in another fight,” I replied exasperated. “This time it’s pretty bad sounding. I gotta go.”
“Take care,” Levi said from his chair.
“Hope everything turns out okay,” Ally added.
“Thanks.”
On the drive back to the Wagon Wheel, I thought about Chris and his drinking. Where did it start? Why? And how come it was getting so frequent and out of control? These questions flooded my mind on the way to the Wagon Wheel.
As I arrived in the parking lot, I saw Chris with his arms being held behind his back by two familiar faces, but I couldn’t place them immediately. His face was bloodied and his head was limp. My pulse quickened as I worried if he was dead or passed out. Then the guy who appeared to be taking shots at him turned to look at me as I pulled my truck right up behind them. It was the guy from a while back that called us hicks. It seemed he came back to settle the matter.
Leaping out of my truck without even turning it off, I stormed the group with my arm cocked back. I landed a blow to the guy’s face, and he staggered backwards. Hearing footsteps behind me, I threw my elbow back, landing a blow to another dude’s face and causing his nose to instantly begin to gush blood.
Turning around to the guys holding my brother, I ran up to them and pushed them off Chris. They both let go of him, causing him to fall to the pavement. I was able to grab onto one of the guys and shove him to the pavement but the other one landed a heavy blow to my side causing an instant sharp pain to rip through my torso. Swinging my arm around, I was able to connect a blow to his head and cause him to back away. Seeing a different guy grab Chris and just pull him up by his shirt slightly to take a cheap shot to his face, I surged with anger as I charged over to him. Yanking on his shoulder to pull him around to me, I exploded a punch into the guy’s face. He fell backwards and hit the back of his head against the front bumper of a truck, causing him to be knocked out.
Trying to help Chris up to his feet, suddenly a hand on my shoulder pulled me around and it was the big nasty guy who called us hicks. He punched me right square in the face and then everything went dark.
CHAPTER 7
January 26, 2011
Waking up the next day, I found myself in a hospital room. An IV ran from my arm up to the bag of fluids dangling next to me. What happened? I wondered as I glanced over to see my brother in a hospital bed right next to me. I felt a sting inside as I saw the dark purple bruises that covered his eyes and the gashes across his cheek. He looked horrible, but at least he was alive.
“Chris!” I tried to shout as I leaned over the bed railing. Pain surged through my side but I ignored it trying to get my brother to wake up. My throat even hurt at the attempt to say his name.
When he began opening his eyes, I let out a sigh of relief and collapsed back to my position on the hospital bed. “What happened?” He asked turning his head over towards me.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
A nurse came speedily walking into the room just then and began checking the machine that sat next to me. “Good morning Holdens,” she said as she looked at the screens.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You two were severely beaten up and brought to the hospital… One of the guys from your fight is downstairs in ICU.”
“Oh jeez…” I replied.
“Yeah, you guys are lucky to not be downstairs with him.” Trying to sit up, more pain shot through my torso. “Don’t do that…” she said, gently pushing on my shoulder to make me lay back down. “You have a few broken ribs.” She looked over at Chris as she continued, “So do you… and you both also have concussions. Once we make sure you are okay though, you two can leave.”
“Why were we put in here?”
“You were picked up off the pavement and brought in by the paramedics. You were both unconscious and we needed to make sure you didn’t have internal bleeding and such.” She went over to Chris’s machine and checked something. “The police should be here shortly to ask you some questions.”
Fear began to sink in. “What for?” I asked.
“Fighting is illegal, and the guy downstairs most likely won’t make it through today. There’s a chance he will, but it’s not likely.”
“He’s going to die?” I asked as my eyes widened.
“I can’t say anymore. I shouldn’t have even told you that… but the police will be here soon to talk to you.” On her way out the door she said, “Use the call button if you two need anything.”
“Dude! What if that guy dies? Are we going to get charged with murder?” Chris asked in a loud whisper.
“I don’t know… Did you beat someone up before I got there?”
“Before I got my arms pinned behind my back I managed to knock someone out in the bar.”
Shaking my head, I replied, “This is your fault, Chris, I hope you know that.”
He went silent for a moment. “I know… and, Dylan?”
“What?”
“I think I might have a drinking problem…”
“Ya think?” I asked with a sarcastic laugh that caused another wave of pain to come over me.
“I feel like I need a drink really bad… almost to the point it’s hurting.”
“That’s what happens when you drink all day every day,” I replied sharply.
“Yeah… wait, how’d you know about that?”
Shaking my head, I replied, “Things get around…”
“Jess,” he replied with a sigh.
A knock came from the hospital room door as a police officer walked in. I felt scared. I didn’t want to go to jail or my brother to get charged with murder in the event the guy downstairs died. We weren’t criminals; we were just a couple of guys who got in a fight. I prayed for God’s help in the moment.
“Dylan and Chris Holden?” The officer said approaching the ends of our beds.
“Yes,” I replied.
He quieted his radio as another officer was on it talking with dispatch. Then he pulled out a notepad. �
��I have some questions about last night.”
“We’ll do our best to answer them…” I replied.
“How’d this all start?” he asked.
Chris said, “I was in the bar at the Wagon Wheel when these two guys came and sat on both sides of me. Dylan and I had a previous altercation with them a few months back. I just kept watching the game on the TV behind the bar. Then, they started talking to me. Calling me a hick and asking me if my Mom was my Dad’s sister.”
“Go on,” The officer said.
“I tried to tell them I didn’t want any trouble and I kept trying to watch my game and then one guy said he had been watching me for a while and he said he was going to rape my ex-girlfriend… I snapped.”
“That’s when you hit him?” the officer asked.
“Yes…” Chris replied. He started the fight? He’s so screwed, I thought to myself.
“Who’d you hit?” the officer asked.
“I don’t know his name… he was the guy with the scar above his eye.”
“Okay,” the officer replied. “And what happened next?”
“The bartender made us leave and that’s when we went out into the parking lot. They had a few other guys out there and that’s when they started beating me. They pinned my arms behind my back and then Dylan showed up.”
The officer pulled out a camera and showed us a picture of the guy in ICU. “When did this guy get hit and by whom?” Looking at the camera, my heart sank when I realized it was the guy who hit his head on the truck bumper and passed out.
“That was the guy I hit when I showed up,” I replied.
“So you weren’t there when the fight started?” The officer asked.
“No, I showed up after I heard my brother was getting beat up.”
“Okay,” the officer replied. He finished up our statements and story and then thanked us for his time. He said he’d be in touch and left.
After he exited the hospital room, Chris asked, “What do you think is going to happen?”
“I don’t know…” I replied. “Sounds like I’m the one facing murder though…” I said turning my head to look over at Chris. He looked upset as his face tightened and he shook his head.
