TFW CH 13 Advice

The Antlers  by Crest  

The Glinty beckoned me to follow him to the barn while the others used the outhouse.  I knew to where he was leading me, and why.

You see, my friend, it always seems to come back full round.  Full round, like a circle, like a red moon sailing high in the night’s ocean of stars: Death would come full circle when the light of the angry sun above had finally dissipated.

  

He stalked to the rear of the barn and went around the corner.

I hurried to catch up.  Always left behind, never knowing what lied ahead.  As I rounded the corner of the barn, I saw that the rear door stood open, and there was a busted lock on the ground.

I had been here before, and I knew it.

Inside, it was not a barn.  It was a stable.

Of course.

Glinty said, “You asked me about the hearse.  You want to know.  I think that it’s time you learned, young whippersnapper.  Foller me.”

The glare of the hot sun made the interior look black.  As my eyes adjusted, all I could see was the image of the saguaro cactus from outside on them hills.  It was in negative color, it was a bright blue.

As the afterimages faded, I saw a long, wide vehicle underneath an old, decrepit tarp.

One side of the tarp had been torn away.

It revealed a sleek hearse built a long time ago, and there was a hand-painted anarchy circle on the driver’s door.

Indeed, I had come full circle.

Glinty stopped and turned back to me.  He said, “We don’t got much time, so there ain’t much to say.  But you can be sure of one thing.  It is this: I know that you from the East, and you from an eastern tribe.  You a red man.”

That creeped me the fuck out.  How the hell did he know that?

He continued.  “Now is the time when them blue folks be looking for escape.  Lot of them old cowboy ghosts wandering about the desert, looking for they souls.”

I had no idea what in thee hell he was talking about.

He said, “That boy Tellesco, the one you boys call ‘No One,’ well, he ain’t got a clue about what it is he has to do.”

Hell, neither did I.

He said, “This is important, so you hafta pay attention here.  The ugly is coming.  It’s gonna be bad, young fella.  But you boys have something that no one on the other side of this fight has.  Oh, they had it, them Purple Robes, but it was lost along the way.  Now they all fighting amongst themselves for the power.  That is why they lost they power.”

I said, “What do we got?”

Glinty leaned back on the sleek hearse and rubbed his hand over the curve of the fender.  It was made from iron, like an old stove, and enameled as well. 

He looked back up at me and said, “You got that loyalty thing going on.  You boys are tight.  You been through some crazy shit together, but you ain’t been torn asunder. And that is a fucking fact.”

Well, I hadn’t heard him swear like that before, and it made me chuckle, from unease, I suppose.

He stood right the hell up.

He stalked forth to me in his boots and glared down into my eyes.

He said, “This ain’t no laughing matter, boy.  Some of you gonna end up dead.”

I stepped back from his glare.  I hadn’t meant to piss him off.  My heel kicked something lying on the floor behind me.  I caught my balance this time.  I didn’t fall and get desert dust in my eyes.  I didn’t go running off with dirt in my eyes for Glinda the good model.

I wasn’t a Violinist anymore.

Glinty grabbed me by the lapels of my leather jacket and pulled me up close.  He said, “You gonna have to help that Tellesco find his way.  Else-wise, there ain’t no way outta here for any of us.  It all depends upon you boys now.”

I pushed his bony hands away from me and stood straight up like an impertinent child.  I said, “I’ve been watching over that fucking whiny, crying loser ever since I met him.  I’m friggin tired of being his baby sitter, you old fuck.  Back off!”

This time, I did indeed stumble.

Again.

I turned and rolled before my head smacked the cement floor of the stable.  I closed my eyes before the cloud of desert dust that would make me sneeze.  I didn’t want to be blinded again.

I wanted to see things straight.

I sat up and sneezed.

I looked around.

I was alone.

Where the hell was Glinty?

What had I done?

God Help You.

God Help Us All.

---willies out.

From Nowhere  by Dan Croll  

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