Yoharie (part nineteen)

Yoharie

Stalking

(part nineteen)

Voices on the walk outside.

“Well, you’re not a kid, are you?”

The answer came subdued…but Val’s, Giarma thought.

“I’m just gonna go, okay?”

Trevor got up, opened his door, and they heard Hibbler, his words paced for the stupid. “If you never think about it, then I guess you just don’t care. Bumping over corners, doing wheelies on the street, not wearing a helmet. The law lets you break your skull open if you’re twenty-one. No, hold on…”

Giarma’s duty intervening was greater than Trevor’s, but her wish was to let it go. She stood at his back and saw Val walk his bike, Hibbler flank him. Hibbler looked for a “yes, sir, I apologize, sir”, and had no exit strategy.

“Jeremiah. I see you go by with your gun and your walkie talkie, and I say to myself, I wish I had some of that gear.”

“Royce, shut up. You think you have a point, and you don’t.”

“My point is…”

“I teach my kids to be safe. I don’t set a bad example.”

“Well, yeah, that’s your job, setting an example for your kids. Other people are just living their lives.”

“Hey, Giarma,” Val said, soft. He had laid his bike in Trevor’s drive and snuck behind the arborvitae. “Tell Trev I’m fine if he doesn’t get Hibbler any more on my case.”

Trevor was at the curb now, going strong.

“Come inside,” she told Val. “We’re doing book club.”

“Chapter One, all done. Val, you want Chapter Two? You wanna do this tomorrow…or next week? Or, sure, if you’re not liking it, forget it.”

Trevor had started the gas in his fireplace. To please his new girlfriend…

She would have to tell him, really, don’t. And nudge him, re the junk food. They had two pizza boxes on the table, his books, a curling clot of Post-Its. Giarma’s seat was a sofa cushion on the floor, the cat between her knees.

She doubted Val was in. “I’ve got to work on my stuff tomorrow. But I can take Two. Whatever Val decides.”

“Come Sunday. That’s when I give myself a day off.”

“She doesn’t have stuff,” Val said.

Giarma pried a crust from its greasy outline. “My business is my business. Ya little scumball.”

“She’s freeloading on Dad. I’m freeloading on Dad.” Val sprawled on his belly, phone between his elbows. “Okay, outed myself, I guess. My life is an empty shell. Sunday’s cool.”

19

Yoharie

Yoharie (part twenty)

(2019, Stephanie Foster)