Br’er Robert
Decker looked at Brian, sizing him up. Pretty small—it was a question of whether he could live long enough to give Decker real satisfaction. The wind that raked the cornfields and swirled in the back of the van was turning chill; Frankie rubbed his hands together. After so long partnering, Frankie could practically read Decker’s mind; if the little one died too quick he knew damn well who it was would end up bent over the rear gate of the van with his pants around his ankles.
“I could clean him up,” Frankie offered hopefully. “Honest, Deck, I could take the big one in the can and clean him up and I wouldn’t even really touch him or anything.”
“Please,” Bobby whispered, barely audible in the wind, “I’ll do anything you want. Just leave Brian alone.”
Decker turned his head and spat. “Fuckit. I’m sick of hearing that.” He reached in and grabbed Brian and hauled him out. “Put shitboy back in the van and watch for cars. Maybe I’ll be careful enough that you’ll get a turn.” He hefted the littlefucker and looked into those wide staring eyes. He grinned. “And maybe I won’t.”
Little Brian didn’t say a word, didn’t even wriggle as Decker tucked him up under one thick arm and walked into the building.
Frankie stood there for a minute, listening to the wind and watching the waves of corn break like grey water around the low island of the rest area. The corn was more than headhigh. He remembered stories his dad told him, how you could get lost in a cornfield at night in these days of machine-sown fields, never knowing if you were heading toward the edge or into the middle, how you could wander in circles for days if you couldn’t find something, a tree or one of those steel power-towers, to walk toward.
He was cold, all of a sudden, and something… something was wrong, something about these two littlefuckers tickled at the back of his mind, reminded him of something. A story? An old movie?
Something.
He bent down to pick up Bobby. Something was weird, all right. He could smell it but he couldn’t quite grab hold. He lifted the kid and set him inside the van and for a moment neither one of them moved, just stared at each other.
He caught it, the strangeness: Bobby wasn’t scared any more.
