Page 13 of Our Own Light

Once Oliver finally stopped ranting, Floyd couldn’t seem to make himself do anything except stare. What was he supposed to say? “I slept bad because I felt like I had snakes strangling my insides”? Of course not. “I kept thinking ’bout you, and it bothered me a lot, so I thought I’d ignore you for the rest of my life”? He couldn’t say that neither.

As Floyd was racking his brain for some kind of response, Oliver crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head in a way that said, “Ain’t you fixing to apologize?” or however the heck someone like him would phrase it, and Floyd knew he needed to say something, even if that something wasn’t the truth.

“Yeah, I know I ought to have kept my word. But I felt kind of sick this morning.”

“Sick?” Oliver scoffed. “Clearly you still went to work.”

“Not too sick to work. Just too sick to... to talk to you.”

Oliver’s face fell, the fire he seemed to have had inside of him becoming extinguished instantly.

“Oh, I see,” Oliver said, his voice was so much softer now. “Oliver’s too strange. Oliver’s too irritating. I’ve heard it plenty of times before. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ll try to work with someone else.”

“What?” Floyd sputtered. “No, that ain’t what I meant.”

“Alright, so, what is it, then?”

Floyd’s heart sank. He couldn’t stand how upset poor Oliver looked now. Floyd liked him. He hadn’t meant to make Oliver sad. It wasn’t Oliver’s fault that he had been feeling too bothered by his own feelings to keep his promise.

“I felt like I needed some time to myself, is all. I can’t really figure out how to explain it.” Oliver turned to walk away, but Floyd caught his arm. “But it won’t happen tomorrow. I promise.”

“Tomorrow?”

“I still want to work with you. I... well... Billy’s too young and you need someone to help you with everything. I been a miner for ’bout twenty years, if you count the time when I was a kid. I reckon you could use a teacher with a lot of experience. And I’d like to be the one to learn you. If you want, that is.”

Oliver started chewing on his bottom lip, and then he narrowed his eyes a bit like he was studying Floyd’s face, maybe for insincerity. Oliver was probably having a hard time believing him, which made Floyd’s chest feel even heavier, especially when Oliver’s earlier words flitted into his mind. Oliver’s too strange. Oliver’s too irritating. Gosh, maybe Oliver had been rejected for them kinds of things in the past. Before Floyd could try to make sure that Oliver knew that it wasn’t that he had messed up or nothing, Oliver spoke.

“Really?” he asked.

“Really.” Floyd tried to smile through his lingering upset. Gosh, he still felt so bad. He hoped he could let Oliver know how much he really had been enjoying his company. “Besides, no one else ever tells me strange stories about frozen fruit. Stories like that, I reckon they’ll make the time pass faster while we work.”

Oliver’s face relaxed a little as he let out a long breath, one that seemed to blow away some of Floyd’s upset over how horrible he had behaved.

“Alright,” Oliver said. “I’ll still work with you.”

After a moment, Floyd nodded back toward the store and said, “Do you want to buy whatever it is you wanted to buy before you tried to run away from me?”

“Not really. I was upset about you avoiding me, so I thought maybe I’d buy myself a shirt or a hat or something.”

“I thought you said you were worried about bleeding through your money.”

“Don’t throw logic in my face,” Oliver said with a fake-sounding scoff. “Besides, I was exaggerating about that. I have too much money, really. Or, uhm, sorry, I’m not trying to boast. Oh God, I really can’t blame you for avoiding me.”

Oliver insulting himself made Floyd realize that he still hadn’t mended things enough.

“I wasn’t avoiding you,” Floyd said. “I promise.”

But Floyd knew it still wasn’t enough. Chewing on his bottom lip, Floyd wondered if maybe he ought to invite Oliver out for some fun. His stomach rumbled a bit, like there was a part of him that wasn’t too happy with that idea, but the feeling would probably fade with time. Or, if not, Floyd supposed he’d better learn how to live with it, especially since he’d be spending time with Oliver every day in the mine.

“How about you come with me to the pool hall later?” Floyd offered. “I’ve never been, but I been told it’s nice there.”

“Wait, you’re telling me there’s no telephone in this town, but there’s a pool hall?”

“Why’s that odd?”

“Never mind,” Oliver said with a slight shake of his head. “Yes, I’ll play pool with you. What time?”

“Seven?”

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