Page 62 of Final Ride

Bobby didn’t know why he woke up, and it took a minute before he heard the growling and the crashing around on the back porch of the cabin.

Cleo was on her hind legs barking and jumping up at the window as Bobby dragged himself out of bed.

“What the hell is out there, girl?”

No lights on inside or out and Bobby could see the outline of a huge furry body.

“Bear, Cleo. A huge fuckin bear. You can’t go out.”

Bobby flopped back down on the bed and tried to go back to sleep. Nothing he could do about the bear but wait for it to go away.

Chapter Fourteen

Tuesday, August 26th.

Super Eight. Buffalo. Wyoming.

I was too tired to get up, but when my alarm went off in the gray light before dawn, I dragged my ass out of bed. The only thing keeping me going was thinking about seeing Lucy at the end of this long trip to Texas.

Virge never said a word as he went with me out to the hotel parking lot to feed the horses. He stumbled around behind the horse trailer, and I could hear him puking back there. Tried not to laugh but it was hard not to. He liked to brag about how much beer he could hold, and we both knew it was a joke.

Dad came out later with the dogs on their leashes and took them for a walk twice around the hotel property while he had a smoke.

With the chores all done for the morning, we went back to our room and packed up. Dad checked the room to make sure we didn’t forget anything, Virge spent another ten minutes in the bathroom pulling himself together, then we went downstairs for breakfast.

By the time we got through the lineup at the buffet, and I saw food on my plate, I was the next thing to starving. My brother didn’t wipe out the buffet like he usually did. This morning he wasn’t eating. Only black coffee on his menu.

While we drank a second coffee before we left, Dad called Billy to see how he was doing.

“That Detective from Watertown called again, Travis.”

“Did Tammy say something?” asked Travis.

“He didn’t say. All he told me was he sent all the latest reports on her to the station email.”

“You get a chance to read them yet?”

“Not yet, but I’ll forward them to Harlan’s email, and you can read them for yourself.”

“Thanks. I’d like to read what the doctors are saying about her. If she’s been running crazy again, she may have to go back to the mental hospital for another stay.”

“Yeah, there’s that,” said Billy. “Hope that ain’t true, but the hospital might be easier on her than a women’s prison.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” mumbled Travis. “I’ve heard horror stories about girl gangs in the slammer.”

Billy laughed. “Hope I never personally find out about how brutal those girls can be. Ain’t on my bucket list.”

“Same.” Travis chuckled. “That’s one experience I don’t need before I cash out.”

Trauma Unit. Watertown New York.

Tammy woke from a drugged sleep and glanced around the room she was in. In the back of her brain she had a picture of Eldon trying to kill her with his tire iron at the fishing camp.

Could’ve been just a dream. I wonder where Eldon went. I have to find him and stop all this fighting. We love each other and we shouldn’t fight. He was mad about Willy.

Her garbled thoughts turned to Willy, and she watched the door to see if he was waiting for her to get better. Possibly the hospital staff wouldn’t let him in to see her because she was a prisoner.

Yeah, that must be it. He can’t get in to see me. How long has he been sitting in the waiting room?

---