Two Sides of the Same Coin (22 page)

“I’ll just be right here with my coffee.”

I ran upstairs and stripped and jumped in the shower. The hot spray felt really good on my back and shoulders. I stayed under the shower a bit long since Mike was waiting on me, but it did help with the sore muscles from yesterday. I finally got out, toweled off, and headed over to my dresser. I pulled out my last pair of long handles. I was going to have to do laundry pretty soon. I was low on socks too. I wore a pair of Wranglers with a hand-tooled belt and one of my rodeo buckles. I picked a bright Wrangler shirt striped with green, blue, yellow, red, and black. I headed downstairs, and Mike wolf whistled at me.

“Don’t you look handsome all duded up?”

“Likewise, so I guess we’ll look good together.”

“You said it!” We headed out the door to my truck and then off to the Johnston’s. The rain was coming down in a fine misty drizzle. We’d left early just in case we had to slow down due to the visibility being bad, but we got to town early. I noticed the ranger station on Main Street was open, which gave me an idea.

“You know we were talkin’ about huntin’?”

“Yeah, I’d still like to go if you’re up for it and don’t mind lendin’ me some gear.”

“Let’s get our licenses then. Ranger station’s open.”

Main Street was fairly empty, so I parked right in front of the ranger station. We headed in. There was a ranger I didn’t recognize. That wasn’t unusual; the forest service tended to transfer them around quite a bit. He did recognize me though.

“Hey guys, saw you the other night at One Eyed Jack’s. You did a nice job of taking out the trash.” He smiled up at us.

“That fat biker just didn’t know how to treat a lady. I couldn’t let him treat Sandy or anyone else that way.”

“Good riddance to bad rubbish I say. They’ve been around from time to time this summer. I hope we’ve seen the last of them.”

Mike spoke up, “The fat one tried to pick a fight with Jeff here later.”

“Oh really?” The ranger raised his eyebrows. “What happened?”

“Let’s just say, I don’t think he’s gonna try to pick a fight with me again.”

“Good for you! Now what can I do for you boys?”

“How about a couple of huntin’ licenses?”

“You’re locals right?”

“Yep, just live a few miles outta town on Lucky Jeff Ranch.” He started laughing and looked at me.

“Are you named after the ranch, or is the ranch named after you?”

“We’re both named after Lucky Jeff Bluff.”

“Okay. For the licenses, I need to see some ID.” He took our driver’s licenses, looked at mine, looked at me, then at Mike, back at me, and finally said, “Jeff Connelly. I heard of you. You beat the shit outta that fat biker eh? You certainly don’t fit any of the stereotypes about guys like you. And getting a hunting license, too, that sure doesn’t fit the stereotypes.”

I could feel a slow anger rising up, and my back and shoulders were tensing. I wasn’t going to let this jerk off easy though. “Pardon? Just what type of guy, and what type of stereotypes are you referrin’ to?”

He got all red-faced and hemmed and hawed a bit, and finally stuttered out, “Uh… you know.”

“I can’t say as I do. You have any idea, buddy.”

“Can’t say as I do either, Jeffy. Just what type of guys, and what stereotypes did you mean, mister?”

The ranger stuttered some more.

“Ya ain’t callin’ me a redneck, are ya?” I asked.

“Uh… no, look, no offense, I didn’t mean anything.”

I smiled at him. I was certain the smile didn’t reach my eyes.

“One thing I will tell ya, for every stereotype, you’ll find someone who fits it. The people that do are the ones that just stand out. And for every group that is stereotyped, you’ll find hundreds of us who are just normal folks. Now you were askin’ if I’m gay since I don’t seem to fall into any preconceived notions you have about what gay guys are supposed to do and look like. To answer your question, I am gay. I ain’t ashamed of who I am. My private life is my own business, just like yours is your business and not mine. Now no offense taken; if we made you feel a bit uncomfortable, no offense meant there either.” I held out my hand. He took it and shook very quickly. I was thinking maybe I should tell him it wasn’t catching when he spoke up.

“Let’s get those hunting licenses….” He looked a bit scared. He got a couple of forms out of his desk, and filled them out with details from our driver’s licenses. He got up and then laminated the forms in plastic.

I pulled out some cash and paid. Mike tried to object, but I just told him, “You can pack my first deer out, buddy.” The ranger laughed. “You know our names, what’s yours?”

“Mark, Mark Ashton.”

“Mark, pleased to meet ya. If you see us again in One Eyed Jack’s, say hi. I’ll buy you a beer.”

“Okay, only if you let me buy the next round.”

“You got it!” Mike and I headed out into the street and got in my truck.

“You handled that pretty good, Jeffy. I wish I could do that rather than get all pissed off.”

“Buddy, I was starting to get pissed off too. But ya gotta remember, when someone makes a comment like that or worse, they’re either, one, a closet case, two, they’re some religious fanatic nutcase, or three, uninformed and naïve. From the way he made the comment, I guessed it was the third.”

“You sure are somethin’ else.”

“You are too, Mike. I wouldn’t be datin’ you, or layin’ awake thinkin’ about you at night, or smilin’ every time I see you, if you weren’t.” He just smiled and had a real happy satisfied look on his face as we drove the few blocks to the Johnston’s. I’d wrapped the printouts of the national forest and surrounding area in plastic and then put them in a leather folder. We got to the door, knocked, and almost immediately Sandy opened the door.

“Jeff, Mike, c’mon in!” She hugged each one of us and took our coats. I kicked off my boots and so did Mike. Sheriff Johnston ushered us into the living room where the Seahawks were playing the Lions on TV. Mrs. Johnston rushed out and offered us something to drink. The sheriff was having a beer, so that’s what we had. Sandy and Mrs. Johnston joined us in the living room.

“Jeff, I hear I owe you a thank you for watching out for Sandy.”

“No thank you is necessary, sir. I’ll always be there for Sandy. And so would Mike.” Mike nodded. “I was just happy to be able to help.”

“I hear the guy tried to get back at ya later.”

“Yes, sir, he did, but he really didn’t know what he was doin’, so there was no threat.”

“Do you want to press charges?”

“No, sir. Other than a coupla cuts I got when he kept hittin’ my knuckles with his teeth, there was no damage done to me.” The sheriff laughed at that. He turned to Mike.

“And you, young man. I’m happy to tell you that you weren’t ever a suspect; I just gotta do my job. How are you holding up after getting shot at? That musta been one hell of a bad experience.”

“I’m doin’ okay, sir; although it’s not somethin’ I wanna go through again. Jeff here took good care of me.” The sheriff looked back and forth from Mike to me. His eyes twinkled.

“Yeah, I bet ol’ Jeff here did take awful good care of you.” Sandy snickered; Mrs. Johnston, Mike, and I all turned red. “But boys, that’s what friends are for. Sandy here tells me you two, she, and Maria did a real nice thing for some dudes and a young boy who’s gonna remember yesterday for a long time.” We spent a while talking about our day yesterday. We went over where I’d met the folks we entertained, and the kids. Before we knew it, Mrs. Johnston said dinner was ready. We headed into the dining room. She’d made a pot roast with potatoes, carrots, and turnips. I love turnips. Mike looked at them suspicious like until he saw me eating some, then tried a bite. We also had green beans, a big salad, and some dinner rolls. It was a great dinner, and we spent quite a bit of time complimenting Mrs. Johnston. Dessert was apple pie. Mrs. Johnston is a great baker, and the pie was delicious. Over coffee afterwards, the sheriff looked at me shrewdly.

“So Sandy tells me you gave that guy from San Francisco the boot?”

“Yes, sir. To be honest, I can’t see now why I didn’t do it before. We made each other unhappy.”

“You just needed someone to show you what you were putting up with and that there’s a lot better for you out there.” He looked at Mike long enough to make him turn beet red. He then looked at me. Sandy and Mrs. Johnston were in the kitchen.

“Jeff, you remember when you came to my office to tell me you saw Mike and vouched for him?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You remember me saying how close I was to your dad, and that you’re like a brother to Sandy?” I nodded. “Mike, I hope you know Jeff’s dad thought the world of you. We talked about it a few times.”

“No, sir, but I appreciate hearin’ that. Mr. Connelly was a great guy.”

“Well, boys, since he’s not here and I am, I am gonna say what he wanted to say to you two. Jeff, he’d always hoped you’d see your friend Robert really wasn’t the guy for you, and that you’d come back here to stay.”

“I am here to stay, sir.”

“Glad to hear that. He was also hoping you and Mike here would be friends. In fact, he told me quite a few times Mike put him to mind of you, Jeff. He thought you guys would click as friends real well. And it seems he was right. I know he cared about both of ya. He didn’t want either one of ya to be alone. Jeff, you’ll remember me saying I really don’t understand how you got to be how you are, or you either, Mike, but remember I also said it don’t matter none to me?” I nodded. “Watching you two and hearing about you boys together, you should keep that friendship and build on it. You two seem to have a better basis than most straight couples I’ve seen. If your dad was here, he’d tell you too. Don’t lose that.”

“Thanks, Sheriff.” Mike and I both muttered that. In that moment, I missed Dad acutely. But I was lucky to have Sheriff Johnston in my life too.

“Now let’s go back into the living room, boys.”

We followed him and took our seats on the couch while he settled into the lazy boy chair.

“Sir, Mike and I were doin’ some lookin’ on the computer the other day. We knew the Nelsons and Flannigans also lost cattle. We began to think there might be more victims. We looked online and found quite a few ranches here have got hit by rustlers. Those ranches are all clustered around the national forest. We did a printout if you wanna see it.”

“Sure, boys, different agencies don’t always cooperate or fill one another in, so there might be more to this than meets the eye.” We spread the papers over the floor, and showed him how the forest was ringed by ranches which had cattle rustled. The forest service roads showed up on the printout like an interlinked web, connecting the ranches.

“You boys might really be on to something. You mind if I keep these?”

“Not at all, Sheriff, that’s why we printed ’em out.”

We spent another half an hour chatting and visiting. When it was time to go, Mrs. Johnston gave us a huge doggie bag with pot roast, veggies, and gravy plus a spare apple pie. It was about four in the afternoon when we got back to the ranch. Wayne’s trailer was dark, and so was the bunkhouse. I’d mentioned a movie to Mike, so he came right up to the ranch house with me. I asked him to get us a couple of beers and a couple of shots of whiskey while I made a fire in the fireplace. After this last cold front, I was pretty sure that our summer weather was over. The forecast we saw on TV at the Johnston’s called for rain for the next week and nighttime temperatures dipping into the thirties. I got the fire started, and Mike was back with the drinks. I had a couple of gay movies I’d gotten from Amazon.com. One was called
Latter Days
about a Mormon guy whose family can’t accept his being gay. He gets brutally outted on his mission trip to LA. I thought that might be a bit difficult for Mike, given his background. I put in a movie called
Big Eden
. It’s a sweet movie about a guy who moves back to his hometown. Everyone is accepting of him and try to fix him up with this guy who has a crush on him, but is too shy to say anything. It was kind of funny. As the movie started, Mike and I were about three feet apart on the couch. About half an hour in, I paused the movie to make popcorn. We were about two feet apart when I started the movie again. By the time the scene of everyone at Thanksgiving came up, we were next to each other. The popcorn bowl was on my lap, and we were both eating from it without having to pass back and forth. By the time the movie ended, I had my arm around Mike’s shoulders and his head was resting on my shoulder. It was really comfortable. When the movie stopped, neither of us moved.

“Comfy, buddy?” I finally asked.

“Yeah, I am. How about you?”

“I gotta say, not only am I comfy, but I really like touchin’ you.” He snuggled a little closer.

“Jeffy, you know how you were sayin’ you wondered if your dad was tryin’ to set us up?”

“Yeah?”

“What do ya think now?” I leaned my head down and kissed Mike’s forehead.

“I think he’d be pleased as punch. Now if you’re still up for it, you wanna learn how to dance?”

“I do.”

“Okay, when ya cowboy dance, ya sorta just slide along the dance floor. I figure with the hardwood floors here, if we move the couches and roll back the rug, we’ll be able to slide just fine in our socks.” We moved the couches and rolled up the rug. We got out in the middle of the floor. The lights were still low from the movie, but the fire was bright and throwing just enough heat.

“Okay, buddy, the two-step is real easy. It’s two sets of two steps. Now face me. I’m gonna take your right hand in my left. Put your left hand on my right shoulder. Now I’m gonna put my right hand down here around your waist like this. You okay?”

“Yep. Do we get to dance closer?”

“All in time. Ya gotta walk before runnin’. Now I’m gonna take one step forward with my left foot. You step back one step with your right foot.” We did that.

“Now I step forward with my right foot, and you step back a full step with your left. So your left foot is behind your right foot, just like you was walkin’ backward. That’s the first set of two steps. Now I’ll step forward with my left foot another full step and you step back with your right. Got it? Now step back with your left, so your two feet are even. I’ll do the same with my right foot. So see we’re now standin’ with our feet together. That’s the second set of two steps. And we just repeat that.” We continued goin’ through the steps at first walkin’, then slidin. After a few mistakes, a few stepped on feet, and a lot of laughter, we had it down.