Two Sides of the Same Coin (29 page)

I still couldn’t figure out how Porky knew where I lived. It just didn’t make any sense. It gave me a cold feeling to think that maybe he’d followed me, but for the life of me I didn’t remember seeing him, and I would have heard the noise of his bike, wouldn’t I? It was like the rustlers killing Pedro and shooting at Mike and Wayne. It didn’t add up. I felt bad for Wayne when he did roll in Monday morning from wherever he spends the weekends. He felt real guilty he wasn’t here when Porky did his little attempt at vandalism. Not only did he feel guilty, he was pissed. I grew up with Wayne around, and I knew the signs. I reckoned Porky was in for it bad if he happened across Wayne. I decided it was time for more coffee. I grabbed my cup and walked out of the office and into the living room. Mike was lying on the couch, reading. It was one of those cold rainy fall days. We both had sweatpants on and T-shirts. Mike had a throw blanket across his legs and feet.

“Hey there, buddy. I’m gonna make some coffee, you up for a cup?”

“Yeah, that sounds real good now.”

“When I bring you the coffee, mind if I sit down with ya?”

“Only if you cuddle up with me.”

“You got a deal. We gotta keep each other warm.” I walked into the kitchen and put the water for the coffee on. I looked out the window. It was after the equinox, and the days were gettin’ noticeably shorter now. Because of the clouds and rain today, we had that murky kind of twilight that I associate with winter days here in the north. I continued staring out the window. Hunting season was starting in just a few days. Forecast had rain off and on for the next ten days, so I figured Mike and I would end up hunting in the rain. We’d originally planned to take horses into the back country of the national forest, but the more I thought about it the more I thought it was a good idea to bring the truck rather than the horses. First of all, the heater in the truck would make a world of difference if we had some problems. The truck was four-wheel-drive and built for off-road, and we could carry more gear to make camping in the rain more comfortable. The truck was also a lot harder to mistake for a deer than a horse. I poured the coffee and carried the cups into the living room.

“Move that sweet ass of yours over and let me sit down.” I set both cups of coffee on the coffee table.

“Thanks, Jeff.” Mike leaned against me and threw the little blanket over both our legs. He’d built a fire, so it was nice and comfy in the living room. I was looking out the window at the view of Lucky Jeff Bluff and the river on the other side. The visibility was low because of the rain, but there were misty clouds drifting at the side of the bluff amongst the pine trees.

“Ya know, buddy, a rainy day like this has a beauty all of its own.”

“Yeah, it sure does. I like the way the clouds hug the bluff sort of.”

“I’m gonna go to Wenatchee for supplies tomorrow. I wanna get stuff for a while, get the pantry filled, and then the only stuff we’ll need to go to the store for will be dairy and fresh veggies. You wanna go with me?”

“Sure.”

“We can get ammo for huntin’ and food for that too. I was thinkin’ on takin’ the truck rather than the horses on the huntin’ trip.”

“Yeah, the more I think on that the better idea the truck sounds.”

“So you still lookin’ forward to goin’ huntin’ even with the rain?”

“I am. It’ll be fun. Besides, we ain’t gonna let a little rain stop us are we, Jeffy?”

“Hell no, we’ll take rain gear and stuff. I don’t think we’ll have snow or anything like that though.”

“Did you hear from the sheriff about Porky?”

“He said Porky just seemed to disappear. Police in Newhalem and Rockport were lookin’ for him to come down off the pass on the west side, and he never showed or they missed him.”

“Well then, maybe he’s gone for good.”

“I sure as hell hope so. If he wasn’t so stupid, he coulda done a lot of damage.”

“Say, Jeff, did you hear the Flannigans got hit by rustlers again?”

“No, what happened?”

“I guess Sandy told Maria, who told José. Seems they are gonna do their roundup next week. They ain’t moved the beeves outta the land by the national forest. Looks like they’ve lost about ten head over the last few days.”

“Sheriff’s pretty pissed about lack of cooperation from the forest service on tryin’ to track any rustlers through the national forest, seems they are pretty short staffed.”

“He shoulda told the feds it was pot growers and meth labs rather than rustlers. They woulda been here thicker than fleas on an old hound dog.”

“I’ll have to suggest that to Sheriff Johnston, Mike.” We both laughed.

“How’s the sculptin’ comin’?”

“I got two new ones I’m workin’ on. Mary Grace wants to do the exhibition in November, December, and January. She said after that, I can keep a couple of pieces on display.”

“That’s great. I’m really kinda shocked your ex-boyfriend, Robert, sent you the sculptures you did there and your stuff.”

“People will surprise ya sometimes. What got to me was the apology letter sayin’ he had lots of time to think on the drive back to Seattle and then the plane to San Francisco. He reckons I was right about him tryin’ to change me. What he wanted was a fantasy, and when that fantasy became real, it really wasn’t what he wanted anyway.”

“I guess I’m gonna have to revise my opinion of him.”

“He did say he was sorry for comin’ on to you when I was drunk that night.”

“Really, what else did he say about me?”

“He told me that the way ‘that hot blond cowboy stares at you, you had better go for the gusto, Jeffrey. I feel that he is probably much better suited for you and you for him than you and I were’.” I imitated Robert’s voice when I relayed to Mike what he said. We both laughed.

“It turns out he was pretty smart. We do fit together pretty well.” Mike leaned closer into me and I put my arm over his shoulders. “Day after tomorrow is first of October. That’s when huntin’ season opens. So when do you wanna go and for how long?”

“What’s two days after tomorrow sound like to ya, Jeff? That will give us time to make sure everything is ready. We could go for five days to a week.”

“Sounds like a plan. Wanna go and check the huntin’ gear? It wouldn’t hurt to do that before goin’ to Wenatchee. That way if there is anythin’ else, we can get it there.” We headed off to look at the gear, already looking forward to being in the woods.

We pulled into the parking lot of the Wenatchee Costco. We’d made our shopping list, and checked it twice. We also needed to stop at a sporting goods store and get some ammo. We’d gone through the hunting gear and had pretty much all we needed. Mike had come up with the great idea of printing out the pages of the national forest maps we had put together for Sheriff Johnston with the locations of the stolen cattle marked. The pages would be the perfect way to decide just where we wanted to go hunting. So after getting supplies, we’d be pretty much set. We grabbed a cart and headed into Costco. I started laughing, and Mike gave me a quizzical look.

“I was just thinkin’ of an old episode of
Designing Women
on TV. Julia and Suzanne were in a grocery store and Suzanne was droolin’ over a coupla guys. Julia gave her a disgusted look and said, ‘Two handsome men, a single cart, and fresh pasta. You figure it out.’ It just made me think of the two of us with one cart.”

Laughing, Mike asked, “You want me to pick up some fresh pasta?”

“I think we can live without it, bud.”

We picked our way through the aisles buying fifty-pound sacks of flour and sugar, spices, and other stuff that’d keep. We got other stuff like canned veggies, cornmeal, candles, soap, cleaning stuff, all the things that are cheaper to buy at Costco. We’d just go into Winslett for bread, milk, fresh veggies, and stuff like that. We ended up gettin’ two carts full of stuff. We went through checkout and had just got to the truck when we heard a voice.

“Jeff Connelly. So you’re back. I take it you’ll be going back to San Francisco soon.” It was said as a statement not a question. I looked up and saw reverend John Spencer, a real fire and brimstone preacher from over in Pateros.

“Reverend, I reckon you didn’t see all the supplies we’re loadin’ up. Don’t look like a man who’s leavin’ would buy this much does it?” Mike stiffened when I said reverend. The good reverend himself was staring at me with a distasteful scowl.

“You know, Connelly, we don’t need perverts like you around here. There is a special place in hell reserved for you. You’re turning Winslett into a den of iniquity.” I laughed loud and hard at that one.

“Well, Reverend.” I let the sarcasm just drip off my voice on the word reverend. “Winslett sure don’t look like no den of iniquity I ever visited. There’s no free condoms, closed circuit TVs with gay porn, and go-go boys on stage strippin’.”

Mike started laughing at that.

“Don’t let this spawn of Satan corrupt you, boy, or you’ll end up in hell right beside him!” The reverend spat out at Mike.

Mike continued laughing and finally said, “He’s already corrupted me, and it felt real good! Seriously now, it’s hypocrites like you that make me agnostic. You go on preachin’ about God’s love, but nothin’ but hate comes outta your mouth. If the choice is goin’ to heaven with you, or goin’ to hell with Jeff here, I’m with Jeff all the way.” Spencer turned so red he was purple with fury. He stepped forward. He was so angry, he was spitting when he was talking.

“I could have quite a few people picketing your ranch with posters round the clock.”

“Don’t make me no never mind. Property line goes all the way down the road. You can’t see or hear the road from the house. And I’d just
love
to defend my property if you trespassed.”

A crowd had gathered, watching us. He stepped even closer to me and raised a fist.

“You are pure evil. Those that lie with men as with women shall surely be put to death.”

I laughed even harder. “Let those without sin cast the first stone, Reverend.” I added in an undertone, “Go ahead and take a swing, hypocrite. Nothin’ would make me happier than to have to defend myself in front of all these witnesses. Oh, and get yourself to a dentist. It smells like half of your teeth are rotten.”

He glared at me, but did step back after muttering, “You can kiss my ass!”

I laughed again. “I got my buddy’s sweet, firm ass to kiss, Reverend. Why would I wanna kiss your saggy, bony, old ass?”

He turned and stalked away with a final shouted, “Turn or burn, Connelly, turn or burn.” I could hear mutters of “hypocrite” from the crowd that had gathered. Mike and I finished loading the supplies in the truck, covered them with a tarp, and jumped in.

“Who in the hell was that?”

“The Reverend John Spencer; he’s the preacher at God’s Love Church in Pateros. One time I ran into him in Winslett, and he tried to get me to go to his church. I asked if gays and lesbians were welcome. You can see from the way he acts, we’re not.”

“He reminds me of my old man.”

“Buddy, he’s not worth wastin’ any more breath or thought on. He’s pathetic.”

“I reckon so. Still brings back a lot of bad memories.”

I put my hand on Mike’s thigh. “I got an idea how to make you forget all about those bad memories.”

“Horndog!”

“That bother ya?”

“Not hardly.”

“I was thinkin’, Mike. Why don’t you just move the rest of your stuff up from the bunkhouse? Ya ain’t slept there once since the first night ya spent with me. I like wakin’ up with ya every mornin’.”

“You sure, Jeffy?”

“I ain’t ever been so sure of anythin’ in my life.” He grabbed my hand and just grinned at me. We held hands all the way back to the ranch.

Hunting day dawned cold and drizzly. We’d plotted a drive into the national forest and a place to hunt in the forest near to the national park. Methow Valley is a deer migration route, so we were pretty assured of success. We’d prepared for a week or so of backwoods camping. It would be easier with the truck than it would if we took horses, but it would still be a job to keep dry. It was in the thirties at night, and with the drizzle, hypothermia was our biggest worry. But we were pretty well prepared, so it didn’t seem like there’d be any problems. We got our gear in the truck, left a note with our itinerary for José, Josh, and Wayne taped to the door of the ranch house, and headed out toward the national forest. I couldn’t help but look at Mike. He looked really cute in all his camo gear. He noticed me looking.

“What?”

“Just thinkin’ what a handsome guy you are.”

“Thanks! I reckon we’re in the same boat there, Jeffy.” We grinned at each other. We were both excited to be out together and hunting. If I had mentioned deer hunting when I lived in San Francisco, you’d think I was talking about genocide or something. Mike just never had the opportunity or anyone to hunt with. I don’t really enjoy the killing part, but the thrill of the chase is fun, and just being out in the woods for that amount of time is real relaxing.

One thing a lot of people don’t realize is that anymore hunting is not a bad thing. We’ve destroyed the ecosystem and killed off all the predators. So the deer have multiplied out of control. Come winter, a lot of them starve, and the number that get hit by cars in the valley is in the hundreds. If I go hunting and I get something, it’s my job to make sure that it’s eaten. Just hunting to kill is murder. Things may change as we got wolves coming down from the North Cascades in Canada now. The ranching community is pretty much up in arms, thinking that all their stock is going to get killed. We haven’t lost any cattle to wolves, and I hope we don’t. In any case, the government has a program that’ll pay us back for any losses. With all the deer, I reckon wolves will leave the cattle alone. But hell, what do I know?

“Penny for your thoughts, Jeff.”

“I was just thinkin’ about wolves.”

“You reckon we might see some?” Mike sounded excited.

“Probably not, they’re pretty rare and they know enough to stay clear of people.”

“It sure would be somethin’ to see one though.”

“That it would.”

“I can’t believe just how excited I am to be doin’ this. First time in a long time I’ve been huntin’.”