Earthbound (9 page)

I’m not gonna tell you what I was thinking
about at this point. You can probably figure it out on your own.
But I will tell you what I did. I bundled up cause it was pretty
cold that night and hopped on Charon for a ride. Needed to see
something with my own eyes.

One of the benefits of not talking much is
that you’ll hear people telling you things if you’re willing to
listen. Pace had told me where he likes to take his lady friends
when he’s seducing them. There’s a hill over by the blacksmith’s
where there’s plenty of trees and decent seclusion, especially at
night. Not the most beautiful view in the world. But a view doesn’t
matter much I guess when your eyes are closed.

I made sure to ride Charon across a pile of
collected branches so we made plenty of noise. I wanted to give
them plenty of warning, so I didn’t see anything that I didn’t want
to see, if you know what I mean. I’m not sure I interrupted
anything though. Sure enough, Pace was there. And so was Becca. And
there was a sleeping bag sprawled out under a tree. But everyone
was fully clothed, to my infinite relief. Although it was cold,
they needed to bundle up, sometimes body heat isn’t enough. But who
knows what they did overnight. Although it looked like Becca had
been crying.

“Ash,” Pace said, greeting me with a smile.
He did seem a little surprised.

“Yeah,” I replied. That’s all I said about
that.

Pace walked up to Charon and looked up at me
on my perch. “Are you pissed at me?”

“Can’t blame you for doing what I’d do, if I
thought I could get away with it.” Pace seemed relieved. I don’t
think he could handle my fist in his face like back in our
schoolyard days. I tugged on the reins and walked Charon over to
Becca. “Becca, I’ve come to talk for a minute.”

“That’s good,” she said, tugging at my pant
leg so I’d dismount, “because Pace is so unreasonable!” Pace
shrugged, guilty as charged. “Asher, you can’t go through with
this!”

“Fine, give me a good reason,” I said.

“You’ll get caught!”

“This whole settlement’s a jail,” Pace chimed
in. “What’s the difference?”

Becca turned on him and pointed an angry
finger. “We’re done talking. This conversation is with Asher.”

“Okay okay,” Pace responded, holding his
hands up in defeat.

Becca turned back toward me to continue.
“Could be a lot worse than jail. You could get shot down.”

“By who?” I asked. “Boze? I’ll take my
chances on that. Pace has a plan.”

“That’s it? You trust Pace and his plan? You
barely know him! You’ve known me your entire life! And I’m telling
you his plan is going to ruin your life!”

I put my hands on her fine shoulders. What
the eff.

“I’ve got nothing to live for right now.
Unless you wanna tell me different.”

The waterworks started going in Becca’s eyes.
I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Asher, you really have no clue, do you?” She
buried her head in my chest and just started sobbing. I glanced
over at Pace and shrugged. He shrugged back. I don’t think either
of us really understand girls.

“If it’s just that you’re having a hard time
choosing between us,” Pace mused, “we could flip a coin. Or you
take even days and I’ll take odd.”

I guess that was a little chauvinistic. The
sobbing thing seemed to be replaced by her righteous anger. “Pace,
shut your effing mouth!” Then Becca shoved me away. “And Asher,
you’re such an asshole! You’d have a future… we’d have a future… if
you didn’t rob that bank!”

I looked at her for a second. Was she saying
we’d have a future together? Or just I’d have a future, and she’d
have her own separate future. It was all kind of vague to me. That
and the whole thing of whatever Becca and Pace had been doing in
their secret liaisons over the past couple of nights. No, Becca was
just trying to manipulate me. Pace was the one she cared about. And
if I didn’t do the bank robbery, he wouldn’t dare go it alone. He
needed my muscle. She was just trying to protect Pace. I had a hard
time believing she’d be that calculating, but I believed it
anyway.

“Pace,” I said, “let’s go.”

“I should see Rebecca home,” Pace
replied.

“We’re headed to the bank. Wanna be there
when it opens.”

Pace ran up to Charon and tried to stop me
from riding away. “We’re not ready Ash! We haven’t finished
planning for…” But I wasn’t really listening.

“Now or never Pace!” I declared and rode off.
Soon I heard hoofbeats behind me. Two horses. Both Pace and Becca
were following behind. Not sure Pace wanted to stop me or join
me.

I arrived at the bank just as that guy Frank
was unlocking the front door, switching the sign from CLOSED to
OPEN. Frank politely held the door open for Old Pearl, the
seamstress, who had been waiting for the bank to open. Not sure how
but she managed to keep working eight hour days with arthritic
hands. Not a complainer. I respect that.

Old Pearl smiled and thanked Frank for his
courtesy. Little did she know. Then Frank noticed me and looked at
me kinda nervously and tipped his hat and said “good morning.” I
didn’t respond. Wasn’t in the mood to make nice. Not that I ever
was.

I heard two riders approaching. When they
were close by, Pace yelled at me.

“Ash we’re not ready! I was sewing us
masks!”

I just kinda looked at Pace. “Sewing?
Really?”

“Everyone’s going to know it was us!”

“Isn’t that the point?” This was a moment of
clarity for me I have to say. “What do you think we’re gonna do
after we’re done, go down to the saloon and suck down a bottle of
whiskey? If Boze had even the slightest hint that it was us, it’d
be the first time he’d actually do his job. Then we’d just be
sitting around waiting to get arrested. I think that’d worry Becca
more than us being gone.” I glanced at Becca. She had no idea what
to say. So I said it for her. “After this we’re gone. Just a couple
a ghosts. There’s a better life for us out there. You know there
is. And we’re gonna find it. There’s nothing here for us. Right
Becca?”

I dismounted and tied off Charon at the
hitching post. Becca dismounted too and I felt her latch onto me
from behind. She wasn’t trying to pull me back. She was just
holding on. So I turned and gave her what I thought she deserved –
a truthful statement.

“I’m doing this, Becca. Wish it could be
different.” I pulled my revolver out from under my coat. Becca
gasped. “You should move along. Don’t want you here if things turn
bad.” Then I headed toward the bank door – not sure if I would ever
see Becca again. And I told myself I had to be okay with that.

Something flashed in my mind. That chair. The
one she used to read to me in. I wondered if there was a way to
take that chair with me. No. No chance. I’d seen that chair for the
last time. I hoped that when an angry mob came looking for me and
ransacked the place and burned it to the ground that they’d be kind
to my mother’s belongings. She deserved some respect.

Before I could get through the door, I heard
a voice behind me. Not Becca. Pace.

“Aw hell!”

I turned to see him scramble off his horse,
tie it off and join me in the doorway.

“You’re good with the plan?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I told you I got it.”

We walked inside the bank. Not sure if Becca
was still sticking around waiting for us. I remember I’d hoped she
was long gone.

I think Pace was nervous. He was sort of
fumbling with his revolver, and since it was loaded that is not
recommended.

“So you’re good with the plan?” he repeated
quietly.

“What the eff, Pace! I got it. You need to
relax. You need to go jerk off or something?”

“Me? You’re the one who hasn’t had sex in
forever!” Pace didn’t mean to be mean-spirited with that. Instead
he laughed. I think it helped focus him or something. “Okay. You’re
good with the plan. Me too.”

Now that Pace was smiling it was just so
infectious.

Pace buried his revolver beneath his belt and
covered it with his long brown coat. He stepped up behind Old Pearl
as she was doing her business with Frank.

It had been a while since I was actually
inside the bank. It was just one room, fairly small, with a counter
for the clerk and a couple of desks behind him, plus the sealed
vault. In that moment there was only one employee – good old Frank.
He hadn’t noticed us yet. If he had he would no doubt have started
to get nervous.

Of course there was no lawman anywhere in the
vicinity. No guns. None of the security cameras that Pace told me
banks used to use in the days before the Exodus. Bottom line was
they weren’t worth the expense. No one was stupid enough to do
exactly what we were about to do.

As Old Pearl finished her business, I knew my
part of the plan. I was to hold the door open for the last patron,
flip the sign from OPEN to CLOSED and lock the door. If anyone came
by, I knew how to scare them off. Then Pace would do his business
with Frank. And he’d enjoy it too.

As I put my hand on the OPEN sign, waiting
for Old Pearl, someone else came inside. Mrs. Johnson the school
teacher. I kind of always thought she was okay. She was not bad
looking in her own matronly way. Hadn’t seen her much since I
dropped out. Wasn’t sure she’d even remember my name. I kept the
brim of my hat lowered so she wouldn’t be inclined to engage me in
conversation. She started to walk past me – and then she stopped.
She turned and looked me straight in the eye.

“Asher?” she said. Only other person alive
who called me by my full name.

“Hi, Mrs. Johnson,” I replied. What else
could I say?

“My, I haven’t seen you in… well… it has been
some time.”

“Yes ma’am. Hope you have a lovely day.” I
held up my hand indicating that she should proceed to do her
business, but she didn’t seem to take the hint.

“What have you been up to, Asher? Working on
the ranch, from last I heard?”

I looked over at Pace, who was giving me a
“what the eff” look. Old Pearl was almost done with her business.
It was time.

“I’m a ranch hand, yes ma’am. And a damned
good one too. So I guess things turned out well for me after all.
So if you’ll excuse me…”

“I am so pleased, Asher. I was concerned,
given your background, that you’d have some struggles adjusting to
any chosen vocation. So I am so very pleased.”

I heard Old Pearl’s faint voice say “thank
you Frank” from across the room. She’d finished her business and
had turned toward the door. I saw Frank get a good look at Pace. It
was past time.

“P-Pace,” Frank stammered. “Suspect you’re
here to make a withdrawal?”

Old Pearl made it over to the door and Mrs.
Johnson stepped out of her way. “Thank you dears,” she said. And
then Old Pearl was gone. But not Mrs. Johnson.

Pace didn’t have much of a choice. He started
moving forward with our plan.

“Yes Frank,” he said with his usual swagger.
“I do want to make a withdrawal.”

I saw Pace pull back his long brown coat. It
was time to roll with it.

“It is so very important,” Mrs. Johnson said
to me, “that we all do our very best. I’m so pleased that you
amounted to something.”

"Mrs. Johnson, it’s funny you should say
that…”

I pulled my revolver out from beneath my
black coat. She wasn’t looking at me anymore. Just the barrel of my
shiny gun. In one swift move, I flipped the OPEN sign, sidled Mrs.
Johnson out of the way and locked the door. I glanced over at Pace.
The barrel of his gun was directly against Frank’s temple. I’m sure
Frank pissed his pants.

I didn’t want Mrs. Johnson to feel fear,
though. Especially given my family’s history with guns. I wanted to
reassure her. So I leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Don’t
worry, Mrs. Johnson. I’ll keep you safe. You were my favorite
teacher.”

She looked me in the eye and I’m pretty sure
she believed me.

“W-what do you want me to do?” she asked with
a slight quaver to her voice.

“Just stand close to me,” I instructed. And
she did. Her body was stiff at first. And then, maybe, she got a
little too close. That was interesting. Her body was softer than I
used to imagine.

Yeah, that’s right. I used to think about it.
So what. I was twelve.

“I’m not here to do you in, Frank,” Pace
said. “I’m happy for you actually. You got a promotion. Good for
you, you deserved it. I wasn’t very good at banking anyway.”

“W-what do you want?” Frank asked. He was
stiff with fear.

“Just step aside and let me open the
vault.”

“They changed the combination! A-and I’m
n-not telling you what it is!”

Pace smiled and tapped Frank on the side of
the head with the nose of his revolver. Frank got out of the
way.