Chapter Three
We jumped back into the truck and headed for the fields where Barger had his parties. Barger was another friend of ours from school. He was a big kid with an even bigger drinking habit. It was a perfect night for a bomb fire. The sun slowly crept behind the hills leaving pink and yellow streaks across the sky. We could smell the fresh cut hay from farmers who had waited too long to cut their first growth. We had cut ours two weeks before so we could grow a full second cut before the winter set in. Soon the cows would be giving birth and we’d have to deal with a bunch of homesick calves; we sold them soon after they were born anyway. But, tonight, there was nothing to think about or worry about and that was nice for us. Jasper and I sat in the bed of the truck.
Jasper leaned into the cab, "Are you playing tonight?" he asked Hunter.
"I don’t know is the case in the back?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, then maybe."
"All I ask is that you don’t play that shit you wrote for Sara," Cameron said.
"Oh Sara, I love your hair and shit," Jasper mocked him.
"Fuck you, that’s a good song."
"It’s too slow," I said.
"What are you a broad?" screamed Jasper at Hunter halfway through the window into the cab, "Oh turn this song up! I love Taylor Swift’s Our Song."
"You are ridiculous," said Hunter.
"When are you going to Nashville?" I asked Hunter remembering a conversation we had once had.
"I don’t know yet, Levi."
"What? Why would you go to Nashville?" Cameron said.
"You’re brother’s going to be the next big country music star," I tried to explain.
"You," Cameron laughed, "you want to be a country music singer?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Do you know how many great musicians are out there that don’t make it, not to mention you don’t even know how to write real music."
Jasper leaned back in, "All I’m saying, is that when you go, don’t forget to come get me. I’m not missing that trip."
"He’s not going. The kid can barely make it down to school."
"I don’t know, we’ll see" Hunter said.
***
As we pulled up to the party we could hear people playfully yelling and screaming in the dark. The light of the fire glowed bright and we could see kegs and beers and bits and pieces of people. At Barger’s the fire pit was built into a large cut of rock sticking out of the ground maybe twenty feet. It made for a great party spot especially with the in-ground heated pool fifty feet from the area, but unfortunately the police knew of it well. The music was loud playing classic rock.
Alice and Sara were waiting for us. They walked up to the car.
"Looks like trouble, boys," laughed Jasper walking past them.
"Where have you guys been?" Alice demanded.
"I thought you were going to be here at seven, Hunter," said Sara.
"At ease, ladies, at ease," Jasper said.
"Don’t you belong is a circus somewhere?" snarled Sara.
"Hey, can you hook me up with one of those towel T’s, belly shirt tank top style."
Sara turned to Hunter, "I knew you hated it."
"I…I"
"You should have just told me, now I can’t return it because I don’t have the recite."
"I love that shirt and I’d wear it all the time, but I think Cameron stole it."
Barger yelled from behind the fire where tons of people were gathering drinking beers, "Hey is that the Reece brothers?" Barger ran over pointing to his hat and carrying a case of beer. "Tony Stewart bitches! You fags see the race?"
"Stewart isn’t even badass," Hunter said.
"Junior didn’t even finish. Blaming his car and his crew again, what a gay."
"Nascar’s gay," Cameron smiled.
"Listen, you’re gay," Barger chuckled, "You playing the guids tonight?"
"Yeah, if you want," complied Hunter. He kissed Sara then walked back over to the car and grabbed his guitar case. The crowd cheered him on; they had heard him before and loved the music he played. It was a mix of old time rock and roll with new country brash. He took the guitar out of the case, sat down and began to play:
"Up on Skyline road,
Nights role in and stories get told.
You find some gravel pot holes and old Budweiser cans.
Sunrise to sunset, farmer’s daughters and farmer’s tans
Lot of hard work and hard living boys;
Cowgirls dancing in truck beds making way to much noise.
Way off the two lane top where the blacktop don’t go,
Where your heartbeat meets the old creek up on Skyline road."
Cameron hung back with Alice on the outside of the fire holding her.
"I gotta get out of this state," he said.
"Soon enough, baby," she rubbed his arm.
He watched his brother play the guitar with vigor and wished he was as passionate about anything as his brother was about music, "He is really good," Cameron said to Alice.
Just as Hunter finished his song a siren went off in the background.
"Did you add a siren to the end of this song," Jasper smiled at Hunter, "COPS!"
Everybody scattered running to their cars. Jasper nodded to Cameron and we walked fast to the truck. Jasper helped Alice into the front seat and Barger, Hunter, Sara and I jumped into the back and we drove away into the dark with our lights off.
***
Our truck pulled into the back fields on the Reece property at the bottom of the mountain that ran into the farm. The boys had climbed that mountain a million times since they were young and it became a tradition with their father. They even cleared a spot at the top and made a fire pit to camp around. It took about an hour to get to the top.
"I’m going up," said Hunter starting on the path.
"Fuck you we’re not going up," yelled Jasper, "It’ll take a fucking hour and I’m already half in the bag, it’ll kill my buzz."
"We’re going up," Cameron said shaking his head and started walking.
"Nope! Not happening! I hate you guys!" And Jasper followed.
We started a small wood pile at the top. The campsite was well matted down creating a nice circle in the surrounding trees. There was a rock formation in the center that was built for fires and the center blackened out from fires before. We lit the wood pile easily with a little gasoline. The air was cool, but comfortable. A couple of wispy clouds floated in the clear star-spotted sky. We could see all the stars from this height. I sat with Barger and Jasper; Hunter and Sara sat off by themselves to my right, Cameron and Alice to my left.
"What day do you have to be back at school?" I heard Sara ask Hunter.
"I don’t know, a month."
"I hate when you have to leave, I miss you so much."
"Yeah, but you and Alice will come down and visit during the year."
"I can’t wait until we can be together all the time," she snuggled into his body.
"Yeah," Hunter said with a tad bit of reluctance in his voice.
"Have you thought anymore about working for my father?"
"Yeah."
"And?" she looked up at him.
"I don’t know. It is a good job. I just don’t know if I want to work construction for the rest of my life."
"You’re still thinking about the singing thing?" she said disappointed.
"I want to be a musician."
"There isn’t any future in it. I think it’s a great hobby, but you have to be realistic."
"Well it’s a long way off so," he calmed her down.
Cameron asked for another beer and I tossed him one.
"When do you have to be back at school, cause I’ll take the day off?" asked Alice.
"I think a month, I’ll let you know."
"Sara and I will come down to visit," she reassured him.
"Okay," he kissed her forehead.
"Have you thought anymore about what you want to do?"
"What? When?"
"After school."
"Oh, no not yet. I just can’t wait until we can be together all the time," he smiled.
She squeezed him tightly, "Yeah."
Barger hit me on the arm, "When do think Jasper will go back to jail?"
"Probably a month," I said poking Jasper.
He had his eyes closed, "Fuck you, that was one bar fight and it was your guys’ fault."
The night wilted away and I fell asleep.
I woke up around four in the morning and could tell something was wrong. I didn’t know what it was, but something was wrong. I could sense it. I looked around the fire to make sure everybody was sleeping okay. I saw Hunter awake staring into the fire somewhat unconscious in a dream world. He was strumming his guitar with a couple fingers humming a tune I didn’t recognize. I knew better than to disrupt his moment; he had them often. He lived in his future, which was why his present was so bland. A man either lives his dreams or his life becomes a sequence of waiting. Hunter would eventually have to make the choice whether or not to show up to his own life. As for this night, well, it was okay to leave him alone. He needed the yearning; he needed the time to develop the hunger to take control or realize that in fact he had none.
***
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