Fallout (Joshua Stokes Mysteries Book 2) (13 page)

“
You know I smoked a lot of grass, oh lord I popped a lot of pills… but I never touched nothing, uh huh that my spirit could kill. You know I seen a lot people walking round with tombstones in their eyes. Aw, but, the pusher don’t care Aw… if you live or if you die. Goddamn, um hum the pusher. I said, God… damn, yeah, the pusher man
!” Stokes sung at the top of his lungs, his cruiser rolling through the back roads toward Wilmer. Since he was in a ‘stomping mud holes in someone’s ass mood’, he had decided to handle this cousin of Emma’s named Bubba that had shot her up with the heroin.

Joshua knew that he should let Emma choose to leave the stuff alone. He was a firm believer in letting people choose their own fate. However, her cousin had deliberately chosen to give it to her to get her addicted to the stuff for his own profit, otherwise he would have just given her a joint to smoke and been done with it.

Joshua did not know if she had done it enough to become addicted yet, but he did not want to see her become a mirrored image of her mother, Pearl, and her struggle with addictions and wallowing in self-pity and in gutters to feed her need.

Pearl’s worse addictions might be alcohol and bad men, but she did have a battle with hard drugs for several years; that was why her children had lived with their grandparents most of their lives. She was much better when she was straight.

He remembered Pearl before alcohol and bad choices in men had messed her up. She was a beautiful woman when she was younger. When she was straight, she was actually a likeable person.

When he drove into Bubba’s yard, he saw Bubba run into a barn behind the house. Joshua parked, got out, and walked into the barn. Bubba was standing as if he was about to walk back out when Joshua walked in.

“I had to take a
piss
, Sheriff,” Bubba said with a smirk on his face that Joshua wanted to slap halfway across the county. “You know how that goes,” Bubba said.

“Sure I do,
Bubba
, and you understand how
this
goes. I hear you’ve been dealing a little smack. It’d be easy enough to haul your ass in, but I’m going to give you fair warning first. When I find you’re at it again, I will shoot you in both of your arms, with bullets not needles. I’m saying
when
, because I am sure you will do it again. If I have to come looking for you again, you
will
be peckerless, do you hear me. I’ll knock your dick in the dirt and whack it off so fast it’ll make your head spin.

Do you understand what I just said or do I need to rephrase it into simpler terms?”

“You thank you’re a badass,
don’t cha
, Sheriff.”

“Ain’t no thanking to it, Bubba, just try me and see.”

Bubba looked as though he was about to say something. Joshua stared him down. Bubba must have thought better of it and decided to keep quiet. If looks could kill, Bubba would have been a dead dope pusher from the daggers Joshua’s eyes shot through him.

“I thought so,” Joshua said as he turned and walked back to his patrol car. He lit a cigarette, took a long draw, inhaled it deeply, and then released it slowly. He then reached under the seat for the bottle; he took a swig of whiskey, started the car, and drove out of the yard. I am going to have to quit getting so damn pissed off on the job, Joshua thought to himself as he turned onto Lott Road. Besides making me want to whup someone’s ass, it’s making me want to drink more. All I need is for some smartass to push the wrong button and I will have done something I might regret. He shoved the Steppenwolf tape back into the 8-track and tried to cool down as he drove home.

When Joshua pulled into his driveway, James Fortner’s work truck was parked behind his pickup. He wondered what had brought Hook out to visit. When he got out of his car, he knew why. In the back of Hook’s truck was a dog-box. It contained half a dozen good-sized mixed hound pups. Hook came from the back of the house as Joshua was gazing into the back of the truck.

“I knew I’d play hell getting you by the house to pick out which pup you wanted, so I figured I’d bring 'em up here so you can get the pick of the litter before they’re all gone. My grandbaby done got real attached to one, I had to leave it at the house, but there’s five more to choose from.”

Joshua leaned over the tailgate of the truck and propped his foot on the bumper as Hook took the pups out of the dog box and handed them one by one to Joshua who set them in the bed of the truck. One of them immediately caught his notice. It looked like a cross between a Bluetick and a Bassett hound.

“How long before they’ll be weaned from the teat?”

“Aw, I’ll probably give them another two weeks, maybe three.”

“All right, when they’re ready, I’ll take this little feller right here,” said Joshua, reaching and picking up the smallest of the pups. “I’m going to call him Jack.”

“Jack! Damn man, don’t you have any imagination at all. Every dog you have ever had, you have called Jack. Why not get a fresh start; give him a different name. You ain’t never gonna replace your first Jack, so you might as well,” James said, and Joshua’s mind immediately went back to his first pup. A little firecracker terrier that he found dead in his backyard the day after his mother had gone missing.

“It makes it easier to remember, no confusion when I talk to them,” he answered.

“Speaking of confusion-why is Emma living here with you?” James asked.

“It’s just a temporary arrangement while she is giving the place a good cleaning.”

“Temporary huh, I wouldn’t bet on it, Hoss. That girl is looking for a father figure. Her old man ran off to Louisiana several years ago and from what Aunt Bea says, those young’uns have not heard a word from his sorry ass. You had better watch out. Those feelings she has for you rescuing her will get confused and the next thing you know, she’ll be hanging on your every word and in love with you.”

“Nah, I don’t think so, Hook. She’s a lot tougher than you give her credit to be. Besides, she’s just a child.”

“Child, I don’t think so. Have you taken a good look at her? And, I know she’s tough, Hoss, but she is human, and humans need love; even-”

“Don’t go there. I know what I need and don’t need. And that
girl
in there is not what this old man needs; this old man needs a woman full-growed. Just once in a while, though. I don’t need-”

“You ain’t that old, Hoss; and, you don’t know what you’re missing,” James grinned up at him. “Having that warm body to snuggle up to every night and that
nookie
anytime you want it, means a lot.”

Joshua grinned back and asked. “You got time to sit a spell and sip a little whiskey?”

“I always got time for
that
,” James chuckled as he began placing the pups back into the dog-box for the trip home. When he finished, he and Joshua walked to the back porch; Emma was sitting in the swing painting her toenails. James gave Joshua an ‘I told you so’ look. Joshua ignored him, walked inside to get a bottle of whiskey and two glasses, and then walked back out.

James had sat down in one of the cowhide rockers and was doing a good imitation of Joshua with his booted feet propped on the railing; he was rolling a joint. When he finished, he hit it several times, and then handed it to Joshua.

“You look like you could use this,” he said.

Joshua took several tokes and then passed it back. He poured whiskey into each of the glasses and handed one to Hook.

“Can I have a puff of that?” Emma asked, as James was about to hand the joint back to Joshua. James looked into Joshua’s eyes for approval; Joshua nodded, remembering what he had told Emma the night before about smoking a joint instead of shooting heroin.

Emma took a puff of the joint. James told her to hold it in as long as she could before she blew it out.

“Do you remember Josie McBride?” James asked Joshua as they were waiting on Emma to finish.

“She was that girl you had a crush on in ninth grade, wasn’t she. If I remember right, she was a cold-blooded heifer. She rubbed it all in your face and then wouldn’t give you the time of day when it came time to put up or shut up.”

“Yep, and I learned that you can’t trust a cold-blooded woman. Cuz, that woman chewed me up and spit me out! Well, guess who that cold-hearted bitch ended up with?”

“Don’t have any idea,” Joshua replied, and then took a swig of whiskey.

“I saw her at the tag office in 8 Mile the other day. She weighs about three hundred pounds now. I knew who she was right away though. She still has those
damn
eyes that drove me crazy back then-anyhow, she was with a little skinny fella that looked like a grub worm with the shit slung out of him. At first, I didn’t know who he was, but I figured it out after watching them for a few minutes. He was that new boy we played football with our senior year, the short fella that transferred from Pensacola. He was short, about five foot ten, but stout… damn, I still can’t remember his name. I thought that maybe you would remember him. He was after your girlfriend when he first came there. You slugged him at practice that day and almost got suspended from playing that week’s game because of it.”

Joshua remembered the boy, he could see him as plain as day in his mind; however, he could not put a name with his face either.

“That was a long time ago, Hook. I don’t remember many things from back then. After I slugged him, I never had a problem with him,” Joshua replied, watching Emma who had gone back to painting her nails. She appeared to be moving in slow motion.

Joshua remembered the first two or three times, he smoked marijuana. It made it seem as if everything, including him was moving at a snail’s pace. Emma looked up from her toes, smiled at him and nodded her head. She got up and walked inside. She turned the radio to a different station before coming back out with a bottle of co-cola and glass of ice. She stopped in front of Joshua and asked if she could have just a little bit of whiskey. She said she wanted just enough to taste, but not too strong.

He poured a little whiskey into her glass and watched it flow slowly down through the ice cubes. She poured co-cola into the glass and then stirred it with her finger.

“Now, you’re contributing to a minor,” James joked.

“I’m nineteen, Hook. That’s supposed to be grown. I’ll be twenty in a couple of weeks,” Emma retorted.

“Just remember what that stuff does to some folks, honey, and don’t get dependant on it,” James advised. “It can be rough on the body, just look at our kinfolks. That right there will let you know what it does to folks.”

The ‘
Time in a bottle’
song Joshua heard on the radio several days earlier began playing just as Emma sat down. They all became quiet as each listened to the song.

“If I could save time in a bottle

The first thing that I'd like to do

Is to save every day

Till Eternity passes away

Just to spend them with you”

“You know who sings that don’t you?” James said when the song ended.

Joshua shook his head that he did not know. He liked the song and was curious.

“The same fella that sings that, ‘You Don’t Mess Around with Jim’ and the ‘Bad, Bad Leroy Brown’ song; he sings it.”

“Nah, that’s not the same man, couldn’t be” Joshua said, unbelieving. “His voice is soft and gentle sounding in that song, and in the other two, it’s rough and peppy.”

“He must’ve had a premonition,” Emma said softly. Both James and Joshua looked at her wondering to whom she was referring.

“I heard he wrote that song for his wife when she told him she was expecting their first child. He died in a plane crash two or three years after writing it. Maybe he knew he would not live to raise his child.”

“He has several of them
love
songs,” James said thoughtfully. “I’ll have to Say I Love You in a Song,’ and one called ‘Operator.”

Joshua did not know the songs Hook was referring to; he rarely listened to the radio anymore. Occasionally, he would hear something new on a jukebox somewhere when he was out.

“When did he die?” Joshua asked out of curiosity.

“He’s been dead about three years now, Sheriff. I think the crash was in September of ‘73,” Emma said softly. She then asked for one of his cigarettes. He obliged her.

“I’ve heard people say smoking calms your nerves. I figured I would try it.”

“It’s just a bad habit you don’t need to start if you haven’t already,” said Hook.

“Yeah, they do calm your nerves,” Joshua said, lighting Emma’s cigarette for her. “And James is right. It’s a bad habit.” He lit one for himself too. It was getting late in the afternoon and the sun was getting low in the western sky.

James sighed heavily and dropped his feet from the railing. “I reckon I should get up from here and head to the house. The wife will be on my ass about leaving the feeding on her. She hates feeding the dogs, and hates worse, feeding the goats.”

Emma stood up and announced that she was going inside to start supper. James cut Joshua another ‘I told you so’ look, before he stood to leave. Emma hugged James and told him that she enjoyed the visit. Once she was inside, James told Joshua that he had better watch out.