Two Sides of the Same Coin (51 page)

“Don’t worry about me, son. Does the sheriff have any ideas about who the son of a bitch botherin’ you is?”

“Not hardly, unless he’s bein’ real close-mouthed over it. He does know it’s all related to the rustlin’. The same boot tracks were in our yard the night of the fire as we found in the camp where the rustlers were processin’ the beeves.”

“Sheriff Johnston is no dummy. I’m sure he’ll get to the bottom of it.”

“I was just tellin’ Mike, I’m sick of just stayin’ around home, bein’ careful. We’ve been plannin’ on goin’ deer huntin’ for quite a while and it really grits me to not be able to do it.”

“Maybe, Jeff, I can tag along. Help watch out or somethin’, if I’m not intrudin’ on you two.”

“That’s an idea, Wayne. I think it would be a lot of fun. I remember goin’ huntin’ with you when I was just a little guy.”

“Well, if you guys are gonna hunt and want another set of eyes, let me know; I’ll try to get back to go with ya. I reckon, I better head on out. I need to get back to Idaho; I just wanted to say hello to everyone.”

“I thought you were gonna stay for the party?”

“Now that I’m here, I don’t feel too much in a party mood. I reckon I’ll go over to say hi to the boys and Sandy and meet the new hand.”

“Great to see ya again, Wayne. Please take care.”

“You too, Jeff.” He clapped me on the back, which for Wayne was really saying something. He was just out the door when a little bundle of energy dressed as a cowboy ran in, bumping against Wayne, who stumbled aside off the walk. I saw Wayne say hi to the little guy. All of a sudden he saw me, broke into a smile, and came running over as fast as his legs could carry him.

“Uncle Jeff!” I leaned over and shook his hand.

“Hey there, Harrison, how ya doin’? Did you just get in from Seattle?”

“Yeah, Mom and Dad heard about the party and said we could come up for the weekend. Can I go riding with you?”

“If it’s okay with your mom and dad, sure. You got lots of candy for Halloween?”

“No, not yet. Are you Wolverine, Jeff?”

“That’s right, buckaroo; I’m Wolverine from the X-men comics. I’ll buy you a comic book, so you can read more about Wolverine. Okay?”

“Okay!” Just then Tom, Ann, and Lisa came up.

“Hi, Uncle Jeff.” Lisa smiled shyly at me. I felt a hand on my elbow and looked over to see Mike.

“Howdy folks, buckaroo, Lisa,” Mike said. “This is a nice surprise to see you up here.”

“It sure is,” I added. “How come you didn’t stay with us?”

“Hi, Jeff, Mike. Ann and I just thought about it last night. We decided to rent a cabin to research my article about the valley. We found one near you for a good price last minute.” Tom shook hands with both of us, and Ann hugged us.

“Uncle Mike!” Harrison and Lisa had been waiting for an opening. They gave Mike a big hug and headed off toward the area with the candy.

“It sure is nice to see you both again. Are you all set for Thanksgiving?” I asked.

“We are. The kids haven’t stopped talking about it yet. Harrison has been bringing all his little friends over to show them the pictures on the computer of your rodeo and his riding. You’ve been his main topic of conversation since he met you, right Tom?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of like the song, ‘My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys’.”

“I imagine now he’s going to want a Wolverine costume.” Ann sighed. “Getting him to take off his cowboy outfit and little long handles is a chore. By the way, those are really nice costumes, guys.”

“Thanks, no costumes for you two?”

Tom answered. “We didn’t realize that so many folks here would be dressed up.”

“This is always a big event,” Mike commented.

“You can tell everyone you’re dressed up. Tell ’em you’re dressed as folks visitin’ from Seattle.” Both Tom and Ann laughed at that one. They saw Sandy and Maria and headed off to speak with them.

“Jeffy, you’re the handsomest guy I ever saw. Especially in that costume.”

“Thanks. You’re pretty easy on the eyes yourself, Monsieur Remy LeBeau.” I called him Gambit’s name.

“Let’s go get a beer. They just started servin’.”

We headed over to the drink area and got a couple of big glasses. It was only Budweiser, but hey, it came with the admission. The costume contest for the kids was starting. Lisa was too shy, but Harrison got right up there. He was wearing a junior rodeo belt buckle they must have found on Ebay. It was a roping buckle, and he had a little lasso over his shoulder. It was really cute. There were four other kids his age, a little girl who was a fairy princess, a boy dressed as a bumble bee, another boy dressed as a vampire, and a girl dressed as Amelia Earhart. It was nice because they gave each kid a prize. Harrison won in the cowboy division, the one girl in the fairy princess division, and so on. The judges were a couple who owned a bistro in town. They were from someplace outside of the valley and were fairly new to Winslett. I’d met them a few times, and I figured they knew my story. I had to laugh because I could hear Harrison telling them that his uncles Jeff and Mike are cowboys. It was kinda fun watchin’ them try to figure out the intricacies of Mike and/or I being siblings with Tom or Ann. It occurred to me that gay folks tend to have a pretty broad definition of family. We tend to adopt whomever we’re close to and create our own families. Gender sometimes has nothing to do with it. I remember living in San Francisco and calling an older gay couple Ron and Vance, Mom and Dad. It caught on, and two mutual friends started doing it too. Both the mutual friends were named Bryce, so we had big sister Bryce and little sister Bryce. A good straight friend of mine also started calling them Mom and Dad. Her daughter, who’s my goddaughter, started calling them Grandma and Grandpa. That thrilled them to no end. It was really funny when she was a little girl telling a teacher she went to “Uncle Jeff and Aunt Robert’s house and saw Grandma and Grandpa and big Auntie Bryce and little Auntie Bryce. It must’ve been clear as mud.

A while later Tom, Ann, and the kids came over to say good night. Harrison was hugging me and asking if he could come out to the ranch for a few days. I told him to ask his parents. They headed out as the band was setting up. It was the country band that plays at One Eyed Jack’s occasionally. Maria, José, Josh, Renee, Sandy, and Smitty were all standing together. I noticed that Renee’s friends Pam and Carol were up from Seattle. We wandered over to them. Pam came up and put an arm around each of us.

“Renee, your girls did a great job on these costumes. You boys look absolutely delicious.”

“Uh, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. You two must spend hours in the gym every day.”

“Both Jeff and me like to work out.”

“Plus we both do a lot of work outside and like sports and stuff. I reckon we get a good amount of exercise.”

Carol spoke up then. “Well, it certainly shows. Oh, and Jeff, I heard rumors about you from some of the folks in town. It seems to me they’re true.”

I turned beet red. I could feel myself blushing. “When’s the band startin’?”

“Just a few minutes. Jeff, would you go with me to get a beer?” After asking me, Sandy whispered in Smitty’s ear. He smiled at her. We headed over to the bar.

“I thought you might wanna give them a chance to think of somethin’ else to talk about other than your crotch.”

“Thanks.” We got beers for each of us, and I got one for Mike.

“Sandy, will you save me a dance or three?”

“Sure. Why are you askin’ me now?”

“I reckon I might not have a chance later with Smitty around.” She smiled a big smile.

“He’s a nice guy. Hey! He told me you already gave him the big brother talk!”

“Damn straight, although I do reckon he’s a gentleman. Do I need to give you the big brother talk?”

“No. I’d guess your datin’ experiences have been pretty different than mine.”

“Reckon so, but they have given me a good understandin’ of men. All jokin’ aside, he does seem like a nice guy.”

We got back to the other folks just as the band started playing. Smitty and Sandy headed off to the dance floor, and Pam grabbed Mike. I saw Carol heading to me, so I went over to Maria and asked her to dance. José looked disappointed, but Carol intercepted him right quick.

“Quieres bailar?” I asked Maria. “Wanna dance?”

“Claro, of course, Jeff; I wonder if Wolverine danced with Storm in the comics.”

“I don’t know. You do look nice in your costume as Storm.”

“Thank you. I understand you’re feeling self-conscious in that costume. I had to put a swimsuit on underneath.”

“Thanks. I appreciate the understandin’. They are good costumes, just a bit revealin’.”

“That is very true. Mike looks very good as Gambit. And Sandy seems to be very happy.”

“Yeah, she does. It’s shapin’ up to be a nice Halloween.”

“It was nice to see Tom, Ann, and the kids. Harrison keeps saying he wants to be a cowboy. I think you make a very good role model.”

“Thanks, you’re gonna make me blush more than this damned costume.” We both laughed at that one. The song was ending, so we headed back to the sidelines. I noticed Mike disengage from Pam and move over to us pretty quick.

“Jeff, she kept her hand on my ass all the time we were dancin’ and kept squeezin’.” He was a bit flustered.

“I understand that. You do look incredible. I wanna squeeze your ass too.”

He was all red, but he had a big grin on his face. “You can whenever you want.”

“Those pants do look pretty good on ya, buddy. I just want to see ’em down below your hips.”

“Stop it, neither of us wants to get hard here.”

“Reckon you’re right.” Several ladies including Pam and Carol asked us to dance, but we thanked them and told them we were sitting this one out. They always had a raffle for a door prize, and when they started calling out numbers, Sandy jumped up shrieking.

“I won!” She ran up to get her prize, which was a bottle of liquor.

“Party at Jeff’s Sunday.”

“Okay by me, darlin’, and by the way, you and Maria are welcome to stay if you don’t wanna drive home. I guess everyone else is already there.”

The band came on for another set. Sandy and I got to dance, and then I did dance with Pam and Carol. I had to politely tell Pam I was flattered, but Mike was the only one who could hold on to my ass like that. We were all pretty happy, just having a great evening.

We stayed there for the last set by the band. Finally, it was time to head out. Josh, José, and Renee headed back to the ranch. Sandy and Maria went back to Sandy’s, and Pam and Carol went back to their hotel. We made plans to meet at One Eyed Jack’s for breakfast tomorrow at ten. Mike, Smitty, and I headed off to my truck to head over to Mary Grace’s place. As we got near the truck, we noticed some people with signs standing just beyond the driveway to the barn. It was Reverend Spencer and his minions. Their signs read stuff like “Halloween is Satanism”, “Halloween will send you to Hell”, “God hates Halloween”, “Turn or Burn”, and all sorts of comforting words to show the love of his version of Christianity. Just as we got near the truck, we began to hear shouts.

“God loves you, Connelly! It’s not too late for you to repent.”

“God can help you give up your evil ways, Connelly!”

“It’s always so fun to be able to stir such emotion in folks,” I said this to Smitty as he was following us to the truck.

“Don’t pay them no never mind, Jeff. They’re just pathetic hypocrites caught up in their self-righteous hatred.”

Reverend Spencer saw me trying to ignore him and his poor brainwashed flunkies, and ran toward us.

“You’re obscene, Connelly. The way you’re dressed, you should be arrested for indecent exposure.”

“Reverend, just cause you’re hung like a mouse with no balls is no reason to take your frustrations out on others.”

“You’ll rot in hell!”

“You sound like a broken record, Spencer. Go talk to someone who might listen.”

“When you’re dying of AIDS and suffering the judgment of God for your sin, you’ll remember this.”

“I see ya didn’t have your teeth taken care of. Your breath’s still as foul as a sewer.”

“You’re an ungodly sinner, and God will judge you.” The reverend was coming closer to me.

“Spencer, you just keep gettin’ closer to me, you hypocritical closet case. You’re after me ’cause you ain’t man enough to face who you are. You just keep gettin’ closer, and you’ll do somethin’ that gives me reason to defend myself. I promise you this, you piece of shit, if you give me a reason, I am gonna use it to hurt you so bad, the rest of your life, you’ll be in more pain than you could imagine. That hell you keep babblin’ about is gonna look awful good after I maim you. Just give me a reason, asshole.” He backed off a bit.

“You filthy sodomite, you dare threaten a man of God?”

“I don’t see no man of God around here to threaten. Now get away from me, you son of a bitch, or I am gonna kick the shit outta you regardless of the consequences.” He scurried away like a roach running to a crack. We jumped in the truck and headed out.

“Why does he hate you so much, Jeff?” Smitty was looking at me. Mike was in the center sitting next to me, Smitty was by the door. Just then, we pulled up to the road. All the supposed Christians were there shouting their vicious hate. I leaned over and gave Mike a good, long, deep kiss.

“Okay, let me rephrase that. Why does he hate you other than you stand up to him and push him?”

“To be honest, I really don’t know. I’m open about who I am, I got the respect of folks around here, and I think his
religion
is nothin’ more than hate. I reckon he’s hidin’ somethin’, and the easiest way to deflect suspicion about whatever it is he’s hidin’ is for him to push blame, hate, and condemnation on someone else.”

“He bugs the shit outta me.” Mike shuddered; the reverend must’ve brought up some powerful bad memories for him. Smitty patted him on the shoulder.

“Don’t let him get to you, Mike. Their opinions don’t count for anything. I’m proud to be your friend and so are the decent folks I’ve met here. He’s the one that’s all fucked up, not you or Jeff, or anyone celebratin’ Halloween.” We’d been driving for a few minutes, and we were coming up to Mary Grace’s. She lived in a small farmhouse on a couple of acres she rented. She tried to grow veggies, but the deer were pretty thick in the valley. She had quite a few chickens also.