Part IV: Expanding Horizons
Chapter 19

Autumn’s parents were as good as their word about giving her a car; as soon as the snow was mostly gone, she was driving to school in a used Ford Escort, much like Summer drove. That vastly simplified the four friends getting around, and it was clear she was going to be the designated driver till school was out.

Along in April Howie got his license, too, but regular use of the Jeep was going to have to wait till school got out, since Jack and Vixen were spending a lot of time out watching birds. The spring migration was under way, and first things first, especially with them. Since Autumn was providing transportation, Howie didn’t mind very much; he knew his time was coming and it was would be soon.

Though some people might have thought the four friends spent all their time together, they really didn’t. One evening in early May, not long after Howie got his license, Autumn dropped him off on her way home after track practice; she still had to drop Jared and Bree off, but it was most convenient to stop at Howie’s first.

Howie went inside to find his mother wasn’t home, but that Jack and Vixen were – a rare occasion; apparently they had studying to do. Well, so did he, but that was going much better than it had in the fall. “Hey, Howie,” Jack said. “Dinner is going to be a while, but you had a phone call.”

“Not Misty, I hope.”

“No,” Jack grinned. “She’s still got you running scared, I take it?”

“Yes and no,” Howie replied honestly. “I haven’t had any trouble out of her in a while, but if she decided to stir up something it could come down to me versus Lethbridge real quick. I’d really rather not get in a fight with him if I can help it.”

“Probably good thinking, especially since I hear he’s the kind of guy who likes to hit first and ask questions later.”

“That’s what I hear, too,” Howie agreed. “So who called?”

“Shay Archer,” Jack grinned. “He wants you to call him back. He’s at home. I wrote the number down for you.”

“Wonder what he wants,” Howie shrugged as he went to the phone.

He had Shay on the phone in a minute or so. While Shay was several years older, he and Howie shared something, namely problems with Frankovich women. If Shay hadn’t helped him out last fall, Howie had no idea where he might be right now, other than in a hell of a mess. As far as Howie knew, he’d never actually met Shay face to face, but had hoped to sometime, if for no more reason than to thank him.

“Hey, Howie,” Shay said when Howie identified himself. “How’s the world treating you?”

“A hell of a lot better, thanks to your help,” Howie said. “You really saved my butt on that one, you know.”

“I’m just glad I could help. It would have been nice to have had someone tell me a few years ago what I told you, but at least I got out of it all right.”

“Hey, I’d like to buy you a Coke or something sometime to thank you,” Howie said.

“It’s going to have to be in the next couple days,” Shay told him. “I’m leaving for the summer on Friday.”

“How about right now?” Howie asked. “I can probably get wheels.”

“It’d work for me.”

“Hang on, then,” Howie said. He put the phone’s mouthpiece on his shoulder and said loudly, “Jack, Vixen. Can I take the Jeep for an hour or so?”

“Don’t be any longer or Mom is going to be wondering where you are for dinner,” Jack told him.

“Good enough,” he said, and picked the receiver up again to talk to Shay. “I can do it right now if we can keep it down to an hour or so.”

“Tell you what. Let’s meet out at the Spearfish Lake Café. If we go down to the Frostee Freeze there’ll probably be a bunch of kids there and we might not like letting them hear what we have to say.”

“Sounds good to me,” Howie agreed. “See you in a few.”

Howie grabbed the keys to the Jeep from the peg in the kitchen and headed out the door. In only a couple minutes he was driving the old CJ-5 up the street. It still felt a little strange; it was only about the fifth time he’d been out with it by himself. He’d had an awful lot of practice with it; Jack had ridden along a lot the previous summer letting Howie drive it down woods roads. It hadn’t been quite legal – Jack had to be over eighteen and hadn’t been at the time – but they’d figured the chances of a cop finding them out there were next to nothing.

In only a few minutes Howie pulled into the parking lot at the Spearfish Lake Café. It was a workingman’s place, and not a place where kids normally hung out. There was an older blue Ford Escort there with Lake State stickers on it here and there; must be Shay’s, he thought. Shay was leaning up against the fender waiting for him. Howie at least recognized him from around town, but it had been a long time.

Howie pulled the Jeep to a stop and got out – the hard top was still on and probably would be for another month or so. “So,” Shay said, “how’s the quarterbacking business been?”

“It was pretty good last fall,” Howie smiled. “I’m hoping for better this year.”

“I am, too,” Shay smiled. “You got it lucky, you know?”

“Damn lucky,” Howie agreed. “If it hadn’t been for that beer party the varsity would probably have had us close to getting skunked again. The only good thing about the party would have been the fact I probably wouldn’t have been on varsity at all.”

“Yeah, well, you have to take the breaks where you can get them. That busted beer bust was probably the best thing that ever happened to football in this town. I was quarterback back in ’06. We had maybe three or four guys who were out there to play football. The rest of them were out to screw around and show how macho they were. And yes, they had a beer party and made asses of themselves. Let’s go in and get that Coke you were talking about.”

The restaurant was quiet; Howie and Shay got themselves a booth back in the corner where they could talk alone. “I’m kind of hoping I’ll be able to catch a game or two this fall,” Shay said. “I sure wish I could have made it back last year but it just didn’t work out. I had a couple tough courses that I really had to study for.”

“You went to Lake State, right?” Howie asked. “Did you graduate this spring, or what?”

“Yeah, about ten days ago. I’m just taking a break, getting my stuff together to head out to work for the summer.”

“Where’s that going to be?”

“Vicksburg National Military Historical Park,” Shay smiled. “Supposed to be a pretty interesting place, although I’ve never been there. Supposed to be hot and humid in the summer, so I’m not sure how I’m going to survive. Unfortunately it’s only a seasonal job, and it’ll run out in the middle of October. So make it to the playoffs, Howie, it may be the only chance I’ll get to watch you play.”

“I’ll do my best,” Howie agreed. “You couldn’t get a full-time job? And you went to college?”

“Oh, I could get a full-time job right now if I were to ask for it,” Shay grinned. “But I’ll be damned if I want to spend my life looking at a computer screen, working for my dad. See, if you want to have a career in the National Park Service, sometimes you have to work seasonal jobs for a few years before you can get taken on full time somewhere. I’ve been a seasonal a couple summers now, and it wouldn’t surprise me if I have to do it two or three more summers. But I plan on drawing unemployment in the fall, and then working for Dad through the tax season. With a little luck I should be taken on full time sooner or later.”

“Sounds like a pretty cool job,” Howie said.

“It can be,” Shay shrugged, “especially if you can get in at the right place. At least I’m free enough that I can live on the cheap for a while if I have to. I could never have done that if I still had Bethany hanging around my neck. Dumping me was about the biggest favor she ever did for me.”

“What did she do? Dump it on you all at once?”

“No, I saw it coming. At least now I realize I saw it coming. She and I planned to go to Lake State, but she changed her mind and decided to go to Grand Valley at the last minute. At least that was what she told me. I suspect that was what she had in mind all along. We got back together that Christmas, but I could tell her mind was elsewhere. Then, the following summer we both got jobs down at Cedar Point, down in Ohio. You ever hear of it?”

“Big amusement park?”

“Oh, yeah. Pretty good if you like that kind of thing. Anyway, we were working different hours and were off different days. Before the summer was half over with she found someone she liked better. I was a little pissed about it for a while, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I guess I got to thinking that it was better I found out when I did rather than have her string me along for a while longer.”

“So how did you find out about this stuff with her mother?”

“The hard way,” Shay grinned. “I’d already promised Bethany I’d bring her back here when the summer was over. Let me tell you, that was about a six hundred mile argument, and she let a few things slip I don’t think she intended to. By the time we got back here I was just real glad she’d decided to dump me.”

“Was the guy she dumped you for that Derrick guy I’ve heard about?”

“No, she dumped me for another guy working there, some guy from down in Ohio or somewhere, I was never real clear on that. It wouldn’t have been Derrick. From what I can tell he’s never worked a day in his life and has no intention of starting. His family has money and he plans to spend it.”

“It sure would be nice to have something like that.”

“Actually, from what I know of Derrick, it makes me wonder. His family keeps a pretty close thumb on him, and it makes me wonder if it’s worth the price. In any case, he came along later, sometime the following winter, I guess. I don’t know the details, but I guess Bethany thought she’d found her cash cow.”

“I never found out too much about him, but that was the impression I got.”

“Yeah, well, it didn’t work out for her,” Shay laughed. “I only heard about it third hand, but from what I heard from mutual friends and from putting two and two together, it sounds to me like Derrick’s mother recognized Bethany for the controlling bitch she is and didn’t want the competition in controlling her little boy. Apparently he got told to dump her or his ride on the gravy train was over with. The last I knew Bethany was looking for a job someplace because she’s going to have to work for a living after all. Too bad, so sad.”

There was something in Shay’s voice and grin that gave Howie the impression that Shay had been a little more involved in the deal than he let on. He thought it was probably better not to say anything, but the proverb crossed his mind, “Vengeance is a dish best served cold.” He gave a little smile and said, “Sounds like she got what was coming to her.”

“Well, yeah,” Shay shrugged. “The problem is that sooner or later she’ll get her hooks into some other poor bastard. So I take it that it’s all over between you and Misty.”

“Actually, it was all over when I talked to you last fall,” Howie said. “Your tipping me off just helped it stay that way and kept me from eating my guts while I was doing it. Misty kept trying to get back together with me for months, sometimes being pretty rude to my new girlfriend while she was at it. I may be through with her but I don’t think I’m done with the drama surrounding her yet. She’s got her hooks into another guy right now, but he’s such an asshole she may have bit off more than she can chew. Fine with me, so long as it keeps her out of my hair.”

“I’m glad I could help,” Shay grinned. “Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”

“I can’t think of anything, but maybe I’ll have to warn some other guy off,” Howie said. “I might have to call on you to back up what I tell him. As long as she’s messing around with jerks I’m not going to bother, but there’s no reason to let her get her hooks into a good guy.”

“I can do that, if you can catch up with me. Like I said, I’m only going to be around town another couple days. I want to spend a couple days with Cody and Jan on my way south, then I’ll have to spend some time getting set up in a place in Vicksburg.”

“How are they getting along?” Howie asked. “Cody did me a big favor last summer, when I got between Misty and a guy she was getting into a fight with.” He stopped for a second, then continued, “Well, maybe it wasn’t that big a favor, it was how I wound up going with Misty in the first place. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, but it was fun for a while.”

“I know what you’re saying,” Shay nodded. “Hell, it was fun with Bethany for a while, until the drama got going. Glad I could help you out with that. That taught me a lesson. Do you know Cody and Jan at all?”

“Not really. They sure seem pretty close, though.”

“They amaze the hell out of me. For not being married, they’re the most married couple I’ve ever seen. I think that may be the reason why I didn’t get too torn up when Bethany dumped me. I really want something like what Cody and Jan have, and I could see I wasn’t going to get it with Bethany. But I’m in no rush. I’ve learned that there are girls you can have fun with, and they may or may not be the ones you want to marry. Since my work is likely to be spotty for the next few years, there’s no reason to get serious right now anyway.”

“That’s kind of the arrangement I have with my girlfriend. We’ve decided there’s no reason to get serious while we’re still in high school. After that, well, I don’t know. We’ll have to stop and think about it, but it seems likely we’re not going to the same college anyway.”

“Any ideas what you’re going to do about that?”

“Not really,” Howie shook his head. “Autumn and I have this friend who’s planning on going to the Air Force Academy, and she’s working her butt off to get ready for it. It makes me feel a little, well, inadequate by comparison. I mean, she’s got this real clear idea of what she wants to do, and I, well, my only goal is I’d really rather not work in the plywood plant, if you know what I mean.”

“Well, I can understand that,” Shay smiled. “I was pretty much that way when I went to college. Hell, the only reason I went to Lake State at all was that Bethany and I were going to go there, and she pulled a fast one on me at the last minute. About all I knew was that I didn’t want to wind up working with my dad, staying inside all the time and looking at a computer screen. I like doing stuff outside, and I guess I take after my mom in that.”

“She does get outside a little,” Howie grinned. He knew what Shay was talking about. Shay’s mother was one of the collection of dogsled fanatics around Spearfish Lake – so much so that she’d taken a dogsled across Alaska three times in the thousand-mile Iditarod dogsled race. “Yeah, that had to be an influence,” he added.

“Well, yeah,” Shay laughed. “Back a few years ago there was a guy who was a dog trainer here for three or four winters, and a Colorado River raft guide in the summers. He eventually got a job in the National Park Service at the Grand Canyon, and I’ll have to admit that got me thinking.”

“What kind of things do you do? I mean, we’ve only been to national parks a couple times, and there are like guides and stuff. That kind of thing?”

“Those are interpretive specialists,” Shay explained. “It’ll be what I’ll be doing down in Vicksburg this summer. There are other jobs that rangers do, like being naturalists, administrators, law enforcement, just all sorts of things. Believe me, I’ve been cramming on the Civil War in general and the Battle of Vicksburg in particular ever since I got this job nailed down. I kind of like historical stuff anyway and the Civil War is fascinating, but I’m told that in a historical park like that you’ll often get people showing up there who have forgotten more about a particular battle than I’d ever know in the first place.”

Howie shook his head. “I didn’t even know they had a battle at Vicksburg, and I’m not real sure where it is, anyway.”

“It’s on the Mississippi, a few hundred miles upriver from New Orleans,” Shay explained. “Strategically speaking, it was a considerably more important battle than Gettysburg, which was going on at about the same time the Battle of Vicksburg ended. Most people are like you – they’d be surprised to know there was a battle there at all. I’m told it gets really hairy if you’re in a place like, oh, Brice’s Cross Roads. A person has to be a real nut about the Civil War and know a lot about it to be interested in a place like that, and it makes things tough for the interpretive specialists.”

“Sounds like it could be an interesting job,” Howie replied, a ghost of an idea starting to rise in his mind. “My brother Jack and his girlfriend are pretty serious bird watchers. Jack says he wants to figure out a way to be a professional bird watcher.”

“He could do it in the Park Service,” Shay said. “There are resource specialists who essentially do that. It’s not something I’d care to do, but to each his own, I guess.”

“Beats working in the plywood plant,” Howie grinned.

“It does indeed. Of course, I knew I could never stand to do that. The smell, the heat, the dirt, the boredom, well, I could never hack it.”

“Me either. But I’m kind of thinking that this park service stuff might be something I’d be interested in doing. I suppose there are web sites and stuff I can go to for more information about it.”

“Oh, yeah, plenty,” Shay smiled. “It’s not the easiest job in the world and you have to be pretty serious about it, but I’ve learned the last two years as a summer interpretive specialist at Sleeping Bear Dunes that it can be pretty interesting, too. If you’re serious about it, go over the websites, do some reading on it. When I get back in the fall, maybe we can get together and I can give you the benefit of a few thoughts about it.”

“Well, I don’t know if it’s something I actually want to do, but it sure looks worth looking into,” Howie replied. “That’s more to think about than I’ve had in a while.”

“I think it ought to be all right for me,” Shay told him. “I don’t know if it’s for you, of course, but I’ll try to help if I can.”

“I’d appreciate it,” Howie said. “Shay, you’ve been a big help to me already in a lot of ways with this whole Misty hassle. I hope I’m done with it, but there’s a sneaking suspicion in my gut that it’s not done with yet. I’m not going to let her get her hooks into me again, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be more trouble ahead. You really saved my butt on that one.”

“Glad to have been of service,” Shay smiled. “‘Been there, done that’ counts for something sometimes.”

“Yeah, it does,” Howie said. “Hey, I’ve got to be getting out of here. Mom is supposed to have dinner ready soon. Shay, you take care of yourself and don’t get tripped up by any wandering Civil War enthusiasts.”

“Well, I plan not to,” Shay said. “But in this life, you can never be sure.”

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