SIXTEEN MILES

BUDDY AND JIMMY were fighting in the other room. Cindy looked up at her mother and said

“this is deeply concerning”

‘Deeply concerning? Where’d you learn that kind of language? It’s fucking bullshit! THAT’S what it is!” she stamped her foot on the ground and the fighting continued.

The walls were all painted yellow, a dull yellow that had faded with time. A light hung from the ceiling covered in cobwebs. A print of a bridge somewhere else in the world hung with a tilt on the wall.

“What are we going to do about it this time then?” asked Cindy

“Nothin’. It never solves anythin’; they just keep fighting over garbage, and they will keep fighting over garbage for years to come I reckon”

Cindy went back to her book and the mother walked into the kitchen and started boiling the jug.

The sound of a crash came through the walls. The mother put her hand on the counter and the other to her head.

“What do we do? What do you think we do? Kick them out?”

“Yes”

They both laughed.

“Imagine all the things we could get done around here if Bud and Jim were somewhere else.”

“I imagine we’d be millionaires” said the mother.

“Why don’t you think they’ve ever amounted to anything?” asked Cindy

“Because they’re deadshits just like their deadshit father was” replied the mother.

“Am I different?” asked Cindy

“Of course you are darling; I love you”

Just then Buddy walked in the dining room.

“Who do ya love?”

“Not you at the moment” replied the mother

“Wha? Why not?”

“You’ve been screamin’ and hootin’ in there with ya damn brother all afternoon and it’s making mine and Cindy’s hair fall out; what the hell is wrong with you two?”

“Well, nothing, I guess. Brothers fight sometimes. But we still love one another, ain’t that right” said Bud as Jimmy walked into the room

“Damn straight” said Jim

“Hey Mum” asked Jimmy

The mother didn’t reply

“Hey Mum” he asked again

“What?”

“Well, you know that guy what’s living up on Castlemann’s property up there?”

“Doesn’t everyone around here?”

“Well yeah, that guys fucking weird Mum. Ya know, the stuff he talks about; it’s just strange”

“What does he say then?”

“Well, he reckons all kinds of things, I don’t understand any of it and I don’t want to but he keeps saying this stuff that just rubs me the wrong way”

“Because it makes you feel dumb” said Bud

“Fuck you!” replied Jimmy

“You’re both dumb” replied the mother.

The two boys stood there with blank faces. The yellow room went quiet and a bird could be heard outside.

“Do you love us Mumma?” asked Jimmy

“Of course I damn well do”

“Why don’t you ever show it?”

“I damn well do! You’re living in this house aren’t you?”

“Well, I guess” said Jim.

“Why don’t you go up to that Castlemann and ask him to employ your older brother too?”

“Ah there ain’t that much work Mumma; Castlemann always has a red face. I dunno what it is”

“He gives you days here and there”

“Yeah, when he can”

Cindy lifted her head up. “There’s got to be something we can all do around here; we’re four people”

“Yeah, ya reckon?” said Bud

“Ya reckon we could do somethin’ on the internet and be famous?” asked Jimmy

“From what I’ve seen if we just filmed you two talking you’d be famous on the internet” the mother said.

“Why don’t we do it?”

“What will we need?”

Cindy looked back down and said “yeah, I dunno really; we could film you two but there’s probably no market for idiots who just wrestle and fight all the time”

There was a crash off in the distance, outside of the house. Everybody in the yellow room looked at one another.

They waited a while and there was silence. Not even the bird outside was making a sound anymore.

“I’ll get the light” said Jimmy

“Let’s go” said Bud.

“Which car will we take” said Cindy

“Mum’s” they both replied

“You haven’t got any fuel in that damn thing of yours? Said the mother

“Well yeah” replied Jimmy “but I gotta use it to get to Castlemann’s”

“And how do you suppose I’m supposed to get to work?”

“MUM” said Jimmy “It might be important, we gotta go check, let’s argue about this later”

They all walked out to the shed outside

“Lock the door” said the mother

“I already did” replied Cindy

The mother was cradling a cup of tea.

“Why are you bringin’ that?” said Jimmy

“Because” said the mother

“Somethin’ happens out here and you need a cuppa tea?”

“Yes” replied the mother to Jim

Bud started the engine on the little four door and tried to clean the windshield with the wipers.

“Mumma, I’ve tole you to put some damn water in the tank for this”

“Well you can do it for me considering you don’t pay any damn rent” replied the mother

“Let’s go” said Jimmy

The car revved up and Bud reversed in a semi circle and then down forward down the driveway.

“Who’s gunna get the gate?” he asked

“I will said Cindy”

Cindy got out and undid the chain on the gate and walked it open. The moon shone off in the distance and stars could be seen above her as the headlights lit every movement that she made.

“We should drive off” said Jimmy

“Fuck off” said Bud “this might be serious, it’s not often something happens out here but when it does we got a responsibility to go see”

Cindy walked back up and got in the car.

“We were gunna drive off without you for a bit and make ya walk” said Jimmy

“Great joke” said Cindy “I’ve never heard it before, why don’t you tell it again”

Bud drove the car quietly down the road. Everyone looked out the windows and the stars and the calm. Bud and the mother concentrated on looking through the windscreen at what was coming up ahead.

“There!” said the mother

“Wha?” said Bud

“Right there! That car! It’s gone through the fence”

“Oh SHIT!” yelled Jimmy.

Bud pulled up and a man was struggling in a stream of water in the dip of the road.

“What’s that guy doin’?” said Jimmy

“He’s crashed his damn car” said Bud “looks like an alright one too”

Cindy sat in the back and didn’t say anything. The mother took a sip of her cup of tea to steady it as she opened the door and got out.

“You alright” she asked to the open air

“I’ve.. I’ve… I’m” said the man “HELP!”

Buddy and Jimmy both raced out and ran down into the grass through the broken fence and grabbed the man in the stream by both shoulders and dragged him.

“His foot is stuck” said Bud “Fucking get under there and do something”

Jimmy jumped into the water and put his head under. He couldn’t see anything but he used his hands to feel around. He came back up.

“What’s goin….”

Jimmy put his head back under and yanked at steel and rubber. He put all his weight behind it as his feet fell into the mud.

Bud yanked the man free and pulled him onto the bank.

“Cassidy is in there!” cried the man

Nobody asked a question. Jimmy was already inside the car, he was yanking at a seatbelt as a young child cried. Bud jumped into the water “hold that light steady” he yelled to Cindy.

Water splashed and while bubbles had been forming around the car. Steam and petrol, bark and the moonlight on the wet grass filled everyone’s nostrils.

Bud came out of the water and Cindy shone the light on him.

“Not on me!” he said to Cindy “shine it on dipshit over there”

Jimmy was holding a small child in his arms.

“Please don’t call the police” said the man “I’m over the limit”

“You fucking asshole” said the mother

Cindy stood steady with the torch and Jimmy scaled the grass, he pulled out clumps of it with his hands and the child clung to his shoulder. They made it up on the bank and out of the water.

“I know you motherfucker” said Jimmy “You’re that fucking cunt from Castlemann’s – the one that knows everything”

“I don’t know shit” replied the man

“How far did you have to go?” asked Bud

“About sixteen miles, it’s my night with Cassidy and I wanted to take him for a drive; to see the area – look up at the stars”

“How many have you had?” asked the mother

“Not many, but enough” replied the man

“You are a fucking deadest fucking idiot” said the mother

“Hey, Cassidy, are you alright?” asked Jimmy to the child

The child didn’t say anything but appeared to be ok. Cindy shone the light on the man’s face and could see a little blood on his forehead.

“What do we do now?” said Bud

“We’re heroes I think” said Jimmy

They all stood in the shining yellow of the headlights from the mother’s little four door.

They gave the man and child a ride up the road. The mother told the man he’d have to move the damn car and fix the fence before the end of the week. He said he’d do it the very next day.

“Do you reckon they’ll print about this in the paper?” asked Jimmy

“No” said Bub, “we ain’t tole nobody”

“Yet” interjected the mother

“They stopped printing the paper here two years ago” said Cindy

“But we’re still kind of heroes, right? Asked Jimmy

“Heroes don’t ask for it Jimmy” replied the mother “you’ll need to put some petrol in this car tomorrow”