Chapter 2

Run to the rez

    Jeremy saw the toys on the beaten down lawn, grass that probably wouldn't turn green in the spring, and thought about where the kids would be. There was a loud thumping bass along with a screaming electric guitar and screaming high pitched voice. Some hair head mashing on the little strings and wailing about some big haired 80s chick that wanted a ride in the band limo. It was music to drink beer to, change your oil to, get into shoving fights to, make sure your mullet stayed gnarly to.
    All that and deep inside, Jeremy hoped that the kids that lived there were at the grandparents. Or given a weekend pass away from the hell they were growing up in. That was the kind of thing that Jeremy felt ashamed of, the party house was the one he was headed to as a last resort. These were the kinds of things that he was starting to see as the black and the white. There would always be the grays in his life, but he wanted to put an end to this one. The house belonged to a guy who was reaching the middle of the thirties, but still partied like he was in his teens. The consequences that he might have seen were probably floated away on the back of the crappy hair metal, dissolved by washings of beer.
    “You know, that offer for a ride home is still up if you need it.” Katrina looked over.
    Jeremy hoped that what he felt inside didn't show out too much on his face. “Don't think I want to impose on your kindness, but I don't think I want to stay here.”
    Katrina just nodded, he guessed she did see everything written there. She strode into the front door after telling Jeremy that she'd only be a minute. He stood outside admiring the view. Across from the place was a large industrial parking lot. Lots of broken down machines. From dump trucks to graders. On one side of that was the town wreckers yard. Crushed cars piled to make a maze of broken automobiles. On the other side was the large buildings that the machinery was bound for. Huge arcs of metal rose and fell to the ground making half the half cylindrical cheap buildings of heavy industry. On each side were big sliding doors. In one of the windows, Jeremy could see the flashes of blazing blue of mechanics working and welding into the night. Jeremy heard the sound of the music get louder when the door opened, he turned and looked.
    “Come on, come have one drink with me. At least tell me your name.” A staggering moron was following Katrina back out the door.
    “Hey.” Jeremy tried to pull the drunk's attention away from Katrina. “Hey!” Jeremy tried a little louder when it seemed that the drunken idiots hearing must have been ringing from the constant mash of screaming guitars. He still didn't pay any attention to Jeremy.
    “Come on, honey. I'll be good to you.” The drunk showed exactly how good he would be to Katrina and took a handful of her coat and tried to spin her around. She had unzipped it while she was inside so most of it came off up to her wrist when the drunk kept pulling.     Still, Katrina didn't turn to face the guy, Jeremy found it so very odd to see that she was actually trying not to laugh. He wanted to step in for her though so he walked over and gave the drunk a heavy shove. The drunk let go of her coat when he noticed he was leaning far too far on one side and began sidestepping trying to keep his balance. What happened was what one would expect of a drunk trying that particular maneuver, he propelled himself even faster and  tripped over one of the lawn toys.
    Jeremy pulled his hands up and laced his fingers around the back of his head when he saw the drunk was going to give a mighty headbutt to one of the basement windows. His head was probably numb with the alcohol, but that wouldn't stop it from being shredded by broken glass. Jeremy and Katrina watched this happen and both began to laugh when his head rebounded with a loud 'thonk'. The “flag” that the tenant of that particular room remained safely behind the safety glass. The flag was one of the favourites among the people with an IQ no higher than that of a hockey puck, a Canadian flag with the maple leaf replaced with the large marijuana leaves. Said nimrod actually poked her head out from behind the flag, that made Katrina and Jeremy laugh even harder.
    Jeremy worried for a few moments about the inevitable fight that was going to happen, but the drunk didn't even seem to notice that he was pushed. The drunk got to his feet, did the drunken shuffle. Left, right, left, right, tried to keep his head above his feet. When he was back in control, he only gave a sheepish grin to Katrina and slurred an apology and staggered his way back inside.
    Katrina pulled her coat back on and patted her pockets. “S**t, my phone.”
    Jeremy walked over and they started to look, kicked over toys, under the hedge. Katrina patted her coat every time she stood up and looked around. Jeremy really wanted to help search, but he found that his eyes drifted back to Katrina. Noticed the way she'd throw her head back to keep her hair from her eyes. The way she crouched and hunkered by the bushes, the way it wasn't lady like with her forearms across her knees, one hand pushed away branches and the like. Even the way she would dust off her hands.
    Jeremy, for the first time in a long time, noticed the beautiful form of a woman. Sure, he knew of the blazing sexuality that some women could exude, but not all of them could pull off what Katrina did. She would be hidden beauty behind a curtain of smooth, dark hair. Then with a quick movement, a pair of small pouted lips, a gentle angular curve of her jawline that disappeared under the hair. It was very odd to notice these things in a place which was considered the bad part of town. By the glow of a dim bare bulb by the front door and the blended light of far off streetlights and industrial lamps that burned through the night. The small spell was broken by the deedling of the phone.
    “Yes!” Katrina celebrated with a quick half duck waddle over to where the phone was laying underneath a flipped kids pool. “Hello? Hello.”
    Jeremy walked towards where the cluster of cars and trucks were parked. One of them started and he could hear the doors unlock, he looked back and saw Katrina pointing a key-chain at it, her other hand held the phone to her ear. She turned so that Jeremy wouldn't hear what she talked about or even try to read her lips. She turned and made her way to the car in long strides, hurried without hurrying.
    “Get in.” Katrina nodded to the car when she reached out and gave Jeremy's sleeve a tug.
    The car was a make of which Jeremy didn't see from around town too often. Or at all when he thought about it. The standard fare for almost everyone around town, even the rich ones, were generally the unremarkable domestic variety of cars and trucks. Not out of any real sense of keeping their purchases and money within the area, they would only realists. Anything too fancy would wind up stolen, or broken into so often that replacing the glass would be more expensive than the monthly payments. That, in itself, was one of the things that Jeremy found very odd. This car had been parked for a good long while in the bad part of town and no one had messed with it in any way.
    “Still need a ride?” Katrina pulled the drivers side door open and looked over at Jeremy. “I need to get out of town for a while.”
    Jeremy slid in and sat down. Katrina took the same industrial road out of town. On one side of the road, the smaller businesses that specialized in the long time needs of the town. On the other, the railroad tracks, heavy duty fuel stations for the heavy duty vehicles. Jeremy watched the blue collar part of town passing his window. Orange lights fading into blinding whites into oranges. He saw a few people working on a railway car that would probably be headed south.
    Katrina turned right and headed south at the intersection, Jeremy found it odd that she drove in silence. They had to make one more left a few minutes up the road. The lights spreading out to the suburban areas, highway lights marked the turn off. The way to the rez was depressing in a way. From the relatively well lit areas of town, the ride became darker the further they went. Until they were driving past the single lights from the lone houses here and there. These places belonged mostly to the ranchers. The lights far off were usually in the middle of their hay fields. Roads that turned off from the gravel road they were on usually had a gate. Then the road would come to its final form to a ranchers home. Two lines worn through the  grass.
    “Why do you need to get out of town?” Jeremy finally asked. Not because he felt uncomfortable with the silence, but because he was getting a ride from a near stranger.
    Katrina just looked over and measured him with her eyes. She looked at the road and sucked her bottom lip in and looked like she was trying out a few answers in her mind. Just before Jeremy was going to tell her that it was okay, that he was just thankful for the ride, Katrina sniffed.
    “I'm in trouble. Me and a couple my friends got too far into something and now I'm really in trouble.” She let out a sniffling laugh. “Maybe.”