Chapter 18

    It was new, different. A forced move that none of them wanted. In different degrees, they all felt sorry for themselves, but felt worse for each other. They had a lot to talk about, but nobody wanted to start because they knew they wouldn't have any answers. It would maddening speculation and it would only push them apart.
    “I hope you guys are happy. You had to go and start hanging out in your stupid goth drinking club and dragged me into it.” Bev got up and walked into the kitchen.
    Nobody said anything. It was useless to remind her that she was the one who always followed without a word. Was always the one who laughed the loudest and seemed to celebrate her new friends the most. That she was the one who introduced them to the life. If, and when, anybody started to remind Bev of these things, she turned into the biggest victim. How they always blamed her for their troubles. How she couldn't even go back home because of them. They started to look at each other and smile when Bev had one of her outbursts. She would forget everything she said and wind up hanging out with them again.
    Katrina, who's relationship with Bev was strained, felt most sorry for her. Most of what she said wasn't true, but there was one fact that she was always was right about. Bev was alone, even in their little group. Katrina and Dee were practically sisters. Which, by some sort of proxy, make Miki her sister as well. The three of them would get along fine in the long run. Bev didn't really have anyone, but who's fault was that? Katrina would get mad at Bev for no reason when she started to think along those lines. She was always her own victim who pitied herself above all else. When things got tough, she always ran home. Katrina looked at Dee and they started  to laugh with their hands over their mouths.
    They had stacks of money and nowhere to go. Even though they lived in a large townhouse, they were getting cabin fever after a few weeks. Miki would constantly be surfing the news, always looking for anything from home. Once in a while she would pipe up that somebody had a baby, or somebody died. The worst thing was a news article about their rez's brain drain. Their name was mentioned and Dee and Miki's parents were a few of the people who were interviewed. Though it was really a selling point to some land that was not far off their rez's land. People were just setting the place up so oil companies could move in and hire some of the unfortunates left behind. It made them feel guilty about having all that money just sitting there.
    One night while sitting around and asking what they could do, for the hundredth time, Miki came up with the idea of getting jobs. It couldn't be that hard to get a job with a false name. Even if they were paid under the table at less than minimum wage, they could go somewhere. Outside. Away from, Miki stalled at this part, she wanted to say something about getting away from a bitchy Bev, but added, from the house. Miki got the idea after she was offered a job at one of the big warehouse stores just down the road.
    Miki, being more than helpful was in her nature, wound up helping an old lady around the store. Helping her get stuff off shelves, pushing her cart, generally being a good person. Somebody was watching her and just up and offered a job. Miki, as part of her helpful nature, was just as trusting. She up and told the guy that she couldn't, she was trying to remain anonymous. When she told Dee and Katrina about it, they hit the ceiling. Miki just laughed off their tirades.
    They thought about it for a while. After another outburst with Bev, they decided to at least talk to LeAnn about the deal. It would be better than sitting around on pins and needles waiting for Bev to explode. LeAnn thought it hilarious, since LeAnn wasn't her real name. They figured as much considering her business sense. Although she was helpful as she could be, she wouldn't let them know who she really was and what she did. She told them she could get them a car. Something not so, she thought for a bit, ostentatious. Before they all started asking for a car each, she put up her hand to let them know if was tricky enough getting the one.
    Katrina got a job at the 'grocery store'. It was long hours, but she found that when you didn't need the money, just the company, she enjoyed most of them. A few times over the next few weeks, she saw her “friends”, little Ed and the goons, come in the store with their families. As they stood in the isle, pocketing stuff when they thought nobody was looking, Katrina snuck up behind them. One of the guys was pushing something into the cast on his arm.
    “Hey! You're going to pay for that, right?” Katrina said in the gruffest voice she could muster.
    “Hey, f**k you, I'm just scratching muh-” He turned white when he turned and saw who he was swearing at.
    He dropped the thing he was shoving into his cast on the floor, turned and nearly sprinted out the front door. When Katrina bent to pick up the thing the guy dropped, she started to laugh. It was a few packages of beef jerky.
    After that, Katrina always kept an eye on who was entering the store. They knew she worked there, but they kept turning up. Sometimes with the other two, sometimes with family, sometimes alone. Each time she saw them, she would always find a reason to bump into them. It was worth the time she was putting in just to see the looks on their faces.
    Dee and Miki started work at the place that offered Miki a job. They would run into the same people at that store. They would do the same, find reasons to bump into those people. Miki was the one who actually caught one trying shoplift a hockey stick. Dee and Miki chased him up the isle and out of the store, all the while howling with laughter. The guy had the stick in his coat and down the front of his pants, probably all the way down to his boot. It was one thing they couldn't help, they brought the tape back home to show the rest of them. Then they edited it so it was just the guy trying to run and uploaded it to the internet.
    Bev thought the idea was stupid, they had lots of money, why did they need to work? They tried to explain that they really didn't need to, but if Bev wanted to stay home all day, that was up to her. She didn't really threaten, but made sure they knew that if they were all gone, she could just take all the money and run. Katrina, Dee, and Miki all just looked at each other and shrugged. Told her that if she wanted to, she could. See how far she would get before she was robbed or worse. Bev knew what the “worse” was, she also knew that she was safe where she was. So, stupid idea or not, Bev got a job turning beds for the biggest hotel in Wilkins Lake.
    Bev, to the surprise of them all, was the one who knew how to climb the ladder. She only really turned beds for a few weeks before she was working the front desk. Then worked as a waiter, then she tended bar. If there was one thing that Bev knew, it was drinks. So she had the run of the place in a way. She knew all the little secrets so she could guilt her way through.
    They had a chart on the fridge as a kind of competition. They kept a track of the number of hours and the number of dollars. Bev always rubbed their faces in it. There was another thing, not kept on the list, but it was a subject they liked to talk about. Men. Bev, in her own opinion anyway, was leading on that as well. It wasn't something they really wanted to know about, but Bev would always tell about the times she “got a free room” and holed up with a guy over the weekend. Dee and Miki always hinted at how they didn't want to hear about it. Katrina just told Bev to shut up about her slutting around. Bev only laughed and called her jealous.
    Christmas was a mixed time. They tried to stay away from making too many friends so it was a little more lonely than other times. Still, they gave it their best. Tree and all the decorations, gifts, and decked halls. Still, it was a solemn occasion when they stopped trying to have fun. Bev skipped out early, which was fine, she was already getting deep in the red. The rest of the day was spent trying to cook. Copying videos from the internet and failing. Whatever they did make was over well done. It smoked. Still, it was more laughs than they thought they would have.
    They did worry about Bev though, she was gone until a few days after the new year. She wouldn't tell them the whole story, but mentioned that the rezs in the area were about the same as back home. Dee and Miki left the room because they knew that there was going to be some shouting. They waited out the first ten minutes of their arguing, then just got in the car and went to take in a movie.
    It was there where Dee met someone. A conversation that started with a simple, 'so, how was the movie?' lead to Dee seeing the movie again. Miki went a different movie, but had to wait for Dee to get back out of the movie she was seeing, again. She was expecting to be a third wheel, but the guy made sure Miki was always included. He was a nice guy, but it was Dee that insisted that they always made sure Miki was alright. She'd lost enough and losing her sister to a relationship would probably be more than Dee would want to see.
    His name was Spencer. It was his middle name, he really didn't like being called Shelly. He explained that his parents were a little on the flower power side of the tracks. Both living far in the south, he had to escape back to his roots. Spencer, with his growing up the way he did, was more than happy to join right in on girl time with Dee and Miki. He would point out guys at places and just straight out ask if Miki liked them. The one time she said she did, she almost died of embarrassment when Spencer went over and tried to talk him into joining them. It didn't help when the guy told Spencer that he was there with his wife and kid. Spencer went back to Dee and Miki sad faced, it made Miki cover her face and laugh.
    The relationship between Dee and Spencer made for a slight hitch. They couldn't really just invite him over. He knew that Dee and Miki worked at a job that paid a little more than minimum wage, how would they explain their home? Dee was more than fine with things the way they were, but Miki felt guilty about not letting them have time to themselves. Miki blushed, but blurted out that she knew when Dee and Spencer wanted to 'be alone' each other's brains out. So Miki took it on herself to make a visit to LeAnn to get some kind of cheap place they could pretend was their place.
    A few weeks later, they were moving into their new place. LeAnn made sure that Spencer would know it was a native grant housing initiative that let them have their own starter home. When really, LeAnn was handed stacks of money. Spencer helped cobble together furniture to have in the place. He would come over and visit, Miki would make sure that she was getting a call from a friend to go out for a weekend. Really, just heading up the road to stay with Katrina and Bev. The new place was empty when Spencer wasn't around town.
    They would go there on some nights just to live the rez experience again. Watch television on an old CRT 19' TV. Sit on a lumpy futon that did double time as the guest room. Order cheap take-out and watch old movies. They even let a few bills go overdue so they could argue with people on the phone. Katrina and Miki sitting beside Dee laughing into pillows. Making up excuses for why they couldn't pay and seeing what kind of weird payment plan they could come up with. They felt more at home at their little paint-chipped hovel than at the huge townhouse.
    Some nights, they just fell right into sentimental melancholy and reminisced about the things they missed most. Katrina missed home cooking. Stuff that you couldn't get at restaurants. Mashed potatoes with slabs of deer steaks. Bannock. Fresh fish that didn't taste like chemicals and plastic. Dee missed those things and seeing people trying to keep their rez heaps on the road. Her uncle was one such person who seemed to always have oily hands from spending hours crawling around with his toolbox. Miki missed the freedom of getting time off from the rez and heading to the city. She had to explain that one. She didn't have any real worries for a long time, but back then, getting twenty bucks that didn't have to spent on something needed. Getting to ride to the city and pool her money with her friends so they could all have fun. She missed being poor.
    What was happening was really their own fault. They were leaving Bev out of more and more of their lives. They did make efforts, but Bev would always have plans. They knew what that meant, at least they hoped they knew. It could have been so much worse, they were close enough to the bad part of rez life to know the dark side of it. People like Bev seemed to be drawn to it. They didn't want to think they were pushing her that way, but it could be argued that they were.
    By the time the snow started to melt, they were seeing her on every odd day. She still had her job, still went every day, but sometimes she would disappear. They guessed that she finally forgot about poor Earl and found a new man. That was almost right, she jsut found a new crowd to hang out with. They would gather down on the northwest part of Wilkins Lake. Down by the railroad tracks at some man-boys house. They would party every chance they got. Some nights, Katrina would have to go and pick her up when she couldn't get back home.
    One night, Katrina got back home and saw the garage door open. Sometimes Katrina would take Miki for a drive, not too far out of town, just to make sure it didn't get rusty just sitting there. While it wasn't always used, they made sure it had winter tires and all that. It didn't seem to be built for winter conditions, but was good for it. They knew to keep the car out of sight for the most part, but Katrina didn't really hide the keys, they were always hung with all the others in the kitchen.

    “Hey girl, you take the car out?” Katrina stood in the driveway looking at the open garage door.
    “Nope.” Dee swore under her breath, it made Katrina listen more closely. “And Miki is here with me.”
    “S**t, that b***h.” Katrina headed inside to make sure it really was Bev that took it. Would be a bad thing to go off on Bev when the car was actually stolen.
    “We're on our way, be there in a bit.” Dee said and the phone went quiet.
    Katrina pocketed her phone and opened the door, it wasn't even locked. That only made Katrina angrier, of all the stupid things to do. She didn't want to find Bev there, sitting there like nothing was wrong, but she didn't want to find out she took her car. Katrina's car. She did let Bev take it when she asked, but if she just took it, Katrina would straighten her out. The last thing Katrina would expect to find was a note on the kitchen table in Bev's handwriting. It was hastily scribbled, she read it over a few times to make sure she was reading it right. Dee and Miki walked into the front door and shouted.
    “In the kitchen.” Katrina called out.
    Dee and Miki came in and she handed the note to Dee. They read it with Miki looking over Dee's shoulder.
    “What? Earl?” Dee's eyes skimmed the note again.
    “Remember the night we left? He's the guy who dropped her off.” Miki said and picked up the note after Dee put it down on the table.
    “You think she would lead them here?” Katrina asked, eyes glancing around the room.
    “Earl called. Took car and meeting him at Chase Creek, will call when I get there. Will lead them away if followed.” Miki read the letter out loud. “Well, how noble of her. Does that mean it's over?”
    Katrina looked at Dee, they both shook their head. Even if it was, they couldn't go home. Miki knew that as well, but she still had that look of hope in her eyes.