Chapter 16

Ed shoveled the last of the concrete into the hole. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he looked over the fence posts that he had just installed. Each post was braced and embedded in concrete. An entire day had been spent digging holes, bracing the posts, mixing the concrete, and setting the fence posts. The concrete needed to dry overnight, but it would be next weekend before he could finish the fence. At least the concrete would be well cured.

Kelly had been begging for a privacy fence ever since the day of the party. He didn’t know what motivated her, but apparently both women really wanted it. He had given in and agreed to install the fence. If he had known how much work it was going to be, he never would have agreed to do it. A little help would have been nice, but John was out of town and he didn’t want to bother any of the neighbors.

It took him another half an hour to clean up the tools and put them away. While much of the advice given to him by his father had been bad, the advice about a man always taking care of his tools was sound. Each tool was cleaned and oiled to prevent rust. As he hung the tools in their proper places, the thought came to him that it was about time to get a rock saw. Maybe tomorrow after class he would stop in one of the many rock shops in town and buy one. Many rocks required cutting and polishing to show off the rock at its best.

Classes over for the day, Ed decided to shop for the rock saw. He had driven to a lapidary supply shop that he had seen advertised. It was a block down the street from where Ed had parked his truck, to the rock shop. This was an artsy part of town and he had serious doubts that he would find the saw that he was looking for at this particular shop, but since he was here he decided that he might as well check it out. There were all kinds of stores along this street that attracted the rich and fashionable - at least four art galleries, two antique shops, coffee houses, boutiques, and jewelry stores. He even saw a couple of men walking down the street holding hands. Watching them for a minute, he finally muttered, “Well, at least they found each other. Everyone deserves a little love in their life.”

When he reached the rock shop, his hopes for finding a saw fell even further. The window was lined with quartz crystals of various sizes mounted to be worn as new age pendants. Disgusted, he went into the shop anyway. It had advertised lapidary supplies and he still held a little hope that there would be something in here to interest him.

His hopes fell through the floor when he entered the store. A full cabinet of new age pendants and a supposed crystal wand faced the door. To his left and right were Geodes cut in half and polished. Some of the Geodes had been turned into bookends. Everything in the store had been turned to junk.

He was about to leave when a perky young lady appeared from below a counter and called to him. “Hey, cowboy, you looking for a present for your girlfriend.”

Examining the young woman, he was rather disgusted. Standing poised with her head to one side and a slightly vacuous look on her face, he immediately labeled her a new age airhead with less brains than an earthworm. In a voice of disdain, he replied, “No. I came looking for a rock saw.”

Laughing, she dropped the airhead pose. Her entire attitude changed as she replied, “I’ve got one in the back. If you’re interested in grinders and polishers I have those as well.”

Surprised at that transformation, Ed followed her behind a small partition. He froze and looked around in wonder. Here was a real lapidary supply shop with diamond saws, grinders, and polishers. The walls were lined with mineral displays of exceptional quality. He walked along one wall and stopped in front of a sample. He asked, “Did you get this from Wood Chop Mesa?’

The woman turned around and looked at the sample Ed was pointing to. Surprised that he knew where the sample came from, she said, “Yes, I got that last summer. I haven’t been able to identify it yet, though.”

“It’s Phillipsite,” replied Ed. He looked at the sample and noted that it was a fairly good specimen.

She countered, “We don’t have Phillipsite in this country.”

He looked over at her and smiled at her excellent knowledge of rocks. He replied, “The better way to put that is that they didn’t know we had Phillipsite in this country until about a year and a half ago. It was just recently classified.”

In a flirtatious voice, she said, “We get so few people here that know their rocks. Where have you been hiding?”

“Up at the University,” replied Ed unaware of the flirtation. Looking around at the equipment, he realized that he could easily blow his whole budget in one afternoon.

With a sigh, the woman said, “I graduated there. I loved their program and wanted to go further, but my grandfather died leaving me this place. I can’t afford to run it and go to graduate school at the same time.”

“You could hire someone to work part-time.”

Shaking her head, she said, “I tried that. I could find a person that could deal with the junk in the front, but no one that knew two cents about the good stuff back here.”

“Why not hire a geology student up at the University?” replied Ed.

She smiled as she answered, “Most of them wouldn’t be caught dead in the front of the store.”

Puzzled by the difference between the front and back, Ed asked, “What’s with the front of the store?”

“My granddad opened this place a long time before it became a high rent area. When they started making improvements in the area, I started getting lots of new age customers wanting to buy crystals. They would come in, take a look at all of the real rocks and run out. I put up the partition, fixed up some crystals for them. They constitute the majority of my business so I keep it.” She shrugged as if that explained everything. In a way it did, she had bowed to market pressures and was able to pursue her real interests.

“Smart. Take a bad situation and make it better. I like that.” Ed wandered around to the rock saw and examined it. Shaking his head, he asked, “Is this the biggest that you have?”

She shook her head and answered, “Yes. I have a couple larger ones ordered if you don’t mind waiting. I assume you want to prepare samples for display purposes.”

“Right. I have a lot of larger samples that I’d like to trim, face and polish.” Ed thought about it and said, “I’ll come back in a couple of weeks and see if you have received them. I’ll also ask around at the school to see if anyone there needs a job. Maybe you will find someone that will work out alright.”

The woman said, “Thanks. I’ll look forward to seeing you again. It’s nice to have a real customer in here that knows his rocks.”

Leaving the rock shop behind, Ed fell in step with a policeman walking his beat. He didn’t think any thing about it until an episode started brewing in front of them. The cop swore, “Damn it. I hate this kind of stuff.”

Looking at the situation, it was clear what was happening. A rather smallish and very effeminate male was getting harassed by a brown haired guy. The brown haired guy said, “Hey faggot, maybe if I hit you hard enough you’ll become a real man.”

Ed asked, “Officer, would you like a little help? Maybe we can get this handled without you having to do anything.”

The cop looked at the cowboy standing next to him with distrust. Smiling Ed said, “When I ask what the little guy said, tell me that he said he hated me because I’m a cowboy.”

Intrigued, the cop asked, “What are you planning to do?”

Grinning from ear to ear, Ed said, “Oh, I just want to make a little point about senseless hating of others.”

For some irrational reason, the cop decided to go along with Ed. He said, “Okay. I’ll step in and arrest all of you if it gets out of hand.”

“No problem,” replied Ed. He quickened his pace until he was standing next to the small guy. He turned to face the officer and asked, “What did this little guy say about me?”

The cop replied, “He said he hated you because you were a cowboy.”

The little guy looked at Ed and then at the cop in fear wondering what was going to happen. The bigot looked at Ed like he had a friend, but distrusted the presence of the cop. Ed said, “Well, I don’t mind the little fellow, but I hate this guy because he’s got brown hair.”

The bigot asked, “What in the hell are you talking about?”

Pointing his finger in the direction of the bigot, Ed shouted, “You be quiet you brown haired person, you.”

The guy backed up as Ed turned to the cop and said, “Now so long as everyone in a fight agrees to it, it’s not against the law so long as there is a referee to make sure that no one gets seriously injured. Isn’t that right?”

The cop crossed his arms and asked, “What have you got in mind?”

Ed said, “Well, I hate this brown haired guy, he hates this little fellow here, and the little fellow hates me. I figure that if I get to hit the brown haired guy and he gets to hit the little guy and the little guy gets to hit me, then we’ll all be happy venting our hate. Now since the little guy doesn’t hate the brown haired guy, he can’t hit back. Since the brown haired guy doesn’t hate me, he can’t hit me back. Since I don’t hate ... what was it that he called the little guy? Oh, faggots. Since I don’t hate faggots, I can’t hit back. You can act as referee. First one that breaks the rules gets arrested.”

The brown haired guy stood there shouting, “This is ridiculous. I don’t even know who the hell you are. I’ve never done anything to you.”

Having a little fun with the situation, Ed responded, “It doesn’t matter. You have brown hair and I hate people with brown hair. I’ve always wanted a chance to beat the shit out of a guy with brown hair. This is my chance. Now, this fellow here, he hates cowboys. So now he has a chance to hit me to his hearts content. You get your chance to beat him hard enough to turn him into a man. We’re all gonna be happy.”

The cop answered, “That’s a good idea. Since you came up with it, you get first shot at the brown haired guy.”

The bigot backed up protesting, “Wait a minute, I haven’t agreed to this.”

Ed turned to the little guy and asked, “Does this sound fair to you?”

With the attention on him, the guy realized that nothing was going to happen. Even if it did, Ed would probably beat the bigot before he got hurt too bad. He answered, “Sure.”

The bigot backpedaled and said, “You can’t be serious. Are you really going to hit me because I’m brown haired?”

Ed looked puzzled and said, “Why not? It’s as good a reason as his for wanting to hit me or for you wanting to hit him.”

“I’ve never heard of anyone hating someone for having brown hair.”

With a snort of derision, Ed said, “That’s what I hate about guys with brown hair. They always think they’re special because they have brown hair. I hate that.”

The cop had to hold his hand over his mouth or he would have burst out laughing. Struggling to get control, he finally asked, “What will it be boys? Do you need a referee?”

The bigot shouted, “Look, it’s stupid to hate someone because they have brown hair.”

Ed said, “It’s stupid to hate someone because he’s a cowboy.”

The little guy piped up, “It’s stupid to hate someone because he’s gay.”

“It’s not the same thing. I can’t help that I was born with brown hair.”

The little guy said, “I can’t help that I was born liking men.”

Ed stood there for a minute and said, “Does that mean that because I wasn’t born a cowboy that’s it okay to hate me?”

There was silence as the ridiculousness of the argument was realized by one of the participants. He looked at Ed and then at the little guy. With arms crossed against his chest and a smile on his face, the cop stood there waiting to see what happened. Finally, he said, “I hope that all three of you learned something today.”

The brown haired guy shook his head and said, “I don’t know, but the hell with it. So long as you don’t try to hump me, I won’t bother you.”

The little guy replied, “Thanks.”

After watching the bigot walk off, the cop turned to Ed and said, “That was priceless.”

Extending his hand, Ed said, “I’m Ed Biggers.”

“I’m Officer Harrigan,” replied the cop. He shook the hand and said, “There for a minute I thought you were crazy.”

The little guy extended his hand and said, “I’m Richard Woodman.”

Trying hard to hide his amusement at the guys name, Dick Woodman, Ed took his hand and shook it. He said, “Pleased to meet you Richard.”

Officer Harrigan said, “I better get back to my beat. Thanks, I really enjoyed that.”

“You’re welcome. I had a little fun with that too.”

Richard said, “For a minute there, I was really scared.”

Ed replied, “I wouldn’t have let it go that far. Just wanted to make a point to a guy that had a rather limited view of the world.”

“Are you gay?”

Shaking his head no, Ed answered, “I’m not gay. I recently discovered that everyone deserves love and that it should be the kind of love that is right for them. If that means you love a guy and he loves you, then what’s the problem with that? It harms no one.”

Richard looked at Ed and said, “Wow, that’s enlightened. I never would have expected to hear something like that from a cowboy.”

At the look from Ed, Richard clarified his statement, “I just mean that you look like a redneck. Usually, gays get a lot of grief from rednecks.”

Amused, Ed said, “I knew what you meant. I wasn’t offended.”

Somewhat nervous, Richard said, “I really want to thank you for your help.”

Stepping in the direction of his truck, Ed said, “Don’t think anything about it. Have a nice day.”

Richard watched as Ed walked down the street, pausing occasionally to look at the shoppers running into and out of the boutiques. As far as Ed was concerned, none of them held a candle to Kelly or Beth. The episode did raise questions about Kelly’s desire for him to have sex with a man. Knowing that they wanted John in the marriage, made it even harder for him. He genuinely liked John, and didn’t want to ruin that relationship.

Reaching his truck, he headed off to work stopping only to pick up a hamburger that he ate as he drove. He looked at the bags in the truck and realized that he had been doing that too much. Three times a week he ate fast food while racing to reach work on time. It wasn’t making him fat, but it wasn’t a good diet either. The fact was that he enjoyed eating and wolfing down a hamburger while driving wasn’t a pleasurable dining experience.