Chapter 8

A noisy banging on the door slowly made its way into his consciousness. An elbow in the side from Kelly prompted him to get up and see what was making the noise. About the time that he reached the door, he realized that it was a person outside. Fearing the worst, he stopped by the little table in the hallway and removed a pistol from it. He treated it with respect since it was loaded, and it was always loaded.

Ed relaxed when John called out, “Ed, it’s me. John!”

Ed opened the door and mumbled, “Come in.”

John stepped in and stopped just inside the door. Ed stepped back and John realized that he was naked. Then he noticed the pistol in Ed’s hand. When Ed noticed that John was staring at the pistol in his hand, he set the pistol in a drawer of a small table by the door. As an explanation of sorts, he mumbled, “Sorry, didn’t know it was you.”

“I’m so sorry to be here this early. I’ve got to leave town, right now.”

It took a moment for the statement to filter through Ed’s sleepy mind, but when he had finished processing it he snapped awake. It sounded like John was in trouble. He asked, “What’s the matter?”

John was about to answer when Kelly came out of the bedroom naked as well. As she was wiping the sleep from her eyes, she asked, “What’s going on here?”

“I’ve got to leave right now to catch a plane to Dallas and then to Austin.”

Impatient, Ed asked again, “What’s the matter?”

“Betsy was killed in the Middle East,” replied John with a heavy sadness that struck Ed like a baseball bat.

Kelly cried out, “Oh my God!”

Ed looked at John with concern. Anyone that knew them both would understand how much pain John had to be feeling at the loss of Betsy. Ed asked, “What can I do?”

“Take care of the house and see if you can get the rent extended for another month. I’ll be back to buy it.” Handing Ed the keys to the house, he looked around numbly, and saw Kelly crying. He said, “Take care of Kelly. She needs some comforting. I better go or I’ll miss my plane.”

Kelly came up to John and hugged him tightly with her naked body pressing against him. He didn’t notice the nakedness, only the caring that motivated the hug. She cried, “Take care of yourself. If there’s anything we can do, let us know.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

For the first time in his life, Ed felt like hugging another man. He couldn’t imagine the pain that John was feeling. Ed said, “Really, if there’s anything we can do let us know. We’ll take care of it. Call collect if you want.”

John turned to the door and opened it. He turned back to Ed, “A man can’t have a better friend than you, Ed.”

Ed stood there, naked, watching John walk out of the house. After setting the keys on the table, he went to Kelly and held her tightly. It wasn’t clear to him who was comforting whom. All that he knew was that he wanted Kelly in his arms more than anything else in the world. They moved to the couch and sat down holding each other.

Two hours early, Ed came home from work that night. He had requested a week off so that he could attend the memorial service in Austin for Betsy and to take care of John’s place. His boss had told him to go ahead although he couldn’t understand why Ed felt so strongly about going to the funeral of the girlfriend of another guy. Ed wasn’t sure if John would be coming back, but he hoped that he would. Life here would be empty without John around.

Ed went down to the bar to let everyone know what had happened last night. There were a lot of people that liked John, and Ed felt it was only fair that they be informed. The best way to do that would be to tell Shirley and Maria. They could spread the word faster than anyone else in town. He owed it to John to get the town behind him and to support him in this time of need.

Walking down the street, he passed houses and talked to the people there. It was strange, but he couldn’t quite place the time when people quit running into their houses when he walked down the street. He passed the news on to others and slowly made his way to the center of town.

Entering the bar, he walked over to the counter and sat down on a stool. Shirley came over to him with a Coke and said, “Hey, what’s the matter? You really look down.”

Ed, licked his lips nervously, and then said, “I have some bad news that I need to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know of a good way to say this. It’s pretty bad.”

Shirley looked irritated and snapped, “So tell me already.”

“John’s girlfriend died last night,” replied Ed and watched as the color faded from her face.

Afraid that she was going to faint, he raced around the counter and held her. Throwing her arms around him, she broke down and cried. Still not used to women crying on his shoulder, Ed stood stiffly, supporting her as best he could.

After a few minutes, Shirley pulled back from Ed and apologized, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cry like that. That poor man, he must be heartbroken.”

Ed nodded and said, “He was pretty much in shock last night when he came over. I’ll let you know when the memorial service will be held. Maybe the town can collect some money to send flowers. Kelly and I are going to the service in Austin.”

Shirley slumped down on a stool behind the bar and said, “I’ll put up a jar.”

Ed went back around to the customer side of the counter and sat down on a stool. This had been far tougher than he had thought. He took a sip of the Coke and said, “Thanks. You’ll spread the word?”

Shirley nodded and then suggested, “You might want to tell Maria. She’ll want to know.”

Nodding his agreement, Ed said, “I’m going there next.”

As Shirley worked through her personal feelings about the news, she realized that Ed must be feeling pretty bad. He had arranged for the party to introduce her to the town, he had spent a day with her, and John was his best friend. She put a hand on his and said, “You must be feeling pretty bad yourself.”

Looking down at the table to hide his face from her, Ed replied, “Well, I feel pretty selfish, to tell the truth. I keep thinking that he’s not going to come back. There’s nothing keeping him here.”

Shirley said, “Don’t feel bad. He’s your best friend and the thought of possibly losing him will hurt.”

Ed looked up, eyes misty, as he said, “Thanks. I better go talk to Maria. Kelly will be coming home soon and we’ve got to make reservations yet.”

Shirley nodded as she said, “Go. Don’t worry about the Coke.”

Looking at Shirley for a minute, Ed said, “You know. I have to apologize to you for all of the grief I’ve given you over the years. You’re a stand-up woman and deserve to have better people in your life than me. I’m really sorry for everything I’ve ever done to you.”

Numbly, Shirley watched Ed leave the bar. Once he was gone, she broke down in tears and wouldn’t have been able to explain why to anyone that might have asked. His parting words had touched her more than she thought possible.

Ed stopped by Maria’s Cantina knowing that it wasn’t open yet. He knocked on the door and waited for an answer. It was several minutes before Maria opened the door. Looking at Ed, she asked, “What’s up?”

“Can I talk to you for a few minutes?”

She said, “Sure. What do you want to talk about?”

After a long sigh, Ed said, “I think that you might want to be sitting down for this.”

She had never seen Ed in this frame of mind. She had seen him drunk, happy, worried, and a half dozen other emotions, but never sad. Stepping back, she let him in the restaurant. As they walked over to a table, Rosa joined her sister protectively. When everyone was seated, Ed said, “I have some bad news to tell you.”

Looking at each other, the two sisters turned to look at Ed. Finally, Maria asked, “What is it?”

Nervous at the chances of having two crying women, Ed said, “John’s girlfriend died last night.”

As one, the two women made the sign of the cross. Maria cried out, “Oh, the poor girl. She was so pretty and young.”

Rosa said, “Poor John, he must be crushed.”

“I know that you two like John a lot and I thought I should let you know,” said Ed. It was common knowledge that Maria worshiped the ground that John walked on.

Tears formed in Maria’s eyes as she looked at her sister. Rosa held her tightly, giving her strength. Uncomfortable, Ed sat there not knowing what to do. At least if Maria had been crying on his shoulder, he would have been occupied. Rosa said, “Ed, would you mind leaving?”

Recognizing that he wasn’t wanted, Ed stood. Before leaving, he said, “I asked Shirley to take up a collection to send some flowers on behalf of the town. May I ask you to do the same?”

Rosa nodded and turned to take care of her sister. Ed left the restaurant, feeling like a jerk. Rosa and Maria didn’t trust him and never would. That hurt, piled on top of the other hurts he was feeling, almost drove him back to the bar for a real drink. He stopped and looked around realizing that he was in front of the Sheriff’s office. As an afterthought, he entered the office.

The Sheriff sitting behind his desk looked up when the door opened. Spinning to look at Ed, he said, “Now this is a sight I never thought I would see. Ed Biggers walking in here without handcuffs.”

The mute shaking of Ed’s head, immediately silenced the laughter of the Sheriff. Ed said, “I wanted to let you know that John is out of town. His girlfriend died last night, and he’s returned to Austin.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” The Sheriff wondered why Ed thought it was necessary to tell him that.

Ed bobbed his head and said, “Well, I’m going down to Austin for the service tomorrow and probably won’t be back for three days. I’d appreciate it if you would watch his house. He asked me to do that, but I’m going there to see if I can help.”

The Sheriff asked, “What about your house?”

Chuckling, Ed asked, “Knowing what the town thinks of me, who do you think would try to break in my house?”

Unable to imagine anyone in town foolish enough to break into Ed’s place, the Sheriff laughed at that. Ed was honest if nothing else. He finally said, “I’ll watch them both. Don’t worry.”

Ed said, “Thanks. I’ve asked Maria and Shirley to collect money to send some flowers to the service on behalf of the town.”

“That’s nice of you to think of that,” replied the Sheriff. He sat back and looked at Ed for a minute. It was very obvious that Ed was very upset about this. In his opinion, it represented a landmark moment for Ed. It meant that Ed had come to care about the people around him and gained an empathy that had long been missing in his character. He realized that he would probably never have another occasion to arrest Ed.

Ed shrugged and said, “Hey, John is a friend of this town.”

“True.”

Turning to leave, Ed paused and said, “You know. This is the first time I’ve ever left here without having spent the night.”

The Sheriff burst out laughing as Ed left the office. He wandered up the street towards his house. The whole trip through town had taken an hour, but he felt like he had worked an entire day in that time. He couldn’t believe how exhausting it was to deal with emotions, his and others.

He poured himself a glass of tea and sat down to enjoy it. It would be an hour before Kelly would arrive. The plan was for her to swing by her place and pack her luggage before coming to his place. Pulling his boots off, he prepared to settle down for an hour of peace and quiet. Before he had a chance to do much, the telephone rang. Thinking it was John, he raced over to it.

When he answered, Kelly said, “Ed, we have a problem.”

Unable to imagine what the problem could be, Ed asked, “What?”

There was a long pause on the other end. Kelly finally said, “Ed, can I bring Dr. Hayes over to your house, too?”

“Sure,” replied Ed. He asked, “So what’s the problem?”

She answered, “I can’t really tell you here. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

“Okay.” Standing in the living room, Ed was totally clueless as to what was going on. He could tell from Kelly’s voice that she was very upset. It was a surprise when she said a quick goodbye and hung up without giving him a chance to say goodbye back.

He went over to the guest room and started fixing it up. It had been his room when he was a kid, but now it was empty. As he worked, he realized that it had never been used for a guest. He looked at the bed and wondered when was the last time he had changed the sheets on it. When he went to change the bed, he realized that it had been a long time and the sheets were in horrible shape, as was the mattress under it. He was at a loss what to do about it.

He was still in the guest room when the front door opened. Entering the living room, he expected to see Dr. Hayes in her normal statuesque stance. Instead, he found a woman that was crying uncontrollably. Kelly was struggling to guide her to a chair, but Dr. Hayes could hardly stand. Ed raced over to help. Looking over Kelly’s head, he made an expression asking what was going on.

Shrugging her shoulders, Kelly said, “We need to get her into the bedroom.”

Taking a deep breath, Ed bent down and picked up Dr. Hayes. He carried her into the bedroom and placed her on the bed. As soon as he released her, she curled into a ball. Confused, he looked to Kelly. She signaled for him to leave the room.

Stepping out of the bedroom, he asked, “What’s going on?”

Kelly whispered, “Do you remember the night she spent with John and Betsy?”

Aloud, he answered, “Sure. You and I were riding bareback that night.”

“Shh!” Holding a finger in front of her mouth in a gesture for silence, she whispered, “She fell in love with Betsy that night.”

Amazed at the idea of meeting someone for one night and falling hopelessly in love, Ed shook his head. Whispering, he asked, “So what happened?”