Chapter 3

Thanks to Jim for editing!

Frank dumped another bucket of water over his mom's Subaru and wiped the sweat from his brow before he removed his shirt to use as a rag in his attempt to wash away the dust the storm had left on the vehicle. It was early Sunday morning, and already a lot warmer than it had been the day before. His mom and sister were still sleeping, both worn out from staying up late to tell each other silly ghost stories. Frank had thought it would be a good idea to wash the car after breakfast, but that was before he realized they didn't have either a hose, or an outdoor spigot. He was still trying, though. Trying to keep busy.

He wiped down the car until it shined, and considered taking it into town. He had permission. It didn't seem like a bad idea. But, looking across the lake towards the red roof had him wanting to wait a little longer. Another thirty minutes. Maybe Oliver would show up. Frank hoped that he would.

Frank had done a lot of thinking about Oliver the night before. The one conclusion that he'd come to was that Oliver wasn't strange at all. If anyone deserved that description, it seemed to be his family. At least it made sense now, why he didn't have any friends. He wasn't allowed to have any. Part of Frank wanted to mind his own business. Leave the situation alone. Move on to something else. But a bigger part of him wanted to tell Oliver's mom to shove it.

Thirty-two minutes later, after a quick shower and another bagel, Oliver still hadn't shown up and Frank was tired of waiting. Maybe later, he thought, Oliver would find a way to get out. Until then, Frank seemed to once again be on his own. He woke his mom, instead of leaving a note. She was still groggy when she asked him to return by noon, at least to check in, since they currently had no other way of doing it. He took the keys to the Subaru, and as soon as he was behind the wheel, Frank decided that he was definitely happy to be driving again.

He took the roads slowly, enjoying the breeze through the open windows and the shadows the trees cast over the vehicle. He took the puddles from yesterday's storm carefully, not wanting all his work cleaning the car to go to waste. He passed Mr. Dron's house a few miles up from the lake, where the balding man with the white cowboy hat was working on an old jeep. Frank was polite enough to wave, but pretended that he was too busy to stop. The dirt road became narrow for a time after that, and then there was a stretch that didn't seem like a road at all, but two separate paths created by tire tracks through a field of mosquito-infected grass. Frank rolled his eyes, wondering how his mom had ever gotten past all this when looking for a house in the first place. Before they moved here, he'd been certain that the woman was fond of paved roads and Starbucks.

When Frank reached something that looked like a road again he figured that he was moving in the right direction, especially when he came to an old dusty stop sign that he drove right through. But, that was partly because the road he was on didn't cross another, and it was hard to imagine who'd thought to put it there in the first place.

He moved the Subaru up a steep hill as the lake faded in his rearview mirror, expecting to see paved road and potholes once he reached the bottom. But, it wasn't the street leading into town that caught his attention once he started down the hill.

Someone was in the road. From behind, he had dark hair, a gray t-shirt, and an almost slinky-like walk, relaxed and confident. When he turned and held out his thumb to hail Frank's vehicle, Frank hit the brakes so hard that the tires protested against the soggy gravel beneath, and he quickly rolled down the passenger window as he came alongside the guy on the side of the road.

"Oliver?" Frank asked incredulously.

Oliver leaned over the open window, smirking slyly in a way that caused a slow smile to grow across Frank's mouth. That is, until Oliver said something that Frank found rather unusual. "Oliver ain't here."

Frank raised an eyebrow, and then smiled like he would had he been told a funny joke. "Okay, then. You can be Bonnie and I'll be Clyde. Now get in here."

"Okay, Clyde," Oliver responded as he opened the door and dropped himself into the passenger seat. "But you ain't calling me Bonnie unless you want a punch in the mouth. I'll go with David, thanks."

The smile faded from Frank's face, and as he stared as the other boy relaxed and put a dirty foot up on the dashboard, he felt himself color. "David?" he repeated. "Oh... hey, man. Sorry about that... uh... your brother... well, Oliver's mentioned you, he just never said..." Frank trailed off, blinking hard. The resemblance was uncanny. Twins. He'd met twins before. Even identical twins, but never two that looked completely identical. There was always something. Some small difference... Perhaps David's hair was combed a little neater, and there was definitely a difference in his mannerisms... his facial expressions. There was something rougher about David. Noticeably.

"Well, he's mentioned you a couple times, too. Frank. So where're we headed?"

Frank had to take a moment to collect his thoughts as he shook his head at himself. "I guess I was going into town."

"For?"

"To look around, I guess."

"I suppose it's as good a reason as any," David replied, and then turned his head to look at Frank. "So what're you waiting for? You know how to drive this thing, don't you?"

Frank found himself frowning at the impatient tone, but shifted into drive and turned onto the main road. It definitely wasn't Oliver sitting next to him.

The drive was silent for the next five minutes, as Frank stole quick glances at his new companion, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. He was normally an outgoing individual when it came to strangers, but there was something about David Martin that was just plain unapproachable.

"So where's Oliver?" Frank finally asked.

David glanced at Frank sidelong. "Miss him, do you?"

There was something a little too teasing about the remark for it to be considered friendly. Frank frowned. "I was just asking because your mom didn't seem too happy when I brought him home yesterday."

David released a tight, humorless laugh. "Don't worry about Oliver. Everyone loves Oliver." He sounded almost bitter.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Forget it. Turn left up here. I'll show you a shortcut."

Frank turned his attention back to the road again. There was a place to turn off up ahead, but it sure didn't look like a road to Frank. What it looked like was a narrow alley that turned off into the woods, and he didn't like the idea of turning onto a road when he couldn't see where it went. But, not wanting to appear as uneasy as he felt, Frank followed the instruction.

"Oliver says you guys don't go into town," Frank said. "Is it true, or did he mean just him?"

"We don't do a lot of things. But I do a lot of things no one else needs to know I do," David said cryptically.

Frank just shook his head, and did some more thinking, deciding that it was possible that David didn't want to say too much about his family. There was obviously something wrong there. From what Frank had gathered the day before, David got into trouble a lot, and for some reason, when that happened, Oliver was told to go to his room. Frank didn't think asking David what he'd done would get him any answers he was looking for, so he tried a different approach.

"You know... I spent quite a bit of time with your brother yesterday... and it's none of my business, but..."

"But you're gonna butt in, anyway?" David remarked. "Alright then, go on ahead."

Frank sighed. "Look, I just think it's messed up, the way your parents treat him," he said. "He's actually a pretty cool guy, and it's not right he doesn't have any friends just because he's... different."

David must have found something amusing about what Frank was saying, because he laughed. "Different?"

"He's not like anyone I've ever met before," Frank said honestly, recalling the way that Oliver smiled so easily. He looked at David challengingly. "I happen to like him."

To Frank's surprise, David's expression turned serious, and he gave Frank a nod. "Good. So you're not gonna listen when my parents tell you to stay away from him?"

"Probably not," Frank admitted. "I told him we'd look for frogs together."

David laughed at that, too. "Okay, Frank." And when David grinned a familiar crooked smile, Frank was finally able to relax.

"So can I ask you something?" Frank asked.

"Go ahead."

"What the hell do people do around here besides look for frogs and get rained on?"

"In town?"

"Sure."

"Wouldn't really know," David replied, and then answered one of Frank's earlier questions. "My parents hardly ever let us go there."

"Then what were you doing when I found you?"

"Trying to get away from my parents," David said, smirking.

"And if you never go to town, where are we going now?" Frank asked suspiciously as he watched the twisting road again.

"Just because I'm not supposed to go don't mean I don't know how to get there."

David was obviously telling the truth, because a few minutes later, the Subaru was driving right into a wide, dirt parking lot behind a small building, and as Frank realized what kind of building it was, something Oliver had said came back to him. No, Frank. I'm not supposed to go. Not ever. We used to go for church, but not no more. Frank supposed that if David knew how to get to town, it made sense that he'd know how to get to the one place where they had once been allowed to go. Frank found himself frowning again as he looked over at David, who was staring at the building with a certain amount of loathing. Obviously, whatever memories he had here weren't exactly happy ones... or maybe he simply resented that he was now forbidden from being this close to it.

"What's with your parents?" Frank asked again, suddenly unable to keep the sympathy from his voice. "Why don't they let you guys come out here? Oliver said not even for school... it seems..."

David sat back in his seat and crossed his arms, but not before pointing past the church. "I think you can get out that way," he told Frank. "You should try it."

Frank was disappointed with the subject change, but decided not to push as he kept driving. He was curious about the town, too. He wasn't sure what he was hoping to find. He knew the population was practically non-existent, but anything, he thought, had to be better than a murky lake and a bunch of trees. He was setting himself up for disappointment.

Not sure of where he was going, and with no further direction from David, Frank toured a few neighborhoods where houses looked small, but in better shape than the ones near the lake. The trailer park he passed was crowded, but there he began to notice a few people were out. Some waved, and some looked on curiously as he passed. He nearly missed the school because it was so small, but there was a sign in the yard that said, "Have a happy summer." When he passed the two working cattle ranches and a slaughterhouse, David explained that most people in town who didn't collect social security worked there, including his own parents. His dad sold cattle and pigs, and his mom did accounting for the slaughterhouse.

Even the docks were empty. Frank hadn't seen many boats on the water in the last week, so it wasn't that strange, but he couldn't help thinking that this was as close as he'd ever been to a ghost town--until he reached the shops. There was one strip on the main street where people could purchase clothing at the same place they bought their groceries. The veterinarian's clinic was larger than the hospital. There was a fire truck parked in front of a residential home, and next door the sheriff's office was closed with a sign requesting volunteers. But, there were people out, some dropping their letters through the front door of the post office, and even more around the three restaurants. One sold pizzas and had free deliveries, one claimed to have the world's best chili burger, and the other sold fifteen flavors of ice cream. Glancing over at David, Frank could see that he was as unimpressed as Frank.

"You wanna get out and look around?" Frank asked. When David didn't respond, Frank glanced in his direction to see that he was still staring out the window, focused on a group of kids walking down something that could pass for a sidewalk. "Do you know them?"

"No," David said as Frank pulled over on the side of the road to park, as everyone else had done.

"Oh... so you wanna go say hi or something?"

David looked at Frank as if he'd lost his mind, and then shook his head. "Why would I want to do that?"

"I don't know," Frank replied. "'Cause that's how you meet new friends?"

"I don't need to meet them," David replied in a reasonable tone. "I already met you."

Frank stared after David as he left the vehicle, feeling bemused. For a moment there, he'd sounded like Oliver. But, Frank doubted that Oliver would send the two boys and three girls coming their way such a dismissing look. David was practically staring them down. He definitely wasn't out to make new friends. As for Frank, he felt compelled to do some damage control as he left the car and exchanged smiles with a few of the locals before he started down the sidewalk to catch up to David. "Hey, David... you won't get in trouble for coming here with me, will you?" Frank asked.

"If you cared, you would've asked before we came," David pointed out. Frank frowned at himself more than he did the comment. Mostly because it was true.

"Look, I don't want you to get in trouble," Frank insisted. "It's just... this rule thing your parents have going on seems kinda fucked up. And yesterday, with your mom..."

"She can be a bitch, can't she?" David remarked.

Frank paused, startled by his choice of words. Not in a million years would he ever think to say something like that about his own mother. "Well, she was... I mean... she acted like she didn't want Oliver to have any friends. It seemed weird, that's all."

"Makes perfect sense, though. He's her baby. The perfect son. Never complains and always does what he's told." David didn't sound resentful or bitter this time. Just like a guy stating the facts.

"Is that why you do your best to get him in trouble?" Frank remarked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Yesterday, Oliver said he left because you told him to, then when I brought him home, your mom was trying to lock him up for something you did."

David laughed at that. "I'm always in trouble. Can't open my mouth without it happening. But that's none of your business, Frank. So how do you like your new house?"

Frank glanced sidelong at David, wanting to redirect the questioning to his dysfunctional family, but thought better of it. "There're a lot of cats," he replied, "and Oliver thinks a witch used to live there, but the walls are still standing, so that's something."

"She was a witch," David replied, seeming to reminisce. "A dead one now." He seemed pleased about that last thing, and it struck Frank as cold. "She drowned, you know. Right out there in front of your house."

That was a detail that Frank could have gone without knowing, and his expression must have said so, because David laughed at that, too. "Believe in ghosts, Frank?"

"No," Frank said shortly.

"Just kidding. She drowned, but it wasn't that close to your place. They say she was crazy enough to take her boat out in the middle of the storm. She was too heavy for it, got stuck like a pig and drowned."

"And you think this is a good thing?" Frank wanted to know.

David just shrugged. Frank was not comforted. "Hey, um... you know, I can't stay that long," he said. It was half true. His mom wanted him to check in at noon. He just didn't care to mention to his current company that he could leave again after that. But then, he didn't have to.

"Whatever. I don't have to go back with you. You don't even have to wait around with me now," David replied, and then flashed Frank a pointed look that said he knew exactly what Frank was thinking. "If you wanna go, then go."

It didn't take much to make Frank feel guilty. David only looked half dejected. But, Frank told himself, he couldn't really help wanting to flee David Martin. There was something about him that Frank simply didn't want to get to know--like, the fact that the kid just wasn't nice. It was difficult to see how Oliver and David had shared the same genes, let alone the same womb. But then again, maybe Oliver was part of the reason why David was the way he was. From what Frank understood, David lived in Oliver's shadow at home, instead of the other way around, and while he couldn't imagine how it felt to be banned from social contact outside of his family because he had a sibling who was different, he could guess that it would make anyone a little crazy. Frank pitied David, and that played a part in the way he passed up the opportunity to get out of there.

"I don't have to go yet. I wanna look around for a while."

David just nodded, but over the next half hour, his mood seemed to improve as they explored the small strip and discovered a few more buildings behind what was visible from the road. Frank was ecstatic to discover that one of those buildings was a movie theater. It only played one film a week, but going was a pastime he'd thought would be non-existent for a long time to come. When David said that he couldn't remember if he'd ever even been in a theater before, it only added to his enthusiasm, and he even said that they should come back sometime before he began to describe scenes from some of his favorites. David laughed a few times, and even added to the detailed descriptions whenever Frank mentioned a movie David's parents had rented. And for a while, Frank felt like he was back in Nebraska with his friends, talking about nothing like it was the most important thing in the world. He didn't feel like that when he was with Oliver. Not that he didn't like Oliver's company. With Oliver, everything felt new. Unfamiliar, but pleasant. With David... well, Frank would be the first to admit things with David were a little creepy at first, but as David relaxed, he reminded Frank a lot of his friends back home... or, what they'd be like if they were society-phobic.