The next day Jerry sends me to go grocery shopping for him. Like I’m suddenly his errand boy instead of a “Senior Guest Services Attendant” like my badge says. I guess we are family so I do it without a word.
I borrow his blue ford truck and follow the signs out of the forest and back to town.
Cascade Falls was the tourist destination for the outdoors type; people passing through on Route 80, climbers looking to take on the Sierra Nevada and lost people. For four months out of the year the small town cleaned itself up for camp season and took in a shit-load of money.
People were out sweeping porches, touching up signs and
filling up displays. You’d think the president was coming into town
instead of a bunch of camping tourist with disposable income. Somehow the town looks less depressing than it did yesterday. There's a vibrant hum in the air.
McGill’s Food was only the grocery store in town and I figured shopping wouldn’t take long, seeing as there was only one thing on Jerry’s list.
Yogurt
I guess Jerry had read in some magazine or seen on TV that Calcium made your bones strong, so he ate it with every meal.
“I sure ain’t breaking another hip”, he explained. “Gotta strengthen these bones”
With that he had handed me two hundred dollar bills and told me to get enough yogurt for the next four weeks and some for myself too.
It wasn’t that Jerry was mean, but it wasn’t that he was nice
either.
On my way in the store everyone's eyes were on me. I guess
it was because I was new or because they knew I was the illegitimate son of Cascade Falls most famous residents. Every store had a framed poster of Cirian O'Conner along with his baseball cards. A few lucky ones had his jersey or hat. The world had mourned and moved on years ago but for this town it was like he had died yesterday.
I picked up 6 cases of yogurt and stuff to make sandwiches for myself. There was one lane open with a tired look guy in his thirties
behind the register.
For some reason I felt hot behind the collar
For two years the only thing that kept me going was the promise of freedom, an escape from the monotony of being on the inside.
I guess I’d forgotten how ugly and monotonous the real world was.
"You Jerry's grandson", he asked
"Yeah", I hand him the bills
"Heard you were a trouble maker out there in . . . LA"
He said it kind of long with hand gestures, like he thought LA was a frilly easy going place.
"Yeah"
"Well, we don't make much trouble here. Cascade Falls is a pleasant town. We don't like trouble during the summer", he said with a little smile. That same smile everyone in this town had cause they didn't realize how bad off they were.
I wanted to grab this guy by his collar for talking down on me. I wanted to land one hit right to his fat sun damaged jaw. I think the guy sensed my thoughts and he didn't look me in the eye.
I needed to get the fuck out of here.
I drove back to the campground and went for run. I didn't want to get lost so I stuck to the path that lead from the campground to town. I took of my shirt and tucked it into my shorts, then I ran till my legs burned, then I let out a scream. I just needed to get it out.
The road was steep on the way back up and it was all strength over endurance. I ran out every bit of strength and aggression I had left.
When I got back to the welcome center I fell to my knees and wiped my face with my shirt. Laying flat out on the grass the anger is almost gone. I do a few sit ups to lower my pulse and let out a breathe just waiting for time to pass.
When I sit up I see Logan is watching me with a big grin on his face.
I didn’t know what to expect when Logan says we were going out in Cascade Falls. The only club in town was a golfing country club 30 miles out, and everything about the town made me think they weren’t above outlawing dancing.
None of the residents I'd met were under the age of 30 but Logan said there was a place in town so good it was better than driving 60 miles out to Reno. He had given me 30 minutes to shower and change. I was still burning from my workout. It gave me a high I could buzz off all night.
Logan’s red 98 Ford Explorer’s headlights shine through the woods and into the windows of my cabin. He honks the horn and I hear the rustling of birds or whatever the hell else was outside.
I just hoped it wasn’t grasshoppers
Or spiders
Or wasps.
I take a deep breathe and run out to his car.
Logan leans over the consul hitting the passenger door till it the door pops open.
“You ready to go out?”, he said grinning into the night and
getting back on the path.Which would be all but invisible if you didn't know it was there.
I shit you not; he was wearing denim overalls and an ACDC shirt.
“Hell, yeah”, I said with little to no enthusiasm, I was glad to get out of the cabin. Maybe meet a girl. Definitely meet a girl.
"This place, man. It's the best damn place this side of the country", he says through a smile
I hadn’t been out of the camp ground since my trip to the store, my only real contact was doing grunt work around the campground with Logan or watching Jerry watch the news, while he talked about the differences between all the yogurts.
After dark the town was even less impressive. Most of the
signs in the town were hand painted, so the street was dark with only a few electric
lamp post for light.
We drive to the end of the town and pull into a gravel parking
lot in front a giant red barn that was backed up against the forest. On top of the barn is a large pink neon sign flashed on top reading :
Ty’s
In cursive writing.
A few other signs advertised burgers, live music and beer.
“This is the closest to paradise you can get in Cascade Falls, enjoy it now before Drifters float in. That's when the prices go up and they play that shitty digitized music.”
Logan swings and arm around my shoulders and leads me inside.
It's smoky and dark inside with a large bar off to the side and a moderate
sized stage that sat empty.
Logan waves at a few of the customers and we take a seat at the bar. The patrons were mostly low key looking guys in flannel shirts with beards.
An older woman, maybe in her late forties, placed two
beers (in cans) in front of us. She has long styled blonde hair, and up close her skin was perfect and tinged with a
sprinkle of body glitter. She was hot for an older lady. Yep, I'd been locked up way to long.
I pushed the beer back towards her, she smiles at me like I
had said something naive and looks towards Logan. I knew if I broke my parole I was dead.
“Is this Jerry’s grandson ?” , she asks ruffling my short hair like I hadn't just met her. She has a slight accent I can't place.
“Sure is”, Logan says while trying not to focus on the low cut tight pink sequin top she is wearing.
“You seem like a sweet kid, we are a little short-handed so you boys just hang tight and I’ll get you two specials “
Music was being pumped into the low quality speakers, A few men swayed drunkenly on the floor alone.
It was pathetic, but I liked it.
“Kind of place is this”, I said in a low voice, although
what did I expect. It was Cascade Falls.
“This kind of place”, Logan says with a slight smile
I followed his gaze and to see a tall blonde balancing a tray on her forearm, her hair in perfect curls down her back. She is dressed in the same tight pink sequin top as the older woman, accompanied by a pair of barley visible black shorts. Her shoes give her a good four inches and her tan legs caught the attention of everyone.
Behind her is another girl with darker skin and the same styled hair and uniform. A few men call over to her and she smiles at them but keeps her eyes on the blonde. She had a nice smile and when we make eye contact she waves at me.
“Tell me this isn’t a
strip club”, I didn't exactly have dollar bills.
“God, no. I wish though. . .right.” he motions towards the older woman, “Ty comes to town during the summer and opens for the tourist. . . and she brings her daughters.”
He made a gesture when he said daughters. Logan had permanently turned his chair around to watch the girls.
I wondered what he meant by daughters, The girls despite being tall and hot didn’t resemble each other.
The blonde was graceful and polite. She didn’t seem like the LA girls who acted like they were all to good to want a man.
She seemed to know every patron by name and traded a joke
with everyone she passed. She finally walks behind the counter and sits on the
bar by Logan, I can already smell her body glitter.
“Usual Logan ?”, Blondie says
“mmhmmm”, he said smiling at her like an idiot
Blondie hops off the counter not even acknowledging me.
As I watched Blondie walk away I think maybe I could learn to like it here.
+++
Logan drops me off by my cabin past midnight.
I hadn't had much time to talk up the blonde or her sister, but getting off that campsite made it a win. Logan talked a lot and I was glad for it. It means I didn't have to answer to many questions.
“Sleep tight”, Logan yells, “The real work starts tomorrow”
I kick the door open and when the electric lantern buzzes on I see something move out the corner of my eye.
There was a rustling and a big brown grasshopper flies past me and to the lantern.
“Fuck”, I yell and run to the door . . .
Which is now covered in brown and gray Grasshoppers. They all blend together but beady black eyes stare at me, daring me to
leave. Those bastards look ready to swarm.
Had I left the window open ?
I backed into the corner of the room and hid in the closet like a pussy.
I could hear them chirping and wings rustling.
They were getting closer
Louder
Wings started beating against the closet door and I threw it open. The entire cabin is swarmed with grasshoppers, I close my eyes and my arms sting as I swat them away.
I trip and open my eyes for a second and I'm about to fall right into their nest.
Then I wake up.
Drenched in sweat.
It's 6 am.
Time to get to work.
+++
During the week I'd been in Cascade Falls I had gotten used to the quiet serenity of O’Conner Camping.I couldn’t imagine it any other way until I woke up the next morning to rows and rows of cars filling up the paths.
Everything from Fords and Subarus to Bentleys and Jaguars lined up at the campground entrance.
Somehow a man in a tiny red Corvette had taken a back road and nearly driven into my cabin, a Drifter. He shouts at me for putting the cabin in the middle of the “damn road’ and backs out the way he came.
In the welcome center Logan quickly put me to work checking in guest on a computer that still ran Windows 95 and telling them where to go. Logan had cleaned up nice in a dark green “O’Conner” polo and brushed back his frizzy blonde hair. Every time Logan greeted a Drifter he would give them a big smile and say ;
“I hope you enjoy your outdoor camping experience”
My big arms could barley fit in those tiny polo shirts, so I avoided wearing it. I stuck to my flannels.
Jerry had made himself comfortable at a table with a sign that read INFORMATION over his head. He chatted with regulars and greeted families. He was really good with kids, I bet he would have been a good grandfather to me growing up.
Not better than Big John, but still.
Logan nagged me the entire morning.
“Smile more”
“Talk to the guest”
“At least flirt with the pretty ladies, maybe flex those guns ?”
“Have fun, man”
Of course he wasn’t the one having nightmares when he went home at the end of the day.
After check-in I was forced to run around making sure other people were happy; unlocking doors, carrying luggage, finding lost keys, unclogging toilets and parking fucking cars.
I was a fucking errand boy.
Logan loved it though, I think he liked knowing people
needed him and the way the women thanked him as if he was the Goddamn messiah
or something. I thought he was bullshitting me when he said he was studying
hospitality management in college.
I snuck out back to smoke a cigarette, and I started thinking about the girls from last night. I hadn’t looked at girls like that since my ex broke up with me. I knew I had a chance at one of them, but as I looked out at the guest milling around I realized I’d probably never get off this campsite.
The phone in my pocket didn’t stop ringing. Suddenly I would give anything for that one quiet night under the stars.
“Cillian”, Logan called out, “can you grab the delivery for the Coleman Family, it’s in the welcome center”
The Coleman’s were a Drifter family.
I put out the cigarette on the ground getting a look from Logan that for once wasn’t a smile. I shrug it off and go inside expecting a boat or TV or something
Instead it’s the blonde from last night.
This time she is in a white short sleeve top and blue shorts, her eyes are crystal blue and she seems to know everyone she passes on the way up. They all smile and greet her. In her hands are two greasy paper bags.
“Hey”, I say.
“I have a delivery for Anna and Mark”, she puts the bag down and starts putting her hair up.
“The Colemans ?’”, I question
“Their kids”, she corrects me, ”They love Ty’s food. It’s the first thing they eat when the arrive for the summer”
Did everyone in this town know everything ? She's smiling at me now, the way girls always smiled at me. It helped that I'd bulked up while I was away. It’d been three years since I had to actually try with a
girl, but something told me I didn’t have to try with her.
“I don’t know your name”, I say
“Oh”, she says setting the bags down, “You’ll have to work a little harder for that.”
“I will”, I say and she smiles
Her teeth are perfect, bright and beautiful.
“Anyway”, she sets the bags down and jumps up to sit on the counter, “ I heard you were kind of a badass”
“Really”
“Well, Mr. Harrison said that Jerry told him that his grandson had just gotten out of prison”
“Did he", I said not confirming of denying it.
“I heard two years”
“and a half”, I added.
She sat up further on the counter and ran her finger over the logo on my polo. Damn, my mood was lifting already.
"But . . . you are so young"
"I know." I say. I did a bad bad thing is what I want to say.
"You're one of the good guys, Cillian", she says inquisitively, but I'm not so sure.
"I'm not." I decide.
She backs away at that.
"Well, I know a lot of the girls staying for the summer, so maybe I'll see you around."
"Good." Is call I can come up with.
“What did you do anyway ? To get locked up”, she asks
I take a step back, my work phone buzzing in my pocket.
I smile.
“You’ll have to work harder for that”
2718
