Free A Tree Born Crooked by Steph Post

brawl in the dust between James and Delmore. Unlike James and Rabbit, who fought with love and without reason, the two cousins fought with purpose and without emotion. The fights were usually less about growing up together and more about who was growing up first. Then Delmore proved that he had won it all by holding up a Gas-n-Go, and his prize was seven years eating bad food, getting bad ink, and stamping out license plates for thirty-five cents an hour. James had forgotten about him.
    But now he was back and apparently he had become the big brother Rabbit had always wanted. Except, instead of showing him how to catch a pop fly or rebuild an engine, he was teaching Rabbit how to steal copper wire out of air conditioning units, swap it for pills, and then sell the pills to desperate girls at the strip club who were willing to trade fast cash for a quick fix. Rabbit had somehow convinced himself that it was all legitimate, just wasted resources and a profitable market, and had tried to explain it all to James during one of their rare phone conversations. He hadn’t wanted to hear it.  
    Rabbit had also tried to persuade James that Delmore wasn’t really such a bad guy after all. Rabbit said that he had calmed down, grown some sense, and had big ideas lined up. This did little to reassure James. Delmore running around trying to rob convenience stores was one thing; Delmore with brains was something else entirely. Because deep down inside, Delmore had a malicious streak that could not be changed for the world. When he needed to, he could smile, he could sweet talk, he could be as nice as strawberry pie, but James would never trust it. There was a need inside Delmore to hurt something other than himself and a lack of willpower to hold himself back. When it was all said and done, Delmore just didn’t give a shit.  
    He still looked as James remembered him. Tall, but beefy. He was a little fuller in the neck than he had been as a teenager, but he still had the narrow eyes and wide, smashed nose that James could recall hammering his fist into many times. He also still had the large, square-fingered hands that had been the last thing James had seen before blacking out. Rabbit noticed James and Delmore sizing each other up and tried to divert their attention.
    “And hello there, Marlena. Got the night off?”
    “Hey, Rabbit.”
    Marlena flashed a smile that fell somewhere between cynicism and disgust. She ground her cigarette out in the clear glass ashtray and turned around to face them, cocking her head and speaking with a dark vein of sarcasm.  
    “And hi, Delmore. Just can’t stay away, can you?”
    Delmore didn’t even attempt to be civil.
    “Are you always such a bitch?”
    Her mouth tightened, but she didn’t miss a beat.
    “Only when I see your smiling face come into my bar every day.”
    Rabbit quickly jumped in front of Delmore and put a hand on his chest.
    “Whoa, hey now.”
    Marlena was enough to deal with; he certainly didn’t need James sitting beside her, ready to throw the first punch.  
    “Now, we’re all friends here. Do we gotta go through this every time? Come on, Marlena. You know Delmore didn’t mean no harm. And he’s having a tough day, a real tough day.”
    Marlena drained the rest of her beer in one swallow and pitched the empty bottle over the side of the bar into the trashcan.  
    “I’m sure. It’s a rough life. Out of sympathy, I’ll do you a favor and save you some time. Daddy ain’t here tonight.”
    She picked up her cigarettes and rattled her Jeep keys as she slid off the bar stool, her cowboy boots knocking hard against the cement floor.  
    “And I ain’t either.”
    For an instant, James felt her fingers on his upper arm, her nails pressing into his skin through the thin cotton of his shirt. Was it an invitation or a warning? James didn’t know. And then she was gone.
    “Now, come on, Marlena. I said he didn’t mean nothing by it.”
    Rabbit called after her, but she