Free Empire Of Salt by Weston Ochse Page A

they saw the Romanian's trailer. As they drew near, Gertie held up her hand for them to stop. Holding the light as steady as she could, she continued towards the fence. Even from where Natasha stood, she could see a body lying atop the sea of beer cans. She ignored Gertie's command to wait and followed, Derrick pressing right against her, his hands on her back as they edged closer to the body.
    She heard a droning sound, something like a remote control airplane.
    "What is that noise?" Derrick asked. Gertie walked to the fence and shone the light on the body. It was the Romanian for sure. His pants had fallen down revealing white buttocks the color of dead fish bellies, as if he'd passed out in mid-moon. The sound was coming from him, not an airplane - snoring.
    "Kristov's passed out." Gertie scoffed. "Lot of good those will do him," she said, pointing at the beer cans. She leaned over the fence and shouted, "Can't hear them if you're passed out!" He never stirred.
    They were on their seventh or eighth house when they heard a rustling behind one of the trailers, followed by a groan. A figure separated from the shadows and lurched in their direction.
    Gertie brought her bat around as she shone her light into the shadows.
    "There you are." Auntie Lin stepped into the beam of the trembling flashlight. "What got into you, going out when there's a madman with a gun blasting at everything that moves?"
    "That madman is Abel Beachy," Gertie said.
    "It doesn't make it any safer if you know his name. Anyone firing like that with houses all around is still a madman." Auntie Lin grabbed Natasha's and Derrick's arms and pulled them toward the street. "Come on. We're going back to the restaurant. You haven't eaten yet."
    "But -" Derrick began.
    "Don't 'But' me. I'm sure we'll see what happens before it's all over. Now let's go." She turned to Gertie. "And you should never have brought kids outside when it was so dangerous. What were you thinking?"
    Although Natasha allowed herself to be tugged away, she shot a resigned look at Gertie. Gertie receded into the darkness as she went. Part of Natasha was happy to be going back inside. But another part of her, one she really hadn't known existed, suddenly wanted to know the unknowable. She wanted to be a part of the adventure and the events that were transpiring in the darkness, where Abel Beachy ran with a shotgun firing at God knew what.
    Strange how a little change of scenery could alter your attitude, she considered.
    Gertie silently bid young Natasha goodbye. That one had an inquisitive streak in her that reminded Gertie of herself. Still, in some places knowing too much could hurt you and she was glad that the girl and her brother had been taken under the protective wing of their Auntie Lin.
    What the old Chinese woman had said had hurt, but the she was right. What had Gertie been thinking? Lazlo's family seemed a nice sort and Gertie was happy that she hadn't told them the totality of what she knew about Bombay Beach. Not that she had any hard evidence or facts, but running the restaurant she'd heard so much that even if a tenth of them were true they cast a deadly shadow across the community... especially the things that came from the water.
    Gertie trembled slightly in the darkness. Now alone with the rumors, she could finally see if they were true. If she'd seen what she'd thought she'd seen Abel Beachy chasing, then she had no business continuing. Then again, she wasn't about to be chased out of the darkness like some weak-kneed Catholic. Her father had been a bouncer and her mother had been a truck driver, and she had the best and worst traits of both of them; primarily the same bull-headedness that had caused them to separate and get back together a dozen times. So she continued on. She held her bat in one hand and her flashlight in the other. If she saw anything, she'd use both as weapons.
    Her search took her to the sea shore. Seaweed lay lank and rotting on the water's edge. Dead