Free Thieves I've Known by Tom Kealey Page A

heard, from the west, not the north. When it faded I listened to the trees, and sure enough there was a wind coming down on us. I could feel my legs starting to cramp up.
    â€œWhy’d y’all bring me out in the water?” said Albert. “It’s lightning out.”
    I looked around, and the mist was spinning in every direction with the wind. I held tight to Albert, and I turned us around. I pulled hard. We could see the rain off in the distance. A gray it seemed against the blue.
    â€œY’all are stupid,” said Albert.
    â€œYou’re stupid,” Merrill said.
    â€œWhat was in your garden?”
    â€œThere wasn’t anything in there,” she said.
    â€œDid y’all have corn?” he said. “Snap at me,” she said.
    The shore seemed like a long ways off. I was thinking of pulling Merrill’s hand away. I thought I’d take hold of my brother and make some time.
    â€œMan, did y’all have corn or not?” he said.
    â€œYes,” said Merrill.
    â€œWhat kind?”
    â€œWhy you asking?”
    â€œIt’s important to me,” he said.
    â€œWell, I don’t remember.”
    He settled back then. He’d been all tight. There was a lightning flash, and I could see that school bus then. I was glad to see it now. I made for that end of shore.
    â€œIt don’t matter I guess,” he said. He closed his eyes and set his head back in the water. “Can y’all hear that wind?”
    We said we could. We could hardly hear anything else by then.
    â€œI once had a friend blown right off the road.”
    â€œBy the wind?” said Merrill.
    â€œNo,” he said.
    I drove on the way back. It was just the two of us. I wasn’t going to let him behind the wheel. We had no top for the jeep. The rain was coming down not straight but sideways with the wind, and I was soaking wet and had to wipe the water from my eyes. We listened to it fall, slap against the pavement, and tin-tap against the jeep. The wiper I’d busted on the passenger side didn’t work, and we went slow down into the dark. I was feeling sober and feeling bad. The rain and the swim had sobered me up. I was getting a feeling then, but I couldn’t place it. Albert sat next to me holding his hair in his hand, running his fingers through it.
    â€œI wanted you to have this,” he said.
    â€œI didn’t ask for it.”
    â€œI know,” he said. “I was hoping you’d clip it on and feel it behind you.”
    I didn’t say anything to that.
    â€œIt’s all wet now.”
    â€œThat’s all right,” I said. “I’m going to grow mine out. We got the same length now. We’ll have us a race with it. Down to our butts.”
    â€œFirst one gets this jeep,” he said.
    I looked at him. “This is yours.”
    â€œThat’s the deal,” he said. “Can’t have a race without a bet.”
    â€œAll right,” I said.
    Albert looked down at his chest. “Your butt’s closer to your head than mine is.”
    â€œI guess.”
    â€œI’m getting screwed.”
    We drove on for a while, and I kept watch at what the headlights would show. We listened to the thunder, and the lightning turned the road like day in front of us. We passed those horses behind the fence, and they were all worked up with the storm. Milling about the field, some were shaking their heads. They kind of looked like they were ready to break loose. I wiped the rain from my eyes.
    â€œWhy’re you shaking?” he said.
    â€œIt’s cold out.”
    â€œIt’s not that cold,” he said. “You’ve been shaking all night.” He looked in the back seat. “Where’s the quilt?”
    â€œWe left it at Merrill’s,” I said. “You were the one that wanted to go.”
    He looked out into the dark. His clothes were all soaked through.
    â€œWhy you climbing on hoods and shit?”