Nolan pointed at a small table and said, “Sit there, and I’ll get us some hooch.”
Del said, “I’m okay with a RC or orangeade.”
Nolan shook his head, and Del raised his shoulders. He went and sat, continuing to take in the atmosphere, one that held an air of tension, a suggestion of something about to happen. A pool table sat in the center of the room, and two men played a boisterous game, calling each other derogatory names when one made a poor shot. He glimpsed a couple seated in a rustic booth, holding hands across the table, aware of no one but each other. He put his attention back on Nolan and the woman who served him. Nolan took some time to flirt a little before he came back over to Del and offered him a choice.
He said, “This one’s straight, this one, it’s got some lemonade added to it. Since you ain’t a drinker, you might like it best.”
Del took it, sipped, and raised his eyebrows in surprise. “It ain’t bad.”
Nolan grinned and said, “Still potent, ’specially if you ain’t used to drinking.”
They relaxed and watched the comings and goings frequently punctuated by the twang and creak of the spring-loaded screen door. The liquor begin to unwind the knotty spot between Del’s shoulders as it warmed him from the inside out. After a few minutes, and a few more sips, Nolan sat forward, leaned across the table to stare directly into Del’s eyes.
“What brung you here?”
Del rolled the glass between his hands. He wanted to tell him about the grain bin, felt he could for some odd reason. He started off with what most said nowadays.
“I needed work.”
Nolan waited for him to go on while Del stared into his glass. The silence grew. He shifted on his chair, glanced again at Nolan, who’d not dropped his calm gaze.
“Something peculiar happened, and I’ve yet to figure it out, so I thought work might do me some good. I’d been living in the woods awhile.”
Nolan sat back, took a sip of his drink, and said, “What’s peculiar for some, ain’t for others.”
“You might change your mind after hearing this. Boss man I had before I come here, he didn’t care much for me either. In his case, he had good reason. He told me to work in the grain bin one day, and while I was in it, he had a couple other workers open the door. The grain swallered me whole. I couldn’t move, nothing. Then, I couldn’t breathe. It was the worst pain I ever felt, until suddenly, I was outside the grain bin. I could see them trying to save me.”
He stopped talking, watched Nolan for his reaction. Nolan only sipped some more, still listening.
Del emphasized what he’d said. “You understand. I was outside, looking down. I could see everything.”
Nolan leaned back in his chair, and he said, “My granny used to tell me stories like’at all a time. Said some souls trying to leave this earth get trapped ’tween places. Sometimes you end up roamin’ the earth, looking a door to Heaven. You ask me, you was lucky.”
Del felt a bit of relief. “You heard a such as this happening?”
Nolan said, “From my granny. Like I said. You was lucky. Least you didn’t get stuck like some do.”
“Well, I don’t know about lucky. Ever since . . .” And he stopped.
His face grew warm and not from the drink.
Nolan was curious. “Ever since . . . ?”
Del leaned back. Crossed his arms.
He said, “I’m . . . broke. I can’t, you know, be with a woman. It don’t seem natural.”
Nolan gave a dismissive wave. “Only takes the right woman. You ask me, this”—and he held up his glass—“and hard work helps. Reason I drink is to forget. Me and my Dottie, we was together over forty years. She been gone about five, but it seem like forever now.”
They sat in silence for a bit, taking a swallow now and then, and Del reflected on how it might be to have someone like Nolan had. He finished his drink and said something he thought he’d never say.
“I’ll get the next round.”
Nolan dipped his head in agreement, and Del got up and approached the bar.
In his usual friendly manner, he said, “Hey, miss. How’re you tonight?”
She didn’t respond. Leaning against the counter, a cigarette pinched between her thumb and forefinger, looking bored, she pushed off the bar with her hip, blew smoke from the side of her mouth, and in a no-nonsense tone said, “What you want?”
He put a thumb over his shoulder toward Nolan and said, “Same as what he got before.”