I was covered in mud, stunk to high heaven, and was armed with an axe and short sword.
The clerk didn’t even blink an eye at me.
I bought two large bottles of water and the biggest bag of caramel popcorn with pecans they had. I drained one of the water bottles on the way back to Card.
Head clearer, I crunched through handfuls of salty, sugary corn, until I was back at the apple tree.
Card sat with his back to the tree, legs sticking out in front of him.
I thought he might be asleep, but his eyes were slitted, like maybe his head hurt.
“Do you have to chew so loud?” he half-whispered.
Oh, yeah, that headache must really be kicking in.
I tossed another palmful of candy in my mouth and chewed with my mouth open.
“You suck,” he whispered, closing his eyes.
I grinned and leaned down. “Water. Drink. It will help.”
“How? Did you lace it with cyanide?”
I chuckled. “Drink.”
He took the bottle, managed to open it on the third try, then drained it at a steady pace. I turned to watch for Pamela and Josie, but kept him in the corner of my vision, just in case he passed out.
“Ricks?” he said softly.
“Hmm?”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t even know if I got the coin. Or if I spent it. I could have traded it for the swamp siren telling me my future.”
“Did you?”
I turned and tossed the bag of caramel corn toward him. It landed on his thigh and he had good enough reflexes to keep it from falling to the ground.
“Eat some popcorn before you pass out again.”
He unfolded the top and poured a few kernels into his hand. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Ricky?”
“Yeah?”
“You were... Weren’t you going to ask me something before the siren showed up?”
“Yes.”
“You said you wanted me to answer some questions. Truthfully. Do you still want me to do that?”
I did. But the things I wanted to ask him:Why did you leave, why did you stay gone, why didn’t you reach out even once in all these yearsseemed too much to deal with at the moment.
“I do,” I said, “but not right now.”
